The Cardinal Is Troubled

Wentos County.

A northern territory where chilly air stings the skin even as the royal capital is warming up.

The Wentos Count family rules over this land with abundant resources but treacherous terrain and climate, teeming with powerful magical beasts.

Currently, the family is supported by the current head, Killian Wentos, and his wife, Sylvia Wentos.

Among them, Countess Sylvia focused on administrative processing and various social activities that Count Killian couldn’t manage.

And behind the scenes, she also oversaw the family’s private affairs.

The Count family’s botanical garden.

It was a facility built at great expense by Count Wentos so that his wife, who loved cultivating various plants, could freely grow them even in this cold northern region.

Countess Sylvia spent almost all her time in the botanical garden except during meal times, bedtime, and when helping the Count with his work.

And today as well, she was sitting at a table in the botanical garden, drinking tea.

The Countess was thinking about her eldest son, who would be studying in the royal capital now.

Kyo Wentos, the first child born between Killian and herself.

When he was young, he didn’t listen well and always went out to play, which worried her quite a bit.

But after his fiancée was determined and they met once, he changed as if he were a different person, diligently putting effort into both martial arts and magic.

Although it ended not so well with his fiancée, Liliana, he had already met a new girl and was continuing to make efforts.

Countess Sylvia suddenly thought about when she first met her husband.

Sylvia Illin Palaginya, as she was called then, met her husband Killian Wentos at none other than Gransen Academy.

At that time, Killian Wentos was a student who was quite strong and used that strength to control those around him—in vulgar terms, a kind of thug.

Then one day, at the end-of-term party, Killian, who was in a different class, met Sylvia and fell for her at first sight.

Killian courted her, but Sylvia, who strongly disliked people who relied solely on strength and acted arrogantly, properly rejected him.

And from that time on.

Killian formally apologized to the classmates he had been controlling.

He devoted himself to studies he had nearly abandoned, immediately rushed to help anyone in trouble, and acted as if he had become a different person.

When a noble who was Killian’s classmate and friend asked him why, Killian answered proudly:

“Because I want to be loved by Sylvia!”

It was a reason filled with selfishness so blatant it was dignified.

But it was that sincere.

Perhaps that sincerity got through, because in their second year, they occasionally dated and eventually reached engagement and marriage.

Countess Sylvia quietly smiled, thinking that father and son were exactly the same in their willingness to change themselves for the women they fell for.

Her beloved son, who learned martial arts from his father and magic from her, and worked hard.

But that son had been attacked, they said.

So, as soon as that news arrived, Sylvia took action.

A small shadow silently descended before Countess Sylvia.

“I’ve returned from my mission.”

“Good work.”

Countess Sylvia responded without any surprise to the figure that suddenly appeared.

But that was understandable.

The identity of the figure was none other than the Countess’s subordinate.

“So, what were the results?”

“Here they are.”

The figure, whose face was hidden and who appeared to be male? Or perhaps female, slightly raised their left hand, and another figure descended from behind and knelt down.

Then they took something out from their bosom and presented it.

“…As you expected, my lady, these were troops dispatched from the church.”

Countess Sylvia turned her eyes to the four lumps her subordinate had pulled out.

They were none other than human heads.

“Since they were those who dared attempt to kill the young master, I dealt with them at my discretion, but…”

“Yes. That’s fine.”

After saying that, the Countess snapped her fingers.

Sharp wooden stems shot out from the ground and impaled one of the heads placed on the floor.

“Even if you had brought them alive, I would have killed them all myself.”

The subordinates remained silent at her voice, colder than the northern temperature.

Breaking that silence, the Countess spoke.

“…The church has been bothering our territory, but I left them alone because I didn’t particularly want to oppose them.”

“……”

“However, now that they’ve pointed a blade at the Count family, there’s no need to show leniency anymore.”

When the Countess snapped her fingers again, the stem that had skewered the head retreated back into the ground.

Only the sound of the impaled head falling with a thud echoed in that place.

“What shall we do?”

“…First, throw those unsightly heads right in the middle of the Central Church.”

“Understood.”

“They’ll certainly play innocent even if we bring evidence or testimony anyway.”

The Countess smiled slyly.

“Then we’ll just torment them below the surface too.”

From that day on, knights were frequently seen around the academy and dormitories.

At first, the academy students found it strange, but they accepted the explanation that it was because of the recent dormitory intrusion incident and gradually got used to it.

If there was another major change, would it be Allen’s absence?

With Allen suddenly quitting the academy, the group that always followed him… should I call them followers? They fell into confusion.

They even went directly to the principal as a group to demand where Allen had gone.

“Student information is confidential.”

They could only remain silent at those words from the principal.

Funnily enough, the fallout hit me too.

It’s a famous story in our class that Allen and I didn’t get along well after the duel incident.

