episode_0053

053 – Pious Hyde and Mad Women #3

It was difficult to study nerves and the mind in the Middle Ages.

Tourette syndrome, which causes tics, began to be discussed in the 19th century.

In this world where there is still no decent artillery, Tourette Syndrome may have felt like the work of a devil or a ghost.

“Sex! Chase!”

Pink-haired girl Lucy Emma.

She was spewing out vulgar words that did not match her sophisticated appearance.

When the nuns saw this, they trembled and said, “You’re possessed by a ghost!”, and made the sign of the cross on their bodies.

Could this be the work of a ghost?

I thought no.

“It’s just something wrong with my brain. If I were to compare it, it’s like a hiccup. Once you start having hiccups, you can’t stand them anymore and they come out as you please, right?”

Tourette Syndrome was simply a series of permanent mental hiccups. However, Mother Superior Midnar held the whip in her hand as if she understood my words differently.

“Hiccupping is also the work of devils and ghosts?”

no.

Please don’t attribute anything to the devil.

In their long lives, pastors were bound to encounter a ‘demon-possessed person’ at least once.

In times like these, a pastor must have the discernment to distinguish between a person suffering from a ‘mental problem’ and a person ‘who is truly possessed by a demon.’

Fortunately, I, who was more pious and intelligent than anyone else, had such discernment, but the nuns on this stone island did not seem to have that luxury.

“Sex! Mating! Hmm… .”

It’s a terrible sight.

I can’t believe how someone can say something like that so casually.

But the one who suffers the most is probably the person involved.

Zech─.

Then someone grabbed my arm.

It was Psyche.

“Don’t you feel so sorry for Miss Lucy? Hyde, according to what you said, you have to force yourself to say something like that even if you don’t want to… ! It’s a complete trampling of dignity… !”

It actually did.

Among the sisters in my orphanage, there was a sister with Tourette Syndrome. She had a very pretty face and a kind personality.

However, I remember having a hard time because the symptoms of the disease were severe and I was under a lot of stress.

I remember how difficult it was to improve Tourette’s even with modern medicine in the 21st century, so I quietly thought about what I could do in the future.

Then Milione spoke.

“This is a curse! The curse of Rust! The terrible and vicious Sinister Rust sacrificed Lucy Emma in order to spread the evil spirit of obscenity in this convent!”

Milione you crazy bitch!

This time I’m really innocent!

However, this story was so plausible that the nuns who were watching this scene trembled and were scared.

“Curse of Rust?”

“… They say he’s an incredibly terrible man.”

Did Rust’s notoriety spread to this convent that had little interaction with the world? Soon, Mother Superior Midnar asked Milione.

“Who is Rust?”

“You don’t know Rust? Name the most famous man in the United Kingdom these days? What is the name of the man who murdered Archbishop Coramdeo and burned the basilica? It was Rust who raped Milione!”

When did I murder Archbishop Coramdeo?

It wasn’t me who burned down the Great Sanctuary.

And I never raped Milione!

It’s going to turn.

Still, this story seemed to have had a great impact on Sister Midnar. She furrowed her strict and stubborn eyebrows and muttered to herself, “I can’t believe there are all such men─.”.

Dang, dang, dang—.

Then someone rang the bell.

Abbess Midnar and the nuns heard this sound and started heading somewhere, but the sudden footsteps made me quite embarrassed.

I asked Psyche.

“Where are you going?”

“It is silent meditation time from 5 to 6 p.m. No one is allowed to speak in this convent for the next hour.”

Is it silent practice?

The nuns entered the large chapel.

It was a chapel that seemed to have been carved out of a large rock on this stone island, and the atmosphere was very solemn, dark and eerie, and there was a place that overwhelmed the audience.

The nuns now knelt on the stone floor, put their hands together, and began to pray.

Sze-.

Psyche kneels next to me.

Milione said something like “boring.” about this situation, but the other women noticed with sharp eyes that she kept her mouth shut.

“Fuck!”

But there was a problem.

The words created by Miss Lucy Emma had spread to such an extent that it was obvious over the silence in this chapel.

Can’t we take Lucy somewhere else?

That’s what I thought, but Psyche wrote on my palm.

“It’s a prayer time where everyone must participate, so I can’t leave Miss Lucy alone.”

I see.

It was a time of prayer that deepened my worries in many ways.

# # #

After an hour of prayer, we had dinner.

There is a large restaurant, but since I am a man, I had to eat alone in my room, and my lovely wife, Psyche Agarpe, brought the food for me.

Bread and soup.

It’s a very simple meal.

I asked as I accepted the food tray.

“I guess the reason His Holiness Gregory sent me to this stone island was because of Miss Lucy Emma. Psyche, do you know anything about Miss Lucy?”

Tourette’s can also be hereditary.

Knowing your family history and living environment may be helpful in providing basic treatment.

In response to my question, Psyche made a snoring sound as if she was lost in thought and said.

“Miss Lucy is said to have lived on this stone island since she was born. He must have been an orphan who was abandoned at a young age. Because there were so many wars in the kingdom.”

I see.

There were clues in many ways.

A complete cure is impossible, but symptoms may be improved.

“Psyche, I think we need to get Miss Lucy off this island.”

“Yes? Are you taking me out?”

“The symptoms and severity of brain disease are closely related to psychological state. The closed and strict environment of this island is really driving Miss Lucy Emma crazy.”

