The Runaway Maid is Loved by the Archmage - Chapter 229

※ This book contains depictions of coercive/dubcon/noncon acts, violence, and immorality. Reader discretion is advised.

According to Aljan, Count Icardo had been exploiting the kingdom, backed by the empire and the Crown Prince, and continued to do so even after the revolution succeeded.

Aljan’s house, which he led them to, was indeed very close to the temple. It was almost visible just around the corner of a street.

He seemed to be quite wealthy, as his house was fairly large. It was a small area, and mainly consisted of desert plants, but he even had his own garden, which in this region, was a symbol of wealth, unless you were a priest of Aiha.

However, unlike how it looked from the outside, the inside of the house was quiet, as if no one was there, and it was in disarray.

Aljan, who had led them to his house, was somewhat gloomy and calm, unlike when he was causing a ruckus at the temple earlier, and they had a conversation.

“I apologize for the messy state of the house. My daughter disappeared, and I was so distraught that I overturned everything that might have been a clue, but I haven’t been able to clean up yet.”

Saying that, he pressed and rubbed his face with a somewhat tired hand. Starting with that, they had a long conversation. About the current situation of the Castrello Kingdom, Count Icardo’s movements, and the situation of the empire that she knew.

During the conversation, they realized that Roina and her group had arrived here before the news even reached this place because they had used space travel through the Magic Tower, which made the travel time extremely fast.

It usually took at least two weeks for news to travel from the empire’s capital to this place, no matter how fast the transmission was.

‘It’s only been a little over a week since the New Year’s Eve incident. Even Count Icardo might not know the news yet.’

Aljan, who had been talking calmly, lowered his head after hearing the general situation.

“I see… Finally…”

He frowned painfully.

“Earlier, I cursed at that priest Mana, calling him a lackey of the empire, a traitor. But in fact, I’m not qualified to curse him either.”

He spoke with a slight tremor. It seemed to be because of a sense of humiliation.

“During the five years of the empire’s rule, I also chose to submit rather than resist. At that time, it was more advantageous to end that war quickly. I thought the Crown Prince did well, at least I did.”

Roina glanced at Ethan. He was just standing there calmly with an expressionless face, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“However, those imperial bastards were more wicked than I thought… They pretended to be so nice, but I never expected them to stab us in the back like this…”

He was referring to Count Icardo. He had initially provided many benefits to the wealthy and high-ranking people of the kingdom to win them over, and then exploited the rest. That policy was somewhat effective, but he didn’t keep his promise properly when it came to women.

“That bastard deserves divine punishment from Aiha-nim, daring to lay his hands on our flower-like daughter who hasn’t even fully bloomed…”

Aljan fumed and then brought something. It was an amulet with the symbol of Kail, resembling the sun, and the symbol of Aiha, shaped like a teardrop, drawn together.

“Ever since then, my daughter started frequenting that temple and worshiping the gods in this strange way. I didn’t understand it, but I thought it would be okay since it was a temple…”

“I thought, and I’m someone who has never failed to pay tribute, so I thought it couldn’t be. But look at this.”

Aljan twisted a particularly large metal bead between the amulets, and a note fell out. It was a note with the time of last night and a distinct symbol drawn overlapping.

“My daughter’s amulet was found on the temple wall. That priest Mana must have lured my daughter. The time on the note also overlaps with the time my daughter disappeared. My daughter went to the temple last night.”

Hearing that, Roina looked back at her companions. They were listening to the story with expressionless, calm, and bored faces, respectively. Ethan, who seemed to be somewhat lost in thought, met Roina’s gaze and nodded.

“We’ll investigate.”