How To End This Marriage-Chapter 34: Tempered Fury

As the high priest’s words echoed in the room, insinuating that I belonged to the temple and was its property, a fire of anger blazed within me. I couldn’t tolerate being reduced to a mere possession, especially by someone I had just met. My patience evaporated instantly.

"Yeah, I said you belong to the temple. You are the temple’s pro—" The high priest’s sentence hung in the air, left unfinished, as my reaction took him by surprise.

Before he could complete his thought, I found myself holding a sword as if it had materialized out of thin air, its sharp point dangerously close to his throat. My hand was steady, unwavering, a testament to the years of training I had undergone as a holy knight. It was a swift and precise movement, the sword poised threateningly.

"Duchess, what are you doing?" The high priest’s voice quivered as he spoke, his eyes darting nervously between me and the blade that hovered inches from his throat.

"What kind of behavior is this toward a priest?" Another voice chimed in, filled with shock and disapproval.

"Don’t you know how to respect a priest?" Yet another voice admonished me.

Despite the accusations and reprimands, I held my ground, my gaze locked on the high priest. His throat was in my sword’s crosshairs, a clear sign that I was not to be trifled with.

"So, did you only come to know you are a priest?" I demanded, my tone cold and unforgiving, my eyes locked onto his pupils dilated with intensity. "Or were you aware before, too, and still chose to insult the Duchess of Ablia, the North Duchess of Duclea? So, you are still aware and still choose to disrespect me?"

The room was charged with tension, the air thick with uncertainty. The high priest stammered in an attempt to explain himself, but his words seemed feeble in the face of my righteous anger.

"Duchess, I didn’t—" He began, but his voice faltered, realizing that an explanation might not be enough to quell the storm he had unintentionally stirred.

My grip on the sword remained resolute, and my gaze remained unyielding. I had asserted myself, refusing to accept any form of disrespect, even from a high priest.

"What you didn’t? Didn’t you just say I’m the property of the temple? Didn’t you just say I belong to a temple? Didn’t you just say I can only do what the temple tells me to? Then how the heck do you say you didn’t disrespect me? Or do you think I’m so easy for you to mock, unlike others?" My voice dripped with fury as I closed the distance between us, my presence looming over the high priest, who trembled in my shadow.

"Duchess— I said how the god ordered me to," he stammered, attempting to defend himself.

"Ha? God ordered you?" I scoffed, my anger for the deity rising higher than ever. "And do you think I care what he says? Do you think I move because your god wishes me to?" My words were laced with bitterness and frustration.

My disappointment in Lunar, the moon god, was palpable. I had thought that my initial response to his presence would be enough to deter his interference, but instead, he had sent his minions, and worse, a priest who seemed adept at intimidating the weak but crumbled in the face of a formidable adversary.

"Such a bad move, Lunar," I muttered under my breath, addressing the deity directly, though he couldn’t hear me. "I’m truly disappointed in you."

The high priest was caught in the midst of our silent exchange, his fear evident as he struggled to regain his composure and find the right words to appease my anger.

"Madam?" Alex’s voice snapped me back to the present. I turned toward him, finding him standing in the doorway, his blazer in hand, and sweat glistening on his forehead, as if he had rushed here.

"Duke? What took you so long?" I inquired, although I had only learned this much from Grant.

"Madam, are you alright?" His question surprised me, considering the situation we were in.

"Yeah, I’m alright, but why did you come in such a hurry? Did you forget something, or did Grant finally manage to contact you? He was telling me he couldn’t reach you, so I was worried," I explained, my nervousness returning, making my feet fidget.

"You don’t need to worry about that anymore, Madam. I have returned, so I will handle it from here," he said, taking a seat across from the high priest after giving his blazer to Grant.

I began to walk away, but the high priest’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Duchess, you have to come with me," the high priest persisted. But this time, I wouldn’t need to raise the sword again. When I looked back, Duke was already circling around him, the sharp blade of his sword scraping the surface.

"Madam, you can leave this to me," he reassured me, and I continued my walk back to my room.

