A Mastermind? No, I'm just the Live-In Son-in-Law-Chapter 161: The Promise

“.......”

“...Haa.”

As the wardrobe swung open to reveal a corpse, a chilling silence fell between Hestia—who stood frozen, staring blankly—and Whitney, who sighed and rubbed his forehead.

Creeeaaak...

A moment later, Hestia slowly closed the wardrobe door, still in a daze.

“Ah, the clothes inside were... quite unique-looking.”

“...Haha.”

She turned her head with a forced smile, prompting Whitney to offer an equally forced chuckle and a nod.

“...This isn’t something we can just laugh off, is it!?”

“......”

“W-What on earth did you do!?”

But as Hestia’s urgent voice rose in panic, Whitney quietly averted his gaze.

“We were just talking, and then... the Duke suddenly went ugh and collapsed.”

“Do you really expect me to believe that!?”

“...Mm, I figured that’d be a stretch.”

As Hestia reacted with increasing outrage to his feeble excuse, Whitney clicked his tongue and began again.

“The Duke and I were in conversation when, without warning, he raised a gun to his own forehead and—”

“Enough! I’m not in the mood for jokes right now!”

“I’m serious.”

“Why in the world did you have to kill him now, of all times!?”

But Hestia continued to press him, treating his words like a bad joke.

“If it were up to me, you should’ve either killed him when I could see it myself, or at the very least waited until it wasn’t during audit week....”

“...What do you mean?”

“Ugh, this is bad. This is really bad.”

Gripping her throbbing temple, Hestia muttered to herself, and Whitney, watching her quietly, suddenly began walking toward her.

“Saintess.”

“...W-What now.”

Seeing the ominous expression forming on Whitney’s face, Hestia took a slow step back.

“At this point... there’s no other choice.”

“W-Wait, please! Don’t do anything rash.”

Cornered against the wall, she shrank back slightly as Whitney approached, casting wary glances at him.

“L-Let me just explain—”

“Shh.”

She tried to speak in a timid voice, but Whitney silenced her with a gentle gesture—pressing a finger to his lips—and then whispered softly into her ear.

“If you agree to look the other way this time...”

Swallowing dryly, Hestia instinctively listened, as if a past trauma had been triggered.

“...I’ll gift you a 300-year-old wine from the Southern Continent.”

“Are you insane!?”

Smack!

Slapping his chest with a fierce glare, she exploded in frustration.

“I’m not some powerless puppet like I used to be! I’m now the de facto leader of the Holy Theocracy!”

“...That’s exactly why I’m offering you a deal. Are you sure you don’t want it?”

“Cut it out!”

Whitney tried again, offering the bribe with a conspiratorial tone, but Hestia shut him down with a scowl.

“Then... are you going to drag me back to the Theocracy right here and now?”

“...No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Then?”

“I’m trying to figure out how to cover this up, so can you just stay quiet for a bit?”

“...Excuse me?”

But her reply was far from what Whitney had expected.

“Well, I already know you’re a regressor. This person was probably someone you absolutely had to kill at this point in time, wasn’t he?”

“...Pardon?”

“There’s no time to argue, so stop asking questions. The problem is the obligation placed on me.”

Blinking in surprise, Whitney asked cautiously, sensing a faint glimmer of hope.

“Could you... explain that in more detail instead of getting ahead of yourself?”

“Haa...”

Sighing deeply, Hestia finally calmed herself and began explaining.

“Listen carefully. For the next week, the Theocracy is observing Audit Days. It’s a long-standing tradition, when the power of the now-departed God is said to be most strongly connected to this world.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means that, unlike usual, I cannot tell a lie today.”

To demonstrate, Hestia raised her hand, revealing a luminous gray divine energy glowing brighter than usual.

“The First and Second Saintesses were said to have always communed with God. While I don’t have that ability, during Audit Days, which are the closest we get to divine presence, any sacrilegious act—even a minor one...”

“...Could cause a problem?”

“More than just a ‘problem.’ I could be stripped of my powers and my title. Even just uttering a lie could be enough.”

Whitney’s brow twitched at that, but Hestia pressed on without concern.

“And the issue is... I have to file my investigation report tomorrow. I’m obligated to report everything—every last detail—to the Holy See.”

“...You can’t delay the report?”

“If I could, I wouldn’t be this stressed out. The Holy See intentionally scheduled the investigation today to eliminate even the possibility of me being bribed.”

Though Hestia had already seized much of the Theocracy’s real power as its new Saintess, the Elder Priests, led by the Pope, remained firmly in place to monitor and restrain her.

Even the Paladin Commander who had been dispatched with her—while officially loyal to the Saintess per doctrine—was fundamentally from the Elder faction.

He had likely been sent to watch over her, in case her personal closeness to Whitney swayed her judgment in this delicate matter.

