The Tragedy of The Villainess

Late evening that day.

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High Priest Jubelud signed the transfer of divine power in support of Grand Duke Berg this year, and even stamped the seal of the Great Temple, then walked out of his office.

He hoped this would make Grand Duke Berg feel a little better.
Grand Duke Jubelud sighed.
It was regrettable that Seria and Lesche Berg would be leaving the temple so soon tomorrow.
He also felt that if Seria and Lina were on good terms, there would be no reason for them to leave like that.

‘I wish the Saintess would be more mature…’

Lina said that the world she had been living in from the beginning had changed, so she had to be careful about the temple.

Lesche Berg was waiting for her in the private reception room.

“Thank you for your patience.
Grand Duke Berg, here are the documents I’ve stamped.
Please accept them and come back later to visit with Stern.”

Lesche, who had been looking out the window, turned around.
He walked on his long legs and sat on the couch.
And… his expression.

“High priest Jubelud.”

It was still very bad.

Was it because he was called during the social season?

“When I bring my wife back, will you use the sacred relic to extract her power again?”

“What?”

What an outrageous thing to say.
….

“She’s getting thinner.”

“Stern?”

“Seria didn’t eat much of the temple food before…She couldn’t even eat properly.”

“That’s….”

Seria was only newsworthy in the temple.
It was a fact known to all priests who were interested in Stern.

“When you made such a big deal out of the discovery of the Constellation Gold Mine, now you’re so distracted by the Saintess and treating my wife poorly?”

“Treat her poorly? No, Your Highness! Please calm down.”

“Shouldn’t the priests be the first to make a request? What the hell…..”

It was only belatedly that High Priest Jubelud knew that Lesche’s mood was really bottoming out.
With Lesche’s eyes sunk in anger, the High Priest couldn’t help but make an excuse.

“It’s true that I paid more attention to the problem of the Saintess’s child, but I’m definitely not neglecting Stern…”

“That’s a nice story, High Priest.
Does your treatment of Stern change depending on whether or not you have the Saintess’s child in the Great Temple? I can’t imagine such a faithless relationship.”

“…….”

The accusation left High Priest Jubelud momentarily speechless.

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“In the Central Territories, under no circumstances is Stern the most valuable.
I hope you understand it clearly.”

“…….”

Those were words that could only be said because he was Grand Duke Berg, the guardian of the demons’ tomb.
It was also serious enough to send shivers down the spines of the listeners.
Originally, Lina was also a Stern, and there was also another Stern, Myote, but it didn’t matter to Lesche.

He said with a cold smile.

“Okay.
And by the way, my wife will serve the Grand Duchy of Stern in Berg.”

“What?”

“It seems to me that it’s difficult for you to serve your precious Saintess already.
I can’t believe you treat Stern poorly…….
I have never heard of it in all of Berg’s history.”

“……!”

So Lesche told them to hold their Saintess and get lost.

High Priest Jubelud’s face naturally turned pale.
Whether or not, Lesche stood up with only the papers.
The High Priest reached out and grabbed Lesche’s without realizing it, but he couldn’t even hold on.

The High Priest staggered lightly, and called in the other priests.

“Were the remaining Sterns uncomfortable after I followed the Saintess earlier?”

“Well… it was actually Myote Stern…”

After High Priest Jubelud heard the story, he was horrified.

But there was no time to stop her, Seria Stern left early the next morning, and Myote Stern also left the Great Temple without staying another few days.

 

***

12.The two Saints

***

 

“Welcome back, Grand Duke, Grand Duchess.”

It had been a long time since Seria had been back to Berg Main Castle, and she felt like she had arrived home.
It was an unfamiliar feeling, but she felt calm and at ease.
She had no reason to think that she wasn’t home.

Ben and Susan didn’t come, because after staying in the main castle for a while, she had to go back to the Imperial mansion in the capital again.
Still, there were always a great number of live-in servants here, so it was not particularly inconvenient.

“Should we stop by the Laurel manor before going up to the capital?”

Surprisingly, Lesche shook his head with concern.

”I think it’s better if they don’t see you.”

“What?”

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“If Susan or Ben see you, they will yell first.”

“After seeing me? Why?”

Seria was dumbfounded.

“Let’s eat more.”

Lesche cut the bread directly for Seria.
Seria refused, saying she was too full, but Lesche finally fed her a few more slices.
And yet, he didn’t seem to like it..

Anyway, in Berg’s main castle, there was nothing to do, and no nobles to meet right now.
Seria was bored for over a week and spent some time lounging around in the big castle.
The weather was already early summer.

After the short outing, Seria returned to her residence in the capital.

“Grand Duchess!”

“Welcome back.”

Susan and Ben welcomed Seria with bright smiles and immediately looked at her strangely.

“What’s wrong?”

“Why are you so thin?”

“Did you have a hard time?”

“……?”

It was true that Seria had lost some weight after visiting the Great Temple.
She had used a large amount of divine power this time, and the issue with Lina’s child took a toll on her.

She ate well in the Berg’s main castle, but neither of them seemed to believe in it at all.
So she told them about the menu, remembering what she had eaten so far.
Then Susan said, “Oh.”

