Chapter 24: Chapter 13.2

If the heavens had already determined the fated guide to die, the Esper, whom the individual needed to guide, would die.

Cassian should concern himself about how to live longer than to fixate on his destruction.

Yernia raised the stakes even further.

“I might have a time limit.”

“You! You’re lying to me!”

That’s right.

It was a lie.

“No, it’s true. What will you do if I die? You will die with me as well. If you erase your destiny, you’ll be free of me. It will be advantageous for you, too.”

Yernia’s facial muscles had relaxed.

Her pupils thinned and sharpened when she narrowed her eyes.

“If you’re dead, I’m dead, too.”

“…….”

“I’m not going to the temple with you, Yernia. I don’t want to entertain that idea further, so you better stop persuading me.”

Yernia couldn’t understand Cassian at all, and she couldn’t drag him to the temple, either.

Therefore, she must resort to extreme measures.

Immediately…

“This is the Duke Lecardo’s Household.”

She planned to bring a corrupt priest to the Duchess Lecardo’s residence.

***

The priest stared at the huge mansion as if he was about to be sacrificed there.

Yernia cleared her throat when she realized that the corrupt priest had chickened out.

He looked so scared that he couldn’t bring himself to enter the place after coming all the way here.

“Don’t forget the money I have given you.”

It was a warning.

“But it’s a little….”

“If you run away now because you’re afraid, I’ll tell the Duke everything.”

“Who said I would run away?”

It was not difficult to find a corrupt priest at the shrine.

In the original novel, Yernia had paid a priest to tell everyone that the Herena was a false guide.

She found that same priest and gave him money.

He took the bait and devoured it.

“Are you sure the Duke isn’t at home right now?” The priest whispered in a low voice.

He pulled the black hood forward to hide his face and huddled closer to his cloak to conceal his huge body effectively.

No one was there, so what was making the priest anxious?

“The Duke should be in the Imperial Palace by now. He makes a bet with His Majesty every month. Believe me and only me.”

Today is that fateful day.

There was nothing more important to him than that.

After a thorough calculation on her part, Yernia decided to take matters into her own hands.

“Really? Duke Lecardo—”

“—is not here.”

The priest had received the money from her, but he was still so scared of the Duke’s presence that he kept repeating the exact words to Duchess Lecardo’s residence.

Yernia continued to reassure him despite the exhaustion.

“The Marquess is not here.” The butler came out to greet her immediately during the visit.

She frowned.

Was he avoiding her again?

She had never been more frustrated.

Yernia pretended to be sick last time, and that tactic already had an expiration date.

What should she do for Cassian to meet her this time?

She didn’t know when Cassian would meet her, so Yernia pushed right in.

“It’s not possible, My Lady! The Duke—”

“What’s the matter?”

The astonished butler followed Yernia, running as swift as a squirrel.

Yet, she still managed to open the front door.

The priest kept his focus straight ahead as he ran after Yernia, but then he stopped at where she stood with a squeak.

Yernia had rushed to the next room without stopping, but she hesitated at the door.

“Your Highness.”

“What’s going on here?”

“Well, Lady Yernia–”

The butler’s face paled because he didn’t know what to do.

He wasn’t the only one.

So did the other two in front of them, sitting on the living room sofa across Duke Lecardo.

Yernia and the priest froze as soon as they saw Duke Lecardo.

They wholeheartedly thought he wasn’t there.

Duke Lecardo considered Yernia’s reckless intrusion insignificant and took it lightly.

He greeted her instead.

“It’s Yernia, isn’t it? It’s been a long time.”

Yernia often went in and out of the Duke’s house, but she still found this situation awkward.

She hadn’t experienced wasting the Duke’s time and barging in his meetings without permission before.

“Yes, it’s been a long time,” Yernia replied politely when she came to her senses.

“I wish you stopped addressing me formally. I told you to call me ‘father’ like you used to do when you were a child.”

“Addressing you as the Duke is more comfortable.”

“How cold of you, my dear.”

Yernia smiled to hide her embarrassment.

Why is the Duke of Ricardo sitting on the Marquess sofa?

Today is Wednesday.

She was sure that the Duke would go to the palace to have a bet with the emperor!

Duke Lecardo stroked Kathy, the cat lying on his lap.

Its face was the perfect picture of content.

Kathy’s ears pricked up as she slept.

Nyan~

Kathy greeted her the instant it opened its eyes and found Yernia.

The Duke of Ricardo stroked her fur.

Yernia could tell it was shiny just by looking at it.

“Have you come to see him?”