To the Love Born in the Lowest Place

At those words, Liv’s face frowned. She was now sick of this talk about fake Saintesses and real Saintesses.

“Didn’t I say at the wedding that it wasn’t like that?”

“That’s right, such ignorant people…”

Unlike Liv, who felt upset, Hildegard seemed unaffected.

“It’s okay, those people are the kind who only feel satisfied when they bring someone down. There’s no need to pay attention to them.”

“As expected of the Saintess…!”

“The Count Hamelsvoort must be so proud.”

The atmosphere became warm again, but Liv thought inwardly about the rumors concerning Hildegard. How could she suppress those rumors?

After that, the topic of conversation changed several times, and as the gathering was wrapping up, Elena personally escorted Liv and Hildegard to the entrance of the mansion and said:

“Mrs. Liv, can we meet again next time?”

“Of course.”

After getting in the carriage, Hildegard smiled.

“She seems to… follow you a bit excessively, doesn’t she?”

Liv looked out the window with indifferent eyes. The Luther mansion was getting smaller in the distance. …Well, it wasn’t a bad feeling, though.

* * *

Some time later, Emmett was able to receive a letter from Philip in the Lartman Duchy.

[This is information about the key Your Grace asked to find.

The key was damaged 3 years ago.

It’s very rusty, so it seems unusable now.]

Emmett’s face froze coldly after confirming the contents of the letter.

‘Key’ was a code word meaning ‘target’ in the Lartman Duchy, and ‘damaged’ meant ‘dead’. ‘The key is rusty’ meant ‘the target fell ill’.

The person he had asked to find was the collateral branch who had been exiled abroad for the crime of murdering his parents, and that collateral branch had died of illness three years ago.

“It’s obvious.”

With this, his suspicions were becoming more certain. Of course, it could be a simple coincidence, but could it really be a coincidence that the collateral branch who had been accused as a criminal had completely disappeared without a trace?

“Damn it…!”

Although he usually refrained from using harsh words out of consideration for Liv, he couldn’t stand how stupid his past self had been.

When he investigated the situation after the death of the previous Duke and Duchess, there were very clear traces that someone from the collateral branch had bribed the coachman. He naturally became angry at that person and meted out appropriate punishment. Since the collateral branch didn’t deny their crime, he thought it had ended there, of course. He hadn’t considered the possibility that someone might have ordered that collateral branch.

Emmett calmed himself and read the rest of the letter.

[I investigated the owner of the key.

The owner of the key had also died.]

It meant that the family members of the exiled person had also died.

“Ah…!”

In the end, Emmett couldn’t bear the pain and collapsed on the floor. He had been serving his parents’ enemy all this time. Not only that, but in protecting his parents’ enemy, he had even hurt the woman he loved. His chest ached with resentment towards himself, but this pain was far too little compared to the sin he had committed…

A moment later, Emmett stood up with empty eyes. He felt like he might take his own life if he stayed like this. He wanted to see Liv right now.

Just then, he saw a carriage arriving outside the mansion. When he went out to the entrance to greet them, Liv got out of the carriage with surprised eyes.

“You were waiting?”

“Did you come back from Miss Luther’s tea party?”

“Yes, it was fun.”

“…I see.”

Emmett looked down at Liv with a faint smile, then strode over and embraced her.

“Liv…”

“Yes?”

“I will definitely protect you.”

Emmett’s eyes were red as he said this.

“No matter what happens, I will protect you…”

Liv blinked while in Emmett’s embrace. Of course, it was nice to be hugged by him, but the look in his eyes that Liv saw before being embraced…

“Did something happen?”

Yes, Emmett looked so pained. It was an expression he sometimes made when looking at Liv, but today he seemed to be struggling more than ever.

“It’s nothing. I just, just…”

Emmett couldn’t continue speaking and buried his face in Liv’s shoulder. Liv’s heart beat rapidly every time she felt his breath. She didn’t know why he was acting like this, but whenever Liv felt that Emmett desperately wanted her, she felt ticklish. After embracing her for a long while, when Emmett finally separated from Liv, his expression had returned to normal.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m really fine.”

Emmett smiled kindly as usual, but Liv thought he looked precarious. As if he might collapse at any moment…

“How was your day today?”

When Emmett asked that, Liv erased Emmett’s expression from her mind and smiled brightly. She chose to change the mood by talking about cheerful things rather than asking why he was suffering so much right now.

“Miss Elena Luther was really a nice person. She apologized to me.”

“She apologized?”

