So You're Saying Even an Older Married Woman Is Fine?

Chapter 66

I had deliberately kept the crown prince and Lily apart.

I had put up a wall to keep the crown prince from getting near Lily, and Lily had hidden herself away in me, her safe haven.

As a result, the crown prince had lost both the pretext and the chance to pry into Lily's every move.

That's why no savior had appeared to take down the cardinal.

Seeing me freeze without saying a word, Lily cautiously watched my expression.

"I'm sorry for showing you such an uncomfortable sight."

Why the hell are you apologizing, you idiot.

After getting subjected to that horrible abuse last night, why are you smiling so brightly in front of me?

You're making me feel bad.

I swallowed the irritation and guilt boiling up inside me and carefully let go of Lily's wrist.

"This isn't an uncomfortable sight. I'm just exasperated that you're trying to eat when you don't even have the strength to use chopsticks."

I deliberately snapped the words out brusquely and picked up my own fork.

Then I speared a thick, tender slice of boiled pork with it.

"Open up."

"Y-Yes?!"

Lily's face instantly flushed red like a tomato.

"I'm doing this because I don't want to see you trembling so hard you spill meat all over the table. Are you going to open your mouth or not?"

"B-But still...."

"It'll taste bad if it gets cold."

When I held it right up to her face, Lily panicked, her pupils shaking as she didn't know what to do.

But the mouthwatering smell of the meat and my firm attitude finally made her bare her white teeth and open her mouth cautiously.

"A, ahh...."

I slipped the piece of boiled pork into Lily's small mouth.

The moment she started chewing it, Lily's eyes widened like full moons.

"Is it good?"

"Y-Yes! It melts in my mouth!"

"Then chew and swallow properly. There's still a mountain left. Next is roast beef."

*

"All right, this is the last bite. Say ah."

"Aaah!"

Chomp.

Lily obediently took the big meatball from my hand and ate it.

Her chewing cheeks looked just like a retriever's chubby cheeks after scarfing down snacks.

"All done?"

"Yes! Ugh, I feel like my stomach's going to burst."

Lily nodded in satisfaction and smiled brightly.

Just looking at that innocent face made me let out a dry laugh.

'After going through that awful ordeal last night, and yet she's wearing the expression of someone who owns the world over a single meat side dish.'

There's really no one more carefree than that pink retriever.

I tidied up the empty lunchbox and stood up.

"I have some business to take care of, so I need to head out."

"Oh, you're leaving already?"

"Yes. So Lily, please don't take a single step out of this lab today and just rest."

"Hehe, got it! I'll wait quietly!"

Lily clenched both fists and nodded vigorously.

She was the very picture of a puppy waiting for its owner to come home.

She's so blindly obedient that it really makes me soften.

"Make sure you lock the door."

"Yes! Take care, Lord Cassian!"

I left the lab, with Lily waving both hands after me.

* * *

Thud, thud.

The place I arrived at after walking was the academy's most expensive dust-covered room.

Viscountess Müller's private laboratory.

Knock, knock.

After knocking and hearing the faint "Come in" from beyond the door, I opened it.

"Oh my?"

When I went in, Viscountess Müller, who was working the soil in front of a large flowerpot, widened her eyes.

As always, dust was sitting demurely on the top-grade wooden desk and luxury leather sofa.

"Cassian? I never dreamed you'd come to my lab first."

Viscountess Müller brushed off her leather apron and smiled brightly.

It looked like she had no classes today, because her outfit was much more relaxed than usual.

Of course, even that relaxed outfit still made the leather apron look mandatory.

"If anything, I'd be the one to call you first. You're not the type to come here of your own free will. What brought you by?"

I decided not to brush off her joking greeting.

If I dragged things out for no reason, it would only make her more embarrassed when I got to the point later.

"I came about something rather serious."

"……."

At my blunt answer, the easy smile on Viscountess Müller's lips slowly faded.

She gave my stiff expression a quick once-over, then nodded with a very serious face.

"I see."

Clatter.

She asked as she moved the research tools strewn across the table to one side.

"You've got time for a cup of tea, right?"

"Of course."

"Good. Sit down and get comfortable."

I flopped down onto the top-grade leather sofa covered in dust.

A little while later.

Two teacups carrying a faint fragrance were set on the table.

Just like last time, it had a fairly expensive aroma.

"Now then, tell me. What was that serious matter that made you backtrack on your 'I'm going to be a bum' declaration and come all the way to my lab?"

Viscountess Müller lifted her teacup and looked me straight in the eye.

I took a deep breath, thought of Lily's blindly obedient pink-retriever side, and threw out a heavy blunt truth.

"I think Lily is being abused."

"……What?"

Viscountess Müller's teacup froze in midair.

"Abuse? Could you tell me a little more specifically?"

"It's not just harassment. She's being subjected to vicious, malicious physical torture."

"……."

All under the ridiculous pretext that she has to take the lowest place.

My explanation made Viscountess Müller's brow crease.

A chill anger settled over her beautiful face.

Fortunately.

It seemed Viscountess Müller had grown somewhat attached to Lily by now.

*

"We need to know exactly what kind of abuse is happening."

Viscountess Müller's voice was calm.

But beneath that calm was the cold rage of a capitalist who looked ready to open the vault and hire an entire mercenary company on the spot.

I rubbed my chin and calmly laid out what I knew.

"It's a heavy stone tablet."

"……A stone tablet?"

