PMEVBO 33

Atsula recalled what had happened a few hours earlier.

The underground passage beneath the vanity cabinet was darker and more complex than he had anticipated. Had he not brought a lamp, he would have come up empty-handed.

Fortunately, the dark stone floor bore clear traces of human passage. Thanks to that, he didn’t struggle much to find the room.

What had actually given Atsula trouble was Iser.

According to the duke’s experiment log, contact with the experimental tool caused extreme pain. Because of that, Atsula found and put on gloves before infiltrating Lucariel’s room. Just in case, he even brought along a Tali cord.

‘It’s just kidnapping some brat who was treated like an experimental tool by the duke at best. Maybe the restraints were overkill.’

It was like bringing a lion trap to catch a rabbit. Tali cord was a cord with properties that resisted divine power, and it was usually used to restrain clergy at the level of bishops or higher.

But his self-mockery about his own timidity proved meaningless. Atsula got hit by the rabbit. Iser, who had been curled up as if asleep, suddenly reached out and grabbed his face.

In that instant, excruciating pain he’d never felt before surged through his body.

He knew instinctively. If this continued, he would die soon.

The only reason Atsula survived was because Iser withdrew his hand. It was laughable that this brat, tortured to death by his own father in experiments, ended up like this just because he couldn’t manage a single murder.

Indeed, the contents of the experiment log were no lie. The wound on his cheek from the previous banquet had healed as if it had never existed.

Atsula bound Iser’s entire body with a tali cord to prevent any further resistance.

Then.

‘I played with him a bit. It pissed me off that a half-dead brat managed to land a hit on me.’

But the actual playtime was brief. Iser suddenly tried to bite his own tongue.

‘I never thought he’d try to kill himself…’

Thanks to the experiment log, he knew his tongue was a weakness. He stopped him in time and gagged him. Otherwise, he nearly lost a precious piece of evidence to present to His Holiness the Pope.

Atsula, his enthusiasm waning, ended the untimely game. He then carried Iser, bound head to toe in restraints, and calmly exited the hideout.

That was the entire story of this kidnapping incident.

‘Come to think of it, that’s strange.’

Just a few hours together had been enough to see how intensely Iser hated others. Yet Lucariel had hidden Iser in that underground space, leaving him completely free to move about.

‘And this little brat was just sitting there quietly in that shitty place.’

Atsula flicked the stub of his cigarette out the window and stared at Iser beside him.

“That bastard Lucariel must have treated you pretty well, huh?”

When Atsula said Lucariel’s name, Iser’s shoulders flinched. At that transparent reaction, Atsula’s red eyes flashed like a predator spotting its prey.

‘Come to think of it, has anyone ever been this close to Lucariel before?’

Even though Lucariel was relatively lenient with his subordinates for a clergyman, everyone feared approaching that bastard. That’s because Cardinal Bechard never let anyone even exchange a single word with Lucariel.

In the case of clergymen, Lucariel himself personally drove them away. The only ones who paid no heed to his antics were, at most, Cardinal Bechard and His Holiness the Pope.

The duke had lost his cherished experimental tool about a month ago.

So, in the end, Lucariel had spent roughly a month stuck with this brat.

‘Given that bastard’s temperament, he must have grown quite attached to this kid. When I report it to His Holiness, his expression should be quite a sight.’

The thought alone lifted his spirits.

The dawn mist began to lift as they left the Hayut territory. The light spreading from the far edge of the horizon bathed the vast Babet Plains in a rosy glow.

Only then did Atsula notice the familiar presence of divine power.

It was Tykvana’s divine power.

He turned his head and saw a divine carriage racing toward them in the distance through the rear window. Atsula puffed out one cheek and muttered indifferently.

“Oh, what the hell. She followed us?”

Just then, Tykvana’s divine carriage began to pick up speed. Raising a cloud of dust, she closed in right behind him. He was literally on the verge of being overtaken.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Atsula poured more divine power into the steering wheel. His divine carriage began to accelerate, and before long, Tykvana fell behind.

Dust and dirt blew in through the open window. Regardless, Atsula laughed, leaning one arm out the window. Then, he casually waved his middle finger.

It was right at that moment.

The smoothly running divine carriage jolted and suddenly came to a complete stop.

“Fuck, what the hell?”

He turned his head around. Tykvana was leaning out the front window, her upper body thrust forward. In her hand was a Tali cord. Only then did it occur to him.

‘Please be careful not to let a Tali cord get caught in the divine carriage’s spokes. If the cord gets caught, it blocks the flow of divine power and the carriage won’t function properly.’

Those were the words of the artisan who built the divine carriage had said on the day Atsula was appointed an Apostle and received his first divine carriage. At the time, Atsula had scoffed, thinking, ‘I’m not an idiot. Who would make such a ridiculous mistake?’ But he never imagined that idiot would be him.

“You crazy bitch…”

How the hell did she manage to get a Tali cord caught in the spokes of the carriage in front while driving?

While Atsula was shaking his head in disbelief, Tykvana’s divine carriage blocked the path in front of Atsula’s stopped one.

She stepped out of the divine carriage and approached with an expressionless face. Atsula promptly took his hands off the steering wheel. He then leaned back against the seat and grinned.

