‘Am I screwed right now?’
Er slowly went over the situation in her head.
The Empire was an absolute believer in the Main God, so if someone was caught worshipping the Demon God, they could even be burned at the stake by the Inquisitors.
On top of that, those damn Inquisitors could detect demonic energy.
‘Am I going to get arrested and reunite with Kiers in the torture chamber after all this time?’
Wouldn’t it be faster to just escape through the window right now…?
Er thought.
“I’m sorry. I should have done what you told me properly…”
Milla was practically in tears.
But there was no time left for her to reflect on her mistake.
Bang! Bang!
The Inquisitors began pounding loudly on the door.
<We are here from the Temple! Please cooperate with the investigation!>
“Milla!”
Er looked at Milla. Then, in an instant, she threw off her cloak and dress.
“L-Lady? Why are you suddenly taking off your clothes…?”
“Is there any chance they’ll find out I went out?”
Well, it seemed she had already been caught by the Crown Prince. But the people in this household hadn’t found out, right?
“Get rid of the clothes first!”
Er rushed toward the bed, pulled the blanket over herself, and lay down. Then she pretended to be asleep.
Meanwhile, Milla ran into the dressing room with the clothes.
Bang! Crash! Thud, thud.
Soon, along with the sound of something being broken, Er’s bedroom door was thrown open.
“What on earth is going on? What kind of madmen barge into a noble young lady’s room like this?”
Er rubbed her eyes as though she had just woken up and slowly sat up.
Soon, she saw the people standing around her bed.
“Whatever this young lady has done, it has nothing to do with our family. As you know, the young lady is somewhat… lacking.”
Er saw the butler of the Medina family for the first time—the man she had only heard about from Milla.
‘Haa… So this is the man who supposedly serves the young lady of this household, yet never even bothered to show his face to me.’
Er cursed him inwardly.
‘And this guy is supposedly the butler of a prestigious noble family, yet he readily handed over the entire set of household keys to the Inquisitors?’
Judging by how easily they had unlocked the doors and made it all the way into her bedroom, there was no need to say more.
A butler of a prestigious household was supposed to stand against outside intruders even at the cost of his life.
‘Looks like I’ll have to deal with him too.’
“As for what happens to this household, that’s for our boss to decide. For now, excuse us~”
Standing beside the butler was a tall young man.
‘A pretty face and tall stature. And those pale features and delicate hands don’t match the…’
Madness.
Er recognized the man the butler was repeatedly bowing and scraping before.
‘One of Kiers’s hunting hounds.’
Kiers’s close aide.
It was Reville.
“Hello. Wow, it’s my first time meeting the famously notorious young lady.”
“You. Who are you?”
Er wrapped herself in the blanket as she stood up.
“Oh, my name? Even if I told you, you probably wouldn’t know who I am.”
As expected of a dog raised by Kiers, what a manner of speaking.
“Did you leave your manners behind? If you don’t have a name, at least tell me what you’ve come here for.”
Kid, if you had talked to me like that in my previous life, I would have started by teaching you some manners.
Thinking that, Er smiled brightly on the outside.
Reville’s eyes widened, and then he smiled pleasantly.
‘Oh, this young lady is more interesting than I expected.’
That was the expression on his face.
“I am Reville de Illen, and I serve as the head of the Quasar Zone.”
The Quasar Zone referred to the special forces directly under the Crown Prince.
Er held out the back of her hand.
“Judging by the looks of you, you haven’t been a noble for very long. When you meet a lady, you’re supposed to greet her, aren’t you?”
Reville still wore a dreamy expression as he kissed the back of Er’s hand.
His posture was somewhat awkward, befitting a newly ennobled aristocrat.
“But what does such an important person have to inspect in a place like this?”
“We received an anonymous report. Apparently, a month ago, you purchased a very valuable dagger. And you went around loudly proclaiming that you were going to use that dagger to make a wish?”
Reville said.
“So, from this moment on, we’ll conduct a thorough inspection to determine whether a Demon God worship ritual took place here.”
“A Demon God worship ritual? That’s ridiculous. Who put such a false accusation on me?”
Reville looked at Er with pity.
“My lady. Even if it were something as innocent as a little ritual wishing for something like, ‘Please let me be with the person I love,’ performing a ritual related to the Demon God is still a serious crime.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’ll understand soon enough. Everyone, get moving.”
“Wait!”
Er suddenly jumped to her feet.
At that moment, the sheet slipped down, revealing her attire.
She was wearing nothing but a pure-white underdress.
The Inquisitors awkwardly averted their eyes.
Reville did the same.
“There’s something I’d like to clarify first. First of all, since when have the Inquisitors who serve the Main God started receiving private orders from His Highness the Crown Prince?”
Reville scratched his head.
“Hmm. Well, I’m not sure. The Main God Church has always cooperated with the Empire, hasn’t it?”
“So this investigation really was ordered by His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“My lady, if you keep talking unnecessarily, you might end up suffering for it.”
Reville smiled pleasantly.
“I’ve been framed with such a terrifying accusation. I should at least do something to defend myself.”
“……”
“Take good care of the young lady.”
“Wait!”
Er spoke.
“If you come any closer…”
“If we come closer?”
The Inquisitors hesitated as they started to approach.
“I’ll take off this underdress too.”
“Pfft.”
Reville coughed.
The Inquisitors’ faces went pale.
‘Yes, I know their weakness.’
The Inquisitors were elite soldiers of the Main God, a position reserved for unmarried men and women between twenty and thirty years old.
For people in a position where physical ‘purity’ was considered extremely important, there was one rule…
‘If they were ever alone in the same room with a member of the opposite sex who was undressed, they were obligated to take responsibility and marry that person.’
