You Are Mistaken
That night, Rachel could not sleep.
That voice definitely belonged to the Duchess of Valentino.
Canna Valentino. The noblewoman who had come from the mainland.
She was beautiful to a shocking degree. Even her voice carried a strangely sweet timbre, so Rachel remembered every detail about her with perfect clarity.
Beyond mere sensuality, Canna radiated something almost bewitching.
Like a rose covered in thorns, like a fruit brimming with poison, a subtle, enchanting aura flowed from her. Her pale, almost translucent skin, her hair as black as ebony, and her lips red as blood all seemed unreal.
She was beautiful in a way that felt ominous.
Yet she too is suffering from the madness.
She had run through the rain wearing nothing but her nightgown.
And, blasphemously, barefoot.
Suddenly, the words Canna had spoken drifted through her mind.
“Have you never considered that you might be harboring an extremely wicked delusion?”
“Perhaps everything is simply Rachel’s delusion.”
“Or maybe a misunderstanding.”
No.
No, no, no!
Rachel bit down hard on her lip.
How many Black Apostles had she burned at the stake?
Fifteen years’ worth. Fifteen in total.
One had been a ten-year-old boy, another an elderly man, then a young man, and once even a middle-aged woman.
“Please, it’s not me!”
“Waaaah, Mommy! Save me!”
“This is unfair! I am not a Black Apostle!”
“My lady.”
Startled, Rachel jerked her head up. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even noticed anyone approaching.
“Sir Jerome.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
Rachel smiled weakly. Jerome sighed and gently draped a shawl over her shoulders.
“Why aren’t you resting yet?”
“But Sir Orsini still hasn’t returned.”
“It seems he went to retrieve that madwoman. After all, they are siblings, aren’t they?”
The servants’ accounts continued: how Canna had rampaged through the mansion like a lunatic before dashing outside.
“Um, Sir Jerome.”
“Yes?”
“Actually, I can’t sleep because I keep thinking about what the Duchess said today.”
After a moment of hesitation, Rachel spoke her true feelings.
“Everything I’ve done until now……”
“……”
“It must all have been God’s will, right?”
She could not have said this to anyone but Jerome.
Not to her weak-willed father, the lord of the island, nor to the high priest who constantly chased after women.
Only to Sir Jerome, the knight who had protected her since childhood, the brother-like guardian.
What if—just what if—Canna had been right……
No.
The mere thought made her breath catch in her throat.
“Do not let yourself be deceived by evil.”
Jerome’s voice was firm.
“The peace we enjoy today exists because you have purified the Black Apostles, my lady. Had you not done so, the islanders would have continued suffering from the madness until they were destroyed.”
“……”
“This island’s safety is thanks to the Saintess.”
Saintess. The word loosened the tightness in Rachel’s chest.
Yes. She was the Saintess.
The only person in the village untouched by the madness. Didn’t everyone revere her as such?
“Canna Valentino—that woman possesses an evil tongue. Perhaps she is an agent of darkness sent to test the Saintess’s faith?”
“……”
Yes. That woman had felt ominous. And she had shaken Rachel’s heart with those wicked words, testing her belief.
Was that why she had been struck with the madness?
“Yes……”
Rachel smiled.
“Sir Jerome is right. I have not been wrong.”
She could not be wrong.
All those years, all those purifications, all those sacrifices.
Those countless deaths could not have been the result of a mere delusion.
They must not be.
Kallen Addis had finally returned to the mansion.
The nightmarish battle in the port city of Venecia was over.
It had been the worst Black Fog he had ever faced—both in scale and in the sheer number of monsters it had spawned.
I’m exhausted.
Upon returning home after that grueling journey, he was met with shocking news.
“Kallen! It’s Orsini!”
The moment he arrived, Chloe burst out with a tear-stained face, sobbing.
“Orsini has gone missing! Did you know?”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“Canna went there, but she won’t care about your brother at all. She won’t even pretend to look for him!”
“What are you saying?”
His ears sharpened. His sister had gone to Pailon Island?
While he had been in Venecia, he too had received the reports.
Orsini had departed for Pailon Island and subsequently vanished. The knights who accompanied him had been wiped out. They had left behind a letter before all communication ceased.
It was an incredibly shocking development. Yet Kallen had never doubted Orsini’s survival.
Therefore, the news that truly stunned him was something else entirely.
“My sister is on Pailon Island?”
His heart plummeted.
There should have been no reason for her to set foot on that dangerous island.
“Why did my sister go there?”
Once he learned the full story, his face turned ice-cold. The emperor had sent her.
What a despicably cunning move.
Kallen dismounted but, instead of resting, immediately wheeled his horse around.
“Kallen! Where are you going? Kallen!”
To his mother’s frantic cries from behind, he gave a short reply.
“I’m heading to Pailon Island.”
The next day.
Once dawn broke, Canna toured the village with Claude.
After examining the madness-afflicted residents one by one, she returned to the mansion as the sun began to set.
“I heard what happened. You suffered an episode of the madness last night, I understand.”
It had been an incredibly exhausting day. Rachel visited just as Canna was trying to rest comfortably in her room.
“You disappeared so suddenly last night that I was terribly worried. I truly hope nothing serious occurred.”
“……”
The rumors had clearly spread everywhere.
Yet Canna neither confirmed nor denied them. When no answer came, Rachel let out a sorrowful sigh.
“Duchess Valentino, I am afraid I must now deliver some very bad news.”
“Bad news? What is it?”
“I sense a very intense demonic energy within you, Duchess. I am sorry.”
“……”
What? You sense what from whom?
Canna was so stunned she couldn’t respond right away. She barely held back the urge to tell the girl to stop spouting nonsense.
She pressed hard against her temples.
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
“And what do you intend to do about it? Hang me upside down from a tree and burn me at the stake as well?”
She had spoken with open contempt, but Rachel’s expression remained unchanged.
“Duchess Valentino.”
“Speak.”
“You may consider the method barbaric. However, it is the only way to protect this island.”
Her voice was so serene that she seemed to harbor not the slightest doubt about the practice.
“It is because we have continued this way that the people of Pailon Island have been able to live in peace.”
“……”
“Please respect that.”
Canna fell silent.
Respect. Yes, respecting diversity was important, but……
How exactly am I supposed to respect a culture that brands innocent people as witches and burns them alive?
There were so many things she wanted to say. Yet none of the words came easily.
It was because of the eyes now staring back at her.
Those clear eyes, completely trapped inside their own world—she didn’t even know where to begin.
“In a few days, we will gather everyone who suffered from the madness this year, identify the Black Apostles among them, and perform the Purification Ceremony.”
“And? Don’t tell me you expect me to stand there as well?”
Rachel lowered her gaze. Her next words sounded almost like a provocation.
“Are you not confident?”
Canna summoned every ounce of patience she possessed and answered with courtesy.
“Is this a question of confidence?”
“If you are truly not a Black Apostle, Duchess, you may stand there without fear. That will be the end of it.”
“But whether I am a Black Apostle or not depends entirely on your personal judgment, Miss Rachel. So what exactly am I supposed to trust when I stand there?”
“Duchess, it is not my personal judgment. It is my ability.”
“……”
That was the limit. She could listen no further.
Canna finally spoke the words she had been holding back since the beginning.
“Miss Rachel, listen carefully. You are badly mistaken.”
She knew the woman held no malice. She was simply ignorant.
Even so, that did not justify her atrocities.
“There is another reason the villagers suffer from the madness. Contrary to what you believe, it has nothing to do with the Black Apostles.”