Seongguk – Lucas

body {
font-family: Georgia, serif;
line-height: 1.6;
max-width: 800px;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 20px;
}
h1 {
color: #333;
border-bottom: 2px solid #ddd;
padding-bottom: 10px;
}
p {
margin-bottom: 1em;
text-align: justify;
}

“It’s nothing much. I’m just curious about the truth.”

“The… truth?”

“Yes.”

Lena looked dumbfounded at Lucas nodding.

‘Well, she probably never dreamed I’d come looking for her like this.’

Not only did he show up out of the blue, but he was also talking about the truth, so this reaction was to be expected.

Lucas himself never imagined he would go to the person who conspired with the Demons and heal her.

“It might sound absurd, but I have a lot of questions.”

Lucas took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped Lena’s face.

-Swish, swish.

But the blood and semen didn’t come off easily. It had been quite a while, and the fluids had dried on her skin.

‘They must have really enjoyed themselves with their first woman in a long time.’

Still, as Lucas wiped as much as he could, Lena’s face became somewhat cleaner.

“I think this is enough for now. You understand that I can’t release you from the Stocks, right? I need to have at least some safety measures in place. I heard you tried to escape.”

“…Thank you. Does wanting to hear the truth mean you’re willing to believe me? But my current condition… Huh?”

Lena wiggled her hands while still bound in the Stocks, as if she had noticed the change in her body.

“My strength has returned. The foreign sensation down there is gone too… Could it be that you healed me?”

“Yes. You wouldn’t have been able to answer properly in your previous state. And my name isn’t ‘you,’ it’s ‘Lucas.’”

It was funny to be called ‘you’ all the time.

Lucas figured it was okay to at least tell her his name, now that things had come to this.

“Lucas. So you’re Inquisitor Lucas.”

Lena savored Lucas’s name. Then, she suddenly started shedding tears like raindrops.

“Hic… Hwaaaah!”

“A-are you crying?”

“Hic…. Thank you, really, thank you. I was giving up because everyone had abandoned me.”

This is embarrassing. To be thanked and cried to by someone he had tortured, no matter what.

Feeling awkward, Lucas scratched his head.

“I appreciate you being touched, but now isn’t the time to waste time crying.”

“But hic….”

“Haa…. Do you just want me to leave?”

“Hic?! D-don’t go!”

Lena’s eyes widened at Lucas’s words, and she tried to stop crying.

A moment later, Lena sniffled and opened her mouth.

“Hic…. Even if you ask me to explain, I’ll say the same thing as before, right? As you know, I’m accused of assassinating the Pope and conspiring with the Demons. But I was framed. Of course, no matter how much I explain, I’m completely branded as a traitor and have become a human… toilet, as you can see.”

“Ha. I was half-expecting it, but….”

Lucas’s head ached as his suspicions were increasingly confirmed.

Not a Demon or a Black Wizard.

But the leader of the Holy Kingdom, His Holiness the Pope, used an Artifact to frame a member of the Hero Party.

It was an absurd claim no matter how he thought about it… but the really important part was something else.

Lena was still claiming her innocence ‘even now.’

“I remember what you said during the last interrogation. His Holiness the Pope put a spell on you to frame you and get rid of you. Is that right?”

“Yes. I understand if you say you can’t believe it. I couldn’t imagine that the Pope, of all people, would do such a heinous thing. But that’s the truth.”

“Yes. No matter how much I tortured you, you kept insisting on that. But why did you do that back then?”

“Pardon? Back then….”

“What happened with The Hero. I’m sorry to The Hero, but I was so curious that I eavesdropped on the room. At that time, unlike in front of me, you readily confessed your sins to The Hero.”

This was why Lucas had come to see Lena in person.

When Lucas interrogated Lena a few days ago, he was briefly shaken by the resolute look in her eyes.

His intuition was telling him that Lena’s claims were all true.

But after meeting the Pope, he quickly shook off those thoughts.

This was because Lucas had great loyalty and faith in His Holiness the Pope.

But an incident occurred that shook even that faith.

**

The incident happened when Lena and Jade met again after the attempted assassination of the Pope.

Lucas, who was guarding the door outside, was eavesdropping on their conversation.

He couldn’t resist the curiosity of seeing what kind of attitude Lena would show.

‘She’ll probably claim she’s innocent to The Hero too.’

Her audacity was admirable.

But Lena’s answer to Jade’s question broke Lucas’s expectations.

-Lena. Maybe I—

-That’s right.

-What?

-I conspired with the Demons.

…Did I hear wrong? She’s admitting it so readily?

Lucas barely suppressed the urge to burst into the room.

‘She asked me to believe her so desperately, and now….’

He wanted to demand right away if Lena had deceived him.

This was also a matter of pride for Lucas, who was proud of his interrogation skills.

“Haa….”

Lucas closed his eyes and calmed his mind, reviewing the situation.

‘What’s going on?’

Something’s strange.

No matter how much Lucas tortured her, she insisted that he believe her.

She looked like a Saintess sacrificing herself for the world.

For someone like that to change her attitude in an instant…

There had to be a huge catalyst, an event or change of heart that could have caused it.

‘The only person who talked to Lena after my interrogation was… His Holiness the Pope.’

What method did he use to change Lena’s mind?

His Holiness the Pope is a great and respectable person, but…

Lena seemed like the kind of person who would claim to be innocent even if it meant death.

Among the people he had interrogated so far, none had shown that much will.

Lucas pondered for a moment about the means the Pope might have used.

