Mess 139

139.

“Steward!”

Returning to the mansion in haste, Seraphie called out urgently for the steward.

“…and so, our master, the current Count Validus, has written a new chapter in the family’s history.”

“Grandpa, I’m hungry. Can I have some of those cookies?”

The steward was, at that moment, offering Pura an extensive lesson—namely, recounting Seraphie’s achievements in opening a new era for Validus.

The substance was familiar: Seraphie, mortified; Loony, laughing herself to tears; and Pura, caring only about food.

They turned and saw Seraphie bustling in.

“You’re back, master? Grandpa says I’m supposed to call you ‘master’ now.”

“Ahem! Who told you such nonsense—”

But as the steward began to chastise Pura, he caught sight of Seraphie’s unsettled state. Pura, too, sensing something was wrong, lost his playful air.

“…There’s nothing suspicious nearby.”

Pura quickly surveyed their surroundings, much as he had back in Iris. It was impressive, but Seraphie didn’t have time to acknowledge it.

“Has there been any word from the temple?”

“No.”

Reviewing in his mind all the messages and correspondence received in Seraphie’s absence, the steward was certain nothing had arrived from them.

“And…did you come home alone?”

The steward noticed Orkis and Loony weren’t at Seraphie’s side.

“Hah, those wretched bastards…!”

Seraphie paced the floor in frustration.

“Master.”

That moment—

“Someone’s here.”

As he spoke, the mansion’s doorbell sounded violently.

“It appears to be Secretary Carl and Lady Felicia.”

The steward hurried off toward the foyer. Left behind for a moment, Seraphie turned to Pura.

“It’s just the two of them?”

“Four.”

They, too, headed for the entrance, and as they drew closer, a deep frown formed on Pura’s brow.

“Three are your lover and your friends, but one of them is odd.”

“Odd?”

“Feels like bad news…”

“You can tell things like that?”

Seraphie admired Pura’s almost supernatural senses.

And with good reason: there was, in fact, someone truly unpleasant waiting outside.

Worse still, he wore the brilliant white robe symbolizing the servants of the gods—making his presence all the more insidious.

“Count Valid—”

“Seraphie, are you all right?”

“Why did you leave without telling anyone!”

As the priest opened his mouth, Orkis and Loony cut him off, their voices nearly bursting Seraphie’s eardrums.

“Forgive us for visiting without notice.”

At least Carl, blushing, politely offered his apologies.

“Carl’s always welcome here,” Seraphie said with a gentle smile. Seeing how tired he looked, she wanted to tuck him straight into bed and forcefeed him a hearty meal.

But there was something more pressing to address.

“Priest.”

Only belatedly did she acknowledge the clergyman, still standing alone like some misplaced island.

She would rather have ignored him entirely—or, rather, taken a shovel to the back of his head, buried him alive with just his face sticking out.

That would have been her preference.

But she couldn’t afford to, not after what she’d already learned at the palace about the news he brought.

“Ahem, Count Validus.”

The priest cleared his throat with deliberate volume, stung by her earlier coldness.

“I regret to bring such troubling news.”

Yet, he kept his composure.

“A certain mother and child came to the temple today.”

He drew satisfaction from the information he was about to unveil.

“The child claims to be the illegitimate offspring of the former Count Validus.”

Seraphie resolved, for the sake of her own sanity, to start carrying a portable shovel.

That way, if anyone ever spouted such nonsense again, she could split their lips or strike their skulls—do whatever it took.

---

The illegitimate child of Count Validus had appeared.

To be more precise: a child suspected of being the former Count Validus’s illegitimate offspring had appeared.

But such details hardly mattered to the public. People loved a spicy rumor, and this one—falling fast on the heels of Validus’s recent rise—spread like wildfire.

The news moved quickly.

Already, no one in the capital or its environs was unaware; it was only a matter of time before the story reached every corner of the empire.

“……”

And for several days, Seraphie was consumed by serious worry.

[Validus Lifts the Veil on the Truth of Iris—And Faces a New Crisis!]
[The Meteoric Rise Falters at Last]
[The Unstoppable Validus, Stumbling on Scandal]

The headlines sprawled over newspapers on the table, all of them infuriating and repulsive.

‘Should I just buy out a paper…?’

She had always preferred not to meddle with the press. Even when the reports before and after the forced succession trial had dragged her through the mud, she’d managed to keep her composure and let it pass.

Compared to those, these latest articles were relatively restrained—perhaps wary of offending Validus, given her current stature.

But that only made Seraphie feel more need to bend the press to her will.

“That priest troubles me.”

She turned to the sound beside her.

“He had a rotten air about him,” said Pura, calmly peeling an apple with his pocket dagger, the peel coiling away in one long, unbroken strip.

“…You noticed, too?”

Seraphie, now addressing her newly official guard with increasing familiarity, lowered her tone.

