The Returning Husband Refuses to Divorce Chapter 29

When the silence stretched on, a cautious voice came from outside the door again.

“Shall I ask her to leave?”

The question was filled with concern.

Ines slowly unclenched her hand, which she had unknowingly been gripping tightly.

Helien.

Even hearing that name was enough to make her body tense up instinctively.

But…

No. It’s okay.

She hadn’t run away yesterday, either.

She had said what needed to be said in front of Helien and held her ground until the very end.

More importantly, she was no longer a young Saintess candidate.

Ines slowly exhaled.

“No.”

“My Lady?”

“Yes. Show her to the reception room.”

After hesitating briefly, Ines added,

“And… let His Grace know that Lady Helien has come to see me.”

This time, she wouldn’t hide it.

That should be enough.

Having made up her mind, Ines headed to the reception room without further hesitation.

Helien looked exactly as she had the previous day.

Her hair and priestess robes were immaculate, not a single strand or fold out of place, and her back was perfectly straight.

Even her cold gaze, which made people tense up instinctively, remained unchanged.

A brief silence fell between them.

They regarded each other as though carefully sizing one another up.

Ines spoke first.

“Have you come because of what happened last night?”

“Partly.”

Helien answered as she gracefully sipped her tea.

“First, there is something I should inform you of.”

“What is it?”

“It concerns a maid named Yulia.”

Ines narrowed her eyes.

“Yulia?”

“Yesterday afternoon, that maid approached someone from the temple delegation.”

Ines’s expression immediately stiffened.

“More precisely, she approached Mariel.”

“What did she say?”

“That your maid came from a village afflicted by a mysterious illness. That you were showing her special favor.”

Helien paused briefly.

“She also mentioned that you had taken possession of an item the maid brought from her village.”

Ines’s fingertips stiffened ever so slightly.

May’s pendant.

So it was that incident after all.

“She also made several other pointless claims. That the Duchess was using strange powers, that she was concealing a cursed object, and so on.”

“…She must have called me a witch, too.”

“Something to that effect.”

Yulia hadn’t suddenly decided to accuse Ines of being a witch yesterday.

She had been spreading those rumors among the temple delegation from the very beginning.

So she was trying to drag the temple into this, too.

It seemed Yulia’s plan had involved more than simply assassinating her.

Whether Ines died or survived, Yulia had intended to leave enough suspicion behind to ensure that the accusations would continue.

“And yet, you didn’t accept Yulia’s claims yesterday.”

Helien’s eyebrow moved ever so slightly.

“Did I have any reason to?”

She spoke solemnly.

“What that maid said was nothing more than a one-sided accusation. It was not evidence. The title of High Priestess is not so insignificant that I would allow myself to be swayed by such words.”

It was a principled answer, and on the surface, a reasonable one.

But Ines knew that wasn’t the whole story.

If Helien had sided with Yulia yesterday, things wouldn’t have ended so easily.

And Helien was no ordinary priestess.

She was a High Priestess who served directly under the Pope.

If she had deliberately taken Yulia’s side and turned against Ines, Yulia’s baseless accusations would instantly have gained the status of claims worth investigating.

That was the power of the temple.

After a moment of reflection, Ines spoke again.

“Thank you for telling me about the maid. I’ll keep it in mind during the investigation. Is that why you came here in person?”

Helien regarded Ines for a moment.

“I did hope that my testimony might help bring that wicked criminal to justice, but that was not my primary purpose. I came here for another reason.”

Just as she had expected.

Ines’s back stiffened slightly.

Helien had always been a difficult person to deal with.

There was a reason Ines became so tense and anxious whenever she faced her.

Even so, despite having prepared herself, Ines never could have anticipated Helien’s next words.

“I bring a message from His Holiness the Pope.”

“From His Holiness?”

Ines asked before she could stop herself.

The Pope.

Just hearing those two words made her heart sink.

“…What did he say?”

Helien looked steadily at Ines.

As she met that gaze, Ines’s heart began to race.

“He told you to return.”

“……”

“To the place where you belong.”

For a moment, Ines forgot how to breathe.

