I Became The Stepmother Of An Irrevocable Dark Family

Chapter 82

High Priest? Ah, so this man was the High Priest.

I looked up and down at him dazedly, unable to grasp the situation yet.

“It’s been a while since I last saw you.”

“…I’m sure at that time….”

“Leona. He’s Caleb Benedict Samuel, the High Priest.”

Luca introduced him with his usual friendly tone. I was still stunned, but no matter how I looked at him, I was sure that he was the person I met last time.

The man who stole my money. I thought he was either homeless or a scammer.

Is he really the High Priest?

Meanwhile, the man who was looking at Luca laughed.

“Hoo. Most people don’t know about me, but it seems you know a lot.”

“My name is Luca. I’m the knight of Duke Ian Petri.”

“But how can you know me? Duke Ian Petri only came to visit me a long time ago…I don’t think you were there at that time.”

Luca only responded to his words with a silent smile. There was an awkward silence in the air for a brief moment.

“I think we’ve seen each other somewhere.”

“Really? I see.”

I could briefly feel a strange atmosphere between the two. It felt like I’d be bound to make a mistake if I opened my mouth here.

“Besides, what brings you here Mrs. Leona?”

“Do you remember me…?”

“Of course. I will never forget those who I have seen once. Although I’m an old man, God gave me an excellent memory, you see.”

“Is that so…?”

“I couldn’t say hello properly back then. I’m Caleb Benedict Samuel, someone who holds a minor position in this temple.”

Gosh, what do you mean a minor position? Aren’t you the High Priest? I really hate people who boast while pretending to be humble like him.

Moreover, didn’t you remember how I looked last time? I wore an outfit that was very different from that time, though.

“I’m…Leona Petri.”

“Oho. I was wondering why the Duke’s carriage came in earlier, turns out it was the Duchess herself.”

“Aren’t you surprised? The last time you saw me…”

“Well, it’s not like we can predict when, where and what will happen, right?”

He looked at me with a warm smile and continued.

“And when I first met Mrs. Leona, you seemed like a noble person. As expected, my eyes were not wrong.”

“Noble…?”

“And what the temple referred to by a noble person has nothing to do with one’s status. It’s about someone’s character.”

“….But for many people here, the word ‘noble’ seems to be different from your interpretation.”

Money, reputation, prestige. All of you seemed really into these kinds of things.

As expected, the High Priest also smiled vainly as if he was thinking the same thing.

“Because you can’t expect everyone to be the same. By the way, what brings you here?”

“Oh! I came to meet the High Priest.”

“Are you talking about me?”

“Yes. There are documents that can only be viewed with the permission of the High Priest.”

“Hmm…”

“I heard there are patient records in the temple. Is that right? Only a small number of people among the officials can see them.”

He caressed his chin as he listened to me attentively.

“There’s something like that. But may I know your purpose….?”

“As you can see, I’m a Duchess who doesn’t know for sure when I’ll be kicked out.”

“Huh? Come again?”

“Pardon?”

The High Priest and Luca voiced their surprise one after another.

“Haha. Why is everyone so surprised? Judging by what happened last time, I will never know when I’ll be a fugitive again. That’s why I’m trying to embezzle money little by little.”

“Embe- what?”

“Uh.. Umm. I mean I want to save some money for myself.”

After being overly vulgar with my words, I quickly rephrased it. Because I always made sure to put some truth in every lie I spouted. That way, I could say it with much confidence and hopefully convince people with my words.

Especially on this issue. There was nothing good in revealing Rere’s sickness to the whole world.

“A-Ah…I see…”

“But I discovered one very important fact.”

“W-What do you mean by important?”

“Yes. So, actually, I don’t have much time left to live….not too long ago, my family told me about that. So I looked into it, but no one had the same disease as me. I really want to live long, so the fact that I’m about to die was quite a blow to me. And I don’t even know what will happen if I’m no longer under the Duchy protection as a Duchess ….”

I sighed deeply, forcing tears to well up without dropping. At this moment, I felt a little grateful to my family for doing useless things and giving Leona a hard time. Thanks to them, I was able to lie easily like this.

“A-Are you sick?!”

Luca and the High Priest couldn’t hide their surprise. So I intentionally raised my voice as if something big had happened to me.

