Newlywed Life Begins with a Mistake - Chapter 80

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 80

Perhaps it was because he was a cardinal who served the gods.

Though it would be natural to be curious about the reason, Arhes didn’t ask anything.

If things went wrong, not only he but even the Noctis Temple could be put in danger.

‘He declared he would help me without even asking why. How can he do that?’

Evelyn felt mixed emotions at this unfamiliar consideration.

“Would it still be valid even if I said I wouldn’t become a saint?”

“The Goddess Noctis said not to turn away from those who truly seek help. I am merely following the doctrine. So please have some tea first.”

At Arhes’ suggestion, Evelyn finally noticed the refreshments laid out on the table.

“Alright. Let me wet my throat first.”

Evelyn, sitting facing the cardinal, picked up her teacup.

Thanks to Arhes warming the tea with his divine power, warm heat enveloped her.

As her racing pulse calmed down, color gradually returned to her pale face before long.

“Thank you.”

“Not at all. Please speak comfortably when you’re ready to talk.”

When Arhes opened the conversation, Evelyn began her explanation after a moment.

From how she came to the Hetis Duchy to the situation requiring her escape.

As she rambled on about what had happened, the steaming tea had cooled to lukewarm before she knew it.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Arhes let out a long sigh after hearing Evelyn’s circumstances.

“I didn’t particularly suffer. It’s just that…”

Evelyn, who was about to deny his words, suddenly bit her lips as her throat tightened.

She had clearly resolved not to be swayed by emotions.

But again and again, impulsive feelings tore at her insides.

Seeing her tearful face, Arhes quietly offered her a handkerchief.

“I’ve made a fool of myself.”

“It’s alright. It’s not easy to cut off relationships in an instant.”

“I think we need to have a real serious discussion now.”

Evelyn, placing the handkerchief on the table, calmly revealed her thoughts.

“First, I’m planning to escape from the Hetis Duchy.”

“Since there are many people coming and going through the gates right now, how about joining one of those groups to slip out?”

“That’s good. But the problem is the tight security.”

From merchant guilds carrying supplies to envoys coming from afar.

Everyone was arriving one after another for the Heteus Banquet.

But unlike their arrival in the duchy, Casian didn’t allow them to stay within the Duke’s Mansion. He merely provided appropriate lodging according to their status and rank.

“It’s safe to say almost no one enters the Hetis Duchy itself.”

“It’s a difficult situation since they can’t reach where the Princess is staying. Do you happen to have any blueprints?”

He meant whether there was a map showing the structure of the Hetis Duchy.

That was his intention.

When Arhes asked about a part she hadn’t thought of, Evelyn couldn’t continue speaking for a moment.

“…I’m sorry. I can’t provide one right now.”

Because she had been too eager, she hadn’t properly prepared what she should have.

‘Isn’t there an alternative method?’

Even if she had nothing to offer immediately, there must be a way.

“It’s fine. It’s natural given the urgency of the situation.”

Meanwhile, Arhes comforted the troubled Evelyn and suggested they look for another method.

But Evelyn continued to ponder and devise a solution.

Just as she was racking her brains for a clever plan, a new idea flashed in her mind.

“If it’s alright, could I draw it myself?”

Though she didn’t have blueprints, she had grasped the approximate locations in her mind by walking around various parts of the manor.

Unless there was sudden construction, there was no way she could be wrong.

“That’s fine. Please draw it here.”

When Arhes brought out parchment and a quill pen, Evelyn hurriedly dipped the quill in ink and drew the blueprint on the parchment.

“Amazing! It’s really detailed.”

Arhes was immediately impressed upon seeing the blueprint Evelyn had drawn.

He had expected her to provide vague locations, but not only the internal structure of the banquet hall, but from the main manor to the annex.

It was written in detail what rooms were on each floor.

It was such a precise blueprint that an ordinary person couldn’t easily produce it.

“The knights guarding the manor are roughly this many. I don’t know the exact shift times, but there’s a brief gap at dawn.”

Meanwhile, Evelyn, who had organized the guard deployment on another piece of parchment, added in a calm tone.

“Then we’ll have to escape when the shift change occurs. Coincidentally, dawn prayers are scheduled to be held for a while by imperial command.”

“Dawn prayers by imperial command?”

