Odette, wearing a rosewood-colored chemise, sat at the window of the audience room and smiled as she watched the commotion outside the castle gates.
"What are you doing, Count Albrecht!"
The knights who had been hit were running around in confusion. It was funny to see them being blocked by a swarm of bugs and not knowing what to do. Some of them thought they couldn't do it alone and ran to call the police.
'Calling a wasp? How stupid.'
Odette laughed as she watched Fernand grab his own ankle. After all, autumn wasps are in season.
It's admirable that the knights are trying their best to shoo away the bugs, but...
In the end, Fernand will have to find Raphael first.
No matter how reckless Fernand is, he is not a crazy person who would throw a punch at someone as High as Raphael is. He must have come here to question him because he really wanted to know if it was right to join hands with Rolf.
And voila. A dead body was discovered with no conclusion!
When Fernand was causing a commotion at the Count's residence, Odette had told the Pope.
Fernand is coming, so if you're going to use the vial I gave you, prepare it in advance.
"You have seized the opportunity, Your Holiness."
This audience room was in a really good location. It was visible from anywhere: the gate, the corridors, the priests' quarters.
Odette watched the Pope walk out of the rectory. Judging by the awkwardness of his right hand, he must have hidden a syringe and a vial in his other sleeve.
Odette watched the scene with pleasure, putting chocolate in her mouth as if it were a play.
The Pope came out of the priest's residence, rushed into the main hall, and slammed the door shut. At the same time, the knights and police officers, with perfect timing, dispersed the swarm of wasps.
They immediately started running in the direction of the priest's residence.
Odette clapped her hands in the room, as if she had seen a satisfactory piece of work.
"Bravo. This is it."
At that moment, the door to the audience room opened with a creaking sound.
The person who came in was startled and shouted in surprise when he saw the person inside the room.
"Huh, who, who are you, who dares, ah, to the audience room!"
"It's me, Your Holiness, the Pope."
Only after hearing Odette's voice did the panting Pope's face show a look of relief. At the same time, he also showed a look of fright.
"This audience room is the only place where the priest's office can be seen. I was keeping watch to make sure no one else came in."
Odette said as she greeted him, lightly grabbing her skirt.
Of course, it was rude of her to sneak in, but the Pope did not reprimand her for her rudeness, perhaps relieved that no one other than Odette had seen him.
"I also wanted to retrieve the bottles and syringes."
At those words, the Pope obediently extended his hand. Then he handed Odette a bottle and a syringe.
"I was thinking of putting it in the fireplace, Your Ladyship."
"Give it to me. I have a more certain way of handling it."
Odette had an inventory. It was a method that no one could catch.
The Pope followed Odette's words in a more gentle voice than usual, but he also seemed worried that she might be exploiting his weakness.
It didn't really matter if she thought so, because it was useful.
"I was startled by the loud commotion late at night and came to see His Holiness the Pope. His Holiness consoled me in the audience room."
Odette also needed an alibi. Charlotte would be in the cathedral too. She would surely be the first to suspect her.
"After all, Count Fernand is the brother of Saintess Odette. It's hard not to feel uneasy when your real brother enters the cathedral and causes trouble."
The Pope quickly agreed.
"Your Holiness. I know that our relationship was originally bad, but I am quite good to my own people."
The Pope's eyes lit up clearly. Perhaps the cathedral would soon be engulfed in a storm.
With the loss of Raphael, the focal point, those who followed him wilI also gradually scatter, and the Pope will not leave alone those who attempted to assassinate him.
"I owe you my life, too. I think you'll get the results you want."
"I am looking forward to it, Your Holiness. I look forward to it."
Odette, who had lightly grabbed her dress and bowed, turned and left the room.
Now both Odette and the Pope were completely free.
The knights and the police officers first entered the priest's quarters, the private priest's quarters of High Priest Raphael.
They were horrified to see Fernand in a daze and the dead High Priest.
"How..."
"No! It's not me!"
But in this situation, such words would not work. The police officers dragged Fernand out.
One of the officers felt the High Priest's pulse, but when it became clear that he was dead, he shook his head with a grim expression.
"Count Fernand. I hereby place you under emergency arrest on suspicion of murdering the High Priest."
At the same time, the police officers began to roughly subdue Fernand. The moment they were about to handcuff him, Fernand panicked and used his powers again to run away.
"Stand there!"
