Volume 6, Chapter 15 – Three Women Make a Scene

“…Alvier VII? Why are you here?”

Hearing the familiar voice, Andrea, who was sitting on Yisi’s lap, suddenly froze like a child caught doing something wrong. Her neck turned stiffly, like a rusty machine that hadn’t been oiled in a long time.

A familiar face, an unfamiliar expression. Even when she was using Evelyn’s body, her mouth had never been open wide enough to fit an apple.

I want to crawl into a hole in the ground.

Of course, there was no hole in the ground for Andrea to crawl into. Andrea’s face shifted between red and an even deeper red. Forcing herself to calm down, she then cleared her throat twice and, with movements that were as ladylike as possible, slowly and stiffly got off Yisi’s lap, straightened her body, and sat down beside her.

“Ahem, l-long time no see… or rather, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Hello, future 24th Pope of the Ymir Church, Evelyn Anna Ymir Shalu.”

“Uh… Are you really Alvier VII? The Blood Clan’s royal capital is at least a month’s journey from here. I heard just a month ago that the Blood Clan had just suppressed a rebellion. Have you quit being the queen? To leave your territory while restoring order. Also, how did you get in here?”

“I told you, this was my preparation.” Intercepting the question before Andrea could answer, Yisi took over the conversation. “Andrea has always wanted to meet you, so I used a little trick to bring her here. Now we can start talking about what you wanted to discuss.”

Evelyn did not get straight to the point, but instead asked a probing question.

“What are you to Andrea? Aren’t you afraid I’ll call people to lock her up for bringing the Blood Clan Queen here? As the only surviving member of the Blood Clan’s royal bloodline, if she falls into the hands of the church, her fate will definitely not be a good one—at the very least, the Blood Clan will have to cede a third of its land.”

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“If you wanted to do that, you wouldn’t have said it out loud. Besides, I don’t think you would sacrifice your own interests for the sake of the church.”

Since I can bring Andrea here, I can also take her back to the Blood Clan’s territory. This was Yisi’s first assurance. Secondly, from the fact that Evelyn had not made any unusual moves after swapping bodies with Andrea, one could tell that Evelyn valued personal gain over the church’s interests. If Evelyn had really been thinking about the church, not to mention committing suicide after swapping bodies to cut off the Blood Clan’s only royal bloodline, she shouldn’t have helped Andrea stabilize the nobility and implement effective new policies in the first place.

Her agreement with Andrea was, in the end, for self-fulfillment. To a certain extent, she, like Andrea, was not suited for her current position.

As for the reason, Yisi guessed that it was the current Pope’s long life that made Evelyn see no hope of inheriting the position. The Pope’s long-established authority also made it impossible for Evelyn to seize power. Unfortunately, Evelyn’s desire for self-fulfillment was greater than her sense of belonging to the church, which led to the situation of ‘as long as it’s a place where I can use my talents, I can sleep soundly even in the enemy’s camp’.

“Hoh, you see things quite clearly. Since you dare to bring the Blood Clan Queen here, it means you’re not afraid of me screaming. Perhaps the moment I make a slight move, I’ll already be dead. Of course, even if that’s not the case, I won’t call for the church’s paladins.” Placing her teacup on the table, Evelyn spread her hands to show that she had no hostile intent. “You still haven’t answered my question. What is your relationship with Andrea?”

“She’s my fiancée.”

“Lady Yisi!” Her cute face flushed with embarrassment, Andrea wanted to reach out and stop Yisi, but she quickly clasped her hands on her lap, fidgeting with her shoulders and admitting in a small voice, “Mm… it’s just as Lady Yisi said…”

“Miss Andrea is so bold…” Mary’s eyes widened in surprise, which quickly turned into admiration. “As expected of a mature woman.”

“What are you talking about, Mary!”

Even more shyly, Andrea reached out to cover Mary’s mouth, but Mary dodged.

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“Isn’t that what you said yourself, Miss Andrea? That the next time we meet, you would become a wife that Master could be proud of. And it’s been less than a month.”

As the situation devolved into one that was difficult to resolve, Yisi and Evelyn, with a tacit understanding, did not interfere.

“A fiancée, I see. Not just little Mary, but you won’t even let the Blood Clan Queen go… You really have a wide range of interests. I’m starting to suspect that those bandits from before were deliberately arranged by you as bait to get close to me.”

“That kind of joke isn’t funny at all.”

“Well, let’s stop here. Although I have my doubts about your true strength, I don’t want to guess at your abilities today. I have only one purpose for calling you here. I need the magic medicine you spoke of.”

As if trying to see through every thought in Yisi’s mind, Evelyn stared intently into Yisi’s eyes. Yisi’s expression did not change. With Andrea’s appearance, Evelyn could no longer use her status to threaten and force her into submission by promising a position. Now, the two sides stood on equal footing on the surface—in reality, Evelyn was the one asking for a favor.

“I don’t have the magic medicine you want. I haven’t had a chance to contact that friend of mine. Besides, with my friend’s eccentric personality, if you don’t tell her where you’re going to use the magic medicine, she probably won’t give it to you. You know, powerful alchemists all have some hard-to-understand quirks.”

“The purpose is simple. I’m just interested.”

She might be lying, but I don’t need to give it to her immediately either.

“I will try to ask her for you, but whether she agrees or not is not my business.”

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“If you help me persuade her, I can give you what you want.” Speaking halfway, Evelyn glanced at the arguing Andrea and Mary with a meaningful look. “Anything.”

“If you were a little gentler, I might have agreed.”

Yisi shrugged. Just then, the argument between Andrea and Mary suddenly stopped, and Andrea looked at her with aggrieved, teary eyes.

“Master promised Miss Andrea that you wouldn’t look for anyone else…”

“No, that’s not it, Andrea. That was just a joke. Evelyn and I were just kidding.”

“…Really?”

Andrea’s mouth turned down in a pout.

“Really.” So that Evelyn wouldn’t hear, Yisi bent down and, while keeping a wary eye on Evelyn, whispered into Andrea’s ear, “I don’t like old women like Evelyn at all. Andrea is much cuter than her.”

“Uwah…”

For some reason, Yisi felt for a moment that Mary shot her a look with a tiny bit of disgust, but when Yisi looked over, Mary was just blinking curiously.

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Andrea suddenly burst into laughter through her tears.

“Pfft, Lady Yisi is so mean.”

She must be referring to the ‘Evelyn is an old woman’ part. In reality, Evelyn was not yet eighteen, and her appearance was very youthful, definitely in the category of a young girl, on the same level as Yisi—except that her chest was much larger than Yisi’s.

With a sunny smile, Yisi gently stroked Andrea’s head.

“Well, although it’s a bit of an exaggeration, I won’t change my mind.”

“Hey, you two over there. Even if it’s lovers’ talk, don’t do it in front of me. I called you here to talk about serious business.”

Evelyn frowned in displeasure. Her resentful look reminded Yisi of a single person with flames of jealousy burning in their eyes—just like herself on Christmas, watching couples walk hand-in-hand into a love hotel.

As one who serves God, Evelyn could not marry in her lifetime. If she didn’t have a general understanding of Evelyn, she would probably be ashamed of defiling the Pope’s holy eyes at this moment. But after knowing that Evelyn was actually very dissatisfied with her current situation—having no power in her hands, yet having to abide by the church’s rules—besides wanting to continue to annoy Evelyn, she surprisingly had no other thoughts.

Of course, this did not mean that Yisi disliked Evelyn. Yisi just disliked Evelyn’s semi-coercive way of doing things.

Still, I should probably tone it down a bit.