As soon as I burst out the door, I saw Belladonna slumped in the arms of a male priest.

A glimpse of relief flashed in the priest’s eyes as he spotted the young men rushing out.

“My lady!”

“Hazel, we don’t have time for this. You and I will find a doctor!”

Graham grabbed Hazel, who was rushing towards Belladonna, and continued running.

Escalion approached the priest and took Belladonna into his arms.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“I’m not sure what caused it. She, she took a tonic just before collapsing… That might have been strange…”

“A tonic?”

Belladonna’s unconscious face looked ominous.

Her usually lively lips were drying up with a purple tinge, and her breathing was growing fainter.

Seeing her pale face for the first time ever, he felt the strength drain from his entire body.

Escalion tensed his thighs to keep from collapsing.

“Belladonna…!”

The Pope of Prononce, who had rushed out belatedly, approached Belladonna. He looked at her with a troubled expression before shouting at Timothy.

“Father Timothy, go find a doctor or a mage immediately!”

“Ah, yes, sir!”

“Lord Diete, Belladonna’s bedroom is nearby. We need to lay her down on the bed!”

“I know where it is.”

Escalion set off, clenching his jaw as he spoke.

With each step he took, he felt as if he was sinking deeper.

Escalion consciously kept looking down at Belladonna.

It was a difficult sight to behold, but his heart clenched at the thought that the faint flame of life might be extinguished at any moment.

He had seen faces like this many times in his life.

On battlefields, in sickbeds, in harsh environments – those who were dying all wore such faces.

Those with such faces rarely lasted long.

And that fact made it even more unbearable for him.

He walked with haste, kicking open the door to Belladonna’s room, and carefully laid her down on the bed. Only then did he notice his own hands shaking uncontrollably.

“Damn it…”

Escalion exhaled anxiously as he busied his hands.

Her labored breathing and furrowed brow made her look cold, and he thought he should cover her with a blanket.

As he lifted her body with one hand and moved the blanket with the other, her long skirt rode up, revealing her white thighs.

“…”

What is this?

Escalion immediately stopped his moving hands.

No, they weren’t white thighs.

They were mottled thighs covered in red wounds and blue bruises too horrific to look at.

Escalion’s entire body stiffened.

After standing motionless for a moment as if time had stopped, he suddenly came to his senses and began to undress her.

Lifting her slightly to unzip her dress, her back was even more wretched.

‘Whip marks…?’

Long whip-like wounds, scabs that had hardened from lack of timely treatment, and large and small bruises so blue they were a vivid purple…

He stared in disbelief at the wounds covering her small, thin back.

These were certainly things he hadn’t seen in Griblata.

Who could have done this to Belladonna?

“Phew, the doctors are on their way. Fortunately, they were staying nearby thanks to the accommodations provided by the papal office after the birth celebration…”

Prononce, who had arrived late due to his slow running, stopped in his tracks when he saw Escalion standing rigid in front of the bed.

“What’s wrong… No, could it be that Belladonna…!”

He pushed Escalion aside in shock and looked down at the bed.

He feared they might have been too late, but thankfully she was still breathing. But why were her clothes…

The pope’s gaze fell upon Belladonna’s ravaged body.

Hadn’t all her wounds been healed using holy power?

“…What bastard dared.”

Just then, a chilling voice dropped from the side.

The pope turned his head with an uneasy feeling.

“What bastard dared to lay a hand on my wife’s body?”

Escalion’s golden eyes were filled with rage.

His bloodshot eyes were dilated and unfocused, and veins bulged prominently on his forehead, jaw, and thick neck.

His large, tightly clenched fists trembled menacingly.

The pope instinctively backed away as he opened his mouth.

“Ho-how did this… Who, who would dare do such a thing!”

“Find them.”

“Wh-what did you say?”

“Find out who did this immediately. The pope should be able to, right?”

Prononce gulped dryly, his hands trembling.

He didn’t even register that Escalion had stopped using honorifics with him at some point.

His mind was solely focused on preserving his own safety.

“I-I’ll uncover every detail of who’s behind this…”

“We’ve brought the doctor!”

At that moment, Hazel and Graham burst into the room. Following behind them, a doctor rushed in with his hands full of supplies.

“Quickly, examine her… Gasp!”

The startled doctor stopped in his tracks, inhaling sharply.

Escalion quickly covered Belladonna’s body with a blanket before shouting at Hazel and Graham.

“Bring a female priest here right now!”

At his words, Graham muttered a small curse and quickly turned to run outside.

Hazel approached the bed with a dazed expression and opened his mouth.

“C-Commander… Is the lady alright?”

Hazel took another sharp breath as he turned to look at Escalion’s face.

The commander with such an expression…

Hazel, who had been hesitating, turned to the doctor.

“D-Doctor, please come this way for now.”

“Ah, yes.”