Living on a stone island from birth until death, being treated like a person possessed by a ghost due to an unwanted syndrome, and even being whipped.

If a life like that were to be lived, even a sane person would go crazy.

The only person I know who could endure such asceticism was I, Hyde, a perfect ascetic.

I could really endure it, but it would be harsh on Lucy, who is now only 18 years old.

However, Psyche trembled.

“My teacher would never allow it, right? Miss Lucy warned the nuns that they should never go to the mainland!”

“You must never go out? Why? Is there a reason?”

“I don’t know about that, but─.”

smart-.

Then someone knocked on the door of my room.

Soon the door swung open, and a woman with serious burn scars on her face came out and spoke to Psyche.

“Psyche, this lewd thing… ! Don’t you know that on this “Stone Island” it is forbidden to talk to men after 6 PM…? !? I guess I should get whipped… ! There are 5… !”

“Ah, Sister Anemone… !”

It was forbidden to talk to men after 6pm.

Anemone, the woman with a burnt face, was probably a powerful figure in this convent.

Is it a role like a military squad leader?

Soon she grabbed Psyche by the neck and led her somewhere, muttering loudly.

“This island is no place for a man! It would be best to just go away!”

You shouldn’t talk to men.

Is it okay to mutter to yourself like that?

There are some really absurd rules.

I am now alone.

Since I had nothing to do in a windowless room, I just prayed and slept.

And the problem arose in the morning.

“Aaagh!”

The woman’s scream was something that really caught people’s attention. Startled by the screams, I woke up and immediately saw a terrible sight.

“Sex is the meeting of a cock and a pussy.”

Someone had written the above words in red letters in the convent garden! blood? The fishy smell was like blood.

Looking at it hardening, it looks like it happened early in the morning.

“Lucy! Four years! Doing something like this!”

Anemone, the head of the convent’s military base, was very angry. Lucy, who was looking at this scene, “Me, not me! I shook my head vigorously, saying, “I didn’t do it!”,” but no one seemed to believe me.

I believed Miss Lucy.

“This is not what Miss Lucy did. Milione did it!”

The only person who would do something crazy like this is Milione.

But Milione stopped yawning and looked at me with an absurd expression.

“Not me either? But it’s fun starting in the morning. Since when did this Grande Convent become such an interesting place?”

Milione’s mouth twitches as if he’s really having fun.

It didn’t seem like it was his fault.

So who does this?

Soon Abbess Midnar spoke.

“Put Lucy in solitary confinement!”

“Whoa, director! I really didn’t! I really didn’t! I hate solitary confinement! Heehee! I really didn’t! Heee—! Not me! I rather saw it! I saw the criminal! Last night… !”

Lucy Emma struggled wildly as if she didn’t like being in solitary confinement. But the nuns dragged Lucy Emma away and all that was left was silence.

Zech─.

Abbess Midnar held her forehead.

“The same goes for “Devil Island” that was discovered yesterday. After you arrived, problems suddenly began to arise in this convent.”

The gray eyes that said that looked at me.

It was as if you were actually the culprit of all these incidents.

Of course, I was not guilty in this case.

However, I felt like I knew what kind of place this Grande Convent was.

There is also a loach hiding there.

“Abbess, it seems that there are heretics in this convent. From now on, everyone is a suspect except me, Hyde, the most pious priest of all, and my wife Psyche.”

There is a culprit in here.

However, Milione frowned.

“I was locked in my room all day yesterday to train, so why aren’t you taking me out as a suspect?”

Why are you excluded!

It’s probably more than 70% your fault!

Of course, I didn’t forget the 30 percent chance.

“Miss Lucy said earlier that she saw the criminal, right? I’ll have to listen to what you have to say. Where is the solitary confinement?”

Sze-.

I tried to go to where Lucy was trapped.

Looking at me like that, Midnar said mockingly.

“Lucy, most of the things that child says out loud are nonsense and are like hiccups that she talks about without memory. Okay, hiccups. Nice expression. What would you ask a guy like that?”

“It’s the truth.”

Sze-.

I headed to the cell where Lucy Emma was held.

I could hear a whimpering sound coming from inside, and it was very pitiful.

smart-.

I asked after knocking on the door.

“I am Priest Hyde. Miss Lucy Emma, you said you saw the criminal, right? Could you explain the situation in detail? If we find the culprit quickly, we may be able to release Miss Lucy from solitary confinement.”

That’s when I asked that.

The whimpering noise became more frequent and I felt someone standing in front of the iron door.

“I always walk along the beach on full moon nights… ! Although lights out time has passed, the lights of Veneto are clearly visible across the sea on full moon nights… Without the director or other nuns knowing… .”

“I see.”

“But when I was about to go back, I saw someone doing something on the wall! At that time, I didn’t know if I was writing, but… That person must be… That person… .”

“Are you by any chance Sister Anemone?”

“I couldn’t see the face, but I could smell it. The smell of the burn medicine ointment that Sister Anemone always applies… !”

The voice coming from behind the iron bars contained extreme surprise.

How did you get it right? It looks like he’s wondering.

Military base anemone.

People like her who strictly recite laws and rules and say things to others are often the worst people.

Yesterday she whipped the blameless and spotless Psyche five times.

Already guilty.

So now the judge… Should I do it?

“This is the medicine! Take a sniff!”

Sze-.

The hand reaching out outside the cage felt particularly white.