MPBAGS Chapter 113

Gabriel clutched his head. Contrary to his confident promise to Lady Rohanson that he would quickly secure her release from prison, the situation was turning extremely unfavorable.

First, there was the matter of the dagger. Gabriel's reasoning was logical—why would he use a weapon he'd brought himself when that would obviously make him a suspect? However, regardless of that logic, he was still charged with bringing a potential murder weapon to the Crown Prince's birthday banquet.

The fact that the sword had no edge was ineffective since the people who had inspected the items happened to be members of Gabriel's own Pharalos Knights, and instead he was accused of being an accomplice who helped smuggle in the murder weapon.

So Gabriel remembered Evangeline's story about receiving the sword from the Count and next went to find Count Rohanson.

The Count's mansion had its doors firmly locked and was controlling communication with the outside world, but through Gabriel's persistence, a meeting with the Count was barely arranged.

"Count, I would like to hear an explanation of where you obtained the sword."

When Gabriel interrogated him with a much more fierce expression than he had shown in front of Evangeline, the Count trembled his feet anxiously.

"I received it as a gift." 

"A gift? From whom?" 

"Viscount Whikel."

However, Viscount Whikel came out with righteous indignation, saying that the sword he had given to the Count was a properly edged sword, and that this situation where his gift of friendship to Count Rohanson had become the murder weapon that killed the Crown Prince was utterly horrifying.

"This is completely like we turned a blind eye to Lady Rohanson." 

"Commander. They say Viscount Whikel's recent charitable donations for starting charitable work are suspiciously large." 

"Those following Bishop Marik made considerable donations."

The charitable work Viscount Whikel started was building temple buildings. Since it was charitable activity for the temple, it wouldn't be strange for people under Bishop Marik to appear on the list of donors.

"Bribery money."

Moreover, the people Viscount Whikel had recently been flattering and approaching were Count Rohanson and Duke Hosaquin, both blood relatives of Evangeline. Gabriel could picture in his mind how the sword had reached Lady Evangeline through Viscount Whikel.

It was Gabriel's mistake. Even knowing that the temple side, especially Bishop Marik, was taking interest in Lady Rohanson, he had completely fallen into a trap.

Since he couldn't prove that what Evangeline brought in was a sword without an edge, he had to find another method. While Gabriel was agonizing, a knight under his command voiced his complaints.

"Commander, but is there really a need to save Lady Rohanson to the extent of making an enemy of Her Holiness the Bishop?"

"What are you saying! Just imagining Lady Rohanson unjustly imprisoned in that cold prison right now makes my heart feel like it's being torn into a thousand, ten thousand pieces!"

Michel, who had been listening to those words, flared up. Perhaps because it was a matter involving Evangeline, he was very enthusiastic, unlike his usual listless approach to knight duties.

"...Surely you're not helping Lady Rohanson because of that crazy bastard Michel Schmitiana, are you?"

"Of course not."

Gabriel refuted, but his fierce glare at Michel showed no signs of cooling. In their eyes, Gabriel would probably look similar. There weren't many who followed the work of helping Evangeline without question. At most, it would be Michel, Raphaela, and Uriel.

"Then what exactly is the reason? Commander, do you know that the Pharalos Knights are being treated like carrion-eating crows these days? I'm ashamed of the insignia I'm wearing lately."

Gabriel's reputation had been declining day by day since becoming involved with Evangeline. It wasn't enough that he was being pointed at for being a sincere young and handsome knight who had been bewitched by a witch and was playing in her skirts, but now the entire knight order was embroiled in scandal for allegedly helping smuggle in a murder weapon, making it unbearable for the proud knights to endure such shame.

While Gabriel was choosing his words about how much he should explain, perhaps having run out of patience, the knight roughly tore off his insignia and threw it onto the desk.

"Right now other knight orders are struggling to prevent the rise of heretics, following Her Holiness the Bishop, and I don't know what we're doing."

With those words, the knight left the room. Only the Pharalos Knights' insignia with white wings on a shield remained on the desk. Gabriel had also heard news that Bishop Marik was using the temple's knights in earnest to carry out heretic massacres.

However, Gabriel's decision not to mobilize his subordinate knights wasn't for Evangeline's sake. Just as with past heretic massacres, this time too it wasn't for entirely good reasons, so he simply didn't want to make those who followed him do such harsh work.

"He's a traitor, shall I kill him?"

When Uriel, who had been carefully watching the doorway, moved to draw his sword, Gabriel pressed down the end of the sword hilt to prevent the drawing. When Uriel came out rather excessively, the previously ominous atmosphere lightened a bit instead.

"Commander. I won't storm out like that ungrateful bastard, but I'd like to hear the reason too. I don't want to follow blindly."

The reason Gabriel was helping Evangeline...

"You know well that Lady Rohanson is connected to the magic circle. We're just investigating heretics in our own way."

Gabriel told them the magic circle was his concern to deal with—he simply wanted to understand the being that commanded demons. And to stop those who carried out massacres in God's name, he needed Evangeline, who represented the opposing force.

"Is that really all? Without any personal feelings?"

That was all Gabriel could tell them. It was clear that knowing more detailed circumstances would only be poison.

If he had to find another reason, it would probably be due to slight guilt. Hadn't Evangeline been imprisoned without resistance because Gabriel had demanded she stay quietly while he was away from the banquet hall? When he thought of Evangeline imprisoned in that unsuitable prison, his brow furrowed involuntarily.

The cold, dark prison seemed too harsh a place for Evangeline to stay. Because of her particularly delicate appearance and the stories of her being sickly, he became worried despite knowing Evangeline's true nature.

He had to hurry to find the real culprit who murdered the Crown Prince and clear Evangeline of the charges.

