Translator: Nox

Chapter 22

Daisy suddenly fled after talking with me—normally, wouldn't you ask why? Plus, emphasizing she hadn't eavesdropped for privacy reasons felt odd.

No way she's a black-bellied type, right? Friendly now, but if Gabriel sees me as an enemy, she'll lead the charge to take me down. Imagining it made Raphaella's smiling face a bit scary. I've always found bubbly ha-ha-ho-ho types uncomfortable anyway.

“Ah. And that gentleman over there?”

Raphaella asked, eyeing Jelly. Jelly glanced at me, asking with its eyes what to do.

Good question…? What should I say? The sub-male lead I snagged? Magic-using werewolf? My house's pet beastkin?

“He's my escort.”

“Ah! So you're a knight. I didn't realize since you weren't wearing a sword.”

Didn't think of that. Of course it's weird if he carries a sword. Jelly's a beastkin mage. Uses magic mainly, claws instead of swords. Should've come up with something more plausible. How to cover? As I pondered, Jelly shrugged.

“Well. I'm excellent even without a sword.”

Answered so smoothly and brazenly. Raphaella nodded, seeing Jelly lightly holding the Holy Water crate in one hand. Jelly's show of strength paid off.

“You're headed to the knights' reception room, right? Then I'll head back with you.”

Raphaella and Uriel led the way. I followed slowly, matching Jelly's pace.

“How do you know Daisy?”

“Who? Ah, that girl? Hm… we helped each other out a bit?”

“You didn't bully her?”

“No. I actually helped her. Got her out and we escaped together.”

Jelly grumbled that I was the bully, but answered indirectly, probably due to nearby people.

Fortunately, I could guess the rest. Remember when Jelly first appeared badly injured? What could injure a beastkin that badly? And it just said they escaped together.

No doubt about it. Daisy and Jelly were caught by slave traders or something and escaped together! Daisy turned pale seeing Jelly due to traumatic memories. That's what they call PTSD or whatever.

So Jelly's not a sub-male lead but part of a sub-couple? Drops Kanna near the end and goes for Daisy. Villainess is still me. Why two couples but only one villainess?

“Handled the aftermath cleanly too.”

Even took care of the slave traders neatly. Good job. Stroked Jelly's head in praise.

Raphaella, seeing we lagged, stopped and waited. As Jelly and I approached, she looked at me with mixed emotions. Fair—seeing someone you thought had a crush on your boss petting another guy's head.

“You seem close with your escort…?”

Well, Jelly's my pet…. Usually in wolf form, not human…. Saying that would get me labeled a discriminatory slave trader, so I shut my mouth.

“Not at all.”

No intention to date Gabriel ever, but couldn't afford to upset him now, so answered firmly. Me, managing a harem in a romance-fantasy world….

***

Raphaella quietly observed Evangeline Rohanson talking with Daisy. Outwardly chatting idly with Uriel, anyone watching would think she was making her usual pointless jokes. Even Uriel, her current conversation partner, was oblivious to her true nature.

Excluding Gabriel, Raphaella knew the most truth in the knights' order. If she were as innocent as she seemed, Gabriel wouldn't keep her close.

She'd seen Donau's corpse and the mysterious text from it. Knew about the sorcery circle too, and was investigating past sorceries since visiting Rohanson Mansion.

Raphaella had compiled Daisy's testimony into a report for Gabriel.

Daisy's account seemed fine at first glance.

She'd seen Berga Priest summon something demonic-like. It decapitated and reattached heads; victims acted normally, indistinguishable from humans without the red neck line.

That explained her shock seeing Kanna, Evangeline Rohanson's maid.

Frankly, with Evangeline's maid, it seemed believable even if called undead. Evangeline herself had died and revived.

‘Evangeline Rohanson's neck is….’

Of course, Evangeline's neck was clean.

Berga Priest's listed misdeeds were horrific enough to furrow brows. He'd survived due to the remote convent's isolation and family backing. A priest blessed by Rahel should do better.

Other unmentioned crimes would surface upon investigating him.

But Daisy's testimony had suspicious points.

Excluding a few, Raphaella most wondered how Daisy escaped unharmed after witnessing a demon summoning.

Berga Priest wouldn't easily release someone knowing so much. How did she flee?

“Uriel, can you escape surveillance in a hard-to-escape place?”

“A prison? Then you shouldn't escape.”

“…Not prison. Somewhere like a convent.”

Uriel didn't grasp being confined and surveilled in a convent needing escape, but pondered sincerely.

“Over the window? Using a tree, up to the third floor should be fine.”

“…Thanks.”

Raphaella pressed her forehead at the unhelpful answer. Daisy couldn't jump windows like Uriel.

Raphaella refocused on their conversation.

“———.”

“Y-You don't know my name?”

“—————————.”

“…Daisy.”

Strange sensation. They conversed, but Evangeline Rohanson's words were inaudible. She wasn't even moving her lips. Yet it was clear she spoke.

Daisy responded as if hearing clearly.

Raphaella guessed from Daisy's words alone.

Evangeline seemed not to remember Daisy. Daisy had acted traumatized in testimony.

“Lady Evangeline revived? No idea how you heard, but yes. Everyone at the funeral saw. …The dead girl reviving.”

“The officiating priest suicided? Not surprising.”

“I've seen her draw the sorcery circle. To summon an angel? Angel? You wouldn't call it that after seeing.”

And what she'd witnessed at Rohanson Mansion.

Daisy said she'd seen Evangeline summon something—demonic, like Berga Priest's.

“Rohanson Mansion has many watching eyes. That's why I fled to the convent.”

Afterward, fleeing the mansion's eyes led to the convent. Bad luck getting embroiled everywhere.

What were Daisy's ‘eyes’? Many surveillance people? Were all Rohanson servants loyal like the Hena-Kanna sisters?

Gabriel planned to ask, but Daisy clammed up seeing the maids, derailing things.

He tasked Raphaella to probe more during escort, but Daisy stayed silent—no gains.

Meeting Evangeline Rohanson was unexpected luck. Daisy panicked seeing her.

So Raphaella deliberately brought Daisy before her to dig more. But inaudible words yielded nothing.

“…Sir Gabriel knows.”

And Daisy, terrified, confessed her testimony. Mentioning Gabriel suggested she'd spilled it.

Just stirred trouble needlessly. Until the man appeared.

Black-haired with golden eyes, sly-looking. His languid movements evoked a massive predator. He naturally stood behind Evangeline.

“Who is that?”

“Jelly, Lady Rohanson's companion.”

Raphaella gawked at Uriel. Headache from her naive colleague taking the joke name seriously with honorifics.

“Quiet and solemn too.”

“That Jelly guy?”

“Didn't say a word while the Lady prayed.”

Alone with that suspicious guy? Evangeline's riskier, but Gabriel assigning oblivious, innocent Uriel irked her.