However, a sudden thought stopped me. Where had this sword come from? I hadn’t even looked at the sword, but as my gaze fell, I realized it was Erios.

"Erios, you can return," I said, and he transformed back into his human form.

"I wanted to kill the old man," he growled in anger as he returned.

"Erios, calm down!" I urged him.

"No, I want to kill that bastard. That old man needs to die by my hand. How could he say you belong to them? How could he say you will do as they say? Just how dare he!" he shouted, his eyes fixed on the priest and Duke.

"No, I can’t let that man kill the priest. This is something I need to do."

"I will go now and slit that disgusting tongue of his!" he wanted to go there again, but I stopped him.

"Erios! I command you not to move," I said, not sure if it would work, but to my surprise, he froze in place as if under a spell.

"Master? What did you just do? Why can’t I move?" he asked, his eyes wide with shock.

"I... don’t know," I stammered.

"I... don’t know what just happened. I tried to stop you, and you froze," I said.

"So, this is how this bond works," he mused.

"Bond? What kind of bond?" I inquired.

"Master, you know we are tied in a contract as well. But this is my first contract after the god created me, so I don’t know many things. I think being in a contract means you can assign me to do anything. You can control me just like you did now. But I need to gather all the intel," he explained before vanishing out of nowhere.

Did I just release him without knowing?

"Madam? What are you doing here?" Alex suddenly appeared.

"Ah, nothing. Erios and I were having a conversation," I said.

"Holy sword? But I don’t see it anywhere," he remarked.

"I don’t know, but he disappears. He told me he needs to gather more information about this contract," I replied.

"Oh, okay. But I still want to know what your conversation with the priest was about," he said, getting straight to the point.

"Why? Don’t you already know?" I inquired.

"Yeah, I don’t know why I’m asking you," he admitted.

"Then I better not tell you. It’s personal," I said, trying to escape the conversation.

"Madam, wait!" I stopped.

"What is it now?" I asked.

"Madam, please tell me what you talked about with him! It’s urgent for Ablia too. If it’s related to you, then Ablia is involved as well," I gritted my teeth.

Ha, Ablia? What was I expecting? This man was filled with worry about his region.

"Oh, so it’s for Ablia. Then let me tell you what he said," I began.

"He said I belong to the temple."

"He said I belong to them."

"He said I need only to do what they tell me to."

"Now do you get it?" I finished my sentences, but he didn’t answer.

"What was your response?" he finally asked, although it seemed like an irrelevant question.

"What else could it be but to refuse? I came here after marrying you to become the so-called perfect Duchess of this region, so how could I be the holy knight and the hero?" I said, but deep down, I kept asking myself, how could I be the hero when God had made me an extra, just to advance his story, one destined to die, unlike Alex.

"Madam?" I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Oh, what? Were you saying something?" I asked.

"No!"

"Okay, let me return to my room."

"No, wait!" he urged.

"What is it now?"

"Duke, please allow me to handle all the paperwork for the mansion from now on. Could you send everything to my room? I will analyze them as quickly as I can," I said and waited for him to respond.

"Grant will guide you," he replied.

"No, I can do them myself. Of course, I can do it on my own. I already did it once, so I see no issue doing it once more," I insisted.

"Okay, I will tell him to give you all the files from the mansion," he said and left while I returned to my room.

I hadn’t even reached my room when Grant was already behind me, holding all the files, which covered his face entirely. How were these files even maintained when I could barely read a book in a day?

"Madam, all of these you need to check," Grant said, placing the files on the table.

"Grant, when were these files last opened?" I asked.

"Maybe more than ten years," he replied.

I almost felt like my head was spinning.

"More than ten years?" I repeated.

"Yes, the previous duchess used to maintain all of these. But after both the duke and duchess passed away, the old butler handled them for a few years, but then they were neglected until now. Sometimes I do check on them, but it’s been too much for me to handle," he explained, scratching his head.

"Oh, okay. I’ll try to finish them as fast as I can. Thanks for guiding me," I said, although deep inside, I was wondering if I could survive this task.