It’s Not My Fault, So I Have No Reason to Suffer (5)

“I don’t need anything else… Bigrind, give Alec back.”

Dark red demonic energy was rising like a curtain around Yona.

Her nun’s habit was tattered and torn, making Yona’s appearance truly miserable, but even so, she kept muttering the same words over and over.

“Saint, it’s dangerous. Yona is not in her right mind right now.”

Rudvik came forward in front of Bigrind, wielding his spear.

He desperately wanted to wipe his hands, sweating cold sweat, on his pants, but Rudvik couldn’t back down.

Meanwhile, the cathedral knights were forming an encirclement with reinforced troops.

The courtroom had long since become a mess, but around Yona who had fallen in the center, cathedral knights stood in a circle with their gleaming silver swords and morning stars, openly displaying their hostility towards her.

“A demon will never leave this church territory alive.”

A low but powerful voice echoed.

Rejecting all the advice around him, Arczel IV stepped forward.

The large, white-haired old man stood straight, glaring at Yona with fierce eyes.

“I’ll say it again. A demon will not leave this church territory alive.”

Yona’s gaze turned to the Pope.

At the end of that gaze, unreadable in its thoughts, Yona moved her lips.

Pitch-black demonic energy rose from her mouth.

The demonic energy, filled to the extreme, was rising from her body like smoke, but as if even that wasn’t enough, it flew into the air every time she moved her lips.

“—Fine, if you won’t give him back, I’ll just take him. You all…”

-Dukuung—!

The floor of the courtroom shook with a vibration.

Those who hadn’t managed to evacuate rolled on the ground again with screams, but the cathedral knights, including Arczel IV, maintained their balance without wavering.

“—Then too bad.”

The black and red curtain rising around her intensified further.

Yona standing in the middle of that curtain.

She slowly closed her eyes.

“But— yes, fine. Even if I… say this to you now, it’s too late, isn’t it? Yes, so.”

A sorrowful voice.

A small, low voice that now doesn’t know who it’s speaking to.

Then suddenly, Yona opened her eyes wide.

It was as if an ominous orange light was flaring up.

“So, I told you to just give Alec back—!”

Every time Yona screamed, demonic energy exploded out.

The demonic energy gushing from Yona was so intensely strong that even in the central headquarters of this church territory, protected by immense holy power, the demonic energy didn’t subside at all.

‘Such terrible demonic energy…! It’s unthinkable for a mere demon…!’

Arczel IV frowned.

Yona had seemed like quite a devout clergyperson when he had met her privately before.

As Elder Ceres had boasted, she seemed sufficient in her role as a “vessel,” and until now, she had undoubtedly been fulfilling that role very— very sufficiently.

But the instinct flowing through his body as a clergyman was ringing alarm bells that something was going wrong.

This is too much. Far too much. Excessively too much. This level of demonic energy—

‘Is this really just a mere demon? Can it really become like this just from Berbaria dwelling within…?’

As Ceres had said, he understood that Berbaria had dwelled within the body of the nun named Yona.

And he understood and agreed with the plan to unite the consciousness of the Celestine Church once again under the grand cause of a demon’s descent.

The Celestial God exists but has not descended for a long time.

Although it’s said that He appointed Rudvik as the Hero with His voice and appeared before Bigrind to appoint her as the Saint, that was all.

It had been far too long since He had bestowed blessings upon humans like now, since the distant past when He defeated the False Celestial God and set right the discipline of the Celestine Church.

Therefore, the branches were eyeing the power of the Celestine Church itself, and furthermore, they were aiming for hegemony over the Kapatia Pan-Human Empire. On top of that, with the Katus Beast-Human Empire also aiming for the unification of this continent, the external threats couldn’t be ignored either.

The plan to turn a blind eye to summoning a demon, use a suitable clergyperson— preferably a common healer instead of a precious priest— as a vessel for the summoning, and use that as a public enemy to raise crisis awareness in the Celestine Church had just begun.

But Arczel IV couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was being twisted.

