I Thought You Were A Time-Limited Husband - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Additionally, it was no hard work to Alice as she had no prejudice against the poor. Though her reason wasn’t that good, she wasn’t working with a fake heart. She didn’t need to think of anything else while she was working, so it made her happy and proud too.

Perhaps her sincerity reached Prion, he spoke to her first. Though it was only a ceremonial greeting. A little bit closer and she will be able to tell him about her circumstances. Then… he would surely help me. If Prion hated Madam Quillian, then he would be willing to help her.

“Greetings, High Priest.”

“Yes, Madam. You came today as well. Thank you very much.”

“No, I’m grateful to be able to help like this.”

Prion faintly smiled at her. Considering that he didn’t smile at Madam Quillian when they first met, this was a great development.

Alice looked at Prion’s handsome face as he approached the poor and handed them the rye bread.

“Thank you, thank you.”

“No, take enough with you.”

After Alice greeted Prion with her eyes as she was looking at him, she began to boil soup for the poor.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Just as the time for Alice to start her volunteer work for the poor.

Young Lady Meltain was walking along Roiste Street, a place of commoners, with a man, after she casted illusion magic inside her prayer room. At the inner part of Roiste Street, Young Lady Meltain arrived at a shabby shantytown, a blind spot from the public order, and looked around as if she was looking for something.

“There’s definitely a blue roof here….”

“Over there,” said the man beside Young Lady Meltain.

Unlike the appearance of an ordinary middle-aged man, the voice coming out of him was a nice low-pitched tune.

Young Lady Meltain walked with him toward the shabby building with a blue roof that the man found. Creaaaak–– The ungreased door opened, and two men jumped up. They were a gray-haired man with scarlet eyes, and a brown-haired man with blue eyes. They looked at the man beside Young Lady Meltain with trembling eyes.

“That person….”

“Is he… His Excellency?”

As the brown-haired man was unable to speak, the gray-haired man asked.

The answer flowed out of Young Lady Meltain’s mouth, “That’s right. Cousin, please take off the ring.”

The middle-aged man pulled off an ugly iron ring from his ring finger. And in an instant, the middle-aged man disappeared, and Kaillus’ face appeared, with black hair and beautiful black eyes.

“Your Excellency!”

“You are alive, my lord.”

Thrilled, the two men couldn’t hide their overwhelmed expressions as they looked at Kaillus.

“Long time no see, Tessiri, David.”

Kaillus raised the corners of his lips at his loyal vassals. The brown-haired man, Tessiri, approached Kaillus with an expression of holding back a cry that was about to burst.

“Are you really alright now? I think you’re not that well, aren’t you moving too much?”

Tessiri was worried as he knew Kaillus very well, a person who rarely showed signs of illness. Kaillus patted Tessiri’s shoulders, who had trembling and anxious eyes.

“I am alright. On the contrary, I feel better than before.”

It wasn’t only a lie to reassure Tessiri. Because of Alice’s divine power, Kaillus’ body was better than before he was poisoned.

“That’s a relief. It is truly a miracle from God, Your Excellency.”

Tessiri said it out of his religious habit, but Kaillus’ hand twitched. Releasing Tessiri’s shoulder, Kaillus said, “Yeah, well… that’s not wrong. How have you been, David?”

Kaillus turned his head to the man who looked like a grizzly bear. A former gold-plated mercenary, he had a bond with David on the battlefield. He was also Knight Commander of Kaillus’ Black Knights Order. Couldn’t hold back his tears, David wiped his face with his rough hand and knelt down before Kaillus.

“Please kill me, my Lord. I wasn’t good enough to protect the Knights Order. Please punish me.”

“David, stand up.” Kaillus whispered in a low voice.

“I am a knight who couldn’t protect his Lord. So please, punish –”

“David, was I such a petty lord to you enough to punish you for something that wasn’t your fault?”

“How can that be possible?! You were the one who saved my life, not different from a beast rolling on the battlefield into person!”

David shouted, raising his head. His face was full of tears. Kaillus sighed and reached out to him.

“So, stand up. You won’t hit my hand, right?”

“… My Lord.”

Sniff, David’s nose was a little stuffy, and got up holding Kaillus’ hand. Kaillus burst into laughter as he looked at Davit who cried like a child. Everyone would faint if they saw the grizzly bear of the battlefield as such a crybaby.

“Everyone, sit down.”

