ITFFS 06

Chapter 6

In her desperation, even the most ridiculous ideas had begun to seem like brilliant solutions. However, before Carnike could go looking for some plaster, she heard a knock at the door.

It was Priest Felis.

“Priest Felis!”

Carnike approached Felis as though she had found a ladder at the bottom of a cliff.

As a High Priest, he was also close to Duke Reinach, and Carnike believed he was one of the few people who knew her secret. She could trust him.

Surely Priest Felis would be able to help her out of this predicament…

Just as Carnike was beginning to feel relieved, she heard him speak.

“What is this? I never expected you to come out and greet me yourself.”

“……Hic.”

Carnike clapped a hand over her mouth when she saw the Crown Prince stride past Felis and enter the room.

Why does he have to come at a time like this?!

Her startled diaphragm spasmed out of rhythm, and she couldn’t stop hiccupping.

Theophista stared at Carnike, who was making strange noises with both hands covering her mouth, as though she were looking at something bizarre.

“Felis, why is this woman acting like that?”

“It is a typical reaction to being startled, Your Imperial Highness. The muscles supporting the chest contract suddenly, causing the breathing to become unstable.”

“Put it simply.”

“She has the hiccups.”

Then just say that from the beginning.

Theophista glared at Felis with all his might before sharply sweeping the hem of his robe behind him and sitting down at the table.

Lia hurried in and turned up the lamp to brighten the room. Contrary to what one might expect of a High Priest, Felis had even brought tea himself.

Meanwhile, Carnike continued desperately trying to stop her hiccups with her mouth covered.

Eventually, she held her breath and began counting backward.

“You.”

“Hic.”

The moment Theophista’s eyes fixed directly on her, the hiccups that seemed as though they would never stop suddenly disappeared.

No, perhaps I’ve simply become unable to breathe.

Carnike thought so.

“I spent the entire afternoon looking for you, but you were hiding yourself away. And that disloyal fellow over there wouldn’t let me in even when I told him I wanted to see you.”

Disloyal fellow?

Carnike looked around, wondering who he was talking about.

Surely he couldn’t mean Lia.

Then…

Priest Felis? Oh, my goodness. Did the priest fall out of the Crown Prince’s favor because of me?

Yet Felis himself didn’t seem particularly frightened. He merely looked indifferent.

“There is not even the slightest reason for Your Imperial Highness to meet the Saintess privately, is there?”

“Why wouldn’t there be? She’s the person who blessed my return despite never having met me before. She’s someone I should be grateful to.”

No matter how Carnike interpreted it, his tone sounded sarcastic.

Priest Felis frowned, apparently displeased by his words.

As Carnike observed the atmosphere between the two men, she nodded inwardly.

Ah, I see. Priest Felis must have stopped him from barging in earlier… And even after that, he stubbornly sent me that letter.

The thought that kind-hearted Felis, who worked tirelessly day and night for her sake, had suffered because of the Crown Prince made Carnike inexplicably angry.

“Come and sit down. And Felis, you can leave.”

“It is against proper etiquette for Your Imperial Highness to meet the Saintess alone at this hour.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?”

Felis hesitated for a moment. It was obvious he was considering whether he should continue arguing or not.

The longer the silence lasted, the more rigid Theophista’s expression became.

Wanting to at least protect Felis’s neck, Carnike involuntarily stepped forward.

“Priest, it’s alright. Please do as His Imperial Highness says. It seems he has something to tell me, so I’ll listen.”

“But, Saintess…”

“It’s alright, so please go.”

Even then, Felis seemed reluctant to leave. He slowly made his way out of Carnike’s quarters.

There seemed to be countless things he wanted to say in the way he looked at Carnike, but Carnike calmly approached Crown Prince Theophista and knelt before him, lowering her head to the floor.

Unexpectedly, Theophista let out a short laugh.

“What are you doing?”

What does he mean, what am I doing?

Carnike, her head bowed, rolled her eyes around in confusion.