By now, Berbaria should have descended using that nun, who should be merely a vessel, but Berbaria didn’t appear at all.

“Give him back, give him back, give him back, give him back, give Alec back———!!!”

Every time Yona screamed, demonic energy burst forth.

“Yona, stop it!”

The demonic energy bursting in all directions collided with golden radiance, and its explosive momentum subsided.

The blessing of the Celestial God emitted by Bigrind, who had rushed forward at some point, was blocking Yona’s demonic energy.

“Stop it… stop it, Yona. Don’t commit any more sins against the Celestial God…”

Bigrind’s voice was heavily suppressed.

With just the small thought remaining in a corner of her heart that Yona must have had some circumstances, Bigrind tried to understand Yona.

Wanting to somehow understand Yona who had ultimately become an apostate, thinking that if not her, no one else would understand Yona, Bigrind began to gradually suppress Yona’s demonic energy while deploying the Celestial God’s blessing.

“Bigrind, no, Big.”

Yona’s dull orange gaze turned to Bigrind.

Bigrind, with crosses standing in her pupils, also faced Yona.

“I don’t understand why you say I’m committing sins.”

“But Yona, you look so tormented right now. Don’t be like this. We might be able to resolve this through dialogue, you know.”

Most problems occur due to a lack of communication.

Just one word, just 5 minutes of conversation could solve misunderstandings that become tangled and twisted, evolving into problems.

That’s why Bigrind didn’t give up.

Maybe she didn’t want to give up—

At least, the current Yona was still maintaining a human mind.

If they could talk, maybe.

“Dialogue, yes, dialogue sounds good. Big, dialogue, I like it. But what did you do to Alec when he asked for dialogue?”

“That’s—”

Bigrind was at a loss for words at Yona’s statement.

Alec had clearly asked for a chance to explain.

But the Celestine Church didn’t accept that.

Thus, Alec was arrested, and Yona became like this.

“But, but… Yona, you’re suffering too, now. So, so… let’s talk. Okay?”

Bigrind’s voice became increasingly desperate.

Because Yona wasn’t the kind of friend who would become like this.

The Yona that Bigrind knew wasn’t the kind of friend who would apostatize so easily.

“I’m not suffering at all. I don’t feel anything. I just need to get Alec back. That’s enough.”

“What?”

A faint smile appeared on Yona’s face.

But that smile had no friendliness at all, rather it was full of clear derision.

“You all are the ones who did wrong. You all did wrong, so why should I suffer? I rather feel refreshed. I feel so refreshed that I don’t need anything else if I just get Alec back. Now that it’s come to this, I even wonder why I didn’t do this sooner. So. I’m not suffering at all. You who did wrong should start suffering now. Right?”

The wrongdoers should suffer.

Yona was claiming that she was rather the victim.

So, she’s not suffering. It’s right that you who did wrong should suffer—

And that logic was indeed valid.

“Why didn’t you listen when Alec asked you to hear him out? If you had just listened then, it would have been fine. I didn’t want to become like this. You didn’t listen to us. You rushed to kill us. And now you’re asking me to listen to you?”

Yona smiled brightly.

This time, it was a fresh smile as if it was really funny.

“Don’t you think it’s too selfish? If you had just listened to us, it wouldn’t have come to this. So you’re the ones who did wrong. Hero, Saint, Pope! If you hadn’t spouted nonsense like ‘It’s a demon, we must kill those bastards right now—!’, if you had just listened to us, it wouldn’t have come to this.”

And then Yona took a deep breath.

Raising her slightly lowered head again, Yona looked utterly refreshed.

“It’s already too late. It’s too late for you to regret, and it’s too late to obsess over me now saying ‘Yona, Yona’. I have nothing to suffer about. It’s all your share, that.”

“So, give Alec back. That’s all. Just give Alec back, that’s all. For me— the most important.”

“And, the most—”

“Precious, Alec, give him back.”

Yona muttered as if reciting a judgment in a broken voice.

“If you won’t give him back, I’ll take him back by force.”

The tattoo drawn on Yona’s left arm began to fade gradually.