Belladonna hurriedly came out of the small room and ran towards the safe.

Kneeling in front of it, she took out a square key from her inner pocket with trembling hands.

There wasn’t much time. Inside the room, the argument between the Pope and Scarlet was still in full swing.

‘This time, please…!’

She bowed her head again and concentrated on fitting the key into the keyhole.

As she applied pressure inward, the square key slipped into the lock as if being sucked in.

‘…It worked!’

Belladonna quickly turned the key to the right.

With a clicking sound, the safe’s lock finally opened.

Opening the door quickly, she saw several documents neatly stacked inside the safe.

Among these, there must be what I need…

Belladonna swallowed hard and pulled out a large number of documents at once.

She poured the thick stack of papers onto the floor and began reading the written words while rummaging through them haphazardly.

‘This is an accounting ledger, and this is a list of high-value donors who made annual contributions to the papal office… And the next page is their tax evasion records.’

Even if not immediately necessary, these were documents favorable to her.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Belladonna set aside the documents that seemed usable later.

What else could there be? As she continued flipping through the papers, she stopped her hand upon discovering something.

‘What’s this?’

It was a paper with an unknown address written on it.

‘Rablserona’, it was a place name she had never heard of before…

It wasn’t where the external chapel he sometimes went to pray was located, nor was it where the welfare facilities closely connected to the papal office were.

Could it be a place where he had hidden a personal safe or jewels?

Belladonna, momentarily distracted by the strange feeling, hurriedly moved her hand again. This wasn’t the time!

Just as she was concentrating on flipping through the documents to find clues, Scarlet’s scream was heard from inside, followed by the sound of the Pope’s angry footsteps coming out.

“What are you doing now?”

Huk…

Belladonna turned to face him with a troubled expression.

His face grew cold as he looked down at Belladonna rummaging through the documents.

“Such an ungrateful…”

He strode up to Belladonna, snatched the paper she was holding, threw it away carelessly, and asked fiercely.

“You dare to open my safe without permission? Where did you get the key to this room’s safe? Don’t tell me Cardinal Nicholas gave it to you?”

“…”

Belladonna didn’t answer. The thicker the suspicion between them grew, the better.

“Damn…”

Provence, unable to contain his anger, continued to mutter curses.

Now, there was no longer any trace of the benevolent Pope on his face.

He fixed his gaze on Belladonna again and spat out.

“What were you trying to do with these documents? Don’t tell me you were thinking of backstabbing me again?”

“…”

“It seems I’ve raised not a holy and obedient saint, but a pure con artist.”

Belladonna looked up at him with a tense face, unable to give any answer.

She didn’t know when he might suddenly turn violent again.

She was also constantly worried about the room inside, from which no sound had been heard for a while.

The Pope, looking down at her, smiled with a hint of madness.

“But Belladonna, these are just pieces of paper. Mere scraps that disappear without a trace if they get wet or burn. What did you think you could do, you who only know how to sit silently and listen to others’ secrets while smiling sweetly?”

After finishing his words, he reached out to the desk and pulled out divorce papers and a restraining order.

He thrust them at Belladonna and said in a threatening voice.

“Sign them right now.”

“…”

“Do it now!! Otherwise, that damned… will lose her life too.”

The Pope raised his hand towards Belladonna, his eyes bulging.

Belladonna nodded desperately, shrinking her shoulders.

Looking around briefly, she picked up a pen that had fallen and was rolling on the floor.

The sun was already setting.

Escalion looked out the window, now tinted red with the sunset.

Though he didn’t show it, he was starting to feel increasingly anxious by this point.

If the negotiations with the Pope were going well, there was no reason for it to take this long.

He was becoming determined to enter the papal office alone to find Belladonna and Scarlet once the sun had completely set.

“Hazel, do you think the Cardinal would know any interesting stories?”

“Vice Captain, please.”

“Why? You said all sorts of people come and go to the papal confessional. I was just wondering if you might have heard any interesting stories while wandering around there. It’s boring to just wait, you know.”

“If you’re an adult, please spend your time more like one.”

As Grayham and Hazel exchanged useless conversation, the door of the building opened and one of the knights they had brought from Gribblata entered the inner room where they were sitting.

Hurrying in, he went straight to Escalion and bowed his head.

“Captain, a large portal has been created in the portal zone in front of the papal office.”

“Who is it?”

“It appears to be the Imperial Knights. The First Imperial Knight Commander, who came out first, is looking for you, Captain.”

Hearing the knight’s words, Grayham immediately stood up.

“Perfect timing when I was getting bored. Alright, let’s go quickly!”

