Emma, kneeling like a criminal with her head bowed, answered quietly.

“……I do. I’m sorry, I must have gone crazy for a moment. I was afraid Duke Celsior would harm my family……”

“Then you should have honestly confessed to the Diart ducal family and asked for help. Why on earth did you do that?”

The ducal family would have surely helped. From the beginning, they would have worked together to find ways to cure the illness.

Why did she insist on the thorny path instead of the easy one, making things turn out like this?

Emma, fidgeting with her hands, spoke in a powerless voice.

“……If I said I believed in heresy, everyone would be disappointed in me and cast me out. Knowing how the duchess passed away, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you.”

I understood her feelings to some extent. Not being able to reveal one’s shameful secrets because one doesn’t want to disappoint the other person.

However, I had not even the slightest intention of defending Emma’s actions.

“Anyway, it’s all just excuses. If you want to correct your wrongs even now, come when I want you to and give proper testimony.”

“Sob, I understand.”

Emma, standing up unsteadily, bowed deeply. I was secretly relieved that she came to her senses quickly.

Otherwise, I would have had to threaten her more about her son, and honestly, doing such things was somewhat distasteful.

After sending Emma away, I examined the note and asked Raviel.

“Can you find out whose handwriting is written on this note?”

“Well…… At least it’s not Duke Celsior’s. I know his handwriting well, and it’s completely different.”

Raviel, sitting beside me and looking at the note, stated definitively.

“Then it must have been written by the duke’s subordinate.”

“That’s most likely the case.”

This is troublesome. How can I find out which of Duke Celsior’s numerous subordinates’ handwriting this is?

I stared at the paper intently, then thought in frustration.

‘Should I also bribe someone from the Celsior ducal family and frame them as heretics?!’

Immediately, a restraint came.

【Due to current behavioral restrictions, direct ‘retaliation acts’ are prohibited.】

Ah, how petty.

Honestly, the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth strategy was most appealing, but I had no choice but to give up due to the system’s opposition.

‘The problem is that even if I find out who owns the handwriting, it would be difficult to completely reverse the situation with just this note and Emma’s testimony……’

Anyway, since Emma was the Diart ducal family’s head maid, they could frame it as everyone believing in heresy together and then cutting off the tail.

It would be good if we could prove that we’re not heretics, separate from her testimony.

Then the premise that we conspired with heretics to prepare for rebellion would naturally crumble.

“Isn’t there some way to prove we’re not heretics……”

The moment I muttered without realizing it—

“There is.”

Raviel replied calmly. I opened my eyes wide and looked at him.

Th-there really is such a thing? Then tell me right now!

“The heretic trial that was conducted until a hundred years ago was a method to publicly determine heretics.”

Raviel smiled as if my passionate gaze was burdensome. I couldn’t hide my ignorance and asked back.

“Heretic trial……?”

“You fill the sacred relic ‘Chalice of the Sun’ with water and drop blood to determine whether someone is a heretic. If the water turns blue, it means Solien, and if it turns red, it means heretic.”

“Does that make sense? If you drop blood into water, it would naturally turn red.”

“But everyone believed that Soliens receive God’s protection, so the water would definitely turn blue.”

Raviel shrugged his shoulders.

“No…… So can that really determine whether someone is truly a heretic or not?”

“Well, so far everyone who was tried was executed. No one’s water turned blue.”

Are you kidding? There must have been people who were tried unjustly, but only results saying everyone was a heretic came out?

However, I couldn’t think of a better method right now.

Then I had no choice but to somehow connect even a rotten rope to escape this crisis.

“Alright. I’ll try to revive that heretic trial.”

I declared with determination.

I, Shailyn Sharofe, will absolutely not be defeated like this.

***

Meanwhile, at the crown prince’s palace.

Linus had been unable to sleep properly since the court meeting and was pacing anxiously around his room.

He couldn’t forget the sight of Shailyn and the Dain family being dragged to the underground prison.

In fact, when he first heard about the meeting, he intended to unconditionally take Shailyn’s side.

However…….

‘Your Highness will become the emperor of this country in the future. It would be wise to avoid getting involved in unnecessary scandals. For Her Majesty the Empress’s sake as well.’

‘……What do you mean by that, Duke Celsior.’

‘Exactly what I said. Those who know are aware that Her Majesty the empress fell ill and secluded herself due to a demon’s curse. But what would happen if rumors spread that it wasn’t actually a curse but side effects from believing in demons.’

‘Are you threatening me?’

Duke Celsior suddenly showed up, pressured him openly, and grinned.

‘I still have the desire to assist Your Highness in safely ascending to the throne. So please do not take actions that would make enemies of us Celsiors.’

‘How dare you……’

Linus couldn’t stop Duke Celsior as he left leisurely.

No matter how much he was the crown prince, he couldn’t punish a duke arbitrarily, so he could only clench his teeth until his jaw bulged.

So in the end, he couldn’t help Shailyn and Dain at the court meeting.

That alone was uncomfortable enough, but when he heard that Shailyn had nearly been poisoned and was transferred to the temple prison, he felt like he was going crazy.

While he couldn’t even compose his disheveled appearance, unlike himself, a visitor came.

“Linus, spare some time for your mother.”

The empress, having opened the crown prince’s office door without permission, demanded.

She dismissed the surrounding attendants and had a private meeting with her son.

“……What is the matter.”

“Your face looks rather rough. It seems there are worries in your heart that keep you from sleeping at night?”

Linus, dry-washing his face repeatedly, spoke heavily.

“Mother, do you really believe that the Diart ducal family and Lady Sharofe, no, the count, truly conspired with heretics for rebellion?”

“Of course not.”

The empress, answering cleanly and immediately, asked in return.

“What about you?”

“I feel the same way.”

“Then why did you stay quiet during the court meeting?”

At the rhetoric that stabbed painfully without hesitation, Linus slightly lowered his head.

He felt a bit rebellious since he had done it to protect the mother before his eyes.

“If I had stepped forward…… you might have been hurt, Mother.”

“Why would I be hurt, and by whom.”

“Celsior would have stirred up Mother’s illness and made up strange stories linking you with demons.”

“Linus.”

The empress called her son in a cold and firm voice.

At this, Linus lifted his head, recalling memories of his childhood when he was often scolded by her.

“When did I raise you to be such a foolish and cowardly person?”

“……!”

“How nice to see that the crown prince of a nation cannot even maintain his own principles and is swayed this way and that by petty threats.”

The empress’s words struck Linus like a whip. He froze, unable to deny or refute.

The empress, narrowing her eyes and examining her son, let out a light sigh.

“The reason I didn’t step forward during the court meeting was because I thought you would step forward first.”

She had opposed giving Celsior full investigative authority from the time of Johanna’s attempted murder case.

However, the emperor didn’t even pretend to listen to her and gave Duke Celsior far too much authority.

From then on, the empress decided not to believe whatever he had investigated.

“If you step forward, I just need to support you, which would naturally protect Diart and Count Sharofe as well.”

Rather than the empress directly protecting them and confronting the emperor, it would be much better for Linus to appear to be helping his friend Dain.

Linus, realizing his thinking had been short-sighted, furrowed his brow. He lowered his head, pressing his forehead as regret washed over him.

The empress spoke to him in a softer voice than before.