Chapter 155: Becoming Enemies with the Earl |
Leon changed back into his Church uniform and returned to the Public Lounge of that business Club. It was already nearing dusk, and more than two hours had passed since Bishop Beckett told him to wait there.
However, Leon currently sensed that Bishop Beckett was nowhere nearby. He was probably either frantically searching for Weiss or receiving treatment for his injuries.
According to the original plan, once the public sermon began, Bishop Beckett should have completed the operation of framing and then capturing Weiss within less than an hour.
Leon guessed that perhaps after the plan concluded, the Earl or Bishop Beckett would allow him to learn part of the truth. Earlier, Bishop Beckett had also said things implying Leon would eventually know anyway. Naturally, before carrying out the operation, the fewer people who knew the details, the better.
And the reality proved exactly that. Even though Leon had only intervened after the incident occurred, he had still disrupted the Earl’s and Bishop Beckett’s arrangements.
To orchestrate a plan like this, they must have long known that Weiss had become a Witch for the Church’s confidential research project. Penetrating so deeply into Weiss’s side must have required enormous effort.
“Honored sir.”
The moment Leon sat down in the lounge, a well-dressed attendant quickly approached him, bowed deeply beside him, and lowered his voice. “The Earl Foyle asked me to deliver a message. He is waiting for you in a private room. Are you available now?”
The Earl?
As he followed the attendant through the corridor, he felt somewhat nervous.
After all, he had just done something that the Earl would absolutely regard as betrayal, and now the Earl wished to see him. Leon truly had no idea what to expect.
They arrived at the door to the private room. Standing outside was a woman in a fine suit who appeared to be in her thirties. Judging solely from her posture, one could tell she had received considerable training. She was likely the Earl’s personal bodyguard accompanying him on this trip.
After leading the way, the attendant politely withdrew. The bodyguard swept her eyes over Leon and spoke.
“Just fulfilling my duty. Please allow me to search you.”
Leon cooperatively raised his hands. In truth, weapons were forbidden inside the Club to begin with, but when entering the Earl’s private room, the people around him naturally needed to ensure his safety further.
Still, judging from this, the Earl was most likely waiting for him alone inside.
After passing the inspection, the female bodyguard opened the door for him.
Leon stepped into the room. The private chamber was smaller and dimmer than he had imagined.
Other than a cloakroom, the room contained only a tea table flanked by long sofas on either side.
The Earl sat on one side of the sofa. On the table were not cups of brewed tea, but bottles of liquor and wineglasses, along with lit scented candles.
“You’ve come. Sit.” The Earl glanced at Leon as he spoke.
“Understood.” Leon sat opposite the Earl.
The Earl’s presence today was completely different from usual. He was no longer that composed and elegant leader—confident yet steady, as though everything remained within his grasp.
Instead, he slumped against the seat, swirling a glass of strong liquor in his hand. A faint smell of alcohol lingered around him, and his expression was solemn.
Although he still carried an imposing dignity even without anger, his aura had clearly weakened somewhat compared to before. One could even say there was a trace of desolation about him.
Leon sat there for quite a while before the Earl finally spoke.
“When I arrived earlier, it seemed you weren’t around.”
Leon’s heart tensed slightly, but he quickly returned to normal.
This question did not necessarily mean the Earl suspected him. Leon had been absent for a long time, so asking for the reason was entirely natural. He had already anticipated it.
“I heard the bells and went out to take a look. It seems something major happened in the diocese today. The commotion was considerable.” Leon calmly gave the answer he had prepared long ago.
“So, you already know what happened?” the Earl asked.
Leon nodded lightly. “The Saintess of the Creator Church, Weiss Rogers, transformed into a Witch before countless witnesses and summoned Magical Beasts to attack civilians, causing many casualties. The news has nearly spread everywhere now. The entire diocese is already under lockdown.”
With such a huge disturbance outside, going out to investigate was perfectly normal behavior. It was not enough to justify suspicion.
“Is that so?” The Earl looked toward the window. Through the half-drawn curtains, he watched the knights hurrying through the streets outside. For many within the Church, this night was destined to be sleepless.
Leon waited for a long time without hearing another word. After some thought, he ultimately lowered his voice and spoke first.
“Forgive my boldness, Earl. Does this matter have a direct connection to us?”
The Earl’s gaze shifted back toward him as he asked expressionlessly, “How much did Beckett tell you?”
“He only told me that Weiss Rogers was our enemy, and that her father, Archbishop Rogers, was even more so.” Leon answered briefly.
With today’s events, anyone who thought about it even a little would understand that this could not possibly have been a Witch suddenly exposing herself publicly. Someone had clearly orchestrated the incident deliberately.
Given that Bishop Beckett had already revealed things to that extent, had specifically instructed him to remain elsewhere during the time the incident occurred, and that the Earl himself had suddenly appeared here, it was only natural for Leon—someone who knew about the internal relationship between the Earl and Bishop Beckett—to suspect the Earl’s involvement.
“I planned this matter for a very long time.” After remaining silent for a while, the Earl spoke quietly. “Five years? No… ever since twenty years ago, I had already thought about repaying him in kind.”
“Repaying him in kind? Against whom?” Seeing that the Earl seemed willing to open up about the topic, Leon cautiously probed further.
“Bernard Rogers.” The Earl answered.
Bernard Rogers was precisely the name of Weiss’s father, Archbishop Rogers.
“What exactly happened between you and him?” Leon pursued the question.
“Almost everyone believes my life has been smooth sailing, that I was destined by heaven to be a victor. Very few people know about the regret I experienced twenty years ago. You are one of them. If today’s plan had succeeded, I should have told you this while preparing the celebration banquet.”
