A Fragrance in the Mouth

‘That’s right, Miss Iris, would you be willing to go with me to see His Majesty?’

Luke nodded, his expression serious.

‘No problem.’

As Iris, who wielded the elven nation’s treasured artifact yet served as a maid, power struggles were not distant or unfamiliar matters.

She merely disliked and rarely actively thought about them, which didn’t mean she was entirely ignorant.

She quickly understood Luke’s intention in inviting her, but more than the convoluted schemes, she valued whether doing so could help the victims.

Besides, a great, noble, and kind person like Her Highness Elia must have considered this point to send her.

There was no time like the present; the two quickly sought an audience with the King.

Inside the grand hall.

‘My dear minister, what do you think of this matter?’

‘Reporting to Your Majesty, your humble servant believes that Sir Hero is quite judicious.’

In fact, the King was also troubled by the Marquis’s affair and had summoned the Prime Minister separately to discuss it.

They had originally thought Luke would recklessly cut through the mess, leaving behind a pile of problems. Unexpectedly, the latter actually knew to report to them first, and their goodwill towards Luke immediately surged.

As for whether to grant Luke’s request, the two still had some disagreements.

In the King’s view, allowing his nobles to have some unlawful activities beyond power struggles actually helped consolidate royal rule.

Moreover, he personally didn’t consider such minor hobbies a grave sin; he himself had similar hobbies, just with the Duke’s wife… cough cough.

In short, the King hoped that Luke would cease pursuing the matter, and then he would send people to persuade the Marquis family to be more discreet, opting to import new ‘goods’ from abroad.

‘Your Majesty, I believe the best course of action is to agree.’

‘Why?’

‘Because accompanying him is Her Highness the Saintess’s personal maid, Lady Iris.’

The King’s expression wavered slightly.

The Messiah Kingdom was merely a small member among the many nations of the continent, while the Holy Light Church was the largest force on the continent, demanding respect even from the three great nations.

One of its Archbishops was enough to be considered his equal.

Elia was regarded as a princess, but as one of the seven Saintess candidates, her actual status was higher than an Archbishop, truly the foremost figure in the southern part of the continent.

‘Lady Iris has never participated in any power struggles. I find this matter somewhat suspicious.’ After thinking for a moment, the King remained unconvinced.

But this was also true; even Iris, who served Elia, was an extraordinary individual, yet since their arrival in the kingdom, neither had ever interfered in any state affairs, making them a pure stream among Saintesses and legends.

Now, with the Hero’s arrival, Iris suddenly broke tradition, making it hard not to suspect a trick.

‘But to my knowledge, in the previous two instances, Her Highness the Saintess had assisted.’

The Prime Minister analyzed.

The Royal Family was very attentive to gathering information about events within the capital’s noble circles.

Even when a quarter of the country was occupied by rebels, the intelligence personnel deployed externally were only a tenth of those internally.

‘This might just be them borrowing the tiger’s might.’

Although the King harbored suspicions with a bias, the Prime Minister still diligently offered strategies:

‘Then, Your Majesty, we can send people to accompany them this time. If Her Highness Elia truly intervened, we will owe the Church a favor. If not, then we will consider it a favor to the Hero and Lady Iris, how about that?’

Honestly, Luke, as the 250th ranked Hero, was somewhat looked down upon even by a small nation like Messiah.

However, aside from Elia, the Messiah Kingdom had nothing else to offer, and the formation of the Hero’s squad could only accept the Church’s arrangements.

So, saying it was a favor to the Hero was, in essence, still showing goodwill to the Church… The Prime Minister was undoubtedly subtly reminding the King of the kingdom’s current predicament.

The King naturally hadn’t forgotten such an important matter. But the Church and Elia were one thing; a mere Luke wanted him to yield?

‘How about this: if she didn’t intervene, we’ll consider it a favor to the Hero from the Marquis’s side, but the subsequent matters will be handled by us.’ The King made his decision.

Knowing that the King intended to subtly curb the Hero’s arbitrary arrogance while not giving up this ‘industry’ to control the nobles, the Prime Minister immediately proposed new candidates and promised to destroy all ‘goods’ to avoid affecting the Royal Family’s reputation.

You ask what if the Hero doesn’t allow them to destroy the goods?

You wouldn’t understand then.

Most people, after doing a good deed, only pay attention at first and don’t wish for the beneficiaries to constantly appear in their lives, nor do they care about their subsequent situations.

Therefore, ten days or half a month later, how those ‘goods’ were dealt with would be up to them.

Of course, all of this was premised on Saintess Elia not intending to intervene.

And while Luke and Iris were going to see the King, a certain invisible pink-haired beautiful girl contentedly left the Marquis’s mansion.

‘Excellent, now everything is in place.’

Since she had decided to help, even if only halfway, Elia didn’t want to miss this excellent publicity opportunity.

Thus, under her third improvement, the special effect changed from merely a holy light blooming to first showing a phantom of her praying, and then a great holy light erupting.

The intensity of this holy light also changed from merely illuminating a room to the level of shining across thousands of miles.

By then, everyone would understand that the person who played a pivotal role in this was her, the great and flawless Saintess, not some bastard Hero.

As for the subsequent aftermath… hehe, that had nothing to do with her!

And so, Elia tilted her cute nose and walked back triumphantly.

That night, without any surprise, a holy light shot straight into the sky above the capital.

Many citizens exclaimed that it was a divine revelation, while some were trembling in fear at this power symbolizing the Church’s supreme authority, no longer daring to defy the absolute will it represented.

A certain man with mind-reading ability couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘Your Highness Elia, do you know? All the involved personnel were rounded up overnight!’

And the next day, a certain pink-haired Saintess, upon hearing the news reported by the elf maid, was completely stunned.

What happened?

King, you seemingly upright fellow, how could you betray your own class? Why did you suddenly imprison those who followed you? Do you even know how to be a king? You don’t need to grovel to the Hero to this extent, do you?

Elia couldn’t believe there was such a foolish person in the world.

If the other party weren’t her source of sustenance, she would have considered overthrowing him and taking his place.

You ask what her original plan was?

It was actually similar to now, with the King upholding justice and eliminating evil… But understand this: that would have been the result of her casting magic to make the King selfless, or at the very least, a miraculous situation only occurring if she appeared to offer advice.

Now, it was as if the Hero’s prestige was no less than her magic effects and her renown. How could she not be angry?

Fortunately, her disguise had reached an unparalleled level.

Even though she was cursing inwardly, her face still flawlessly transitioned from relief to worry, as if she had suddenly remembered something:

‘That’s good… But those who have been tortured for so long will have a difficult time ahead.’

That’s right, her plan hadn’t completely fallen through.

The existence of these people was a ticking time bomb; no matter how foolish the King was, he wouldn’t let this group go…

‘Your Highness Elia, please rest assured. Marquis Histerkon will pay for it, and His Majesty has also agreed to collect fines from the involved nobles as compensation for the victims. The Archbishop will also send apprentice Saintesses to provide them with psychological treatment… This is all thanks to Your Highness Elia!’

Elia’s composure finally shattered.

‘You Motherf—!’