Things had been going well lately.
The armor was being made well, according to his requests and the transportation business was officially registered.
There were no problems internally either.
This was because Enoch carried out Anna’s duties without any hesitation as though he’d never been sick.
"What about the newspapers?"
"I brought them. I'll put them on the desk."
Every morning Enoch went out.
The purpose was to collect all the newspapers like he was currently doing.
Of course, this was something Rosenta had asked him to do.
"Well done, Enoch."
At his words, Enoch bowed his head as if it were natural. To be more precise, it would be more accurate to say that he thrust his head at Rosenta.
Rosenta hesitated for a second or so but soon stroked Enoch's hair.
He then said again,
"Well done."
After stroking his head for a while, he quickly and carefully removed his hand from his black hair.
Then, Enoch slowly raised his head.
Rosenta quickly looked away.
If it was the past, Rosenta would have made eye contact with Enoch without much thought, but now, something felt strange.
He felt the gaze on his profile.
Enoch’s brief response, which seemed to be filled with suppressed laughter, was heard.
"Yes."
Rosenta didn't answer.
He remained focused on the news, as if he were too busy reading the newspaper.
"Duke."
Black hair tickled his cheek as Enoch came close.
Enoch whispered,
"I'll go do something else."
Rosenta could see that black hair swaying smoothly like a curtain flowing in the wind.
Soon he heard his footsteps.
Click. He then heard the sound of the door being opened and closed.
Rosenta sighed reflexively.
"Sigh."
Only then did the newspapers on the desk catch his eye.
He stretched his neck gently to relieve the tension in his shoulders, which were becoming increasingly stiff.
He then straightened his posture.
"Let's go through these first."
He couldn’t miss even the smallest story. So, he read the newspaper carefully.
He’d always read the newspapers, but he’d never read them all this thoroughly.
Usually, he only read the Nota newspaper, which contained a lot of information about the capital, Nota.
"My eyes are already tired."
This was a recent ritual morning task.
As a result, it became increasingly normal for his eyes to become strained as the days passed.
After blinking a few times, he started to concentrate on the newspaper again.
"This isn’t it."
The pages kept turning.
Eventually, he reached the last page and proceeded to the next newspaper without pause.
The reason for this was very simple.
He wanted to know when one of the 'disasters' that was due to occur would take place.
‘I know what kind of disaster is coming.’
However, there was no way of knowing exactly when it would happen because many of its details were omitted from the book.
"I'm sure there's a place where a sudden infestation of bugs will occur..."
According to the original story, it was an incident under the subtitle ‘Bug Attack’.
The incident occurs after a night when a strange atmosphere engulfs the main characters, as though it were the night before a storm.
A bug the size of a pinky finger appears in a very small town.
The strange bugs form one or two colonies at first and then gradually expand their territory.
And they attack a village.
They eat everything including trees, flowers, and weeds.
As a result, the villagers suffer from famine and many people starve to death.
Eventually, the news spreads to the capital and the central government is criticized.
The reason was that the government should have learned of the incident through the local newspapers or letters from the territorial lord but failed to prevent the tragedy.
"It also serves as a means to strengthen the reputation of the saint."
‘Okay. Let’s just say that, like any other novel, there are a lot of incidents.’
But there was so little information.
The main character’s perspective was the only one described and the rest is omitted.
"It would have been nice if you could have described the date or what the weather was like."
But Rosenta was just getting started.
The corner of his mouth rose sharply at the thought of him catching the crisis in advance.
But he still hadn’t found anything in the newspaper.
‘Now that I’ve done this so many times, I feel like I’ve reached the point of automatically turning the pages.’
"This isn’t it either."
It was the moment he finished one page and prepared to turn to the next.
He let out a single exclamation.
"Oh!"
A small article at the end.
It was the clue to the 'Bug Attack' that he had been looking for for so long.
"Today's Local News"
A strange bug has appeared in a small town called Deutschen.
The worm has jet-black hair and is the size of a finger.
Fortunately, they seem to eat plants rather than harm people, so the villagers are slowly trying to identify the bugs.
If anyone knows anything about bugs, a reward is being offered.
***
The first thing Rosenta did after finding the article was to visit the Imperial Palace.
The reason was quite simple.
Because Yura was the most important part of solving this problem.
In fact, even in the novel, there was a very detailed description of how Yura's voice defeated all bugs.
‘Of course, there’s no way I can defeat these bugs.’
So, before proceeding, he thought it was most important to check Yura's condition.
"Duke? What brings you here……. His Majesty is in the Imperial Office."
He shook his head because he’d come to meet Yura.
He was determined to find her.
"I came to see the Holy Lady, not His Majesty. Where is she?"
Perhaps that's why the maid seemed surprised as if she had heard a very unexpected response.
He repeated,
"Where is the saint?"
"Ah…… she must be wandering around the office again today."
"Wandering around?"
There was something strange about the maid’s words.
She didn’t say she went to the office to see Theodore, but that she was wandering around near his office.
It's sounded as though she had been rebuffed and was lingering about.
Had their relationship really changed so much?
"I see."
He lightly nodded once or twice and then turned away.
He began to head to the office.
There was no hesitation in his steps because it was a place he’d been to countless times.
So, he walked for a while and eventually reached the gates of Theodore's castle.
But it didn't seem it would be necessary to go inside.
"Saint."
This is because Yura, with a frighteningly firm expression, came out from the gate.
When her gaze landed on him, standing in front of her, there was a cold energy in Yura's eyes.
It looked chilly for some reason.
"You must have met His Majesty."
"No, I didn't."
It wasn't just her facial expression. Yura’s tone was actually quite sharp.
