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Before we ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ met the Empress Dowager, Linna had clearly told me this:

“Over in that corner, you’ll find anti-nausea medicine. Pack a ton of it for me. When I raise my right hand, feed it to me. If you don’t, I’m seriously going to puke.”

The moment I heard that, I thought it might actually be a pretty damn good opportunity.

“Considering the state of my stomach right now, if I hear something disgusting, I’m not gonna be able to hold it down. It’s just gonna come right up. So I’m counting on you. Come on, let’s go!”

But who knew that opportunity would come this fast!

Turns out, getting all that rational attention from Ray and Zahid really was sickening!

I guess Linna’s eyes must be stuck way up in the clouds! Or her tastes are just seriously out there!

Anyway, I hurriedly pretended to fumble through the pockets of my maid’s uniform.

I really did feel sorry for Linna, but I had no intention of giving her that anti-nausea medicine.

“Linna?”

In the middle of all that, the clueless Empress Dowager tilted her head.

“Why are you suddenly raising your hand? Is that some new habit kids have these days, like when they’re so happy they just gotta raise their hand and say something?”

Then she laughed to herself and clapped again.

“So if Duke Lavendal said he liked that style earlier, and Duke Dyfenril had been here, would he have blushed shyly and raised his hand too…”

And in the end, the Empress Dowager didn’t even get to finish her sentence.

“Blaaargh!”

Linna actually threw up right on the table.

“Oh dear, my lady! I’m so sorry!”

I quickly rushed to her side, pretending to support her, and turned Linna’s face toward the Empress Dowager.

“BUUUEEEEGH!”

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And of course, the vomit splattered on the Empress Dowager too.

Linna, acting like she couldn’t help it, turned her body even more toward the Empress Dowager and gave it her absolute best.

She was probably still holding a grudge from earlier when the Empress Dowager framed her in front of everyone just to get an apology.

“Bleeegh, BLEEEEGH!”

“Oh my goodness gracious! Linnaaa! What is this?! What is happening?!”

The Empress Dowager freaked out, and before her ladies-in-waiting could run over, I pulled out a handkerchief and rushed toward her.

“Oh dear, Your Majesty!”

My target was the Sky Pocket.

If I could just get rid of that, we could summon more priests. And it would make the situation more favorable later too.

“What should we do!”

Pretending to wipe the Empress Dowager’s hand, I grabbed the bracelet-like Sky Pocket. At the same time, I subtly messed with the magic tool Theo had made.

Theo said if I took the whole ring off, all the ship’s magical devices would shut down. So I just tweaked it a little.

I could instantly feel divine power welling up.

I quickly channeled that divine power into the Sky Pocket.

Divine power and magic cancel each other out, so it was the best way to stop the tool from working.

If I keep draining it, the High Priest will definitely notice, but as long as we’re far enough from the Temple, it should be fine for a short while.

And right at that moment, Ray opened the device hidden at the bottom of his personal water flask.

A scent spread out, worsening the Empress Dowager’s symptoms. Luckily, it was masked by Linna’s vomit stench.

“GAK! HACK! KAH!”

The Empress Dowager clutched her chest and collapsed.

“Oh no, oh no! Your Maj—BLAAARGH!”

Linna tried to help her up, but just threw up more.

Ray didn’t miss the chance and shot up.

“Call a priest! Call them all! Mobilize everyone!”

At his words, the maids started running around like mad.

I signaled to Ray and moved away from the Empress Dowager. Of course, I made sure to firmly put the ring back on.

Ray also gave me a slight nod and quickly closed the device under his water flask.

“Woof! Woof woof woof!”

<Don’t marry that one, marry this one instead!>

At the same time, Fire started barking, and Zahid slowly stood up, blocking Ray’s view.

“Are you alright?”

He spoke half-heartedly to the Empress Dowager but kept his eyes on me the whole time.

“GUHHH, HACK…”

And as soon as my divine power dissipated, the Empress Dowager’s breathing began to return.

Divine power could stop a magic tool from working, but it couldn’t destroy it permanently.

“I-I’m going to die! I really think I’m dying!”

And since the Empress Dowager was such a drama queen, as soon as she started to feel even a little better, she screamed even louder.

“Call the priests! Call them all! Every priest you’ve got!”

In the end, every maid and lady-in-waiting around her ran out of the room. Naturally, plenty of priests were stationed on the Entoho for medical purposes.

Especially because the Empress Dowager was notorious for being obsessed with her health, dragging priests around in packs.

Before long, the priests in charge of her started rushing in.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Ah… we’ll begin treatment now…”

And after examining her, they tilted their heads.

“Hmm, you’ve got the Sky Pocket, and it doesn’t seem that serious…”

They didn’t look surprised at all—in fact, their faces said they were sick and tired of the Empress throwing these health tantrums.

Of course, this time the Empress Dowager was dead serious.

“What? I almost DIED! Bring another priest! A higher one! There are more downstairs!”

She screamed at the top of her lungs.

The priests just exchanged confused glances.

“No, but really, she seems fine…”

“I told you it’s not fine! It’s NOT! I almost died! You quacks, bring someone better!”

The more the priests said, “It’s nothing,” the more the Empress Dowager raged.

Amid the chaos, Ray quickly spoke up.

“Downstairs, Your Majesty? There are more priests downstairs?”

“Yes! Bring the high priests from downstairs! Not you low-rankers!”

The priests started exchanging panicked looks.

There were senior priests managing Karso in the basement, along with the Holy Knights.

It was top-secret, but the Empress Dowager, in her obsessive panic over her health, was now screaming it out loud.

Ray, fully grasping the situation, kept a perfectly puzzled and serious face.

“I guess the senior priests don’t really listen to the words of maids and ladies-in-waiting.”

He sighed dramatically and murmured like he was worried.

“But we can’t just stand here only seeing priests who can’t even give a proper diagnosis of Her Majesty’s condition.”

Sure enough, the Empress Dowager latched onto that “can’t even give a proper diagnosis” bit and started shaking.

“That’s it! I’ll go downstairs myself…”

“What if you have another attack down there, Your Majesty? The air in the basement is much worse than here.”

Hearing that, she shut her mouth immediately.

Ray didn’t miss the chance and smoothly turned to Zahid.

“Zahid, it’s probably best if you go. Surely they won’t ignore a duke.”

Ray and Linna still had lower ranks, so he picked Zahid, the highest-ranking one.

“This is your chance to score points with the Empress Dowager. You said you wanted to get into politics anyway.”

And he practically pushed him along, giving Zahid a solid reason. Everyone already knew Zahid wasn’t fond of the Temple.

Seriously… Ray’s ability to steer a situation was just next level.

“…Then I’ll leave it to you, Duke.”

And in her daze, the Empress Dowager took the bait Ray held out. Health, the one thing she lacked, was her biggest weakness.

“But listen.”

But that didn’t mean she was completely convinced.

“Linna.”

Her eyes turned to Linna, who was wiping her mouth.

“You’re going with him.”

“What?”

“I said, go with Duke Dyfenril. You go down there yourself and bring the senior priest.”

The Empress Dowager was still crafty, even in the middle of this mess. She didn’t trust Zahid, so she was sending Linna to keep an eye on him.

But she didn’t feel easy sending that wreck Linna alone, so she stuck Zahid with the responsibility.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep