“Ah, Shailyn. I was just about to call you—”

“Sorry, Carl!”

She hurriedly interrupted his words and apologized with both hands clasped together.

“Something urgent suddenly came up! Can we meet next time?”

“……Huh? Ah, uh, okay.”

Carl nodded his head in bewilderment with a dazed face.

Really sorry.

But if she didn’t check the notebook right now, she felt like she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Even if someone showed her a tea-drinking-through-the-nose show in front of her, she didn’t think she could concentrate.

“Make sure to contact me when you’re done with your business.”

Carl, who escorted her to the carriage, earnestly requested. Even though she nodded, as if he didn’t trust her, he even hooked pinkies.

He stood still as if nailed down and watched her leave the Celsior ducal residence.

Ah, he’s just like a dog watching its departing owner.

Thanks to that, she barely shook off her uncomfortable feelings and returned to the ducal residence, then first looked for her mother’s belongings.

Notebook, where’s the notebook?!

“Miss, what are you doing?”

Mandy asked curiously, watching her search the room earnestly like a mole digging tunnels.

“Ah, Mandy. Do you know where my mother’s belongings that I brought from the county are?”

Since she was dragged away as soon as she returned, she couldn’t remember where she put them.

“Duke Celsior took them down at the time, then returned them when he visited Diart recently.”

Hearing Mandy’s words, she remembered.

That time when Carl said something urgent came up just like her now and jumped off the carriage carrying her bag.

Mandy brought her the bag that had been organized in the inner part of the dressing room.

Inside were her mother’s belongings: the notebook, handkerchief, and gloves.

She sent Mandy away and remained alone, carefully picking up the notebook.

When she removed the old leather cover, the notebook’s real name appeared.

Rudenian Registry

Rudenians who worship the Great Demon Rudvalt instead of the Sun God.

“Ha……”

She let out a short exclamation.

‘It really was a heretic registry.’

Carl’s mother was Cathy, who was her mother’s friend.

She bit her lips tightly. Just because of this one registry, Carl’s parents had died.

‘Even Raviel was said to be involved……’

Could there be other heretics among the people around her that she didn’t know about?

Suddenly feeling anxious, she stared at the registry intently, then resolutely opened the first page.

If she was anxious, she should check directly. Whether there were more or not.

She carefully examined one by one among the densely written names to see if there were any names she knew.

Wait, here’s a name starting with Ben……!

‘Ah, it’s Bentley. Phew, it wasn’t Benjamin Diart.’

Gasp, this time it’s Ba……!

‘Barbara, Barbara. Not Bartholomew but Barbara.’

There were quite a few similar names, so she wiped cold sweat several times.

Of course, the names of the Diart family members couldn’t be written here. But someone might have mistakenly recorded them.

Then she would have to quickly cover it up. They absolutely weren’t people who would believe in heretics.

Before she knew it, the sun had set and it became evening.

Mandy brought simple food to her room for her, who had skipped meals and devoted herself to reading the registry.

She chewed a sandwich made with smoked duck while slowly turning the pages.

Finally, she reached the last name written at the very end, but fortunately, she hadn’t discovered any names she knew during that time.

The remaining papers at the back were clean with nothing written on them.

‘But is Raviel really a heretic? If this wasn’t a registry from about twenty years ago, I could have determined accurately based on whether the name was present or not.’

Actually, since Howard, who took the truth serum, couldn’t possibly lie, his words were probably true.

But she couldn’t believe that the head priest, who was officially one of the male leads, was actually a heretic.

And one who contributed to destroying Carl’s family at that.

“Ugh, my eyes are going to fall out.”

Having been looking at small letters the whole time like studying for college entrance exams, her eyes were dry and stiff.

She lay back and slowly blinked her eyes, then absentmindedly lifted up the registry.

‘Is this really all? If it were me, I would have written VIPs more secretly……’

Rustle.

The moment she quickly flipped through the papers with her fingertips and arrived at the last blank page.

“Hmm……?”

When light entered the paper that had been just pure white, the outlines of letters faintly appeared.

She shot up and turned off all the lights in the room, leaving only one candlestick.

She swallowed dryly and held the last page of the registry over that candlelight.

“……!”

Then the hidden names began to appear one by one.

Gregory Edwin Hersen

Morphina

.

.

.

Raviel

“Th-this can’t be……”

Her voice trembled as if chills had come over her body.

In the Hersen Empire, there was only one group that could use the country’s name as their surname.

Direct members of the imperial family.

Precisely, the emperor and empress, crown prince and unmarried princes and princesses.

However, among the imperial family she knew, there was only one with the name ‘Gregory’.

Current Emperor Gregory of Hersen.

‘The emperor, the emperor was a heretic……? Together with the high priestess?’

The name Morphina written directly below the emperor’s was that of the high priestess.

What plunged her into even greater chaos and shock was that Raviel’s name was also mixed among them.

Since it was a registry from around when she was born, he would have been only three or four years old at the time.

‘How is he written here? What’s that upside-down star next to his name?’

In the sudden situation where the emperor, high priestess, and head priest were confirmed as heretics, she was extremely flustered.

This seemed like a problem she couldn’t handle alone.

Thud.

She closed the registry and looked around unnecessarily. Ah, nobody saw, right?

Unable to suppress her anxiety, she couldn’t sleep a wink all night.

And as soon as dawn broke, she went to find Lord Diart and His Grace.

“There’s something I’d like to show you both. It’s my mother’s belonging that I accidentally obtained from the county.”

She had thought about it all dawn, but she didn’t think she could handle this registry alone.

So even knowing it was an act of burdening them, she decided to honestly confess to the two adults of this household.

The real reason Carl’s parents died and the heretic-related information Howard had confessed.

Lord Diart and His Grace listened to her story with very serious faces. Their expressions grew increasingly stern.

“……So I was worried there might be more heretics around that I don’t know about, so I checked the registry……”

She held the last page of the registry over the candlelight and called the two men.

Then they approached her side and confirmed the hidden names, their eyes widening as if they would pop out.

“His Majesty the Emperor……?”

“Even the high priestess is here.”

Their voices sounded as shocked as hers from yesterday.

She handed over the registry to the two men and just watched their reactions.

Lord Diart, who had been looking at the registry for a long time, asked in a sunken voice.

“Shailyn, have you shown this to anyone?”

“No, I only found out last night too. I was worried about what to do, then got up and came straight to find you both.”

“You did well, really well.”

He stroked her back with his large hand. His Grace also patted her shoulder and said.

“Never tell this fact to your maid either. You must keep it secret from Dain and Deborah too.”

“I understand.”

To her obediently nodding, the two men tried to lighten the heavy atmosphere by forcing smiles.

“We’ll take care of this. Shailyn, don’t worry about it and just live as usual.”

“Right, don’t worry and feel at ease. This is something adults should resolve.”

Knowing their intention was to relieve the burden on her heart, she felt touched for a moment.

The thought that she now also had adults who would become shade for her during difficult times.

Then, remembering Carl who had helped her from the beginning when she was struggling, she carefully opened her mouth.

“But…… can’t I tell Carl either? We’ve already shared information to some extent……”

At her question, Lord Diart, who crossed his arms and fell into thought, answered after a moment.

“I’ll leave that to your judgment. You need to consider both whether the other person is someone you can tell such important matters to, and also the possibility that the other person might become endangered when they learn of this.”

“Ah……”

So that’s why you told me not to tell Dain and Deborah.

“I’ll go for now. If any problems arise, please make sure to tell me too.”

After nodding, seeing the two men busily exchanging glances with each other, she tactfully said goodbye.

It seemed like they wanted to discuss things just between themselves without her.