“As I mentioned, she lost consciousness after drinking something, but that might not be the only reason. Please examine her thoroughly.”

“Understood.”

“Commander, please come this way for a moment…!”

Hazel forcibly pulled him away, as he stood rooted to the spot.

“Commander, what are those wounds? When did you discover them?”

“I saw them when her clothes rode up as I was laying her down.”

“Surely… Because of that?”

“Even if it’s not the direct cause, it must have contributed to weakening her body.”

“No, who could have…”

Escalion silently turned his gaze towards the pope.

When those eyes fixed on him, the pope flinched violently and averted his gaze.

“I… I’ll immediately form an investigation team with the priests. To think someone would dare do this to the Holy Maiden…”

“An investigation team, you say.”

He briefly spat out before approaching the pope.

Without hesitation, Escalion grabbed the pope’s neck with one hand and applied pressure.

Overwhelmed by the tremendous force, the pope was pushed back, his head slamming against the wall with a thud.

“Ugh, khrk…!”

“Commander! What are you doing?”

“You knew about this.”

Escalion hissed. The rationality in his eyes was already gone.

“Please… let go and we can talk…!”

“Kuk… Sa-save me…”

Hazel tried to separate Escalion from the pope, but it wasn’t easy.

He’s already incredibly strong, and now he’s lost his reason too…!

As the pressure increased, the pope’s face turned bright red from lack of oxygen.

“Ah, what’s going on now!”

Graham, who had returned late with a female priest, exclaimed in shock at the scene and rushed over.

With two strong men pulling at him, the grip on the pope’s neck gradually weakened.

“Get away quickly!”

As Graham shouted while grabbing Escalion’s waist and pulling him back, the pope clawed at the hand choking him and quickly ducked down.

“Kerlok…! Kulluk! Ukuk… Kulluk, kulluk!”

“Why are you doing this, Commander!”

“It was you.”

Escalion uttered in a low voice. He didn’t take his glare off the pope, who was sprawled on the floor coughing painfully.

“What on earth are you talking about!”

The female priest Graham had brought ran to the pope.

“Your Holiness!”

“Who else in Astagna would do such a thing to Belladonna besides you? Even if you didn’t inflict those wounds directly, you must have ordered someone to do it.”

“Kulluk, kulluk…!!”

“Have you always treated Belladonna like this? And then made her heal her own wounds?”

“Kerlok! Mi-misunderstanding… Kuk, kek!”

“You’re in pain from having your neck squeezed for a few seconds? Have you not thought about the pain she must have endured all this time?”

After finishing his words, Escalion shook off Graham, who was holding him back.

As he was about to lunge at the pope again, possibly to throw a punch, Hazel barely managed to stop him.

“You can’t do this…! Please think about the consequences!”

“That’s right! You can get angry after everything is revealed! His Holiness might not know anything about this! What you’re doing is really serious! You’ll have no defense even if you end up in court later, you know!”

“Cough…”

The pope raised his eyes to glare at him.

Now that his life was out of immediate danger, he seemed to feel belated indignation and shame.

“As I said, I will thoroughly investigate who dared to do this… Kulluk. But if it turns out that I have no connection to the culprit… Then I will hold you strictly accountable for this incident, Lord Diete.”

After finishing his words, he stood up with the help of the female priest.

He turned to the doctor who was sitting nervously amidst all this and spoke.

“Doctor, please visit the papal office after you finish treating the Holy Maiden. And keep everything you’ve seen today confidential until the day you meet God.”

“Ah, yes, I-I understand…”

The pope gave Escalion one last glaring look before limping out of Belladonna’s room.

As soon as the pope left, Graham grabbed Escalion’s shoulder and spun him around.

“Are you crazy? How could you attack a clergyman! And not just any clergyman, but the pope…!”

“…”

Escalion walked to the bed without answering and looked down at Belladonna.

Perhaps due to the effect of the IV the doctor had administered, she looked much better than before.

“Explain.”

“Fo-fortunately, her life is not in danger. Based on her physical symptoms, it appears she has been poisoned, but strangely, the internal damage is not severe.”

At the words that her life was not in danger, he felt something precarious inside him settle down.

“When will she wake up?”

“She should be able to wake up soon.”

“Can you look at the wounds on other parts of her body as well?”

At his question, the doctor slowly nodded.

“By looking at the shape and depth of the wounds, can you tell what kind of tools were used?”

“I-I can make a rough… guess.”

“Hazel.”

As Escalion turned to Hazel, he quickly stepped forward.

“Doctor, please tell me if you notice anything significant.”

The doctor nodded and began taking out bandages, cotton, and ointments from his bag to treat the wounds.

Escalion quietly watched for a moment before sighing and sitting down on the bed.

As he sat, he could still feel his thighs trembling pathetically.

“…”

Unable to bring himself to look at Belladonna, he hunched over and covered his face with both hands.

He had no idea what had happened to her while he was away.