Chapter 126
The man immediately prostrated himself flat on the ground.
In front of the gleaming axe blade, he spilled everything he knew—and didn’t know—with a face turned ashen blue.
He had no choice.
There were two beings that people in the underworld least wanted to mess with.
Namely, the Master and the Enchantress.
If you wanted to keep living, you had to treat them like natural disasters and avoid them at all costs.
The Master went without saying, and the Enchantress’s infamy pierced the heavens.
If you listed all the people who’d met a gruesome end by her axe after crossing her, it could wrap around the entire underworld.
Especially, the Enchantress was famous for never forgetting those who harmed her.
What good was cooperating with the cardinal to gain riches?
To spend those riches, you had to be alive first.
Once you lost your life, it was over, so naturally, the man chose survival.
If he’d known from the start that she was the Enchantress’s child, he wouldn’t have come anywhere near.
The man, having chosen the wrong path, trembled as he diligently spewed information.
But as expected, he didn’t know much.
He’d been living in the underworld doing moderately bad things when he got caught by Cardinal Milliod and, instead of facing heresy trial, agreed to cooperate and set up this scheme.
The reason they’d specifically pulled him in was partly because he resembled Cheshire somewhat, but mainly because he was a black mage.
It was to create a perfect blemish that would absolutely prevent Cheshire Basilian from participating in the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly.
But these were things Cheshire had already guessed well enough.
‘I should’ve just chopped him up with the axe.’
He was utterly useless.
Cheshire glared at the man with dissatisfied eyes.
In that short time, the man, thoroughly shaken down, mumbled with a withered expression.
“How did this happen…”
He kept rubbing his face with his hands in disbelief, scrutinizing Cheshire.
“To think the Enchantress had a child.”
Cheshire, arms crossed, merely twitched one eyebrow.
‘Well, it’s not entirely a lie, is it?’
After all, she was a related figure.
Not a daughter, but the person herself.
If the opportunity arose next time, it wouldn’t be bad to use this bizarre identity again.
“Um…”
The man, who’d been watching for an opening all this time, stealthily opened his mouth.
“Look, I didn’t lie because I wanted to… Please put in a good word with your mother… And if there’s anything you don’t like about me, young one, just tell me…”
Glancing at the fluttering butterflies and flowers, and the ornate axe, the man politely used honorifics toward the baby, his eyes overflowing with curiosity.
It was shocking enough that the Enchantress’s daughter was the adopted child of the Basilian County.
But on top of that, she was attending the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly!
For him, the inside story must have been driving him mad with curiosity.
As Cheshire quietly stared at the man, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
That she should make use of this guy.
“Mister, you’re good at lying, right?”
“Huh? Y-yes…?”
The man nodded reflexively.
He was a black mage, but his skills weren’t particularly outstanding.
He’d survived by compensating for his lacking abilities with deceptive acting.
‘This isn’t just Cardinal Milliod acting alone.’
Clearly, the Holy King was involved behind it.
If she used this well, she could turn the tables and expose the Holy King.
Having finished her scheming calculations, Cheshire flashed a sinister smile.
At the smile that mirrored the Enchantress’s exactly, the man gasped in fright.
“Mister… Want to be my daddy?”
While Cheshire was plotting her scheme.
Cardinal Milliod was seating Hailon and Kierne, delivering a lengthy speech.
“I told you before, didn’t I? I personally requested identity verification from the Master of the underworld.”
So it couldn’t possibly be wrong, Milliod declared with conviction.
Hailon glanced at the Master of the underworld.
Receiving the gaze, Kierne pulled up the corners of his mouth to hide his irritation.
The edges of his lips trembled faintly.
“You should give up on the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly. For Sir Hailon’s sake, if nothing else, it’s best to wrap this up here.”
Insisting further would harm Hailon, who supported the Basilian County—that was the implication.
“For now, I can overlook it on my end… But if you insist on participating in the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly to the end, I’ll have no choice but to report to the Holy King.”
Then the truth would inevitably be revealed publicly, and in the end, the child would be hurt—that was the cardinal’s conclusion.
Kierne and Hailon’s eyes met.
For the first time in a long while, the two men were of one mind and one heart.
Should we kill this bastard?
It was clear from their eyes alone that they shared the same thought.
To have to listen to this nonsense.
It was at the moment they were desperately suppressing the urge to snap the cardinal’s neck right then.
Knock knock.
With the knock, the door opened, and Cheshire peeked her head in.
“Cheshire!”
Kierne, rising from his seat with a beaming smile, paused.
Cheshire had entered hand in hand with the fake father impostor.
To anyone looking, they appeared like an affectionate father and daughter.
Cardinal Milliod burst into hearty laughter and clapped his hands.
“Blood truly doesn’t lie!”
Unlike his pleased demeanor, Kierne and Hailon’s faces rapidly froze over.
It was as if a thin layer of ice formed on their expressions.
Kierne soon smiled faintly and asked.
“Cheshire… Did you come because you were bored? But why are you holding hands…?”
“I want to talk more with mister. Not in jail, outside.”
“……”
While Kierne was at a loss for words, the cardinal quickly stood and interjected.
“Yes! It’s hard for a child to stay long in a place like this. Tomorrow is the second prayer day of the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly, after all. It’d be best for the child to leave now.”
To attend the assembly, they’d have to leave the prison anyway.
He actively suggested giving the father and daughter some private time to talk before sending them back to the Basilian County’s lodging.
Cheshire shook her head side to side.
“I’ll come back here.”
Then, she briefly let go of the fake father’s hand and approached Kierne.
Kierne stared blankly at Cheshire walking toward him.
Cheshire stood in front of Kierne and waved her small hands pat pat.
As he leaned his ear closer, entranced, Cheshire stood on tiptoe and whispered softly.
“You’re my only daddy. I’ll be back soon.”
So wait just a little, she said.
At the whisper wafting a floral scent, Kierne nodded dazedly.
And when he came to, Cheshire was gone.
She’d left with Cardinal Milliod and the fake father impostor.
Leaving Kierne behind alone.
“…Ah.”
A short groan escaped his lips.
Kierne recalled Cheshire’s words and murmured.
“She said… there’s only one daddy.”
He blinked slowly and then blurted out.
“Does that mean that guy becomes the daddy now?”
Cheshire’s whisper was clearly a declaration that Kierne was her only daddy.
But his malfunctioning mind arbitrarily assumed the worst, twisting the meaning.
His fragile psyche began to waver unstably.
Just as the shadow at his feet started to distort, Hailon grabbed him by the collar.
“Snap out of it.”
“Uh-huh…”
A cold interrogation fell upon Kierne, who dangled limply by the collar.
“You’re not the real father, are you?”
“No… No, really no…”
Kierne mumbled in a deflated voice.
“But Cheshire might miss her real daddy… Maybe because I’m lacking, she believes that scoundrel is her dad…”
Confirming that Kierne had already lost it, Hailon narrowed his eyes thinly and said.
“If we just clearly reveal the truth that you’re not the real father, it’ll be resolved.”
Acting calm, but Hailon was far from normal himself.
He made a calmly insane statement.
“First, let’s kill Cardinal Milliod.”
“How…?”
Kierne looked up at Hailon with a tearful face.
With Kierne’s brain frozen, Hailon offered a mad suggestion instead.
If Hailon’s subordinate Daren or Belzeon had been there, they’d have clutched their foreheads and collapsed backward.
But neither Kierne nor Hailon found it unreasonable at all.
The two men, polar opposites, aligned perfectly without discord…
On the second prayer day of the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly.
The Basilian County declared they would forfeit participation in the assembly.
