Belladonna opened her eyes wide and reached out to Scarlet.

“Scarlet! What’s wrong? What happened suddenly? Are you alright?”

As she grabbed the slender shoulders that were twisting violently, Scarlet pushed Belladonna away with great force.

Belladonna’s face turned pale as she was pushed away from her.

“Ah! Aah… It hurts! It hurts…! It feels like my throat is burning!”

Her throat is burning? Could she have drunk something wrong?

The fact that the Pope had been conducting human experiments on powerless people quickly flashed through her mind. Could it be?

Her hands trembled with fear.

Scarlet, who had pushed Belladonna away, was still screaming in pain.

Her face was turning redder as blood rushed to it.

This could really turn bad…! Belladonna, watching Scarlet writhing on the floor, forcibly gathered strength in her weakening legs and stood up.

I need to do something, anything…!

“What’s going on here?”

At the sudden commotion, the Pope, who had been outside, poked his head in.

Belladonna turned to him and shouted.

“What have you done! Did you put poison in the water?”

“What?”

“You didn’t have to go this far! I said I would return to Astanya if only my husband and Scarlet were safe, I said that, so why…!”

The Pope frowned as he looked at her shouting angrily.

Belladonna strode towards him.

“Call a doctor immediately!”

“Call one here? That’s not possible.”

“Someone is dying! Then let’s take Scarlet upstairs right now!”

“Do you think it’s easy to take a woman writhing madly upstairs?”

The Pope replied nonchalantly.

Belladonna looked at the Pope with desperate eyes.

If only she could, she felt like killing him right there and then.

“How long do you intend to keep me here?”

Nicholas raised his head abruptly and asked.

He looked alternately at Escalion, Graham, and Hazel, who were sitting firmly in front of him.

“It’s been hours since I was caught at the entrance without knowing why, surrounded by men in a building I don’t know.

Lord Diete of Gribblata, is it alright to detain a cardinal of the papal state like this as you please?”

“And you, cardinal, is it alright to beat a knight of the order as you please?”

Graham, sitting across and with his legs on the table, mimicked Nicholas’s voice and spoke flippantly.

At his voice, Hazel, who had bandages on his face, bowed his head deeply.

“Thanks to that, our youngest looks terrible.”

“Vice-captain, please stop there…”

Nicholas, looking at them, opened his mouth again.

“Don’t tell me you kidnapped me out of resentment for using force to achieve the greater cause? Send me back to the papal state immediately! I need to see His Holiness!”

“Kidnapped?”

Escalion, who had been silent as if deep in thought while Graham and Nicholas were having an absurd conversation, raised his head.

At his cold golden eyes, Nicholas flinched and turned his gaze away.

“Well, kidnapping is right… How else should I express it…”

“Kidnapping.”

Escalion stood up from where he was sitting.

Somehow looking much larger than usual, Nicholas swallowed hard and looked as far away as possible.

Soon, Escalion, standing in front of him, bent down and placed his hand on his shoulder.

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. Nicholas opened his mouth in irritation.

“Whose shoulder are you putting your hand on…”

“Kidnapping is what those incompetent thugs hired by the papal state did when they took my sister. And taking my knight without a word and beating him up, and taking my wife, that can also be called kidnapping.”

“…”

“What we’ve done with the cardinal now is not kidnapping.”

“Urgh…”

The grip on his shoulder gradually tightened.

Nicholas clenched his jaw tightly to endure the sudden pain.

Escalion looked down at his expression and said nonchalantly.

“We didn’t beat people up with weapons to bring you here like some people, and as you can see, we haven’t tied you up somewhere. If you try hard enough, you could even break through us, that’s what I’m saying.”

“H-How could I possibly break through people like you… break… F-First, please let go of this…”

Nicholas raised both hands to grab Escalion’s one hand. He felt like his shoulder might really break at this rate.

But his hand, like a solid stone statue, didn’t budge at all.

“So we need to rephrase. We didn’t kidnap Cardinal Nicholas. If we have to put it in words…”

Escalion trailed off and turned to look at Graham and Hazel, asking.

“What should we call it?”

“Hmm… An invitation, perhaps?”

At Hazel’s quick answer, he raised the corners of his mouth in satisfaction.

“Ah, right. We invited the cardinal. Thank you for graciously accepting our invitation.”

“I-Invitation…”

He tried to open his mouth to protest, but as the hand gripping his shoulder tightened further, Nicholas shouted.

