Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 103

It had been a while since I saw Alois pretending to be innocent, so I just watched him quietly.

From a step behind, I observed how he wore that gentle face.

Of course, he couldn’t hide the heat burning beneath those red eyes.

Others might not notice, but I could. There was no way I wouldn’t recognize the intensity in those eyes, ready to ignite at any moment.

With my hands clasped behind my back, I took a step closer.

“I think the Saintess must be weary from the long voyage–”

Even the way he drew out his words, speaking cautiously, seemed like he was trying to gauge the king’s mood.

Anyone would let down their guard seeing that side of Alois.

To those behind the king, Alois must seem like someone easy to handle.

Capable, yet easy to manage.

“May I escort her briefly to my castle?”

The king’s brow twitched.

Just as Alois said, his pride was considerable. Well, that was only natural—he was the king of a nation, after all.

I thought of the emperor and crown prince who remained in the Empire, then scanned the king before me.

“Prince, why are you bringing her to your castle?”

“Well, that is…”

He truly sounded like a sovereign who threatened the safety of the Empire. Every word out of his mouth felt dangerous.

Like making one wrong move with him would leave you in pieces.

As I blatantly looked the king up and down, Alois’s gaze reached me.

He flashed a fleeting, cool expression, as if urging me to say something—and I smiled faintly in response.

“Why, Your Majesty? Because I want to see the prince’s castle, of course.”

“…If Your Holiness wishes it, then so be it.”

He narrowed his eyes, and I gently lowered mine in turn.

“In that case, I’ll send separate attendants. Since the high priest is also present, I’ll make arrangements for proper servants.”

“Doesn’t Alois’s castle have attendants?”

“As you know, the prince had been traveling away from the kingdom for some time. While maids are on standby to clean, they likely wouldn’t be fit to serve the two of you directly.”

Travel, huh. I recalled the countries Alois and I had visited together.

Well, I suppose you could call it traveling.

“Very well. Please prepare rooms in Alois’s castle for myself and the high priest.”

Surely, upon hearing of my visit, the king had prepared a room for me in his palace.

But I had no intention of doing things his way. Seeing Alois look as though this was too much honor for him, Reneben couldn’t even hide his expression.

He had already gotten used to the bold, assertive Alois somewhere along the way.

Seeing him act kind and delicate again, like when we first met, probably felt unnatural now.

“But Your Holiness, that’s—”

“Alois, how dare you speak when the saintess has spoken. Hold your tongue.”

Alois tried to object, but the king lightly dismissed him.

He wilted a little and lowered his head. Reneben looked so dazed that I reached out, grabbed his sleeve, and pulled him behind me. Though he was tall, I wasn’t sure if I could hide him completely.

“I decide where I stay. I said I’ll stay at your castle, so don’t let me go back on my word.”

I looked up at him with gentle eyes. A face that, to any onlooker, might be easily misunderstood.

It had been a while since I played this kind of role. I hadn’t properly dealt with people like this recently.

“You understand, right?”

“Your Holiness…”

Alois had said there was something he wanted to show me in his kingdom. The king, watching me stick close to the fourth prince, a potential threat to his own position, seemed like he was barely holding back his anger.

And the high-ranking nobles, watching someone seemingly more powerful than the rumors had claimed… were visibly tense.

I glanced over them and smacked my lips. If his goal was to show me these people—then he had succeeded.

These supposedly noble-looking individuals had gathered here, trying desperately to win me over to their side. So just imagining how anxious they must be inside made me chuckle.

“Well then, shall we go?”

“Understood.”

Once we left the king’s side, Alois returned to his usual self.

Neither of us gave the previous exchange a second thought but Reneben was different.

“Um… just now, Your Highness, you…”

“What about me?”

Alois spoke without a trace of the bashfulness that had once turned his earlobes red.

Reneben looked bewildered, so I patted his back a few times.

It wasn’t easy, witnessing Alois’s transformation in real time.

“It’s just that…”

“Ah, Reneben. If my father ever asks anything of you, please refuse him outright.”

“…Understood.”

I hoped Reneben would get used to this version of Alois soon. His feelings for the princess had likely long since faded, but still, he’d probably be shocked once he learned everything Ronella had done was an act too.

“By the way… um, is it true that you don’t get along with the King of Eseah?”

“It’s not that I don’t get along with him. He just doesn’t like me.”

Alois replied casually, but Reneben, realizing he had asked something inappropriate, immediately clamped his mouth shut.

In the end, it was me who had to suffer between a slightly dazed Reneben and Alois, who seemed to be enjoying the reaction.

Perhaps they’d been informed in advance because while we slowly strolled and talked, the attendants inside the castle had already completed all the preparations.

The room was so extravagant that both Reneben and I were surprised.

