Igna was fidgeting behind her, but for now, she didn’t seem interested in directing her abuse toward him.
A quiet mutter could be heard in the background of Europa’s shouts. “Wait, is Lady Evelyn’s disappearance possibly related to...”
Oz’s ears caught it immediately. He directed his sharp gaze toward the high priest, and the other priests standing behind the elderly man awkwardly averted their eyes.
“Related to what?” Oz asked pointedly.
“N-No, nothing! Nothing at all,” the high priest said shiftily.
“Oh...?”
Suspicious. Very suspicious indeed. Oz narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the clergymen. They were sweating profusely, suddenly profoundly interested in looking everywhere except at Oz himself.
Europa jumped to her feet, her hair lashing about wildly. “I can’t take this anymore! I’m going to search for Lady Evelyn!”
She immediately took off running, but Oz hurriedly ordered his guards to block the corridor and cut off her escape.
“Lady Europa, wait,” he said. “You’re the saint of the Holy Kingdom of Snasile. You cannot simply leave the Grand Basilica without permission.”
Europa glared at him indignantly. “Lady Evelyn matters more to me than the saint’s duties!”
Oz didn’t waver. “The duties which you inherited from the great Lady Evelyn herself!”
Europa’s eyes widened.
“Lady Evelyn prayed earnestly, day in and day out, for the peace and prosperity of our nation. She entrusted you with her sacred duty, and now you would prioritize your personal feelings?!”
Europa groaned in defeat. “Nooo! Having my devotion to Lady Evelyn questioned! My one weakness!”
She flailed, her hair whipping around wildly, but seemed to concede that Oz had a point. Finally, she let out a heavy sigh, turned back around, and called out to her fiancé.
“Prince Igna.”
“Yes, Europa? Abuse me all you like.”
“Not right now. I have a favor to ask.”
“I’m not breaking off our engagement,” he said immediately. “No take backsies.”
Oh, Igna...
To Oz, his older brother seemed like a hopeless creature.
Europa sighed tiredly at Igna, whose eyes were glittering with anxiety. “Such trivial matters are of no concern to me right now, Your Highness. Rather, I would like to ask that you search for Lady Evelyn in my stead.”
“Huh?”
“And when you find her, I will abuse you as much as you like.”
“I shall depart at once,” Igna said with a firm nod. Nothing could’ve been more motivating to him.
Europa’s stiff expression relaxed slightly.
Oz let out a breath of relief at this somewhat rational resolution.
“Also, who’s Evelyn?” Igna asked.
“I’m going to turn you inside out and eat your liver!” Europa snapped.
Thanks to Igna’s idiotic question, the atmosphere suddenly turned tense. Hoping to distract Europa and the priests, who were now radiating bloody murder, Oz raised his voice.
“I wonder where Lady Evelyn could have gone?”
At the sound of Evelyn’s name, Europa whipped around. “I’ve been trying to detect her magical power, but I don’t sense it anywhere near Laster...”
“Neither do I,” the high priest added.
Both of them had strong magical affinity. If they were certain, then Evelyn couldn’t be in the capital.
“Does anyone have any ideas?” Oz asked.
Europa let out a sharp gasp of realization and elegantly raised her hand. “Perhaps she went to my birthplace, the Duchy of Caté! Oh, Lady Evelyn, if only you had told me! I would have shown you every last nook and cranny! Very, very thoroughly!”
Where does she get all that confidence?
Oz was certain Europa was wrong, but he had enough sense to not say it out loud. “Very well. That’s one option.”
“You mean the likeliest option,” Europa corrected him.
“Ha ha ha. You got me there,” Oz said, aiming for what he figured Europa wanted to hear, as he often did. “I would ask that the priests conduct their own investigations, just as a precaution. My guards and I will search Semme. Brother, Lord Theodore—the radius is quite wide, so I apologize, but could you cover the area north of Semme, the Duchy of Caté included?”
Everyone nodded.
They decided to disperse for now and reconvene at the same time the next day. Igna and the others who would be traveling far afield were to send reports by the fastest available horse.
Just as Oz was about to begin organizing a squad for his own search, he noticed Theodore approaching him on unsteady feet.
“Lord Theodore, are you all right?” Oz asked.
“Ah, Your Highness... Apologies for worrying you,” Theodore replied with a stiff smile.
He looked like he might fall over before they could locate Evelyn. Oz was about to suggest the young count should rest for a while, but seeing Theodore bite his lip, the prince didn’t have the heart to say it.
“I feel pathetic,” Theodore admitted. “I realize now I knew so little of Evelyn.”
“What makes you say that?” Oz asked.
“I wanted to court her to learn more about her, but...when you asked where she might’ve gone, I couldn’t think of a single place,” he explained weakly. His smile was rueful. “She’s been hard at work at her ladies’ education. I asked whether it was too much, but she just smiled and nodded and said she was fine. I should’ve noticed she was just being polite. Maybe she was struggling, pushing herself too hard. Maybe she wanted to escape all along. Yesterday, I even made her angry about this...”
It was, perhaps, inevitable that Theodore was blaming himself. But Oz couldn’t bring himself to agree with the count’s statement.
“Lord Theodore, place your hand on your heart,” Oz said.
“Huh?”
“Try thinking of what kind of person Lady Evelyn is.”
Oz and Evelyn hadn’t interacted at all before her exile, but over the rather eventful month they’d all had, he’d gotten several opportunities to speak with her. She was a bit of an airhead, somewhat absent-minded, and so easygoing that one would never have guessed she’d once been the saint herself. But she’d not only used her magic to heal Oz’s injury, but she’d also spoken compassionately to him and shed tears as though she’d taken on his pain herself. Her concern had healed Oz’s exhausted heart.
Theodore’s vacant eyes seemed to light up, and he said with unwavering conviction, “She’s the kindest, strongest person there is.”
Oz smiled and nodded. “That, we agree on, Lord Theodore.”
She had lived earnestly and done her best even after the misfortune of being cast out of the Grand Basilica. There was no way someone like her would’ve given up on life.
“There must be some misunderstanding about the letter’s contents,” Oz said. “As her fiancé, you should keep your chin up. Let’s focus on finding her as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you,” Theodore said, his stiff expression softening. “I’ll read the letter again before I head out. There might be something I overlooked.”
“Please do. If you find anything, let me know. We’ll spare no effort on our end.”
After that, Theodore turned to leave the Grand Basilica.
Watching the count’s retreating figure, Oz thought, That must be nice...
Theodore’s unguarded profile had seemed almost dazzling to Oz, who had never been in love with anyone.