MPBAGS Chapter 19

Kanna kept receiving explanations from Gabriel about how the situation was developing because of what the Young Lady had commanded.

While Henna focused on the conversation, she also diligently looked around the Grand Temple. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, after all.

The building's exterior had been splendid, but the interior was twice as extravagant. Stained glass windows in five colors brilliantly depicted various passages from scripture, and statues of the Sun God Rahel were placed throughout.

The visitors who came to pray were mostly nobles, and the priests guiding them wore equally magnificent clothing. The priests who sometimes made rounds in the slums doing volunteer work all wore simple clothes without decoration—did the priests here dress splendidly because they dealt with nobles?

Or did they deliberately wear modest clothes to avoid jealousy from the slums? No, that's probably thinking too badly of them.

"Madam, thank you for always gracing us with your presence. May the sun's light always shine upon you."

At least their greetings are the same. May the sun's light shine upon you. Henna repeated their greeting silently to herself.

Walking along the carpet into the main hall, there was a small but extremely ornate fountain.

'Don't they usually put fountains outdoors?'

The indoor fountain felt awkward, so she kept glancing at it, when she saw a noble lady with a priest approach the fountain. The lady then cupped water from the fountain in her hands and wet her lips.

This was the first time seeing a noble do such a thing. Weren't nobles the type to complain that even washing water was dirty?

More than hygiene, it was a temple fountain—was it really okay to drink that water? Having no way to know, Henna sought Gabriel's help.

"Is it okay to drink the water from that fountain?"

"Yes. It's holy water."

"Pardon?"

"Holy water. That is."

Holy water? Henna was reminded anew that this place was the Grand Temple. Right, holy water is made in temples, so of course there'd be holy water here. But why in fountain form?

Watching the endlessly flowing holy water, a shadowed feeling crept into Henna's heart, and she unknowingly gripped Kanna's hand tightly. Seeing someone quench their thirst made her feel thirsty too. Though Kanna's hand was squeezed, she seemed to guess Henna's state of mind and quietly tolerated it.

"It's not open to all visitors. As you can see, there are knights guarding it. It's a benefit given to clients who donate generously."

Gabriel said this and added that most people who accessed the Grand Temple were nobles anyway.

"It's a performance to show the temple's prosperity."

The Gabriel who explained this looked very cold. Henna chewed over his words. Did he mean that while accepting nobles as clients, the temple wanted to maintain superiority, so they made nobles do things they would never normally do?

But wasn't it a bit faithless for a temple knight to say such things? Calling believers clients.... Henna realized anew that she'd never heard Gabriel give the prayer greeting. Of course, if it was Sir Gabriel, he might not give such greetings out of consideration for others.

Unable to find answers, Henna followed Gabriel silently.

Passing the central fountain, they saw a crowd gathered. The painting must be hanging there.

"I should tell you first that people's reactions to that painting are split into complete opposites. One side finds it very beautiful, and the other finds it unpleasant."

You could tell without elaboration that Gabriel was in the latter camp.

And finally, Henna arrived in front of the painting.

'Was it burned?'

It was a canvas filled with dreary colors, as if covered in ash—enough to cause momentary confusion. A painting that didn't suit the all-white, brilliantly colorful Grand Temple. Like a single drop of ink falling into clear water.

And the moment Henna looked closely at the painting, nausea surged up in revulsion. God's blessing? Sacred? This? This painting? The aesthetic sense of people who lavished praise on this pile of filth was suspect. She wondered if their eyes weren't functioning properly.

Even depicting the last moments of the most wretched being would be more beautiful than this. No, rather, even the scene of Donau committing suicide before was better than this.

Against a background of charred wooden floors in a collapsed building that looked like fire had just been extinguished, a cracked lump of coal—only a torso with no limbs—was screaming. Above its head, a single blood-soaked eye blinked, and from behind, countless tiny hands emerging from hellfire reached to swallow the deceased. They looked like wings because the small fingers were tangled and intertwined, vaguely resembling feathers.

Did the believers know Donau's end had been suicide? According to the Sun God's doctrine they so blindly believed in, those who committed suicide could never be embraced by Rahel. Therefore, this was a scene from hell coming to receive Donau.

"Oh Rahel."

"Grant us salvation too."

