Ian had noticed Chait's infiltration attempts quite a while ago.
So, it was probably before the broken engagement.
"..."
He clenched his fist tightly.
He didn't know why lately everything was only divided into before and after the broken engagement. Maybe it was because that was the only thing in his head these days.
He knew it was childish spite, but he absolutely couldn't tolerate him targeting Leticia by even invading his territory.
So he had crushed and trampled him several times.
Though he didn't want to admit it, if it hadn't been his territory, it would have been impossible to defeat Chait Pollin so overwhelmingly.
But seeing that his close associate elf had entered inside, it was clear that Leticia had ultimately encountered him.
'There were no traces of the barrier being broken.'
Chait Pollin hadn't been able to infiltrate his castle to the end. Then how had he been able to lure Leticia outside?
"Miss Rea, would that portrait be expensive?"
"It's a portrait of the previous Grand Duke, so it would be incredibly expensive."
"Oh... how much if sold?"
"Well, first your wrists would probably be cut off before that."
Ian glared from afar at the elf having trivial conversation with Leticia.
Though he had considered him insignificant, looking back, he was always at the closest side of either Chait Pollin or Leticia.
It wasn't common for an elf to maintain such close bonds with humans.
'Suspicious.'
Ian secretly assigned Jes to investigate Roche's background afterward.
Meanwhile, Chait had to return to the south. The reason was simple. Because Leticia had told him to do so.
If it were up to him, he would have wanted to trade his archbishop position with Bishop Antakas and live attached to Leticia's side, but seeing the imperial family's recent behavior, he couldn't easily give up his position.
Selena Bringston, Leticia's younger sister, was scheduled to enter as the emperor's second consort. Since Leticia had become related by marriage to that insidious emperor, Chait had to maintain power until his black heart was fully exposed.
Bishop Antakas asked about the imperial situation as soon as Chait returned. There was no sign of wariness toward him like before. He must have felt it wasn't the time for that.
The imperial family had never so openly threatened the temple until now. The current emperor was the first.
"If you think about it, the previous archbishop was someone who had exchanges with the previous emperor. With the current emperor, it was merely maintaining that relationship at status quo level."
Bishop Antakas said.
"Now that we know this emperor's ambitions are extraordinary, the temple must not let down its guard."
He was a man with ability even if he lacked hair. Having spent a long time at the temple, he skillfully united the bishops with his accumulated connections and became Chait's ally.
"Archbishop, there's one more matter I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
Chait asked.
Bishop Antakas spoke with an even more solemn expression.
"An oracle has come down."
"...The interpretation?"
"Currently in progress."
"I see. Once the interpretation is finished, we'll decide whether to announce it."
The emperor's words suddenly came to mind.
His request to privately inform only him when an oracle came down.
It was a somewhat strange thing to say.
If an oracle is announced, wouldn't it be useless talk?
But he had asked to be told only privately.
As if he was predicting that the oracle wouldn't be content suitable for announcement.
And... the emperor also knew about the woman who had taken him out of the temple.
A woman with red eyes like himself.
Coincidentally, the Corellia that Leticia mentioned today seemed to be the same person as that woman. He had that premonition.
Chait also knew that red eyes weren't common.
Chait had answered Leticia that he didn't know Corellia.
To tell her anything would require digging up his dark and damp past. He didn't particularly want to reveal that he had lived like a sewer dog in the temple's underground.
'But... the emperor aside, how did Leticia know about that woman?'
Since the emperor had tried to sell him information about that woman as the price for a deal, it wasn't something he could ignore.
He had to find Corellia both as archbishop and as Chait Pollin.
He also had to follow Leticia and watch over her.
"When the oracle's interpretation is finished and whether to announce it is decided, would it be alright to leave things to you, Bishop? There are matters related to the imperial family that I need to confirm."
At his words, Bishop Antakas nodded with a serious face.
The Bringston Marquis family was busy.
It was because of news that the eldest daughter was returning.
A marriage business that ended in broken engagement after a long 10-year engagement.
This was Marquis Bringston's shame, and furthermore, the family's shame.
"Hmm..."
The marquis developed a headache.
He had unfortunately given birth to two daughters who couldn't even become heirs, so he had tried to raise them well and sell them expensively.
To return with news of broken engagement at an advanced age—this was completely useless.
No, of course he was happy that his own child had returned alive. But... shouldn't she have come a little earlier?
When she could sell well, when things could be appropriately settled within her means.
The eldest daughter's behavior had crossed the line.
The marquis had no intention whatsoever of overlooking her transgressions kindly.
Meanwhile, Selena Bringston, the second daughter of the Bringston Marquis family, was a bit more cold-hearted than her father.
'It would have been better to just find a corpse.'
She was a greedy woman.
