His voice immediately caught Carlyle's angry gaze.
"How odd. Why would the High Priest visit my wife's chambers at this late hour?"
"It's only 7 o'clock."
"The sun has already set."
"In summer, it's still early evening."
"But it's not summer now."
Tension hung thick between Carlyle and Gabriel.
However, unlike usual, Gabriel was the relaxed one.
"It seems Your Highness Carlyle is misunderstanding something."
"Me? Is that so?"
"Yes. I unintentionally overheard, but it seems Your Highness suspects that Her Highness Asha had impure intentions when she took care of my bathwater…"
With each word uttered by Gabriel, Carlyle's gaze grew fiercer.
But Gabriel seemed completely unfazed, instead sending a glance towards Asha that seemed apologetic.
"Your Highness, Her Highness Aisha was simply preparing a medicinal bath, not just regular bathwater. It's because I haven't been feeling well."
"It's truly unfortunate that the High Priest isn't feeling well. But couldn't any servant prepare the medicinal bath for you?"
"How can I trust a medicinal bath prepared by others? Especially here in Pervaz."
Flames seemed to flicker in Carlyle's eyes.
"So, you also recognize this place as an 'enemy cam.'"
"Isn't this a fact we all know?"
Gabriel smiled, squinting his eyes. The teardrop mark under his left eye felt ominous.
"Would Your Highness be able to enter the temple I oversee and smell an unknown incense?
"…."
"I feel the same way too. While I am grateful for the Countess' kindness in offering me a medicated bath, I had no choice but to follow her and check it myself. It would be unbecoming of me, the High Priest, to follow the servants around."
It could happen.
Carlyle was angry but couldn't say anything more.
"Her Highness is quite faithful and righteous. Why can't you trust her more?"
"Who…!"
"Has the lord's daughter prepared bathwater for you every time you visit another territory? If so, it's understandable to misunderstand."
With blatant sarcasm, Carlyle gritted his teeth but managed to force a smile.
"Of course not. It's just… I love my wife too much, so I got jealous."
"You got jealous over her Highness preparing a medicinal bathwater for the High Priest?"
"Just because you're a priest doesn't mean you're not a man, does it? Besides, I think the High Priest has been visiting my wife too often lately. What on earth is your motive…?"
A fine crease formed between Gabriel's eyebrows, and Carlisle's smile finally disappeared.
"You're jealous enough to act like a child, so your marriage must be very good."
"Well then, please tell my mother not to worry. With such a passionate relationship, won't we have a child soon?"
"Is the misunderstanding resolved?"
In fact, there was more he wanted to ask, but under Asha's cold gaze, Carlyle simply nodded.
"His Highness Carlyle is not wrong. The High Priest has been visiting me quite often lately… Although he may have no other intentions, others may misunderstand."
"If I have made Your Highness uncomfortable, I apologize."
"It wasn't uncomfortable, but it's not good to have unnecessary misunderstandings. If you need anything in the future, please let me know through a servant."
"Now, both of you please go back. I'm tired."
At Asha's order of dismissal, Carlyle and Gabriel looked at each other uneasily and then left Asha's room.
Suddenly kicked out into the bleak corridor, they felt awkward, so they just nodded their heads in greeting and disappeared in opposite directions.
***
As Asha was worrying about the quarrel between Carlyle and Gabriel, the imperial palace was in chaos.
"Viviana, how could you do this! How could you betray me!"
"Please, please forgive me just once, Your Majesty!"
Viviana trembled and fell flat on her face in front of the emperor.
Beatrice, who was standing next to the emperor, dissuaded him with a troubled expression.
"Your Majesty. Although Lady Lowry has made a very foolish mistake, she is still carrying a child. Please spare her life."
Viviana gritted her teeth as she looked down at the floor.
She knew that this was all Beatrice's plan.
After Beatrice came and told her that the emperor was a eunuch, Viviana had spent sleepless nights worrying with Baron Peyton.