Obviously I’m greeting him. What on earth is he talking about?

“What are you doing, I asked?”

Theophista questioned her again, this time in a sharper voice.

Forget it. I don’t know.

Carnike squeezed her eyes shut, lowered her head even further, and spoke.

“Long live His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, who shall carry on the foundation of the Haven Empire. My name is…”

“Stand up.”

He was truly a genius at cutting people off.

Is he hungry because he barely ate dinner?

Carnike pressed the name she hadn’t been able to finish saying against the tip of her tongue.

Somehow, doing so seemed to ease her anxiety a little.

Or perhaps it did absolutely nothing.

Theophista watched Carnike rise and bow her head. Then he lightly tapped the surface of the table with the back of his hand.

Tap. Tap.

The sound wasn’t particularly clear. When Carnike glanced over, she noticed a bundle of papers she hadn’t seen before lying on the table.

Did the Crown Prince bring those? What kind of papers are they?

Theophista spoke.

“I never told you to prostrate yourself and bow. Why did you immediately drop to your knees?”

“……Pardon?”

“Have you done something wrong? Something weighing so heavily on your conscience that you can’t bear it?”

Carnike’s face instantly turned pale.

Fortunately, it was already nearly dark outside. Under bright sunlight, there would have been no way for her to hide the change in her complexion.

“That isn’t the case, Your Imperial Highness. I merely offered the proper respect before the exalted bloodline of the Imperial Family, as I was taught.”

“I heard you came from the countryside, where people spend their days herding sheep and gathering acorns. Yet you certainly have an impressive way with words. Who taught you such things?”

Only then did Carnike realize that she had been drawn into the Crown Prince’s trap.

It had happened in an instant, leaving her no time to sense anything suspicious or even become properly nervous.

I can’t tell him about Duke Reinach here, can I?

The Duke had told her that the Crown Prince wouldn’t threaten her, but who could truly know what was in another person’s heart?

Besides, they say he hates the Saintess so much. Could he be trying to use me to bring Duke Reinach down at the same time?

Theophista’s red, perfectly shaped lips moved slowly.

He looked like a hunter whose nerves were stretched taut.

“You bow before a bloodline you cannot even see, yet pretend not to hear the words of the Crown Prince standing right in front of you. Is that the etiquette you were taught?”

Oh, no.

Carnike quickly shook her head and bowed again.

“That is not what I meant. However, although it was a question from Your Imperial Highness, I hesitated because I was wondering whether I should mention the name of the person who showed me kindness without knowing why you wished to hear it.”

“Why? Do you think I’ll immediately have him brought here and executed if you tell me his name?”

Honestly, yes…

But Carnike steeled herself and tried to maintain a calm expression.

“Many people, including His Majesty the Emperor, know about the person who has taken care of me.”

“So you’re telling me to go ask them?”

“I did not use such an insolent expression, but…”

One of Theophista’s eyebrows rose slightly.

‘I didn’t use an insolent expression’?

He found it utterly absurd.

He had expected Carnike to beg for her life after instinctively dropping to her knees and saying such things. Yet, for some reason, Carnike merely tilted her head without showing any particular reaction.

She doesn’t even realize that what she just said was the most insolent thing of all.

Duke Reinach, if you’re going to teach her, teach her properly. Why did you turn her into such a halfwit?

Although Theophista pretended to be displeased, he was already looking at Carnike with growing interest.

I thought she was just some country bumpkin blinded by money and power…

Perhaps this woman named Carnike Anisol was not as simple as she appeared.

Theophista spoke.

“If that’s what you say, then fine.”

Carnike visibly relaxed.

However, before she could even catch her breath, Theophista issued his next command.

“However, you will have to explain to me why you are nothing resembling a Saintess and are merely a woman from the countryside.”

“Hng!”

Carnike sucked in a startled breath.

“Sit.”

Theophista’s stern voice fell over Carnike’s head.