“Yes. An order came down to bestow blessings according to the anniversary. Normally I would have refused, but… since it’s for a good cause, I decided to proceed.”

‘They ordered blessings to be bestowed when it’s not even a national event like Foundation Day or a birthday?’

The Emperor, who never bestows favors without a price, suddenly calling the priests of Noctis Temple to the South.

‘What on earth is he scheming?’

While Evelyn was lost in thought with a suspicious expression, Arhes spoke up.

“In any case, we’ll need more people to obscure the Duke’s vision. I’ll call for allies and look into various options.”

“If possible….”

“The West would be good, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. That would be great.”

If by any chance she could make contact with Pupu and her loyal followers, it would be of great help.

Evelyn nodded and concluded her conversation with Arhes, mentioning the necessary items like teleportation scrolls, carriages, and appearance-changing potions.

“We’ll need thorough preparations, but thanks to Your Eminence, I can see hope.”

“I’m glad I could be of help. However, could you make me one promise?”

“A promise?”

Evelyn’s face showed bewilderment at the sudden request.

Arhes hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a serious tone.

“I ask this out of concern, but please don’t be swayed by evil people and respond in kind.”

* * *

At the same time. Imperial Palace Audience Chamber.

“Your Majesty, I humbly report that there have been complications causing delays in our exchanges.”

King Shibaben, who had come to the Empire to attend the Heteus Banquet, bowed his head as he made his report.

After the Silvia incident, secret dealings were not flowing as smoothly as before. That was what he meant.

Glenn’s brow furrowed mercilessly at this.

“Ha, I thought we could meet the quota before the Foundation Festival. Do we have to postpone it again?”

Crack. Glenn, sitting at the head seat, gritted his teeth and crushed the apple in his hand.

Though he had been working on this for a long time, that day felt impossibly distant.

King Shibaben, observing Glenn’s mood, cautiously spoke up.

“We should have built the waterway somehow back then.”

“That would have been nice. But there was that damn rat who caught wind of it.”

If only the southern trade route had been completed on time a few years ago, Glenn wouldn’t be struggling like this now.

“Indeed, as long as they’re alive, using the waterway will be impossible….”

That’s right. It was an artificial transportation route connecting the trade routes they had planned to install in the South.

More precisely, they had planned to establish a new route for smooth secret dealings. If only someone hadn’t interfered.

“How about looking into the East or West now? The East won’t be easy to penetrate since the Merchant Guild holds sway there.”

King Shibaben suggested an alternative, but Glenn immediately rejected it.

“Impossible. Deception is possible, but aren’t there too many who take their cut at every checkpoint in the East?”

They were collecting excessive taxes at their own discretion under the name of noble law, even taxes that weren’t in the statutes, making continued dealings unprofitable.

Even though the taxes that actually reached Glenn weren’t much at all.

“Then what about the West?”

“There… didn’t we fail once before?”

Once, drunk on ambitious dreams, they had built a massive waterway, but problems arose during construction.

Due to an error, the actual power holder who had been running the West disappeared in an instant, and the West quickly transformed into an underworld den.

“Seeing how it became a lawless zone that even Your Majesty and the noblemen cannot control, it would be difficult to meddle with it again.”

“Right. The bigger problem is that we can’t touch the waterway that’s already been built.”

Though they somehow completed it, their focus on speed caused the foundation to collapse, and sinkholes occurred along with the fierce water flow.

“Reconstruction is a tricky matter, but having to seek cooperation from Count Heteus is what’s truly bothersome.”

Glenn had tried several times by sending his close associates to occupy the West, but he failed every time.

In a place where stabbing each other in the back by any means necessary was daily routine, Count Heteus persisted like a weed and reigned as the king of the West.

“Tsk. I should have killed them both somehow at the wedding. To think they’re still alive.”

Both the woman who lost her memory.

And that bastard who reigns as king in the underworld.

These worthless things are endlessly irritating.

“Then what do you plan to do?”

“I need to find a solution.”

He needed to discover a new route, not the existing ones.

“Should I use the temple instead?”

“Wasn’t that decided to be used as a passage for poison experiments?”

“Right. Then I’ll have to target something else for the secret dealings.”

Just as Glenn was lost in thought trying to devise a clever plan, a new scheme suddenly occurred to him.

“Ah, I could use the Heteus Banquet.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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