Even If You Tear Me Apart - Chapter 4
“But she… if my memory serves me right, she’s already over twenty.”
Ezekiel hesitated before speaking.
It wasn’t just a vague memory—he knew for certain. She had turned twenty this year.
Étienne continued flipping through the papers in front of him, casually responding with a smile still on his face.
“If she were a daughter from another noble family, she would have already been married off long ago, but it seems their poverty prevented it. A stroke of luck for Geneviève.”
Stories of noble daughters who missed the proper marriage age because they couldn’t afford a dowry were all too common.
But was it truly because her family was poor?
Ezekiel didn’t think so.
However, he couldn’t voice such thoughts aloud, so he changed the subject.
“…But you can’t force a lady to marry against her will, can you?”
“Who said she’s unwilling?”
Étienne pulled something from the pile of papers and showed it to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel, who had been standing with his hands behind his back, frowned as he looked at it.
“It’s Miss Quilluxia’s signature. The adoption process is already complete.”
“…When exactly did this happen…”
Geneviève had thrown her tantrum just a week before Ezekiel’s knighting ceremony.
Étienne smirked at Ezekiel’s bewilderment.
“Why do you think money is so wonderful? I used magic—teleportation magic. It’s insanely expensive, but worth every penny. Geneviève won’t be able to buy a new dress for the next six months. But I’m sure she’d prefer that over getting married.”
In other words, Étienne had sent a message using teleportation magic.
“Do you know how hard it was to find a replacement bride before Geneviève ripped my hair out?”
Étienne chuckled.
“Teleportation isn’t something you can just snap your fingers and do. It still took two days to get everything sorted.”
Two days.
It had only taken Iris Quilluxia two days to decide to marry a man she had never met in place of Geneviève.
Étienne continued speaking.
“But sending just the message back and forth is one thing. Bringing her here with at least two people would’ve been too expensive.”
“……”
“To make matters worse, the Commander of the Imperial Guard refused out of pride.”
The proud Commander of the Murenas Imperial Guard had refused to make the journey to the remote countryside, which would take two months there and back.
Outwardly, he claimed he needed to stay and protect the empire, which was technically still at war.
But the real reason was obvious.
Even though she was now considered an adopted princess, escorting a commoner-turned-noblewoman to be married off to some mage was beneath him.
“That’s when I noticed how much His Majesty was donating to the Temple of Udal.”
“……”
“Ezekiel.”
Étienne smiled at his younger brother, who had been dedicated to the gods.
“You’ll do it, won’t you?”
***
When Shanka heard that the Commander of the imperial guard had refused to escort Iris Quilluxia out of pride, his immediate response was,
“What, don’t we have any pride?”
Milena shot back,
“We’re getting paid, aren’t we?”
“The imperial guard get paid a monthly salary too, don’t they?”
“Then go complain to the priests if you’re that upset.”
“Quiet.”
Unable to take it anymore, Ezekiel rebuked both Shanka and Milena.
He was concerned that the mage in the carriage they were escorting might overhear them.
“Yeah, yeah,” Shanka muttered, grinning as he lowered his head.
Mages and temples didn’t get along.
Mages were notoriously arrogant and frequently mocked those who believed in gods, which made them unwelcome in religious circles.
However, it seemed that even those tensions could be smoothed over when money was involved.
From what Ezekiel had heard, Étienne had subtly threatened to cut the temple’s donations, which had prompted the High Priest of Udal to act quickly and dispatch personnel.
Instead of sending their haughty priests, they sent Ezekiel, the Commander of the paladins, along with twelve knights from the order.
Their mission was to escort ‘Princess’ Iris Quilluxia—or rather, Iris Colette Murenas, as she was now called—from Quilluxia to the capital city of Renate.
The journey from Quilluxia to Renate would take about forty days on horseback at full speed.
Once there, she would marry the mage Kazakov in a grand ceremony.
The Emperor had been quite satisfied with Étienne’s arrangements.
He had been anxious that Kazakov, with his capricious nature, might cancel his contract to serve as an imperial mage.
Although Iris was only an adopted princess, the sight of the Emperor’s third son and Commander of Udal’s paladins personally escorting her would lend the arrangement an air of legitimacy.
‘Besides, Ezekiel, I heard you’re acquainted with her. Doesn’t this work out perfectly for both of you?’
His father’s words had left Ezekiel feeling somewhat resentful.
But he kept his emotions hidden.
There was no benefit in revealing them.