To satisfy her greed, she had gritted her teeth and worked hard in all areas. She was worlds apart from her sister who was half-hearted in everything and even looked half-hearted.
Despite all those efforts, when her sister's verbal engagement with Grand Duke Kahiten was confirmed as an official betrothal.
She couldn't sleep from envy. To get such a good marriage just for being the eldest daughter was unfair.
Even when she heard news that Grand Duke Kahiten hadn't abandoned her sister for 10 years, her intestines twisted with jealousy.
But now it was different. Her sister who had her engagement broken was a troublesome burden for the family, while she was a precious person who would become the imperial family's mistress.
While feeling proud that she had overwhelmed her sister, her sister's existence was deeply irritating.
She would soon become the most precious woman in the empire. Such a person shouldn't have any small flaws.
Selena clenched her fist so hard her nails dug into her flesh.
'If you block my path, I won't leave you alone even if you're my sister.'
So please just stay quiet as a mouse and disappear far away, sister.
A few days later, Leticia left with Roche.
In that short time, she must have built quite a network because there was a whole crowd giving her farewell greetings.
Ian watched Leticia hugging each of them one by one through the second-floor office window.
"Won't you go down to see her off?"
Jes asked.
"No need. She's a woman unrelated to me now."
"..."
Jes looked at Ian with narrowed eyes.
'What's with staring so persistently at an unrelated woman leaving.'
The work assigned to him now was the same. Though it was said to be related to Chait Pollin, he had immediately realized it was actually investigating someone closer to Leticia.
"Is the confirmation finished?"
"Yes. I searched and cross-referenced all thirty-two elf villages and elf-related history books."
Jes placed a piece of paper on Ian's table.
"His real name is Gladian Baydoroche. Everyone calls him Roche like a nickname, but it's actually a shortened surname."
"Gladian?"
Ian's gaze sharpened.
"Yes, it's the same Gladian Baydoroche who fled with the sacrifice during Arkidne's descent 100 years ago."
"Ha."
Ian smiled, baring his canines.
"So the people's traitor was here."
Gods occasionally foretell their descent through oracles.
That period could be a hundred years, a thousand years, or even ten thousand years.
100 years ago, an oracle announcing the god's descent came to Arkidne Temple.
Believers enjoyed festivals while sprinkling holy water on their bodies, and fanatics went crazy, hitting their heads on altars.
It was that shocking an event.
Since Kahiten's existence had been extinguished and Helias was indifferent to all things, there was no god other than Arkidne that ordinary people could feel with their skin.
That was exactly why Arkidne came to have the most believers.
Since Ian was unborn at that time, he had only experienced those events through texts and pictures, but he could fully feel their fervor.
'You could call it collective madness.'
You could tell just from the disheveled handwriting of preserved ancient documents. They were collectively insane.
'Since they weren't in their right minds, they would have committed such meaningless acts.'
The oracle said that on the day of the god's descent, a vessel for manifestation was needed.
A vessel born with the strongest holy power.
They decided to sacrifice the 'saint' blessed by god at that time.
Just before the saint reached death on the pyre, a long-eared different race kidnapped her.
It was Gladian Baydoroche.
He was subsequently wanted for 100 years. A whole 100 years. It was a wanted order considering an elf's lifespan.
Discrimination against different races became widespread in most regions except the north around that time.
"That guy is still alive."
Ian narrowed his eyes.
"Fascinating."
The one who was a traitor to Arkidne Temple 100 years ago and the current Arkidne Archbishop had stayed under the same roof.
At Leticia Bringston's house.
"A coincidence more difficult than being struck by lightning."
But Leticia had nothing particularly special about her.
She had been ordinary since birth. She wasn't an illegitimate child born from some unknown woman's womb, nor was she an orphan adopted late.
She was the eldest daughter of the prestigious capital noble family, the Bringston Marquis house.
But looking at all this information laid out, her ordinariness felt rather special.
How could two extraordinary people be together in such an ordinary woman's house?
'Come to think of it, repeatedly asking about my illness wasn't ordinary either.'
That wasn't simply asking out of curiosity or worry.
When she said she wanted to know about his illness, Leticia's eyes were sparkling, filled with determination.
Like someone trying to confirm the answer to a problem they already knew the solution to.
'Knowing the solution.'
Leticia Bringston knew the cure for his illness. No... if she had known, she would have either threatened him with that fact or simply told him the cure.
Leticia only repeatedly asked questions but ultimately knew nothing.
Just as Ian was shaking his head to dispel his suspicions about her.
Suddenly, a memory flashed through his head.
'I missed you, Lord Kahiten.'
Leticia had called him that while in a daze. Lord Kahiten.
A woman who wasn't even a dwarf...
"...What on earth was she dreaming about?"