Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Then, the leader of the paladin smiled softly as he stepped through the narrow doorway into the dungeon. Min-ha glanced warily at him as he walked toward her with slow steps.

“…I don’t know how you’re trying to convince me, but if you do anything dangerous, I’m going to—”

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of doing anything bad to you as long as you quietly write a confession.”

“…Do you think I’m going to write it? Besides, I don’t know how to write in the first place.”

“Then it doesn’t matter if it’s dictated. I’ll write it down, and you’ll just have to sign that it’s true. I don’t suppose you don’t know how to sign, do you?”

“What if I can’t even do that?”

“Well… then how about this?”

At those words, Min-ha fled to a corner of the prison to escape the man who kept closing the distance between them.

Seeing that, he laughed as if he was having fun and immediately closed the distance between them. Then, he grabbed her shoulders in a tight, restraining grip.

“….!”

Min-ha, who was suddenly half-trapped in his arms, was so surprised that she couldn’t even scream.

‘…What am I going to do? How am I going to get out of here?’

She was trembling with fear that something might happen to her like this.

“You don’t have to be afraid, Duchess.”

“….!”

“I want you to listen to what I’m about to say from now on, and if you understand, just nod your head.”

“….”

“I’ll use the Duchess’s excuse of ‘not being able to write the imperial language’ as an excuse to write your confession with my own hand—one for the Pope and one for the Duke of Persen.”

“….!”

“So, at the end, please say what the Duchess wants to convey in a format that they won’t be able to understand. Then, I’ll write it down and deliver it to Duke Persen.”

Min-ha gazed up at him in surprise at the words he poured out quickly as he half-confined her in his arms. Could he be a knight of the Persen family? Still, no matter how much she searched for her memory, she could not remember seeing him.

…Perhaps, this could have been another trap.

Opening her mouth, she asked in a small voice trembling with fear and anticipation.

“Wh-who are you? Who could you be…”

“Please take a good look at my face, Duchess. Don’t you recognize someone?”

“…Yes?”

At her question, he smiled kindly and pointed to his face.

‘…What is he talking about?’

Min-ha grimaced, but as he said, she carefully examined his face. Looking at him like this, it was true that he seemed to resemble someone. As she stared at him with a groan, a face and a name soon flashed through her mind.

She took a sharp breath and said.

“Lanc—!”

“Shh.”

‘He looks like Sir Lancelot!’

Now that she thought about it, she heard that one of Lancelot’s cousins ​​served as a paladin? However, her words were cut off by him, who placed his forefinger over her mouth and pulled away from her slightly.

At that moment, the paladin who was waiting for them outside the cage banged on the cage and shouted.

“What on earth are you talking about at such length with a witch, Captain Gallahed!”

Whether it was because the conversation between the two had been prolonged or because the distance between them was too close, but the paladins outside the cell urged with voices that seemed suspicious of the actions of the man they called ‘Gallahed.’

When Min-ha stared at Gallahed with a bewildered look, he spoke to her in a voice that was barely audible.

“I apologize, Duchess. I’ll apologize later for the rudeness I may commit from now on.”

“…Yes?”

All of a sudden, he shoved her shoulder, which he had been holding lightly, hard and glared at her with a fierce expression that was completely different from the one he’d had a moment before letting out a harsh curse.

“D*mn it! I’m sorry, Sir Lucas. It seemed that the witch fainted for a moment, so I was a little taken aback.”

“…Yes? Is there something wrong with the witch?”

“No, that’s not it. She wouldn’t listen to me, so I scared him a bit and she pretended to faint. As you can see, she’s fine.”

Gallahed glared at Min-ha, who had collapsed on the floor, and continued to sarcastically. It was a cold attitude that made her wonder if the friendly look she had just a moment ago was an illusion. It was such an extent that no one would doubt the conversation that had passed between the two of them.

‘You’re quite the actor, Sir Gallahed.’

Rubbing her shoulder, which didn’t hurt at all, Min-ha tried to suppress the feeling that the corners of her mouth would rise without her even realizing it. She then deliberately shouted and scowled at Gallahed with a venomous glare.

“I want to ask that to you as well. If you think what I said a moment ago was mere bluster, you are sorely mistaken.”

“Not at all!”

“If you understand, it’s time to stop talking nonsense and confess quietly.”

“….”

“Come on. There is no ‘time’.”

Min-ha focused on the word ‘time’ emphasized in Gallahed’s cold reply and bit her lower lip.

‘…Yes, Sir Gallahed is right. We’re running out of time.’

The witch trials would be decided tomorrow, which meant they only had a little over half a day left. Somehow, she had to let Seth know what she had just found out before then in a way that people on Rupert’s side wouldn’t notice.

Min-ha hurriedly racked her head and chose a sentence.