Henna wanted to cover her ears. Were these people really followers of the Sun God? Even Henna, who held a grudge against Donau, felt pity for the Donau in that painting—how could they see this and lavish praise?

"Indeed. It's beautiful."

"Kanna?"

And unfortunately, Kanna also seemed to find the painting beautiful.

"It must look different to Miss Kanna. I find that painting extremely unpleasant. Miss Henna must feel the same."

Henna nodded. Not just unpleasant—nauseating.

So Kanna found this painting beautiful. Looking around, the people viewing the painting stared at the canvas in a daze, as if drugged.

What magic had the artist who painted this used to create such an ambivalent painting?

Henna realized why this painting still hung in the temple. The polarized reactions would only make the painting seem more mysterious. No matter how much you told the truth to people who found that painting beautiful, it would just be seen as an attempt to tear down the painting.

"What's the difference?"

"Who knows. They say it's a difference in faith, but..."

That couldn't be. Kanna, who found the temple uncomfortable, had praised the painting as beautiful.

"Commander!"

"Raphaela?"

"Where have you been! I've been searching everywhere for you!"

"Just a moment. Would you two mind waiting here? It seems urgent, so I need to attend to my subordinate briefly."

"Yes. We'll wait here."

A knight in a white uniform urgently sought out Gabriel from afar. At Gabriel's request to wait a moment, Henna nodded. She wanted to hurry away from here herself, but since Kanna was staring at the painting in a daze, she couldn't leave this place alone anyway.

Even after Gabriel disappeared, Kanna, who'd been smiling and appreciating the painting for a long while, suddenly broke the silence and spoke.

"Sister, does that painting look different to you? Those patterns look just like eyes to me."

Kanna turned her back to the painting and looked at Henna. Because the angle lined up exquisitely, it looked like wings were spread behind Kanna's back.

Henna stopped breathing. Goosebumps rose along her spine and down her arms. Her abdomen tensed and the backs of her knees tingled. Tinnitus rang and the world spun.

No, no way.

Eyes? What Kanna said wasn't different from what Henna had seen. Then Kanna—

'Kanna called what I saw beautiful?'

"Kanna, you..."

Henna wanted to press her sister. But what could she say to her? That you're not normal? She couldn't possibly say such hurtful words to a child who'd been sick all her life and could only now finally smile.

While searching for the right words, seeing Gabriel approaching after finishing his business, Henna held her breath and whispered urgently.

"Don't tell Sir Gabriel you see eyes. You just feel that painting is sacred. Understand?"

The temple people also considered the painting sacred, so that wouldn't be a problem. But Kanna's case was different. Unlike others, Kanna recognized that holy painting as 'eyes' while still calling it beautiful.

Normal people don't call detached human eyeballs beautiful.

When Henna urged her like a warning, Kanna nodded obediently. Henna finally decided to accept the truth she'd suspected for so long but couldn't believe.

Kanna was broken somewhere.

Whether it was after being kidnapped by Donau or after meeting the Young Lady, she didn't know. Perhaps it had been there since childhood, hidden by her frailty.

"Thank you for waiting."

"Not at all. I lost track of time looking at the painting."

"That's fortunate then."

Fortunately, looking at it this way, you couldn't sense anything particularly strange about Kanna. Besides, wasn't Kanna receiving the Young Lady's favor? To stay by the Young Lady's side, it might be better to leave things as they were.

Even as Henna reached that conclusion, she wondered whether all this was just her rationalizing because she couldn't face her sister.

Of course, her deliberation was brief. Just as in the past she'd ultimately joined hands with the cat-like monster, Henna's choices were always for her sister's sake.

"But why did they call you just now? Is it related to that painting?"

While Henna steadied her mind, the two had continued their conversation. At Kanna's question, Gabriel nodded.

"My subordinate just said they've secured a witness."

"A witness?"

"Yes. Someone who was at the convent..."

"If it's about the painting, can't I hear about it too?"

When Gabriel held back his words, Kanna asked. Gabriel seemed to deliberate briefly, then apparently decided to bring along the two people related to Donau's case.

"I had them taken to the reception room first, so let's hear the details together."

Since they'd seen the painting, there was no reason to stay in the temple any longer. Henna also wanted to get away from that ominous painting as quickly as possible, so she hastened her steps.