Persuasion? Threat?

What is it?

At that moment, Lena’s words flashed through Lucas’s mind.

-That’s because the Pope used an Artifact on me to manipulate me. With that power, he forced me to attack the Pope. Please believe me. Why would I try to assassinate the Pope…

Brainwashing using an Artifact.

A heinous method that can control a person’s mind at will.

With this, it was possible to force Lena to confess.

‘Then His Holiness the Pope really framed her…?’

-Slap!

“Have I gone crazy since interrogating that Sinner? To doubt His Holiness the Pope, of all people.”

Should I ask for a vacation for a while?

Lucas, who had slapped himself to come to his senses, sighed and began to peek into the room again.

And he soon witnessed a shocking sight.

-I’m sorry.

-What?

-Stab!

Lena stabbed Jade with a sword.

Lucas rushed into the room at the sudden event.

-Bang!

“A-are you alright? The Sinner just stabbed The Hero with a sword….”

In the face of the urgent situation, all the worries he had been having naturally flew away.

But the seed of doubt that had sprouted once did not disappear and remained in one corner of Lucas’s mind.

**

At that time, the matter was concluded with Lena confessing all her sins to Jade.

It was a shocking conclusion that a Demon spy had infiltrated the Hero Party.

But Lucas couldn’t get rid of the strange feeling of unease he felt.

‘It’s a little strange for it to end like this….’

In the end, the method Lucas chose was to go to Lena.

He judged that it would be better to just confirm with the person involved than to worry about useless things alone.

If Lena admitted to conspiring with the Demons, it would be simple.

He could conclude that Lena had deceived him during the interrogation process.

Of course, Lucas would have to reflect on the parts where he was arrogant and conceited about the interrogation.

The problem was if Lena claimed innocence.

Then things got weird.

That’s why Lucas had been praying that it would be the former, but reality was different from his expectations.

Lena was still saying that she had been brainwashed.

“If you were lying to me during the interrogation, you should be claiming to have conspired with the Demons to me even now. But you didn’t. Explain this situation.”

She said it was a frame-up in front of him,

She admitted that she was a spy in front of The Hero,

And now she says it’s a frame-up again.

If Lena was really conspiring with the Demons… it was impossible.

At Lucas’s question, Lena suddenly started laughing.

“Hehe, finally….”

“Finally?”

“Finally, the Pope made a small mistake.”

The light had returned to Lena’s dead eyes.

“You’re right about what you’re expecting, Inquisitor Lucas. When the Pope came to me after you left during the interrogation, I was thoroughly brainwashed with the Artifact. I tried to resist, but eventually failed and became the Pope’s puppet. But the Pope never thought that you, who met me, would doubt this situation!”

“I really don’t want to admit it, but… if what you’re saying is true, it explains everything.”

Even to Lucas, it was a reasonable judgment to say that Lena was telling the truth, given the circumstances.

“That’s right. I was innocent!”

“No. I don’t trust everything you say yet….”

“You still don’t believe me in this situation? You’re not that stupid, are you, Lucas?”

“…”

She seems excited for some reason.

Lucas was taken aback by Lena’s reaction.

It was hard to believe that she was the same woman who had been gang-raped by men until recently.

“For now, I’ll believe you to some extent, so calm down. So what are you going to do now?”

“Uh….”

“To be honest, I don’t know what to do either. I can’t go to His Holiness the Pope and argue. If His Holiness the Pope really did something wrong like brainwashing, that wouldn’t be a good choice.”

“…I guess so.”

The lively appearance from a moment ago was gone, and Lena suddenly became sullen.

“The current situation is the worst. I can’t move as I please, and I’ll have to go through a lot of hardships in the future.”

“I said I’d believe you… you’re not giving up already, are you?”

“The root of all evil is the Pope, but this is also my fault. My foolish judgment caused great pain to Jade. I’m not sure if he’ll believe me even if I meet him and explain now. In Jade’s eyes, I’m a woman who betrayed his love and trust and played with him.”

Am I too late?

In Lucas’s eyes, Lena’s will seemed to have been greatly weakened.

In fact, even if he, an ordinary Inquisitor, helped Lena, it was difficult to expect the situation to change.

Lucas understood that Lena was trying to give up here.

“If it was really a frame-up, the fact that I tortured you is an unforgivable mistake. If you want, I’ll take responsibility and help you escape from here. Not everyone knows your face, so if you launder your identity, you can start a new life.”

“No. There’s no need for that.”

Lena raised her head and met Lucas’s eyes.

“I have no intention of giving up like this.”

“Ha, ha….”

Lucas let out a hollow laugh.

Those eyes.

That’s what had been shaking his heart from the beginning.

A will not to give up in the face of any hardship.

A mind to pursue justice at the risk of one’s life.

Looking at Lena’s eyes, which contained all of that, there was only one word that came to his mind.

‘Hero.’

The eyes that The Hero, who sacrificed everything to save humanity, would have had.

“I even think you might be The Hero. The Hero met a good woman.”

“Hehe, thank you for the compliment. Then you’ll help me, right? Of course, I understand if you say you won’t. This isn’t a simple matter.”

Lucas knew that helping Lena could put him in danger as well.

Like Lena, he might suffer or lose his life.

Opposing the leader of the Holy Kingdom was like that.

But Lucas is an Inquisitor of the Holy Kingdom.

Humanity. Truth. Justice.

That’s why he became an Inquisitor.

That’s why he was always ready to risk his life for justice.

“I’ll help you. I’ll risk my life.”