Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 105

#105. Seed of Doubt (2)

2024.06.01.

Provenance, looking displeased, reached out and took the document Belladonna offered.

He examined the crumpled and torn paper with evident dissatisfaction. It looked as though it had been carried around for a long time.

“What on earth is this…?”

The Pope’s expression was devoid of expectation as he looked at the paper.

“……”

As he examined the contents, his face gradually hardened.

His eyes, slowly moving downwards, trembled slightly.

After reading everything, he widened his eyes and asked loudly.

“What is this, this blasphemous document! Where did you find such a thing?”

“I found it inside the Papal Palace.”

“Where in the Papal Palace!”

Blood rushed to his face, which had stiffened.

With a flushed face, he clenched the already crumpled paper even tighter.

Belladonna watched the paper being crushed in his fist with a blank expression.

It was a satisfying reaction.

The secret misdeeds he thought no one knew were written in detail in a document he had never seen before, so it was no wonder he was shocked.

As she remained silent, the Pope forced out each syllable, as if suppressing his anger.

“Tell me immediately who gave it to you.”

“Isn’t it shocking enough for you, Your Holiness? To dare to conduct such terrible experiments on people under the eyes of God…”

“……”

“Did the person who conducted those experiments think they were God? So arrogant as to believe they could create someone with divine power with their own hands…”

“Tell me who gave it to you, now!”

Pope Provenance trembled all over as he shouted, on the verge of exploding.

Belladonna swallowed hard and opened her mouth.

“I found Cardinal Nicholas left it in the chapel. I thought he had forgotten it, so I was going to return it to him directly, but the contents were so shocking…”

“You XXX…”

A curse immediately followed.

He was reacting like this just because she casually mentioned that Cardinal Nicholas had left it behind.

Judging from his sharp reaction, it was clear that Nicholas was also involved.

Belladonna cleared her throat and spoke again.

“Surely Cardinal Nicholas didn’t conduct such terrible experiments…?”

“……”

“Cardinal Nicholas couldn’t have done such a thing alone, so if he did it with someone else inside the Papal Palace…!”

As she spoke, she glanced at his face, which was rapidly becoming anxious.

To plant a small seed of doubt in him, hoping to find real evidence to bring down the Pope.

Now, what are you going to do?

Pope Provenance took a deep breath as if suppressing his anger and asked.

“Have you shown this document to anyone else besides me?”

“No. I found it on the way here and brought it straight to you.”

“Where is Cardinal Nicholas?”

“I heard he left the Papal Palace in a hurry a little while ago.”

“He left?”

His face changed from moment to moment at Belladonna’s words, which was quite a sight.

Pope Provenance stared into space as if thinking about something, then quickly turned and walked towards the entrance of his office.

He opened the door and, seeing a priest walking down the hallway, asked in a loud voice.

“Do you know where Cardinal Nicholas is?”

“Ah, Your Holiness. Cardinal Nicholas left the Papal Palace a little while ago.”

“Where did he say he was going?”

“I, I don’t know.”

The priest’s voice sounded flustered as he answered.

Belladonna watched as the Pope’s back stiffened instantly.

It must have been quite disconcerting for him that his trusted subordinate had not only written a report that could put a knife to his throat but had also left the Papal Palace.

‘…He’s incredibly flustered.’

Belladonna blinked slowly as she watched him.

He was so flustered that he seemed to have forgotten that he sent Cardinal Nicholas to Timothy the priest’s house once a day.

Right now, Cardinal Nicholas was just diligently doing what you told him to do…

Soon, the Pope, who had been standing blankly, turned his head and spat out at Belladonna.

“Wait a moment, Belladonna. Until Cardinal Nicholas returns.”

Belladonna nodded.

As you wish.

* * *

The sun set outside the large window, the pride of the office.

Cardinal Nicholas did not appear in the Papal Palace until the red sunset had completely disappeared.

And that was only natural. By now, Escalion and the Gribalta Knights [an elite order of knights] would have taken him somewhere.

“……”

In the darkened room, Pope Provenance raised both hands, clasped them together, and buried his head in them.

Belladonna watched him without a word.

As time passed, he must have made some decision on his own.

Perhaps his foolish subordinate had carelessly dropped an important document, or perhaps he had really betrayed him and left the Papal Palace to prepare to reveal this fact to someone.

No, in fact, that didn’t matter.