The place where I belong?

Those words were familiar.

Anyone born of Chartier blood belonged to the temple.

From the moment one was chosen as a Saintess candidate, one was expected to devote their entire life to fulfilling the will of God.

Ines had spent her whole life carrying the temple’s teachings in her heart.

Once, she had believed they were the only truth.

And yet, the temple itself had been the one to cast her out.

“Why?”

Unable to hold back, Ines asked almost desperately.

“Why are you asking me to return now?”

Helien’s gaze paused for a moment.

“You should ask His Holiness that yourself.”

“……”

“If you do return.”

There was something peculiar about the way Helien left the sentence unfinished.

Yet nothing could be read from her expression.

Naturally, memories from long ago surfaced in Ines’s mind.

Her childhood, when the temple had been her entire world.

〈Have you been crying again, Ines?〉

〈…No, I haven’t.〉

〈Then why are your eyes red?〉

Whenever young Ines looked at him with an aggrieved expression, the Pope would smile and secretly slip her a piece of candy.

〈This is our little secret.〉

Back then, Ines had adored him.

She had wanted his recognition and longed to become a child he could be proud of.

But everything changed after Elise entered the temple.

And when it finally became clear that Ines could never live up to their expectations, all the warmth vanished from that once-gentle gaze.

So why, after all this time…?

An indescribable emotion churned in her stomach, making her feel sick.

Forcing herself to regain her composure, Ines spoke slowly.

“…But I belong here now. How can someone who has already left the temple possibly return?”

Helien remained completely unmoved.

“Marriage does not sever your ties to the temple.”

“……”

“At least, that is how His Holiness sees it.”

At last, Ines understood.

Helien was forcing her to make a decision.

The temple.

A place she had once considered her home.

It had been more precious to her than even the family she was born into.

Even after she failed to become a Saintess and was cast out, Ines had continued to long for the temple for a long time.

She resented the people who had abandoned her, but what she felt was closer to a painful mixture of love and hatred than pure loathing.

And yet…

〈I know.〉

Zecard’s voice, without a trace of hesitation.

Those two simple words from the previous night had brought Ines back to her senses.

“No.”

Ines raised her head.

“I won’t return.”

Helien’s gaze shifted ever so slightly.

“Is this because of Grand Duke Evanhardt?”

“No. That has nothing to do with it.”

Even if the one year she had promised Zecard eventually came to an end.

Even if the day came when she truly had to leave this castle.

“I won’t return to the temple. Regardless of what happens with His Grace.”

It was the first time she had ever voiced that thought aloud.

And instead of feeling afraid, she felt strangely lighter.

That isn’t where I belong.

In the past, she had been terrified of being cast out of the temple.

She had believed that if even that place abandoned her, she would have nowhere left to go.

But now she knew better.

Zecard. May. Leo.

Somewhere in this world, there are people who don’t hate me.

Even if she had to leave Evanhardt Castle when the year was over, she could still find somewhere else that would accept her if she tried hard enough.

So she wouldn’t return to the temple.

No—she mustn’t return.

Helien studied Ines for a long while.

“…You’ve changed.”

“Have I?”

“Yes. The person you used to be would never have given me that answer.”

Ines smiled bitterly.

“I think so, too.”

Then she spoke clearly.

“Please tell His Holiness that I’m grateful for his message, but I cannot return.”

After a brief hesitation, she added,

“I no longer belong to the temple.”

Helien said nothing.

After a long moment, she rose from her seat.

“Very well. I’ll relay your answer to His Holiness exactly as you’ve given it.”

That brought their conversation to an end.

Helien paused briefly when she reached the door.

“Ines.”

“Yes?”

“I hope you won’t regret the choice you made today.”

Ines narrowed her eyes.

“What do you mean by that?”

Helien didn’t answer.

The door closed.

Left alone, Ines sat quietly for a while.

Helien’s final words continued to trouble her.

Regret…

Even so, she didn’t regret her answer.

She wouldn’t go back.

She had only said those few words.

And yet, she felt as though she had finally broken free of something that had held her captive for a very long time.