Evidence

"The clothes are in terrible condition, but I'm glad everyone is safe."

"I never imagined Lady Rozemyne would come herself, leading knights to our rescue. I truly cannot express how grateful I am."

The gray priests' clothes that the High Priest had delivered were in rough shape — apparently they had been extremely difficult to remove from the Self-Eating soldiers. Two sets had been cut clean down the front. As for the remaining two sets, it seemed they had either been removed to prevent the gray priests from fleeing or were intended to serve as spare clothing, as they were bundled up inside the carriage.

The two who ended up wearing the tattered clothes were desperately holding the torn fronts together, but it was better than nothing. Once they returned to the orphanage, they could ask Wilma for new outfits.

"Conrart saw the gate guards being abducted through the orphanage window, which is why we were able to come help so quickly. When you get back, please let him see that you're safe and sound."

"Yes."

The gray priests were loaded into the back seats of the lesser beast, Eudiett took the passenger seat, and they hurried back to the Temple.

"...Lady Rozemyne, I'm still a minor, but I left the Noble District. Will I be punished for that?"

Now that the rescue of the gray priests was complete, Eudiett apparently remembered that she was a minor and not supposed to leave the Noble District on duty. But there was no problem.

"Eudiett, you never left the Noble District. What are you talking about?"

"Eh? E-h?"

"Didn't the High Priest say so? This matter will never be made public. The gray priests were not abducted, and we never even left the Temple."

Including the theft of the Holy Book, everything was to be swept under the rug. Since they hadn't left the Temple, there couldn't possibly be any punishment.

"More importantly, please send an orotinse to the Temple."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Since Eudiett, sitting in the passenger seat, sent the orotinse ahead, by the time they arrived at the Temple, Leonore, Fran, and Wilma were there to greet them.

"Wilma, all the gray priests are safe. However, their clothes are completely destroyed, so please prepare new ones for them. Also, I'd like you to make arrangements so they can rest for the rest of the day."

"Understood. Lady Rozemyne, everyone. Thank you so very much for rescuing them."

Wilma looked around at everyone present with a smile brimming with joy — it was the kind of happy expression you'd expect from someone who had just been saved herself.

"You didn't just save them. You saved the hearts of every single orphan who believed they would be abandoned if anything happened to them, too. I am truly grateful from the bottom of my heart."

At Wilma's words, my retainers returned complicated smiles. As we watched Wilma and the gray priests head toward the orphanage, Damiel murmured quietly.

"We simply followed Lady Rozemyne's orders, so if the same thing happens again, we won't rescue the gray priests without orders. Still, receiving thanks like this does feel rather nice."

"Oh, I'll give the same orders next time, so you'll end up rescuing them regardless. That much I can promise."

I said this while looking around at my retainers, then turned my gaze to Leonore, who had been waiting for the right moment to speak.

"So, what exactly happened, Leonore? I heard Hartmut went on some kind of rampage..."

"I think it would be fastest if you saw for yourself."

Leonore said this with a weary expression and began walking toward the blue priests' quarters, which were in a different direction from the High Priest's and Chief Priest's offices. She was matching her pace to mine, so I felt like grabbing my head in exasperation, but apparently it wasn't that urgent.

"Oh, the High Priest is coming with us too?"

"Hartmut is likely using my attendants as well, so it's not entirely unrelated. None of my attendants came to greet us, which is rather unsettling."

Having the High Priest come along was very reassuring.

"If Hartmut turns out to be beyond my ability to handle, I'll leave it to the High Priest."

"He's your retainer. You deal with him."

When the High Priest said this with an air of washing his hands of it, we had apparently reached our destination. A single gray priest was standing in front of a certain door. He visibly exhaled in relief upon seeing us, then quickly opened the door.

"Oh my. Welcome back, Lady Rozemyne. Please forgive my unsightly appearance."

Hartmut spun around and flashed a wonderfully refreshed smile — on top of a blue priest he had tied up in a spiral, no less, holding what appeared to be a short sword transformed from his schtap in a striking position.

And all around Hartmut, a number of gray priests were frantically binding other attendants.

...What on earth is going on?

"Please help me, High Priest! When we finished talking, Lord Hartmut suddenly launched into this outrageous assault!"

The blue priest pinned beneath Hartmut saw our faces and began thrashing wildly, pleading for help. The next instant, Hartmut struck him hard across the head with the pommel of the short sword.

"I find it rather brazen of you to beg Lady Rozemyne for help, don't you?"

"I-I-I-I'm terribly sorry!"

While everyone stood stunned at the unexpected situation, it was Leonore who shouted out first.

"What are you doing, Hartmut!? You said you were only going to tie them up to prevent information leaks!"