[Damn it! No wonder the empress was so strangely generous!]
[What should I do, father! What should I do!]
[What do you mean, what should you do? You have to catch him! If the baby looks like the emperor, no one will be able to say anything!]
After all, the emperor's infertility was not widely known, and even if the empress exposed it, they could just deny it. The baby would surely resemble the emperor in some way.
Encouraged by her father's words, Viviana brazenly held out.
However, Beatrice was not to be trifled with.
[Oh dear. You seem to be making a foolish choice, Lady Lowry.]
[I don't know what you're misunderstanding, but this child is His Majesty's child!]
[Is that so? But do you know this? There is a very small fiefdom called Morel in the west of the empire… The eldest son of the Morel Barony looks very much like His Majesty the Emperor, doesn't he?]
Viviana froze.
[The empress knows everything…!]
The words she had prepared wouldn't come to her. Her mind was blank.
Viviana also knew that trying to pass off another man's child as an imperial heir was a crime of lese-majesty punishable by death.
Viviana trembled and knelt before Beatrice, begging frantically.
[Please, please spare my life, Your Majesty! I really didn't want to do this, but my father…! That's right! This is all my father's doing! I'm the victim!]
[Oh my, now she's blaming her father. What will Baron Peyton do when he hears this? Hohoho!]
Beatrice's laughter sent chills down Viviana's spine.
But then, something even more nightmarish happened.
The emperor, who had been suspicious of Viviana's nervousness even after she became pregnant, had put a man on her.
The spy, who had followed Viviana and overheard her conversation with the empress, immediately informed the emperor, and as a result, Viviana's infidelity was revealed not long after it was discovered that she was pregnant.
And now, Viviana, exhausted from her ordeal, was begging for mercy before the Emperor.
At first, she was too frightened and confused to think straight. But as soon as she heard from her father that night after being dismissed by Beatrice about the circumstances surrounding her meeting with Antonio Morel, Viviana was sure.
'It was the Empress who sent that man to my father!'
In order to ruin me in this way.
And just as the Empress had planned, Viviana found herself in a desperate situation.
However, Beatrice also did not know the true face of Viviana Lowry.
"How dare you betray me after what I've done for you! How could you with another man…!"
Before the Emperor, who was rebuking her harshly, Viviana gritted her teeth and put on an act that could be her last.
"Sob… Do you know how a woman feels when she can't have a child with the man she loves? Do you know how miserable and sad it is?"
As Viviana, who had been trembling and begging for forgiveness, suddenly cried out and sobbed, the Emperor stopped.
Viviana instinctively realized that this was her last chance.
"I love Your Majesty so much! I wanted to have Your Majesty's child! But I couldn't have a child, and I had to see Your Majesty's disappointed face every day. I was… afraid that Your Majesty's love would fade!"
Viviana's face was soaked with tears.
If it had been someone else, a face covered in tears and snot would have been quite ugly, but Viviana's crying face was only pitiful and pathetic. Enough to make one feel sorry for her even though she had betrayed him.
"You fool! No matter what, that's not…!"
"Sob… What should I have done? Tell me, Your Majesty! I just wanted to see Your Majesty happy…"
Viviana trembled her frail shoulders and shed tears.
Beatrice's gaze as she looked at her was cold.
'That woman is going to fight to the end…!'
However, she could not change her attitude now that she had just begged Viviana to spare her life.
In the end, Beatrice's plan to kill Viviana ended up being only half successful.
"The crime of deceiving me and trying to disturb the Imperial family is unforgivable, but I cannot help but understand your heart that earnestly desired love as a woman."
The Emperor gave his judgment with a pained expression.
"Viviana Lowry will be stripped of her title as Countess Lowry and evicted from Willow Manor. And the title and territory of Viscount Peyton, who masterminded this, will be confiscated. Both of your lives will be spared, but never appear before me again."