MPBAGS Chapter 10

A letter? I thought Evangeline was too sickly to have friends. Who would she even write to?

"It looks like it's from that Knight Commander we met before."

Knight Commander? What! A letter from our male lead? I tore open the envelope hastily. Written in handwriting as gorgeous as his face, the letter's contents went roughly like this:

『There had been complications with the Donau incident, so I need to come and hear the detailed story in person. 』

When I explained the letter's contents to Kanna, she frowned.

"But we already gave our statements back then. Why now?"

About a week had passed since Donau's kidnapping incident.

Kanna seemed displeased that Gabriel was showing up late, but I could understand it. With both the villainess and the female lead living together in the Rohanson estate, the male lead couldn't ignore us even if he wanted to! This world seemed to have something like the original story's narrative force, so even if he didn't want to come, he'd have no choice but to visit out of worry that the female lead might suffer at the villainess's hands.

And this situation was predicted in the notes I'd worked so hard on. The male lead would be coming under the assumption that I'd hired Donau to kidnap Kanna, right? He'd probably spent this time investigating evidence and Evangeline's notorious reputation.

So all I had to do here was show the male lead that Kanna and I were very close. And send a clear message that I supported their love.

"My lady, Sir Gabriel has arrived."

The male lead showed up the day after I sent a reply saying he was welcome anytime.

'Talk about efficient.'

Good thing I'd told the butler beforehand to guide any visitors to the reception room. I didn't want to keep the male lead waiting, so I just ran a brush through my hair and headed downstairs. If a villainess got all dolled up to show courtesy, she'd just get mocked with something like, 'Ha! Were you trying to impress me?'

When I entered the reception room, the male lead was leisurely drinking tea. This was my first time here too, so it felt awkward. If anything, the male lead looked more comfortable than me, like he owned the place. Talk about role reversal...

I gave a light nod in greeting and sat across from him. Henna poured tea for me as well.

"It's a pleasure to see you again."

"It's been a while, Sir Gabriel."

Damn. Seeing him again in bright light, he looked even more handsome. Part of me wanted to gush, 'I'm happy to see you too. Your face is still ridiculously good-looking, male lead sir,' but I restrained myself with great effort. No small talk. I couldn't risk looking like I was fawning over him.

"So. Has some problem come up?"

I took a sip of tea while making it abundantly clear I had no interest in him.

"I already told you everything about the incident back then. There shouldn't be anything strange about it."

I know you came to see Kanna! I screamed internally.

Of course, Kanna was currently waiting in her room. We'd planned to come down together, but Pudding seemed to want to play with Kanna, so I told her to come down when I called. Male lead, you should've timed this better—during Pudding's walk time!

"If you're worried about Kanna's condition, I can call the child down."

Successfully laid the groundwork naturally. Damn, where else would you find someone this considerate?

"Ah. The young lady who was kidnapped? She didn't seem badly injured."

Hey! Are you even the male lead? Not badly injured? Henna and I had been so depressed every time we saw the wound on Kanna's neck.

I'd originally planned to get holy water to heal it, but Kanna said she wanted to leave the neck wound as it was, so I'd been crying and leaving it alone.

"I came to hear Lady Rohanson's opinion on the matter."

Mine? Right, this is all my fault. I stole the male and female leads' first meeting. If the male lead had confirmed back then that Kanna was tied up, he wouldn't be this indifferent now.

But at the time, I didn't even know Kanna was the female lead, did I? How could I just leave a tied-up kid alone? I'm not a complete monster!

"We haven't been able to dispose of Donau Blue's body yet."

"Still?"

According to what I'd heard from Kanna, temples rarely accepted criminals' bodies, so they were burned and buried without funeral rites. In the Sun God's domain, cremation was considered especially wicked, so most criminals were cremated.

Kanna had made a dark joke that since Donau was already burned, disposal would be easy. I remembered it well.

But then, since Donau had no family and was a criminal, wouldn't disposal actually be easier?

"Yes. Two days ago, opinions started circulating that Donau Blue should be enshrined in a cathedral."

Henna's hand trembled as she refilled my teacup. She was biting her lip hard trying not to show it, but she seemed furious at the suggestion of enshrining a criminal in a cathedral. If Kanna had heard this, she would've been hurt too. Good thing I left her upstairs instead of bringing her down.

"Why would such an opinion arise?"

"Because the death was strange."

"Strange how?"

"Lady Rohanson must have seen that house—burning alone without spreading."

That wasn't just this world's passive architectural ability? I'd been incredibly impressed, thinking we should import that technology... Apparently it was an abnormal phenomenon even in this world. Not knowing the original story meant gaps in my common knowledge showed up like this.

