Chapter 31

The elders’ council meeting was held in the innermost room of the temple.

The wide room, furnished with a pure white round table and chairs, had an extremely strict atmosphere and was so spotless one couldn’t see a speck of dust. Simply standing there made one feel reverent on its own.

Lachesis couldn’t even breathe comfortably and was barely holding herself up with a stiffly straightened back. Since she had stayed only at home and done no outside activities at all, she had no immunity to a place like this.

In contrast, Kadenic maintained the same ease as always. The elders seated in their places were the same. They kept their lips tightly sealed, maintaining a solemn demeanor.

The temple’s elders’ council was composed of nobles. Those entrusted with the noble sacred duty of deciding major matters of the temple were, naturally, all heads of influential houses. Perhaps because of that, a unique pressure could be felt from them even as they merely sat there.

‘It feels like I’ll be crushed to death by the air…….’

Her whole body felt like it was shrinking, but Lachesis straightened her shoulders as much as she could and put on a leisurely air. Evaluating gazes were pricking at her face.

Opening lips whose corners trembled, Lachesis quietly asked Kadenic,

“Am I smiling properly right now? I’m worried my expression might look strange.”

Kadenic, seated right beside her, easily understood the question she had practically mouthed. As if to check, he stared closely at Lachesis’s face.

“…….”

“…….”

But an answer didn’t come right away. Instead, the time his gaze lingered was excessively long and heavy.

‘Is it that strange?’

Just as Lachesis was about to pull up her twitching mouth corners even more, Kadenic finally spoke.

“Perfect.”

“Really?”

“Yes. To the point I want to propose again in this very seat.”

For a moment, Lachesis reflexively furrowed her brow, then quickly pasted a smiling expression back onto her face with an ‘oh no.’ Again, she scolded Kadenic with only the shape of her lips.

“Don’t joke even in a place like this.”

“I’m always sincere.”

She knew she had to control her expression, but she couldn’t help it. Lachesis shot Kadenic a sidelong glance. He answered with a charming smile. At his shameless face, a small, hollow laugh slipped out.

If his intent had been to ease her tension, it worked. Lachesis felt the shoulders that had been heavy as if weighed by a boulder lighten for a moment.

It was then that a low voice entered the room that had been so silent it made her ears ring.

“It seems what my daughter said she saw in front of the temple yesterday was true.”

Lachesis lowered her head as if uninterested in the voices around her, while pricking up her ears.

“Then all those rumors rampant in high society right now must be true as well.”

“Hah. Duke Marutia and the Deate Earldom……. A truly strange combination.”

The conversation flowed into a topic she hadn’t expected. Lachesis blinked quietly.

‘Could it be. Those weren’t evaluating stares earlier, but…….’

Were they looks of curiosity?

Even heads of houses known for their composure couldn’t help but pay attention to rumors sweeping high society.

She shouldn’t have misspoken in front of the temple yesterday. It was as if she had poured oil onto the curiosity already set aflame by rumors.

As Lachesis sighed in self-reproach, the firmly closed door opened.

“My. I do hope I haven’t kept you waiting too long.”

With an apologetic look, Chief High Priestess Agnes appeared. As if they had been waiting, everyone rose from their seats. Lachesis, reading the room, also stood to greet the Chief High Priestess.

“I told you not to do that.”

Even as Agnes waved her hand, she seemed to be in quite a good mood. Silence filled the broad room once more.

Only after she sat in the last remaining empty seat at the round table could the others sit as well.

“Then, without delay, shall we begin the meeting right away.”

After sweeping her gaze once around the round table, Chief High Priestess Agnes opened her mouth at once. Her head fixed toward Lachesis.

“I’d like to open today’s meeting with the matter of temple construction. The Deate Earldom has given us the gracious word that they will dedicate a temple.”

Her solemn yet benevolent voice had a power that pulled people’s focus.

Perhaps they had already been informed, because the elders showed not the slightest agitation. Or perhaps, with dignified composure, they were simply pressing their surprise down.

“It isn’t proper for me to decide alone a grave matter such as expanding God’s grounds. I ask you to share your wise counsel.”

Agnes finished her words while meeting each elder’s eyes one by one. The last person to exchange a gaze with her was Lachesis. In the ash-gray eyes she met, Lachesis suddenly caught a sly glint.

