I Quit Being The Male Lead’s Rival

Chapter 66. Between Love and Acting (4)

(3rd person pov cont.)

「I haven't found the other one yet. Sorry.」

"…Incompetent…"

Carlon immediately tore up the note.

"It's not helping."

He found out about the 'origin of black magic' by chance in the secret archives of the imperial family.

There were three origins of black magic in this world.

Two of them were found by offering sacrifices to the devil.

They dealt with the origins of black magic and made a fortune by destroying the human conscience.

Carlon needed the money.

The emperor loved Robert, and he was good at whatever he did.

Even though Carlon was a prince, he was anxious, because he realized that Robert's ultimate goal was the throne.

Compared to Robert, he had no choice but to do a back job with money to somehow fill in the skills he lacked in many ways.

For example, just hiring Lagian costs an astronomical amount.

Of course, it was clear that he was worth it.

A few swordsmanship experts accompanying him saw Lagian in person and said, 'he's definitely more powerful than Annabelle Rainfield'.

It was only natural that money was required to mobilize experts.

Although he now maintains the position of a capable prince, in reality he was holding it in jeopardy by purchasing people and situations with money.

These days, neither the imperial family nor the aristocratic family were wealthy.

It was an era in which minor turbulence occurred in the class system as more commoners were wealthy than nobles.

Carlon grinded his teeth as he clicked his tongue.

Now, one of the origins of the black magic that operated the general market auction house had disappeared, so in the end, only one planted in Caronda remains.

He should get the other one he had not found yet so that he wouldn't have any problems with future financing.

This was because, even now, the Ministry of Finance had barely managed to make money by manipulating finance books.

However, the temple helpers were so incompetent that they could not find the origin of the last black magic for a long time.

Now there were no more sacrifices left to offer to the devil, so the help of the temple was absolutely essential.

Paradoxically, it was because the temple was the best place to study the devil.

It was then.

Another dove flew in. It was a note from Rayburn, his subordinate, planted in Caronda.

Calon's eyes narrowed as he read the note.

"Lagian, let's correct what you said earlier."

"What?"

"Get rid of Annabelle Rainfield when we get to the empire."

~*~

"Cessianne, please clean the waiting room by tomorrow."

"Huh?"

On the way back from organizing kitchen ingredients, Cessianne heard a sound like a bolt out of the blue.

"Tomorrow? By myself?"

"I think so…"

The saintess's roommate, who delivered the words, also blurred her speech as if she felt sorry for her.

"Maybe because the High Priest saw you as a person of interest."

Cessianne sighed deeply.

On the retirement day of the High Priest, Cessianne, an apprentice saintess, pretty much announced her tremendous credibility throughout the capital.

This was because paternity tests were not something that just anyone could do.

The problem occurred after the head priest retired.

This was because Bellinock Lakins, who took the new position as High Priest, had been plagued with letters from the next day asking for paternity tests.

Bellinock rejected all of the letters.

However, different opinions were slowly exchanged within the temple as to why Bellinock recklessly refused the paternity tests.

In fact, Bellinock didn't have enough credibility to become High Priest.

So, when he was nominated, many people wondered.

Therefore, after Cessianne succeeded in paternity tests in front of many people, words were bound to circulate in the temple.

"I think Cessianne, the apprentice saintess, is more powerful…"

"He is no match for Cessianne in terms of power. Did you see Cessianne doing the paternity test that day?"

The problem was that Bellinock was not open-minded enough to let those words flow through his ears..

"You said you were dating Rainfield's son."

Bellinock called Cessianne out in front of all the temple people and spoke coldly.

"You wanted Rainfield's wealth and did a paternity test, right? How could you use divine energy for such private reasons?"

However, Cessianne was an honest person who said no, even if there were many people there.

"How can that be? Even the person who conducted the paternity test doesn't know the family relations."

Bellinock's face turned red, but she told the truth to the end.