“...Things have gotten messy.”

“Exactly! Why now, of all times!?”

“Why now, of all times!?”

“So you’re not really upset that I killed someone. Just the timing.”

As Hestia screamed in frustration, Whitney chuckled and delivered a dry joke.

“...Lately I’ve been learning, the hard way, that some things in life are just inevitable.”

Perhaps swept up in his pace, or maybe already resigned, Hestia sighed and responded in a much lower tone.

“Still... this time, it’s really serious.”

“Exactly. Isn’t the timing so unfortunate?”

“......?”

“The very day the Theocracy sends its Saintess... and this happens. What a coincidence, right?”

Frowning, Hestia asked suspiciously.

“Are you saying this was all planned?”

“Not by me, of course. Probably by the Duke.”

“So you're saying the Duke planned to be killed by you?”

Whitney gave her a bitter smile and nodded.

“I didn’t kill him... but yeah, close enough.”

“......”

“The point is, this whole setup is about making me the scapegoat. If it had all happened within the Duke’s household, maybe I could’ve buried it somehow. But with the Theocracy involved, it’s a different story entirely...”

As he murmured to himself, Whitney suddenly turned to Hestia with sharp eyes.

“Do you have any idea who sent that anonymous tip to the Theocracy?”

“...If I knew that, it wouldn’t be anonymous, would it?”

“What exactly did the report claim? And what was the evidence?”

Reluctantly, Hestia began to answer.

“The tip accused the Embergreen ducal house of conducting black magic experiments for many years. And the evidence...”

“...This?”

“It’s the Duke’s ring. During the priests’ investigation, they found a concentration of dark mana that could only result from at least ten years of black magic exposure.”

She pulled out an aged but ornate ring engraved with the crest of House Embergreen.

“That seals it, then.”

Staring at it, Whitney muttered bitterly and slumped into a nearby chair.

“...Saintess, may I ask you a question?”

“What is it?”

After some thought, Whitney posed his query while Hestia fidgeted nervously.

“Regarding the Audit Day rules... the ‘lie’ I can’t tell—does it have to be an absolute lie? Or is it about whether the speaker believes it’s false?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean... do I have to tell only objective truth? Or is it enough that I believe it’s the truth, even if I’m wrong?”

Hestia blinked, clearly having never considered the distinction.

“I... I’m not really sure...”

“I see...”

“...But if we assume that Audit Day is when divine scrutiny is at its peak, then the second option is more likely.”

Her eyes gleamed slightly as she explained.

“It would be more heretical to speak falsehoods knowing the truth, than to accidentally state something incorrect out of ignorance.”

Her surprisingly coherent interpretation, especially coming from a Saintess, made Whitney frown in deeper thought.

“So the Duke planned even this...? Or was it all coincidence...?”

“Hey, so what are you going to do?”

Unable to contain herself, Hestia finally asked. Whitney, having closed his eyes in thought, slowly responded.

“...I have an idea. But I’ll have to ask a difficult favor again.”

“Haa... Fine. Let’s hear it.”

Sighing, she nodded and listened.

“First, please delay the investigation report.”

“I told you already, that’s not possible.”

“I don’t need much. Just one week. Until the final day of Audit Week.”

It wasn’t as impossible a request as Hestia had feared.

The Theocracy’s elders only wanted to remove the possibility of her lying. If she gave some excuse, delaying the report until the final day of Audit Week might just be barely permissible.

“...And the rest?”

“That’s all. Nothing else.”

“Hmm...”

Which only made Hestia more suspicious. She narrowed her eyes and pressed him.

“You’re saying if I do just that, this whole situation will be resolved?”

“...Yes. Absolutely.”

“But I’ll still have to tell the truth in a week.”

Then, with that signature shadowed smile, Whitney replied,

“...That won’t matter by then.”

A chill ran down Hestia’s spine. She asked, half-joking but with a tinge of fear.

“You’re not planning to kill me, are you?”

“...Don’t be ridiculous, haha.”

Whitney laughed like it was absurd.

“If I were going to kill you, I’d have done it at the engagement ceremony.”

“...Hik.”

“Kidding. Relax, Saintess.”

Though she had long shed her past as a naive figurehead, Whitney still remained outside the realm of her understanding.

“Well then, shall we leave this room?”

“Well then, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) shall we leave this room?”

“...Hold on.”

Just as things were seemingly wrapping up, Hestia suddenly stopped him.

“The Commander will question me the moment we step outside...”

“...Ah, that’s not an issue.”

Whitney smiled gently.

“As long as you don’t tell a lie, you’ll be fine.”

Of course, to Hestia, even that sounded deeply, ominously sinister.

‘...He’s not planning to destroy the world in a week, is he?’

She couldn’t help but follow behind him, that ridiculous thought oddly close to the mark.

“.......”