29.
Hyude smiled bitterly and stepped back.
The Duke and Duchess were nobles, after all. They found the very notion of Judith marrying a commoner pitiful. Even if it were a remarriage, should the Duke and Duchess intervene, Judith could easily wed back into the nobility. She was strikingly beautiful; surely, many young nobles would take an interest. There would likely be a line of vassal families eager to present themselves as suitable candidates, all to curry favor with the Ducal House.
*Right. Master must be right.*
He felt as though he had been rejected, even without ever having had the chance to confess. They had spoken so easily late last night—he had momentarily forgotten his own station. Judith had simply been kind, a grace offered to him as a commoner. Perhaps he was the only one who had imagined they were a match.
*Master knew everything all along. Everything he said was true.*
Hyude walked listlessly toward Judith’s room. Regardless of his feelings, he still had to deliver the Master’s reply.
*How I wish I were a noble.*
Startled by this thought—something he had never considered before—he shook his head vigorously. He told himself to abandon such useless reveries and focus on being a good acquaintance to Judith until the very end.
He met Judith while carrying medicine meant to relieve hangovers. Judith was reading a book with Karl.
“Hmm, Hyude?”
Karl waved, pleased to see him. “What’s that?”
“Ah…”
Karl was unaware of the truth. The boy was convinced beyond a doubt that Judith was pregnant with Ekian’s child. So, Hyude winked at Judith and said,
“This is medicine for nausea. It is effective for the day after excessive drinking, or prescribed for those expecting.”
“Ah, that is a welcome remedy. Thank you.”
Judith accepted the medicine and drank it. Hyude handed her the letter he had brought from the Master.
“I was also asked to deliver this while I was out in the city.”
“Oh my. Thank you so much for this as well.”
Without guessing anything of Hyude’s sunken spirits, Judith smiled brightly and accepted the letter.
* * *
That evening.
As soon as Judith was left alone in her room, she unfolded the letter.
[The Marquis and Marchioness Shoden are staying in their estate, but they are currently residing in their townhouse in the capital to attend the Imperial Palace banquet this month.]
Reading the short message, Judith gasped.
“The capital? They’re nearby?”
The Marquis and Marchioness Shoden—Hyude’s biological parents. They, too, were still desperately searching for the son they had lost as a child.
*Just like the Duke and Duchess Mayous who continue to wait for Ekian…*
Judith smiled bitterly. She knew well that parental affection was immense. While working as a tutor, she had seen parents obsessed with their children’s every affair. Her own parents had never treated her that way—which was lonely at times—but she had long ago brushed it off, telling herself, *That’s just how my life is.* It was a fact she had accepted from a very young age.
Whenever she encountered such parents, a part of her heart ached, but she knew it was best to move past it as calmly as possible.
*I must meet the Marquis and Marchioness Shoden first.*
However, she had never met them. She couldn’t just march up to them and declare, “The son you’ve been searching for is working as the Mayous Ducal House’s physician, Hyude Lamis.”
If they asked, “How did you know?” she would have no proper answer. And she now held the position of the “Young Duchess Mayous.” Acting suspiciously would only cause trouble for the Mayous Ducal House.
*As naturally as possible… without arousing suspicion from the Duke and Duchess Mayous… is there no way?*
Judith stared at the note, lost in thought. It was nothing special, but she felt that if she gazed at it long enough, an answer would appear.
The capital… they had come to the capital.
*Ah, now that I think about it.*
As Judith focused on the word “capital,” she let out a small gasp.
*The Marquis and Marchioness Shoden will visit that place again, too.*
In the original story, whenever the couple came to the capital, there was one place they always visited in secret: The Shrine of the Last Priestess.
The shrine of the priestess Chaska, called the “Last Priestess” because she was the final successor of the Oilte tribe who could foresee the future, was located on the outskirts of the capital. After the clan, which had practiced intermarriage on a small island, collapsed, Chaska came to the Empire alone. She was naturalized twenty-five years ago after asking the current Emperor only for the land to build a “small shrine.”
Chaska lived in seclusion, never showing her powers to anyone. Then, a few years later, she vanished. There were rumors in the city that she had been pregnant, though it remained unverified. Yet, the incense in the shrine never went out. Without anyone to clean or visit, that small sanctuary, dominated by a large portrait of Chaska, remained as pristine and quiet as it had been twenty-five years ago.
*I heard that even the candles and flowers near the shrine remain exactly as they are, as if time has stopped, regardless of rain or snow. It is a place where a truly strange power lingers…*
After some, including Imperial knights, tried to extinguish the lights and trample the grounds, only to emerge having gone mad, the citizens no longer touched the shrine. Instead, those with desperate desires often went there to pray.
*The Marquis and Marchioness Shoden pray for their son’s well-being at that shrine every morning when they visit the capital.*
Judith crossed her arms, pondering.
*I can run into them there. And… I can pretend I heard something. No one knows anything about the power of the priestess anyway.*
The moment she remembered her past life—the way she came to know the events of this world as if reading a book—she felt a chill. She had navigated life’s obstacles easily, but she still didn’t know why these strange events were happening to her.
She had only told the Duchess Mayous that she “dreamed strange dreams related to the future.” If she attributed her knowledge to the power of a priestess, she might find Hyude’s biological parents without raising alarm.
*Let’s go tomorrow.*
To do that, she would need permission from the Duchess Mayous. Wouldn’t it suffice to say she had a dream that she should visit that place? Externally, she could frame it as a trip for the peace of the baby in her womb.
*I should get permission before it gets too late.*
Just as Judith stood to compose her thoughts, there was a knock.
*Hm? Master?*
The sound came from the secret passage, not the door. Judith spoke while still standing.
“Please, come in.”
She remained puzzled. He had no specific business, and even if he did, couldn’t he send a letter via Hyude? Why did he insist on navigating the Ducal Mansion daily? If the Duke and Duchess discovered him, it would be catastrophic.
As she prepared to give him a piece of her mind, the Master stepped into the room. He wore his usual mask and pitch-black clothing, his expression unreadable.
Judith didn’t hesitate.
“What is it?”
“You ask for business the moment you see me. Are we the kind of relationship that only meets when there is business?”
“Yes.”