“Yes, well…but it’s not known what type of disease it is. It’s a bit unusual. So I want to know if there are people who have similar diseases to mine. Even the doctor didn’t know about this disease.”

Of course, it was a lie. The Duke had not yet found the doctor who treated Leona the day I possessed her body. Thanks to that, I had no idea what kind of disease I have in my body nor what kind of diagnosis was made at that time.

But I made a sad face as if I had been suffering from it.

“I really have no idea whether I’m going to die soon.”

“Please don’t say that. That’s not going to happen!”

“Every living thing will eventually die…but I don’t want to die so early. That’s why I really need the record of this temple’s patients.”

“Alright. Then I’ll do what I can for you….but it might be a little hard for now…”

My face, which briefly got brighter, darkened again as if it was sprinkled with ash.

“Why?”

Maybe he wasn’t really the High Priest, after all.

“…I ran away because I didn’t want to work.”

“Pardon?”

At that time, it was noisy outside as if someone had been listening to our conversation.

“Oops. I think someone is coming. I should get going now.”

“W-What? Where are you going now?”

“I want to avoid troublesome work.”

He was so determined to leave.

“But…we haven’t finished talking….”

“I’ll find you. I would love to meet someone as precious as you again. Let’s talk about it then.”

After finishing his words, the High Priest rushed to the terrace that he had just left. It must be very urgent considering a man in his 70s rushed out like that.

‘He’s very vigorous.’

And by the time he disappeared completely, the door burst open.

“You’ve been waiting for a long time. I had a hard time finding the High Priest, you see.”

“Ah.”

It was Raphael who had left earlier. After entering the door with his chest out, he looked at me for a while before stepping back.

“The High Priest is here.”

And there was another man next to him.

“I heard someone came to see me. I’m the High Priest.”

“But you don’t resemble the High Priest Caleb that I know.”

That man entered the room. He looked about the same age as High Priest Caleb with a slightly thinner physique and sharper features. The man shook his hands in bewilderment because of my words.

“T-That’s….What are you talking about? Haha. I’m really the High Priest.”

“Are there a lot of high priests here?”

Raphael came closer to us, shaking his head in a hurry.

“No, there’s only one person. And the one you’re looking for is right here.”

“…But you’re not the High Priest. You’re a different person. Why are you lying to me?”

“Why would I lie to you? I’m telling the truth.”

“I guess this is how the temple has been fooling us. Does a senior priest mean a senior liar?”

Raphael hurriedly bowed his head at my words.

“I-I apologize. Since I couldn’t find the High Priest…umm I was in a hurry….so I lied because I didn’t think the Duchess recognized the High Priest. I apologize once again.”

“…I’m really disappointed. I should get going now.”

Raphael approached me in a hurry.

“That’s…I sincerely apologize for that. So please forgive me….”

Looking into his eyes, I could tell at once what Raphael feared.

“But I understand how hard you tried to find the High Priest. So I will ignore this matter, since I was the one who visited without prior notice.”

His face turned bright.

“Ah. I am very touched by your generosity, Duchess Petri.”

“And about the donation…at first, I wanted to take it back, but since you’ve worked hard even if you tried to fool me, I’m going to leave it to you. I’ll consider donating to God instead of praying.”

“Ah…! How generous of you! I could feel how faithful you are with this act of kindness!”

That was the least thing I wanted to hear from him.

Anyway, I have to come here often to research Rere’s illness.

However, if it was known that I came here often to look for the documents without any reason, there would be rumors going around about Duchess Petri in no time.

If they knew that I had been looking for the temple patients’ records, there would be rumors that someone within our household was sick.

Right now, the rumor about Rere’s sickness was nothing but an unfounded speculation, but it was obvious what would happen when the word ‘sick’ came out in the open.

Therefore, it would be more beneficial to spread the rumor that the Duchess is a believer of God who often visited the temple to pray.

“Because our God is generous.”

“That’s right. So please…I hope you can forget about this matter as well…”

“I will. I’m not someone who goes back on my word. Then I’ll return again. At that time, I hope to see the High Priest instead.”

“I-I will make sure to do that! I will also see you out…”

Would you trust yourself if you were me?

But I laughed more merrily than ever.

“It’s alright. You don’t have to do that.”

Because there was something I had to ask Luca, who was smiling strangely next to me.

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