Chapter 67: Rose’s Faith

Translator: Honnomushi

Having heard the screams of his daughter, the Consul should have confessed by now. Arina was quite amazed by this official’s fortitude.

“I guess we should begin the torture then.” Arina shrugged. “It makes no sense to stay silent. Let’s just invite Miss Apero here. Maybe seeing us lop off a finger or two will make you talk.”

“D-don’t, please, miss! I beg of you, even for Apero’s sake, I cannot betray the Heavens–Hah!” The Consul belatedly shut his mouth, but only after leaking a crucial bit of information.

“I see. So it’s the Church of Light, huh?” Rose said in a distasteful tone, understanding the situation from a single slip. “It’s not hard to understand, the seal was too elaborate to be a forgery.”

“What do you mean?”

“The seal used in the borrowed letter is not fake, it’s a genuine seal lent to the Church by the country.”

The Church of Light was an international organisation. From an administrative perspective, the Church is not a part of the Kingdom of Ivan. To build churches and chapels, they need the permission of the country. But would the Church, as the state religion, need deliberation to build a chapel?

Consequently, the royalty had a practice of loaning their seals to the Church for generations. Such a custom implied how deeply the Church had pervaded into the country, and how much faith the people had in the Heavens.

Of course, even Princess Rose, dressed in a white dress, held an elaborate ceremony to lend her Royal Seal to the Church, as if wagging her tail. Rose sneered at her past self, naively trusting the Church.

“I guess it’s easier to use my seal compared to my Lord Father’s, and the followers of the Church wouldn’t doubt the Church in the first place.”

Rose stood and approached the Consul. “You have the records, don’t you? Please give them to me.”

“I-I won’t…” The officer shook his head. “I’ll have to face Divine Retribution if I betray the Church for a devil. Your Highness, the Heavens are always watching!”

“…Huh?” What did he say? Ross frowned. “A Church that uses the Royal Seal without permission to raise money from the people. If anyone, it should be the Church receiving the Divine Retribution.”

“The Church is always mindful and reverent towards the Heavens, but you? You’ve renounced your faith, and are dyed in red.” The Consul began preaching loudly, spit flying everywhere. “You are driven only by your desires! The Heavens are watching! The cathedral already burned the records! Your Highness, please return to the Church! It’s time to cut ties with these evil fiends!”

The colour in Rose’s eyes changed. Outwardly showing a kind expression while hatred simmered beneath the surface, that’s the Church for you. “I see, what a great religion.” She retrieved a small dagger from the shelf and thrust it at the Consul’s throat. He made a strange noise in fright.

“If that’s so, please show me how you stop this blade with your faith.” Rose laughed as she made a shallow cut on his thin-skinned neck. “Oh, I feel offended.”

“Don’t care.” Arina mocked as she settled into Rose’s seat, sipping her tea and enjoying the show.

“Well, what happened?” Rose grinned, “Please show me the greatness of your religion. Can your God, looking down from the sky, stop this blade? Can your God save your daughter? Can your God save a girl who is being chased by debt? Can your change the cursed fate awaiting us when the Demon King appears? Come on, what happened? Please pray! Please beg for salvation, to be saved from me. Otherwise. You’ll. Get. Cut.”

A thin, red line appeared under the blade, a single, sanguine drop flowing gently down the Consul’s throat. He trembled as his lips turned pale. “Oh, H-Heavens, please protect me, p-please save me from this monster!” The official somehow squeezed out, but the blade wouldn’t stop at all.

“Hey, hey, looks like your faith isn’t strong enough! Please pray more seriously.”

“Urgh!” Rose sadistically twisted the blade. “Please, Your Highness, forgive me!”

“Oh? It looks like you’re praying to the wrong person. Hey, what happened to your faith? You must pray to your God, pray for a miracle to turn this Demon King into a Sage! Otherwise, there’ll be a hole in your throat, you know?”

“That’s such an unreasonable—” Rose started laughing at the sight of this tearful man, “I thought so, your Heavens are such shallow beings. Raving about justice and abusing their enemies whenever it’s convenient for them. The Gods of your faith just look down at you, they won’t help you! “Regain your faith?” Aahaha, hahaha! Don’t make me laugh so much, please! Do you understand? Now watch closely.”

“If you believe in the religion of Rose Von Grande Cru Ivan—!” Rose gently shook the blade, light flashing. The Consul urgently looked down to see the blade piercing—!

The blade piercing Rose’s hand. Her own dagger, piercing her own hand!

Let alone the Consul, even Arina displayed a terrible expression at this blatant self-abuse. The blade was dyed a deep red, her dress was also wet from the blood.

“Urgh!” Rose grit her teeth and groaned. “Yuuki-sa… ma! Yuuki-sama, Yuuki-sama! YUUKI-SAMA!” Calling her God’s name, praying to him in pain. It was only natural to feel severe pain if your nerves were healthy, but the pain and longing in Rose’s soul were much more severe.

