Episode 79

Elisha hid the scarlet cloak he had given her.

Instead, she tore off the tip of the cloak. She pulled out an old locket necklace and she inserted the piece of cloth.

Sometimes on rainy days, in the drizzling raindrops, Elisha saw the flowers swaying in the water that day. At such times, Elisha slowly touched her locket around her neck.

Later, she realized that because of what Carola had done, she and Lucerne would never be together, even in her dreams.

Even if Elisha was flawlessly pretty, the difference in status between Lucerne and Elisha was vast. She couldn't even be Lucerne's mistress.

It was a feeling that was not conceived by love in the first place. It was like an illusion. Elisha's struggle not to go mad was the emotion that made her fantasies transparent and breathed life into her.

So Elisha had to end the feeling herself.

Her heart was so savage and cruel that it only took a shock close to death to end that feeling.

“This year……. The year 995 on the Imperial calendar?”

And it really happened. Elisha turned her time around. She and she came back after one death.

Now Elisha's heart was as clear as her eyes.

At that time, like the red paint that fell on the white drawing paper, the emotions that had become her stains were now gone.

She said, 'There were times like that. She's dead, she thought, even when she woke up, she couldn't get close to Lucerne. Even though I'm just a name, I never thought she would become Lucerne's wife.'

Elisha woke up from her thoughts.

“Elisha?”

Against the background of the monastery's fence, Lucerne was watching her.

“What's wrong with your face?”

He asked with an expressionless face. Nora came over. As her Nora tried to open her mouth, Elisha gave her a glance.

If he knew what had just happened, Lucerne would have been able to punch Merha right away. He didn't want to make a big deal out of Rosaria's front yard. The uproar now wasn't what Elisha wanted.

“No, this is……. Because it's the dormitory I used to live in.”

“Okay?”

Lucerne unexpectedly showed interest.

“It looks like ruins.”

“I think it is under construction now. It was a very old dormitory.”

“How old it was.”

“Yes?”

Lucerne was sometimes interested in such outlandish things.

“Sometimes, on rainy days, it was so cold and old that the ceiling leaked. At times like this, the children would get together and sleep in the same bed…….”

When Lucerne heard that, he said he wanted to go in and take a look.

'Anyway, the personality of a real person is strange. Why enter here?'

Elisha didn't know what he was thinking. More than that, she was worried that she would run into Merha again.

“Don't do that, come back. I'm not going to live here again anyway, so what are you doing watching? A trip to memories is enough for a while.”

“Okay?”

“Sure. Now, the place I have to live is the residence of the general.”

“…… Right. Because you are my wife.”

Suddenly, Lucerne felt a little better for her, and when Elisha said she wanted to go home because she had a headache, she went right back to her carriage.

“Here, him. General.”

Nora was obliged to report to Lucerne about her just meeting Merha. But now Elisha knew how to get Lucerne's attention. He crossed Lucerne's arms.

Then, Lucerne's body hardened once. He couldn't take his eyes off Elisha's crown.

“Go quickly.”

“That.”

Nora looked at Lucerne with a rather sad expression. Elisha put one of her fingers to her mouth while Lucerne wasn't looking.

'Pee.'

She said with her mouth. She said Nora's eyes went round and she didn't know what to do.

Since she is a naive person, she seemed to be struggling with which direction to follow. Elisha smiled slightly.

“Why is this like this? It's a pretty thing, as if there's an ulterior motive.”

“Thank you for just bringing me. I thought it was a place I would never return to in my life.”

“…… Okay.”

Before anyone knew it, Elisha was able to handle Lucerne quite skillfully. Lucerne didn't take his eyes off Elisha until he got into the carriage.

*​ *​ *​

Thanks to Elisha's cunning methods, Lucerne learned that Merha had insulted Elisha only when he arrived in the capital.

“Did you hide that that happened until now?”

Lucerne scolded Nora as if she were dumbfounded.

“Lucerne, you stayed with me until you got home. No wonder I didn't have time to report to Nora.”

“Okay, you go to your room and rest.”

