Pious Hyde and the Mad Women #4
“I did it? What a joke. How ridiculous that you’d take Lucy’s word at face value. I thought a priest sent on Gregory’s orders might actually be something special—turns out you’re just another nobody.”
Anemone, her face heavily scarred by burns, flatly denied the crime.
Had Lucy Emma’s testimony been wrong? Had my instincts failed me?
No. My predictions had never once been off the mark.
Anemone was the culprit. That much was certain.
“If you’re going to keep denying it, allow me to present the evidence. After eight in the evening, the only people free to roam this nunnery at will are you, Anemone, and Abbess Midnar.”
“And so what?”
“Which means the only person who could have written those words in blood on the wall at night is you. And the copy of the Gwichukdo confiscated from Miss Lucy Emma yesterday—you’re the one holding onto it, aren’t you?”
Sex is the meeting of cock and cunt.
That was a famous line from the Gwichukdo. My guess was that Anemone had read the confiscated book and scrawled the words on the wall herself.
Of course, Sister Anemone denied it with iron resolve.
“Why the hell would I do something like that? Why? No—wait. You did it, didn’t you? I get it now. The culprit is you! Priest Hyde, you filthy, lecherous little creep who thinks of nothing but dirty things…!”
Suddenly she was turning the arrow on me?
And “filthy, lecherous little creep who thinks of nothing but dirty things”? That insult was so far removed from who I actually was that it hit me harder than any real accusation. Where on earth was she even looking when she said that?
“Sister Anemone! How dare you! Don’t you insult my husband Hyde! My husband Hyde is more devout than anyone alive! He would never write the word se—…he would never write something like that on a wall or anywhere else!”
She was right. Psyche taking my side moved me more than anything—so why did a corner of my chest sting as if a needle had been driven into it?
Anemone spoke again almost at once.
“Psyche and Hyde. You two are in this together, aren’t you? That’s right—yesterday I overheard the pair of you whispering in your room well past six in the evening! What are you even doing in this monastery? Did you come here hunting for the treasure hidden in this nunnery? You rotten little bastards!”
Hidden treasure?
An interesting keyword—and just as I registered it, the nuns closed in around us. Ropes and nets filled their hands, and every last one of them seemed to take Sister Anemone’s word as absolute gospel.
A complete away game, then.
“Tie those two up! I’ll flog them myself! Once the whip peels the hide off their backs, they’ll confess exactly what scheme brought them to this island!”
Crack—!
Anemone yanked the whip from her belt. It was a vicious leather lash, and on closer look, sharp little stones had been worked into it as decoration.
Terrifying. She was clearly trying to get rid of me for good.
But of course she was.
“Have you ever heard of a Mafia game? The mafia always wants to eliminate the cop who can expose their identity first. Right now, a man as devout as myself is playing exactly that role.”
“What? What nonsense is this? What are you even saying?”
“Anemone—no. Witch of Walpurgis. I don’t know what you were planning while hiding on this island, but putting on a performance in front of me was simply bad luck.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“You were after the treasure hidden in this nunnery, weren’t you? You thought my appearance would ruin your plans, so you cooked something up—but not a chance.”
“What kind of bullshit is that!”
“Shall I show you more proof? Search Anemone’s room and you’ll find a mark bearing the emblem of the Walpurgis witches. The witches of Walpurgis have a habit of praying to their mark every midnight—”
“……!”
The burned face of Anemone flooded with raw panic. The look that said, How do you know that?
I didn’t let the opening slip.
“Milione, Psyche—would you seize that woman? If we let her go free now, she may run off to destroy the evidence.”
“Hyde, are you really saying Sister Anemone is a witch of Walpurgis? Sister Anemone is more faithful and devout than anyone… she’s helped me so many times…”
Kind-hearted Psyche seemed incapable of suspecting anyone.
I asked her simply:
“Do you trust me? Or do you trust Anemone?”
“That’s obviously—”
“I don’t know. You’re the one who told me to do it! Hahah!”
Milione. She lunged first and seized Anemone’s arm.
Anemone swung the whip as if to resist.
Whoosh—.
“How dare you lay hands on—AAAAAGH—!”
But before the whip could land, Anemone was already in Milione’s grip and slammed to the floor. Milione casually twisted her arm and drove a knee into her back, pinning her completely.
“W-what kind of strength is this—!”