So this is what wealth looks like.

“Would you like to come to my room?”

While Reneben went to his own room, saying he’d take care of the monkeys, Alois asked me.

It wasn’t a bad offer, so I followed him without a word.

There wasn’t anything particularly surprising about his room. It only held the most basic furnishings, which left me feeling oddly let down.

“Come to think of it, Alois.”

“Yes?”

I dropped down onto the vanity stool that looked the most decent and spoke.

“You seem to trust Reneben.”

He gave me a dangerous look.

A gaze as if asking why I would say something like that but I ignored it and turned my attention to the reflection of my face in the mirror.

“What makes you think that…?”

“Isn’t your face your biggest asset?”

I wiggled my eyebrows at the mirror, seeing the slightly pale face that had suffered from seasickness.

“You’ve spent your whole life deceiving people, haven’t you? I wonder just how many and in what ways you’ve tricked them with that beautiful face.”

Alois froze mid-movement, silently looking down at me as if urging me to continue.

Resting my chin on my hand with my elbow on the vanity, I went on.

“I used to be the only one who knew your true nature but now Reneben knows too.”

“That wasn’t intentional.”

“Let’s stop lying, shall we? You could’ve easily deceived him if you wanted to.”

At my words, Alois sighed and resumed walking.

“I didn’t deceive him… because there was no need to.”

He pushed aside a framed painting hanging on the wall.

As I had expected, a hidden compartment was revealed, filled with piles of gold coins.

What if someone accidentally knocked into that frame…? Reading my thoughts, Alois casually replied.

“It’s enchanted. Though it looks like this, it’s a magical artifact created by a grand mage, so no one but me can open it.”

No matter how many times I heard it, the term “artifact of a grand mage” always felt strange. Even the temple only had a few of those.

I made a mental note to ask him later how he managed to collect them all.

“That’s fine, now keep going.”

“…”

“What did you mean by, ‘there was no need to deceive’?”

He took the remaining gold coins from a small pouch and placed them inside.

“Just what I said. Even if High Priest Reneben were to go around talking about my true nature… who would believe him?”

Looking at the amount of gold, I figured you could probably buy several castles with it.

“Wouldn’t you agree?”

Actually, it looked like there was even more space below… With that much, even if they went to war with the Empire, they wouldn’t run out of funds.

“Yes, yes. You’re right, Alois.”

I stood and walked up behind him.

“But tell me, what’s all this gold for? Planning a war or something?”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. Alois lowered his gaze diagonally.

“Don’t worry. Even for the temple’s sake, I have no intention of starting a war.”

War was not something the saintess could prevent just by saying no.

Once it started, one side always had to face destruction. And during that time, the temple would have to work tirelessly to save the dying.

“This gold is simply for emergencies. In case we suddenly need to build something—”

He continued, as if aiming his words at me.

“—Or when we need to use money to buy people.”

I had trusted him with so many reckless things that it wasn’t entirely untrue.

“There are many things in the world that money can’t buy, but we still live in a world where you need money to survive.”

He covered the vault again with the painting.

Since I was usually the main cause of him spending money, I didn’t say anything more.

“This gold might be gone in no time if I stick around.”

Because there were a lot of things I recklessly carried out, believing only in Alois.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t the only place where I keep money.”

“…Why do you have so much of it?”

I had been working on setting up medical facilities, but there was a lack of doctors with proper training.

I had wanted to create something like an academy to train such professionals.

But between orphanages, other facilities, and the temple’s complicated budget—not to mention foreign aid—starting an academy had felt out of reach.

“I own eight merchant groups, two mines, and the entire western coast of the Kingdom of Eseha.”

I stared blankly at him, at a loss for words.

I’d known he had one or two merchant groups, but the rest was all news to me.

“The merchant groups are spread across various countries. I bought out dying businesses and rebuilt them from the ground up.”

The names of the merchant groups Alois listed were ones I recognized.

“And the mines… My older sister, the second princess, protected the country during a foreign invasion—.”

“The second princess?”

But the second princess of Eseah was already dead… I tilted my head in confusion.

“Yes, she was a swordswoman. Afterward, Father rewarded her with a mine, and when she passed, she handed it down to me.”

“What about the other mine?”

“Hmm… A duke of this country gave it to me because he fell for me.”

A brief silence followed.

There were only two dukes in this country. One was a man. The other was an 8-year-old girl who had held her title for six years.

There was no way it was the child… so I thought of the remaining one in my head.

“He’s a nobleman in his fifties, already married. He said he was grateful I solved an unsolved math problem from the kingdom’s archives and gave me the mine as a gift.”

“That’s just an excuse.”

“Of course it is. He never even had an interest in math to begin with.”

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