"Not long after you left, the fire went out on its own before we could extinguish it. And when we found Donau's body..."

The male lead pulled a paper from his coat to show me. Since there were no cameras, someone had drawn it instead, but whoever did it had spectacularly terrible skills.

"I drew this to explain, so please understand if it's somewhat lacking."

I was speechless. You write so beautifully, so why are your drawing skills this abysmal? A kindergartener could draw better than this.

I couldn't exactly tell the male lead his drawing looked like something done with my toes, so I just laughed it off.

"This is the head and here's the body."

Even a stick figure would be better. You boldly omitted the limbs. With just a head and body, I couldn't tell it was a person—I thought it was a keyhole.

"And there were scorch marks like wings and a halo on the back."

That was supposed to be wings? I'd thought they were ears, but looking again, they did sort of look like angel wings curled up.

"Doesn't it look just like an angel?"

No... Looking at your drawing, it just looks like a moth.

"Because of that... people who saw the body started spreading rumors that Donau Blue had received God's blessing."

Lies! Impossible. Why would Donau receive a blessing? He kidnapped our Kanna, then escaped his deserved punishment by committing suicide.

And what? An angel? This was the first time in my life I'd seen a kidnapper treated as an angel in a romance fantasy novel instead of the female lead. Why were they calling this moth an angel? Did having wings automatically make something an angel?

Oh right. They weren't talking about this drawing—they saw the actual body. I'd forgotten because the drawing's impact was too strong.

But the only people who saw it were knights, right? Then the Knight Commander, being the male lead, should be able to control them easily. I asked about that point, puzzled.

"Only the Pharalos Knights saw it anyway, right?"

"It seems onlookers swarmed in when security got lax. Originally it was just word of mouth, but then a painter drew the scene and donated it to the temple, so now talk is spreading through the temple too."

Dereliction of duty from his subordinates... Maybe the male lead wasn't as dignified and imposing as I thought.

There had been a lot of rubberneckers at the fire.

But why would anyone specifically want to see a burned corpse, and even draw it? Not only completing the painting in just a few days but donating it too. I don't know who that painter is, but their initiative is something else.

And unlike the male lead, they apparently had good drawing skills. If the temple had only seen the male lead's drawing, they'd be asking why he drew a moth instead of calling it an angel.

"Because of that, those above seem to have taken interest. Just as things were wrapping up nicely, an order suddenly came down to reinvestigate so Donau Blue's death wouldn't be unjust."

The Pharalos Knights were holy knights, and ‘those above’ would be the temple side. Who could give orders to a Knight Commander? There's no saint or saintess, so a high priest? Definitely a high-ranking cleric.

Even in a romance fantasy world, case manipulation never changes. They said ‘reinvestigate,’ but what they meant was to write a scenario where Donau became the victim.

"The problem is, if Donau Blue received God's blessing, then conversely Lady Rohanson would be accused of dishonorably fabricating his death."

Right. We'd testified that Donau kidnapped Kanna and died while fleeing in a fire. If Donau got treated like an angel, I'd become the person who harmed him and lied about it.

Was this also the original story's narrative force? Since I seemed likely to escape being a villainess by building friendship with the female lead Kanna, they wanted to use Donau to make me the bad guy anyway?

"I ask you, my lady. Was everything you told me the truth?"

"The truth..."

The male lead seemed to see me as suspicious too. No, he definitely thinks I'm suspicious. He's testing me because he thinks I know something. But Kanna already gave her explanation, so I can't change the story now.

"Let me ask in return. Do you think I lied, Sir?"

According to what I'd asked Henna and Kanna, people in this world didn't know spirits actually existed. They existed but seemed to have rock-bottom recognition. If I said Donau summoned a spirit in this situation, fat chance they'd believe me!

But was this my last chance? Should I just tell him? Ah! Damn it! If spirits were commonly active in this worldview, I would've said it!

The male lead didn't answer immediately, maintaining his silence before slowly opening his mouth.

"I don't believe Donau Blue received God's blessing. However, I do know his death was strange."

So he's saying even if Donau was bad enough to deserve death, I'm still the better option? He'll take my side, so I should come clean?

What if I tell him and just get backstabbed with a prison ending? No wait, they might call me a witch for driving the angel-treated Donau to death. Then it's beheading or burning at the stake. Why is this evolving worse! Wasn't I supposed to avoid death flags by befriending the female lead?

As I hesitated about whether to speak honestly, the male lead gazed at me intently.

"I want to help you."