Chapter 44 - The Hearing (2)

As Meyer had pointed out before, divinity held an immense advantage against spirits. He had not asked Aiden for powerful divinity as a surefire way to defeat one for nothing.

The Holy Kingdom even had departments and personnel devoted exclusively to exorcism. No one could question their expertise.

People naturally devoted themselves to what they did well, and by the same principle, the Holy Kingdom had accumulated more knowledge of spirits than any other nation.

Which meant...

"Oh, so the Lord Protector attacked the Lionhearted because she did something wrong?"

"..."

"Is that right?"

"..."

"Because I don't think so."

Testimony delivered in this fashion was enough to make the minister of administration bury his face in his hands in dismay.

Of all things, the person at the very pinnacle of the field had appeared to weigh in on a matter concerning spirits.

And when that person treated everything they said as nonsense not even worth hearing, their problems doubled...

'... Even if I just leave things alone.'

Tapping his cheek, Aiden watched the minister take a verbal beating.

If things continued like this, Aiden's side would win a landslide victory.

Which also meant there was someone who certainly wouldn't let that happen.

"Aren't you simply taking sides, Your Holiness?"

The words dropped into the midst of the exchange.

The voice wasn't loud, but it had enough resonance to cut off both the minister and the Pontiff and draw everyone's attention.

"If you contradict us merely for the sake of contradiction, there is no point in your appearing in court as a witness."

The prince spoke quietly.

The Pontiff merely snorted again.

"Since when were you lot so logical?"

"..."

"Do you really want me to pick apart your arguments and beat you down point by point? Really?"

... On reflection, that was a vicious warning.

Even while throwing her weight around, she was observing one last boundary as a foreign ruler. If he actually challenged her, she made no promises beyond that.

But it was equally clear that her listener had no intention of backing down so easily.

"As the person who bears responsibility for the Holy Kingdom, you ought to display dignity and conduct befitting that position."

The prince answered without blinking.

"Rather than serving as someone else's pawn."

"..."

"Shouldn't a ruler stand above all others, rather than allow others to sway them?"

The corner of the Pontiff's mouth twisted upward.

"Prince."

"Yes, Your Holiness."

"If you want to lecture me, why don't you go take responsibility for a country first?"

"..."

"I'll spell it out, since you don't seem to know. A crown prince isn't an emperor. No matter what you say."

"..."

The Pontiff stepped down from the dais and slowly approached the silent prince.

She wore the mischievous grin of a child who had found an amusing new toy.

"You..."

The instant that word fell from her lips, the prince's expression contorted.

Only Aiden, who saw the divinity creeping up around her body, understood what it meant.

It was the same thing she had done to him not long ago: pressuring someone merely by releasing divinity.

No one else in the courtroom was affected, but the prince would be going through the same horrific experience Aiden had endured.

"...aren't in a position to bear responsibility for anything yet. Hmm?"

"..."

"Having a philosophy is all well and good, but don't forget your place."

As she spoke, taking one step after another, the prince broke into a cold sweat and slumped over the table. His pallid face made his condition abundantly clear.

And yet his upturned eyes never stopped glaring at the Pontiff.

As though he had no intention of retracting what he had said.

"..."

"..."

The strange standoff, incomprehensible to those around them, continued for a moment.

Then the Pontiff chuckled and withdrew her divinity.

At once, a breath burst from the prince's mouth.

Over it, the Pontiff spoke with a snicker.

"I'd give you seventy points. Not bad."

"... What do you think you're doing?"

"The Emperor worries so much about his son, you see. I thought I'd tease you a little."

Her gaze slid to the side.

"I might have taken quite a liking to you, if I hadn't found someone worth ninety points not long ago."

As her gaze landed squarely on him, Aiden sighed inwardly.

'... This woman. Honestly.'

Praising him openly by comparing him to the prince?

He had known she didn't care what other people thought, but how many disasters had she caused in this brief span of time?

He couldn't even imagine the scale of the diplomatic dispute this would cause if she weren't close friends with the Emperor...

To top it all off, the Pontiff walked over to Aiden and held out a fist.

While he stared in bewilderment at what was clearly an invitation to a fist bump, she winked.

"That should do it, right?"

"..."

... She was effectively announcing to the entire world that everything she had done here was a joint effort with him.

Indeed, to everyone around them who heard her, that single remark had firmly established Aiden as someone with some sort of connection to the Holy Kingdom.

Of course...

'... Calling this merely tying up loose ends...'

He doubted she would hand out favors like that as an act of charity.

That much was obvious from the words she delivered, eyes gleaming.

"I've done my part. You'd better keep your promise, all right?"

Aiden chuckled and bumped his fist against hers.

He had never expected to exchange such a casual greeting with a country's ruler.

"That's more than enough."

"Well, then."

She beamed in response and snapped her fingers.

Divinity engulfed her body like fire. To an uninformed observer, it might have looked like she was harming herself, but this was teleportation using designated coordinates.

'... You can do that with divinity too?'

Perhaps someday he would even see her freeze something with it. Its versatility was enough to make him entertain the thought.

"See you around."

With that, she vanished.

... In more ways than one, the woman was a storm.

▣

Essentially, the Pontiff could hardly help having complete freedom of movement.

She was powerful enough to need no guards in the first place, so whenever official business didn't keep her busy, she went wherever she liked, whenever she liked.

