Chapter 39
Edenber’s expression hardened.
“I don’t particularly care whether war breaks out in this country or not—”
Eokaste, dragging out her words, examined her neatly manicured nails under the light.
“But I want to ruin whatever that annoying guy is up to. Heh, I’m quite the twisted human, aren’t I?”
Edenber remained silent.
He knew better than anyone that the Crown Prince was the one who treated her, the only dark-haired child born into the silver-haired imperial family, with the utmost disdain.
Her face briefly twisted into a frown.
“So, we need to prevent the war from happening.”
“If you’re asking for my help, I’m not exactly a pacifist.”
“I know. But don’t you think it’s worth going against the Crown Prince’s plan to use you as a lab rat?”
“I’m not foolish enough to let personal feelings ruin public affairs. Driving out the beastmen from the southern forest will only make the empire stronger.”
“Hmph.”
Eokaste snorted.
“How boring. All dukes say the same thing.”
“If you’re done speaking, I’ll take my leave.”
“Let me make one prediction.”
Edenber, who was about to bow and leave, paused. Eokaste smiled languidly.
“You’ll soon join hands with me to oppose the war.”
“…I’m curious why you think that.”
“Because if war breaks out, your divine beast will be on the front lines, won’t it?”
How could someone who was so anxious about their divine beast even during a mere friendly match endure a war?
Eokaste burst into giggles.
Edenber quietly clenched his fist.
* * *
Meanwhile, at that moment.
Banished to the corridor, Asil sat slumped in a corner, her cheeks puffed up like balloons, waiting for Edenber to come out.
‘Hmph, bad hubby.’
She could have become a ferocious beastman by following the ferocious princess from start to finish, but that chance was stolen from her.
‘Starting today, I’ll eat with my feet on the table.’
She’d eat all the strawberries herself without sharing a single one. And she’d smash all the doors and walls!
She was fuming to herself when she heard footsteps behind her.
“This way, Count Erzébet.”
Asil instinctively turned her head to look at the human called Count Erzébet.
He was a man with lush black hair and pale pink eyes, exuding a strikingly fierce aura.
As if fond of jewels, his cravat and buttons were adorned with sparkling gems, yet it wasn’t excessive—rather, it looked refined.
The two passed by without noticing Asil sitting in the corner.
‘Huh?’
Asil sensed a strange aura from the count.
This feeling. Though faint, it was an aura no beastman could fail to recognize.
Mesmerized, Asil stared at his retreating figure. Then she tilted her head.
‘An adult beastman?’
Why was an adult beastman here?
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Chapter 4
If the imperial palace governed the empire, the Grand Temple managed the divine beasts.
Under the pretext of communing with the gods, the Grand Temple had four high priests overseeing the divine beasts.
Thus, they were deeply displeased that a fake divine beast had overpowered a legitimate one.
“How could this happen?”
The high priest in charge of Fear, the divine beast of the Strafit ducal house, shouted.
He was particularly furious because the divine beast under his care had been defeated.
“Even if it’s a friendly match, losing to a fake divine beast!”
“Exactly my point. What does that do to the authority of the existing divine beasts?”
The speaker was the high priest in charge of the Monlepe ducal house’s divine beast.
Since Monlepe’s divine beast disappeared years ago, his position had become precarious.
With no divine beast to oversee, there were even open calls for his dismissal.
The situation remained unchanged even now with the appearance of a fake divine beast.
Because, despite the title, the Grand Temple did not recognize Asil as an official divine beast.
To survive, he had been groveling under the other high priests.
With a supporter, the Starrafit high priest grew even more incensed.
“A mere monster from a summoning circle defeated a being bestowed by the gods. This is nothing short of smearing the temple’s reputation!”
“What does His Holiness say?”
“He said that a powerful monster being summoned is something to celebrate.”
“Hah, how carefree.”
“It’s not that he’s carefree; he simply has no time to care. Hasn’t it been over a century since the Saintess went missing?”
The Strafit high priest let out a heavy sigh.
“This, too, must be because Monlepe lost its divine beast.”
As the saying goes, take credit when things go well, blame others when they don’t.
For years, whenever something went wrong, the high priests pointed fingers at Monlepe as the culprit.
“What should we do about the despicable Monlepe duke and that monster?”
“For now, we can’t touch them. The summoning was approved by both His Holiness and His Majesty the Emperor.”
As a somber mood lingered, the Strafit high priest suddenly snapped his fingers.
“If we can’t touch them, why not make it so His Holiness has no choice but to act?”
“How?”
“Let’s request an inquisition from Sir Arcian.”
At this, the Monlepe high priest’s eyes widened. How could he suggest something so terrifying!
Count Arcian Erzébet.
A rising noble with lush black hair and pale pink eyes, he was a cold-blooded man without tears or mercy.
Originally a holy knight of the temple and an inquisitor who monitored ducal houses to bring them to divine trials,
he had earned his noble title a few years ago for saving a major city nearly overrun by monsters.
The Strafit high priest said confidently,
“If there’s even the slightest issue, we can bring them to a divine trial. That would automatically strip the divine beast title.”
“That’s a great idea! But I wonder if it’s okay for us to proceed without consulting the others.”
The other two high priests, in charge of the divine beasts of the Sunrise and Skya ducal houses, were currently absent from the meeting.
“Do you know where they went today?”
“I don’t know about the Skya high priest… but I saw the Sunrise high priest rush out, saying a new hair growth tonic had come out.”
“He’s still involved with that baldness association or whatever it’s called?”
“Watch your words. He calls himself the head of it.”
“Tch, how futile human hair is, like worldly attachments.”
The Strafit high priest, who had an impressively thick head of hair, said this.
The Monlepe high priest, who had been contemplating joining the association as his hair thinned with age, glared.
‘If I could shave off all that hair, I’d feel so much better.’
“Anyway, we’ll leave the Monlepe ducal house to Sir Arcian.”
“Good. We’ll inform the other two later.”
With that, the emergency meeting concluded, and the two returned to their respective places.
* * *
‘Who was that beastman?’
Lately, Asil’s greatest curiosity was this.
Who was the adult beastman she had briefly encountered in the imperial palace?
Though it was just for a moment, the aura she felt from him was strangely familiar.
As if they had crossed paths before.
‘If I meet him again, I could ask him to send me to the beastmen’s forest…’
Asil pondered who the beastman was while watching the knights’ sparring, playing with her rabbit friend, and even eating strawberries.
Lost in thought, she failed to respond to Elcai’s question.
“Hey, kid, are you listening to Grandpa?”
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By Anna 💓
