She asked Vitalis again for confirmation.

“Ah, ah, right.”

Vitalis took out a rolled-up cloth from his pocket and handed it to Satin.

“Si-Sir said I sh-should give this to you, Lady Satin.”

Without unfolding it, Satin instinctively knew what this object was that was returned to her through Vitalis. It was the sacred artifact.

She had certainly entrusted it to Rublier, so why had it come back to be delivered through Vitalis?

If Rublier had passed it to Vitalis, it meant they were together at some point. They were together and then separated for some reason.

“Isn’t Rub here too?”

Satin asked again.

“Where is he?”

Only then did Vitalis answer with an apologetic look.

“I-I don’t know. Si-Sir went in ahead of me. I st-stayed behind and came in late…”

Despite Rublier entering first, it was Vitalis who had found Satin. For a moment, Satin felt a dizzying sensation.

“We need to find Rublier.”

The secret room had been so cunningly hidden that she couldn’t even remember how she had been brought in, so it wouldn’t be easy for Rublier to find this place even if he searched the Papal Palace.

If that’s the case, they had no choice but to find Rublier first.

She didn’t know why. Her thoughts just naturally flowed towards the idea that she needed to meet him. It felt obvious.

If Rublier appeared before her, she would scold him. How could he be later than Vitalis after making a promise? Why did he always make her search for him first? How could he return the sacred artifact through someone else instead of giving it back directly?

“N-no, you can’t.”

But unexpectedly, Vitalis stopped her.

“Si-Sir asked me to ta-take good care of you, Lady Satin.”

Take good care of her?

Satin hesitated for a moment and then asked back.

“He did? Of me?”

It was a very rare case. Rublier usually didn’t entrust Satin’s safety to others.

When it was uncertain when the Papal Palace would come to arrest Satin, he always volunteered to stand guard in front of Satin’s bedroom.

He followed her around to the point of annoyance. Even for short outings, no, even inside the house, he was always by Satin’s side.

The last time Rublier had entrusted Satin to someone else was the first time.

Right before he left to rescue Vitalis, when he had to be away for an extended period and had no other choice.

But now, at this point when they’ve come to suspect Kirion’s true nature and evil spirits are flying about, he entrusted her to someone else again? After coming back so close?

…Why?

Satin forcibly pushed away her unnecessary unease. It must be excessive worry.

Isn’t it just a common courtesy to leave words of request to whoever is nearby at the time?

Let’s not assign meaning to trivial things. Satin quickly gathered her thoughts.

“It’s alright. The evil spirits can’t harm me anyway. The baby is protecting me. I’m safer than anyone else here. I need to look around and see where Rublier is.”

The baby had made Satin’s body a sanctuary. The evil spirits didn’t dare invade Satin.

Even those who tried to harm her were frightened by the unprecedented level of protection. Far from lingering around and looking for an opportunity, they retreated instead.

“I-I’m sorry, but Si-Sir wouldn’t want you to stay here, Lady Satin.”

Vitalis, who had been watching Satin’s expression with a troubled look, shook his head.

“You might be sa-safe from just the evil spirits, but…”

He stammered for a while.

“My br-brother is also somewhere here…”

In front of Kirion, who was possessed by the devil, Vitalis was just a timid and incompetent younger brother, and Satin was merely a weak pregnant woman.

What if he appeared and swung his sword at Satin? All they had was a single short candlestick that could only light up a few spans of the corridor.

The chubby Vitalis and Satin, whose physical strength had decreased due to pregnancy, couldn’t run at full speed even if they encountered Kirion.

Vitalis, swallowing his shame, honestly confessed.

“I… I ca-can’t really protect you, Lady Satin, with my own strength.”

If Kirion tried to harm Satin, he had absolutely no ability to resist.

He entered the Papal Palace with the intention of helping somehow, but in reality, protecting Satin wasn’t part of his clumsy plan.

He naturally assumed that Rublier would be the one to save her.

After unexpectedly rescuing Satin from her confinement, Vitalis recalled Rublier’s request to take good care of her and felt an enormous burden.

Having never stepped up in his life and having only been protected by Rublier this time as well, Vitalis, with no experience of protecting anyone with his own strength, was at a loss as to what he could do for Satin, especially since she’s a pregnant woman.

“Gu-guiding you out is a-all I can do.”

So, the urgent task was to get Satin out of the Papal Palace first.

As long as she gets away from Kirion, Satin would be safe. Vitalis would also have fulfilled Rublier’s request.