“Such an intense send-off… I’m at a loss for words.”

“Not content with trying to kill Priest Nebella, now you’ve gone and done this to a child…”

Tykvana’s gaze trembled slightly as she spotted Iser, bound head to toe in restraints, through the car window. After a deep breath, she glared at Atsula and continued.

“…Archbishop Abet, I told you clearly. Never again take another’s life out of your hatred.”

“Ah, yes, you did.”

Atsula muttered indifferently, staring at the underside of his fingernails.

“But I told you too, Tykvana. Don’t meddle in my affairs.”

“……”

“If you’re going to back out, pull your foot out properly. Otherwise, that foot might get chopped off.”

As he spoke, Atsula looked up at Tykvana with a crooked smile. A strange grin spread across his thin lips.

Two pairs of red eyes, differing in hue, clashed through the car window. Tykvana frowned and retorted.

“Do you really think such threats would work on me?”

“Yes, the only threats that work on you are the ones involving His Holiness.”

Atsula, who had been nodding obediently, suddenly laughed with an “Ah.”

“So now it’s Lucariel instead of His Holiness?”

“What does that mean…”

“Did you come here to find this, on his behalf?”

Atsula pointed at Iser with his chin and deliberately exaggerated his tone as he addressed Iser.

“Not even bothering to come in person is fucking ridiculous. Guess that bastard doesn’t care about you that much after all.”

Then, with a mocking expression, he silently mouthed. ‘What can you do about unrequited love?’

At that moment, Iser’s gaze wavered.

But it was only momentary. Iser soon glared at Atsula with an unprecedented ferocity in his eyes. At this, Atsula chuckled and stepped down from the divine carriage.

“Last time I asked, you said no. Now you’ve really switched to that bastard Lucariel? Anyway, you have to admit that bastard’s got skill at charming people.”

“…Is that all a priest can think about?”

Even under Tykvana’s contemptuous gaze, Atsula merely shrugged nonchalantly.

“Don’t act like you’re the only pure one. You’ve probably fantasized about it madly too. You’ve wondered what the hell Lucariel did to win His Holiness’s favor.”

“Ha.”

Tykvana let out a hollow laugh. Atsula silently watched her and leaned back against the divine carriage and folded his arms.

“I don’t know what that bastard told you, but I have no intention of killing him. He’s evidence I’ll present alive to His Holiness.”

“Evidence…?”

“Yes, evidence. That bastard Lucariel dared to conduct experiments challenging His Holiness’s authority. That’s the proof.”

Tykvana’s face froze in horror. Enjoying the sight, Atsula lifted one corner of his mouth.

Of course, using Iser for heretical experiments was entirely Duke Hayut’s doing. Lucariel was probably innocent regarding that experiment.

‘He’d rather die defying His Holiness than raise a flag of rebellion like that.’

Rather than engaging in underhanded, troublesome backroom maneuvering, he would have chosen to confront things head-on. Moreover, exploiting a child to get what he wanted? That wasn’t the sort of thing that bastard Lucariel would ever do.

‘He might even have smuggled the abused child out to protect him.’

But words could be twisted any way one wished.

Atsula wanted, if possible, to somehow implicate Lucariel in the duke’s heretical experiments.

“And yet you’re still going to side with that bastard?”

Tykvana, who seemed momentarily confused, took a deep breath and raised her head. Meeting Atsula’s gaze directly, she spoke.

“…I’m not taking anyone’s side. But I won’t condemn Priest Nebella based solely on your word.”

“You’ve only seen him a few days, and you’re already completely sold.”

Atsula smirked and raised his hand. Then, like an eagle snatching its prey with sharp talons, he instantly seized Tykvana by her neck.

With her neck clamped in Atsula’s hand, Tykvana’s body slammed into the side of the divine carriage.

Crash!

The metal body panel dented.

“Ugh…”

Atsula aimed a punch at Tykvana’s head as she groaned. But Tykvana’s counterattack was faster.

The instant Tykvana’s knee flew toward his abdomen, Atsula narrowly pulled his body back and flung her away. Then, before Tykvana’s body even hit the ground, he stomped on her abdomen.

Thud─!

A huge noise echoed as the entire area was covered in dust.

Besides Tykvana and himself, Iser was also here. Tykvana was always worried that her uncontrollable divine power might cause collateral damage. There was no way she would use it in front of a brat who couldn’t even wield divine power.

‘Well, I guess I can’t use divine power recklessly either?’

After all, it would be troublesome if the precious evidence meant to be presented to His Holiness the Pope were to perish.

Regardless of whether she used divine power or not, Tykvana was no match for Atsula. She surely knew that too, yet she came alone like this…

‘What the hell did that bastard Lucariel cook up to make her go this far?’

Atsula bitterly laughed and playfully jabbed Tykvana’s abdomen.

“Why don’t you just back down now? Then I’ll let you off easy. I don’t hold any particular grudge against you.”

“Ugh, I… I refuse…”

Tykvana clutched Atsula’s ankle, gritted her teeth and replied. Atsula’s gaze turned cold.

“What a remarkable sense of loyalty you have.”

Atsula lifted his foot high without hesitation. Then, he brought it down with all his might, aiming for Tykvana’s abdomen.