Even so, the place she visited immediately after leaving the courtroom was wholly unsuited to her station.

A dark, damp back alley near the courthouse.

Having teleported there, the Pontiff addressed a figure concealed in the shadows with an incredulous laugh.

"I know some people back home see you as a bug, but have you actually made yourself a habitat here?"

"..."

"What kind of girl likes dark, damp places this much?"

"..."

No answer came.

There was only the quiet sound of an arm moving.

In truth, skin made no sound at all when it was cut. If for some reason someone paid no attention to pain, they might not even realize when they had been cut.

Indeed, there was no sound whatsoever when the other person drew a knife across her own throat.

"You..."

The Pontiff folded her arms and spoke matter-of-factly.

"Still can't feel anything, can you?"

"..."

At that, the woman standing in the shadows raised her eyes to meet the Pontiff's.

Even calling that gaze gloomy would have been somewhat inaccurate.

It was utterly empty.

Nothing existed. Nothing had value. Nothing had meaning.

Something stimulating. Even something painful, horrific, or revolting would do.

Those eyes were steeped in pessimism pushed to its extreme, desperate to feel even a fleeting fragment of such a moment.

"You're still doing things like that whenever that Aiden boy isn't around."

She apparently managed to act fairly normally in front of him.

But without him, she was much the same as ever.

At her core, nothing had changed at all.

Katya Heinkel Craven still had a truly terrible desire to die.

"Your Holiness."

Katya answered sullenly.

"What's this? Why are you suddenly pretending to care?"

The moment she said it, Abigail III snapped her fingers.

... Katya's head instantly snapped backward.

The blow was violent enough to make the bones in her neck crack.

"Watch your mouth."

"..."

"It's not as if I never taught you manners. Hmm?"

"I'm asking how long you're going to keep up this ridiculous act of playing mother. You didn't even give birth to me."

"Watch it."

When the Pontiff widened her eyes in a glare, Katya looked away sourly.

She looked like an adolescent avoiding an argument because she knew she couldn't win against her parent anyway.

Their reactions were those of a mother who had smacked her child's back and the child on the receiving end...

No, it went a step further.

"... Why are you holding back? That's not like you."

Katya sounded incredulous that a woman who would normally burst her head without a second thought had stopped at this. The Pontiff answered with her arms folded.

"Someone warned me recently. Threatened to settle things with me once and for all if I touched his friend."

"..."

"I've just been to see your friend."

"... Your Holiness."

A smile crept stiffly across Katya's face.

That smile, forced onto an utterly vacant face, was profoundly chilling.

"If you touch him, I really will fight you to the death."

... Of course, her head immediately snapped backward again.

"I'm not touching him, you brat."

When Katya avoided answering, the Pontiff glanced up at the sky and frowned.

"I just came to give you a warning. Keep him safe."

"... What?"

More precisely, it felt as though the Pontiff wasn't looking at the sky, but at something beyond it.

"Not that I think the boy is lacking. But that looks rather... 'interesting' to me."

At the very least, it looked like just the thing to give even that lunatic a nasty surprise if he slipped up.

"Try earning some points with him. If he's that important to you."

She murmured those words while watching the heavens, and the soul pulsing beyond them.

▣

The hearing had reached a lull. The prince and the minister of administration had requested a recess.

In the waiting room, Noel, whose expression made it abundantly clear that her spirits had improved, was enthusiastically shaking Aiden by the arm.

"How? How did you do it?!"

"..."

"Connections with none other than the Pontiff of the Holy Kingdom!"

"..."

... He understood that it was surprising.

But he wished she would rein in her excitement a little.

Every time she shook his arm, his feet lifted slightly off the ground. He felt less like a human being than a life-size stuffed toy being swung around...

"At this rate, the prince's side will face a severe backlash for bringing up treason charges in the first place. They must have requested a recess because they have absolutely no rebuttal!"

She was right on every count.

Who could object when none other than the Holy Kingdom's Pontiff had personally spoken on the subject of souls? The most crucial piece of evidence behind their claim that the Lionhearted was a traitor had been shattered.

"... Aiden?"

It was around then that Noel noticed something amiss and tilted her head.

Aiden himself, the one responsible for this turn of events, didn't look pleased in the slightest.

"What's wrong? Did I say something I shouldn't have...?"

"No. Everything you said is right, Dame Noel."

"Then why...?"

In truth, there was hardly any need to ask.

Everything Noel had said was true. The prince had been cornered, and if things continued like this, his defeat was a foregone conclusion.

And, on reflection, that fact was itself the problem.

"Because this is where it begins."

As he spoke, Aiden held something out to her.

It was the sword Noel always wore at her side. He had brought it along beforehand.

"..."

While she blinked blankly, wondering why he was handing her this, Aiden opened the window and glanced upward.

"I've always thought this, but His Highness and I are both the sort to think ahead before we butt heads."

"... What?"

"We only pick a fight once we've prepared a way to escape safely, even if we end up on the losing side."

Planning, calculation, preparation, improvisation.

Those were things both Aiden and the prince enjoyed.

That made the other's moves easy to predict. Aiden only had to consider what he himself would do in this position.

"Which means, if I were in his position right now..."

Aiden sighed as he watched a rift form in the scenery.

"I'd overturn the whole board."

The sky was splitting apart.