At the mention of the Imperial family, Cardinal Nicholas, who had been nodding off across from them, raised his head.

“Who did you say came from the Imperial family?”

“You should come along too, Cardinal. We’ll need someone to testify,” said Hazel, also rising.

Nicholas stood up awkwardly, not knowing what was going on.

Hurrying to mount their horses and galloping to the front of the papal office, they saw, as the knight had said, a huge and powerful portal with blue flames had appeared.

It seemed all had already exited the portal by the time they arrived, as knights were gathered in front of the papal office.

Seeing the knights wearing cloaks embroidered with the Imperial emblem and carrying tall flagpoles bearing the same symbol, Grayham remarked,

“My, they’ve moved quickly for once.”

“It seems they’ve dispatched people urgently, given the seriousness of the matter,” Hazel replied.

One of the knights, noticing them approaching on horseback, turned towards Escalion.

Escalion leapt nimbly from his galloping horse and approached him.

Thinking he might have seen that face somewhere on a battlefield before, he bowed at the waist in greeting.

“Escalion Diete, at the service of the Imperial representative.”

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Diete. I am Felix Adrina, First Imperial Knight Commander, come as the Imperial representative and papal investigator on His Imperial Majesty’s orders.”

Felix, also bowing his head, opened his mouth.

“Due to time constraints, I’ll get straight to the point. A large-scale investigation is needed regarding the documents you sent to our side. It seems the repercussions could be significant if this matter leaks out, so have there been any developments so far?”

“As you can see, with the Imperial Knights controlling the interior of the papal office, entry itself is not easy.”

Seeing Felix’s face take on a troubled expression as he looked towards the papal office at Escalion’s words, it was clear he found it absurd that it was none other than his own subordinates firmly surrounding the building.

“Withdraw immediately!”

At Felix’s single command, the knights guarding the entrance to the papal office retreated like the ebbing tide.

Watching this, Grayham shook his head.

Felix turned back to Escalion and asked,

“I heard that the Pope of Astanya has been attempting human experiments on commoners. Do you have evidence of this?”

At Felix’s words, Escalion presented the handwritten document from Saint Belladonna that he had received from Fabion.

“This is…”

“This is the original written in ancient language, and the translation is inside the papal office.”

Felix, looking down at the document Escalion handed over, spoke in a troubled voice.

“But as you well know, sir, such papers carry no weight. It’s not even clear who wrote this, making an investigation difficult with such indirect evidence or mere suspicions… Don’t you have any more concrete proof? Clear evidence that the Pope carried out human experiments, I mean.”

At his words, Escalion thought of Belladonna.

He didn’t know if she, who had left with the translation, had managed to find proper evidence through her private audience with the Pope.

Thinking Escalion was hesitating, Felix added,

“As you know, searching the Astanyan papal office is not an easy decision even for the Imperial Knights. If we force an investigation and all of this turns out to be false, someone will have to take responsibility.”

“I will take it.”

Escalion answered immediately.

In any case, Belladonna and Scarlet were inside. There was no reason to stop from going in.

Felix, who had been watching him intently, opened his mouth.

“Are you sure you won’t regret this? Such actions of yours could… be seen as blasphemy and insult against the god the Empire serves. If no evidence is found, you could be severely punished under Imperial law.”

Escalion nodded towards the inside as if he didn’t care at all.

“Let’s go in. We’re a bit short on time.”

“Sir Diete.”

Felix grabbed him as he was about to enter without hesitation.

Escalion glared at him with annoyed golden eyes.

Felix, not intimidated by his demeanor in the slightest, said,

“If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have gone this far. But having observed Sir Diete countless times on the battlefield, I don’t think you would recklessly undertake something like this without reason.”

At his words, Escalion raised one eyebrow.

Does this fellow know me well?

At the unexpected reaction, Felix turned away as if he hadn’t expected much anyway.

“I hope that both you, sir, and I can keep our positions and remain safe.”

He said.

“We will enter the papal office immediately. Are there any precautions we should take?”

“My wife and younger sister are being held inside. Please be careful not to harm the captives.”

Seemingly surprised by the mention of people being held captive, Felix appeared to hesitate slightly.

But he soon moved forward nonchalantly.

“Form teams and search the papal office thoroughly! Find any suspicious traces, evidence, or captives!”

Felix shouted as he crossed the entrance to the papal office.

At the Knight Commander’s words, the Imperial Knights formed teams and rushed off to their assigned areas.

Escalion also turned, placing his hand on his sword, and moved his legs to find Belladonna.

The lack of any news from her was becoming a great source of anxiety.