Kaillus headed to an old wooden table. Kaillus and David sat down first, and Tessiri, who shook his head at the familiar appearance, also sat down.

“Sienna?”

Except for the frozen Young Lady Meltain. Sienna came back to her senses when Kaillus called her. David’s appearance was so surprising that she unconsciously lost her mind.

Sienna had her fantasies about the Black Lion Knights, which was comparable to the Knights Order of the Imperial Family. David was particularly her biggest fantasy, who had helped Kaillus on the battlefield and defeated enemies with bare hands. But the way he was crying was unfitting of his big build….

Well, let’s forget about it. Still having her fantasies about the Knights Order, Sienna approached the table, erasing in her mind what she had seen just now. Kaillus started speaking as Sienna took her seat.

“Since we don’t have a lot of time now, we’ll catch up later when you return to the House of the Duke. And how many knights have you gathered now?”

“We had gathered almost everyone. It wasn’t difficult to gather them again as they didn’t join other Knights Order and only waited for Your Excellency to wake up. We also started training at a quiet place with the funds you sent us.” David replied.

Kaillus nodded his head and spoke. “That’s a relief. I will be back in my place soon, so don’t neglect your training.”

“Understood.”

Seeing David’s determined face, Kaillus turned his head to Tessiri.

“How’s the investigation about Madam Quillian going?”

“It wasn’t difficult to gather evidence of how many dirty things she did in the past six months. In particular, she was consistently bribing Marquis Vulkin, a family famous for being the Emperor’s yes man. Thanks to that bribe, Young Master Edelm was able to not lose his position as the top in the academy.”

“She seems to be working pretty hard for her lacking child.”

“Otherwise, he couldn’t be at the top.”

Tessiri didn’t hide his look of contempt.

Recalling his younger brother’s slow-wittedness, Kaillus said with a resolute expression, “Gather evidence one by one. We have to make everything explode at once so they won’t be able to climb again.”

In fact, Madam Quillian poisoning him was enough to have her be killed, but there was one dark horse that required more evidence. That dark horse was the current Emperor of the Penthium Empire – he was the problem. The Emperor will somehow save Madam Quillian’s life and put her on the other side of Kaillus. There was a good reason to think that the Emperor would do just that.

Rumors that Penthium Empire’s Emperor was scared of Kaillus Diorat was a known fact among nobles. This was because he thought that the reputation he accumulated from fighting on the battlefield and the ability of the Black Knights Order comparable to the Knights Order of the Imperial Family, threatened the Emperor’s power. The Emperor’s power was getting weaker and weaker thanks to the corrupt imperial family, so he was afraid that Kaillus would covet it.

So when he suddenly collapsed, the Emperor didn’t make any special investigations and let Madam Quillian take over the House of the Duke. Adding to that, the unverified Young Lady of the Podoori family was allowed to sit as the Duchess. If he hadn’t been wary of him, he would have sent a special investigation unit when the Head of the House of Duke Diorat, one of the Empire’s first family, and just watched as Madam Quillian proceeded with the marriage as she saw fit.

But in the end, it was thanks to the Emperor’s idleness that he was able to wake up, but the Emperor’s sincerity might just be as much as he wanted to kill Madam Quillian. He just doesn’t show it on the outside. Thus, the relationship between Kaillus and the current Emperor was the worst, not revealing each other properly. Though it would be better if there was a Crown Prince with a prominent power who supported Kaillus and restored his relationship with the Emperor.

The Emperor was decaying and rotting, but the Imperial Family didn’t have an Imperial Prince who could be established as the Crown Prince. Even the First Imperial Prince, who was the only hope, collapsed and was now unconscious. At this rate, the next Emperor would be the Second Imperial Prince known as a ruffian. Then the future of their Empire would be bleaker than it is now.

And Kaillus expressing that he wouldn’t support the Second Imperial Prince, will surely make the Emperor more suspicious and more afraid of his intentions. Will he cause treason? Things like that. Therefore, it was necessary to gather a lot of evidence of Madam Quillian’s guilt so that he could counterattack the Emperor’s unreasonableness.

“Yes, I will make sure to gather witnesses and evidence so that His Majesty would never be able to turn a blind eye.”

“No matter how much His Majesty tries, he wouldn’t be able to save Madam Quillian’s life.”

“As soon as we have the evidence, we will communicate through Young Lady Meltain. Then at that time, the Duke will suddenly regain his consciousness….”

“We need to move up a bit.”

Kaillus interrupted Tessiri.