“Priest, are you really planning to leave Tezever like this?”

“There’s nothing more to gain by staying here anyway, so I have no choice but to leave.”

It was Priest Michael’s voice. Given that he was near the castle gate, it seemed he intended to leave the palace today. But something was strange. They had said Ines left for Pagos with the priest, yet why was he here?

As Carlos’s expression hardened at this strange feeling, the acolyte asked Michael.

“But Her Majesty the Queen is still performing the Prayer of Atonement in the chapel. Is it alright to leave her like this?”

At the acolyte’s question, Michael burst out with complaints he had been holding back, not caring about his surroundings.

“She’s truly frustrating! I wonder if she’s really Duke Claudia’s daughter. Why put her body through such hardship when she could have just found the money somehow!”

“But didn’t you say you received quite a few jewels from her? They must be quite valuable, being items she’s had since childhood in the Duke’s household.”

At the acolyte’s words, Michael snorted and opened his bag. He then showed the acolyte a necklace he grabbed and said.

“As if a mere necklace like this could be worth 300 gold coins. This is barely enough as a bribe to prevent my dismissal. This can’t make me the High Priest, that’s what I’m saying.”

He sneered while dangling the necklace in his hand. Carlos’s expression grew cold as he watched.

‘That’s…’

It was definitely the necklace that had been around Ines’s neck.

“Still, it bothers me that she’s going as far as the Prayer of Atonement. If His Majesty were to hear about this…”

“The queen herself asked for absolute secrecy, so he won’t find out. Besides, did you think I actually expected her to do it? I thought if I told her to do the Prayer of Atonement, she would either ask the king for an offering or give some of the queen’s palace budget… Why did your expression suddenly…”

Michael, who had been talking continuously, noticed his listener’s expression suddenly stiffen and turned around. And there stood someone who shouldn’t have been there, glaring fiercely at Michael.

“Repeat what you just said.”

“Y-Your Majesty…!”

Michael’s face turned pale as he belatedly noticed Carlos. His brown eyes darted around frantically. He seemed to be desperately trying to figure out how to salvage the situation.

“The conversation you two just had. Repeat it here, exactly as it was.”

“W-well, that…”

“I thought I just heard something about the Prayer of Atonement. Why is it being mentioned along with the queen?”

After continuously avoiding answers, Michael finally gave up and spoke with difficulty.

“H-Her Majesty the Queen requested it herself first.”

“Ines asked to do the Prayer of Atonement herself?”

Among those who believed and followed the Cretian religion, there was no one who didn’t know about the Prayer of Atonement. The House of Claudia had been devout for generations, so Ines would certainly know about it too.

Carlos let out a hollow laugh at Michael’s absurd excuse.

But Michael’s lies didn’t stop there.

“Yes…! She confessed to me first about the unsavory matters with the former king.”

Carlos’s eyebrow raised when the words “former king” were mentioned.

“She told me she wanted to cleanse her soul’s sins and requested to perform the Prayer of Atonement. It seemed she wanted to atone for the immoral acts she committed before marrying Your Majesty.”

Once he started, the lies flowed smoothly from his mouth.

“I opposed it at first. How could someone like Her Majesty perform the Prayer of Atonement? I told her to make an offering instead to find peace of mind, but she insisted on praying. How could I possibly threaten Her Majesty to pray? Before being a priest who serves God, I am also a subject of Tezever.”

Carlos bit his lip at Michael’s excuses. Each of his words was simply incomprehensible and confusing.

This wasn’t something that could be judged by hearing just one person’s side. So, Carlos decided to stop questioning the priest for now and find Ines instead.

The priest’s punishment could wait until later. Carlos turned away coldly from the priest, finished with him.

“I’m going to Pagos. Make sure the priest doesn’t leave the palace grounds even a single step.”

Before moving, Carlos’s eyes glanced at Michael as he gave the order.

“We’ll continue our unfinished conversation later.”

