I’m Not A Saint Though?

chapter 7

A hush fell over the surroundings.

The Emperor, the priests, the crowd, the trash, and even the lion were all gaping.

I was the only one maintaining composure in this unbelievable situation.

I clasped my hands tightly and stared at the ground with a distressed expression.

After what felt like an eternity, the Emperor, finally regaining his senses, asked, “The father changed? What in the world are you talking about? How can a father, not a child, change?!”

He urged me to elaborate, and after pretending to hesitate several times, I finally spoke, “The Goddess said that there were two sons in the Veloce Dukedom.”

“Two? I was under the impression that the Duke of Veloce had no siblings.”

“Yes, that’s what the public knows. I also thought so. But the Goddess revealed the whole truth to me.”

“What is this truth you speak of?”

The Emperor asked in a puzzled tone, and I opened my mouth again with a heavy heart.

“She said my grandfather, the previous Duke, had a second son. A bastard child he secretly raised.”

“What, a bastard child?”

“The previous Duke of Veloce?”

“That’s absurd, how could that be!”

“How could His Grace have a bastard child? I can’t believe it!”

Not only the Emperor but also the crowd expressed their astonishment.

It was understandable. Who was my grandfather, Maitland, the previous Duke of Veloce?

He was the man who topped the list of ideal husbands for women in the Catalon Empire for 20 consecutive years.

A clean private life that didn’t tolerate mistresses, let alone one-night stands.

A family man who always had dinner with his family, no matter how busy he was.

A romantic gentleman who sent a bouquet of flowers to his wife every day to help her through menopause.

A bastard child from such a man?

How could anyone easily believe it?

Even I, blinded by rage towards the trash and acting impulsively, felt a pang of guilt.

‘I’m sorry, Grandfather. But your son is trying to kill me, so I can’t just sit back and take it. I’ll try my best not to tarnish your honor.’

As I was apologizing inwardly, the impatient Emperor urged me, “Why aren’t you speaking? Is it really true that Maitland Veloce had a hidden bastard child? Lady, answer me!”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Composing my expression quickly, I nodded shamelessly.

The Emperor let out a hollow laugh.

“Huh, a bastard child from the upright Maitland. How could this…”

He seemed even more bewildered because, despite often clashing with my grandfather due to his blunt nature, he had always respected his private life.

It was an unavoidable choice, but I couldn’t just stand by and watch my grandfather’s honor be tarnished, so I quickly tried to salvage the situation.

“But Your Majesty, it wasn’t something my grandfather did willingly.”

“What do you mean? Are you saying the mother of the bastard child deliberately barged into Maitland’s bedroom?”

“It pains me to say it, but yes.”

“Huh, I can’t believe it. Maitland wasn’t so careless, how could such a thing happen?”

The Emperor exclaimed in disbelief, and I quickly added, “The Goddess told me that 42 years ago, my grandfather happened to meet a woman while passing through a village near the capital.”

“Is that woman the mother of the bastard child?”

“Yes. She was a slave in her mid-20s being traded in the slave market. She was emaciated from lack of food, and her face was etched with exhaustion.  Feeling sympathy for her, my grandfather paid the slave trader and took her out of the auction house.”

“Hmm, that sounds like something Maitland would do.  He was a compassionate man, unlike those in high positions. Tsk, unnecessarily so.”

The Emperor clicked his tongue in disapproval and quickly glanced at the crowd.

Since we were on a high cliff, the distance between us and the crowd was quite far, and they wouldn’t be able to hear us unless we deliberately shouted like I did. But the Emperor, always sensitive to public sentiment, seemed concerned.

After looking around for a while, he seemed to realize that his words hadn’t reached the citizens’ ears, and he let out a short sigh of relief.

Glancing at the Emperor discreetly, I continued, “Yes, my grandfather couldn’t just ignore those in need. So he brought her to his lodgings and provided her with food and a room. Not only that, but he also gave her enough money to go wherever she wanted after she had rested and recovered.”

“Hmm, he did a good deed.”

“Yes, it was certainly an act of goodwill on my grandfather’s part. But it ultimately became the starting point of misfortune.  The woman, after learning of my grandfather’s status, drugged his food and barged into his bedroom, aiming for social advancement.”

“Oh, poor Duke.”

“He got caught by a real villain.”

“How unfortunate.”

Sighs of sympathy arose from here and there at my words.

They seemed to feel sorry that a good deed had led to such a bad outcome.

The Emperor, sighing deeply as if sharing their sentiment, asked, “So, a bastard child was born because of what happened that night?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. My grandfather was furious, but he couldn’t abandon the child once it was born. So, after discussing it with my grandmother, he provided them with a house and living expenses.  The lowly slave and her child experienced a life of abundance they had never known before.”

“Those ungrateful wretches!”

“They drove a nail into the hearts of the benevolent previous Duke and Duchess, their benefactors, and slept soundly?!”

“They’re truly despicable!”

The crowd, now transformed into an audience watching a play, reacted fervently, and I threw in an even bigger bombshell.

“But their greed didn’t end there. They wanted to inherit the Dukedom after my grandfather and, to achieve that ambition, they murdered the legitimate heir of the Dukedom.”

“Wh-What? Murdered?”

The Emperor’s face turned pale at my shocking statement, and the crowd gasped in disbelief.

“Yes, Your Majesty. The legitimate heir of the Dukedom was murdered 13 years ago. By him.”

I pointed at the trash, gaping below the cliff, and sobbed.

The Emperor stammered, “So, Maitland placed the bastard child in the dead heir’s place and made him the successor?”

“No, Your Majesty. My grandfather didn’t know that the legitimate heir had been murdered or that the bastard child had taken his place.”

“What? How could he not know?!”

“At the time, my grandfather was a bit distraught after losing my grandmother. And the Goddess told me that my father and the bastard child looked so much alike, like twins, that it was difficult to tell them apart.”

“Ha, what…”

The Emperor shook his head in disbelief, and the crowd began to murmur again.

“W-Wait. What is going on? Someone explain!”

“So, the Duke of Veloce, no, that man, killed the true heir of the Veloce Dukedom and took his place?”

“How could this…”

The crowd looked at the trash with expressions of disbelief.

“Th-That’s absurd! It’s not true, Your Majesty. A bastard child born from a slave?  Murdering the legitimate heir?  This is all slander, Your Majesty!”

The trash, finally regaining his senses, frantically waved his hands.

“I’m the legitimate heir born between the previous Duke and Duchess! There’s no such thing as a bastard child in our Veloce Dukedom! It’s all a lie fabricated by that wench, Your Majesty!”

The trash pounded his chest with his fists, claiming his innocence.

The Emperor, with a troubled expression, turned to me and asked, “Saintess, do you have any proof of this?”

Proof?  As if there would be such a thing.

But I looked him straight in the eye.

“Your Majesty, I’m relaying the words of Goddess Hedel without a doubt.”

“Hey, you can’t impersonate the Goddess like that…”

The lion tried to stop me, unable to bear it any longer, but

“Shut up. If you say another word, I’ll shove a hundred humans into your mouth every day.” (This is a rough, threatening equivalent of the original Korean sentence, which uses distorted pronunciation to indicate the speaker is mimicking the lion’s speech in a menacing way.)

I had already lost my mind.