His Unhappy Marriage
Miela placed her hand over the arm of the knight who was bleeding.
A bright light emerged from her delicate fingertips, then soon faded.
Along with the light, the rather large wound that had been there disappeared cleanly.
Miela examined the knight’s complexion and the place where the wound had been and asked,
“Are you feeling alright now?”
“Yes, I feel perfectly fine!
It’s thanks to you, Priestess.”
After treating the remaining injured, Miela stood up.
As she looked around as if searching for someone, the captain of the Delmark knights approached her.
“By coincidence, we seem to receive your help every time.
It must have been a difficult journey, yet you came all this way. Thank you.”
Priests with divine power were usually dispatched to deal with various incidents occurring in the capital and treat the injured.
All of that work was difficult, but there was one task that most priests hesitated to take on.
That was accompanying demonic beast subjugations.
First, the distance to where the beasts appeared was usually far.
The risk was high, and there were often many wounded.
There was absolutely no reason to volunteer for such work.
Because of that, the captain of the Delmark knights had never imagined Miela had come voluntarily.
“It’s nothing.
This is my duty.”
Miela smiled gently at him and asked with hopeful eyes,
“By the way, did the Duke not come today?”
“He had other matters to attend to.
The beasts that appeared today weren’t particularly dangerous either.”
“Ah…
I see.”
Miela tried to hide the disappointment in her expression as she looked away.
Then she suddenly noticed something and widened her eyes.
Among the knights, creatures that looked like tulip bulbs were tied up and wriggling.
“What are those?”
“Ah, those are young demonic beasts we captured.
They usually live deep in the forest, but they must have been swept here by the commotion earlier.”
At the word “demonic beasts,” Miela’s expression hardened with disgust.
“Why didn’t you kill them?”
“They’re still young, and more importantly they actually help the forest grow.
When they see humans, they usually run away, so they rarely cause harm.”
Having faced countless demonic beasts in the north, the knights of Delmark knew them thoroughly.
Although Delmark actively hunted dangerous beasts, they avoided killing creatures that benefited the forest or posed no threat.
After all, the forest provided them with many resources.
“We plan to release them back into the deep forest once we finish cleaning up here.”
However, even after hearing his explanation, Miela maintained her negative stance.
“But they’re still demonic beasts, aren’t they?
Who knows when they might suddenly harm people.”
“That’s true, but…”
“I believe it’s better not to leave any possibility of danger in the first place.
I don’t want to see people—including the knights—get hurt anymore.”
As she spoke calmly, concern appeared in Miela’s clear golden eyes.
Seeing those eyes, the captain found it difficult to continue insisting on his opinion.
Besides, she was saying it out of concern for them.
One of the knights watching nearby gave the captain a look suggesting they should just agree with her.
Though the captain felt uneasy about taking needless lives, he reluctantly gave the order to his subordinate.
“…Take them away and deal with them.”
“I’m sorry.
I forced the issue…”
“No, it’s alright.
We understand your concern, Priestess.
Especially since you work closest to the injured.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
Miela answered with a bright smile, as if she had never worn that worried expression.
“Then I’ll be going now.
God may have another task waiting for me.”
As Miela walked away, the knights began whispering behind her.
“She’s an angel, truly an angel.”
“Her face is like an angel, and so is her heart.”
Healing the injured and caring for others—Miela’s actions naturally made her seem virtuous.
It was a reputation that had followed her ever since she became a priestess.
Miela rode in a carriage back to the temple.
‘I should take a bath first.’
As always after returning from outside work, she headed to the annex to wash away any bad energy that might have clung to her.
Just then, she heard the murmuring voices of several people nearby.
Turning toward the sound, she saw young noblewomen gathered under a flowering tree, chatting.
It was a common sight for noble ladies visiting the temple for prayer or donations to gather and talk.
Especially in spring, when the weather began to warm.
Miela had been about to pass by as usual when she stopped after hearing their conversation.
“Still, at the banquet the two of them seemed to get along well.”
The banquet they referred to was the one held by the House of Delmark.