Coincidentally, all the Inquisitors assigned to this mission were young men.
“That’s a bit…”
“Are you out of your mind, woman?!”
The Inquisitors began fidgeting nervously.
Reville scratched his head.
“Ah, this is getting more complicated than I expected. What exactly do you want?”
“What are you going to do if my charges turn out to be false?”
“What can I do? You’d be innocent.”
“Then who’s going to compensate me for this humiliating situation? Men barged into my room first thing in the morning like this. If rumors spread, are you going to take responsibility for me?”
“Ah, if you suddenly come at me like that, I’m a little… That’s a bit… My marriage is up to His Highness the Crown Prince…”
Why are you waving your hands around while answering me?!
Er was dumbfounded.
“You know what my reputation is like, right? I already have rumors going around that I’m an idiot. If this scandal gets added on top of that, I’ll be ruined beyond repair.”
“If you’re going to say that, you shouldn’t have smuggled in dangerous Demon God worship materials in the first place.”
“……”
That was technically true…
“The Crown Prince framed me, didn’t he? Ah, perhaps if I get arrested, I should shout it loudly at the crossroads. I’ll say that His Highness the Crown Prince is making advances on me because he’s fallen for my beauty.”
“……”
Reville’s poker face finally cracked.
“If you don’t mind me asking… are you insane, my lady?”
“If this turns out to be a false accusation, I’ll be so wronged that I probably will go insane.”
“What kind of person announces their insanity in advance…?”
At the same time, Reville understood.
‘So that’s it. This young lady isn’t just an idiot. She’s genuinely gone off the deep end.’
Er somehow felt as though she could read that expression on his face, and her mood soured terribly.
“My lady. His Highness the Crown Prince is a very delicate and, um, how should I put it… somewhat… Anyway, he’s not an ordinary person.”
Even Reville seemed afraid of Kiers. He barely managed to explain indirectly that Kiers was a man so consumed by madness that he had surpassed even the usual chuunibyou nonsense.
“If you go around saying things like that and His Highness the Crown Prince finds out, you’d be better off being burned at the stake.”
“I’ll say it! I’ll go around telling everyone that His Highness the Crown Prince is making advances on me!”
“Please, anything but that!”
Reville finally began to panic.
“Haa… If you really don’t like that…”
Er said.
“Then at least write me a statement. If there is truly no demonic energy or evidence equivalent to it anywhere in this room, promise that you will never bring this matter up again.”
“That’s impossible.”
Reville said.
“Why?”
“Ah, I’m just a manual laborer working for His Highness the Crown Prince. What power do I have?”
Er scoffed.
“Why wouldn’t you have power? As the commander of the special forces, you’re His Highness’s hands and feet. Surely your statement would be sufficient evidence even if people inevitably became suspicious after my innocence was revealed to the public.”
Reville rubbed the back of his neck.
“Ah, this young lady is really interesting. Still, no.”
“Milla. Take off my clothes.”
Milla, who had been peeking from near the door leading to the dressing room on the other side of the room, turned pale.
“Yes?”
“There’s no way out of this unfair situation, so I might as well take off my clothes and roll around on the floor.”
The Inquisitors flinched in horror.
“Anything but that, please!”
“I don’t want to marry that woman!”
“……”
Er felt strangely offended.
“Hmm.”
At that moment, Reville, who had been thinking, spoke.
“I’m telling you this out of a rare act of goodwill. Demonic energy remains wherever a ‘relic of the Demon God’ has been. If you performed a related ritual or possessed such a relic for an extended period… even the slightest trace of demonic energy would be enough to serve as evidence.”
“……”
“Be careful. If you make me write a statement like that, our Crown Prince will genuinely become angry.”
“Whether I die this way or that way, the result is the same. I might as well protect my honor while I’m at it.”
Reville thought for a moment before casually saying,
“Well, fine. I’ll write it.”
And so, the search of the room began.
Er put her dress back on in the middle of the room as it was gradually being turned upside down.
“For now, there’s no demonic energy detectable in this room. But…”
By then, the Inquisitors had formed a circle around the bed.
“There’s a strange energy coming from here. There seems to be a secret space beneath this…”
“Gasp!”
Milla covered her mouth with both hands.
Er’s face also went pale.
“Wait, there!”
The basement was none other than the place where Erne had carried out that absurd Demon God summoning ritual.
‘Damn it. Of course. There was no way the basement wouldn’t be discovered.’
Er squeezed her eyes shut.
‘I was hoping it wouldn’t be found.’
There was no miracle.
Seeing her expression, a thin smile appeared at the corner of Reville’s mouth.
“Well, it looks like I’ll definitely be escorting you to a nice, cozy prisoner transport carriage today.”
Reville said.
“Break it open if you have to, then search for demonic energy immediately.”
“Yes.”
The Inquisitors opened the door and crouched down toward the secret passage.
“Now we’ll scatter powder throughout the entire room to detect demonic energy. In places where strong demonic energy is present, this powder will slowly float upward.”
Milla wore an expression as though she was about to die from guilt.
Then an enormous amount of powder poured down into the basement like a waterfall.
And then…
“…What happened?”
The Inquisitors looked bewildered.
“Well, um…”
“…What?”
“Nothing is floating.”
Instead of floating…
“Cough! Cough!”
Milla began coughing.
The powder simply continued falling downward.
“Then why did you even build a secret room?”
Reville said incredulously.
“Go down and search it.”
“Wait.”
Er said, her face pale.
“You’ll regret going down there!”
Er tried to stop them.
“That makes it even more suspicious.”
And so, the Inquisitors filed down into the basement.
And there, they discovered something shocking.
The sight revealed beneath the mana crystal lights was…
