“Well, of course—”

“I hope you don’t lie to me, because I can find out.”

“No, I didn’t mean to lie! If we are to bless someone, of course we should put Duke Edgar first. In the Empire, you are second only to the Emperor.”

“Then, Your Majesty.”

Nocton turned his head.

When he looked at the Emperor sitting on the throne, their eyes met.

The Emperor’s face hardened with embarrassment.

“Have you been blessed?”

“…No, I wasn’t.”

“These are some extremely rude people. How dare you put the subjects before the Emperor? No matter how much you say you’re in the arms of God, it is too much to insult the honor of the Imperial family.”

“T-That’s not… That’s not it!”

“I’m Gervello Gervella of the Great Shrine. I’m sorry, but if you excuse me, Duke Edgar.”

Pushing the contemplative priest aside, another priest came forward.

He was one of the six high priests who came to perform the ceremony, a rare young man.

There was a strong will written on his face.

“We found traces of the use of black magic to summon the beasts. The gate is now closed, but there is a high possibility that someone here has opened the gate.”

When black magic came up, Nocton just listened quietly without even raising an eyebrow.

“They were using black magic to ruin the ceremony. So, through God’s blessing, I want to confirm whether or not you’re a dark magician.”

“Then, I’m asking. Is anyone here going to get the same confirmation? Or is it just me?”

“To be honest, there was an anonymous tip saying that you are a dark magician and about what you’ll do at the ceremony.”

An anonymous tip, unexpectedly blatant.

Worrying about the traces of black magic, Nocton used the minimum and also a sword, but in the end it was pointless.

Still, if he wanted to refuse, he could.

In the Empire, Edgar was special.

The family was known as the founding family, but in reality, Edgar had been located in this land before that.

Those who allowed Karantena, the founding Emperor, to take over the land were also the Edgar family.

As a result, Edgar was promised eternal authority at the time of the founding of the empire and the oath continued as the bloodline of the first Emperor was passed down to this day.

Over the generations, Edgar was obviously the oldest and most powerful ruler in this land, as several times the Imperial family had been trying to change.

So Nocton didn’t have to take that rude test.

There didn’t seem to be anyone who doubted that Nocton summoned the beast.

“You know that even if I decline here, there won’t be a problem.”

“Yes. But to clear any suspicions—”

There were a lot of suspicions from people who didn’t want to be suspected, so it was meaningless.

However.

Nocton glanced briefly at the young and capable High Priest.

The energy felt was quite clean, so it seemed to be usable.

Coincidentally, it was the time when a priest was needed.

“If you promise me one thing, I will accept your blessing.”

“I do not accept unreasonable requests.”

“Then, isn’t it unreasonable to suspect that I am the culprit without evidence?”

“Anonymous—”

“That’s something that can only be done from the temple’s point of view. How can I believe it? Whether or not there was an anonymous informant. Maybe, you’re trying to harm me under the influence of someone else?”

“…If you say that, I understand. Please, tell me about your request.”

“It’s not a big deal. If there’s nothing wrong with my blessing, you have to stay at Edgar for a year.”

It wasn’t unusual for a priest to receive a huge patronage and stay with a particular family.

However, it could be regarded as an insult because a high-ranking priest would only occasionally stay with the Imperial family in case of an emergency.

But Gervella was quite sure of his suspicions, so he just nodded.

Then, a pure white light poured down from his hand and towards Nocton.

Nocton’s lips twisted.

The light of blessing from a priest was usually green, but the white light was an attack magic above the divine one.

If blessed, even if the opponent was a dark magician, they would only feel a little nauseous, but with attack magic it was different.

If it were for ordinary people, divine magic wouldn’t hurt, but the change in words was certainly… It was cute.

“Ge-Gervella!”

The other high priests screamed his name.

Nocton took a slow, deep breath to soothe his messy, twisted stomach.

Even before he became an adult, he drank holy water with an innocent face, so it wasn’t difficult to pretend to be calm even in a situation like this.

It was a magic trick that wouldn’t have made him suffer if dealt with properly, so Nocton was annoyed.

Whether the priest was convinced that Nocton was responsible after a single report, the priest’s face changed to look good.

“No way!”

“It’s good that the priest is strong and works hard, but you have to look up and down.”

t/n: by that i think nocton means that the priest should have investigated the anonymous tip abt nocton.

Nocton swallowed the blood flowing in his mouth and let out a sigh that went from frustration to mocking.

“You seem to have picked up some strange words from somewhere, but even if I was a dark magician, can I attack before it proves that I’m the one who opened the gate?”

“D-Duke, this is…”

“I’m already looking forward to seeing how your innocent illusion and aggressive honesty will change the temple.”