Although it was rare that they met, her response was aggressive to this casual question.
"Does my expression look like I met with His Majesty?"
"…… I must have been rude. I'm sorry."
"Yes, that's all you need to know."
Yura tried to walk past him.
But Rosenta couldn't just let her leave like this.
The reason why he’d come here despite the hassle was to have a conversation with Yura.
"Saint, wait a minute…"
In a hurry, he grabbed Yura's wrist.
This was a serious mistake.
The other party wasn't Vivian, with whom he had a close relationship. As a result, this type of contact was extremely rude.
"What's wrong with you?"
He had nothing to say even when Yura slapped his hand hard and got angry.
Slap.
"Are you looking down on me because you think I don’t understand etiquette? Are you treating me like I’m an idiot?"
However, he couldn't just listen to this over-interpretation.
He tried to open his mouth and offer an explanation to Yura.
But even that was blocked by Yura.
"That's enough. You don't like me, anyway. I know everything."
"……what?"
"As expected, the duke is just like Lady Marigold."
This felt a little off.
It felt like she was trying to link him and Vivian together in order to shame them.
He was the only one who’d made a mistake towards Yura in this situation.
‘But why is Vivian...’
"Don't think you can act like this because you have a little status in this world. Where I’m from, someone like you couldn’t even casually make eye contact with me."
For a moment, the words Vivian had said to him came to mind.
Now that Yura was acting like this in front of him, he could see all of that was true.
It didn't really matter whether the heroine had this personality or not.
But he was annoyed.
Regardless of the insect attack or whatever else, he was annoyed that he had tried to make friends with someone like this to avert the disaster.
"Saint, when you speak like that, it seems like it’s you who looks down on people."
"Ha! What did you say?"
"If you were so one-sidedly wronged and pure here, it would never have occurred to you to flaunt your status over ‘someone like me’ in this situation."
Yura tightly clenched her teeth, as if she was speechless at his refutation.
Then, she stared at him fiercely. Her eyes were so sharp that he couldn't believe she was called a saint.
He stared straight into those eyes.
Then, for the first time in his life, Rosenta looked down and laughed as if he were laughing at someone.
"Let me advise you. It would be best not to speak recklessly about people who aren't here."
Yura shuddered.
The people passing by, Yura's maids, all looked at them.
But no one came forward to defend her.
His laughter gradually grew stronger.
"Then I'll take my leave."
It was certain, other people had changed as well.
If it were before, they would have chastised him saying something like, 'How dare you be so rude to the saint!'
Of course, now, no one said anything at all.
As a result, this confirmation alone made him think that this trip to the Imperial Palace was worthwhile.
Had he even taken ten steps?
From behind his back, Yura's raging was heard.
"I hate you more than anyone!"
He didn't even look at her expression, but he remembered Yura's hate-filled face.
‘What did I even do?’
It made him feel wronged. He looked back because he was speechless.
"What's wrong with you?!"
Yura kept pouring out offensive words at him.
He wasn't the only one who was embarrassed by this situation. Those around him also stood there wide-eyed.
No matter how bad his relationship with Yura was, he felt like he had to stop her at this point.
If she went further from here, the rumors would spread throughout the palace.
"Saint."
He quickly approached Yura.
He shook his head and tried to prevent Yura's self-destruction.
"You should stop..."
"Did you just tell me to stop? Why should I stop?"
He couldn’t believe she was so upset without even telling him why.
Increasingly, he grew annoyed, too.
In the end, an unflattering tone popped out.
"Stop."
"…… what's that tone? You think it’s okay to speak to a saint like this?"
"I think you should really pay attention to your own tone."
"I wonder if His Majesty is aware of this side of you."
‘Why is she suddenly bringing up Theodore?’
This strange flow of conversation caused him to wrinkle his forehead.
While wondering if he should even answer her question seriously, an answer came from an unexpected place.
Theodore made his appearance.
"Of course I know."
The fuss seemed to have been conveyed to the office.
Rosenta had come here without telling Theodore, yet he’d come out of the office on his own.
"Having been together for a long time, I can be confident that I know the duke better than anyone else..."
Theodore couldn't finish his sentence. He hesitated for a while.
Then, he came to an ambiguous conclusion.
"I'm proud..."
His eyes and voice were shaking as if he were not confident.
Rosenta couldn't believe it.
He glanced at Yura. Fortunately, she had been panicking ever since Theodore's appearance.
Because of that, she didn't seem to properly hear Theodore's strange response.
There was a sigh of relief.
At the same time, fatigue rushed in. He closed his eyes for a moment and pressed his temple with his thumb.
"Are you okay?"
Suddenly, Theodore firmly held his shoulder.
However, although it was Theodore who had grabbed his shoulder, he seemed to be the most surprised.
He took a step back and even darted his eyes.
"Your Majesty?"
"Ah! That, that…"
He covered his mouth with his big hand and lowered his head like an adolescent boy.
He could see Theodore's face gradually ripening red.
Concerned, he tried to bring his hand toward his face.
But Yura blocked him.
"Don't touch him."
With a wary look at her rival, she tried to take move him away from Theodore.
He let out a spontaneous laugh.
"You!"
‘We’re not filming a love triangle drama. What am I even doing here?’
This treatment was unpleasant.
"I'll be going."
Theodore raised his head.
The heat that had been turning him red was disappearing.
"What? Since you’re here, it would be nice to stay a little longer…"
"I came to see the saint in the first place, but I think it's better to go because I think I'm done with my business."
He turned away firmly.
It was clear that, no matter how Theodore tried to stop him, he had no intention of staying.