By “air,” Pura meant the intentions of the priest—and, by extension, the temple itself.

“Considering all the treasures of the gods I donated to them for free, these bastards should know better.”

For the sake of appearing a pious philanthropist, she had given so much to the temple—only to have her patience tested this way.

This was, by any measure, a blatant provocation.

‘The temple has never brought up an issue like this before.’

Loony had quickly looked into how noble houses handled scandals involving illegitimate children, and found the families almost always saw to it privately.

On rare occasions when the temple did get involved, it was only at the noble’s request, usually for paternity confirmation.

An illegitimate child was, after all, a deeply personal matter.

Even if it tarnished one’s honor and reputation, the temple had never had any grounds to interfere in another’s private business.

That was why Seraphie felt such disbelief.

‘Those wretches, not fit to lick the gods’ toes…’

Back when she and her mother were suffering horrifically at the hands of her family, the temple had turned away and declared it “a family’s private affair.”

Now, after all these years, they dared involve themselves in some bastard’s claim to Validus lineage?

And dared to make a public spectacle of it?

“You sure do have a lot of enemies,” Pura said, offering her a beautifully cut slice of apple for comfort. Seraphie gratefully accepted.

“Aren’t temples supposed to serve the people? Why are they coming after you like this?”

“I have my suspicions.”

“Already got enough enemies—did you have to go picking more?”

You sure haven’t been stabbed yet out of sheer dumb luck, Pura seemed to imply with the skeptical gaze more suited to a rare beast than a person.

“Strictly speaking, they started it.”

Chewing moodily on the apple, Seraphie thought of a particular family.

If you wanted to trace things back to their origin, it all started there.

‘Catio…’

Wine-dark hair, nearly rotten for all its richness. Just thinking of those damned brothers made her stomach churn.

‘They were nothing if not persistent with their endless proposals.’

A house famed for being blessed by the gods, one that had produced several High Priests.

No matter how reckless the temple might have become, this was not the sort of thing they’d attempt on a whim.

Someone high up—someone they couldn’t easily ignore—must have pressured them.

Who, in recent history, had such influence over the temple?

Only the Catios came to mind.

And the Crown Prince they supported.

‘The timing is too perfect…’

For this to emerge right after she returned from Iris?

She recalled how, when she heard the news, she’d been with the Emperor—and even he had seemed surprised, plainly caught off guard.

“……”

She felt slighted.

‘They had it ready in advance…’

The speed with which the scandal broke upon her return suggested they’d been on the hunt for any potential weakness all along.

By some stroke of luck, Seraphie had stayed shut inside the estate until forced to formally inherit the title. She had never been in a position to leave herself vulnerable—or so she hoped.

But if her record was clean—

‘That wretched bastard of a father!’

The former Count Validus was not.

Failing to find any dirt on her, they’d chosen to attack the house through her biological father’s failings instead.

‘Unbelievable—how is this possible?’

It was almost impressive, the lingering toxicity of that man’s legacy, enough to move her, albeit with nothing but bitter irony.

Emotionally speaking, Seraphie could have wept tears of blood at the injustice.

“Master, Lord Felicia is here to see you.”

At that moment, Marine entered with news of Orkis’s arrival.

“Seraphie.”

Orkis found her before even taking a seat, and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. The sound was sharp and loud.

“Oh my!”

Marine blushed furiously.

“…So that’s what they mean by pregnancy through eye contact, huh?”

Tsk, a sign of the world’s decline.

Pura, recalling something he’d once overheard, wiped his dagger clean of apple juice with an indifferent air.

“How are things outside?”

“The main newspapers have been relatively restrained,” Orkis replied after scanning the papers on the table, looking displeased. He handed over a separate stack.

“These…”

Seraphie examined what he’d brought—thinner, yellowish sheets rather than real newspapers.

“Tabloids,” he confirmed.

Pamphlets masquerading as papers, filled with sensational and dubious content.

To call them “news sheets” was generous; the majority of their stories were outright fabrications.

But they were cheap, accessible, and peddled precisely the kind of sensational stories the public craved.

In short: they excelled at stoking the flames.

And indeed, the covers of these tabloids were emblazoned with fiercely provocative headlines.

[Validus’s Bastard—A New Heir Emerges?]
[The Validus Family’s Tragic Home Life]
[Mistress’s Exposé! Former Count Validus’s Nightly Tastes!]
[Did the Bastard Child Suffer Abuse Like the Current Count?]
[Is the Current Count Actually of Illegitimate Birth Herself…?]

Whap!

Unable to finish reading, Seraphie hurled the tabloids onto the table.

“…Those insane bastards.”

Boiling with fury, she glared at the yellow rags.

There was much she could stomach.

But to see her late mother and a half-sibling she hadn’t even met turned into filth for public consumption—that, she could never forgive.