According to Leonore, when they summoned the blue priests for questioning, there was a risk they might flee or appeal to nobles for rescue. So Hartmut had decided to make a surprise visit to the blue priests' quarters and interrogate them on the spot.

"Preventing information leaks is certainly important, so up to that point, even I wouldn't have thought anything of it."

Like Leonore, I merely thought he was being rather reckless for a society where making appointments before visits was standard practice.

However, after finishing his questioning and confirming that a particular blue priest and his attendants had no involvement with the noblewoman, Hartmut had apparently tied them up, restrained them, and moved on to the next blue priest. Questions from the attendants accompanying the High Priest — "Is it really alright to be doing this?" — and complaints channeled through Fran — "Tying up blue priests seems to make the gray priests extremely uncomfortable" — had apparently been coming in.

"We sent the orotinse to Lady Rozemyne at that point, but I certainly didn't expect you'd be binding blue priests and brandishing weapons. Hartmut, what exactly are you doing? Did you find some useful evidence?"

Leonore looked down at Hartmut and the blue priest with a stern gaze. Hartmut cast an icy glance at the blue priest — cold enough to send shivers — then turned to me and smiled sweetly.

"There was no particularly useful information. However, the blue priest made remarks that would be extremely difficult for Lady Rozemyne's delicate ears to hear, so I was questioning him about what intent and evidence lay behind such offensive statements."

The insults that a blue priest from the former Veronica faction would spit were undoubtedly some variation of "commoner upstart." Up until now, within the Temple, such remarks had merely earned exasperated looks and comments like "You're still saying things like that?" But for Hartmut, apparently they warranted being interrogated at swordpoint. The High Priest let out a slow breath while muttering, "How absurd."

"Hartmut, being vigilant about information leaks isn't wrong. In a case like this, it's especially important. But you're being a bit heavy-handed. Gather the blue priests in the Chief Priest's office, assign guards, and have them work. Wasting time rolling around on the floor like this is a pity. As for the interrogation regarding the insulting remarks about Rozemyne, save it for another day. Time is precious right now. Understood?"

"Indeed."

Hartmut said "I shall conduct a thorough interrogation at a later date" as he obediently stood up. The High Priest quietly looked down at the blue priest lying limply on the ground.

"You have a choice: remain tied up here on the floor until all blue priests have been questioned, or go to the Chief Priest's office and work under Hartmut's supervision. Pick whichever you prefer."

At the High Priest's words, the blue priest looked at me with a pathetic expression, as if begging for help. I couldn't do anything even if he looked at me like that. Both options were terrible, but if the High Priest and Hartmut were both this concerned about information leaks, it wasn't something I could meddle in. I shook my head slightly.

...Sorry, I can't save you.

The blue priest's face crumpled into despair, and he slumped forward with a heavy groan. "...P-please let me work," he said in a small voice.

"Very well. See to it, Hartmut. You will be personally responsible for making sure he works. I will handle the questioning of the remaining blue priests from here on."

At the High Priest's words, his attendants immediately sprang into action. They untied the blue priest and escorted him to the Chief Priest's office. And they would need to present the same choice to the other blue priests Hartmut had ordered bound. It was going to be chaos.

"Did you find anything useful?"

"Not particularly at this point. The most they could say was that they sensed people moving through the hallways during the lunch hour. However, I did confirm that the blue priests have absolutely no understanding of Lady Rozemyne's greatness or the value of the gray priests running the printing workshop. We'll need to teach them that through their work. Well then, I'll leave the rest to you."

Hartmut herded the trembling blue priest ahead of him toward the Chief Priest's office. After watching his back disappear, the High Priest looked down at me.

"Now, we have nothing left but blue priests who are likely to make insulting remarks about you. We managed to isolate the dangerously volatile Hartmut by sheer luck, but who should I interrogate next... There are three more blue priests who were close with the Shikikoza family. All of their families were part of the former Veronica faction."

As he spoke, the High Priest listed three names. The instant I heard the name Egmont, my ear twitched.

"It's Egmont. He's definitely the culprit."

"On what grounds?"

"Female intuition. He has a prior record of breaking into my Library."

"How absurd. That's nothing more than a personal grudge. It's not grounds at all."

The High Priest furrowed his brow deeply and glared at me. But I was certain. It had to be Egmont. There was absolutely no mistake.

Cornelius lightly shrugged at my insistence.

"Ferdinand, couldn't we simply question Egmont first? If he's not the one, it only shifts the order of interrogation a little."

"Hmm. You're right. Spending time on this kind of back-and-forth is a waste."

When the High Priest agreed to head toward Egmont's location, I looked up at Cornelius with gratitude, and he grinned down at me.

"Besides... I trust Lady Rozemyne's female intuition. She may be young, but she's still a woman."