Miela had not received an invitation, since she was not a noble.
But she had heard stories about it from nobles who visited the temple.
She had a feeling that if the topic was the Delmark banquet, Heredin might be mentioned.
Miela quietly hid behind a wall and listened.
“The Duke isn’t the type to show his feelings.
Even if he looked fine on the surface, who knows how he really felt?”
While the ladies spoke behind their fans, Rachel—who had quietly listened after starting the topic—finally spoke.
“From what I saw, Blair… I mean, the Duchess seems a bit obsessive about the Duke.
She gets anxious even when he simply makes eye contact with another woman.”
The name “Blair” rang clearly in Miela’s ears.
“Oh my.
Isn’t that paranoia?”
“Well, perhaps.
The Duchess has always been overly attached to things she believes belong to her.
She was quite obsessed with me as well.”
“That must have been very difficult for you, Lady Selden.”
“Oh no.
She’s my longtime friend and family, so I understand and even pity her…”
Rachel spoke as if she were sincerely concerned for Blair.
After hearing this, the ladies began to pity Rachel for enduring Blair—and then began worrying about Heredin.
“If the Duchess restrains him like that, the Duke must feel terribly suffocated.
If Lady Selden can see it, imagine how much worse it must be when they’re alone.”
“The Duke really is unfortunate.
After returning as a hero who saved the nation, he ended up marrying into the imperial family, who are practically his enemies.”
“That’s true.
A man like the Duke could have easily married any lady he truly wanted.”
After chatting for a while, they realized there were too many ears around and began leaving one by one.
Miela quietly turned away as well.
Thinking back on what she had just heard, her thoughts naturally turned to Heredin.
A man who was always indifferent and cold.
Yet the moment Miela first saw him, she felt as though the entire world she knew had been shaken.
It was as if God had created him that way.
As though everything in the world was meant to love him.
‘How could anyone not love someone like that?’
Miela had fallen in love with him at first sight, as if following God’s will.
But he was already a man who had pledged himself to another before God.
Miela had no intention of doing anything about it.
Even if it was love that would never be returned, it was enough just to watch him from afar.
She only wished for his happiness.
But what if he wasn’t happy?
And what if his unhappiness came from his marriage?
Miela also knew about the long-standing feud between the imperial family and the House of Delmark.
If that old enmity had shaped him into the cold and distant man he was now—
‘Marriage to the princess must be too cruel for him.’
Miela had no personal grudge against Blair.
Yet she began to resent the woman who made him unhappy.
She didn’t know whether the rumors the noblewomen were spreading were true.
After all, rumors often invented things that never existed.
But one thing was certain.
Blair had knowingly accepted marriage with him despite their families’ history.
And that made her a bad person.
Miela fell into deep thought.
‘Is there a way I could save the Duke from this unhappy marriage?’
* * *
“Shall we stop here for today?”
After finishing tea, Agnes and Blair left the greenhouse.
The weather had warmed so much that the temperature inside and outside the greenhouse was no longer very different.
Agnes seemed to notice it as well.
“It’s really spring now.
Next time we could even have tea outside.”
“When the cherry blossoms bloom, I’ll prepare a place in the garden.”
“Oh my, that sounds romantic.
The tea will smell like flowers.”
Blair smiled at Agnes’s excitement, then noticed the cherry tree buds and suddenly remembered something.
“Lady Lorelline, did he say anything in particular?”
“About what?”
“About the hypnosis.”
“Ah, hypnosis.
He didn’t say anything special.
It seems he thinks it’s still too early.”
“What do you think?”
“I think you could begin it to overcome your fear of fire…
But His Grace must simply be worried about you.”
Agnes had a talent for wrapping even ordinary words in a way that pleased the listener.
After seeing her off, Blair returned to her bedroom and thought,
‘Heredin is probably being overprotective because he feels guilty about the fireplace incident.’
But that didn’t help her at all.
Blair stared blankly out the window.
The world outside was covered in fresh green sprouts.
Spring had fully arrived.
And the time she conceived Asiel had been at the beginning of summer.
‘I don’t have much time left.