* * *

Evening had already passed. Everyone had left the chapel to have dinner with their families.

Candles began to light up one by one in the darkened chapel.

Margaret had started lighting the candles before darkness made everything invisible.

After lighting the last candle, Margaret spoke with what sounded like a sigh.

“The priest left Pagos long ago.”

As Margaret said, Michael had been missing for some time. He had briefly watched Ines writing the prayer in the morning before disappearing. Nevertheless, Ines silently continued writing the prayer with holy water.

“Please stop now, Your Majesty.”

Despite Margaret’s plea, Ines’s finger showed no sign of stopping. Even though there was no one watching to see if she was doing it properly, she didn’t try to cheat. In good terms, she was persistent; in bad terms, she was stubborn.

Margaret, frustrated with such an Ines, pleaded again.

“You might collapse at this rate.”

Her palm, which had been clean without a single scratch, was now stained black, and her index finger was not just stripped of skin but had blood pooling. As a result, the prayer was written on the floor with holy water mixed with blood.

Margaret closed her eyes, unable to watch this sight any longer.

Ines silently wrote while reflecting on what had happened in the chapel.

Though it was said to be a place not many people visited, it wasn’t completely devoid of visitors.

People who came to pray at the chapel discovered Ines writing prayers on the floor and whispered among themselves.

‘Who could that woman be, doing something like that?’

‘I heard she committed a great sin and is atoning for it.’

Their voices reached Ines clearly. However, she thought it was enough since no one knew who she was.

‘I won’t be able to use my fingers for a while.’

She had lost feeling in her legs from kneeling for so long.

Her knees had been torn and bleeding for a while from the hard stone floor.

By the time blood stains became visible all over her white dress.

Ines let out a heavy sigh.

“Haa…”

She knew it would be difficult, but it was beyond what she had imagined.

Her lower abdomen had been cramping for several hours.

At first, the pain was somewhat bearable. However, as time passed, the pulling sensation in her stomach became unusual.

It seemed to be because she had never done such physically demanding labor in her life. For a moment, Ines tightly closed her eyes then opened them at the pain she felt in her stomach.

“What’s wrong? Your Majesty, you’re not feeling well, are you?”

Margaret, who hadn’t missed this, approached Ines’s side.

“Please stop here. That priest never intended to watch all of this anyway. We can just do it moderately and return to the palace.”

“…”

Ines remained silent at Margaret’s words. She had known from the beginning that the priest wasn’t interested in her atonement.

He probably expected that if he told her to do the Prayer of Atonement, she would get scared and either ask Carlos for money or take it from the queen’s palace budget.

Unfortunately, Michael didn’t know well.

That Carlos wouldn’t give such a large sum of money just because she asked, and that she wouldn’t make such a request to Carlos either.

What worried her somewhat was that despite writing the prayer text, the anonymous letter might still be revealed. But they wouldn’t make such a reckless move after making even the queen perform the Prayer of Atonement.

Ines wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and soon straightened her back.

After taking shallow breaths, she looked around.

“It’s done.”

She had finally finished writing the prayer text on the chapel floor. At this, Margaret’s expression brightened considerably.

“Well done, Your Majesty.”

Though it was difficult, it was still a meaningful time in its own way. Ines had prayed with the mindset of true atonement rather than being forced by blackmail.

Because the sins of her father and family were too great. She hoped that with this, God would forgive her sins even a little.

Suddenly, just as Ines was about to get up after organizing these thoughts, there was a commotion outside the chapel.

“What’s happening?”

“I’m not sure either…”

There shouldn’t be any believers visiting at such a late hour. Just as the two were looking at each other with worried expressions.

The chapel door burst open with a loud sound. Then unfamiliar people rushed into the chapel and pointed at Ines.

“That’s the woman!”

As the two were unable to hide their bewilderment at the people flooding in, that’s when it happened.

A woman tilted the basin she was holding and splashed something toward Ines.