Belladonna frowned and took a deep breath.

She felt strangely as if her body and soul were separated. Dizzy…

“Holy Maiden? Why are you suddenly like this?”

Timothy tilted his head and asked, noticing her unusual state.

I, I don’t know…

Her breathing was becoming faster and faster.

Belladonna clutched her tight chest and coughed.

Surprised by her sudden discomfort, Timothy jumped up from his seat.

He fumbled for a moment, then supported Belladonna.

“Holy Maiden, please wait a moment! I will take you to a physician right away!”

Timothy grabbed Belladonna’s shoulders with a pale face.

Ugh…

Belladonna leaned on him, feeling an uncontrollable pain in her chest.

She tried to force her legs to walk, but her weak knees quickly buckled. She lost her balance and fell to the floor.

“Ah, no…”

Timothy firmly lifted her up as she collapsed in place.

“Excuse me for a moment, Holy Maiden!”

With his eyes tightly closed as if in prayer, he put his hands under Belladonna’s back and behind her knees and lifted her up.

It was painful.

What is happening…? Is this the effect of the tonic? Was it a medicine not suitable for a fake holy maiden like me after all…

“He-help here please! Something is wrong with the Holy Maiden’s condition!”

Timothy shouted with a half-dazed face.

Though he must be shouting very close by, his voice seemed to be getting farther and farther away.

My stomach hurts…

With Timothy’s tearful face as the last thing she saw, she completely lost consciousness.

“…Where is this?”

Belladonna, who had been muttering without thinking, startled and clutched her throat.

My voice is coming out? Since when?

“Ah, ah…! Wh-what! It’s coming out properly!”

Belladonna shouted joyfully. It was her own voice that she was hearing after a really long time.

{Was it very frustrating?}

At that moment, an unknown voice echoed in her head.

Startled, Belladonna turned her head and looked around.

“What is this… Where is this place?”

An empty blue space with nothing in it. The sound of water heard intermittently, though its source was unknown.

It must be a place she had never been to before, but somehow it felt familiar.

Belladonna looked into the distance with a puzzled expression. Is there nothing at the end there?

{It’s not there, but here. You still have no sense of direction.}

Startled again by the voice, Belladonna quickly turned around.

In the space that had clearly been empty until just a moment ago, she saw the figure of a large bear and someone riding on top of it.

“Wh-who are you?”

{Hmm, I’m getting tired of explaining every time.}

Belladonna’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw the woman speaking somewhat grumpily.

Silver hair reaching down to her waist and blue eyes. That appearance…?

{It’s tiring to be surprised every time too. Maybe I should have left the memories of this place?}

What on earth is she talking about?

Belladonna frowned and stepped back.

The Holy Maiden looked at her sulkily for a moment, then smiled brightly as if everything had been a joke.

{You’ve been up to some interesting things lately, haven’t you?}

Interesting things…?

When Belladonna just stood still without answering, tense, the Holy Maiden hopped off the bear onto the ground.

She approached Belladonna, who still had a wary look on her face, and said:

{Haven’t you been looking for traces of my old friend Fabion and me?}

Th-that’s right, but…

“Are you… perhaps offended?”

{What? Ahahaha!}

The Holy Maiden burst into laughter, as if Belladonna’s words were funny.

She bent over laughing for a while, then straightened up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

{Ah, how cute. Were you thinking about my feelings?}

“…”

{Don’t worry, I wasn’t offended at all. Rather, I thought you were doing well. I cheered for you a lot. Though it hurt my heart a bit when you were hit by Pronunce.}

Come to think of it…!

Belladonna quickly opened her mouth.

“Were you also subjected to violence by the Pope, Holy Maiden? How dare that bastard…!”

{Don’t get too worked up. He will be punished later anyway. God never leaves such deeds unpunished.}

“Even so! How could…?”

{By the way, why don’t you try not believing others’ words too much?}

“What?”

When Belladonna made a puzzled face, the Holy Maiden lowered her head and put her palm to her cheek.

{Hmm. That thing you gulped down, it’s poison. I wonder what you were thinking…}

“P-poison…?”

It was poison, not a tonic?

That can’t be, surely Timothy…

{Ah, don’t suspect the kind Timothy. He must have thought it was a tonic without any doubt. It was in the same bottle as the tonic I used to drink regularly.}

“Then why the poison… I found it in the Holy Maiden’s drawer in the confessional.”

{It was in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances, not for you to gulp it down.}

“Ah, I’m, I’m sorry…”

{There’s no need to be sorry, thanks to that I met you a little earlier than expected while trying to save you?}

The Holy Maiden said with a grin.

A little earlier…?

{You’ve been very frustrated, haven’t you? I’ll stop the joke here.}

“Joke?”

