I nodded slightly.

Ruben was now also focused on me.

“When I first discovered that book, I didn’t know who the original owner of the castle was, so I just looked at it out of curiosity and put it aside. Then after meeting Ivy and returning, I examined the book again.”

“Why? Was there a reason you had to look at it?”

I quietly lowered my head and looked down at my hands.

“The moment Ivy turned my hand into a mummy, I saw her hand was rotting black. That’s when I remembered the words written in the black magic book.”

“What words?”

Lightly caressing my fingertips, I raised my head.

“It said that those who use black magic have their skin rot away.”

One corner of Edan’s eye wrinkled. Ruben, who seemed to have grasped the situation roughly through the conversation, asked a question.

“So are you saying that Great Saint Ivy used black magic?”

“Probably. And in the back of that book, there was a spell similar to what Ivy used, and there were words about witches written there.”

“Witches?”

Ruben raised his voice a bit, sounding very surprised.

“The book didn’t give the exact method of the spell. Instead, it said it could only be passed down through a witch’s blood.”

“Are you saying it’s a spell the Great Saint may have used, even though the method wasn’t written?”

“Yes.”

Ruben let out a hollow laugh with an exasperated expression, then looked at Edan.

“Your Grace. This is…”

“I know. If she used a spell passed down through a witch’s blood, there’s only one conclusion. It means Great Saint Ivy is a witch.”

“That’s why I needed books about witches. But there weren’t any in the library, so I was at a loss until Maxiam came and I learned this castle belonged to the Great Magician. So…”

Maxiam chimed in, timing his words:

“So I told her there might be a hidden secret space.”

Edan lifted his head and examined the bookshelf again.

“So we need to find books about witches here.”

“Yes.”

“There’s no information in the temple archives?”

“No. Anything about witches or black magic is strictly forbidden in the temple archives.”

Ruben, who had been deep in thought, said:

“If the Great Saint used black magic, this will become a serious matter. It’s not something we can simply overlook. Even in the unlikely event that the Great Saint is not a witch, just the fact that she used black magic will cause the temple’s reputation to plummet. Also.”

With a worried expression, Ruben looked at Edan.

“The dignity of the imperial family who placed such a woman in the position of Great Saint.”

As if to say he wouldn’t deny it since it wasn’t wrong, Edan slowly closed and opened his eyes.

“That’s right. Even more so on the day she’s revealed to be a witch.”

Maxiam hesitated before speaking.

“Um, actually…”

Edan and Ruben’s gazes turned simultaneously towards Maxiam.

“I told Lady Latieana this, but I actually saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“Great Saint Ivy turning a saint candidate into a mummy.”

Maxiam’s face contorted painfully as if remembering that moment. Edan let out a light sneer.

“It’s not that surprising. She had already tried to turn Latieana into a mummy, and I witnessed it myself.”

Even as he spoke, Edan seemed to be organizing his own thoughts.

“Now some questions are starting to be answered. Thinking about it that way, it also explains why saint candidates kept dying in the temple. That suspicious incident you couldn’t explain.”

“That’s right.”

Ruben rubbed the back of his neck with a troubled look.

“This has become problematic in many ways. How on earth did such a woman…”

“Her healing power was certainly tremendous when measured. Come to think of it, Lady Latieana, as I mentioned before, I brought an artifact to check healing power…”

While the three men were talking, I found the black book. But no matter how much I looked around, there were only brown leather book covers.

Then, when I had almost circled the round bookshelf once, I found a red book at the very bottom.

My hand naturally reached for it, and I opened the red book that had nothing written on it, like the black magic book.

The book contained illustrations and information about magical beasts.

And near the last page, there was information about witches.

“I found it! It’s here.”

Ruben and Maxiam’s gazes turned towards me.

Edan, who was reaching for a high place on the bookshelf, also turned to look at me.

“Really? Let me see too!”

Maxiam ran over to me, and I opened the book on the desk so we could read the information about witches together.

Maxiam suddenly shuddered.

“It’s chilling.”

“What is?”

“If you just look at Great Saint Ivy’s outward appearance, you don’t see any of this at all.”

“That’s true.”