“It’s not a problem with the menu.
The Grand Duchess needs to go to bed earlier in the evening.”

Seria coughed.

It was also true that she still didn’t gain weight even though Lesche tried to feed her a lot of food in the main castle…

She felt a little embarrassed, because the reason she was thinking about it alone and the reason Susan was thinking were similar.
(*too much s*x )

After a quick check of the luggage being unloaded from the carriage, Seria took a bath, dried her hair, and quickly tidied up the internal affairs that had accumulated.
While she was away for a while, she received letters of regards and invitations from all over the place….

One of them was a letter from Duke Howard.
It seemed like an ordinary greeting letter, but it was a letter that secretly showed a desire for Abigail.

Moreover, the carriage with Berg’s crest on it had crossed the capital today, so she was looking forward to seeing what kind of letters she would receive again tomorrow.

After she wrote a reply to Marlesana’s letter, Seria walked around the mansion.
The Berg mansion has a clever butler and maids, but the hostess had to check things.
Just because…

After checking everything, three or four hours had flown by.

Returning to the bedroom earlier than usual, Seria lay still on the soft bed.

She lifted the circlet on her neck above her field of vision, then pressed the red gem in the center of the concave.

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Her vision immediately became cloudy.
When she opened her eyes….

There was Tuban.

“…….”

She thought his appearance might have changed a bit, but it remained the same.
This time, he was still as motionless as ever, and the bizarre visuals that made people faint were still the same.

How she wanted to come and punch him in the face because he took the blue diamond….She cleared her throat a few times, adjusted her neck, and opened her mouth.

“Tuban.”

She instinctively knew that the less time she had to stay here, the better, so she began to ask.

“What is the jewel you painted on the insignia? Do you have a name for it? If I don’t know the name, I can’t find the jewel.”

Earlier, she went to the prayer room in the mansion, and when she checked the insignia, there was a painting of a new gemstone on it.

It was the gemstone she had never seen before, unlike her blue diamond from last time.
She asked what kind of gem this was, but of course she got no answer.
Then she deliberately pressed the red gemstone in the center of the circlet.

Again, on the weightless Stern insignia, still in her hand, letters began to be engraved.

“…Mermaid Spring? Is it that bright blue gem?”

Seria flinched at the unfamiliar name.

“Oh, my.
How can I get that?”

It was impossible for her not to know about the jewel.
In the Glick Empire, it was customary to give blue flowers to brides.
Like the handkerchief that Susan had embroidered for her with blue flowers when her marriage was approved by the imperial family.

In the original story, when Lina married Lesche, she also received blue flowers.

A precious jewel in the shape of a blue flower, to be exact.

The name of that jewel was “Mermaid Spring”.

Unlike Seria’s blue diamond, which she could see everyday, she only remembered the description of “Mermaid Spring” and didn’t notice it because she didn’t see it in person.

“If I find the Mermaid Spring, I can bring another gem to break the seal, right? Make sure to write the name of the last jewel on the insignia next time.
I can’t come here often.”

Seria tilted her head.
Tuban answered in one short word.
The short answer reminded her of Lesche in a strange way.
Perhaps Tunab was not a long talker either?

“And…Tuban.”

She asked carefully.

“You know Lina, don’t you? What’s the relationship between Lina and Magi?….Whoa! Please don’t throw up blood! I won’t ask!”

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Tuban vomited red blood again.
Seria screamed and grabbed a handful of Tuban’s hair and wiped the blood.

“Why do you keep vomiting blood?  I’ll have to hurry up and find the jewel or something.
Seriously.
Phew.”

She was worried that if she stayed here long, she wouldn’t be able to wake up in reality.
She told Lesche in advance that she would come.

On the one hand, it was frustrating.

“You took my Blue Diamond, shouldn’t a third of the seal be released by now?  How can you eat something so expensive and not be able to talk?”

An unexpected answer came back to her complaint that she wanted the blue diamond back.

“…What?”

That was all of what was written on the Stern insignia.
And since Tuban was bleeding a lot, she felt like she was struck by lightning.

“….abandoned Stern?”

It was not something that anyone could do.

At the same time, the words that kept running through her head.

Is Stern’s divine power that strong? It can’t be.
When was the last time Sterns were abandoned?

These were the meaningful words that Mies said to Lesche in the torture chamber.

Learning from the Great Temple, It was said Stern was the most brilliant evidence among the numerous evidences God showed.
Also, the reason why they were called “Stern,” which meant “star,” was because they were blessed by stars….

Star that blessed Stern.
In the Great Temple, it was called Saint.

Seria asked with a look of disbelief.

“So Stern is Saint…?

Why is the Saint of Stern so obnoxious?

At the same time, Tuban spurted out a lot of blood.
She couldn’t hear it, but she could hear the sound effect of the gushing blood.

“Tuban!”

She squealed again, wiping away the blood.
He told her to prepare for the hearing after all the jewels were found.
It was terrifying to see bright red blood gushing through the gag that Tuban, a living mummy, was biting.

But even in the midst of being scared, she thought.

Wouldn’t it be more efficient to ask one more question since he was bleeding anyway?

She glanced at Tuban and asked.

“Original story…no.
You looked like this even before I turned back time? Then why didn’t you ask Lina to help you?”