C174
"Does the fact that there is a different real name mean she changed her name?"
I asked the surprised woman.
"Yes, the name 'Jamilla' was the name the 4th Queen used during her stay in the Kingdom of Nerman, and the name 'Astella' she uses now was the name given to her by His Majesty the Emperor when the third prince was born."
"... I see."
So that's why the name Jamilla didn't appear on Isidor's list.
It's a collection of names that have been investigated over the past three years.
"And the fact that Mia threw away the Duchess's diary also meant that she was deeply intertwined with the 4th Queen to the extent that she knew her real name."
While thinking, the woman's eyes trembled with anxiety.
"By the way, how does Princess Seymour know her name...? It's a name known only to those who came from the Kingdom of Nerman..."
She murmured a bit with a puzzled expression.
She wasn't obliged to answer, so I stood up.
"Forget everything that happened today. As long as you keep your mouth shut, you won't get sparks."
"Oh, yes. It's an honor to serve Princess Seymour."
The woman, who quickly understood what I was saying, grabbed the money bag and bowed, and Isidor and I, who discovered the identity of the name in the crossword puzzle, put on our robes and left through the back door of the monastery.
"After all, Jamilla was the name of the 4th Queen."
"I've come to remember that there is always darkness under a lamp."
I nodded in agreement with Isidor.
The person behind the sorcerers, the demon contractor who caused rifts and numerous casualties, has been wandering through the imperial court undetected.
She was even the Queen of a foreign country without a support base.
Who would have imagined?
Apart from the feeling of surprise, as the blank pieces of the puzzle appeared one by one, the overall picture that the other person drew began to take shape concretely.
In the novel, Mia's constant refusal to court wealthy and powerful candidates was because she was already designed to support the 3rd Prince after establishing herself as the incarnation of the Saint.
"After all, the 4th Queen created a false Saint named Mia to make her son emperor."
Trying to use the status of Saint Nayla to justify the 3rd Prince lacking legitimacy.
I opened my mouth, thinking that parents' obsession with their children was terrifying.
"Now I understand why the sorcerers who pretended to be priests and sought the Saint didn't touch Mia Binoche, and why they tried to turn Mia into a Saint."
"The reason Marquis Francois fully supported Mia Binoche was to establish the son of the 4th Queen as emperor."
Isidor responded to my words.
"The man chosen by the incarnation of the Saint. Even if he doesn't have the blue hair that symbolizes the imperial family, I think people could support him."
"Also, putting a Saint at the forefront can attract the temple forces that were wary of the growing imperial power."
As Isidor said, if a saint becomes Queen, there is justification for the temple to intervene directly or indirectly in politics.
"If everything went according to her plan, the Senate, which coveted the power monopolized by the founding family, would also have conspired with the 4th Queen and favored the 3rd Prince."
She tried to contain the strong imperial faction with the temple and the Senate.
"... she created an incredible scenario."
And absurdly, in the meantime, without realizing it, I placed a chessboard on the go-stop* that the 4th Queen and Mia were playing.
In the novel, Mia gains people's support through her devotion to service, excels at the academy, and has a great presence in central social circles.
(*Note: Go-Stop is a Korean game.)
However, due to my intervention, Mia lost her pink diamond, the flower of the year, the position of the top student in the academy, and other significant connections, and did not rise as much in status as in the original story.
"The 4th Queen must have been vigilant and watching over me, the major obstacle."
They deliberately targeted my life, which ultimately became a constant hindrance.
"Crazy."
They were trying to kill me for being in their way.
They deliberately separated Isidor and me, set fire to evade the escort knights, and even sent assassins and powerful sorcerers.
And now, the person behind this must be convinced that I am the incarnation of the Saint.
I clenched my fists as I reflected on the word "DEMON" that was in the crossword puzzle.
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"Ah!"
Mia took a deep breath and jumped out of bed.
Her body was soaked in cold sweat due to the terrible dream.
