Chapter 25: Chapter 14.1

“Yes. I didn’t expect Your Grace to be here at all. Aren’t you going to the palace today?”

On Wednesday afternoons, Duke Lecardo enters the palace and returns late at night.

“I don’t feel like gambling to zero today.”

“Oh, I see.”

This must be the reason why the Duke was in the mansion.

Yernia suddenly remembered something she had forgotten.

It wasn’t just Cassian who can do as he pleased.

“I sent my son away, Yernia. He also failed to tell me that he had an appointment with you.”

“I must have forgotten about it.”

“Well, I can be your companion until Cassian arrives. Why don’t you sit here in front of me?”

“It’s all right, Your Grace–”

Ignoring Yernia’s refusal, Duke Lecardo  gestured at her to take a seat by jutting his chin at the chair in front of him.

Since she was a child, Yernia had seen Duke Lecardo a lot but she still felt uncomfortable in his presence.

When she was young, she followed Duke Lecardo around that it had reached the point where she started calling him ‘father’.

However, Yernia became afraid of him ever since she witnessed that fateful day.

She sat down on the sofa opposite Duke Lecardo timidly.

“Why don’t you bring your friend here as well?”

“What?”

“Your companion, Yernia.”

*GASP*

Duke Lecardo had distracted her so much that Yernia forgot about the priest she brought here for a moment.

Yernia flashed the hooded priest an awkward smile. “Yes. He’s my friend, Your Grace.”

“I didn’t realize that you have other friends aside from my son.”

“I don’t shy away from making new friends, Your Grace.”

“I suppose so.”

Yernia was embarrassed that Duke Lecardo’s agreement sounded so sure.

She cleared her throat and introduced the priest to him.

“Your Grace, I would like you to meet my friend, Yuri. Yuri, this is Duke Lecardo.”

Yernia would send this corrupt priest back to his shrine after this short exchange.

If Duke Lecardo found out about this priest’s identity, Yernia’s and her companion’s life would be over.

Duke Lecardo’s sharp eyes examined the hood over the priest’s head which he had clutched too tight so that he could hide his face.

“Take off your hood.”

“…..”

The corrupt priest, whose real name was actually Ulysses, lowered his head even more.

The floor seemed to interest him more than Duke Lecardo.

Yernia started laughing while she pulled at the priest’s hand so that he could sit right next to her.

“Yuri’s skin is a little…. I don’t want to tell you but it’s one of the reasons why he was all covered up, Your Grace.”

“Really?”

Duke Lecardo’s persistent gaze never left the priest’s hood and it made them nervous.

Vicil Lecardo, the temple watchman, was also an Esper belonging to a dangerous group that served as the Empire’s weapon.

In the past, a corrupt priest had attempted to steal an Esper and tried to smuggle him/her to a foreign country by manipulating some documents.

After that incident, watchmen were hired to protect all of the Espers in the Empire.

The first watchman ever known was Duke Lecardo, a war hero and the current emperor’s relative.

Therefore, Ulysses, the corrupt priest she brought, was a mouse who walked right into the cat’s den on his own.

“Is your name Yuri?”

“Yes!”

“Yernia, I didn’t ask you.”

“Yes.”

Yernia flinched when Duke Lecardo glowered at her.

Cassian’s father sure looked scary with his dark hair that revealed cold, sharp eyes.

“Yuri. That’s a familiar name. Do you have any brothers, Yuri?”

“…….”

“Yuri?”

“…….”

The priest didn’t answer.

He might look calm on the outside as he sat next to Yernia but she could see that his forehead was sweating bullets.

“Have you heard of Ulysses?” The new priest–”

Chills ran down Yernia’s spine.

A trickle of sweat ran through her back.

Yuri was such a common name.

How did Duke Lecardo connect that to Ulysses?

His interrogation made her bloodstream run dry.

Yena knelt down in that instant.

“Father!”

Duke Lecardo and Vicil stared at Yernia, whose knees landed on the ground so hard everyone could hear a thud.

He was astonished to hear her call him ‘father’ again and seemed twice as surprised that she had knelt down in front of him.

“Yernia.”

“Father, I…I have sinned! Death is the only punishment I deserve.”

Duke Lecardo will find out anyway so it would be better to tell him now.

After all, he already mentioned Ulysses’ name beforehand and they might insist to see her companion’s face.

Then, the frightened priest would tremble, tell the whole truth, and blamed everything on her.

Duke Lecardo must have heard from the Caesars that Yernia was his son’s destiny.

She would tell him that she couldn’t bring herself to pretend she was happy about her upcoming marriage with Cassian.

That was why she brought the priest here in the first place to break it off.

Other excuses wouldn’t work.

Duke Lecardo’s intuition was sharp so Yernia chose to confess.

“Please elaborate, Yernia.”

“I don’t know if I have committed a terrible crime, but once I get up….”

“I will be your father in the future. Explain to me in great detail.”

A sudden cry made Vicil shut up.

“I don’t want to marry Cassian!”

Yernia began to plead with furrowed brows.

“Cassian is my friend and I treat him like a brother. It breaks my heart to think that your precious Cassian would be forced to marry me just because my name is inked on his skin. This is the reason why I tried to do something illegal.”

“Illegal? What?”

Yernia grabbed the priest, who was foolishly stiff at that moment and pulled down his cloak.

Unfortunately, he came to his senses too late.

He slipped off the sofa and hit his head on the floor.

Now, she was stuck in this awkward situation.

“I tried to pay this corrupt priest and asked him to erase me as Cassian’s fate!”

Yernia’s shout was so loud that it drove Kathy, the cat, to run away from Vicil’s lap.