Carlyle said that with an unruffled expression.
He's casting her away.
This man is casting away his own wife.
No, if Claire normally acts that way and Carlyle's irritation grew day by day, isn't it natural to cast her aside in this situation?
If it was me, no matter how many problems Eris causes with her violence, I wouldn't cast her aside or abandon her.
I can't say with confidence that after a long married life I won't come to dislike the parts of her that are disagreeable.
However, I would definitely never cast her aside or abandon her.
This bothers me a bit.
I remember something Cliff said long ago.
In Milis, when a woman gets married, her family gives the groom a betrothal gift, but in exchange, he will definitely provide aid should something ever happen to the bride's household.
Of course, what is meant by household isn't clear, but is Carlyle seriously considering forsaking Claire...?
"Of course, I fully intend to take responsibility as the head of the family, but I would like to make known that this matter was not done with the full consensus of the Latreia house."
I wonder if adding that on is part of his sense of responsibility.
"I see. Then madam Claire, how about you?"
"..."
Claire doesn't answer.
She simply presses her lips together in a straight line and remains silent, like a pouting child.
"I will take your silence to be a confirmation."
The pope said that and looked over the listeners.
Then, before anyone could say anything, he raised his voice again.
"Then, the perpetrator of this incident was Madam Claire. Sir Carlyle will share responsibility. I would like to end this with Madam Claire receiving punishment and Sir Carlyle taking responsibility. Are there any objections?"
I get the feeling that something is being distorted.
That the topic was being manipulated.
That the conclusion was decided from the start, and the conversation smoothly flowed towards that.
"No objections!"
The cardinal responded faster than anyone else.
"... No objections!"
"No objections!"
When everyone was nodding in agreement with the cardinal's words, Claire's face became blue, but it didn't lose its primness.
I wonder if she's not going to say anything.
An excuse, or something.
Well, I'd get in a bad mood if she gave some poor excuse, so it's fine.
As for me, as long as Zenith is returned, it's fine.
I'll never approach the Latreia house again. I won't let Zenith, Norn, or Aisha approach it ever again.
That's the end of that.
"Is that okay with you, Rudeus-sama? This incident was caused against our intents. We had no intention of harming Rudeus-sama, or making enemies of Orsted-sama, and would like to maintain an amicable relationship."
I looked at the pope.
His smiling face hasn't changed.
I looked at the cardinal.
When our gazes met, he let out a squeak and started pouring sweat.
"O-, of course we don't desire conflict with Orsted-sama either. No matter how Orsted-sama knows of Laplace's coming return, we have no intentions on sparing our cooperation in defeating him. We would like to put off the matter of the sale of Demon Race figures until a later conference, though..."
After that exchange, I somehow grasped the flow of the situation.
In this case, the mastermind was the pope.
Most likely, the ones who leaked the matter of the miko's kidnapping was the pope's underlings.
Using the Latreia house's name, he manipulated the cardinal's faction into suspecting me of attempting to murder the miko.
Or possibly there are spies from the pope's faction in the Latreia house, and used the fact that I was in fact heard by their servants, it doesn't matter either way.
He couldn't be sure whether the cardinal would move or not.
However, from the cardinal's viewpoint, I must have been a troublesome existance.
I'm friends with the pope's grandson Cliff, and am the subordinate of the Dragon God.
It must have looked that I had an issue with the Latreia house, and the pope used that as a pretext to send me as an assassin and draw close to the miko.
It's no wonder he thought that he had to get rid of me.
That he didn't mobilize the entire Order of the Temple was either because he was underestimating me, or that he predicted things would turn out this way.
The pope knew I wasn't going to kill the miko.
Either that, or he didn't mind even if I did.
Naturally, even if I couldn't win against the Order of the Temple and was killed, there would be no demerit for him.
I may be Cliff's friend, but I'm not part of the pope's faction.
The pope didn't have to dirty his hands, or agree with the kidnapping.
He had confidence that even if he were questioned by the miko and his plan were discovered, in the worst case he could use Cliff as a scapegoat.
Furthermore, if Orsted came, he could proclaim that I fell for the trap of the Demon Race Expulsion faction.
He must have been thinking that if it came to that, he could establish a cooperative relationship with Orsted on his own.