Interrogation

“What on earth? What is that?”

As soon as Adelin entered the room, she grabbed Lyset and fussed excitedly.

“Huh? Wh-what?”

“I mean, the heir of the Duchy was waiting to commend you, Lyset! What on earth is going on?!”

Truthfully, it was a big deal.

On the way back to the convent, everyone began whispering about what had happened earlier, and some even pointed at Lyset, murmuring, “That’s the girl.”

Lyset couldn’t hide her beet-red face.

Adelin pestered with questions in excitement, but Iselin remained unexpectedly composed.

“It must have been just to commend you. We are Holy Sisters, after all. Everyone in the world knows the position of a Holy Sister.”

Lyset had clearly read Christoph’s gaze and the yearning within it. And she realized just as much that she herself was deeply falling for him.

But in the end, Iselin’s words could only be correct.

Once a consecrated Holy Sister, one could never leave that life and was bound by rules harsher even than those imposed on priests.

For Christoph to change Lyset’s status and position—after five years of seeing much within the convent—seemed utterly impossible to Lyset.

Moreover, Lyset had to consider the fulfillment of the prophecy.

Ever since Christoph had discovered her during the Ritual of the Full Moon, she had been forbidden from going outside.

She didn’t know when or how, but since she had been born to fulfill that prophecy, she absolutely had to see it through.

Only then could she honor her father—the divine warrior who died fighting bravely—and her mother, the priestess who died giving birth to her, as she had always seen in the visions of the Full Moon ritual.

‘But he is the heir of the Duchy I am destined to bring down… How pitiful must it be to be the heir of a doomed nation?’

Not knowing what to do, Lyset buried her face, and Iselin gently stroked her back.

“Pray. And I hope you can forget quickly. That way, you won’t suffer a deeper wound.”

Seeing this, Adelin flopped onto the bed with a sigh.

“Haah~ Why did I end up becoming a Holy Sister I never wanted to be? I really resent my parents.”

“Don’t say such things, Adelin!”

“I wish I could have shared a deep, passionate love with the Duchy’s heir too…”

“Adelin!”

Iselin, glancing at Lyset who hung her head, hastily tried to silence Adelin.

At that moment, the door opened and Roze came in.

“Ly—Lyset!”

“Yes, Sister Roze.”

“P-Prioress Cecilia is summoning you.”

Adelin shot up from the bed, and Iselin, who had been patting Lyset’s shoulder, immediately stopped.

Roze looked at Lyset with a stiff expression.

“I know it’s not your fault, Lyset, but you might be punished—perhaps confinement in the underground prayer room or something else.”

Adelin gaped in shock.

“Sister Roze, isn’t that far too harsh for Lyset?”

“Sister Adelin, things are developing a little differently from what we think.”

“How so?”

At Adelin’s persistent question, Roze swallowed to choose her words.

“Well, those above seem to think that what happened today undermined the convent’s dignity and authority—that is, the sacred power bestowed by God.”

“Isn’t that going too far?”

“There must be circumstances we don’t know. In any case, Sister Lyset will have to give an account.”

Lyset steadied her trembling body and slowly rose. Adelin and Iselin watched her uneasily.

Roze gently embraced her as if to reassure her.

“I’ll go with you. And I’ll testify that Lyset has done nothing wrong—we’ve lived together, after all. Stay strong, alright?”

Hearing this, Adelin and Iselin also chimed in, “We can testify too, if needed!”

Nodding, Lyset followed Roze out the door.

Even while walking through the corridor, every passing Holy Sister glanced at Lyset and whispered.

“Ahh…”

“Sister Lyset! You haven’t sinned, so hold your head high and walk with pride. The more you shrink back, the more it’ll look like you’ve been caught at something!”

It was reasonable advice. Hearing Roze’s words, Lyset straightened her chest and walked confidently until they reached the Prioress’s office.

When Roze knocked, the door opened as if they had been waiting.

The first thing that caught her eye was the table.

It was the same long table where Lyset had first sat and greeted the Prioress.

The difference now was that senior Holy Sisters sat on either side of the table. At the far end, Prioress Cecilia, wearing a chilling smile, gestured for Lyset to sit.

In the center sat a backless chair—an interrogation scene in all but name.

Lyset sat in the chair while Roze moved to a corner and stood silently.

“Sister Lyset, don’t be afraid. We only want to confirm a few things.”

The Prioress tried to reassure trembling Lyset, but the faces of the senior nuns lined on either side were cold beyond measure.

“We have been discussing today’s events in the convent’s administration. Now, I will ask you a question. Answer without burden on your conscience before the Lord, and your own soul.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“What is your relationship with Lord Christoph?”