“I understand, so please let go of this!”

“I can’t let go because you might keep saying things like how long we’re going to keep you here, or asking to be sent to the papal state, or calling this a kidnapping.”

“I won’t! I said I won’t!”

At his desperate voice, Escalion smiled gently and loosened his grip.

As Escalion removed his hand from Cardinal Nicholas’s shoulder and returned to his place, Graham leaned towards him and muttered softly.

“He could have really broken his shoulder.”

Escalion shrugged as he glanced at the cardinal clutching his shoulder and panting.

“No way.”

“I know you’re very angry, but take it easy. After all, he’s the cardinal, second only to His Holiness in the papal state.”

“That doesn’t sound like something someone who was just mocking the cardinal to his face should say.”

At his words, Graham immediately lost his words.

After briefly brushing off his dirty pants and pretending to be distracted, he opened his mouth again.

“So how long do we need to keep the cardinal?”

Escalion recalled Belladonna, whose blue eyes were sparkling as if she had a good idea.

It was impressive how those eyes, which always seemed to be slightly shrinking or looking around nervously, could shine with such determination.

After recalling her for a moment, Escalion answered.

“Until my wife finds him.”

“Is it right for us to just sit here like this? Is it okay to leave everything to the lady and just waste time like this? Shouldn’t we lead the knights to the capital right now or storm the papal state?”

Graham blurted out as if frustrated.

It was incomprehensible that Escalion, who had met his wife inside the papal state and returned, was just sitting outside holding Cardinal Nicholas without any results, whatever conversation they had.

“There’s no way, but what if the lady was persuaded by His Holiness…”

“Don’t say such nonsense!”

At Graham’s cautious words, Hazel, sitting on the opposite side, jumped up and shouted.

“The lady went into the papal state on her own behalf instead of me! How dare you say such things!”

“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant, I was just saying we should be careful in many ways…”

“If I wasn’t bandaged on both arms and using crutches on one leg…”

“What if you weren’t?”

Graham pulled one corner of his mouth, smiling as if it was ridiculous.

“Both of you, be quiet.”

Escalion frowned and spoke between the two of them.

“Why don’t you try trusting my wife? Even though she looks weak and soft, she’s someone who does things properly when needed. Right now, Bella is the only one who knows the situation in the papal state well or knows about the Pope. For now, I want to respect her opinion.”

“If the captain says so…”

Graham nodded, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

“Anyway, by now the carrier pigeon that flew to the imperial palace should have arrived, so something will happen soon. I’ll go polish my sword then.”

Escalion nodded and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

He felt tired from the situation that wasn’t resolving smoothly.

All he wanted was to get Bella and Scarlet out of this miserable place as soon as possible.

Belladonna, tightly hugging Scarlet who was still writhing in pain, raised her head towards the Pope.

“If anything happens to Scarlet, I will leave this place.”

“Do you think the lord of Gribblata, who lost his sister because of you, will accept you?”

Pope Provence snickered.

“Even if I can’t go to his side, I will never stay in Astanya.”

“That’s not much of a threat. But move aside, I’ll take a look at what’s wrong.”

The Pope who said so approached.

Belladonna showed him Scarlet, who was still twitching and trembling.

She had no desire to seek help from him of all people, but given the situation, there was no other choice.

Now Scarlet was even foaming at the mouth.

“What on earth did she swallow wrong…”

The Pope crouched down in front of her. As he came closer, Scarlet screamed again as if having a seizure and twisted her body violently.

“Aaaagh…!”

She stretched out both hands and grabbed the Pope’s hat and hair, and as she twisted her body to the opposite side, he lost his balance and fell forward, caught up in it before he could do anything.

It happened so suddenly that he couldn’t even brace himself properly on the floor.

“Damn it, let go of this…!”

The Pope, with his head bowed to the floor, flailed his arms forward.

Unable to touch Scarlet who was writhing in pain, he grabbed her clothes tightly.

“I said let go of this!”

At that moment, Belladonna, who was standing behind trying to figure out what was happening, made eye contact with Scarlet.

Huh…? Scarlet, who had been screaming incoherently and holding onto the Pope tightly just moments ago, was now focusing her gaze clearly on her.

Scarlet…?

“…!”

And at that moment, Belladonna could understand Scarlet’s intention.

She thought that this might be the last chance Scarlet had created for her.

As soon as she realized this, Belladonna turned and ran outside.