Sunlight streamed through the iron bars.
In that sunlight, dust floated around like it was auditioning for a dance competition.
The girl stared blankly at the dust, lost in thought.
How many days had it been since she was dragged here? At first, she counted the days—one, two, three… but after ten, she threw in the towel and went with the flow.
In the meantime, the number of girls in this room had dwindled by more than half.
They had said it wasn’t a lie: they would send them home if their innocence was proven after the investigation. But those girls who were dragged out never returned.
The size of the room was about the same as her family’s house, which used to fit seven, including her little siblings.
Now, over twenty girls were squished in there like sardines in a tin can.
As the days passed, one by one, girls were called out, and those who went out never came back.
‘If I’m innocent, surely they’ll send me home, right…?’
She had no clue where she was.
She had just been thrown into a carriage and stuck here for over a week, completely lost.
As soon as they landed, the girls were trapped in this room, receiving only a piece of bread and a cup of water each day.
Amidst all this, she waited impatiently to be called for whatever “investigation” was cooking.
She was just a girl minding her own business, sorting hay to feed the cows when she was suddenly grabbed.
Since they said they would send her back if she was innocent, she figured she’d be home safe and sound in no time.
After days without a wash, and her hair tied up with dirt and dust like it had gone through a mud wrestling match, she scratched her head and sniffed.
Really, she hoped she’d be called soon for whatever investigation was on the menu, get it over with, and then, finally be able to go home.
What had happened to her baby brother?
Who was taking care of him?
How was her mom, suffering from the baby blues?
Were her other siblings doing alright?
Had her dad cut back on the booze?
If she didn’t nag him, he’d likely just drown himself in ale all night.
The girl was worried sick about home.
Her father was always busy with work outside.
Her mom was enduring post-partum while juggling the demands of her newborn.
Little siblings still needed their big sister’s gentle touch.
What were they all up to right now?
“Next, you.”
The girl, hunched over and burying her face in her knees, perked up at the voice whispering in her ear.
A man standing at the door was beckoning her with a hand gesture.
‘Oh, it’s finally my turn.’
At long last, it was her time to shine!
After such a long wait, it was time to trot along for whatever investigation awaited her—then, finally, she would be on her way home!
“Looks like we can go.”
“Not bad looking, huh?”
Hehehe.
The strange laughter sent chills down the girl’s spine as she rubbed her arms.
She had lost the shawl that she’d thrown over her dress somewhere, and stepping outside like this made the cold hit her hard.
“Alright, move forward.”
It was a corridor made of stone walls.
At least there was some sunlight filtering through the bars, but stepping into the corridor meant there was no sunlight anywhere except for the torches hanging on the walls.
– Tap, tap, tap…
The corridor was lined with smooth stones, just like the walls.
The sound of the girl’s footsteps echoed as she walked, and a man followed behind her.
How long had they been walking?
It felt like quite a while.
In front of the girl appeared a thick iron door.
The door was rusty, with patches of red dotting its surface.
Looking at the door made the girl feel chills again.
She was pretty sure they had just come to investigate—
Somehow, it felt like something big was about to happen.
As the girl stood there, lost in thought, the man stepped forward.
Without hesitation, he knocked on the door.
“Hey, it’s me. I brought the next one.”
– Uh, yeah.
A very small voice responded—
The door creaked open.
With a heavy metallic sound, the door began to open.
Inside, just like the corridor they had walked through, only the flickering light of the torches illuminated the darkness.
There were no windows, and other than the torchlight, there was no light at all.
As the scene revealed itself, the girl’s face went pale.
“Alright, step inside.”
The man pushed the girl from behind, and she tried to turn around in a hurry.
Her face was as white as a sheet, and her lips were blue.
A face full of surprise and fear.
And a face completely engulfed by terror.
“Hey, wait, just a second— ah—!”
“Come on, just go in already.”
With repeated rough pushes, the girl had no chance against his strength and stumbled into the room.
As they disappeared into the room—
Slowly, the door closed once more.
With an unsettling metallic sound.
*
“What the hell are we going to do about that?”
Yona glared at Alex with fire in her eyes.
Alex, unable to withstand her intense gaze, awkwardly looked down.
“What are you going to do about it? Are we just going to leave it like that? I said I didn’t need an apology, but I asked you to make it invisible.”
Yona pointed to the back of the carriage with her finger.
Where her finger pointed, a sleek-bodied warhorse was following behind.
And on that warhorse were Scarlet and Serad, riding together.
Not too slow, but not too fast either.
