This made things clear.

This man, Zahid el Carnoire, was definitely hitting on me.

From the moment we first met till today, Zahid has been discreetly trying to win over my heart.

The reason behind such attempts was simple.

He needed a foolproof way to keep me leashed.

For as long as Cheryl and Ethan are held as hostages, running away isn’t an option for me.

Alas, exceptions always exist, and the future always remains uncertain.

Zahid wanted to get rid of such uncertainties.

Hence, he was trying to tie me down with the most secure way to do so: with love.

Love is the most effective tool one can use to keep another chained by their side.

In all honesty, there probably wasn’t a single person in the world that can resist his alluring temptations

Luckily, I was very well aware of his true character.

In the original novel, he was described as an utter sociopath drenched in ambition.

All of his actions were based on meticulous calculations

He was a man more than capable of eating me alive fully sober if his plans weren’t to work out.

Knowing this helped me keep my guard up when dealing with him.

If I hadn’t known, I surely would have ended up chained by his side forever.

His beauty did that to people.

“Aerta!”

“A, Aerta!”

As soon as I got back to the annex wing of the castle, I headed to the bedroom Cheryl and Ethan had been resting in.

The twins, who were chatting on the bed, came running to me as I opened the door.

They gaped at the sight of my embarrassingly blinding outfit.

In my hands were a bag of glassy fruit candy and the ownership documents.

“You guys……”

I didn’t have to look in the mirror to know that I probably looked like a fool.

Before I explained anything, I opened the bag of the clear, round treats and let their small hands reach into it.

The three of us simultaneously popped our picks into our mouths.

Cheryl, shoving the large piece into her chipmunk cheeks, pointed to the papers in my hands.

“What’s that?”

“Um, this. Well……”

Completely lost as to how to explain, I murmured under my breath.

“Well, the candy store, you see……”

“The candy store?”

“I asked him if I could get a bag of these, and he bought me the entire store.”

“......”

Cheryl and Ethan simply stared at my face, shocked and speechless.

Cheryl broke the silence with a sigh.

“Aerta?”

She called, urging me for an explanation of the entire situation.

We didn’t have a chance to properly talk about what was going on right now, thanks to Gale.

That bastard.

When I was struggling to find how to begin explaining our situation, Ethan confidently flung his finger towards what seemed to be a heap of clothing and accessories.

The clothes must have made it here while we were looking through the other stores.

With a resolute look on his face, Ethan opened his mouth.

“I d, don’t need stuff like that. Cheryl said so a, as well……”

“Mhm, we don’t need any of that.”

The twins stared straight into my eyes.

“Just tell me, Aerta. Are you really getting married because you’re in love with him?”

I was about to say yes, but what Cheryl said afterward made me swallow my words.

“But him, he’s……”

Her face turned pale in retrospect and quietly whispered under her breath.

“Super scary……”

Publicly, Zahid always wore the facade of a chivalrous gentleman, luring people in with his ravishing looks.

The twins, however, got to see behind the mask.

Unlike me, who had already known about his character, they seemed to be quite shocked.

Had they not seen Zahid’s true colors, I might have continued to lie to them.

But I couldn’t do that anymore.

I realized that it was time I came clean to these kids.

“Cheryl, Ethan.”

It was always grueling to unveil the disturbing reality to my siblings.

I had hoped they would never find out.

“Remember the debt of five hundred million markas our parents left us?”

The twins gravely nodded.

“Well, I made a deal with His Grace. I can’t tell you the specifics, but he agreed to pay our debt under the condition that I become his wife…… But I’m not planning on being a duchess forever.”

Cheryl and Ethan were getting the point, despite the intended vagueness of my explanation.

They listened carefully and took each word with gravity.

“We will be leaving this castle after five years.”

I proclaimed.

Were Cheryl and Ethan to manifest into wizards, even the Duke of Carnoire himself wouldn't be able to walk all over us.

At least in terms of power, we were a pretty good match.

The plan was to run away to a foreign country, where I would make deals with other wizards for them to keep us from harm.

The original storyline also entailed the protagonist going against the other wizards.

One small thing, though: I wasn’t sure if we would be able to beat Zahid.

Wizards are usually assigned an element - fire, water, wind, or earth - upon their manifestation, and only one of each elemental wizard is born in a single generation.

But Zahid was born a wizard capable of controlling all four elemental powers.

Thus, instead of there being four wizards, as usual, there were five this generation.

Not once in the entire history of all the lands was there an anomaly as such.

Being the special protagonist that he was, Zahid was incredibly powerful.

However, I believed that we had somewhat of a chance.

Things were different - I was alive.

With the support of the Purifier behind their backs, Cheryl and Ethan might just be able to defeat Zahid.

“So, if we could just survive here at the Carnoire castle for the next five years……”

I stopped as the twins surprised me with a group hug.

Ethan, squeezing me as tight as he could with his squishy arms, looked straight into my eyes.

