Chapter 26
I had thought that since Daisy had some history with Jelly, she might be a sub-heroine or positioned as the female lead's helper or close friend, but seeing how Kanna dislikes her, it seems I guessed wrong.
Then isn't there only one answer? I possessed Evangeline, who was the original work's villainess, so the genre changed to a villainess possession story, and furthermore, since the original female lead Kanna likes me tremendously, she wouldn't interfere with my romance route. So a supporting villainess type character was brought in! To serve as a love obstacle that makes the romance fantasy even more anguished!
Thinking that way, everything fits perfectly. I wondered why a female character with an abrupt past history suddenly popped up. Plus, Daisy is a nun right now, isn't she? Then she'll become a saintess. A saintess and a villainess? Perfect opposition established.
So in the future, Daisy will appear before Gabriel and Jelly from time to time, planning to sever her relationship with me.
In my heart, I want to cheer them on, saying love freely among yourselves, but Evangeline is a villainess, right? In romance fantasies, if the villainess doesn't receive love, it's the natural order that she immediately plummets into the abyss, so I can't help it either. Sorry Gabriel, I'm not managing a fishing pond because I want to.
"Please sit first."
Gabriel, who is scheduled to diligently get caught in my fishing pond in the future, pulled out my chair with good manners, unaware of his own fate.
"I entrusted Lady Uriel with guiding you, so why did you come together? Where is Uriel?"
"Uriel is in the infirmary. She didn't get hurt, but Michi did a bit."
"Michi did?"
"Well, to explain would take a while...."
Raphaela began explaining the situation to Gabriel. That while seeing off Daisy, she met Uriel and me, and after that, hearing people's voices, she ran over and discovered the burning painting.
Gabriel swallowed a groan after hearing that far.
"The painting burned...."
"Yes. I don't know the cause of ignition. It seems we'll need to hear from the people who were there."
Raphaela shrugged her shoulders. Cause of ignition? The fire wouldn't have started on its own, and one of the people there must have set it.... Would the culprit confess honestly? Isn't it more likely they'll keep their mouth shut?
Well. Even if the person doesn't say it themselves, there were many eyes watching, so the culprit will probably be identified.
"Does Lady Rohanson have any suspicions?"
When Gabriel asked, I hesitated to answer as is. If I say this, won't they complain that I'm suspecting people for no reason? But a painting wouldn't spontaneously combust, and someone must have set the fire. Honestly, even Raphaela and Michi are a bit suspicious. I arrived late and saw Michi burning from the start.
"Well."
So I just answered vaguely and moved on. As expected, this was the right approach, as Gabriel didn't react much.
Raphaela continued her explanation. That Michi, who had been locked in a room, suddenly appeared and was engulfed in flames, and that I poured holy water to extinguish the fire.
This part I'm hearing for the first time too. Michi just jumped into a fire? Is she crazy? Why jump in there? So that's why people were confused and just watching!
Gabriel didn't even twitch an eyebrow hearing about this bizarre behavior. As expected of the standard romance fantasy male lead who is only warm to his woman. If only he had been born in the North, he would have been even more perfect.
"Thank you for saving Michi."
Gabriel bowed his head. This shows he's also a righteous knight male lead who takes good care of his subordinates.
Ah, thank goodness. I saved her out of simple conscience, but thanks to that, I feel like I've stacked one favor point with Gabriel. With this, I can probably make up for at least one of Evangeline's evil deeds.
"Still, it's fortunate that Bishop Jabaniya discovered it."
"Is that so...?"
"The Bishop shares our position."
"That's true. At least he'll be helpful in covering up the incident."
As expected of male lead quality. Even though he wasn't there at the scene, just from hearing what Raphaela reported, Gabriel explained to me how things would likely proceed.
The bishop was on the side that didn't like the Donau painting, so he would help cover up the painting burning incident. Though there will be severe disagreement in opinions like before, since the painting has already been completely burned, it will be much easier.
"The investigations conducted so far to take down the painting will also be helpful."
Is this him expressing that he hasn't been idle and has been preparing to take my side? Good, I'm doing the fishing pond management by responding appropriately right now.
"Is that so? I'm curious what efforts you made."
This should be enough, right? Still, I have the villainess name value, so I can't suddenly have possessed a sunny female lead and go "Wow, you made efforts for me! Evangeline is moved!" But just saying this much would be too short, so let me add more.
"Didn't you call me here because a witness appeared?"
Right. Just now, Daisy said she testified about something. Of course, she didn't just hear the testimony, she probably heard my gossip along with it.
Wait a minute.... Let me test this out?