“To think that she’s having such terrible thoughts inside? She’s even brazenly lying after stealing the healing power of the saints and turning them into mummies.”

She is certainly a chillingly cunning woman. On the outside, Ivy looks extremely beautiful and innocent.

“She’s hiding it perfectly.”

Edan, who had come to stand behind us and was reading the book together, added.

“Look there.”

Edan pointed to the last line of the book with his fingertip.

It was a passage that connected to what I had seen in the black magic book.

All the things that had happened to me from Ivy flashed through my mind in order.

Without much speculation, it was clear that Ivy had cleverly used this spell.

She must have changed the spell for stealing lives into a spell for stealing healing power.

Maxiam, who was examining the next page, seemed to have similar thoughts.

“She cleverly changed this spell. She intended to steal Lady Latieana’s healing power from the beginning… And thinking back to that time, she’s almost certainly a witch.”

That’s when it happened.

With a clunking sound, the bookshelf on the left suddenly started to move.

We looked at Ruben, who was standing next to the bookshelf.

“Ruben?”

“Ah, I was just trying to take out a book…”

Ruben also looked flustered.

The bookshelf he had carelessly touched was moving apart on both sides.

Another space was being revealed between the bookshelves.

“My goodness…”

The Great Magician was undoubtedly a diligent and peculiar eccentric.

The newly revealed space was filled with various magical ingredients he had collected.

They were kept clean without a speck of dust, as if a preservation spell had been cast.

We went inside and examined the glass jars piled up enormously on the shelves one by one.

Seeds of singing plants, candies that cause nightmares, polluted bird blood, owl claws, and so on.

“A monster’s first tooth? Why did he keep something like this?”

It was fascinating. As we were carefully examining things that seemed quite tasteless for a Great Magician, Maxiam suddenly shouted.

“This is it! This is it!”

We focused on Maxiam.

What Maxiam was holding was a glass jar containing a few ordinary brown leaves.

“What is that?”

“It’s butterfly herb!”

I approached Maxiam, who was answering Edan’s question, and examined the glass jar closely.

“Butterfly herb? It just says it’s an herb dried in wine.”

It’s a bit strange to soak herbs in wine, but isn’t it just something with a little alcohol in it? I thought it was quite ordinary compared to the other ingredients, but Maxiam shouted even louder.

“Exactly!”

He brought over the book with the witch page we had been reading earlier and turned to the next page he had been reading.

“It’s written here. Witches are allergic to butterfly herb. Butterfly herb is made by soaking butterfly tree leaves in wine and drying them. It’s the easiest way to identify a witch.”

“Really?”

“It says if you grind butterfly herb into powder and sprinkle it on a witch’s skin, it turns red. If skin rashes appear when we sprinkle this on the Great Saint, we can prove she’s a witch!”

Seemingly interested in those words, Edan snatched the book and quickly read through the contents.

“Priest.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll give you a hundred times the gold coins I usually give you.”

“…Pardon?”

What is he saying all of a sudden in this situation?

Both Maxiam and I were bewildered by this unexpected statement, but Edan smiled with an incredibly cold gaze.

“Go experiment with this on the Great Saint.”

“What?”

“I’ll take responsibility for the aftermath.”

“Are you serious?”

“Do I sound like I’m joking in this situation?”

“No, sir!”

I thought he would refuse since he had just been in the underground prison for helping me on Edan’s orders not long ago, but Maxiam’s eyes brightened.

How much does he usually pay for spy work to make his eyes shine like that?

He seemed ready to accept without needing to consider.

“Then please allow me to check one thing!”

Maxiam reached into his pocket as if he had made a big decision and pulled out an artifact.

“I want to measure Lady Latieana’s healing power.”

Edan muttered indifferently as if to say, “Why now?” but I nodded.

“Alright.”

I had promised to let him check before, and I wanted to properly confirm it myself as well on this occasion.

Feeling a bit nervous, I placed my hand on the artifact.

And the Great Magician’s secret space filled with light emitted from the artifact, becoming so bright it was dazzling.

It was a very strong and bright light, as if the sun had been brought down, surprising even myself.

When I removed my hand and the light disappeared, Maxiam was kneeling before me.

“…”

Is it just my imagination that the knees of the men around me have become very light lately?