In the silence of the office, a woman sat in the main seat, and in front of her was another woman with her head bowed.
“Well, what do you want to offer?”
The lady sitting in the main seat said as she looked at her.
“Anything you want, I want revenge on Duke Priem.”
The kneeling woman, with bloodshot eyes and an urgent face, looked at those above her.
“How can I trust you?”
Without words, the kneeling woman took out a dagger from the folds of her dress.
The guard knight standing behind her rushed forward, frightened by the brilliance of the blade, but the sitting lady raised her hand to repel him.
The kneeling woman let down her hair, grabbed a bunch of it and cut it off.
Then she presented him with both hands with reverence.
“I give my hair instead of my neck.
If I sin against Your Highness, next time take my neck.”
“From now on and forever, my life belongs to Your Highness.”
The lady nodded with a stern face, and Daniel handed over the hair.
“So like this.”
When Thérèse put the hair in place, the kneeling woman's face lit up as if she heard the voice of a king.
Therese looked at her questioningly, as if confirming something to a woman who seemed to have gotten what she wanted.
“Can you really do anything?”
"certainly.
Even if it costs me my life.”
“Life can be discussed after failure in the mission.
The mission may be dangerous.”
“I will do my best with all sincerity.”
Therese looked at the woman's determined face for a long time and then said:
“Then I will reshape your identity.
First, go and be a maid in the Duke’s Palace.”
“Yes, your honor.”
The woman answered without hesitation.
“I will tell you the mission later.
The most important thing is to gain the trust of the people of the palace.”
“I will keep that well.”
The woman saluted with reverence and left the room.
Therese pressed her temple as if she had a headache.
“Do you want another warm tea?”
Daniel told her.
“My chest is tight, I want something cold.”
“Can I get you ice?”
“It is not necessary.
"We will go now.
We will pass the temple on our way."
On the way back in the carriage, Thérèse was thinking deeply about how she would handle the new piece that had fallen into her hands.
She knew the name of the woman she met today before: ‘Fantine Creon’.
The eldest daughter of a count almost destroys his house because of the cunning of Duke Priem.
The House of Count of Creon was famous for its gold mines.
In Valois, no one was ignorant of the Creon Gold Mine.
Creon's gold constituted half of the gold circulating in Valois.
It was Duke Priem who overthrew the House of Creon in an instant.
For a trivial and despicable reason: his greed for the Kryon gold mine.
Thérèse finally remembered the vile greed of Duke Priem that had driven the House of Creon into the pit.
“Have you heard news about Count Creon lately?”
Therese asked Daniel, and he replied, recalling his memory:
“To my knowledge, there has been no visible activity recently.
“I heard that he lost in litigation against Duke Priem over the fake contract, and could not pay his accumulated debts, so he put his countship up for sale.”
“Apparently the title was not sold.”
"Yes.
“It seems no one has come forward to buy it.”
“A mine with declining production will not be attractive.”
Daniel nodded in agreement with Therese.
“In addition, after the court case, the old nobles in particular looked at Duke Priem with dissatisfaction.”
Because of Daniel's words, Thérèse remembered the trial of Duke Priem and Count Creon some years ago.
Duke Priem presented an old contract that he claimed to have received from the former Count of Creon, and filed a lawsuit against Creon.
The contract stipulated that Count Creon would provide Duke Priem with gold extracted from the largest gold mine in his territory in exchange for a fee.
But that drawing was ambiguous.
It stipulated the payment of a third of the wheat crop in the territory of Duke ‘Briem’ as a fee.
It was an unfair contract, minuscule compared to the value of Creon's gold mine.
Then it turned out that the contract presented by Duke Priem was fake.
But Duke Priem, a powerful noble, being fought by a weak, minor noble was a battle whose outcome was predetermined.
Count Creon, who lost in court, had his money dwindling rapidly due to the huge costs of the lawsuit, the late fees he had not paid to Duke Priem, and the declining production rate of the gold mine.
This whole story was the reason for Fantine Priam's determination to take revenge on Duke Priam.
