The place Shailyn arrived at, carried out with her hands and feet bound, was the temple.

Usually when prisoners developed health problems, they were transferred to the prison within the temple for treatment.

“I will treat her. Bring her this way.”

Raviel, having been waiting for her to come, immediately stepped forward.

He deliberately sent everyone away and laid Shailyn on the bed in the prison cell, then sat quietly beside her.

Shortly after, Shailyn’s eyelashes fluttered and she slowly opened her eyes.

“Mmm……”

“Are you alright? Are you conscious?”

“Yes…… Did my plan succeed?”

Raviel nodded and said.

“This place is the temple now. Shailyn’s recklessness worked.”

“That’s a relief.”

She judged that to resolve the current situation, she first needed to escape from the underground prison of the imperial palace.

However, if she had escaped, it would only make things worse, so after much deliberation, she asked Raviel to arrange for her to be transferred to the temple at least.

For reference, the medicine he brought was non-toxic but had the effect of making one vomit blood as if poisoned, turning the skin pale blue, and losing consciousness for about an hour when consumed.

Thanks to this, Shailyn, having legally escaped safely, dusted herself off and sat up.

“What do you plan to do from now on?”

“I need to reveal that Celsior deliberately framed the Diart ducal family.”

Shailyn answered boldly, then sat with her arms crossed and fell into thought.

‘To do that, I think I need to investigate Emma first……’

Why did she suddenly betray the Diart ducal family?

The Emma that Shailyn knew was a kind head maid who cherished the Diart ducal family, especially Deborah.

She couldn’t understand why someone who had worked faithfully at the ducal residence without any flaws suddenly changed.

Even the Diart family couldn’t guess the reason when they were in the imperial prison.

‘It seems Emma has secrets we don’t know about…… How can I find out?’

The temple prison was relatively free, but it was still impossible to come and go outside.

She couldn’t ask Raviel to investigate either…….

Suddenly, a system function came to Shailyn’s mind as she pondered.

Character personal information viewing.

Perhaps it might work on Emma too. She wasn’t just a simple extra but the head maid of the Diart ducal family.

‘I want to view Emma’s information.’

The system window responded to Shailyn’s request.

— Ding!

【Name: Emma

Gender: Female

Age: 54

Occupation: Duke of Diart family head maid

Special Notes: Fell into heresy five years ago due to her sick son】

She read calmly down to the last part where her eyes suddenly widened.

‘This is it.’

The reason the head maid suddenly betrayed them.

Shailyn, having grasped what she needed to do, opened her mouth with determination.

“Raviel, can I ask you for one favor?”

“Ask away.”

“I want to meet Emma, the ducal family’s head maid. Could you bring her here?”

Since it wasn’t a particularly difficult request, Raviel readily nodded.

Shailyn grasped his hand and expressed her gratitude several times while her eyes gleamed.

Head maid, just wait until I meet you. I’ll shake you down completely.

***

Two days later.

Raviel really brought Emma before me.

“Kyaak!”

Emma, forcibly dragged by him, fell flat on the floor. She hadn’t noticed me yet and was indignant.

“What is this……!”

Then she froze upon seeing me sitting quietly on the bed.

Shock and terror.

Perhaps her conscience hadn’t completely disappeared, as Emma immediately avoided my gaze and trembled.

Hmm, this is a good reaction.

If she had come out brazenly, it would have only given me more headaches.

“Hello, Emma.”

When I greeted her kindly, Emma’s shoulders flinched.

She carefully lifted her head and looked around.

I immediately grasped the intent of her behavior and curled my lips into a crooked smile.

“Don’t worry, Deborah isn’t here.”

“Why, why isn’t Miss Deborah……”

“Are you disgustingly worried about Deborah now? Because of your lies, that child is about to die.”

When I pointed this out sharply, Emma shut her mouth tight. Her face, which had deteriorated considerably in just a few days, was full of guilt.

Though it only looked ridiculous to me.

I crossed my legs and looked down coldly at Emma, crouched on the floor.

“I’ll ask directly. Is the reason you betrayed us because of your son?”

“……!”

Emma looked at me in shock, startled. Her pale complexion was worth seeing.

“Sha, how does Miss Shailyn know that……!”

“Surprised? How much more surprised would you be if I said I even know that you fell into heresy because of your son?”

“Heok!”

Emma’s body fell backward. She backed away with a frightened face.

Anyone would think she had met a ghost.

I gazed at her pathetically and spoke in a low voice.

“I’ve figured it all out, so speak honestly, Emma.”

“……”

However, Emma bit her lips tightly and maintained silence.

Sigh, of course it wouldn’t be easy.

Recalling how she showed particularly guilty reactions to talk about Deborah, I threw words to provoke Emma.

“After seeing you at the court meeting, Deborah has been skipping meals and not drinking water. She just sits there blankly like a doll.”

“……”

“You know how specially Deborah thought of you. After the duchess passed away, she followed you like a mother. Didn’t you also think of Deborah like a daughter?”

“……Sob.”

Emma covered her mouth and burst into quiet tears.

I wanted to scold her asking what she was crying about after what she did, but I held back fearing she might shut her mouth forever.

“So tell me what this is all about, everything you know, right now.”

“Sob, sniff, waaah.”

“Or I won’t go alone either. I’ll report your son as a heretic and take him to the execution ground together.”

“……!”

Emma, about to wail, opened her eyes wide and clung to my legs.

“N-no! Please don’t do that, Miss Shailyn!”

“Then speak.”

“I, I……”

“Speak!”

I grabbed Emma’s shoulders hard and shouted at her. She, trembling, finally squeezed her eyes shut and opened her mouth.

“The truth! The truth…… As you said, Miss, after my son fell ill, I fell into heresy. He received a terminal diagnosis that he would die within 10 years, and they said there was no medicine in the world to cure his disease.”

So she naturally fell into heresy. They said the power of demons could even revive the dead.

“But I didn’t stay involved continuously! My child’s illness didn’t improve at all, so I washed my hands of it 2 years ago…… But somehow Duke Celsior found out and came to me.”

The fact that Emma had been involved with heretics for 3 years was natural, but it became a fatal weakness for her.

Duke Celsior freely grasped and shook that weakness.

“Because of the duke’s threats, I had no choice but to hide heretical objects inside the mansion.”

“Ha…… So you were the culprit. Yes, I thought that unless it was an insider, no one could have placed those objects there.”

I had somewhat suspected this since Emma appeared as a witness.

Since a clear traitor had appeared among us, the false evidence that came out earlier was probably also her doing.

“I’m sorry, Miss. Sniff, I’ve truly committed a mortal sin. Sob, I’m sorry, I’m sorry……”

Emma prostrated herself on the floor and apologized. But it was too late. The Diart people had already been hurt as much as they could be.

Instead of comforting the crying Emma, I focused on the next matter.

“Do you have evidence that Duke Celsior threatened you?”

“Well…… Except for the first time, he always had other people give me orders through notes.”

“Where are those notes?”

“He told me to destroy them after reading, so I burned them all…… I only have the most recent one.”

“Give it to me.”

Emma rummaged through her clothes pocket and held out a neatly folded paper.

“But there’s no guarantee that Duke Celsior wrote it……”

“I’ll handle that myself.”

At least it was something to get my hands on, even if it was a minimal connection.

I carefully tucked the note into my pocket and looked at Emma. If she was going to betray, she should at least live well.

I stared silently at her face, which clearly showed traces of her own mental suffering, then asked bluntly.

“Emma, don’t you regret your actions?”