Just as I began to think her anger might not be soothed with mere words, she finally opened her mouth.

“What happened to you?”

Her tone was irritable, but the content of her words was even stranger.

“You’re covered in mismatched energy.”

“…Pardon?”

But the old woman didn’t give me a chance to ask further.

“Shake it off quickly!”

She waved her hands at me like I was some kind of evil spirit, gesturing for me to leave immediately. Her expression made it clear she might kill me if I didn’t leave her tent at once. She even grabbed a long broom that was leaning nearby.

Afraid she might actually hit me with it, I hurriedly stumbled out of the partition and exited the tent in a panic. I quickly put my disguise mask back on, returning to my original face, and left the tent.

‘Mismatched energy stuck on me? ‘

 What nonsense. It left me feeling uneasy. As I stepped out, the knights guarding me approached with polite concern.

“Are you alright, ma’am? The priests left a while ago.”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

But what exactly was this tent?

“Ma’am, you were nearly in serious trouble.”

“What? Why?”

“It seems this was a fortune-teller’s tent. You know, don’t you, that the priests do not recognize fortune telling within the empire? If the priests had discovered the nature of this tent, it could have caused complications.”

The temple had long dismissed fortune telling as mere trickery and refused to acknowledge it. There had even been times when fortune tellers were persecuted. This was because the temple’s most sacred function was to foretell the future.

The temple did not want to share that role with fortune tellers. Prophecy was supposed to belong solely to the temple.

The exclusivity of prophecy had been one of the key reasons the temple maintained its high status for so long.

However, public trust in the temple had waned significantly in recent times, allowing fortune tellers to participate in festivals like this.

More and more commoners preferred to pay less for a fortune-teller’s prediction nearby than to spend a fortune traveling to a distant temple for a divine oracle.

I agreed with the commoners’ practical reasoning. After all, the priests I had just encountered seemed to be good for nothing except extorting money.

But if that old woman really was a fortune-teller, her comment about “mismatched energy” felt even more ominous.

No, it must have been because of the disguise. She probably referred to the disguise as “mismatched energy”.

Convincing myself of this, I brushed off any lingering thoughts about the fortune-teller.

There was still an important task I needed to complete today.

***

I returned to the Duke’s estate as the sun was setting.

Fortunately, everything at the festival’s operations headquarters went smoothly, and I was able to execute my plans as I had envisioned.

I had been worried it might not work out, but it was a relief that everything went as planned in one go, without requiring multiple trips.

Of course, I didn’t return empty-handed. There was no way I’d go all the way there and only take care of business.

I had bought so many desserts that the knights had to carry them in both hands.

Although the festival hadn’t officially started yet, there were booths offering early sales exclusively for the Duchess.

I even managed to sample desserts from famous patisseries from distant regions, as well as some renowned dessert shops in the capital. The amount I brought back today was quite substantial.

I laid out all the desserts I had purchased on the large dining room table. The table was so full that there was barely any space left.

“Lia, go and call the other servants.”

“Pardon?”

“There’s no way I can eat all of this by myself. I’m not that much of a glutton.”

“Oh, yes! I’ll bring them right away!”

Lia responded cheerfully and left, returning shortly with several servants in tow.

I told the servants to pick out whichever desserts they wanted to eat.

At first, they hesitated, but once one or two began choosing, the others quickly followed suit, excitedly selecting their portions.

After the servants left, delighted with their treats, I packed up the amount I wanted to eat and headed to my room.

“I wonder what the Master is doing right now. He’ll be back soon.”

“I know. I’m worried since the time is so short. What if he comes back without accomplishing anything?”

Even though I had generously offered him ten days, Kyron had insisted that three days would be enough before he left.

He used to take over a month for his tasks, but now he claimed he only needed three days. From my perspective, it wasn’t very convincing.

At this rate, when would he ever manage to bring down the temple?

***

At the same time, Kyron was with the Crown Prince.

They had come to the temple while several priests were absent, busy with festival preparations. The two had just bribed a holy knight to obtain a map of the temple’s interior.

With such a short timeframe, they needed to act quickly and precisely.

“Calling me out of nowhere and saying we have to finish everything in three days—what’s the meaning of this?”

“There’s no time.”

“That’s what I’m asking—why?”

“My wife is unwell.”

“Well, aren’t you a devoted husband.”

The Crown Prince, as always, sneered sarcastically.

“We’ve got the map, and there aren’t many priests around. Why not go in now and destroy the relics? This is so frustrating.”

“Do you think it’s that simple?”

The Crown Prince was an impatient man. It seemed his only thought was to claim the Saintess as quickly as possible.

Kyron thought to himself that the truly frustrating one was the Crown Prince. He shot him a sharp look.

The temple was still guarded by the Holy Knights, and destroying the relics wasn’t a simple task. These weren’t trivial objects that could be shattered with a single blow.

If not for their shared goal, Kyron would have abandoned the Crown Prince long ago.

Just thinking about how the Crown Prince had mistreated Ekette still made his blood boil.

“If it’s not simple, then invest more time. That’s why I’m saying you’re dragging your feet.”

“When have I ever dragged my feet?”

In fact, most of the progress made yesterday and today was thanks to Kyron. He had carefully chosen a seemingly weak Holy Knight, lured him in, intimidated him, and bribed him. He had also deciphered the temple map written in coded symbols.

Even while staying at the Duke’s estate, Kyron hadn’t been idle. He had been secretly scouting for potential allies and requesting their cooperation whenever possible.

Thanks to his efforts, Marquis Meladin and several Western nobles had pledged their support. He was also gradually taking control of the Dark Shop through negotiations, strengthening the secret knight order, the Black Lake.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince had been preoccupied with preparing a secret chamber in the Crown Prince’s palace to house the Saintess.

At this point, it felt less like a partnership and more like the Crown Prince had hired Kyron to do all the work.

“You went to Pierce recently, didn’t you? But it seems like you still haven’t started investigating what happened there. That’s what I’d call dragging your feet.”
The Crown Prince suddenly brought up a new topic.

“What do you mean by that?”

“They say someone appeared who moved the priest’s stone. Someone with holy power.”

“There are plenty of people born with holy power. It’s nothing extraordinary.”

“True, it’s nothing extraordinary. But the strange thing is…”

The Crown Prince leaned in closer, lowering his voice as though he were sharing a secret.

“They still haven’t found the person who moved it—not even the temple.”