Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 111

Don’t Get Caught by Your Husband! 111. Last Desperate Struggle (1)

#111. Last Desperate Struggle (1)

2024.06.03.

“Escalion…? How did you get here?”

*He’s here before I even called him? How did he get here so quickly?*

Escalion wrapped his thick arm around Belladona’s waist, pulling her close, and whispered.

“I was following Nicholas from the start. Then I saw you get out of the carriage and rush after him.”

*Ah, he was already following him?* Belladona clicked her tongue and closed her mouth.

She felt a bit awkward, realizing that she could have ruined Escalion’s pursuit instead of helping him.

“Good job. I didn’t know my wife was so quick and stealthy.”

As if reading her mind, Escalion said in a low voice.

Belladona let out a small, dry laugh.

Anyone could see that she was far from quick or stealthy, but she was grateful for his words.

He watched the direction Nicholas had disappeared in and asked quietly.

“Is that a chapel?”

“Yes, it’s an old building that people don’t visit often. They say it was built when the Papal State was first established in Astagna.”

“The passage from the basement to that building must have been made back then.”

Escalion said briefly and started walking.

Belladona, almost held in his thick arm, naturally leaned on him as she moved.

In the darkness, his golden eyes gleamed coldly.

Belladona glanced up at Escalion and then shifted her gaze towards Nicholas’s back.

He was cautiously looking around, bending over as much as possible, and hurrying into the old chapel.

“Shouldn’t we call for more people?”

“We might miss the Pope if we make too much noise.”

As Nicholas reached the chapel door, it opened automatically.

Belladona frowned as she identified the person who came out.

The thin man, wearing a long white robe that covered his feet, had somewhat messy and disheveled hair that reached his shoulders.

With a gentle expression that didn’t match the situation, he looked even more harmless with the round glasses perched on his nose.

“Who is that?”

Escalion asked.

“That’s the Master of the Magic Tower.”

“The Master of the Magic Tower?”

A lot was contained in that short question.

He probably didn’t expect the highest-ranking mage in the Elinus Empire to be such a young man.

After watching him for a moment, Escalion spoke again.

“The Imperial Knights said that the Master of the Magic Tower returned to the tower after the birthday celebration.”

“That’s what should have happened… or rather, that’s what actually happened, but there’s no place in the Elinus Empire that the Master of the Magic Tower can’t go. He can create portals to go wherever he wants.”

She thought of the portal created in Griblata.

The portal that threatened her and Escalion and sent the thugs who kidnapped Scarlet.

“Either the Pope or Cardinal Nicholas called him urgently to come here. Maybe he realized that His Majesty was going to investigate the Papal State and came before the Imperial Knights.”

“In any case, it seems clear that the Master of the Magic Tower hasn’t let go of the Pope’s hand yet.”

Belladona bit her lower lip.

*Why is the Master of the Magic Tower going so far?*

As she was lost in thought, Escalion suddenly picked her up and tucked her firmly under his arm.

Belladona, dangling in the air in an instant, looked up at him.

*Is he treating me like a sack of potatoes right now…?*

“We don’t have time, so just bear with it. If the Master of the Magic Tower creates a portal inside and smuggles the Pope and Cardinal out, it’s all over.”

Before Belladona could answer, Escalion moved.

She blinked, feeling the scenery in front of her quickly disappearing behind her.

She didn’t think she heard anything, but they were already right in front of the old chapel door.

*What is this? Is it teleportation? He’s really agile and fast…*

He put the admiring Belladona down and slightly opened the chapel door to look inside.

“Damn it…”

He cursed as he confirmed something inside the chapel.

Judging from the bright light and the amount of wind blowing through the slightly opened door, it was clear that the Master of the Magic Tower was creating a portal inside the chapel for the Pope to escape.

*Were they too late?* She immediately felt anxious.

Escalion, who was glaring inside, seemed to put his hand on his waist for a moment before quickly pushing open the chapel door and throwing his thick sword towards the front.

With a heavy sound, the sword cut through the air and landed right in front of the Master of the Magic Tower, who was creating a portal in front of a large full-length mirror on one side of the chapel.

“…!”

The Master of the Magic Tower, who was stretching out his hands to create the portal, instinctively dodged.

Thanks to that, the magic he was wielding stopped, and the portal that had been growing in front of him disappeared in an instant.

“Why don’t you stop now?”

Belladona followed Escalion, who was striding inside, and entered the chapel.

She quickly turned her head and looked around.

Inside the old chapel, where eerie darkness and musty air hung everywhere, no one was visible except for the Master of the Magic Tower, who was slowly raising his upper body in front of the large mirror.

