Why had everyone been so sure?

She couldn’t understand it. Not only had it not been wiped out—this religion had spread so widely that the Emperor of the Empire himself was part of it.

And as if that wasn’t enough, now even the consort had had her soul stolen by them.

And I think there are followers of the Eva Faith among the temple people, too.

And not just the lower ranks.

The leadership.

Otherwise, there was no way holy relics of the Eva Faith would be circulating so easily.

No—how?

How could nobody know, while a religion that was supposedly “gone from the world” sank this deep and spread everywhere?

And from the start, did it even make sense that one soul had occupied the Emperor’s seat for so long?

Yeah. It doesn’t.

Looking at the number of souls he’d stolen, she could roughly guess how long he’d been sitting on that throne.

No matter how she looked at it, he wasn’t some ordinary believer.

Maybe... maybe he...

“God, this is driving me insane.”

Wasn’t he the core of the Eva Faith?

It felt like she might be going too far, but there was no other explanation.

It wasn’t as if they would put just anyone on the throne—and the number of souls bound to him was enormous.

The Eva Faith...

Was she supposed to be happy she’d figured out what they were? Or miserable?

Honestly, it didn’t feel real. A cult leader from a “religion” that only showed up in history books was hovering around her?

And you’re telling me to accept that right now?

It was more absurd than hearing a mass murderer who’d killed hundreds lived next door.

“Camilla? Are you okay?”

When she went slack and started laughing under her breath, Petro asked in concern. What on earth had she read to react like that?

“Could you bring me a glass of cold water?”

She needed cold water to clear her head. It felt like her insides were burning. She couldn’t think at all.

“Just a moment.”

Petro hurried out of the library. He went himself instead of calling an attendant.

Camilla stared blankly after him, then turned her gaze back to the book.

Staring like this wouldn’t change what was written, but she couldn’t pull her eyes away.

“Zeno.”

Only after a long while did Camilla quietly call to him at her side.

“I think you were right.”

[Hmm.]

Zeno, who had followed her, seemed to have skimmed what she’d read as well. The usual relaxed ease had vanished completely from his expression.

[I don’t think this is something you can handle alone.]

“I agree.”

If they really were the Eva Faith, this wasn’t something she could stew over by herself. This was the Eva Faith that had once swallowed the entire Empire.

I just wanted to avoid it.

With the Rania incident, and everything else she’d endured up to now, her thought had always been one thing.

Don’t get deeply involved, no matter what! That’s how you stay safe! As long as the people around me don’t get hurt, that’s enough!

Everyone else? Not my problem!

But if the enemy is the Eva Faith...? 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

This wasn’t something she could just shut her eyes, dodge, and let pass. They were rampaging right in front of her face.

She realized that pretending not to know—hiding everything from everyone—was no longer the answer.

“But how?”

[How what?]

“Will anyone even believe me?”

It was the Emperor of the Empire.

If she pointed at him and said, That person looks human on the outside, but there’s a ghost inside who should’ve died hundreds of years ago, would anyone believe her?

If she didn’t get branded a traitor and have her head chopped off, it would be a miracle.

[You’re a saintess.]

“I’m not a real saintess.”

Saintess... yeah. She hadn’t never thought about it.

Even before she knew their enemy was the Eva Faith, she’d considered telling people around her about the fake holy relics and the Emperor whose soul had been stolen.

The method was always the same: act like a saintess, act like she’d received a revelation.

But.

“What if they find out it’s fake?”

And here again, the opponent was the problem. She was trying to make an enemy of the Emperor of this Empire.

“He’ll never admit it.”

After living as Emperor for that long... human? No. A monster. There was no way he’d expose himself over a few words.

And what if House Sorpel—or people who already disliked her—took the Emperor’s side and pressured her instead?

What if they dragged back the Sword of Judgment she’d handed over to the Papacy and shoved it in her face, demanding she prove whether she was a real saintess or not? What if they demanded she prove that first?

I can’t!

I don’t want to die like that! And what—people would say she could just let Arena, the priest’s ghost, enter her body?

How do I know the sword would accept that?

Either way, it was still a kind of deception—a lie.

It wasn’t something she could test beforehand, and now they wanted her to gamble her life on that?

Was she insane? She’d rather throw everything away and run.

“Isn’t there some good way?”

