Chapter 10
A letter out of nowhere? Evangeline was sickly and had no friends, she said. Is there anyone to send one?
"I think the Knight Commander we saw before sent it."
The Knight Commander? What! A letter from our male lead? I hurriedly opened the envelope. The letter's content, written in handwriting as flamboyant as his face, went roughly like this.
Problems arose from the previous Donau incident, so he wanted me to come so he could hear the detailed story. When I explained the letter's contents, Kanna frowned.
"I confessed everything back then, why is he bringing this up now?"
About a week had passed since the Donau kidnapping incident.
Kanna seemed displeased with Gabriel coming late, but I could understand. With the villainess and the female lead together in the Rohanson mansion, the male lead couldn't ignore them even if he wanted to! This world seemed to have something like the original work's force, so even if he didn't want to come, he'd have no choice but to visit, worried something might happen to the female lead by the villainess!
And this situation was predicted on the paper I had organized diligently. The male lead was coming on the premise that I ordered Donau to kidnap Kanna! He was probably investigating such evidence and Evangeline's evil reputation during this time.
So that means I just need to show the male lead here that I'm very close with Kanna. And let's send a strong message that I support your love.
"My Lady, Sir Gabriel has arrived."
The day after I sent a reply welcoming him anytime, the male lead came.
'His action-taking is amazing.'
Thankfully, I had told the butler in advance to guide guests to the reception room. Worried the male lead might wait long, I just roughly combed my hair and went down. If the villainess dressed up properly, he'd probably sneer "Ha! Trying to impress me?" and mock me.
When I entered the reception room, the male lead was leisurely drinking tea. I've never been here either so it's awkward. Rather, the male lead looks comfortable like it's his own home. This is reversing host and guest, man....
I gave a light bow with my eyes and sat across from him. Hena poured tea for me as well.
"It's nice to meet you again."
"Long time no see. Sir Gabriel."
Wow. Seeing him in the light, he looks even more handsome. In my heart, I wanted to gush "I'm happy to see you again too. Your face is still handsome. Mr. Male Lead." but I held back. Let's not make small talk. I shouldn't seem like I'm trying to get close for no reason.
"So. Did some problem arise?"
I showed strong disinterest and sipped my tea.
"If it's about the incident's circumstances, what I said then was everything, and there shouldn't be anything particularly strange."
I know you came to see Kanna! I shouted internally.
Of course, right now Kanna is waiting in her room. She tried to come down together, but Pudding seemed to want to play with Kanna, so I told her to come down when called. Male lead, you should have timed it better with Pudding's walk!
"If you're worried about Kanna's condition, shall I call the child?"
Successfully laying the bait naturally. Wow, where else in the world would you find someone this considerate?
"Ah. The person who was kidnapped back then? She didn't seem to be badly injured."
Hey! Are you really the male lead? What do you mean not badly injured! Every time I saw the wound on Kanna's neck, Hena and I were so depressed.
Originally, I planned to get holy water to treat her, but Kanna said she wanted to leave the wound on her neck as is, so we're leaving it while crying.
"I came because I want to hear Lady Rohanson's opinion."
Me? Right, this is all my fault. Because I stole the male lead and female lead's first meeting. If the male lead had confirmed Kanna being tied up back then, he wouldn't have been this insensitive.
But back then, I didn't even know Kanna was the female lead! There was a kid tied up right in front of my eyes, how could I leave her! I'm not a human scum!
"We haven't been able to process Donau Blue's body yet."
"Not yet?"
According to what I heard from Kanna before, criminal bodies are usually not accepted even by the temple, so they're burned and buried without funeral procedures. In the Sun God's rule, cremation was particularly considered evil, so criminals were mostly cremated.
I remember it well because Kanna made a black joke that Donau would be easy to process since he was already burned.
But then, Donau had no relatives and was a criminal, so wouldn't he be easier to process?
"Yes. Since two days ago, opinions started circulating that Donau Blue should be placed in the cathedral."
Hena's hand trembled as she refilled my teacup. She was biting her lip hard to not show her displeasure, but it seemed she was disgusted by the talk of placing a criminal in the cathedral. Kanna would have been hurt if she heard this story too. Good thing I left her in the room.
"Why did such an opinion come up?"
"Because the death was strange."
"In what way is it strange?"
"Lady Rohanson must have also seen that house that was burning only by itself without spreading."
Wasn't that just an isekai passive construction ability? I was so impressed, saying it should be reverse-imported since the fire didn't spread.... Apparently it was a strange phenomenon in this world too. Not knowing the original work, my lack of common knowledge shows in places like this.