"I understand that you're trying to keep me, an apprenticeship saintess, in check because I have power… But the premise that I coveted Rainfield's wealth and conducted a paternity test is wrong."

The people of the temple tried hard to hold back their laughter as they heard her response.

Since then, Bellinock had never called her in front of many people again. However, from the next day, all kinds of chores began to come down to Cessianne.

They said that she had to purify her mind with simple tasks because she hung out with people in the world like Rainfield.

Cessianne was unable to even participate in the temple's official event because of all the chores.

"The High Priest probably wants you to be forgotten from the people of the temple."

Cessianne's roommate said and she sighed.

"I know… But is it something people can just forget?"

"By the way, Cessianne, did you hear? Ian Wade somehow broke a origin of black magic."

"Oh, yeah…"

"How was he able to do that?"

"God doesn't know what that is."

In fact, God also did not know exactly what the origin of black magic from other worlds was because he was in charge of this world.

However, Cessianne was able to find out other facts thanks to her inherent rich divine power.

"If you offer your immense power to the devil…maybe you can find out. After all, the origin of black magic is passed down to this world from the devil."

"The devil…?"

Cesianne added cautiously.

"But it doesn't apply to us, since giving the power to the devil itself means making black magic prosper."

The fact that the priest made a deal with the devil meant that they had already given up on the afterlife.

You would probably receive a severe penalty when you went through the cycle of reincarnation.

So making a contract with the devil was a foolish choice to give up on the next life.

According to the oracle she received last time, Annabelle had eyes to recognize it…

Of course, Annabelle had no credibility with divine power or the devil, so it would be a completely different way from what her roommate said.

It was not something you could identify at once, but you could guess only when you saw it in person.

Cessianne decided not to tell the truth, no matter how honest she was.

It was absolutely impossible for the older sister of her lover to become dangerous.

'Maybe only Annabelle can eradicate the black magic of this world.'

In that sense, no matter how powerful Cessianne was, she became humble in front of Annabelle.

Cessianne put her hands together and prayed for Annabel.

"I hope you feel comfortable on the right path you're walking on…"

The prayer was very effective.

It was because Annabelle was very comfortable with Ian at that moment.

~*~

(Annabelle's pov)

I thought it would be very uncomfortable to be alone with Ian, but unexpectedly, I was very comfortable at the moment.

The surroundings around me were more pleasant and even beneficial than ever.

"This is the last thing you should do."

"Oh…"

"It's good if you keep doing this. I do it every morning."

"Wow…okay."

I even learned how to sharpen a sword from Ian.

The bag that Ian brought contained items for cleaning the sword, and when he cleaned my sword, the blade shone very brightly.

"It's the first time I've learned how to properly clean a sword."

I looked around at the sword that Ian had cleaned and admired it.

Now all that remained was to wait for the lord named Nick Averson.

That meant the two of us should just be hanging out in this room, but there really wasn't much to do.

That said, it was a stealth investigation, so we couldn't go out to the garden to show off our skills and train…

So we were just stuck here for half a day.

In the meantime, I saw a side of Ian that I hadn't seen in 8 years.

He cleaned the room, cooked, and even showed me how to clean a sword.

The room was shiny, and now even my sword was shining.

"Why didn't Aaron teach you this?"

"Aaron is less skilled than you."

In the original world of swordsmen, the logic of power was the top priority.

No matter how messed up my swordsmanship was, Aaron would have had a hard time giving me any specific advice.

"Then this is something only you in this world can do."

I blinked and looked at the sword once more, and Ian coughed in vain.

"Hmm, what… Yes, it is a swordsmanship competition within the Empire. There may be a better swordsman than me in foreign countries."

"What's the point of encountering such swordsmans?"

After asking bluntly, I put the sword into its sheath.

Now I had nothing else to do, so I was kind of bored.

Ian looked around and saw that we really had nothing else to do, and then asked me.

"Aside from sharpening a sword, is there anything else you would like to learn?"