“…….”

It was even weirder when I should have been angry when I said something sweet and calm. Elisha clearly saw Lucerne's eyes go to the sword.

“Lucerne, aren't you going to fight Merha?”

“I invaded the Temple Knights not too long ago and did that, so how do you fight again?”

Elisha thought it was more frightening for Lucerne to say common sense. Lucerne was a man with such a strong ego that he would regard any insult his wife inflicted as an insult to her own.

“What are you up to?”

Lucerne smiled.

“Our model student. Think carefully. What was Archbishop Rosaria's favorite phrase?”

“That's what you said before tactics class?”

“Yes. It.”

“Winning with violence is a low rank, winning with scheming is a heavy hand, and making the enemy strangle itself with a ruse is a master.”

Elisha immediately realized that this time she was thinking of a similar move to Lucerne and herself.

“Ah. Okay. I thought so too. I'm glad you knew before I explained.”

Lucerne and Elisha met eyes and they nodded almost simultaneously.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Asked Nora, impatiently.

“Nora. Do you know how a man can make himself strangle himself?”

“…… I do not know.”

“It works best to drive that person crazy by using what they fear the most.”

Lucerne smiled.

“Someone told me something really good. For example.”

Lucerne beckoned Nora to come closer.

“What Merha feels uneasy about, fears, and cares about. Information like that.”

“…… You must be confident in your threats, so that's good.”

Elisha took the word.

*​ *​ *​

Merha returned to her quarters within her temple with her triumphant face on her face. Her horse is a lodging house, which is a small mansion.

At first glance, the objects in the mansion were simple and elegant. However, if you look closely, it is full of luxuries comparable to that of a country's imperial family. All of them were purchased with temple money.

“Ahem, everyone, come out and see. I really humiliated her today!”

Some adults used to harbor an inferiority complex even for children. To Merha, Lucerne was a child who stimulated such an inferiority complex. Merha's deep-rooted inferiority complex comes from Lucerne's father, Michelan, who was called a genius.

So it was only natural that he shouted at Lucerne's wife and was elated as if he had won a big victory.

“What's going on, where have you all gone?”

“Are you here? Your son and his wife are out. And the telegram just arrived and I left it in my room.”

The city priest who hurriedly walked over said.

“Telegram?”

Merha went back to her office with her puzzled face. He opened the telegram.

Took.

The telegram fell from his hand.

[I'll be back soon. It is due to arrive in a week.

I wandered for a really long time on the streets of Yurif.

Please prepare warm apple ginger tea for me.

It's cold, it's too cold here…….

-R-]

The initials R. Besides, apple ginger tea. Streets of Yurif…….

'Ristralfo was alive and sent the telegram? What kind of guy did this?'

“This, this, someone sent the telegram!”

The priest's face became contemplative at Merha's cry. He was a newly assigned priest recently.

“It's a telegram, it came from the telegram office.”

“No. No way…….”

Apple ginger tea was the tea that Listralpo liked to drink. He was arrogant and would get annoyed if he didn't have warm apple ginger tea ready when he returned from a trip.

One day, he dared to throw a teacup at Merha and complained.

'It was a wound that could not survive. I was obviously out of breath. I did…….'

If Listralfo were still alive. If he comes back alive.

Everything is over

“What was the impression of that telegraph office employee?”

“Yes, with faded golden brown hair…….”

The copy said as if he remembered something.

“Ah! She was tying her hair up with a blue hair tie, and at the end of the hair tie, the pattern of the temple was engraved. I remember it as a luxury product.”

Merha's face turned blue even more.

Merha clearly remembered the day Listralpo died. He was wearing a blue coat and boots in a traveler's outfit, and his hair was tied with a hair tie made in the temple.

The headband was an item with an amulet that was said to protect the wearer's health. So it came out exceptionally clearly.

And the next day, and the day after that.

Telegrams started arriving every day.

[I'll see you in six days.

-R-]

[Now the capital is close, I'll see you in 5 days.

-R-]

…….

[See you tomorrow.

-R-]