She had a nightmare of that day, after a long time.
The dream was so vivid that it seemed like the metallic smell of blood still lingered at the tip of her nose.
"Come with us. Miss Mia."
Madame Ophelia secretly approached Mia and told her that she would pay off the Binoche family's debts, allowing her to enter the academy and the central social circle attended only by selected nobles.
After all, the family had collapsed, and there was no future for her. It was better to die than to marry an old man or a dirty commoner after suffering torment from a usurer.
"I will make you shine brighter than anyone in the Empire."
"How?"
"As the brightest being loved by everyone in the Empire. Can anyone else be other than a Saint?"
Mia accepted Madame Ophelia's request to become a false saint. She convinced herself that she had no choice but to survive and participated in the ritual to summon the devil.
And there she witnessed a sight she would never forget for the rest of her life.
A strange magic circle with a pattern and a six-pointed star.
The smell of decomposing human corpses.
The name Jamilla written in dark red blood.
The reason Mia knows the name Jamilla is that the 4th Queen uses her real name to summon demons.
And there, Mia heard the devil's whisper.
"You have a deep shadow."
Her heart pounded with pain at the mysterious voice that resonated in her brain and eardrums.
Seeing the demonic figure flickering like a shadow behind a candle, Mia realized that there was no turning back.
The sound of sorcerers casting their spells grew louder, and Ophelia raised her sharp sword toward Mia. It was like sacrificing a sheep that had climbed onto the altar.
She couldn't even scream.
Red blood sprayed in the air, forming a deep cut on Mia's pure white neck.
The pain she felt when what they called the Holy Blood penetrated her open entrails for the first time could not be described in words.
But the pain seemed to be gradually fading.
Now, when she hears that the Holy Blood is not enough, she gets nervous.
"I have to be a true Saint..."
If given a chance, she can shine more than anyone else.
It is clear that this nightmare must have developed due to the news that Deborah Seymour was still alive.
"Everything is because of her!"
Mia took a deep breath and threw everything she could grab in her hands.
"I want you to die..."
The shadow in her heart deepens more and more. Gradually, she was sinking into an endless black swamp.
----------------------
The 4th Queen, Jamilla, hit the armrest with a somber expression.
She was distraught because she lost so much and couldn't even kill Princess Deborah.
She has convinced herself that Princess Deborah is the Saint revealed by the devil, but currently, there are very few available paths.
"Ah, I didn't know Albert would leave a trail."
Her dearest subordinate died without erasing the traces of magic, and the imperial family pointed to a sorcerer as a suspect in the arson.
Surveillance has intensified.
Moreover, there was doubt whether Mia was really a Saint due to Princess Deborah's divine powers.
"This time, I managed to get through, but the next problem..."
Under the pressure of the Crown Prince to show the divine power she displayed during the incense burning, Mia healed several people who had been burned by the library fire.
"Thanks to that, she gained quite a bit of sympathy."
The Crown Prince could no longer press Mia for fear of a backlash.
However, due to the scholars who saved their lives thanks to Princess Deborah and the eyewitnesses who saw the pure white light, it began to be rumored that Mia was not a saint.
Thus, the current social circle was in chaos due to the untimely controversy over the Saint.
The temple and the Senate, which supported Mia from behind, hoped that Princess Deborah was not a Saint, so the assertion that Princess Deborah was a saint was losing power.
"But if Princess Deborah demonstrates the power she used in the incense celebration, public opinion will collapse in an instant."
She should kill the princess before she reveals her power to the world.
"Is there any chance of killing her before that?"
Should she make a deal with the devil once again?
"Mistress. What should we do?"
Jamilla, who looked at the prostrated sorcerers, bit her lip with a slightly sunken look and rose from her seat.
"For now, wait until the day the red moon rises."
On the day the red moon rises, as the passage connected to the demon realm grows, the intervention of the gods weakens, and the devil's power becomes stronger.
"That day is not far off."
Her black eyes gleamed intensely.