Chapter 157
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 157
“You crazy bastard! What do you mean you see her?!”
“Evangeline Rohanson is here? I can’t see so much as a strand of her hair!”
Were the knights telling the truth? Had Kochia finally gone mad? Was Evangeline Rohanson just an illusion born from his guilt? The knight clicked his tongue. When Kochia, still clinging to him, showed no sign of letting go, the knight drew his sword.
“Let’s just kill him. He’s clearly possessed by a demon. Killing one more won’t be an issue.”
Kochia turned pale, freezing as the sword was pointed at him. The blade gleamed with a cold, blue light. An image of his own pathetic death flashed through his mind. Just like those whose heads had been so easily severed, Kochia, too, would meet a gruesome end.
He was utterly terrified. His vision blurred with tears as he sobbed and sniveled, his nose running freely. He hadn't cried like this since he was a child. He hadn't shed a single tear, not even at his mother's funeral.
He had always been praised for his mature demeanor, but now that his own life was on the line, his trembling state was nothing short of pathetic.
The knight raised his sword. In a moment, that blade would strike him down. Kochia was certain his head was about to roll. However, the knight froze in place, unable to move.
“What’s wrong?”
“My body… it won’t move.”
“What nonsense are you spouting now? Have you gone mad, too?”
Seeing Evangeline Rohanson—whom only he could see—smile, Kochia realized she had done something to the knight.
The knight was bewildered; his body refused to move, no matter how much he strained. After groaning for a long while with his sword held high, he broke into a cold sweat as his companion shot him a bizarre look. In the end, the knight's arm lowered of its own accord, sheathing his sword.
“What are you doing?”
The knight glanced around warily.
He hadn't moved on his own; someone had manipulated his body. But if he said that out loud, he would be treated just like Kochia. Knowing this all too well, the knight cleared his throat and made an excuse.
“Ahem. It’s nothing. It’s just… the Bishop spared him, so it felt wrong to kill him. I was just trying to scare the crazy bastard into shutting up.”
“My, how deeply pious of you.”
Kochia, who had nearly been decapitated, let out a long, shaky breath, relieved to have survived.
The demon who had pushed him off a cliff only to catch his hand at the last moment, as if granting him mercy, now stood before him.
Evangeline Rohanson offered a benevolent smile. It was a chillingly captivating smile. As if possessed, Kochia instinctively scanned her appearance. His mouth watered involuntarily, even though she wasn't a doll made of sugar and would never taste sweet.
Evangeline reached out and cupped his cheek. His mind grew hazy at the soft touch.
Her cold fingers caressed his skin. His heart fluttered—an unpleasant yet delightful sensation. Unable to describe the emotion, Kochia wanted to rip his own heart out and have someone else decipher his feelings for him.
“Now. You know who can save you, right?” Evangeline asked with a bright smile.
Kochia nodded blankly.
It was truly strange. Time hadn't stopped. The clouds drifted by, revealing the hidden sun. Behind Evangeline Rohanson, the sunlight shone above her head like a golden crown.
Could a human truly bear the sun? For some reason, the emblem of the Temple flashed through Kochia's mind—the Lion Bearing the Sun.
It was an incredibly blasphemous thought to associate with Evangeline Rohanson.
* * *
“Lady Evangeline is so kind,” Pudding said.
Canna nodded vigorously in agreement.
Yeah, I know.
“You didn’t need to save him, Miss. You heard what he said, didn’t you?”
“It would have been better if his head had been chopped off right then and there.”
“Pudding.”
It seemed Pudding was quite angry about Kochia’s insults. He was clearly displeased that I had saved him.
But look, I thought, thanks to Kochia’s little sacrifice, the others didn’t tell the knights I was here. They realized Bishop Marik's knights weren't to be trusted.
“Kochia. If you want to beg for my mercy, you must stay quiet.”
After warning Kochia to behave, I walked past the crowd toward the corner where Daisy and Raphaella were. Daisy's younger siblings were with them.
“Daisy. Sir Raphaella.”
“…Lady Rohanson. Haha. Those knight bastards don't seem to see you, so does that mean I’m the one who has gone mad?” Raphaella asked with a dry laugh.
“I just played a little trick so the knights couldn’t see me.”
“So that means those bastards are the crazy ones.”
It wasn’t madness, just a little cognitive interference. In their eyes, anyone who could see me would seem insane. It appeared they couldn't even hear my voice earlier. Raphaella, however, was focused on the fact that he was the sane one. Mary, who had been blinking and staring at me, finally spotted me, ran over, and threw herself into my arms.
“L-Lady Rohanson…” Mary burst into tears, clinging to me.
“I’m sorry, Lady Rohanson. Mary… Mary did wrong.”
“No, Mary. You did nothing wrong. It was Hena who did wrong,” Daisy immediately chimed in as Mary wept as if her heart would break.
The mention of Hena suggested she had made Mary do something terrible. Had she just sided with Bishop Marik? Did she have a hand in the arson? Raphaella glanced at Canna with a strange expression, as if he'd already heard the story.
“You came with Canna.”
“She is my maid, after all.”
