“......Wait.”

The # Nоvеlight # moment Valentis finished speaking, Bale rose from his seat.

Raul and Enzo pushed their chairs back as well.

As if ready to spring up at any second.

With an impassive face, Bale looked over the Luminel family.

“We honestly don’t understand what you’re talking about. Cleansing of Oblivion, you say?”

Valentis did not answer.

He simply finished the wine left halfway in his glass.

Tie instinctively understood the situation.

‘The Commander knows!’

She hurriedly lowered her hand beneath the table.

And pushed the Cleansing of Oblivion hanging from her wrist up into her sleeve.

‘He knows that Tie has a sacred artifact......!’

And not only that—

‘Cleansing of Oblivion doesn’t work on him.’

It seemed he even remembered that Tie had tried to erase his memory.

‘Uh...... what do I do?’

Her heart began pounding wildly.

Tie looked at Basto with frightened eyes.

If they discovered she possessed a sacred artifact, would the Commander now try to confiscate it?

They always said that whenever an artifact was found, the Order seized it.

‘Then... the part about showing the organizational chart was a lie too......?’

What if they had summoned her because they considered her a thief, and were about to arrest her......!

Just as the anxious thoughts began to spiral—

“All byproducts obtained during the siege of a magic crystal are, by regulation, subject to reporting to the Order.”

Valentis spoke in a low, hard voice.

He looked directly at the standing Bale.

“Sacred artifacts in particular, as a special category of trophies, are subject to stricter control. If you have acquired such an item, you are obligated to notify the Order and voluntarily surrender it. Failure to do so constitutes sacrilege.”

“What? We don’t know anything about that......!”

“Ignorance does not invalidate sacred law.”

Valentis cut Bale off.

Then, in an even, toneless voice, he continued:

“Tallocium is a nation governed in the name of God. Above state law stands sacred law, and those who violate it are subject to punishment. Accomplices who turned a blind eye—there are no exceptions.”

Silence fell over the dining hall.

In that soundless stillness, Tie looked around.

Raul and Enzo were already on their feet.

Kkamani, seated at the very edge, had for some time been watching only Tie. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Soon, Bale cursed under his breath and shot a sharp look at the three princes across from him.

The moment she saw that look, Tie understood.

‘This is bad.’

Bale only wore eyes like that in the most dangerous situations.

Which meant he was now calculating how to take down the three Luminel princes and the duke and escape the estate.

Just like when he had punched Reginald in the jaw.

“However, I.”

At that moment, Valentis spoke again.

Slowly turning his head, he looked at Tie with his impenetrable blue eyes.

“Instead of reporting you to the Order, I have decided to become an accomplice in this matter.”

In the frozen air,

Tie’s eyes widened and her lips parted.

“Ac... accomp......? What’s accompli— mmph.”

Basto hurriedly covered her mouth with his hand.

“What do you mean.”

At that moment, Basto’s heart was pounding violently.

If Bale gave the signal, he was prepared to grab Tie and leap out the window.

Sacrilege was a crime one must never be entangled with under any circumstances.

So the moment the word left the Commander’s mouth, the squad members exchanged quick glances.

Even if blood had to be spilled, they had decided to leave the estate.

Of course, making the Luminel family their enemy was nearly the same as choosing death.

But.

‘First, we get out. Then somehow we take Tie separately.’

Yet what had the Commander just said?

Not “I will report you to the Order.”

Not “I will handle this myself.”

But “I will become an accomplice”?

At Valentis’s gesture, the butler brought several thick bundles of documents.

“You are likely aware. The general organizational chart of the Holy Knight Order is a classified Order document. Material that must never be shown to outsiders.”

With a dull thud, the butler set the documents down beside Tie.

“However, I do not intend to break my promise. Is this sufficient as an answer?”

And yet the silence in the hall did not dissipate.

Meanwhile, Valentis’s gaze calmly settled on Tie.

“This likely will not conclude quickly. So.”

“......”

“Eat properly first, then take your time looking for your father. Even if it takes several days.”

Basto’s hand slowly dropped from Tie’s mouth.

Tie looked at Valentis in confusion.

The Commander’s eyes, gleaming like the sea, did not look like the eyes of someone lying.

The girl cautiously asked,

“Th, then Tie can keep the bracelet......?”

Was he truly going to overlook the fact that she possessed Cleansing of Oblivion?

Valentis nodded.

“Yes. There will be no leak of this information from my side. I promise.”

“Even if Tie deceived the Commander, you will still show the organizational chart?”

“......Deceived, you say. That is one way to put it, but in essence it is irrelevant. As I said, Cleansing of Oblivion did not affect me.”

Tie fell silent.

She hesitated for a long time, then asked one final question.

“Because you feel sorry for Tie?”

Valentis froze for a brief moment.

A faint flicker of surprise crossed the faces of the three princes across from her as well.

Tie glanced uncertainly at her squad members, then asked again,

“You’re helping because Tie has no dad and no mom, and you feel sorry?”

Valentis did not answer immediately.

He looked at her strangely, and only after a while said:

“No.”

As if nothing had happened, he lifted his wine glass again.

“To ease my personal guilt. Not because of you.”

After dinner.

In the conference hall before Agavert lay those same bundles of documents.

“The general organizational chart of the Holy Knight Order.”

Tie, seated between Basto on her right and Bale on her left, took a short breath.

“There are eight volumes in total. The first, second, and third contain the knights belonging to Tallocium.”

Tie listened carefully to the butler’s explanation.

The old butler placed clean sheets of paper and a piece of charcoal to her right so she could take notes at any time, then stepped back.

“Then.”

The hall doors closed with a dull thud.

A few seconds later, Raul released the breath he had been holding.

“W, what was that just now......!”

The other squad members also found it hard to believe what had just happened.

As if to prove it—of all of them, only Tie had eaten properly during dinner.

The others had barely touched their food from the tension.

“Is failing to return a sacred artifact really grounds for sacrilege?”

As expected, Basto asked.

Enzo shook his head.

“No! I mean, if you think about it...... I’m not sure.”

There had only been a handful of cases where a sacred artifact appeared from a magic crystal.

And in nearly all of them, it had been found by holy knights. Mercenaries had found one only once.

“When Tregava discovered one, they immediately surrendered the artifact to the Order voluntarily......”

So no one had ever imagined that secretly keeping an artifact could be considered such a serious “crime.”

“Damn it, how are we supposed to know some sacred law!”

Bale snapped irritably.

It was true—an ordinary person, neither a holy knight nor a believer, would have almost no way of knowing sacred law.

“And the damn Commander even slapped sacrilege on the little one.......”

Sacrilege was a charge brought against those who insulted God or acted against Him.

Those convicted under that article were, by regulation, transferred to the Central Continent.

Not a single one had ever returned.

There were only rumors that they endured horrific torture and died in agony.

“In any case, Commander Luminel promised to turn a blind eye.”

At Raul’s words, Enzo nodded.

“Right. I don’t understand exactly what becoming an accomplice means, but.......”

In the end, everyone fell silent.

After a pause, Basto sighed and looked at Tie.

“Tie. Are you alright.......”

But by then, Tie had already turned to the third page of the documents.