A way to let people know about the Eva Faith’s actions, naturally, while staying safe. Better yet, a way to hand it off and slip into the background.

[Didn’t you say you were going to look into the fake holy relics?]

“I asked Jainer, but I still haven’t heard back.”

If she couldn’t start with the Imperial Family, she’d planned to dig into the temple that was selling the Crimson holy relics instead.

If the Pope was wearing a Crimson holy relic around their neck, that meant they weren’t connected to the Eva Faith, right?

They wouldn’t wear it if they knew it would get their body stolen.

Not that I can just walk in and ask directly.

Someone preparing to step down from the papacy because of her wasn’t going to hand over information out of kindness.

She was sure that if she chased how the temple had come to sell holy relics that stole souls, she would eventually hit something real at the end.

But this wasn’t easy either. Like the Imperial Family, the temple had thick walls against outsiders—and it was the kind of place that fiercely protected its own, so getting information was far from simple.

“I thought if it was Khan, he could do it.”

And yet, she still had nothing from Jainer.

What is it?

When she asked if he’d found anything, he only shrugged, smiling quietly, and that felt suspicious.

“Hm?”

As she held her head and groaned, one line she hadn’t fully read caught her eye.

The Mirror of Truth. It was the only thing that could uncover followers of the Eva Faith hidden deep among ordinary people.

“The Mirror of Truth?”

The name sounded like an old variety show, and Camilla frowned. But what it described was anything but light.

No—it was tempting.

“It found followers of the Eva Faith?”

If you reflected them in that mirror, would you see the other soul lodged in their body?

Or would you see the souls clinging to them?

You can tell just from the name! That feels like the most likely possibility. Isn’t it?

“What else? Anything?”

Camilla hurriedly searched the other books too, but there was no further detailed mention of the Mirror of Truth.

Just a few more lines here and there—about how followers of the Eva Faith all tried desperately to hide their bodies when the Mirror of Truth appeared.

“Ah, seriously!”

This is ridiculous!

“There should at least be a drawing of what it looks like!”

If she had it, proving the Emperor and the consort had already had their bodies stolen would be easy.

So how was she supposed to find it? The books didn’t even explain it.

“It was so long ago...”

It had been hundreds of years. Finding someone who knew exactly what happened back then was practically impossible.

Even a ghost who knew that era probably doesn’t exist.

Even Zeno, who’d wandered for a long time, and Arena, the priest’s ghost, were people from after that time.

“Haa...”

The more she learned about the enemy, the more suffocating it felt.

The saying ignorance is bliss had never hit this hard.

I don’t want to know either! I really don’t!

After pouring out that silent lament for a long while, Camilla kept digging and digging into the books again, chasing any new clue.

*****

“What brings you all the way here?”

Priest Daniel felt puzzled at the sudden visit from an unexpected person.

It was Jainer—the man who had come looking for him before with Camilla—requesting a private meeting.

We aren’t close at all.

They hadn’t even really spoken properly that day.

If he had business with the order, he could have found someone else. Why name Daniel specifically?

“Thank you for welcoming me despite my sudden visit.”

Jainer opened with formal politeness, wearing that perfect “kind” mask that always made Camilla grind her teeth.

“I’m the one who’s grateful you came.”

Daniel did the same. Even though he was full of questions inside, he continued with eyes filled with welcome.

“The Lord God always awaits new encounters.”

At Daniel’s words, Jainer’s smile deepened.

But if Camilla had been here, she would have freaked out. Because only she knew /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ exactly what that smile meant.

The smile he wore when he wanted to kill someone.

“Would the Lord God truly welcome me?”

“Of course. Why would you say such a thing? Is there something weighing on your heart? If you want confession, I can hea—”

“Do you believe in the Lord God?”

With a short click of his tongue at the overly formulaic line, Jainer cut Daniel off.

“...What do you mean?”

Still wearing his benevolent smile, Daniel finally sensed something was wrong and hesitated. Asking a priest if he believed in the Lord God?

“I’m just curious.”

“You should be careful with words that could invite misunderstanding.”

Daniel shook his head lightly and continued in a scolding tone.

It was also a warning: watch what you say.

“There is nothing as exhausting and painful as being branded a heretic.”

“Is that so?”

Smiling mildly, Jainer pulled something from his chest and set it on the table with a quiet tap.

“Then it won’t matter if a real heretic gets branded a heretic, right?”