Sure enough. As if she had only just thought of it, the Chief High Priestess added,

“For reference, Lady Deate. I will state in advance that the Imperial City is currently saturated with temples. Therefore, I would like the new temple to be built not in the Imperial City, but in another region.”

“……Yes. I thought so as well.”

Lachesis smiled as if it were nothing, but inside, she was burning away.

‘The best option is building a temple in the Imperial City…….’

Dozens of pages among the documents she had prepared would have to be thrown out. But more than that, what squeezed her heart was that the possibility of successfully bringing Father home had been drastically reduced.

Because it was obvious that the second-best plan she had prepared would not be adopted.

But there was no other way. Lachesis had no choice but to throw herself into a situation whose outcome was plainly predictable. Like a moth diving into flame.

Lachesis slowly rose to her feet. With all the eyes on her, an impulse surged to kick away her seat and flee this room at once, but she forced strength into her legs and endured.

The sharp gazes felt as if they were stabbing her and dissecting her. Lachesis took a short, deep breath, and amid those cold, penetrating eyes, she focused on the only gaze that held a gentle, warm light.

A look plainly different from the others—friendly and full of trust. Clinging to that presence beside her as if relying on it gave her a measure of confidence.

“The region where I intend to build a new temple is the Delete Earldom lands.”

A voice with elegant strength calmly cut through the room. The elders nodded as if they had expected it.

In truth, it was an obvious conclusion. To build a temple on another territory, one needed the local lord’s permission, and there was no way such a delicate matter could be coordinated in the single day before this meeting.

But she didn’t even find that fact regrettable. Even if she had been given some time, nothing would have changed. No noble would allow a temple built with the Deate family’s money to stand on their territory. Factional conflict could become an issue, but this was also a matter of lofty noble pride.

“I prepared a chart so you can grasp the Deate Earldom lands simply.”

Lachesis distributed to everyone the documents she had written while staying at the Marutia Dukedom’s estate last night—nearly pulling an all-nighter.

The surrounding location of the planned construction site, the potential number of believers, the expected revenue accordingly, and so on. She had also written in detail what the Deate Earldom would provide in support.

The elders, who had taken the documents with eyes devoid of expectation, suddenly widened their eyes.

“Lady Deate. Did you write this yourself?”

“I’m ashamed—it’s lacking skill.”

In truth, she was rather proud because even she thought it was quite well done, but Lachesis answered with modesty.

“Lacking? It’s quite something. Really something. It’s skill enough that I’d like to bring you in as an administrator for our Viscounty.”

When Anecto Sidocelle’s voice rose, Fabiola Worang frowned.

“Viscount Sidocelle. Focus on the agenda.”

“Are you not astonished, Viscount Worang? It’s better skill than the administrator I keep directly beneath me. That man graduated top of the Academy, yet he has never once shown me a chart in a format like this.”

Seeing Anecto make no effort at restraint, Fabiola shook her head in displeasure. With her strict eyes—Fabiola being from the venerable Worang Viscountcy, no less storied than the Marutia Dukedom—Anecto’s fussing seemed to irritate her.

‘Is Viscount Sidocelle viewing this positively?’

A flicker of expectation crossed the corner of Lachesis’s doubtful eyes.

She hurriedly and carefully observed the others as well.

There were four elders in total, excluding the Chief High Priestess. Anecto Sidocelle kept staring at Lachesis’s chart—conceived from her previous life—with open admiration, and Fabiola Worang, while shooting Anecto sidelong looks, still read the documents attentively.

Meanwhile, Count Nilo Ptyrea……

“The Deate Earldom lands. I’m opposed.”

He looked at the documents as if only once, then set them down on the table and spoke.

“Our goal isn’t to blindly increase the number of temples, is it. Since the monster war ended, those who worship God Bonatan have visibly decreased. At times like this, all the more, we must judge carefully and lead the faithful wisely. Yet in this situation, choosing the Deate Earldom lands……. Hm.”

Tsk—his tongue clicked. His face was full of dissatisfaction. It seemed the Deate Earldom’s reputation fell far short of his standards.

‘I thought he’d at least pretend to consider it…….’