“Owowowow— T-t-this is faith!” Eyes watering, beads of sweat rolling down her face, Rose shouted. “My God is with me! He gives me the courage not to fear blades, gives me the love that transcends any mortal pain! My faith is completely different from yours!”

“Aaaah! Aah! Oh—!” Ironically, it wasn’t the injured Rose who was screaming, but the Consul, who was watching from up close. In front of this Princess, who turned into a monster, he felt sick and even covered his eyes.

“Aahahahahahahaha! Look, it’s amazing, isn’t it? Look! Look! See the strength of my belief!” She pulled the blade out and aimed it towards her hand again.

Squelch

Rose skewered her hand with a wet, sickening crunch, blood splattering on the Consul’s face. “Oh! Yuuki-sama, Yuuki-sama, Yuuki-sama, Yuuki-sama! It’s so painful, I can’t help but think about you!” Ignoring the pain, she blushed red, ecstatically thinking of someone else. Saliva and tears flowing down her chin, she looked at the ceiling.

“Oh… I’m still not feeling–” She muttered while pulling the blade out again. “This isn’t enough to prove my loyalty and faithfulness!”

Once more, the blade pierced her hand without hesitation. “OH, OOOH! Yuuki-aaah!” This wasn’t something a human being would do, Rose was dominated by something swirling inside her, swelling inside her.

“Y-You’re insane! Broken! You both are fucking lunatics!” The horrified man observing them shrunk into a ball to protect himself, muttering in a whisper to something sacred and invisible, seeking salvation.

But his whispered ravings were drowned out by Rose’s deranged laughter. “Oh, no, hey what are you doing? I was feeling good!” Unable to watch any longer, Arina had snuck up on her and took the dagger from her hand.

“Hey, give it back to me, give it back! I can still go on.” Rose, still bleeding, tried to take the dagger back, shouting with bulging eyes about wanting to test herself some more. “I’ll prove to you that I love Yuuki more than you! Return it, return it, return it, retur—!”

Slap

Arina slapped Rose hard, “What’s in that head of yours, you crazy Princess?! If Yuuki sees you in this state, he’ll cry…”

Rose sullenly rubbed her stunned cheek when the pain returned. “Eeek!” She grabbed her pierced hand and slumped to the ground. Yes, the moment she came back to her senses, the expected reward for her evil prayers also returned.

“You idiot, it hurts now doesn’t it? How many nerves did you sever? Give me your hands.” Arina gently held Rose’s injured hand and cast a healing spell. “It’ll take some time to heal, we don’t want to leave any scars. Bear with the pain for a while.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine.” Rose ground her teeth. “If the wound is made while thinking of Yuuki-san, even if it hurts—!” “You belong to Yuu-kun now, so don’t hurt yourself whenever you feel like it. Jeez, what will you do if you’re not beautiful anymore? What do you think will happen then? Are you okay with Yuu-kun hating you?”

Rose stubbornly kept her mouth shut, moving away from Arina. Arina sighed and soothed, “I know how you feel, I wanted to show off, too. Our God is better than their God.” Rose kept quiet, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

“Hey, start speaking if you treasure your daughter’s life, or continue preaching to us about regaining faith. It’s annoying, but to Yuu-kun’s people, it’s wonderful. Should we just kill him?” [1]

The Consul, glancing sideways, screamed, “You’ll never get those records if you kill me! I carved them into my memory in such a way that I’ll never forget them.”

“So we’ll have to let him live for a while more?”

Rose nodded and silently continued to receive treatment.

“So, what did you do today?” Rose wiped the blood off her now healed hand with a cloth and moved on. The scared Consul is exiled to a corner, and the two sit.

“Yuu-kun wants to eat warabi mochi… Do you have any?”

Rose tilted her head. “Warabi… mochi, is it? I’ve never heard of such food”

“I haven’t found any in this world. That’s why I want to make some, but I don’t have the ingredients. Starch comes from potatoes, but I can’t find soybeans anywhere.”

The soybeans used to make the flour weren’t grown in the Kingdom of Ivan. Until recently, they’d been imported from Sidol, but the supply was stopped due to the deterioration of the national census.

Because the soybeans couldn’t be substituted, Arina couldn’t make any warabi mochi. Troubled, she could only rely on Rose. “Rose, can you somehow get the soybeans?”

Rose nodded, “I understand. Let’s get some soybeans from each province of Sidol for Yuuki-sama.”

“From each province…? Do you plan to start a war for warabi mochi?”

“Oh dear, no. It won’t be a war, if you put it like that, Yuuki-sama will be sad.” Rose smiled from behind the cup. “Instead, let’s call it a raid.”

[1] I’m assuming it’s wonderful for them because they get to show off how crazy they are, again.

I deeply apologize for the delay of the release. The releases will be now more regular and consistent. ~Asada