"Not long after the Lady left, before it could be extinguished, the fire went out by itself. And then we discovered Donau's body...."
The male lead took out a paper from his bosom and showed it. Since there are no cameras, it seemed to be drawn instead, but whoever drew it had terrible skills.
"I drew it myself to explain, so please understand even if it looks unimpressive."
I was at a loss for words. He writes so well, so why are his drawing skills this terrible? A kindergartner's drawing would be more decent to look at.
I couldn't bring myself to criticize the male lead saying his drawing skills are at the level of drawing with my toes, so I just smoothed it over with a smile.
"This is the head and here is the body."
A stick figure would have been better. He boldly omitted the limbs. With only a head and body, I couldn't recognize it as a person and thought it was a keyhole.
"And like this, there were burn marks like wings and a halo on the back."
That was wings? I thought they were ear shapes, but looking again, it did look like angel wings rolled up round.
"If you look at it this way, doesn't it look exactly like an angel?"
No.... Looking at your drawing, it just looks like a moth.
"Because of that... those who saw the body started going around saying Donau Blue received God's blessing."
Lies! That makes no sense. Why would Donau receive a blessing? He's a guy who kidnapped our Kanna and then committed suicide to escape properly paying for his crimes.
And what? An angel? In my life of reading romance fantasies, this is the first time seeing not the female lead but some kidnapper being treated as an angel. Why on earth are they calling this moth an angel? Is anything with wings an angel?
Oh right. They didn't say that looking at this, they said it looking at the body. The drawing's impact was so strong I forgot.
But those who saw that would just be the knights, right? Then the male lead as Knight Commander should be able to control them easily. I asked about that point, puzzled.
"Anyway, only the Paleros knights saw that, right?"
"It seems spectators flocked taking advantage of the lax security. Originally it was just rumors circulating, but a painter drew that scene and donated it to the temple, so rumors are circulating in the temple too."
His subordinates are slacking on duty.... The male lead doesn't seem to be that dignified as I thought.
There were quite a few people watching the fire back then.
But why would they want to see a burned corpse, and even draw it? Not only did they complete the painting in just a few days, but they even donated it. I don't know who that painter is, but their drive is amazing.
And unlike the male lead, their painting skills must have been good. If the temple had only seen the male lead's drawing, they would have been asking what's with the moth instead of calling it an angel.
"Because of that, those above seem to have taken interest too. Just as things were wrapping up nicely, suddenly an order came down to reinvestigate so that Donau Blue's death wouldn't be unjust."
The Paleros Knight Order was holy knights, and above them would be the temple side. Who could order the Knight Commander? There's no Saintess or Saint, so the High Priest? It's definitely a high-ranking priest.
Even in a romance fantasy world, incident manipulation is still around. They said reinvestigation, but that means they want to write a scenario where Donau becomes a victim.
"The problem is that if Donau Blue received God's blessing, conversely, Lady Rohanson is being pushed as having fabricated his death dishonorably."
Right. We stated that Donau kidnapped Kanna and a fire started while he was running away. If Donau is treated as an angel, conversely, I become the person who harmed Donau and lied about it.
Is this also the original work's force? Because I've built friendship with the female lead Kanna and am escaping villainess status, they want to make me the bad guy using even Donau?
"I ask the Lady. Is everything you told me the truth?"
"Truth...."
The male lead seemed to see me as a suspicious person. No, he definitely thinks I'm suspicious. He's probing because it seems like I know something. But Kanna already made excuses, so we can't change the story now.
"Let me ask in return. Does Sir think I spoke falsely?"
According to what I asked Hena and Kanna, people in this world don't know that spirits actually exist. They exist, but awareness seems to be at rock bottom. In this situation, if I say Donau summoned a spirit, would they ever believe me!
But is this the last chance? Should I just say it? Ah! Damn! If only this was a world where spirits operated actively!
The male lead didn't answer immediately but stayed silent, then slowly opened his mouth.
"I don't think Donau Blue received God's blessing. However, I do know well that his death was strange."
So he's saying Donau is a bad guy even dead, so I'm better in comparison? He's saying he'll take my side so speak honestly?
If I say it and get hit in the back of the head and end up in a prison ending... No, they might call me a witch for driving Donau, who's treated as an angel, to death. Then it's beheading or burning at the stake. No, why did it evolve even more! I thought I avoided the death flags by getting close with the female lead!
While I was hesitating whether to speak honestly, the male lead looked at me intently.
"I want to help you."