Neither Cardinal Nicholas, who had entered a moment ago, nor the Pope and Scarlet were to be seen.

*Were they already gone?* She immediately felt anxious.

At that moment, the Master of the Magic Tower, who was looking down at the sharp sword that had made a huge scratch on the wooden floor, slowly raised his head.

“…What are you doing? Who are you?”

It was a very comfortable and calm voice that didn’t match the situation.

Escalion took a step towards him and said.

“The Imperial Knights have been dispatched throughout the Papal State to investigate Pope Pronan. Unauthorized movement is prohibited.”

“Don’t you know who I am?”

“At least I don’t think you’re on His Majesty’s side.”

The Master of the Magic Tower raised his pale gray eyes and stared at Escalion.

Escalion met his gaze without avoiding it.

After a moment, the Master of the Magic Tower’s gaze, which had been quietly watching Escalion, moved towards Belladona, who was standing behind him.

Belladona was startled and looked at him.

“Saint Belladona, it’s been a while. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see you in person at His Majesty’s birthday celebration. I heard that you gave many blessings again this year.”

*Such leisurely greetings in this situation…*

Belladona, with an expression of utter incomprehension, opened her mouth awkwardly.

“…Where are the Pope and the Cardinal?”

“You can speak?”

The Master of the Magic Tower’s eyes widened slightly and then narrowed again.

Belladona felt an unknown sense of rejection and spoke again.

“I saw Cardinal Nicholas entering here. Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

As soon as the Master of the Magic Tower finished speaking, Escalion pulled out the sword that was stuck in the floor and slammed it down on the wooden altar in front of him.

With the sound of hard wood breaking, the altar was completely split in two.

Among the brutally split pieces of wood, old candlesticks, law books, and other small miscellaneous items were visible.

Escalion looked down at the scene indifferently and said.

“If it’s not here, is it the pulpit?”

His footsteps headed towards the pulpit, which was a little away from the altar.

Then, someone hiding under the pulpit crawled out in a hurried and awkward posture.

“P, please stop…”

The person who revealed himself was Cardinal Nicholas, who was awkwardly raising both hands.

Belladona watched the look of disdain quickly flash across the eyes of the Master of the Magic Tower as he looked at him.

Escalion put the sharp tip of his sword under Nicholas’s chin.

“What were you doing hiding here?”

“…”

Cardinal Nicholas couldn’t say anything and just rolled his eyes.

Escalion, staring at him as he continued to move his lips as if he was about to say something, as if trying to stall for time, put strength on the tip of his sword.

“I’m asking what you’re doing.”

“I, I was looking for the Pope. I heard he disappeared and I was worried…”

“So did you find him?”

“I, I couldn’t find him. We don’t know the internal structure of the Papal State perfectly either.”

Escalion, staring at him, turned his head and asked the Master of the Magic Tower.

“Master of the Magic Tower, what were you doing? Were you helping Cardinal Nicholas find the Pope together?”

“…”

The Master of the Magic Tower turned his gaze away without answering.

He was looking at the air as if he was not involved in this situation at all, with a bored expression on his face.

Escalion, taking his eyes off him, who didn’t seem to want to open his mouth no matter what, spoke to Nicholas again.

“Lead me to the Pope.”

“I, I told you I don’t know where he is…”

“Don’t you know that the Imperial Knights are all outside? Besides the fact that you’re desperately trying to hide, evidence unfavorable to the Pope is piling up. And soon that will be revealed as well.”

“Ugh…”

Escalion’s sword tip was digging deeper into Nicholas’s neck.

Nicholas closed his eyes tightly with a pale face.

“I, I don’t know…”

“Aaaaaah…!”

At that moment, someone’s scream was heard from above.

“Damn it…”

“Scarlet?”

At the familiar voice, he hurriedly raised his head to the choir loft upstairs, and saw Pope Pronan, holding Scarlet’s shoulders tightly with one arm and holding the sharp end of a poison needle to her neck with the other.

Belladona, confirming her appearance, raised one hand and covered her mouth.

As Escalion tried to rush towards him, he brought the sharp poison needle closer to Scarlet’s neck and said.

“Stop. Stop there. Otherwise, I’ll stab her.”

At his words, Escalion stopped walking.

Belladona looked up in surprise.

The drug on the poison needle held to Scarlet’s neck must have been the Pope’s experimental drug used to artificially create saints.

It could cost Scarlet her life or cause major disabilities.

A strange light flashed in the Pope’s eyes as he looked down at Escalion, who was helplessly stopping.

He smiled crookedly and said again.

“Throw away your sword completely too.”

“…”

Escalion, glaring at him with golden eyes for a moment, dropped the sword he was holding.