novelraw Chapter 147
Chapter 147
Ch.147 Giovanni Truly Wanted to Cry
“Father Hans—so that’s the name of the heretic who committed sacrilege?”
Cecilia’s innocent question sent cold sweat trickling down my spine.
“Uh… I ordered him to do it! Am I going to be punished too?”
I was terrified I might face punishment as well.
Thankfully, she shook her head.
“Oh, come on! How could the gods punish Father Hans—the Adversary chosen to destroy the evil deity? But even if he was following a priest’s orders, the one who sent that false letter to the Saint must stand trial.”
‘Phew… I’m safe. Good.’
‘Giovanni… I guess you’ll have to live in hiding from now on.’
“Could it be Giovanni who sent that letter?”
“Ah, come on! Is he really the type to do something like that?”
I twisted my face toward Mia, frowning hard enough for her to see clearly.
“Why are you turning your head and making that weird face?”
But this thick-headed elf apparently couldn’t read my signal at all.
Are you really that oblivious?!
“Huh? So it was Sir Giovanni? He’s the one who sent me that letter?”
“Of course it was. Who else would dare risk their life sending a letter like that to both me and Cecilia unless they were extremely close to you?”
With cold sweat pouring down my back, I forced myself to sound calm.
“Nah, it wasn’t him!”
Zzit.
Zzit.
Both women narrowed their eyes and fixed me with piercing glares.
“I’d better go see Giovanni myself.”
“Hehe—luckily, I saw his face last time in the capital… What a relief.”
“No, no, no!”
Afraid Giovanni might actually be murdered, I waved both hands frantically to calm them down.
“Would Giovanni really do something like that? He’s my closest friend! He’d probably jump up and say you’re trying to get him killed!”
In truth, I’d only gotten him to do it through relentless persuasion, threats, and outright orders.
But…
“Miss Mia? Where is Sir Giovanni?”
“Hmm? I don’t know either. But he must be somewhere around. My tea leaves have scattered—I’ll go fetch them quickly.”
And with that, Mia left the room.
“Cecilia, Giovanni really isn’t the one—please don’t misunderstand…”
“Wait a moment, Father Hans.”
She abruptly cut me off.
“I think I should go catch that black tomcat. He’s definitely up to something.”
“Huh?”
Cecilia stood up with a cold smile.
***
Giovanni was handling paperwork in his office.
Lately, the King of the Dead’s appearance—turning every dead human or beast into undead—had drastically increased his workload.
“Sigh… The Saint is coming here… She won’t recognize me, right?”
He had trauma regarding Cecilia.
Smashing Hans’s grave marker, threatening to punish whoever sent the letter…
Knowing full well how terrifying the charge of sacrilege was, it’d be strange if he wasn’t afraid of the Saint.
He’d bumped into her by chance once or twice in the capital, but they’d always passed without incident.
Just as Giovanni trembled in fear of Cecilia…
Knock knock.
A knock came at his door.
“Eep!”
‘Please don’t let it be the Saint…’
Suffering from full-blown Saint-related anxiety, Giovanni swallowed hard and walked to the door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Mia.”
Giovanni sighed in relief at her gentle voice.
‘Whew. Thank goodness.’
He opened the door, only for Mia to push past him and stride inside.
“Was it you who sent me that letter saying the Sage was dead?”
“What?! Wha—what are you talking about?”
Guilt written all over his face, Giovanni visibly panicked.
“Hehe—daring to play such a prank on me?”
Seeing Mia’s icy smile, cold sweat poured down his back.
“Haha… I-I don’t understand what you’re saying…”
“The Sage confessed everything.”
Hans had never actually confessed—but Mia spoke cleverly.
Though Hans never named Giovanni, his reaction had been enough for her to conclude he was lying.
Now, she pretended Hans had spilled everything.
“Don’t make this difficult for either of us. Just tell the truth, and I might consider leniency.”
Giovanni trembled, convinced Hans had betrayed him.
He still remembered vividly how Mia had dug up Hans’s grave.
Terrified of what this insane elf might do to him, Giovanni decided to confess.
“M-Miss Mia… it was… it was Brother Hans who forced me to—”
Mia took one step closer.
“Do you really think I’d let someone who schemed against me go unpunished?”
“Huh?! W-wait! I’m innocent! I tried so hard to stop Brother Hans—his womanizing habits—”
Whoosh!
But Giovanni couldn’t finish.
Mia had seized him by the collar and lifted him into the air.
“Guh?!”
“So… what punishment should I give you?”
She smiled sweetly.
When Giovanni’s face turned blue from suffocation, she released him.
Cough! Cough!
Trembling with fear, Giovanni stumbled backward—
Thud!
—and fell over.
Mia approached the fallen man, her smile icy.
“Do you want to be punished?”
No no no!
Giovanni shook his head violently.
“Hehe, very well. If you show repentance and do as I ask, I might show you mercy.”
Cough!
Giovanni’s eyes darted around, his mind racing.
‘Damn it… What’s she plotting against me?’
“I heard you’re close to the Sage—close enough to call each other ‘brother’ in private?”
“And… so?”
Hearing Mia’s words, Giovanni recalled being blackmailed by Scarlet.
