Chapter 116:
Ten and Sue’s relationship was nothing more than master and servant, bound by money. There was loyalty, but it was strictly transactional.
That was why Ten wanted to end whatever Sue was trying to do as quickly as possible. To minimize the damage to herself.
Just as Sue couldn’t understand why Ten was suddenly offering to go herself, Ten couldn’t understand why Sue was so obsessed with investigating an unfamiliar subordinate religion.
“I understand why you’re anxious. But that won’t happen again, don’t worry.”
Sue took a sip of her cold tea. But Ten didn’t believe her. She sighed and said,
“Honestly, the Imperial Family won’t react to just two servants going missing.”
Sue flinched at her sharp words.
“Servants running away is a common occurrence… And the errand boys probably just prioritized a more profitable job. That’s what they do.”
“….”
Sue knew that too. The missing “errand boys” and the servants who hadn’t returned. There were plausible explanations for both, and the Imperial Family wouldn’t even glance at her petition. She knew that most people would believe Ten’s explanation for their disappearance.
“Miss, please let me go. I won’t run away.”
Ten pressed her advantage, seeing Sue’s hesitation.
“You said they use brainwashing magic in that Holy Demon Religion. But brainwashing magic only works on people with weak minds, right?”
She was the personal maid of a mage family’s heir, after all. Her knowledge of magic might be superficial compared to that of true mages, but she wasn’t completely ignorant.
“So I’ll be fine. Forgive my boldness, but I don’t believe in God, and more importantly, I’m your personal maid.”
Ten smirked.
The reason why she was so confident wasn’t just because she didn’t believe in God, but because she didn’t believe in her mistress’s strange delusions.
That the high priest of the Holy Demon Religion was using brainwashing, that Melaine, and even all of Löhn, would be in danger at this rate. Who would believe her ridiculous story?
“I’ll bring back evidence, I promise. Please trust me.”
Even if Sue’s delusion was true, even if the high priest brainwashed her, Ten was confident.
Not confident that she wouldn’t be brainwashed, but confident that her cunning mistress would use her to disband the Holy Demon Religion somehow.
***
The indecisive Sue Byron eventually gave in to Ten. She couldn’t flatly reject her maid’s insistence that they “get this over with quickly.”
She knew how much Ten and Nine had suffered because of ‘Sue Byron’, especially last winter. The guilt that she shouldn’t have felt choked her once again.
Sue, alone in her office at the townhouse, leaned back in her chair and stared at the necklace in her hand.
A silver necklace with a raven pendant.
It was the Holy Demon Religion necklace that Elizabeth had given her that night. The silver raven, absorbing the moonlight, glittered brilliantly.
‘Don’t worry, Miss. You’re still the only one for me.’
Sue mumbled in the darkness, the room unlit.
“I’m a fool too.”
Ten wasn’t coming back.
***
“You’re new here. Who referred you?”
“No one, I heard about it from people nearby. I wanted to watch the service.”
“Ah, I see. Welcome to the Holy Demon Religion. Would you mind writing your name in the register?”
The woman standing at the entrance to the chapel handed her a register and a quill. Sue took it slowly and pretended to write her name, her eyes scanning the register.
“There are people waiting behind you, so could you please write your name in an empty space?”
The woman urged her kindly, as Sue was taking too long. Sue gave up on searching and scribbled a random name on the paper, then pulled her hood down low and entered the chapel.
It had been two weeks since Ten hadn’t returned to the mansion. Sue, who hadn’t slept properly in ten days, had finally given up. She had decided to enter the tiger’s den alone.
Sue Byron stood in the Holy Demon Religion chapel, her long hair unkempt, her body covered in dirt, dressed in old clothes and a cloak that looked at least ten years old.
“Ten… Where is Ten…”
Sue’s eyes darted around anxiously in the crowded chapel.
When Ten hadn’t returned, Sue had first reported their disappearance to the Imperial Heresy Inquisition, using it as an excuse. But as everyone had expected, she didn’t get the response she had hoped for.
The heresy inquisitors weren’t interested in investigating a minor disappearance case, and more importantly, they seemed reluctant to touch a small subordinate religion that a Skia and the Northern High Priest were involved in.
Eren had also scolded her for acting on her own and told her not to overreact, saying he would find her a new maid.
‘Nothing is going my way.’
But unfortunately, Sue wasn’t cunning enough to calmly accept Ten’s disappearance.
Why did I send Ten? Why did I even try to investigate the Holy Demon Religion?
She regretted it bitterly, but it was something she had started, so she couldn’t blame anyone else.
As she had seen in the novel, the chapel was located in the basement of an abandoned building. And as Azette had said, the inside of the chapel was surprisingly clean and cozy, despite being in the basement of a crumbling building.
There was a register for attendees at the bottom of the stairs, and the main hall was as large as a banquet hall. Instead of magical lamps, there were candles everywhere, so there was no musty basement smell.
A large pulpit was set up at the front of the main hall, and there was a small door at the end of the pulpit. According to the novel, there was a long corridor behind that door, leading to the high priest’s office.
She had deliberately chosen a day when the high priest wasn’t there, but the chapel was still crowded. Most of the followers were dressed in old clothes.
There were a few people who looked wealthy, but no one was dressed in noble attire.
The peculiar thing was that there were chairs for the followers to sit on near the pulpit, but the quality of the chairs deteriorated as you went further back, and at the very end, there were just old cushions scattered on the floor.
“Is this the class system?”
Sue mumbled to herself.
As Azette had said, the Holy Demon Religion valued “soul purity” above all else.
The high priest of the Holy Demon Religion measured the “soul purity,” or “soul level,” of his followers and assigned them to classes, from First to Fifth, based on their purity.
The treatment they received in the Holy Demon Religion differed depending on their class, and the seating arrangement was a clear indication of that.
But Sue hadn’t come to Dande to investigate the Holy Demon Religion’s system.
From the moment Ten hadn’t returned, Sue had given up on trying to stop a cult out of some misplaced sense of justice and pity.
She didn’t have the ability. Her only goal now was to bring back her personal maid, Ten.
Ten was one of the few people who knew her secret and kept it. Even though their relationship was a master-servant one built on money, she didn’t want to throw Ten and Nine away like trash.
Sue didn’t take a seat in any of the five sections. She moved through the crowd, searching for Ten’s stern face.
‘The errand boys… They’re here too.’
She wished they had just run away for more money, as someone had suggested. Sue grimaced as she spotted the “errand boys” kneeling and praying in the Fifth section.
“Ah… Found her!”
Luckily, she found Ten right away. Ten was sitting in a Third chair, her eyes glazed over, staring blankly into space.
“Ten!”
“God…”
“Ten! What are you doing? Ten!”
“Hmm… Uh, M-Miss?”
Sue grabbed Ten’s shoulder and shook her, her voice a whisper. Ten’s face, which had been smiling vacantly, contorted in shock as she saw Sue.
“What are you doing here, M-… Mmmph!”
“Be quiet.”
Sue quickly covered Ten’s mouth before she could call her “Miss.” She grabbed Ten’s wrist and dragged her out of the chapel.
“M-Miss! Are you oka-… Oh my, Ten!”
Nine and two escort knights were waiting for Sue behind the abandoned building. Nine stared at Ten, her eyes wide with surprise, as she was dragged out. Her colleague, who had been serving Sue with her until recently, looked terrible.