"Yes. They put it on her lap and make her sit upright all night. I noticed it because Lily's wrists were shaking so badly. Her lower body didn't look good either."

The moment I finished, Viscountess Müller's brow furrowed.

She clicked her tongue lightly and sank deep into the sofa back.

Clatter.

The teacup trembled lightly on its saucer.

"This is a headache. If it were just ordinary beating or starvation, that would honestly be better."

"Unexpected. I thought you'd be furious, but you're being very rational."

"Of course I'm angry. But if we're going to solve this, we need to keep our heads and do the math properly."

Damn, that's scary.

"Truth be told, religion is very much the kind of thing that can be bent however you want."

"I think I know what you mean."

"A cardinal making a saintess suffer would sound insane by the standards of common sense outside the church. It's blatant assault and abuse."

Viscountess Müller tapped the table with her fingers.

"But within their order, it isn't necessarily something absurd."

"You mean that sacred excuse about needing to descend to the lowest place?"

"Exactly."

She let out a small sigh.

"The cardinal isn't an idiot. He's as sly as a snake. Without that slyness, he never would have reached the peak of that enormous religious order."

I completely agreed.

The cardinal in this world was on a completely different level from the religious leaders on Earth.

His influence and power were so immense that even the imperial family could only touch him if they were prepared to bear the political burden.

There was no way such a man would have openly beaten the saintess without some political calculation and a defense mechanism of his own.

"So even if we take this to them and demand answers, they can just dress it up as 'a sacred trial for the saintess's spiritual growth.'"

"Exactly. They could even counterattack by saying that worldly nobles are meddling in a sacred ritual."

Viscountess Müller nodded, then suddenly gave me a sharp once-over.

Zing.

"……?"

Huh.

Why did her eyes suddenly turn hawk-like?

"But."

"Yes?"

"How do you know about Lily's injuries?"

"……Pardon?"

"Let's say you inferred that something was wrong with her lower body from her shaking wrists. But the pressure marks from the weight of the stone tablet, or the condition of her thighs…"

Viscountess Müller narrowed her eyes.

Why does this feel like being interrogated by my mother for secretly buying junk food?

"Don't tell me you checked her bare skin?"

"……."

Wow.

What an imagination.

I'm not some rutting beast who'd lift a girl's skirt halfway through feeding her.

I raised both hands high to prove my innocence.

"Don't worry, I didn't do anything stupid."

"Really?"

"What, do I look like some crazy idiot? I just saw the girl trembling and put together what I know with the circumstances."

"Oh?"

"And do you know why I even bothered coming all the way to this dusty sofa today?"

"Why?"

I puffed out my chest proudly.

"I came to gather evidence."

"Gather evidence?"

"Yes. I'm an outsider, so I can't exactly go around exposing the girl's legs myself, can I? So I thought you could personally check Lily's thighs for me, Professor."

Viscountess Müller's eyes widened at my neat solution.

And then,

Pfft.

She covered her mouth and let out a small laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Because I really like it."

Huh?

Like what?

"Your attitude. Even though your eyes look like they're about to roll back from anger, you're not getting swept up in clumsy paternalism; instead, you're starting by gathering exactly the evidence we need. I really like that."

That's a compliment, right?

Since it didn't sound bad, I nodded.

"That's a relief, then."

"What's a relief?"

When I asked back, Viscountess Müller replied lightly,

"About the Haste Potion. I'd been quietly stressed about how to compensate for and smooth over the fact that we'd gone and used up that precious potion."

"Ah."

She made it sound like nothing.

But it really had been a hellishly troublesome matter after all.

"But then they went and handed us a wonderful pretext first, didn't they?"

Her red lips curved into an alluring smile.

"We should use this as our breakthrough."

"A breakthrough, you mean?"

"A blade to cut the cardinal's influence over Lily. We just need to seize the issue of saintess abuse, then use it to wave around an appropriate pretext and bargaining chip."

Wow.

This woman really is a born businesswoman.

How could she hear about the abuse and immediately think of converting it into political leverage to smooth over the Haste Potion?

"You're really dependable, honestly."

The words slipped out before I knew it.

"Hehe. I'll take that as a compliment."

Viscountess Müller elegantly swept her hair back.

"Now then, shall we go gather evidence? You said our poor, cute Miss Lily is waiting quietly in your lab, right?"

"Yes. I told her over and over to keep the door locked."

"Good. I'll go there myself, see the traces of that horrible stone tablet with my own eyes, and figure out how to bleed the order dry."

But just before we left,

Viscountess Müller slowly turned her head and asked me,

"By the way."

"Yes?"

"You really didn't see it, right?"

She really was full of mischief.

"I saw it. Is that good enough?"

"Actually, it wouldn't matter if you had seen it."

"Huh?"

"I'd count it as a successful investment even if my student ended up romantically involved with you instead of the crown prince."

Viscountess Müller smiled as she said that and placed her hand on the doorknob.

Damn.

She's really teasing me on purpose, huh?

"Really? Am I that desirable a catch?"

"Of course?"

"Then why are you trying to snatch me up through Lily? If you just throw money at me, I'm the sort who'd lick your toes too."

At that, Viscountess Müller froze.

Uh.

Did I go too far?

Then Viscountess Müller turned her head and looked at me.

"……Really?"

She was looking at me with an intensely sultry gaze.

"So even an older married woman is fine?"

……Uh.

Yeah, you really went too far.

Fuck.