Therese reviewed the progress in her mind.
Some unexpected things happened in the middle, but it wasn't bad from an overall point of view.
If all goes according to plan, the Fantine Creon will become a very useful item.
Therese shook her head calmly.
“We have arrived, Your Highness.”
At sunset.
Therese arrived at the temple.
There were only a few people who came to pray individually, as if it were not a holy day.
A priest came out to greet her.
“Hello, believer.”
“Peace be upon you, priest.
I apologize for visiting at this late hour.”
“The temple is always open to believers.”
The priest said with an apparent compassionate face.
“Thank you if it is possible.
I would like to have tea with the Archbishop.”
Therese nodded, and Daniel came out from behind her carrying a small gift wrapped in precious silk.
The priest opened the silk, and in it was a tea box.
The tea in the box was the ordinary type of red tea that nobles drank.
But the tea chest was made of white sandalwood, which only grows in southwest Valois, and was engraved with a sentence from a holy book.
“So precious…”
The priest was unable to speak for a moment.
That fund was a luxury that the public might not see in their entire lives.
The priest's face brightened and he said in a louder voice:
The Archbishop is now in the prayer room.
I will inform you when he has finished praying.”
The priest directed Therese to the main hall of the temple, and asked her to wait a little.
"I thank you."
Therese nodded and sat down in the hall, wiping her hand on the seat.
The seat, which had been there since the temple was built, was shiny and smooth from the touch of people's hands.
Therese raised her head and looked forward.
The short rays of the autumn sun passed through the stained glass, illuminating the statue of Knight hanging on the ceiling of the kneeling hall.
Therese looked at the statue, which was staring at her without moving.
Knowing that there is no statue, she often finds herself going to the temple when she is about to make a decision.
Therese had a sarcastic smile on her lips at her behavior.
When she was young, she prayed earnestly.
I stared at the statue.
The statue's face remains calm.
Whenever her sincere wish was thwarted, Thérèse felt frustrated.
She couldn't accept why these things were happening to her alone.
After countless frustrations, Thérèse finally realized: If she wanted something, she had to do it herself.
Whether it is right or wrong.
She tried her best to achieve only what she wanted.
Thérèse knew she was committing unforgivable acts to put him on the throne.
But she only wished that she could put him on the throne as the fruit of her sins.
So that all this is not wasted in vain.
This was her last wish.
If he alone could ascend to the throne safely, she would leave her place by his side without regret.
“O believer, the Archbishop has left the prayer room.
Get out of here.”
Therese rose at the priest's call.
Then I entered the room where the Archbishop was waiting.
The Archbishop greeted her with a kind smile.
“May God’s grace be abundant upon you, O believer.”
“And you too, Archbishop.”
The Archbishop was preparing tea water.
He seemed to like Thérèse's tea box, so he proudly placed it on the table.
“Why are you visiting me today?”
“In order to repent, perhaps I feel that I have not observed the holy days well recently.”
Therese answered with a hint of laughter in her voice.
“You are always welcome, believer.
Whatever you want to confess.”
“...I'm trying really hard...that's just what I want you to know.”
“God knows your tiredness.”
“Does he really know?”
Thérèse replied to the Archbishop.
“He certainly watches all the events of the world.”
“Then I will never get forgiveness.”
That was the truest word I uttered today.
Therese looked at the Archbishop, smiling.
He looked at her for a few seconds as if he did not understand the meaning of her words.
Shhh, shhh.
The teapot on the stove made the sound of water boiling.
Therese added as if her previous statement was a joke:
“Because I am not a good believer.
If God is watching, that is enough.”
It was convenient reasoning for an archbishop who measures devotion by the volume of material given to the temple.
“Thank you for your kind words, Archbishop.
I will sleep peacefully tonight thanks to you.”
“Certainly have confidence, O believer.”
The Archbishop let the boiling water cool slightly, then steeped the tea and placed it in front of her.
We would have guessed that his light color came out well.
Thérèse received the tea offered to her by the Archbishop as if it were something precious.
It smelled good.
It was tea worth five hundred 'loy'.