* * *

The murmuring faded, leaving only silence. Instead, a hand gently brushed against my forehead.

Judging by the faint presence beside me, the person had likely sat down next to me.

For a while, the hand continued to move softly.

At that moment, the person let out a weak chuckle.

Just then, someone approached silently and whispered something to the person beside me.

Snippets of the conversation suggested that a visitor had already arrived and was waiting in one of the rooms.

Hearing this, the person next to me stood up, brushing off their knees.

Unlike before, there was no trace of urgency or fear.

“Alexander is already here? I’ll be right there.”

Before leaving, they tidied my hair as if fixing it.

“Rest well.”

Their hands even adjusted the mask that had shifted on my face.

The gentle touch made me unknowingly curve my lips into a faint smile.

The warm sunlight, coupled with the unknown person’s tender gesture, felt comforting.

For a moment, I considered opening my eyes to see who it was, but I gave up.

My eyelids, weighed down, refused to budge.

Sleep returned, pulling me under once more.

“Sweet dreams,” they whispered.

With those parting words, I drifted back to sleep.

The strange thing was that, for once, I didn’t dream that odd recurring dream.

---

When I awoke, it was already midday.

I had fallen asleep in the early morning, but how much time had passed was uncertain.

Because of this, I missed morning prayers, breakfast, and even my confession with Kaindel.

Still, I felt less fatigued than earlier, which lifted my mood.

Greeting familiar faces as I passed them in the corridor, I made my way toward Owen’s room.

Having received Viscount Chernian’s warning, I had finally decided what to do.

I would inform Owen about the traitor within the temple and then head to Gazettete.

Though I didn’t know why the Pope had instructed me to go there, it seemed they might have foreseen this situation.

---

At the door to Owen’s room stood a novice priest I hadn’t seen before.

He was softly closing the door, as though just leaving the room.

“Thank you,” he said politely, bowing toward the interior.

The novice priest looked bright as he turned away, and I waited for him to notice me before approaching with a question.

“Is he inside?”

I didn’t specify further, as the room’s owner was obvious.

Understanding my meaning, the novice priest nodded.

“Yes, he’s inside. Shall I call him for you?”

“No, thank you. I appreciate it.”

I gestured for him to carry on, and the novice priest hurried off, clutching a scripture in his arms.

He was probably on his way to copy texts.

Only after the novice priest disappeared completely did I knock softly on the closed door.

After two knocks, I heard permission to enter and gently pushed the door open.

The room reflected its owner’s personality—tidy and organized.

Unlike the Pope’s warm atmosphere, the well-arranged books and documents exuded a sense of order that was strangely comforting.

At the wooden table facing the door, Owen looked up from the documents he was reviewing.

His expression betrayed mild surprise as he rose.

He clearly hadn’t expected my visit.

“Ah, Ein?”

“You can call me by my usual name now.”

“All right, Isa.”

Taking off his mask, Owen pressed his fingers to his temples before putting on his glasses.

He walked over to me, sitting across from where I’d already made myself comfortable.

“What brings you here?”

“It’s about what I mentioned earlier.”

“Viscount Chernian?”

“Yes.”

Owen quickly realized that my visit was related to Chernian, saving me the need for preamble.

I launched straight into the details, outlining what I knew about Chernian’s schemes.

When I mentioned that he had sought me out at dawn, Owen’s expression darkened.

“He came to you?”

“It seemed like a warning.”

“To stop meddling?”

“Yes.”

“Were you planning to meddle?”

“I did want to investigate. It bothered me too much to ignore. But as for interfering… I’m not sure. My only goal was to understand what Viscount Chernian was plotting—not to disrupt his plans.”

It was true that I had been curious about Chernian’s schemes and wanted to uncover the details.

But I had no intention of getting involved.

My role was merely to alert Kaindel to any danger.

That hadn’t changed. However, after this morning’s warning, I had revised my plans.

If Chernian had only wanted to kill my curiosity, he wouldn’t have bothered to come personally.

His actions implied that he wouldn’t leave me alone now that I knew about his schemes.

I could only assume he saw me as a potential threat to be eliminated.

Thus, for my own safety, it was important to catch the informant leaking information to Viscount Chernian, even if that meant learning more about his schemes or the current situation from Gazette later on.

Meanwhile, Owen, seemingly mulling over my words, remained silent for a while before finally speaking.

“If Viscount Chernian is well-informed about internal affairs within the temple, there must be an informant.”

“I agree. I suspect there might be one not only among the higher-ups but also among the regular priests.”

Since Viscount Chernian knew that I was the one who had overheard his conversation, it was certain that one of the higher-ups was the informant.

However, the fact that I frequently met with Kaindel was something even regular priests could easily know.

Considering that Viscount Chernian had started suspecting me, it would be convenient for him to plant an informant close to me.

That’s why there must be an informant among the regular priests as well.

Without a doubt.

As if agreeing with my reasoning, Owen slowly blinked his eyes.

“I’ll handle investigating the higher-ups. Could you look into the informant among the regular priests? Once we’ve identified the informants, we can hand them over to Sehir.”

“To Sehir?”

For now, I only intended to find the informant within the temple and hand them over to Owen.

But Sehir?

His sudden mention caught me off guard.

While I was puzzling over it, Owen adjusted his slipping glasses.

“There are two recent topics from the Noble Council. The mercenaries who’ve come from the Republic of Sheynes, and the rioter incidents in the southern regions of the Hadelber Kingdom.”

“Sehir…”

“Is still pretending to maintain neutrality.”

“Pretending? So, they’re not actually neutral.”

“No, they’re not. They’ve been in covert contact with Gazette.”

I froze momentarily at the familiar name that came from Owen’s lips.

Owen’s intention to hand the informants over to Sehir implied that Sehir was opposing Viscount Chernian.

It also made his statement about Sehir’s covert contact with Gazette perfectly clear.

“Could Gazette be involved in this as well?”

“Didn’t you know? Gazette is being used as a base.”

“A base for the rioters?”

“Strictly speaking, not rioters. It’s more like…”

Even though I had merely echoed his earlier phrasing, Owen seemed dissatisfied with something.

Taking a deep breath as if to correct me, he exhaled heavily.

“Never mind. Once you’ve caught the informant among the regular priests, you should step away from this matter.”

“That’s my plan. Besides, there’s nothing more I can do. Once the informant is caught, I intend to leave the temple. I might even visit Gazette.”

“Gazette?”

“Yes, the Pope suggested I visit Gazette.”

Answering Owen’s question, I sighed halfway through my reply.

“Do you think it’s possible that the Pope is the informant?”

“It’s unlikely. He’s a friend of Alexander.”

Alexander—the editor-in-chief of Gazette and one of the Pope’s mentioned allies.

Hearing Owen’s unwavering trust in the Pope due to his friendship with Alexander, I quickly agreed.

It didn’t make sense for someone with such strong resentment toward Hadelber Kingdom to be collaborating with Viscount Chernian.

“Then what about Kaindel…”

Before I could finish asking whether Kaindel was connected to Gazette, Owen, lost in thought, interrupted me.

“…Who knows? That would be ironic.”

“Why?”

“Because the rumors about Kaindel going mad started with Gazette.”

* * *