Now, unable to wield a sword and with no one to help, if she were to suspect he was a devil to Delilah, Kirion’s right-hand woman, in enemy territory, it would be directly reported to Kirion. She lacked the strength to deal with the aftermath.

Moreover, if Delilah had normal values, she wouldn’t have remained by Kirion’s side until now.

Since they’re of the same kind, they attracted each other, and must have conspired all these schemes together.

If Kirion was a devil, Delilah was already a woman who had aided the devil.

Kirion’s desire was great, but Delilah’s desire was no less. Delilah had also subtly encouraged and supported Kirion to get this far.

It’s only natural, in a way, that those of the same kind don’t detect anything strange in each other.

Yes, neither of them is normal.

“Lady Satin, I’m not sure if we’ll have another day to meet.”

Hearing the implication, Satin glared at Delilah. Delilah calmly met her gaze.

They might believe they’ve won by taking control of the temple and nobles and gradually obtaining the sacred artifacts, but it won’t be easy.

There was Rublier. There was Vitalis.

And there were the slowly rising sparks of suspicion, albeit belatedly.

“Whose days will end first is something we’ll have to wait and see.”

Satin left a final warning.

“You’ve turned a person into a monster. The day will surely come when you’ll pay dearly for it.”

* * *

Exactly two days after Kirion had threatened Satin that he would scrape the bottom of the lake to get the sacred artifact, a carriage loaded with all sorts of junk dredged from the lake bottom arrived at the Papal Palace.

Kirion had deployed a large workforce compared to the lake’s area. They took turns without rest, scooping up the lake bottom all day long.

Due to the order to load everything untouched, the carriage was filled with fish carcasses and garbage as well.

Under Kirion’s watch, the servants rummaged through the foul-smelling pile of trash.

As the servants were cutting open fish bellies and examining even bone fragments one by one while sorting through the junk, they pulled out a box rolled up and tied with string from among the garbage.

It was a box with the Del Mare family crest engraved on its surface.

Kirion, oblivious to how dirty the water-soaked and smelly box was, grabbed it eagerly and rushed to find Satin.

As soon as Kirion barged in, Satin covered her nose and mouth against the overwhelming fishy smell.

“…Ugh.”

The foul odor, which was especially nauseating like the smell of fish, felt even more disgusting to her already heightened sense of smell.

Satin flung the window wide open and buried her face in the cool air. Still, her stomach churned.

Even trying to breathe shallowly to avoid inhaling the smell deeply had little effect.

Kirion, completely disregarding Satin’s retching, triumphantly presented the box.

“I’ve won.”

Satin stared blankly at the box.

“So what?”

“Luck was on my side.”

“Do you really think so?”

Satin calmly retorted while holding her breath. Kirion scrutinized Satin with narrowed eyes, noticing how she remained largely unshaken even with her family’s sacred artifact before her.

Her pale, bloodless face seemed to mock Kirion instead.

No way.

Could it be.

He snapped the soggy strings. Thud, the moment the box shook, Kirion threw it at Satin without even opening the lid. The box grazed Satin and fell out the window.

It was an empty box.

“How far do you intend to mock me?”

“I told you long ago that it wasn’t there. It was Your Eminence who didn’t believe my words.”

“Where did you put it? If you value your life, you should reveal it with your own mouth now.”

“It’s really not there. Since I couldn’t protect the sacred artifact with my strength alone, as someone who lost the right to be its owner, all I could do was place it somewhere safe.”

“You say you placed the sacred artifact somewhere safe…?”

As Kirion repeated Satin’s words, anger gradually frosted over his eyes.

“…You handed it over to Rub.”

Satin calmly composed her expression. When Rublier left to rescue Vitalis, Satin had tipped him off about the location of the sacred artifact submerged in the lake.

Rublier was the most reliable person in this country to protect the sacred artifact. If he couldn’t protect it, it meant no one could.

Rublier had retrieved the sacred artifact from the box attached under the small boat and discarded the box, rolled up with string, into the lake.

Kirion’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“Even so, things won’t go as you wish. The Holy See is already in my hands. Vitalis won’t return here.”

“Is that so? I don’t think that way.”

Satin added calmly.

“His Eminence Vitalis will return. Because he must now know that he is the true owner of the oracle.”

“But he…”

The rebuttal stopped.

