Thanks to Elisha’s cunning, Lucerne only found out that Merha had insulted her when he arrived in the capital.
“Have you been hiding anything else like that until now?”
He rebuked Nora as if the situation was ludicrous.
“Lucerne, you stayed with me until we got home. No wonder Nora didn’t have time to report.”
“Right, you go to your room and rest.”
“… … .”
It was even frightening to hear sweet and calm words when it was certain he was probably very angry. Elisha clearly saw his eyes moving towards the sword.
“Lucerne, you’re not going to fight Merha are you?”
“Not long ago I attacked the temple’s knights, why would I do it again?”
Elisha thought his common sense was more frightening. Lucerne was such a proud man that he would consider the insults towards his wife an insult to him.
“What are you up to?”
He chuckled.
“Our model student. Think carefully. What was Archbishop Rosaria’s favorite saying?”
“You mean the saying before the tactics class started?”
“Yes, that one.”
“Winning with violence is lowly, winning with scheming is advance, and tricking the enemy to choke themselves is masterful.”
Elisha realized right away that this time too, she and Lucerne were thinking similar thoughts.
“Ah, I understand. Right, I thought so too. I’m glad you worked it out before I had to explain.”
They made eye contact and nodded almost simultaneously.
“What are you talking about?”
Nora couldn’t bear it any longer and asked.
“Nora. Do you know how to make a person strangle themselves?”
“… … I do not know.”
“It works best when you drive the person crazy using what they fear the most,”
Lucerne snickered.
“It just so happens someone told me some very valuable information. For example…”
Lucerne motioned for Nora to come closer.
“What Merha thinks about, is afraid of, and cares about. That kind of information.”
“… … You’re confident in threatening, so that’s good.”
Elisha has spoken.
***
Merha returned to her quarters in her temple with her triumphant face. It was a small mansion.
At first glance, the objects in the mansion were frugal and elegant. However, if you look closely, it is full of luxury items comparable to a royal family of a country. All of them were purchased with the temple’s money.
“Ahem, everyone, come out and listen. I’ve humiliated and shamed that wench properly today!”
Some adults frequently feel inferior to the younger generation. To Merha, Lucerne was such a child that elicited his deep sense of inferiority. His entrenched sense of insecurity started with Lucerne’s father, Michelan, who was dubbed a genius.
So, it was only natural that by shouting at Lucerne’s wife he was in high spirits as if he had won a big victory.
“What’s going on? Where is everyone?”
“Hello, your son and his wife are out. And a telegram just arrived. I left it in the office,”
said the priestly clerk who was walking in haste.
“Telegram?”
Merha returned to his office with his puzzled face. He ripped open the telegram.
Tuk.
A telegram fell from his hand.
[I’ll be back soon. I will arrive in a week.
I’ve been wandering in the streets of Yurif for a really long time.
Prepare some hot apple ginger tea for me.
It’s cold, too cold here… … .
-R-]
Initial R. Plus, apple ginger tea. The streets of Yurif… … . ‘Risralpho was alive and sent a telegram? What kind of bastard is this?’
“W-w-who sent the telegram!”
At Merha’s cry, the priest’s face turned pale. He was a newly deployed new retainer.
“I don’t know. It’s a telegram, it was from the telegram office.”
“No. It can’t be… … .”
Apple ginger tea was Risralpho’s favorite tea. He was arrogant, so when he returned home from an outing, he would get impatient if there wasn’t a hot apple ginger tea ready.
One day, he even dared to throw a teacup at Merha and quarrel.
‘It was definitely a wound that could not be healed. He was obviously out of breath. I did… … .’ If Risralpho was alive now. If he comes back alive. Everything is over.
“What was the description of the telegram staff employee?”
“Faded golden brown hair… … .”
The clerk exclaimed as if he had remembered something.
“Ah! He was tying his hair up with a blue hair tie with the pattern of the temple engraved on the end. I remember because it was a luxury item.”
Merha’s face turned blue.
He vividly remembered the day Risralpho died. He wore a blue coat and traveler’s attire, boots, and tied his hair with a temple-made hair tie. The hairband was an amulet that was said to protect the wearer’s health. Yes, it came to mind very clearly.
And the next day, and the next day—
Telegrams started arriving every day.
[I’ll see you in 6 days.
-R-]
[Now the capital is near, I’ll see you in 5 days. -R-]
… … .
[I’ll see you tomorrow.
-R-]