“T, things were tough, huh Aerta?”

I was rendered speechless for a moment; all I could do was smile quietly.

I loved how they cared for me ever so dearly.

Hence, with these two by my side, nothing could wear me down.

However, I could not deny the creeping fear growing in the side of my mind.

If the flirtatious devil figures out that he could become complete with the flesh and blood of a purifier……

He might just change his mind and devour me alive.

***

-Snip, snip.

The sound of shears snipping rang through the quiet, heavy air.

With each snip of the ornate silver shears, wilted leaves and crooked branches fell to the ground.

The man lifted his gaze from the small, perfectly pruned shrub of roses and opened his sleek lips.

“So, you’re saying that the Ducal House of Carnoire deposited five hundred million markas, correct?”

The priest, who was obsequiously bowing on the ground by the man, responded.

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

“A strange occurrence, indeed.”

He whispered under his breath, running his fingers through the loose strands of his hair. The silver locks, loosely held together with a tie, glistened in the sunlight.

“Why would the Ducal House of Carnoire step in out of nowhere?”

“......”

Despite the priest’s desperate attempts to conjure up an answer to his question, nothing came out of his mouth.

How could he give an answer he did not have?

Beads of anxious sweat seeped through the priest's temples and slowly rolled down his cheeks.

It almost seemed as though he was shedding tears.

Without even a blink of an eye at the pitiful priest, the man continued nonchalantly.

“I am well aware of the House of Arlez. They are known for producing paladins and Holy City guards……”

A subtle grin spread on his face.

“Debtors with five-hundred million markas in debt for that long aren’t that common, isn’t that so?”

“...... Forgive me, Your Holiness.”

“No, no. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

He corrected the priest, breezily shaking his head.

“The lenience was granted for the long-term benefits it was supposed to bring, and besides, I gave my approval as well back then.”

It was a rare occurrence, even for the Church, to let a debtor go on so long without paying off their debt while only paying small interest.

But one must not believe that such lenience was a product of compassion and mercy.

The Arlez family has been loyal servants of the Church for generations.

Had the authorities taken care of the Arlez debt the way they did with other debtors, the other holy city paladins would be incredibly discouraged.

The man had weighed the value of five hundred markas with the future gains such lenience was to bring and had arrived at the conclusion that showing a bit of mercy wouldn’t hurt.

Of course, mercy didn’t mean total forgiveness of the debt.

The plan was to at least milk some interest out of them till the cows passed away……

But the plan went down the drain when the Ducal House of Carnoire swooped in out of nowhere.

The man rested his silver shears on a small platter.

“Why on earth would Duke Carnoire pay such a large sum and take her in as the Duchess? That doesn’t sound like a very good deal on his end.”

It was publicly known that he had fallen in love with the girl from the slums, hence he had swooped her off her feet.

This man, however, knew Duke Carnoire too well to believe such nonsense.

“The Duke I know isn’t someone capable of falling in love so blindly……”

He caressed one of the roses, which was showing off its luscious red petals, with his slender fingers and smiled.

“I wonder what’s going on behind those curtains. Should we ask the new bride? After all, the Duke is quite a sly fellow. He’ll be impossible to deal with.”

Of course, this was a rhetorical question.

The priest simply bowed his head, waiting for the man’s orders, who soon continued in a sing-songy voice.

“I will be sending her a personal invitation. We shall have her over at the Holy City for a chat.”

The invitation would be under the name of Saint Zenoxius, the Pope.

Upon the Pope’s words, the priest propped his head up out of surprise.

But upon meeting the Pope’s black, limpid eyes, he drove his forehead back onto the ground.

St. Zenoxius let out a small chuckle at the sight.

“Get everybody ready. We’ve got a guest.”

The priest responded with a trembling voice as he wiped the beads of cold sweat off his face.

“As you wish.”

“Very well. You may leave now.”

“Thank you, Your Holiness.”

As soon as he was granted permission, the tremulous priest scampered away.

Zenoxius, standing alone in the garden, let out a laugh at the sight of the priest scurrying off in fear.

Though he probably heard the dehumanizing laughter, the priest was not able to say a single thing back.

The Pope found the inability of his inferiors to say anything back even while being treated horrendously quite laughable

Alas, his inferiors did not have much of a choice, to begin with.

Within the Holy City, your status was determined solely by the divine power you were vested with, and Zenoxius happened to be on the top of that pyramid.

People believed that this divine power was bestowed upon by the Divine and that you would be able to truly foster it through prayer and penance.

Thus, they would believe that those with greater power held stronger faiths.

This generation’s pope, Saint Zenoxius, was one of the most powerful out of all the popes there had ever been.

He was praised to be the most beloved by the Divine - the one with the purest soul.

Yet, Zenoxius was fully aware of the truth.

Such powers were not something the Divine bestows upon you.