For a moment, a strange light flashed across Kirion’s irises.

“…Ah. You even anticipated this. No wonder Rub hasn’t shown up until now. I thought it was too quiet.”

Satin didn’t answer. Kirion read the correct answer from Satin’s silence.

The composure he had been maintaining slowly began to distort. Satin clenched her fists. Her heart pounded loudly, rising and falling tumultuously.

“How dare you…”

Madness dripped from the voice flowing through his teeth.

“How dare you, to me…”

It was chilling. Satin took small steps backward, pushing her heels.

“How many times…”

She suddenly couldn’t remember. Had Kirion’s manner of speaking always been like this? His voice?

Although he might have intended to harm Satin inwardly, outwardly, Kirion had never forgotten his decorum as an archbishop. But now, he seemed like a person who had abandoned some sort of line.

Satin stood with her back pressed tightly against the wall.

Breath consumed by anger poured out roughly. Something was changing inside him. The aura surrounding Kirion was distinctly different from before.

“…Your Eminence?”

Satin cautiously called out to Kirion. But he seemed to hear nothing. Somehow, an ominous feeling arose.

Kirion, who had been staring distantly at some point outside the window with uncontrollable anger, turned his head towards Satin as if suddenly coming to his senses.

“In that case, I must prepare to welcome guests. Considering our past relationship, I’ll give you time to leave a letter as your last words. Of course, whether those fellows will bother to read your letter or not is beyond my knowledge.”

Somehow, it felt eerie. No. It was definitely ominous.

Clang. Hearing the sharp noise of chains locking the door, Satin followed Kirion’s gaze out the window and almost screamed in shock.

From far away, black shadows were surging like waves.

* * *

“Si-Sir. Lo-Look over there!”

Vitalis shouted, pointing at the sky. Even before Vitalis’s warning, Rublier was already stiffly watching the scene.

Countless evil spirits were flying in a chain. Some crossed the sky while others crawled on the ground. There were so many that one might momentarily mistake it for nightfall. Moreover, they were all pointing in one direction.

The Papal Palace.

Rublier painfully swallowed the name that naturally came to mind.

Satin, you must be safe.

“We need to hurry more.”

Rublier spurred his horse. Even the black horse, famous for its robust stamina, was now visibly tired, but Rublier gritted his teeth and endured.

Vitalis, who had been riding day and night, changing horses several times so as not to burden Rublier and his black horse, was barely clinging to his horse in a half-dead state.

Nevertheless, Vitalis never said it was impossible.

He had already been saved once by Rublier’s hand. Throughout their return journey to the capital, he had witnessed the anxiety and fear Rublier harbored. He couldn’t become a burden here.

Vitalis recalled the moment when Rublier had miraculously appeared before him.

If Kirion truly had concern for his brother, he would have at least sent proper knights to ensure Vitalis’s safety.

But Kirion had only assigned two knights to Vitalis.

Still, Vitalis didn’t complain.

He believed Kirion’s words that he couldn’t spare the Holy Knights because they lacked manpower to straighten out the chaos in the capital. He wanted to believe it.

Surely nothing would happen. It was a path of self-chosen exile. There was no reason to harbor excessive anxiety between brothers who shared roots.

Vitalis tried to act relaxed while traveling with his small entourage.

The journey was quite smooth. They traveled by carriage during the day and stayed at nearby priests’ residences in the evening.

The priests, though bewildered by the archbishop’s sudden visit, welcomed him with their best efforts.

Vitalis gradually adapted to this quiet and peaceful journey.

The attack happened in broad daylight.

The carriage that had been moving at a steady pace suddenly stopped with a creak. There was no warning. At first, they thought it might be a band of thieves hiding on the sparsely populated road, aiming for travelers’ purses.

“Who goes there!”

“Stand aside! In this carriage, Archbishop Vitalis…”

The coachman’s words were cut off. Despite hearing Vitalis’s identity, they surrounded the group in a circle.

Most of the entourage didn’t know how to use a sword. On the other hand, the disguised assailants all carried blades.

“Your Eminence, flee!”

The two knights drew their swords and shouted while facing off against them. But where could he possibly flee to?

Vitalis opened the window and pleaded with the attackers.

“I-I’ll gi-give you e-everything we have, ju-just don’t ha-harm us!”

“So it’s confirmed that the Archbishop is here.”