{Belladonna, I believe in you. That’s why I chose you.}

“What on earth does that mean?”

Belladonna asked, looking at the Holy Maiden who kept saying incomprehensible things.

But the Holy Maiden didn’t seem to have any intention of answering.

{Don’t be too surprised when you go back. Believe the person you want to believe.}

“Holy Maiden, please tell me in a way I can understand…”

{Our meetings are always pleasant yet regretful. I wonder how many more times we’ll be able to meet?}

Holy Maiden, you’re being too unreasonable…! I don’t understand a word you’re saying!

Belladonna looked at her as if looking at an insurmountable high wall.

The Holy Maiden approached her and tucked her hair behind her ear.

{Be happy. For my share too.}

At the same time, the blue space began to crumple violently from the outside. Belladonna looked at the crumpling space with surprised eyes.

Then, before she could even scream, darkness swallowed them.

“You sent your regrets for the birth celebration invitation, so I thought you were very busy taking care of your new territory, but I didn’t expect you to make such a surprise visit.”

“I found some free time.”

Pronunce forcibly raised the corners of his mouth as he stared at Escalion, who answered briefly as if uninterested.

That arrogant XX…

“That’s fortunate.”

Instead of answering, Escalion turned his eyes to look around the office interior.

Unlike his castle in Griblata, it was an extremely luxurious and extravagant space. Would Bella prefer a place like this?

“So, how long are you planning to stay this time?”

The Pope asked another question, scattering his thoughts.

“I plan to return as soon as my wife is ready.”

“Oh my, if that’s the case, it seems like it might take longer than expected… Is it alright to leave your territory unattended for so long?”

Escalion looked at Pronunce, who spoke as if concerned, and asked.

“Does my wife have a lot to do here?”

“Well, she is my only daughter and the only Holy Maiden after all… It seems she’s been busy dealing with the work that piled up while she was living in Griblata.”

“That’s strange.”

Escalion, who had been staring at him, said.

“What do you mean, strange?”

“From the moment my wife married me and went to my territory, she became more devoted to her role as my wife than her role as the Holy Maiden. Even this return to Astania was just to show her face briefly at the birth celebration, so I find it strange that she’s being given more work than that.”

The corners of Pronunce’s eyes, who had been forcing a smile, trembled slightly.

“Role as a wife… Our Belladonna is Astania’s one and only Holy Maiden. She was before marriage, and she is after marriage. Even if she left for Lord Diete’s territory after marriage, Belladonna is still the Holy Maiden of this place.”

“How long do you intend to use my wife?”

“What do you…”

At the abrupt, rude question, Pronunce finally erased the smile from his face.

Escalion leaned his upper body towards him.

“I’m asking how much longer you intend to exploit my wife. Thanks to you, Pope, my wife hasn’t been able to return to Griblata for almost two months. To the point where I had to come pick her up myself.”

The corners of Pronunce’s mouth turned downward.

He looked at Escalion coldly and slowly opened his mouth.

“The reason I didn’t forcibly hold onto Belladonna and send her to Griblata was to protect that child.”

“From what?”

“From you, my lord.”

Pronunce also leaned his upper body towards him.

“My child was preparing for a divorce. My child has wanted to escape from you, and from Griblata, for a long time.”

“…”

Escalion’s jaw muscle bulged.

It was the words he least wanted to hear, and also the words he most wanted to ignore.

“I have been exchanging letters with Belladonna since she left for Griblata. I know very well how much that child struggled in a place where she had no connections, how much she wanted to escape. As a father, how could I send my beloved child back to such a place?”

“…”

“Yet you say I’m exploiting that child… I will formally raise an objection to this matter. That expression not only demeans me, but also Belladonna.”

Escalion clenched his fist tightly on his thigh.

The hopeful certainty that glimmered faintly when facing Belladonna seemed to melt away completely again when hearing such words from someone else’s mouth.

Can I believe her words? Did she really… despise me and Griblata that much? Did she just lie in front of me out of fear, and run away to this place?

“…”

“Since you’ve come all this way, I hope you have a good time. And I will make it clear that Belladonna has no intention of returning to Griblata for the time being. No matter what that child says, don’t think those words are sincere. Because she is inherently kind and soft-hearted, she will probably say what you want to hear in front of you.”

Pronunce leaned back in his chair with a relaxed attitude once again.

Saying she’s just telling me what I want to hear…

Just as his mood was endlessly plummeting, someone’s desperate voice was heard shouting outside the office door.

“He-help here please! Something is wrong with the Holy Maiden’s condition!”

Hazel and Graham, who had been guarding the Pope’s office door a few meters away from where Escalion and Pronunce were sitting, turned and flung the door open.

Escalion also reflexively stood up.