“Then… I want you to speak highly of me to Hans often.”
“Huh?”
That was the last thing he expected.
“It seems Hans doesn’t see me as a woman right now. If you help me by speaking up for me, I might consider overlooking your mistake.”
Her smile was alluring—but her request was anything but.
‘Wait… is this the same situation as the Hero?’
Scarlet had ordered Giovanni to become her spy.
Now Mia—one of Scarlet’s party members—was telling him to become a bridge for her romance with Hans.
‘Brother… what exactly have you been doing for humanity?’
As his respect for Hans—who’d defeated the Demon King while entangled with these insane women—grew steadily…
Knock knock!
Mia couldn’t continue.
Another visitor had arrived.
Boom!
Unlike Mia, this one didn’t just knock—she smashed the door in with a massive mace.
A platinum-haired woman stood there, her weapon glinting in her hand.
“Oh? Miss Mia? What brings you here? Did you leave your tea leaves in Sir Giovanni’s office?”
“And what brings you here?”
Mia’s question made the Saint’s blue eyes flash.
“To properly reform a wayward little lamb who committed sacrilege, of course.”
Giovanni shuddered, his face twisting in panic.
‘Brother! You traitor!’
“I came because I also have something to say.”
“Hehe. I see your relationship is quite close if your tea leaves end up here too.”
Mia shrugged.
“I only came to say something before fetching my tea leaves. Please don’t misunderstand—just leave now.”
The two locked eyes, neither blinking.
‘Please… someone save me!’
Caught in their mental duel, Giovanni wanted to cry.
“Sir Giovanni… You understand your crime, don’t you?”
Cecilia’s cold gaze made Giovanni tremble.
Mia stepped between them.
“Didn’t I just say I was speaking with him first?”
“Oh? I think Sir Giovanni would prefer to speak with me first—wouldn’t you, heretic?”
Giovanni felt like he was caught between two whales about to crush him.
He had no idea what to do.
Their words sounded like death sentences aimed at him.
“Well…”
“Sir Giovanni wouldn’t want to talk to some elf who wants to skin a human man and turn his hide into a quiver.”
Giovanni’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Me… skinned?!’
He looked desperately at Mia for explanation, but she waved it off casually.
“I just thought forearm skin would make a convenient quiver.”
“Eeep?!”
Even that alone made her seem utterly alien to this world’s logic.
“See? Sir Giovanni is shocked!”
“That’s because you’re spouting nonsense.”
“Anyway, his crime is very serious—’sacrilege’, after all.”
Cecilia slowly approached Giovanni.
“I didn’t come for personal reasons like you, Miss Mia. I’m here on official business—so please step aside.”
Since it involved the Papal State, calling it ‘official business’ was accurate.
“Hmph. Fine. Giovanni?”
At Mia’s call, Giovanni stammered, “Y-yes?”
“I’ll hear your answer later. I look forward to a good one.”
With that, Mia left.
‘Don’t go! Don’t leave me alone with this insane Saint!’
“Sir Giovanni? We have much to discuss, don’t we?”
Gulp.
Cecilia smiled gently.
It was the kind of loving, benevolent smile befitting a Saint.
‘What does this lunatic want to do to me?!’
Giovanni felt genuine terror.
“B-Brother Hans made me do it! I’m innocent! It was Brother Hans!”
Crash!
Cecilia’s mace whistled past Giovanni’s cheek, embedding itself in the wall beside his head—yet her smile never wavered.
“Then, Sir Giovanni… if Father Hans told you to die, would you die?”
“N… no?”
“Exactly. Then why did you do it?”
Her soft voice made Giovanni tremble uncontrollably.
“I… I…”
He couldn’t find words.
The fear Cecilia projected wasn’t of this world.
“You do know sacrilege is punishable by ‘burning at the stake’, right?”
Thud!
Giovanni collapsed to his knees before the Saint’s overwhelming presence.
“I… I’m innocent!”
“Oh? Truly innocent? After deceiving and causing me pain?”
“It’s true! Brother Hans forced me!”
In truth, Giovanni had fiercely opposed Hans’s plan at first.
Back then, he’d believed the Hero Party members were beautiful, noble, and virtuous women.
But the more he learned, the faster he realized—they were anything but normal.
They were women you absolutely should not associate with.
“Yes, yes—shout that in hell.”
Cecilia smiled sweetly as she raised her mace.
Giovanni squeezed his eyes shut.
‘So… this is how I die? Without even marrying Ellis…’
But when no pain came, he cracked one eye open—
to see Cecilia’s mace hovering just beside his head.
“Hehe—it was a joke. I don’t want to kill someone Father Hans cares about.”
“A… a joke?”
‘If she pulls that ‘joke’ again, my heart’s going to stop,’ Giovanni thought bitterly.
‘This crazy bitch… she really is insane.’
“Of course, whether this ends as a joke—or whether you face Papal punishment—depends entirely on your choice.”
“Huh…?!”
Cecilia gently lifted Giovanni’s chin with her mace.
“If you’re close to Father Hans, you must know all about the women around him. Why don’t you start by telling me about them?”
Giovanni truly, deeply wanted to cry.
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