"I'm sorry. Please forget I said that immediately, Brother Cornelius. Like the High Priest said, it was nothing more than a personal grudge!"

Unlike the High Priest, who would have delivered a sharp comeback, having Cornelius affirm it with a knowing smile and keep repeating it made me want to dig a hole and bury myself from sheer embarrassment. Cornelius, his face struggling to contain laughter, gently patted the shoulder of me as I buried my head in my hands.

"The High Priest and I have urgent business. Open the door, if you would."

"I believe there was no appointment made."

From beyond the door came a female attendant's voice. At the response of "Please come back another day," the High Priest called over Cornelius and Eckhart, then gave a light wave.

"Break the door down, but keep the damage minimal."

"What? Is that really alright?"

When Cornelius looked up at the High Priest in bewilderment, Eckhart had already transformed his schtap and was standing before the door.

"Ferdinand, one person is sufficient."

Eckhart said this and swung his sword, truly splitting the door apart with a light stroke. A clean line appeared, and the door slowly toppled inward. As I blinked at the deft display, the High Priest murmured with a look of exasperation, "I had intended to let Cornelius gain some experience, but... oh well."

As the door tilted open, naturally, the interior was laid bare. I caught sight of a shrine maiden attendant staring in mute shock at the falling door, seemingly unable to comprehend what was happening.

Further inside, I could see figures in blue and gray robes seated on a long bench.

"I said I had something to discuss."

Ignoring the attendant near the door, the High Priest stepped over the fallen door and strode into the room. Eckhart and Justus followed with composed expressions, so I hastily trailed behind them.

Egmont, who had apparently been flirting with the attendant on the bench, let out a "Wha—!" then caught sight of me behind the High Priest and began shouting.

"Th-this is the height of insolence! Don't you even know the proper etiquette of securing an appointment in advance, you lowborn wretch!"

At Egmont's outburst, the air around my retainers instantly bristled.

"Ah, it was definitely the right call not to bring Hartmut along."

"Yes, I very nearly summoned Stenluke myself."

Cornelius and Angelica snickered. The High Priest looked down at Egmont with cold contempt, then glanced at the attendant behind him who was hurriedly tidying her appearance, and let out a derisive snort.

"When you barged into the High Priest's office without securing an appointment beforehand to discuss recruiting that gray priestess as your attendant, you certainly had a lot of nerve for someone talking about etiquette."

The High Priest seemed to be referring to what had happened while I was in Yurive. Come to think of it, I vaguely recalled hearing something about that when I received the report that Lilli had become pregnant and a replacement priestess had been recruited.

Caught off guard by the High Priest's rebuke, Egmont faltered for a moment, then puffed out his chest defiantly and pointed sharply at me.

"You won't be able to keep deceiving everyone for much longer, you little brat. I'll rip off your mask soon enough."

...Huh?

Right next to Egmont's index finger aimed at me, I could clearly see the glint of a ring set with a magic stone on his clenched middle finger. The ring bore a pattern like a family crest, and my eyes were riveted to it.

...He wasn't wearing a ring like that before, was he?

A ring on the left middle finger meant a noble child who had completed the Baptism Ceremony. Blue priests, who did not receive the Baptism Ceremony as noble children, did not wear magic tool rings. Besides, the only other people I knew who wore rings on their middle fingers were Self-Eating soldiers bound by a Contract.

"Egmont, that ring..."

At my words, everyone's gaze snapped to the ring. The next instant, all I could see in my vision was the High Priest's cloak.

"Huh?"

Looking up, I could see the High Priest in mid-swing, his schtap transformed into a sword.

Everyone's collective gasp was deafeningly loud. And after a single heartbeat, a scream erupted, blood sprayed across the room, and with a heavy thud, something crumpled to the floor behind the cloak.

"Ahh...GYAAAAAAAHH!"

Egmont's shriek rang out, and one after another, screams from his attendants followed.

"Kyah!"

"Hii!"

I could imagine what was happening behind the cloak, but the only thing in my field of vision was the High Priest's broad back.

All the while, the High Priest held his schtap aimed at Egmont and began issuing calm instructions.

"Justus, Eckhart. Go to Rozemyne's workshop and retrieve the magical tools! Eudiett and Leonore will accompany Rozemyne as bodyguards and wait in the room. Don't come out until I call for you. Cornelius, Damiel, and Angelica — restrain all of the attendants!"

"Yes, sir!"

Eckhart and Justus immediately began moving. Eckhart lightly tapped Fran on the shoulder and said "Open the workshop door" as he strode ahead at a brisk pace, while Justus scooped me up in his arms. I had been standing rooted to the spot, staring at the High Priest's back.

"We need to move quickly, so forgive the impropriety, Princess. Eudiett, Leonore, let's go."