“This is a procedure that was unavoidable for the honor of the Imperial family! Retaliation against the temple is—!”

“I did not say that I would retaliate. However, the donations to the temple were purely out of favor, so it would be too much to say that it’s retaliation to collect them.”

“Duke!”

“Other than that, I hope you keep your promise. If you treasure what you have.”

Nocton walked past the other priests whose faces turned blue.

There was a hand that tried to hold him back, but Nocton mercilessly slapped it off.

Nocton ignored even the handkerchieves of the imperial servants and walked straight to his carriage.

The escort knight, whose eyes were blurred, held out a towel to Nocton and he roughly wiped away the moisture from the rain.

Then, there was a low-pitched voice.

It was Duroa’s voice. Perhaps she had returned while Nocton was arguing with the officials.

Focusing on his keen hearing, he raised his head.

Alice Limorand was looking after Duroa to see if there was anything wrong and then apologized.

Duroa suddenly changed her tone, as if she was exhausted from saying she was fine.

“No, I’m fine, Alice. Although the bear hit the sixth rib bone on the left.”

“What? You’re hurt? Oh, my God! You need to be treated right now! Where is it? Here?”

“Oh, I was mistaken. Come to think of it, it’s the third, not the sixth.”

“Third? Where’s the third rib? Where are you, Sir Claymore?”

“…it’s this way for now.”

“And here? Does it hurt here, Duroa?”

“No, it’s not the left, it’s the right.”

“Right? Then here?”

“Isn’t that the third one?”

“…Duroa, are you kidding me? You’re fine!”

“You finally figured it out, Alice! I thought it would take another half hour!”

Pretending to be moved, with an exaggerated expression, Duroa hugged Alice.

Alice tried to push Duroa away, but eventually they burst into laughter together.

It was a very friendly, happy smile.

Watching them, Nocton remembered the past.

‘No, it really doesn’t hurt. It’s been more than two weeks since I got over my cold!’

‘Who said that? Your throat isn’t well and you sound weird and noisy. Be quiet.’

‘Wow, such nice words. If you’re going to pretend to be like that, then get rid of these cups. No matter how good it is for a cold, how many cups are there? One, two, three, four, five. If I drink five cups of tea, I’ll catch another disease.’

‘It’s surprising in many ways that you have to count them one by one to know there’s five cups. Are you still sick?’

‘Sarcasm… Oh! My hand…! It… slipped.’

‘Oops. You failed to topple the cup pretending your hand slipped.’

‘Sometimes I get annoyed because you’re so quick.’

‘Clearly. Alright, now drink.’

‘I’m better, really. Do you want to see my throat? Ah…’

‘You want me to pour it down your throat?’

‘…You can drink it, bastard.’

After that, Duroa probably burned the roof of her mouth from drinking the hot tea and then made a fuss.

Nocton laughed involuntarily since the memory of her blaming him for it was still vivid.

Yeah, it was.

There was a moment like that.

There were moments like those.

But now, there won’t be anymore.

Nocton spit blood on the towel, pretending to dry himself.

He thought maybe he’d miss calling her Valrose.

***

“Have some tea, Miss. It’s good for your cold.”

“Thank you, Sadie.”

On top of the tea that Sadie put down, a woman with a blank expression reflected in it.

Her face was hot and her eyes were tired, apparently she caught a cold.

Duroa thought she had a strong health, not as much as a knight or a magician, but she couldn’t stand being in the rain during the winter in a forest.

I had a headache all of a sudden and I think I already caught a cold while talking to Nocton Edgar.

Sadie sighed, covering Duroa’s shoulders with a thick blanket.

“Really, why did it suddenly start raining?”

Duroa barely managed to not flinch at that remark.

She was suspicious of the sudden musty smell, but not the rain. Both the rain and the smell were artificial magical clues.

They said that the reason the beast appeared was because someone created a gate that connected the beast’s lair and the forest.

The beast had a unique smell and the rain was pouring down with magic to cover it up.

It was never revealed who did it or what its purpose was.

For that reason, the Imperial family was being extremely sensitive.

However, it was said there was a report announcing that there might be a problem with the competition in advance.

Thanks to that, they were able to gather a lot of priests and all three knights of the Imperial family were present, so there were no casualties, but there were wounded.

The reason why so many priests came was because the new Emperor was timid. Duroa had no choice but to reflect on that thought.

I’m sorry, Your Majesty…

Well, I heard it all from Alice.

No one else knew, but Duroa still had to tell the inside story to Kantana Limorand, the prospective winner.

She would tell Duroa’s sister everything if it wasn’t dangerous, so Kantana could know the full story.

The other people only heard that there was an accident and the beast appeared then it was severely punished.