The conditions were set.
While Milione held Anemone down, I turned to Psyche.
“Psyche! Guide me to Anemone’s room! Quickly! There may be an accomplice! We have to get there before that person destroys the evidence! Trust me completely!”
“…All right!”
As expected—Psyche was my wife.
A few sisters tried to block our path, crying, “S-stop!”, but Psyche shouted right over them.
“Clear the way! From this moment on, anyone who stands in our path will be treated as a servant of Walpurgis, and I, Psyche, will not stand idly by!”
Clench—.
Psyche’s fist tightened. One by one the sisters stepped aside, and at last we arrived at a certain room.
It was a spare, orderly chamber with nothing but a desk and a chair for furniture. No bed.
“Hyde! Where’s the evidence? The witch’s mark?”
The room was far too clean.
While Psyche rummaged here and there, I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket—one I had prepared in advance. After my private audience with Lucy earlier, I had used a brush to paint the secret pentagram of Walpurgis and a blasphemous prayer onto it.
A secret mark known only to the witches of Walpurgis.
I snatched it up and cried out:
“Ah—! Something was stuck under the desk! Look at this! I can’t read what it says, but these are unmistakably unholy words! To hide something like this in her own room!”
“Th-this is…!”
Psyche reeled in shock. Even to her eyes, the pentagram must have looked like an ominous sign.
“So Sister Anemone really was a witch…”
Psyche seemed truly devastated.
Making that fake mark had been worth it after all.
According to Scripture, hating evil is never itself evil. Therefore, fabricating false evidence in order to punish evil is not evil either. In other words, I had just carried out justice.
“…Th-this came out of my room?”
Anemone’s once-confident expression darkened in an instant. The faces of every sister surrounding her darkened as well, and Abbess Midnar’s face grew darker still.
Swish—.
Midnar took hold of a whip. As the abbess’s expression turned grim, Anemone cried out in desperation.
“Th-this is a fake! Trying to frame me with something like this! Hyde! You made this, didn’t you? How dare you try to frame me! The real one has Diana’s blessing written inside the pentagram! Mother Abbess! This is a fake! They’re framing me!”
Damn it—she’d noticed it was fake?
So the real one had Diana’s blessing written on it.
The witches’ secret marks were so tightly guarded that even I, who had once operated as Rust of the Great Sin Seat, only roughly knew the shape. I hadn’t known what words were supposed to be written inside the pentagram, so I’d just scrawled Cock-Cunt-Pot on it—and that was how she’d spotted the forgery.
“So it was a fake after all? But Anemone—how do you know it’s fake? The witches’ secret marks are so tightly secured that no one who isn’t a witch could possibly tell the genuine article from a counterfeit.”
“…What?”
Stupid woman. Walking straight into my trap.
But of course she had. Heretics and cultists might be cunning as snakes, but in any true sense they were simply stupid. That was why they fell for heresies and cults in the first place, wasn’t it?
Well—if she hadn’t declared it fake, the mark alone would have sealed her fate as a witch. A checkmate either way.
Now, how would she play it?
The burned face of Anemone twitched.
“D-did I just say it was fake? I only meant it looked that way. I-I don’t actually know. What am I even saying? Ahh, ahh, uhhh, ahhh—!”
Anemone’s body began to shake violently. She started screaming at the top of her lungs.
“SEX! Ahh, hyaaaughhh, ahh, SEX! COCK! CUNT! Ahh, wh-why am I saying these things? Aaaah! A-a ghost has possessed me, I’m sure of it! I’m possessed! Ahhhh!!!”
Possessed by a ghost?
Was she planning to use demonic possession as an excuse to wipe away everything she had done?
Not a chance.
“Then I shall cast that ghost out myself! Everyone—bring a bed into this courtyard and bind Sister Anemone’s arms and legs! Make certain she cannot break free!”
Five minutes later.
Anemone lay on a bed set out in the courtyard, her limbs bound to each corner. I climbed on top of her and began pounding her with my fists.
“Evil spirit, begone! Evil spirit, begone! In the name of the Lord I command you—wicked and filthy Satan-devil, get thee hence!”
Thud, thwaaack—!
My fists hammered Anemone’s face, shoulders, and chest. But her body was so sturdy that only my hands hurt.
“Gwahahahaha! I am a demon! A ghost! A military ghost! Hyde, you foolish little worm—do you think the likes of you can drive me out? You dickless cripple! You worthless piece of shit!”