It was nothing more than a talent you are born with, just like those of wizards.

The only difference was that one appeared to be brighter and aesthetically pleasing than the other.

That was all it took for people to genuinely believe that the former was a gift of the Divine.

People didn’t ever think to doubt what this power truly signified.

So much so, that Zenoxius was able to become the Pope for the sole reason that he possessed the strongest divine powers.

“The Pope” was an incredibly convenient title for him.

Under the name of the Divine, Zenoxius committed all the manslaughter he could.

The senior priests had realized his blood-thirsty nature at one point.

However, they turned a blind eye due to his title as the most powerful Pope in the history of the Church.

Thus began the tyrannical reign of Zenoxius.

One thing that stood in the way of the almighty pope himself, was the existence of wizards.

They were just as powerful as the Pope himself.

In his eyes, such pagans did not deserve all that power.

And then there was Zahid el Carnoire, the only wizard in the empire that had the ability to control all four elements.

Though on the outside he seemed to be the polar opposite of Zenoxius, they were fundamentally quite similar.

The moment Zenoxius obtained the news of the Duke’s sudden engagement, he instinctively pieced it together.

A woman worth five-hundred million markas -

A choice ever so rash -

Yet worth the risk -

Aerta Arlez must be the Purifier.

“What to do……”

Zenoxius murmured under his breath as he picked up his silver shears.

He filled his head with delightful musings, mercilessly snipping away the jagged branches and flowers.

‘What if I used the Purifier to turn the wizards against each other?’

That seemed pretty amusing on its own to him, but for sure the most exciting scenario would be for him to take Aerta’s life in front of Duke Carnoire’s own eyes.

How utterly breathtaking it would be to kill the Purifier right underneath a wizard’s nose!

Just the thought of it brought a content smile to his face.

A flash of curiosity occurred in Zenoxius’s mind.

If the Purifier could relieve wizards of their malignity……

What effect would she have on a Pope’s divine powers?

***

The overwhelming first day in the Carnoire castle has finally come to an end.

The Duke thankfully agreed to let the three of us spend the first night here together.

But from now onwards, I had to share a bedroom with Zahid because of the possible rumors that may arise otherwise.

From the moment I opened my eyes in the morning, the thought of having to get in bed with Zahid cluttered my mind.

Such worrying didn’t last for long, as a busy day awaited me.

Dymon the butler came to pick me up from the annex wing.

I was to begin my Duchess lessons today at Zahid’s office.

He was to personally teach me all I needed to know to survive in high society.

Before I got to that, I was to learn how to take care of the castle administration from Dymon.

Zahid had ordered him to give me some of Dymon’s duties, such as budgeting, supply management, paperwork filing, and basic accounting.

Thankfully, these weren’t too hard to get used to.

The real problem stood elsewhere.

The capital’s high society was going crazy over the unforeseen debut of the new Duchess in town.

Before I even had the chance to get through the first batch of various invitations and letters, ten more poured in.

As if this wasn’t already giving me headaches, things got even more complicated.

“We are planning to hold the wedding on the earliest possible date. The merchants with the wedding necessities should arrive today at the castle, so we must promptly begin preparations……”

“Pardon me, Dymon, a wedding?”

“Yes, my lady.”

The old butler gave me a confused look.

“A wedding.”

I muttered to myself.

I thought the contract we signed was all there was to this marriage, but Zahid was really going full-out with it.

He was planning on having a very ostentatious wedding, at which he would introduce me to the entirety of the empire’s nobility.

I was assuming that it was a territorial thing; a warning to those out there to keep their hands off of his duchess.

The thought of surviving through a wedding cluttered my mind when a light-hearted knock caught my attention.

Before I even got the chance to let the person in, the door flung open.

“Hello, Aerta.”

“......Zahid?”

I managed to hold myself back from adding the ‘Master’ at the beginning with difficulty.

He strode across the room and planted a kiss on my forehead.

At the touch of his lips, an intense warmth spread on my face.

I noticed Dymon struggling to keep a straight face upon witnessing Zahid publicly display affection.

It must have been genuinely unsettling to watch, especially since Dymon happened to be one of the few that knew about Zahid’s true personality.

I gently pushed him back.

“What are you doing here?”

“Why, I’m here to see my wife, of course. I didn’t get a chance to do so this morning, no?”

I thought he was here for Dymon.

Instead, he was here for me.

I caught Zahid’s violet eyes, to notice that something seemed to be bothering him.

While I was scanning his face to figure out what it was that had upset him, he opened his crookedly smiling lips.

“And I brought the mail.”

In his hand was a pure-white paper envelope.

Peeking to figure out who it could be from, I laid my eyes on a large golden seal.

The same unforgettable seal that I have seen my entire life.

“It’s a correspondence to you from the Holy City authorities.”

I lowered my stiff gaze to see who the sender was.

It was from none other than Pope Zenoxius himself.