What mattered was that someone had almost found out about his misdeeds.

And soon, they might find out.

“Belladonna.”

A low voice brushed against Belladonna’s ear.

Pope Provenance raised his head, looked at her, and opened his mouth.

“Forget what you saw.”

“……”

“Those chosen by God cannot do things that harm people, can they? For Nicholas’s sake, let’s cover up his faults.”

Huh…

Belladonna secretly let out a hollow laugh.

First, she couldn’t do anything to cover up Nicholas’s faults.

Covering up the misdeeds committed by Cardinal Nicholas and the Pope together was itself harmful to people.

Second, strictly speaking, it wasn’t Cardinal Nicholas’s fault.

It was none other than Pope Provenance who had done it.

How can he lie without batting an eye….

“But apart from that, we must strip Cardinal Nicholas of his position as of today. The human experiments he conducted were extremely unethical and cruel.”

“……”

“I will show you Scarlet.”

Provenance rose from his seat.

Belladonna also stood up and followed him.

The Pope walked down the hallway with relentless steps, not even glancing at Belladonna, who was following behind.

‘Huh? Isn’t he covering my eyes this time?’

Anxiety was evident in his advancing steps. How anxious must he be to forget even that?

Belladonna kept her mouth shut, pretended not to notice, and followed him.

Pope Provenance entered a hallway that Belladonna had never been to before, went down a circular staircase for a long time, and repeatedly passed through unknown doors.

Who knew the Papal Palace building was so complicated….

Perhaps all the buildings were intertwined through the basement.

After a while, Provenance stopped in front of a door that didn’t seem particularly special and opened his mouth.

“Belladonna, let’s go back to the way things were.”

What does that mean?

“If you pray to God in the chapel and live piously and purely, you will be able to regain your lost divine power. If that happens, please live sacrificing yourself for the Papal Palace as before.”

Belladonna turned her head towards him, who kept uttering hypocritical words.

What on earth does he want to say, going around in circles like this?

Provenance also turned his gaze towards her, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

“Belladonna. Now, instead of Cardinal Nicholas, I want to entrust many things to you. I think you will do well the things he couldn’t do properly.”

After speaking, he took a step closer to Belladonna.

“People often call us the closest to God. Furthermore, some people even describe us as God’s representatives.”

“……”

“Of course, I believe that God exists. Or, to be more precise, I believe that the hearts of those who serve God exist. And that heart is often maintained through the special abilities of those chosen like you.”

Belladonna quietly stared at him.

“I need you. I did before, and I will in the future. In order to maintain the Papal Palace, and furthermore, to maintain the Elinus Empire, the existence of those chosen by God is absolutely necessary. And in fact, the more people like that, the better.”

The more the better….

Faintly, she felt like she knew why he had forced those human experiments.

He wanted to keep the saints chosen by God and possessing divine power under his control, and make all the people’s faith and respect for them his own.

Even so, how could he do such a thing?

The people the Pope chose as subjects for human experimentation were mainly poor commoners who had no power or connections.

Thinking of those who had died without knowing why, she couldn’t maintain her composure.

Belladonna suppressed her boiling anger and looked at Pope Provenance.

He opened his mouth as if responding to Belladonna’s gaze towards him.

“Can you assist me by my side from now on?”

Belladonna’s gaze slowly turned to the Pope’s hand, which was fiddling with a bunch of keys.

“……”

And at that moment, an unknown premonition pierced her.

A keen sense, the origin of which she couldn’t identify, was shouting that there was something in this room.

Belladonna swallowed hard and slowly opened her mouth.

“Yes, I will.”

Pope Provenance, hearing Belladonna’s answer, found a small key from the bunch of keys and inserted it into the doorknob, turning it.

With an unpleasant noise of old wood opening, the interior revealed itself.

This is….

An old desk and chair, and a safe with a lock. And a tightly closed door where Scarlet would be trapped.

Belladonna frowned at the scene, which resembled a classic torture chamber.

“See for yourself.”

The Pope, who had entered inside first, pulled out another key from the bunch of keys he was holding and opened the door in the room.

As if possessed, Belladonna approached it and looked into the dark interior.

“……!”

In the middle of the room, someone was lying as if dead.

Soft silver hair and simple Gribalta-style clothing that wrapped around a familiar thin figure.

She really was Scarlet Layton.

As soon as she confirmed her miserable appearance, Belladonna rushed towards her without hesitation.