From ridiculous accusations like:

“You drove Allen away because you were jealous of him, right?!”

To random questions like:

“You know where Allen is, don’t you?!”

Well, I do know about the latter, but I have no reason to tell them, so I dismissed it saying I didn’t know.

As for the former, I retorted asking why on earth would I be jealous of such a guy.

I mean, honestly.

I’m a high-ranking noble, my family is wealthy, and my grades are… well, not bad except for theoretical subjects.

As for my looks… it’s awkward to say myself, but I want to believe I’m on the handsome side.

The only problem is that this world has a pretty high average for good looks, so I fall into the average category.

But why on earth would I be jealous of that commoner who’s poor and only has a handsome face?

…To get back to the story, there were many people who had gone crazy like that.

However, there were also some who had followed Allen but didn’t join in such movements.

First, Aria Owen and Feris Baltreia.

These two knew why Allen had disappeared, and since they had even been attacked by Allen, they didn’t take any action.

No, rather, these days they can often be seen talking with Riel or Emilia.

And surprisingly, Lepia Albaine, who fought me in the second round of the Mushin Festival.

She also didn’t show much reaction to Allen’s disappearance and was just focusing on her studies and training.

I found it a bit surprising for someone who had desperately charged at me because of Allen.

“Kyo!”

After today’s classes ended, while I was organizing my things, Riel, who had been away, came running in with small steps.

With her expression much brighter, she was standing with a smile.

As I shifted my gaze behind her, Emilia, Aria, and Feris were standing there.

It seems she had been talking with them until just now.

As our eyes met, Emilia smiled and waved her hand, while Aria and Feris both shrank back as if frightened.

…What did I do? Why are they acting like that?

“I have somewhere I need to go briefly today, can you come with me?”

“Hmm? Of course I can do that much. Where are you going?”

“Ah~ well…”

Riel made a slightly ambiguous expression.

“My sister sent someone new to be in charge of me… she said they’d arrive today.”

“Ah…”

Originally, Illia, the personal maid in charge of Riel, had quit for some reason, and then my personal maid Phyllis had been covering both me and Riel.

I thought that given the Duke’s family’s situation, they wouldn’t have the capacity to send a new personal maid, but it seems Eve managed somehow.

“I’m not sure what kind of person they are either. The name was written in the letter, but…”

“Really? What was the name?”

“Hmm…well…”

Riel took out a crumpled letter from her pocket and unfolded it.

“The name is Luca Altran…”

“Have you still not found the culprit?!”

The Continental Central Church.

The headquarters of the World Tree Church had been in chaos since morning.

It all started with a female priest who came out to clean in the morning.

As always, she had come out early in the morning to clean the church’s main gate and the wide garden spread out in front of it.

While diligently sweeping the garden, she heard something like the sound of droplets.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

As it hadn’t rained recently, the female priest thought something was strange and moved to find where the sound was coming from.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

And at the place she followed the sound to, there was indeed a scene where droplet sounds could be heard.

Moisture pooled on the floor.

And droplets falling into that moisture.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

The problem was that both the droplets and the moisture were all blood-colored.

And what caught the female priest’s eyes as she raised her gaze following the blood droplets were four human heads.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

That morning, many priests had to wake up quickly due to the female priest’s scream.

Most of the priests just viewed the situation as a grotesque murder case.

But some high-ranking church officials, including the Cardinal, were different.

Because they knew the owners of those heads.

‘I thought it had been a while since the reports stopped… and now this.’

Cardinal Gerald inwardly muttered as he looked at the four heads.

They were members of the covert unit sent to secure the priestess and eliminate the demon.

While most of the covert unit had been killed on the spot, there had been reports that four people had survived.

Then one day the reports suddenly stopped, which he had found strange, but he never expected just their heads to return like this.

‘Who on earth… no, was it really an individual? Could the kingdom’s side have figured everything out?’

Cardinal Gerald frantically racked his brain amidst the confusion.

At that moment, a priest rushed to Gerald.

“Cardinal! I have an urgent report for you!”

Cardinal Gerald looked at him.

He was one of his subordinate priests.

“What is it now?”

With his mind already complicated by the bizarre incident that had just occurred, Cardinal Gerald responded irritably, wondering what else had happened.

“Well… that is…”

“It’s fine, just answer quickly.”

“We… we’ve found Sister Melrot.”

“…And why is that cause for such alarm?”

While Alicia Melrot certainly possessed strong power, she was only annoying and not a substantial threat.

He had felt a bit uneasy when she went missing, but that was all.

So why was this priest reporting so hurriedly as if it were so urgent?

“Well… Sister Melrot was accompanied by a party.”

“And?”

“The identity of her companions seems to be someone from the Ignis family…”

Upon hearing those words, Cardinal Gerald hurriedly left the place.