“There is none.”

“Very well. Then, have you met Lord Christoph outside, separately?”

“Ah…”

That encounter on the hill—accidental, at least to Lyset—if she spoke of it, they would surely ask what she had been doing there. And then, she realized, everything could be taken from her.

“N-no, never.”

“Why are you stammering, Sister Lyset?”

“No. I am a Holy Sister who cannot go outside.”

The moment Lyset uttered her trembling lie, Roze, standing behind, cried out in her defense.

“Prioress, Sister Lyset always lives in our room and is always with us. There’s no way she could go outside or meet anyone in secret!”

Everyone’s gaze turned to Roze, who had boldly stepped forward. Under the arrows of their displeased stares, cold sweat ran down her back.

“I did not ask you, Sister Roze. If you speak out again without my permission, I will personally issue you separate punishment!”

The Prioress scolded Roze sternly.

“Very well, so you say you didn’t meet him separately outside… But did you encounter him during service or a Grand Mass?”

“Y-yes.”

All eyes fixed on Lyset’s lips. Even Roze looked in surprise at Lyset’s back.

“Oh… When was that?”

“Quite some time ago, when I was a novice serving in the library and archives.”

“Tell us in detail.”

“At the time, while I was dusting the shelves, he introduced himself by name, and afterwards I gave him mine.”

“I see. So he came to know the name of a Holy Sister from outside the castle.”

The Prioress nodded. One of the senior nuns scribbled the details onto paper.

“And then?”

“Nothing else.”

The senior nuns and the Prioress whispered among themselves so Lyset could not hear, then nodded.

“There is testimony that while you were singing solo, you continually gazed at Lord Christoph on the second-floor balcony. Is that true?”

“Ah…”

Lyset was startled. There had been eyes watching even that. She instinctively knew that lying here would not work.

“Because Lord Christoph was staring at me so intently, I wondered why…”

Bang!!!

The Prioress slammed the table.

“So in the end, Sister Lyset, regardless of Lord Christoph’s thoughts, you have given him some kind of permission or leeway.”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way…”

Lyset trembled.

An elderly senior nun, seated closest to the Prioress, spoke solemnly.

“We hope Sister Lyset’s heart is filled with piety and devotion to the Lord. Yet we can see that in one corner of it, an unhealthy, profane seed is growing.”

“No, that’s not true, no!!!”

The Prioress raised her hand, signaling for silence.

“Sister Lyset is sentenced to fifty lashes, and until further notice, she is forbidden from attending the four Great Masses. During those times, she will pray in the underground private chapel. The lashes will be administered by the Matron Sister injured earlier in the incident.”

Behind trembling Lyset, Roze cried out in disbelief.

“Prioress! Sisters! This makes no sense! Fifty lashes for such a young Holy Sister? Where is the Lord’s mercy? Sister Lyset hasn’t done anything so grave! Even her move from library service to kitchen duty was long ago, back in her novice days—and yet you bring up that distant past too. You know this is far too severe!”

The Prioress’s eyes darkened with fury.

“Didn’t I clearly say earlier that if you spoke again without my leave, I would punish you separately? How could someone like Sister Roze, once so distinguished in devotion and obedience, come to this? I will personally punish you, Sister Roze. Stay where you are.”

When the Prioress finished speaking, all those seated cried out together.

“The Lord’s Word is a sword and shield. Follow the one who bears it!”

At that moment, from behind the curtain behind the Prioress’s desk, four Punishment enforcers emerged, their faces completely veiled in black cloth with only the eye-slits visible.

So silently had they been waiting that until they stepped forth, neither Roze nor Lyset had any idea they were there.

Two of the enforcers seized Lyset by her arms.

“P-please, let me go!”

But she could not move an inch. The Prioress gave her order.

“To the punishment chamber. Execute immediately!”

Lyset was dragged away.

“This concludes today’s emergency matter. All depart, except Sister Roze and the enforcers.”

Everyone else left, and the office door closed.

Two enforcers approached the trembling Roze at her sides.

“Sister Roze, how unfortunate this is. I warned you, and yet…”

“I-I’m sorry, Prioress. But I only gave my opinion, as it truly was—”

Smack!

The Prioress, now wearing a leather glove, suddenly struck Roze across the cheek.

Clutching her flushed cheek with one hand, Roze stared wide-eyed at the Prioress in shock.

Something utterly unimaginable, unthinkable in ten whole years, was unfolding before her eyes.

That the Prioress would strike a nun’s face…

But horrifically, the “unthinkable” that Roze had felt had only just begun.