"So what did you hear?"
"Captain!"
As expected, a quick-witted adjutant. Raphaela seems to realize her superior has fallen into love's trials and is trying to give a hint. When I glared at her sharply, Raphaela flinched and closed her mouth.
"I asked the knight."
I turned back to Gabriel. Under his jet-black hair, his exceptionally clear blue eyes were visible. It was as if a blue star made only of sea and sky with no land for people to tread was floating there. When I was reflected in those eyes, for some reason, I felt like the person who first left footprints there and defiled that star.
"What did you hear from Daisy?"
Gabriel didn't avert his gaze. I also engaged in an intense staring contest while admiring Gabriel's face. Wow, I almost got charmed for a moment. As expected of a romance fantasy male lead, his face is truly something else. Jelly is handsome too, but since he's a supporting male lead, he can't beat Gabriel's face.
"She would have talked about me."
"Well. I didn't hear anything about you."
Huh? That's a lie. Daisy said she talked, didn't she? When Gabriel saw that I didn't believe him, he handed me some paper.
"This is the statement from the witness who just visited."
It appeared to be paper organizing Daisy's statement. The first page summarized content about some monastery.
The abbott obtained abilities by summoning something sinister using the same summoning circle as the painting hanging in the temple, and committed evil deeds using those abilities.
What! Wait, how far has my summoning circle gotten out!
And it even says this person succeeded in summoning too! Summoned what kind of spirit! Since Donau also summoned a fire spirit, is the abbott the same type?
Wait, why am I the only one without a spirit! This is truly unfair! That person summoned a spirit and went around doing all sorts of bad things. I won't do that....
I don't need a werewolf! Change it to a small and cute spirit! And how did they know the summoning method! Why am I the only one who doesn't know!
Wait, this.... Isn't the painting burning just now related to this? This abbott person did it to monopolize the summoning circle. Since it's a fire spirit, somehow they just whooshed it from a distance! Bad person.... Using my summoning circle like that. Well, it's not mine but Evangeline's mother's, though.
"I really want to meet this priest."
When I meet them, I'm going to grab them by the collar and shake them down thoroughly. I resolved firmly.
Ah, come to think of it, this isn't what's important. I almost forgot my original purpose while being obsessed with spirits. I turned another page. Now is this the statement about me?
Evangeline Rohanson.... When I read that far, my vision suddenly distorted. It started shattering like glass, and now the letters began breaking apart. A single letter split into dozens of pieces and got mixed up, making it impossible to even read. Seriously, a translator error at this moment...?
□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□.
□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□.
No, what is this! Why have I returned to being illiterate at this point!
"I heard nothing."
Gabriel looked perfectly confident, as if telling me to doubt him.
Gabriel wouldn't know that my translator is glitching right now. Then is he acting that confidently because he's truly confident? I saw up to where Evangeline's name was written.... Was there nothing significant?
No, that can't be! Daisy would have said something. This is it. Daisy either reduced my evil deeds when talking, or Gabriel is so charmed by the villainess that he can't distinguish right from wrong.
"You may take it."
This seems like the latter, doesn't it? I almost flinched at Gabriel's words. I was wondering if there was a way to read it again later when the translator comes back, but he didn't read my mind, did he? As expected of a male lead....
Pleased, I tore the paper and handed it to Kanna. Kanna, who had been glaring as if about to tear the paper herself, reluctantly put it in her bosom. Why was she glaring...? Could Kanna be illiterate too?
I thought the female lead would naturally be able to read letters, but come to think of it, this is a somewhat bleak romance fantasy worldview. They might have intentionally added an illiterate setting to make the female lead more manipulable. I shouldn't rely only on the translator either. Let's go home and learn letters together....
"Are you satisfied with this?"
Yeah, of course. If I had just left it, it would have been bothersome, so I'm glad you told me to take it. When the translator gets fixed later, I can read it then.
"That's sufficient."
"I called you here to show you that. Didn't I say early on? I want to help you."
Is this him expressing that he had no intention of hiding it from me in the first place? I'm supposed to be managing the fishing pond, but it feels like I'm being managed instead. He speaks so smoothly. While I was admiring the capabilities of a romance fantasy male lead, a knock was heard.
Knock knock.
"Come in."
"Captain. Bishop Jabaniya sent someone with a message."
"He said the holy water from Lady Rohanson was delivered well to the guard. And he said he would like to meet briefly."
"Is that so? Understood, I'll go out."
"Yes."
Looks like Jelly finished the errand well. He probably counted and stored my holy water properly, right? I'll have to count them later.
Well then, shall we head back now?