How About a Refill? ~The Elegant Tea Party of the Grand Witches~ - Chapter 73

After the Incident 

Emilio and Miriam had come to the Nature Park in Confine. 

The park was constructed on a piece of land where a natural spring had been discovered after clearing out some of the forest. They had left a small part of the forest as a small grove of woods. The woods were surrounded by large expanses of grassy lawn decorated with flower beds from every season, promenades and various gazebos. It was a place of relaxation for the people of Confine.

The two sat down in a gazebo that was built near the banks of the spring.

“The procedures after the kidnapping case have finally ended. I came to La Foresta as an escort to Robin.”

“I see. Oh, that means Robin is here as well, right? I can’t wait to go back and see him!”

Emilio pouted a little at Miriam’s excitement over seeing her little brother.

“Actually that was just an excuse, I actually came to see you.”

Miriam smiled at his sulking voice.

“Haha, are you jealous of Robin?”

“I want you to only think about me.”

Outwardly, Emilio laughed jokingly, but he was being serious. He pulled Miriam closer to himself and leaned down to kiss her. But he was blocked suddenly by her hand.

“Restraint! Prince Emilio!”

“Haaa…”

He sighed in resignation and took Miriam’s hand from his mouth, placing a kiss on her white knuckles. Suddenly, a mischievous expression came on his face and his tongue stuck out to lick her hand. He smiled satisfactorily at Miriam’s surprised squeak.

“Prince Emilio!”

Her pouting face was so cute, Emilio couldn’t resist pulling her closer and stroking her puffed up cheeks.

“You’re too cute, Miriam. Ah, I’m so happy! It was good I finished all those reports quickly!”

“Your job must be hard.”

“Yeah. Actually, I wanted to talk a bit about what happened after the kidnapping incident.”

“Sure, we can talk.”

　――――――――――

After safely retrieving Ivan and Miriam from the house, they had cracked down on and demolished the True Salvation Religion.

Starting from Count Feline, several of his relatives, including the head of families and all those involved, were stripped of their titles and imprisoned. Others were put under investigation and sent for interrogation.

Duke Saint Angelo, who had been pulling strings from the shadows, and his followers, in other words, the ‘radical’ nobles from the second prince’s faction were all stripped off of their noble titles. On top of that, the heads of their families were all expelled from the kingdom.

However, Lord Caparoni, who owned the land where the highway to the neighbouring kingdom passed through, refused to let them enter his territory. As a result, they had to use the remains of the old roads that were in use before the highway was built.

These roads were not in use anymore so there were no inns on the way out. The road had no maintenance done on it so it was just a stretch of unpaved road. The road had demonic beasts and other wild animals loitering around it. One could only come out alive to the neighbouring kingdom if their luck was good. Since the Duke Saint Angelo was the brother of the consort, and the second prince’s uncle, they could not outright execute him, and could only banish him to another kingdom. However, in reality, sending him to this old road was an execution.

Actually, the Duke’s younger sister, Benedicta was the one who showed the most anger towards him, more than even Lord Caparoni. She had picked up her sword and made to go to the old roads but was stopped by the King and Queen.

The reason for that was, she couldn’t bear to face Miriam or Olnera if Miriam’s engagement to Emilio was broken and she was forced to marry Ivan.

　――――――――――

“Miriam, when you marry me you will eventually become the Queen…”

“Yes? What about it?”

Emilio hung his head as if trying to find words to say what he wanted. Then he looked up again.

“It’s about the silver haired guy, Gilbert Dala de Feline…”