Vitalis urged,

“Let’s hu-hurry and go…”

Satin bit her lip.

Intellectually, she fully understood Vitalis’s decision.

It would be good if she could meet Rublier while wandering around the Papal Palace, but if she encountered Kirion, it would be disastrous.

Having engaged in a long battle over the whereabouts of the sacred artifact and not being harmed by the evil spirits, this time Kirion surely wouldn’t let Satin go alive.

But her feet wouldn’t move easily. It felt as if the ground kept pulling at her ankles.

Satin unconsciously looked around several times. Rublier wasn’t someone who needed to move stealthily.

If he were nearby, his presence would surely be heard.

Vitalis, extremely tense, was sweating so much that the back of his neck was damp.

He was trembling to the extent that it seemed mysterious how he had found the courage to return to the Papal Palace. Satin was actually braver than Vitalis.

Even in his fear, Vitalis walked ahead, pale and stammering, trying to fulfill his role as a guide.

Unable to bear it any longer, Satin grabbed him and took the candlestick.

“Your Eminence, please guide me from behind. If evil spirits appear, I need to block them so that you can be safe too.”

“Bu-but…”

“Shh.”

Peeking around a corner, Satin quickly turned to Vitalis and signaled him to be quiet.

A thin trail of blood was flowing from the other side.

It was a path the evil spirits had passed through. The traces of people trying to hide and evil spirits hunting them had now penetrated this far.

Satin took a deep breath, preparing herself for the horrific scene hidden in the darkness that she would soon face.

* * *

Unlike Vitalis, who had sneaked into the Papal Palace through a side door and rushed deep inside looking for a safe area, Rublier had galloped through the main gate on horseback and was searching the Papal Palace from front to back.

“Satin!”

An evil spirit that had been gnawing on a corpse raised its dark head. Rublier immediately drew his sword and beheaded the evil spirit in one swift motion.

As it fell from the sword strike, the evil spirit’s smoke-like body stretched out long. Rublier urged his horse on, leaping over sprawled corpses and people groaning in pain, calling out for Satin.

“Satin, where are you!”

If someone were to see Rublier now, they might be surprised at how he could maintain such a calm face amidst this carnage.

But the reality was different. Overwhelmed by thousands of fears, Rublier had completely lost his expression. He was in such a state that he didn’t even know what mindset he was in as he searched this place.

What had happened in the Papal Palace?

He momentarily set aside questions about why the evil spirits were rampaging in the Papal Palace like this, and how so many people had entered.

Rublier’s eyes moved solely in search of silver. His heart seemed to stop whenever he caught even a slight glimmer among the fallen people clumped together.

He repeatedly looked at each face, confirming it wasn’t Satin, and then feeling relieved.

He struck down the approaching evil spirits without even looking at them. He pushed them away with his sword, ran, and kicked open closed doors.

If they were locked, he broke them. Whether the Papal Palace’s servants had all fled or were being chased by evil spirits, no one was stopping Rublier.

It was natural. Even if the servants remained in the Papal Palace, who would dare block Rublier wielding a sword?

“Sa-save, save me…”

Groans flowed from every corner of the blood-soaked corridors.

Rublier pinned down an evil spirit that was lurking in the shadows trying to grab the horse’s legs with the tip of his sword, then pulled out a candlestick from the corridor wall and lit it.

Kiaaak! Along with the evil spirit’s death cry, the suddenly flaring fire left thick soot as it died down.

The evil spirits that had been eyeing their prey from all directions seemed surprised by Rublier’s unhesitating action and shrank back.

Rublier didn’t even blink.

He didn’t care if dozens or hundreds of these things came at him, or if he fell right in the middle of the writhing evil spirits.

But Satin was different. Imagining Satin somewhere in this Papal Palace where evil spirits roamed in packs made him feel like he would go even more insane.

He knew in his head. She is a very brave person. Satin was the first to discover the evil spirit in the capital, and it was Satin who had faced the evil spirit alone in her bedroom after instructing people to leave and call for Rublier.

If it weren’t for Satin’s courage, the damage wouldn’t have ended with just her bedroom being burned.

Satin is always a person who thinks about what she can do.

She’s not someone who would just hide in a corner, trembling and crying. Even now, she must be somewhere here, devising ways to survive.

But his heart told a different story. Even while trusting her, the very fact that Satin was in danger made his breath get caught.

He wished Satin was in the safest place in the world. He wished she could live peacefully and comfortably.

He always wanted to create that peace for her with his own hands.

“Satin, Satin…!”

The echo resounded endlessly.