The cavalry steadily followed at a consistent distance, matching the speed of the carriage.
“…Should I go talk to them again?”
“Do you really think they’ll listen just because you say something? Even after saying it once, they’re still acting like that. You think telling them to go somewhere else is going to work?”
Yona scowled at Alex, growling.
She absolutely hated that guy named Scarlet.
Sure, he hurled insults at Yona, calling her a whore and whatnot, but that didn’t bother her all that much.
But then there was Serad, who gave an irrefutable reason that Yona couldn’t deny, which ultimately forced her to save Scarlet herself. Ugh, she hated that too.
Sure, it was partly because he looked a lot like Yona, but—
Yona still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that she was a woman.
She understood and accepted that Alex was the most important person to her, but it hadn’t reached the level of a romantic relationship yet—that was what Yona thought to herself.
So insults like “whore” were not particularly damaging to her.
What really pissed her off was that he had tortured Alex so brutally and even tried to take him away, while also getting in the way.
And now, he shows up acting all buddy-buddy, throwing around “senpai, senpai,” and apologizing profusely. She just couldn’t stand it.
“Should I really just kill him?”
Yona muttered unconsciously.
She shouldn’t have cared about what Alex thought; she should have just let him die.
If she couldn’t let him die, then she might as well just kill him right now.
It would be best to stab him when Alex wasn’t looking, but that damn bald guy seemed glued to Yona, somehow covered in honey.
However, as she muttered those words, Yona suddenly looked down, startled, at Rubina.
Rubina’s hand, which was gripping Yona tightly, trembled uncontrollably.
As soon as Rubina heard Yona mutter about killing, her face went pale, and she clung tightly to Yona’s hand, shaking.
“Uh, s-sorry. Rubina, I’m sorry for saying something mean. I didn’t really mean it like that. I’m sorry.”
Rubina just shook her head, looking up at Yona.
With tears welling in her big eyes and her face drained of color, Rubina kept shaking her head.
Yona felt her heart ache looking at Rubina.
What had Rubina done to deserve this?
It was just unfortunate that Rubina was in that courtroom, witnessing Yona and Vigrind clash, and the chaos that ensued—she must have been deeply shocked.
Rubina witnessed the whole setup, so the shock must have been quite something.
‘…If it weren’t for those damned things.’
Yona ground her teeth.
Thinking of Scarlet just leads back to the Church of the Celestial God.
The Church of the Celestial God was the real problem.
Isn’t returning to Evian just because of that silly church?
What kind of nonsense is it to be detained just because our hair colors and eye colors are the same?
‘First, I have to meet Vigrind. He should definitely be able to put an end to this crazy act. Even if he’s a bit dim-witted, he can handle it.’
Of course, there was a slight unease about meeting Vigrind in this state.
If she suddenly charged in, shouting about punishing that wicked apostate over her pride, that would be a whole new problem.
Moreover, if the Hero charged at Yona that way without Vervaria around—well, at least Alex was around.
‘…That guy was stronger than I thought.’
Didn’t Scarlet end up on the ground after just one shield slap?
And it didn’t even look like it was a full-strength hit.
He looked so sturdy and cool.
‘I have to say, I’m a bit annoyed about the hair…’
With his hair now thick and luscious, Alex was ridiculously handsome, even more so than expected.
No wonder women flocked to him, but—
No, that’s not right.
What do you mean “no choice”?
Absolutely not. Absolutely unacceptable.
Unbeknownst to her, Yona clenched her teeth.
She couldn’t stand the sight of that.
As for why she couldn’t stand it—anyway.
Should I try to put a ban on it while sleeping?
If I put a ban on it, won’t I become bald again?
It’s not like she hadn’t thought about that—
‘No, that’s not important right now… First, I need to meet Vigrind, persuade him to stop this madness, and summon Vervaria…’
Summon Vervaria over Evian.
And then make a grand entrance riding Vervaria—
“Hey you morons dragging that white-haired girl around, do you seriously think you’re going to find her here? I’m off to board a ship while you arrest innocent people—”
What a shame it would be, not being able to catch a single apostate, yet slapping on the Inquisition badge.
That’s what she planned to do.
She intended to tease her to the max so that all her anger would be directed only at her.
“What are you thinking so deeply about?”
“Thinking about how to screw over the Church of the Celestial God.”
Seeing Yona answer without a hint of hesitation, Alex let out a sigh.
After all that hard work persuading, all efforts were in vain because of that witch trial.
Alex was starting to get pretty annoyed with the Church of the Celestial God itself.
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