“What?”
“You don’t even have a dick, so your wife Psyche is still a virgin, right? You stupid dickless bastard!”
This fucking bitch.
I had been planning to go easy on her. That was over.
“My, the evil spirit is far too strong. Lady Milione—I’m afraid I’ll need your help. I’m trying to cast out a demon; would you mind hitting her a bit for me?”
“Ah? Sure. Been a while since I got to do a good deed.”
Milione laughed, low and dark. When her fist drove into Anemone’s stomach, blood sprayed from Anemone’s mouth like a fountain. Of course Milione didn’t stop—she hammered Anemone’s face without mercy.
Thud! Thud! Crack!
The already burned face shattered and broke until it was no longer recognizable, and Anemone’s bones snapped throughout her body until she was little more than a ragged wreck.
“…S-stop…”
Anemone’s voice crawled out of her throat. I leaned close to her mouth, then spoke again.
“The evil spirit is still inside her! Milione—let’s beat her together!”
“Fine. This time, how about I break her fingers one by one?”
Finger-breaking. That was Las’s specialty. Not simply snapping them—squeezing with raw grip strength until the pressure crushed the hand into powder. One taste of that and people talked freely.
Just as I was wondering whether I was about to see it again, Anemone forced her mouth open with difficulty.
“St…stop it, you fucking bastards…. I lose…. Fine. I’m a witch of Walpurgis…. How….”
“How did I know? Miss Lucy said she saw you. And that burn ointment you use—made from burnet, isn’t it? Burnet is a flower only witches cultivate.”
“…Fuck. Priest Hyde. You’re an even bigger piece of shit than the rumors said. You’d better stay on your toes. Walpurgis is watching you—. Hehehehe—.”
And what if they watched me? Did those witches think that if they came after me, I—Hyde, devout and faithful priest in whom the Lord abides—would so much as blink?
“Lock Anemone in the basement.”
Clang—!
Under Abbess Midnar’s command, Anemone of Walpurgis was locked away. After taking Milione’s punches without resistance, she was in a truly pitiful state.
Midnar soon let out a long sigh in front of the iron bars.
“Priest Hyde. That Gregory of yours has a decent eye for errand boys, it seems.”
“It was nothing.”
“But I left that one alone on purpose. I kept her close so I could figure out what the witches were plotting on our island!”
Is that true? I hadn’t known. You could have told me sooner.
Still, Abbess Midnar was clearly no ordinary woman either. She had already seen through the identity and been managing it on her own. The wisdom of someone once hailed as a “Holy Maiden” in wartime was, it seemed, the real thing.
But the fact that she still didn’t know the man standing in front of her was Rust—well. She was no complete monster either.
Swish—.
I held out my hand.
“What?”
Midnar looked at me with open irritation.
“The key. The key to Miss Lucy’s solitary cell. Hasn’t Miss Lucy been proven innocent?”
The sight of someone suffering from an unwanted affliction. It reminded me painfully of my sisters from the orphanage.
Jingle—.
At last I received the key and went to the solitary cell.
“Did you…catch the culprit?”
“Thanks to Miss Lucy’s testimony. Now that your innocence has been established, I shall set you free.”
“Really? This is the first time anyone has ever believed what I said…! When Psyche used to brag about you I didn’t get it, but Hyde—you’re a really good person…!”
Sniffle, sniffle—.
The sound of crying came from inside. I knew better than anyone how powerful it was—how overwhelming—to have even one person believe in you when the whole world pointed fingers. Psyche’s faith in me was what let me keep going, after all.
“Miss Lucy, I will take you out of this place and bring you to the mainland. Living freely in a wider world will help ease your symptoms.”
Click—.
Just as I was about to turn the key in the lock of the solitary cell—
“You’re really going to let me out? Really? I’m so happy! I’ve been stuck on this island since the day I was born, so I’ve always dreamed of the outside world! I’ve read so many books! Have you ever been to Fierenzo? Is the Grand Cathedral really huge and amazing?”
“Well… it was magnificent, but it burned down.”
“Really? Whatever! I just want to get outside already!”
Clang—.
At last the door of the solitary cell swung open. Inside, Miss Lucy Emma lay sleeping peacefully. She was so deeply asleep she didn’t even notice I had opened the door.
“…….”