“Yes, she said she was sorry for standing by while others bullied me. And she also said she wanted to be friends from now on. Elena is the first person to apologize without completely changing her attitude.”

“She sounds like a good person. I knew people from the Luther family were diligent, but…”

“That’s right, Elena knows as much about the scriptures as I do. She was very pleased when I told her several myths today.”

Of course, befitting young noble ladies, their conversation topics changed wildly. They talked about myths, then about trendy dresses, then about what happened at the temple, then about social gossip… But Liv liked this chaotic way of conversation too. She had always longed to mingle with people in such a lively manner.

“We promised to meet again next time!”

“That’s nice.”

At that moment, Liv slightly frowned as she remembered something and opened her mouth.

“But I heard some bad news today. Some people are spreading rumors that Hilda is a fake Saintess.”

“That’s…”

“It’s exactly the same as what happened to me before. Don’t people find it strange how they change their attitudes like that? They seem so simple-minded, almost stupid.”

At Liv’s words, Emmett smiled faintly. He had a more relaxed expression than before.

“Liv, marrying you feels like the best thing I’ve done in my life. I’m glad you’re by my side.”

“What?”

At Emmett’s sudden words, Liv’s cheeks turned red. It was strange that he would say such things when he didn’t even love her, but Liv hid her embarrassment, tilted her head, and continued speaking.

“Ahem, so I was thinking about how to suppress the false rumors about Hilda.”

“Isn’t it four days until Liv shows her divine power? It might be good to arrange a way to show Miss Hamelsvoort’s power together then.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Liv pondered what abilities Hildegard had. She had already shown the power to purify the unclean and heal people, but was that not enough?

‘If it’s a power more directly related to God…’

Suddenly, something flashed in Liv’s mind. Liv, who had caught on to something, smiled, raising the corners of her mouth.

* * *

That night, Emmett approached Liv, who was lying down wearing her nightgown. He got on the bed, embraced Liv from behind, and lightly kissed her nape.

“Liv, after you reveal your power at the temple…”

“Yes.”

“Shall we return to the Lartman Duchy?”

“Should we?”

Going to the Duchy wouldn’t be bad. Although there had been some incidents, all the memories there were good.

“But why suddenly?”

When Liv asked that, Emmett hesitated before answering.

“…Because this place might become dangerous for you now.”

“Ah.”

If Liv reveals her power, the Emperor might really try to kill Liv. No, he might even try to confine her in Abgrund.

Thinking of that possibility made her body tremble involuntarily. As Liv buried her face in the pillow, frightened, Emmett turned Liv’s body around to face him.

“Liv, it’s okay. Everything will be alright.”

He said that and then kissed Liv. As Liv slightly parted her lips to accept his tongue, Emmett’s hands were already undressing Liv’s nightgown. Startled, Liv grabbed his hands and asked with wide eyes.

“Wait, wait a moment. Why again?”

“Do you dislike it?”

“No, it’s not that… Is this normal?”

Liv asked with a somewhat bewildered face.

“Do married couples usually do this so often?”

“Well, I’m not sure.”

Emmett saying that seemed to be teasing Liv, but when she came to her senses, Liv was completely drawn in by Emmett and nestled in his arms.

“…But do they really all do it this much?”

“That’s a difficult question. I don’t know, since I don’t talk about these issues with other people.”

In fact, Emmett didn’t seem to have any intention of answering even if he knew the answer. It was hard to explain, but Liv sometimes felt that he was being mischievous. In the end, after spending a long time in bed with him, Liv looked out the window at the breaking dawn with a sulky face. It was certainly good to do it with him, but… how to put it, he always tended to stop just before she thought ‘isn’t this a bit too much?’

While Liv was lost in thought, seriously pondering, Emmett sat up in bed and said:

“Wait, I’ll clean you up.”

It suddenly occurred to Liv that she might become pregnant someday. Well, they were married after all.

‘…Would that be bad?’

As Liv, who grew up alone in Abgrund, couldn’t imagine it well, but she had heard that normal children grow up receiving their parents’ love. However, Emmett doesn’t love Liv. So it was uncertain whether he would love the child Liv would bear.

Even so, if Liv loved the child well, it wouldn’t be a problem, but Liv wasn’t confident she could love like a normal human. To begin with, she wasn’t sure if she could raise a child with the mindset of an ordinary human… Having thought that far, Liv looked at Emmett and asked:

“Emmett, should we… not have children?”

“…What? May I ask why you think that?”

“Um… I’m not confident I can raise them well…”

“It’s okay if Liv doesn’t dislike it, we’ll be fine if we do it together.”

“…Emmett, will you be together with me?”