It was important to hear about the situation at that time. Gabriel thought of Marchioness Totten, who had been constantly by Evangeline's side. Since meeting outside would draw attention, he would inevitably have to visit the Totten mansion. Thanks to Ryder's recovery, Mrs. Totten readily permitted the visit.

"Master Totten's health seems to have improved greatly." 

"...Yes. Thanks to Lady Rohanson."

Ryder was playing in the garden with a maid, tending to horses. Had he recovered enough to ride horses already, so soon after being cured?

Mrs. Totten drew the curtains so the window couldn't be seen and ordered the butler to refuse visitors. After the butler greeted Gabriel and left the room, Gabriel realized it was an unfamiliar face - the butler must have changed during the years he hadn't visited.

"I'm sorry for boasting that I would stay by Lady Rohanson's side instead of Sir Gabriel, but being unable to help at all."

Marchioness Totten apologized, feeling she had no face to show Gabriel.

"Your Ladyship did your best. Lady Rohanson seemed relieved that Miss Henna was able to return safely to the mansion."

"I'm glad if even that was helpful."

Since Mrs. Totten seemed to feel guilty about being unable to help Evangeline at all, Gabriel deliberately mentioned Henna to give her credit.

"Then according to your words, these are all the people who met Lady Rohanson during the banquet."

The original purpose of having Evangeline attend the banquet was to awaken those who had been influenced by Donau's painting. Therefore, the people Mrs. Totten mentioned weren't much different from those Gabriel knew. Mrs. Totten was about to nod silently in agreement with Gabriel when she opened her mouth as if remembering something.

"Oh, come to think of it, I forgot about the servants."

"Servants?" 

"Yes. They were servants serving wine - there was a maid wearing a scarf and a man with hands too fine to look like a servant. But the man seemed to know Lady Rohanson."

Around the time it grew dark, they said a young girl's voice was heard from the person who got blood on Evangeline's body. So the man could be passed over since he was acquainted with Evangeline and was of a different gender.

And a maid wearing a scarf... Gabriel also remembered seeing her.

When he came out to get treatment after being hit by a wine glass instead of Evangeline and injuring his head, the maid who handed him clothes to change into and things to wipe with was also wearing a scarf. Since she couldn't speak, he was thinking this one should also be excluded from the list of suspects when Mrs. Totten suddenly brought up the wine as if remembering.

"Only the wine that maid gave had a subtly different taste."

"Taste?" 

"Yes. Since there was nothing wrong with my health, it wasn't poisoned or anything, but the taste was light, as if... water had been added to it."

Something colorless and odorless like water had been added, but it wasn't poison... What Gabriel immediately thought of was holy water. Mrs. Totten seemed to have made a similar guess and gave the same answer.

"Holy water... I think."

Mrs. Totten's brow was deeply furrowed, perhaps a trace of her anguish.

"When Ryder was ill, no matter how much holy water he drank, it had no effect, so he wouldn't drink it at all. Still, I mixed holy water into the drinks Ryder was having, grasping at straws. Now that I think about it, the wine I drank also had a clear taste... it seemed similar to drinks mixed with holy water."

Someone had mixed holy water into the wine? If so, it was clear who the target was. The maid had given Evangeline holy water to test her, out of suspicion.

"Didn't that maid not speak?" 

"How does Sir Gabriel know that?"

Mrs. Totten was startled and asked back, surprised that Gabriel knew something she hadn't mentioned.

"Don't tell me... that maid is the culprit?" 

"She's probably not the culprit, but she's definitely someone involved."

Since Gabriel had been outside with her when changing clothes, that maid probably hadn't directly murdered the Crown Prince.

"Then she must be one of Bishop Marik's people."

Gabriel remained silent at Mrs. Totten's confident words.

"Since Sir Gabriel is also close to Lady Rohanson, you naturally know... Lady Rohanson is special, isn't she? It was strange from when Bishop Marik, who hadn't appeared publicly for over 10 years, suddenly came forward saying she would chaperone the Lady. Moreover, if there's someone with the power to use holy water privately like this... it's only Bishop Marik. Is my guess correct?"

"There are probably... more reasons." 

"More?"

For the first time, Gabriel voiced aloud what he had been guessing since encountering Bishop Marik in the basement. It was a thought he hadn't shared even with his subordinates, knowing what kind of waves it would cause once spoken.

"Bishop Marik seemed to want to recreate the past."

"The past? Don't tell me... the Heretic Massacres?"

Mrs. Totten gasped and covered her mouth. The memories of that time were vivid for Mrs. Totten too. While there were several people who reminisced about that time, having established their power base through heretic massacres, at least Kinder Totten wasn't one of them. Of course, the one who received the greatest benefit was Emperor Mater.

"Bishop Marik is gathering holy knights. There's even someone who left my knight order to follow Bishop Marik."

"Don't tell me, will heretic massacres happen again? Considering how many died back then, to do that again... His Majesty would never allow it."

Only now were the memories of the heretic massacres slowly beginning to fade. Though not as much as back then, the prestige of the Emperor and temple was still strong, so there was no reason to stir up trouble unnecessarily.

"If that's correct, it would be Bishop Marik's independent action."

"Could that be why His Highness the Crown Prince was murdered? Since he was the one who spoke out most loudly against the temple. Then we must quickly tell His Majesty...!"

Gabriel stopped the greatly agitated Mrs. Totten.

"As Marchioness Totten knows, Bishop Marik appeared at the scene belatedly. Even if Bishop Marik is the culprit, since she didn't act directly, she would have prepared a way to escape. Besides, right now it's only circumstantial evidence."

"You're right... But still, heretic massacres..."

Marchioness Totten looked toward the curtained window, thinking something. Gabriel realized that she was thinking of Ryder who would be beyond it.