The news of Hena's betrayal must have spread. Even though Canna greeted them politely, their wariness was palpable. Daisy glared at Canna and sneered.
“Canna. Look at what your sister did.”
Daisy, why are you taking this out on an innocent girl? You were going to report me to the Temple yourself. You even went to Gabriel to do it.
It’s a relief you went to Gabriel, but the thought of what might have happened if you’d gone to Bishop Marik is horrifying. Even if everyone else curses Hena, you of all people should be more understanding.
But it was also true that Daisy's beloved younger siblings had almost been in grave danger, so it was awkward for me to argue.
“Daisy. Can you tell me what happened in detail?”
First, I needed to grasp the situation. Stroking Mary's hair, I asked Daisy for the whole story. Pudding couldn't exactly perform psychometry.
Daisy looked at the sobbing Mary and spoke.
“What explanation do you need? The story of how the maid you cherished used Mary to harm your pet dog?”
Hena used Mary? And Jelly got hurt because of Mary?
I had wondered how Jelly ended up a hostage, but it turned out Hena had used Mary. Apparently, Hena had ordered Mary to splash some suspicious liquid, and the moment it hit Jelly, his skin melted.
Hena… you put a toxic substance like hydrochloric acid in a child’s hands? I had confidently told Canna I would show Hena mercy, but the more I learned, the heavier her sins became. But acid? Seriously? And giving it to a small child… Isn't that going too far?
Daisy's hostility toward Hena was likely because she had used Mary. She continued, “Or should I tell you how Bishop Marik barged in the moment the fire broke out, watched us—my siblings—almost burn to death as if it were a spectacle, and branded us servants of a demon? Or should I tell you everything those people said, abandoning you the moment their lives were threatened, despite living off the Rohansons' wealth?”
Daisy's anger showed no signs of subsiding, and the words spilled out of her. As her rage mounted, her voice rose. It seemed her anger toward Hena was being redirected. Unable to contain her fury, Daisy had become a doll that lashed out at everyone—Hena, the mansion's staff, and even me. When she pointed a finger at the crowd of servants, they flinched and shrank back.
The servants kept their heads down, glancing between the unconscious Kochia and me, but one hot-tempered man suddenly jumped up and retorted.
“I—I didn't lie! I really saw Lady Rohanson setting the fire!”
“Another lie!” Daisy shrieked.
I was truly grateful that Daisy believed in me. Grateful, yes… but from the servants' perspective, Daisy was the one lying.
“You lackey of Lady Rohanson! Who’s the one lying here?!”
“Exactly! Look at her, sticking right next to Ro—Rohanson… right now. Whose fault do you think it is that we ended up like this?!”
Mob mentality is a fascinating thing. Despite seeing what had just happened to Kochia, the moment one person spoke up, several others quickly chimed in. Still, they must have been terrified of the knights' blades, because it was almost amusing to hear them whisper my name so softly it was practically muted.
It seemed quite a few people had witnessed the rat in my form setting fire to the mansion. Since Daisy hadn't seen it, she seemed to think Hena was the arsonist.
Of all things, it had to take my form. The rat was clearly determined to get me into trouble. It must have been annoyed that I was acting close to Agera while pretending to be Amaranth, and since I had even eliminated the hosts and rats it had infected, perhaps it wanted revenge.
But since its natural enemy, Pudding, was always by my side, it couldn't lay a hand on me. It must have come to vent its anger on the Rohanson Mansion instead. How did it even know the things I cherished were here? Did it track the trace of Pudding's energy left at the mansion?
As the hostages grew rowdy, the paladins finally started paying attention.
“What's all this racket?”
“Have you all gone mad? Shut up!”
The knight who had shown Kochia a moment of 'consideration' placed his hand on his sword hilt again, as if looking for an excuse. Talk about a slow learner. Besides, why were these so-called paladins so eager to kill people?
As I glared at the knights in dissatisfaction, Pudding's eyes gleamed. “Should I quiet them down?”
He sounded exactly like a thug asking his boss for permission, which left me a bit bewildered, but I nodded anyway. At my signal, the knights collapsed with groans and grunts.
…He didn't kill them, did he? I thought he was just going to cast a spell to expand the cognitive interference so they wouldn't even know what was happening, but he literally took them out like a thug… I worried about how to clean up this mess, but I had to admit, it was satisfying.
“They won't be able to say anything now,” Pudding reported with a bright smile.
Not only did the knights fall silent, but so did everyone from the mansion. Is this what they call a reign of terror? Silencing the masses by force?
Amidst the silence, Pudding bowed his head, as if begging for praise. Seeing exactly what he wanted, I sighed inwardly and stroked his head. Sigh… It's my fault for spoiling him. I took my hand off Pudding and called out to Daisy.
“Daisy.”
“Yes… Lady Rohanson,” she replied, her tone still laced with excitement.
Now was the time to tell her the truth. If I told her she was wrong and those people were right, would she get angry, asking why I wasn't taking her side?
No. I believe in Daisy. She, at least, will listen to my words. Believing that, I told her the truth.
“They aren't lying.”