"W... what is this!"
"Count Fernand!"
"Gasp, gasp. Why on earth is this happening to me...!"
A look of despair crossed Fernand's face as he ran away in a hurry. He had committed crimes and escaped countless times, but this was the first time he had been falsely accused and escaped.
From then on, things went smoothly. The police conducted an autopsy on the High Priest's sudden death and concluded that it was 'death by wasp venom.'
Although there was barely a stinger left for a wasp sting, he decided that this was a method of killing that only Fernan, an insect pilot, could use.
In addition, rather than cooperating with the investigation, Fernand fled the scene.
'Even though I have the right to immunity, isn't this too much of a bother?'
Immunity from criminal punishment and investigation were legally separate concepts. However, the Metropolitan Police Agency usually did not initiate an investigation if it was useless anyway.
However, killing the High Priest was a much more serious act than anything Fernand had done before, and using his powers to escape from the police station further angered them.
A huge bounty was placed on Fernand for his outrageous actions. Wanted posters with Fernand's face on them were posted everywhere.
His tragedy did not end there.
Not only was there a huge bounty on his head, but Fernand had many enemies, especially in the Navy.
He has always treated his subordinates rudely, even going so far as to say that he has the right to be exempt from punishment, no matter how severe the abuse.
Because of that past, the transcendent beings belonging to the Navy began to actively pursue him.
Although he had been on the run for weeks, it was only a matter of time before he was caught.
The Count's family was also hit hard by Fernand's problem.
The first thought that occurred to the Count was whether Charlotte might use this incident as an excuse to cancel her registration.
But contrary to his expectations, Charlotte did not change her mind.
Only after everything was sorted out did she ask to be adopted as his daughter.
***
The Count, who visited the police station with his lawyer, looked at Fernand, who was locked up behind bars, with eyes that looked as if he was dying of pity.
"No, I didn't do that."
After he strangled him and threw a tantrum at Mrs. Becker, he couldn't believe that this was the next thing he saw.
There are more than one or two witnesses who saw this guy with the dead High Priest Raphael, and all of the witnesses are High Priests of the Holy Knights.
In addition, the cause of death was wasp venom. Although there is only circumstantial evidence, it is not easy for the circumstances to match up so perfectly.
"But did you run away?"
It wasn't even funny. He thought Fernand deserved to get beaten up at least once. He didn't think it would end up like this.
'That guy said no last time, too.'
Even when he was drunk and used his powers to murder a civilian woman, he consistently denied it. Then, only after decisive evidence emerged did he admit it.
'I still can't believe it.'
Still, seeing his bewildered expression didn't make him feel all that good as a father.
Since it was such a big deal, they also investigated the alibis of everyone inside the cathedral. Everyone had a solid alibi.
From the moment the incident occurred until the incident itself, the only person who was present was High Priest Raphael. The only other person present was Charlotte, who had absolutely no motive to kill High Priest Raphael.
'Maybe it was Odette's trick.'
The Count laughed in vain. But it was none other than the Pope who guaranteed Odette's alibi.
If that's the case, then the Pope and Odette are joining hands.... In that case, things get even more serious. There's no way out of it with those two.
"I thought you were useless, though."
That was why the Count was even more heartbroken. How could there not be a single person among the people of the Empire who would defend Fernand? Especially among his fellow naval colleagues who had spent time with him, there was not a single person who thought that Fernand had not done it.
On the contrary, it was they who came forward and asserted their confidence.
'I guess he can avoid execution.'
It was no ordinary thing to kill a High Priest. Above all, the Pope was extremely angry and took the lead.
"How could one chosen by God as a monster attack a member of the cathedral?"
Even though the cathedral had lost its former prestige, it was still in relation to the imperial palace. The cathedral still had a powerful military group called the Knights Templar, and was respected by the believers.
Even if there was an exemption, it was a situation that could not be easily overcome.
The Count could not think of a way out of this situation.
Fernand may or may not have actually committed the murder.
But that doesn't matter. Whatever the truth, it was hard to fight back when the Pope came out like that.
"Now there is no way for me to save you."
The Count chanted in a voice full of self-mockery and resignation, as if he were facing an inevitable tragedy.
Fernand fell to his knees only after hearing that voice, realizing the gravity of the situation.
"Oh, Father, I was wrong. I was really wrong."
Fernand cried like a little child.
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