The Earl poured more liquor into his glass as he spoke, his tone so calm it was as though he were discussing another person’s story.
“The Inquisitor who took my lover away back then was Bernard Rogers. At the time, he was still an Inquisitor.”
Leon inwardly thought: just as expected.
From Weiss, he had already learned that Archbishop Rogers once served as an Inquisitor. Long ago, Leon had already wondered whether that period had created the grudge between the Earl and Rogers.
“At that time, I was merely an Apprentice Knight. I could do absolutely nothing. In order to prevent Rogers from tracing matters back to me, Elena committed suicide. Ophelia was only three years old back then. To Rogers, it was merely one case among hundreds in his career. He has probably already forgotten it.
But I never forgot! From that day onward, no matter how smoothly my life went, no matter how much achievement or power I gained, that feeling of helplessness never disappeared.” The Earl’s eyes rested upon the liquor in his glass. “Other than taking revenge against him, I had no other path.”
“So you designed this trap to frame his daughter?” Leon confirmed with the Earl.
“……” The Earl did not answer. He merely raised his glass and took a sip.
“Forgive my bluntness, but Weiss Rogers seems unrelated to this grudge. Why spend so much effort targeting her? Even with arrangements like these, it probably still wouldn’t be enough to utterly ruin Archbishop Rogers, would it? Wouldn’t it instead only alert him?” Leon asked.
Weiss becoming a Witch was a research project approved by the College of Cardinals. The people there would certainly recognize that Weiss had been framed. Even if they sacrificed Weiss to calm the public, it would still be difficult for Archbishop Rogers himself to suffer an irrecoverable blow because of it.
With the authority and influence the Earl had accumulated by now, even Cardinal Zeven, the Archdiocesan Leader presiding over the Holy Spirit Festival, had personally received him politely when he attended.
While Archbishop Rogers still knew nothing about the Earl and remained completely unguarded, the Earl actually possessed many methods to directly ruin him. Going through all the trouble to target Weiss first only introduced far more variables.
“This was necessary. Rogers must die as well, of course. But simply letting him die would be far too merciful. He isn’t the sort of man who fears death. I want him to first experience, just like I did, the agony of losing someone he deeply loves while being powerless to save them, and only then die filled with hatred! Only that can truly be called revenge!”
As the Earl spoke these words, his tone abruptly grew heavier. It was the first time Leon had ever sensed such exposed emotion from him.
Only when it came to revenge would this calm and elegant man in power reveal such an impulsive side.
“Then how are things now…?” Leon carefully asked.
“……It failed.” After a moment of silence, the Earl drained the liquor from his glass and suddenly sighed in an extremely soft voice.
“What happened?” Leon asked knowingly. He needed to determine exactly what information the Earl currently possessed and whether he suspected anyone.
“When the plan had reached such a critical stage, someone suddenly interfered midway. A werewolf took Weiss Rogers away. It was as though he descended from the heavens themselves. And after that, he even evaded the pursuit of the entire city…”
At this point, the Earl suddenly laughed at himself. Then, unconsciously tightening his fingers, he crushed the wineglass in his hand.
Leon instinctively stood up, but the Earl remained unmoving. Even though shattered glass filled his hand, not a single drop of blood flowed from it.
“Fate truly is unfair. Don’t you think so?” The Earl slowly stared at Leon as he spoke.
Looking into the Earl’s eyes, now carrying several traces of drunkenness, Leon suddenly understood just how devastating the failure of this plan had been to this man. He should never have been drinking at a time like this.
The Earl had already vaguely realized that after the tracking method Arachne placed upon Weiss had been dealt with, their hopes of capturing Weiss had become exceedingly slim.
The enormous psychological contrast had driven him here to speak with Leon. He believed Leon would understand that helplessness he once experienced.
“How is Bishop Beckett now?” Leon asked.
“He was injured, but he’s still leading the search.” The Earl answered.
“Then let me help as well. Would that be alright?” Leon asked.
“Go ahead.” The Earl replied absentmindedly, not particularly concerned. Even Bishop Beckett and Arachne had no solution. He held little hope for anyone else.
Leon rang the bell to summon the attendant waiting outside and instructed him to clean up the shattered glass the Earl had crushed. Then he bid the Earl farewell and departed.
After leaving the Club, he turned and glanced once toward the window of the Earl’s private room.
Given the Earl’s obsession with revenge, there was likely absolutely no room for compromise when it came to dealing with Weiss.
If the Earl were merely pursuing revenge against Archbishop Rogers, then Leon actually would not care at all. One could even say the Earl’s revenge had never been Leon’s concern to begin with.
But if the Earl insisted on targeting Weiss, then Leon could not stand by and ignore it.
And the moment he chose to rescue Weiss, he had already lost nearly all possibility of turning back. Even if he surrendered Weiss now or openly confessed and attempted negotiation, the Earl could never trust him again. After committing betrayal, how could one still hope for the other side’s mercy?
Moreover, Leon himself did not want to hand Weiss over.
Setting aside his relationship with Weiss, she was also the key to saving Sally. The Earl’s revenge plan had already violated the conditions of their agreement. The Earl did not wish to experience helplessness again—did Leon want to experience it himself?
If fortune favored him, perhaps this matter could remain concealed forever.
But if something unexpected happened…
‘No. I can’t keep relying on luck the way I used to. Haven’t you suffered enough already?’ Leon suddenly awakened to clarity and warned himself inwardly.
In the past, he had once relied upon luck while continuing the mana production business together with Rena within the Labyrinth of Hamel Town. The result had been being driven into a desperate corner by the Earl and Bishop Beckett.
Now, how could he possibly underestimate them again and place everything upon luck once more?
Since he had already taken this step, then he absolutely had to prepare himself mentally to become enemies with the Earl!