‘This may seem like a confession, but I want to make sure there isn’t a possibility of a problem later. And, to ensure that the secret I wish to share reaches Seth.’

After thinking about it for a while, she soon picked out a plausible sentence in her head and gazed at Gallahed.

“…Alright, I’ll confess.”

“Good idea. Sir Wiles, could you bring me the parchment and quill over there?”

“Yes, Captain.”

As if waiting for her answer, Gallahed gestured to the other paladin behind him. Then, Wiles, the plain-looking paladin who had hassled Gallahed earlier, entered the cell, picked up the parchment and quill that had fallen on the floor, and handed them to him.

Receiving it, Gallahed knelt down on his left knee before placing the parchment on top of it while holding the quill in his right hand.

“Now, I’m ready to transcribe your confession. Are you ready to tell me everything?”

“…Of course.”

“Then, let’s begin.”

At his urging, Min-ha once again chose a sentence in her head and spoke as if reading it clearly.

“…Since you’re threatening me so much to admit my guilt, I have no choice but to admit it but know that it’s not over yet. When what I left behind on the third floor at the entrance to the passageway that led to the ‘Duchess’ secret love affair is revealed to the world.”

After barely spitting out the sentence she’d managed to concoct after a moment’s thought, Min-ha let out a long sigh.

Even though she wished she could have come up with a more explicit statement of her intent, in my wisdom, this was the best she could do.

‘…I wonder if it was communicated well?’

Min-ha gazed nervously at Gallahed, who was silently scribbling down his words, word for word.

After staring at him for a while, Gallahed, who had only completed one letter of writing, gave her a kind glance. Then, as if he had never done that before, he put on a cold expression and deliberately tapped the letter on his lap sarcastically.

“Is this what you call a confession?”

“Since I admitted my guilt, a confession is a confession.”

“Although I can feel your strong intention to deflect the situation somehow, well, as you said, if you say this is a confession, it must be a confession..”

“….”

“Now then, sign this part.”

Min-ha scribbled a sign at the bottom of the paper where he was pointing to.

‘…Huh?’

Then, noticing that the paper Gallahed had held out to her was too thick for only one sheet, she glanced at him.

With a slight upturn of his lips, Gallahed folded the parchment she’d just finished signing. Then, pretending to put the quill he was holding into a pocket on his uniform, he pushed another sheet of paper beneath the confession into his arms.

As her eyes widened in surprise at his quick movements, he stood up, making sure that her face wasn’t visible to the other paladins in the process before exiting the cell with the same swiftness as he had entered.

Afterward, Gallahed, who closed the cell door that was open, held out the confession he was holding to Lucas and spoke.

“Now, here’s the witch’s confession.”

“You worked hard, Captain.”

“How can you say hard work with just this much?”

“She didn’t even pretend to listen to me when she was scared. As expected of the Captain.”

After checking the confession, Gallahed, who impressed the two paladins as they were showering him with praise, turned away from them.

“Enough of the courtesies. Unlike you guys, I still have a lot of work to do, and I don’t have time for leisurely chatter.”

“Ah… we’re sorry, Captain!”

“And, once the confirmation is complete, give the confession to me. I’ll deliver it to the Pope myself.”

“Ye-yes! Here you go, Captain! Sorry for the delay!”

“Thank you. I’ll leave now, then.”

“Yes, Captain.”

With those words, Gallahed and the other two paladins walked toward the hallway leading out of the cell.

Min-ha quickly moved closer to the cell and followed them with her eyes as they moved further away. She wondered if he might send her a signal one last time, but perhaps it was because there were other people nearby, Gallahed didn’t give her any indication.

“…Ha.”

As Gallahed and the paladins left, the cell where she was imprisoned became quiet again.

Letting out a long sigh, she climbed back into the worn wooden hammock, curling up in a ball. She hadn’t noticed it a moment ago, but now that she was alone again, strange thoughts began to swirl through her head.

…Would the words she wanted to convey safely reach Seth?

…What if Seth didn’t understand the meaning of the last sentence?

…No, what if Sir Gallahed was a traitor in the first place and took that letter somewhere else?

…What if, in fact, it was all really just a dream, and there wasn’t actually a secret book hiding in the bedroom of the annex?

As she shook her head, Min-ha muttered to herself, trying to shake off the negative thoughts swirling in her head.

“…No, I have to believe. Let’s think it’s all going to work out.”

‘…Yes, I have nothing to lose anyway.’

The worst-case scenario would be nothing more than death.

Regardless, she had done everything she could for now. So, all she had to do now was trust the people who loved her and wait for the outcome of her actions.

‘…Yes. Let’s not be so negative. It’s what my parents used to say, it’s a natural consequence.’

Closing her eyes and lying still on the worn hammock, Min-ha tried to fill her heart with hope.

__

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know via our discord so we can fix it as soon as possible.