"Y-yes!"

Justus began running with me in his arms. The High Priest's office had already been thrown wide open by Fran. Eckhart was waiting in front of the door connecting to the workshop.

"Rozemyne, open the workshop. We need to get the magical tools out."

I quickly opened the workshop and granted entry to Eckhart and Justus. The two emerged carrying the time-stopping magical tool.

"Are you all right, Lady Rozemyne? If you saw it from up close, you must have felt unwell."

Leonore peered at me with a worried expression. I shook my head slowly.

"I'm fine. I could only see the High Priest's cloak, so... Are you and Eudiett all right?"

"Well, we are knights, you know."

A cup of tea and some sweets were set before us as we spoke with forced smiles. Nicola, wearing her usual cheerful expression, said, "Please eat something delicious and cheer up." Feeling a sense of normalcy returning with that smile, I gently took a sip of tea.

"Did something happen, Lady Rozemyne?"

Roderich asked with a worried look. I answered only that "There was a blue priest wearing a suspicious ring."

"Let the High Priest and the escort knights handle capturing him. I need to focus on what I can do. Has any new information come in from the merchant district?"

Capturing and interrogating the culprit was not my kind of work. Once I shifted my mindset, Filienne immediately brought a memo pad and began reporting.

"Information from someone in the merchant district. Due to the Temple's gate guards being absent, several coachmen had been told to wait in their carriages. Some went to buy sweets from the Otmar Trading Company. The first coachman reportedly arrived shortly before the fourth bell."

Information from Yutte of the Otmar Trading Company had provided details on when the Temple's gate guards had gone missing. That timing was right after we had left for the Italian restaurant.

"In addition, a man who appeared to be a noble's messenger came to the Italian restaurant today requesting a meal. He was turned down because Lady Rozemyne and Ferdinand were expected to visit, but the restaurant staff confirmed seeing a man of similar appearance lurking in the area."

"Perhaps that man was watching our movements. They seemed to have pinpointed our time of absence with remarkable precision."

As I discussed the suspicious sighting at the Italian restaurant with Filienne, Roderich began his report.

"This comes from the Gilberta Company. A man who appeared to be a noble's messenger came between the third and fourth bells requesting newly fashionable dyed cloth. He was posing as a merchant, but his bearing, manner of speech, and attitude toward the staff were apparently that of someone who served a noble. He requested the same cloth that Lady Rozemyne favors."

When it came to new dyes, pursuing one's personal taste was the prevailing trend. When nobles placed orders, they viewed dye samples, selected the type of cloth they preferred, had it brought to their home, and designated a workshop or artisan. Ordering "the same as me" was not something done in the Florenzia faction.

"What could his purpose be? The Gilberta Company might be caught up in some kind of scheme to tarnish their reputation."

What came to mind was Turi, who was apprenticing as a doppler at the Gilberta Company. As a hair ornament artisan, Turi could also be a target. I would have to keep that possibility in mind.

As I received these reports, before long, Justus arrived.

"Princess, I am terribly sorry to trouble you, but Ferdinand asks that you release a lesser beast to the castle."

It wasn't impossible to transport everything by carriage, but for moving the time-stopping magical tool and Egmont's attendants quickly and without attracting attention, a lesser beast was apparently more convenient. A lesser beast could fly directly into the castle, but if carried by carriage, they would need to pass through an inspection at the gate.

I gathered my escort knights and prepared to head to the castle. We would be escorting the time-stopping magical tool and four bound attendants. The escort knights loaded the magical tools and attendants aboard. As the High Priest watched, he let out a light sigh.

"I'm sorry to make you do this, Rozemyne."

"It's fine. It's for the sake of recovering my Holy Book."

The High Priest and the escort knights had a far harder time of it than I did, who was merely being protected.

"Your job is simply to transport them to the castle. After that, come straight back to the Temple. There's a lot to do — checking on the orphanage, releasing the blue priests who are stuck working in the High Priest's office, and more."

To keep the attendants from struggling, I had Eudiett in the passenger seat and Angelica and Leonore in the back as additional guards as I flew after the High Priest's beast toward the castle. Not to the usual residential area, but toward the section used by knights.

"...Where are we going?"

"To the place where criminals are handled."

Angelica said this succinctly. Upon arrival, several members of the Knight's Order were already waiting. As the escort knights unloaded the magical tools and brought the attendants down, Father gave my head a light pat.

"It sounds like things got quite chaotic, Rozemyne. Let us handle the evidence and clues — leave it to us and get some rest."

"But everyone else is working and I'm the only one..."

Before I could protest that it felt wrong to rest alone, Father flicked my forehead lightly.

"...Preparing for what comes next is what matters. Capturing the blue priest isn't the end. If anything, it's the beginning."