Last night, the very first thing that came to Yelena’s mind after listening to the entirety of Sidrion’s story was none other than the donations she had made to the temple. They weren’t directly donated by Yelena, but they were under her name.
‘I refuse to watch the temple enjoy the money given under my name.’
Yelena had been donating to the temple from birth, praying for the safety of Count Sorte’s child.
Yelena flipped through 20 years’ worth of accounts page-by-page. The final sum of the donations made every year without fail for almost 20 years was an unimaginable amount.
“The donation details and amounts are all recorded in this ledger, so bring out everything that’s written in it.”
“Even if you suddenly say such a thing…”
A young priest alternated his gaze between Yelena and the ledger with an incredulous look. Then, he peeked at the sum written in the ledger and subsequently let out an ugly shriek.
“…Please wait a moment.”
Perhaps the young priest felt as though this issue wasn’t for him to resolve after seeing the number. He hastily left his post.
Sidrion watched the priest’s every move as he stood next to Yelena, guarding her side. Then he asked, “…Is this what you came here for?”
“Yep.”
“Just why…”
“What do you mean, why? If I don’t do at least this, I might faint from anger.”
Yelena was being sincere. She couldn’t find any other way to put the anger burning inside of her to rest.
A few moments later, the door of the reception hall reopened.
“Priest Bekah, Priest Dele. It’s this lady over here. This lady…”
Two elderly priests entered with the young priest. Yelena recognized one of them. It was the priest she had encountered yesterday on the road.
The elder priest Bekah also saw Yelena and briefly hesitated where he stood. Then, he saw Sidrion and instantly scowled. He sat down on a chair and forced a smile.
“I was wondering who it was. You’re the young lady I ran into yesterday.”
“Duchess.”
“…You’re the duchess, I see.”
“Are you the overseer of this temple?”
How Yelena addressed and spoke to Bekah had changed dramatically in a day, which flustered the latter. He made an effort to conceal that emotion and answered calmly.
“I wouldn’t call myself the overseer, but I do hold some authority over the temple’s affairs.”
“Then I’ll have to repeat myself to you. I came to retrieve my donations. Down to the last penny.”
“Haha. The donations…”
Bekah was already holding the ledger, as if the young priest had given it to him. Bekah glanced down at the ledger and spoke.
“Can I ask the reason for this? If it isn’t a valid reason, we cannot return what has already been donated to the temple.”
“A valid reason, you say…”
“To tell you in advance, any personal or emotional reasons are not considered valid.”
Bekah looked at Sidrion.
“Especially if you only listened to the words of one person and lost your faith in God and the temple… Then we cannot accept such a reason all the more.”
“Let me ask you something before I give you my reason. What do you think about what happened 7 years ago?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I’m talking about how the temple attempted to disgrace my husband by fabricating evidence for your own profit. Have you self-reflected in the slightest?”
Perhaps it was then that Bekah realized who Yelena was. His expression changed.
But it was only a brief moment in which he wavered.
“…There appears to be a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding?”
“Attempted to disgrace your husband, you say. There was no such incident.”
“Are you trying to get out of this?”
“However, there was such an incident in which we sought evidence of the truth.”
Bekah smiled unwaveringly as he stared at Yelena.
“It is unfortunate, but isn’t it true that your husband was cursed by the devil? The temple merely tried to reveal that fact.”
“Keep talking.”
“Though of course, I acknowledge that we used a method that was more or less off kilter.”
“…”
“We made a slight error out of our overzealous sense of duty and ambition to alert the ignorant, but good-natured public of the devil’s curse that was still prevalent in this world.”
“…”
“And the revenge we suffered from was too severe for the price of a small mistake. You mentioned self-reflecting, but I’m not quite sure that we’re the ones who need to self-reflect…”
“You keep claiming that my husband was cursed by the devil.”
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