Chapter 152

“We couldn’t find anything.”

The knight commander of the Black Falcon Knights said with his head bowed in a very apologetic manner.

He had led the Knights to the St. Aquino Orphanage to which Laura belonged.

“The saint who was in charge of the orphanage had already handed over the management to another priest.”

She expected it. Aria asked, passing a candy to Winter, who was grinning and giggling.

“The children?”

“There seemed to be no pre-existing children. All that was there were children brought from other places.”

“None? Not even one?”

“Yes, it looks like the evidence has already been erased. It’s clean without a trace.”

Aria asked.

“The Chateau Orphanage was famous enough to be published in a newspaper article. Besides, everything the Count did was publicized.”

It could not just evaporate overnight. Considering how much they’re being watched.

Then Vincent, who was listening to the report, intervened.

“In the past, it was run by an imperial nobleman, but now it has become an orphanage under Garcia. Fineta’s involvement must be limited.”

Aria knew that too, so she didn’t ask the Princess, but immediately sent the knights away. Because she knew there was no point in getting the nations involved.

She didn’t know that in the end, she wouldn’t even be able to find a single clue.

“Laura was locked in an empty room and tested. There must have been a basement in the orphanage….”

“There was a separate basement, but it was just a children’s play area.”

The knights gritted their teeth and murmured.

“Trash petty priests. They told us to look around as much as we want as if they already knew we were coming.”

They came out bold enough to say that……. As if the evidence had already been erased without a trace.

‘But they can’t do that.’

There was no way to dispose of all sorts of evidence without leaving a single trace in the interim. There must have been a leaked clue or trace somewhere.

Vincent sighed deeply and muttered.

“As expected, I should have followed.”

That’s why I was anxious to send only that decorative head……

Then, when Cloud heard Vincent’s small murmur, he asked in a nonsensical voice.

“Am I good enough to be in the decorative head category? It seems that your evaluation is more generous than I thought.”

Is that what you would say in front of your fellow knights?

Vincent looked at Cloud, who still thought that being a decorative head meant he was handsome.

“…Yes, that is. I have never seen a decoration like Sir Cloud yet.”

“Come to think of it, I heard you said you needed me like a needle and thread.”

Then Vincent glanced at Aria, his eyes popped wide open. Aria avoided his gaze.

“I don’t remember saying anything out of the ordinary in that case… No, rather than that, why do you know the idiom of needle and thread?”

“Isn’t it common sense?”

Vincent seemed at a loss for words, astonished by Cloud’s selective common sense.

“Call me if you need me. I’ve never seen anyone as weak as the Second Prince.”

After finishing his words, Cloud stayed next to him with a satisfied look.

Vincent, who had been frozen for a moment, gave Aria a silent, tenacious gaze. Aria struggled to avert his gaze and offered a potion to Winter.

“Come on, aren’t you a good boy? Let’s drink this.”

“No!”

“I’ll give you one more candy.”

“Don’t want!”

He adamantly refused the potion. And after shaking his head, he said, trembling in fright.

“If I drink it, something terrible will happen. I’m going to, to die.”

He is. He’s going to die of shame.

‘Are you unconsciously remembering that you were embarrassed to death?’

When Aria sighed as she held the potion.

Vincent, who stared at Winter, then muttered, ‘Come to think of it, there’s another decoration like Sir Cloud here.’

“By the way, the Duke’s disease. Has it ever been treated with divine power?”

“No?”

Come to think of it, she never tried it.

“Since it’s detoxifying poison, I think it’s possible, but…”

Aria looked down at the necklace hanging from her own neck at those words.

Her eyes were now tinged with gold from the effect of the necklace.

“…if there was a way like this, you could have done it a little earlier, right?”

Winter muttered, stroking his face with his palm for a moment.

“Valentine doesn’t believe in divine power. I didn’t expect it to work so well.”

In fact, it would not have been possible to do this with the divine power of any priest. But because it’s Gabriel’s, it’s possible.

‘Because his skills surpassed that of the Pope in Garcia.’

Of course, it’s still strange to be able to use that pure divine power so easily with just a necklace…….

Aria tilted her head for a moment, then said.

“The Angelo family registered me into the family for revealing the case of Count Chateau’s corruption. I was wondering if you have any information about Count Chateau’s orphanage.”

“If it’s St. Aquino’s Orphanage…”

Winter said, somewhat relieved of his shame.

When Count Chateau died, most of the nobles canceled their patronage, so some children were brought into the Angelo family.

“They would be educated and work in our family.”

“Search for it.”

The priests were very bewildered by the swarm of Black Falcons that appeared all of a sudden. However, the knights rushed into St. Aquino’s Orphanage and did not even give them a chance to panic.

“Kyaaak!”

“Gasp, Pri, Priest!”

“Huuh, huhh, huaaah…”

The frightened children screamed and wept.

Priest Nikola held the children in his arms, glared open his eyes and stared at the Black Falcons.

“What kind of tyranny is this! If you’ve already searched once, you should know when to give up!”

“Last time, we just came here as a preliminary survey to see if it would be okay to bring the Grand Prince and Grand Princess here!”

“Such, such absurd nonsense!”

Who the hell is the villain here now? Aria stared absurdly at the Black Falcons that came in like thugs to collect debt money.

“Please follow the proper procedures! Otherwise, Garcia will not stand still…!”

– It’s Valentine that wouldn’t stand still.

Aria broke through the priest’s warning halfway. She didn’t even have to listen to it anymore.

Because she was running out of time.

– The body of the child you sent is placed on Valentine’s side.

“The child we sent? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

And the priest reacted exactly as expected.

The orphans who were used as test subjects were imprisoned for the rest of their lives and were never publicly known. And even in the newspaper that introduced Laura’s rare abilities, they did not disclose her personal details.

‘That’s how thorough Count Chateau was.’

There was no evidence as the priest said. But Aria didn’t even respond to that blatant denial, and gave a glance.

Then the three children who were waiting behind her came forward.

– So, do you know these kids?

“…!”

Aria confirmed that Priest Nikola’s eyes were shaking with surprise.

– You wouldn’t have expected it.

After the death of Count Chateau, the orphanage run by the Count was accused of being a hotbed of crime.

‘St Aquino’s Orphanage’ was the most notorious of them all. It could be said that the orphanage was the essence of it all.

– Most of the children sold out here have suffered so much that it is difficult to even survive. Isn’t it?

“Wha, what nonsense is that…”

Children who gain abilities through experiments were for propaganda purposes.

The rest of the children who fall below their standards went up for adoption. The condition is that the adopted child will be exposed to the world for the rest of their life.

“Are you speaking like that with the proper evidence? If you don’t provide accurate evidence, this case will spread between continents.”

Beneath those words, it carries the meaning to behave well.

Aria thought with a smirk.

‘It’s already a problem between continents.’

To be precise, it wasn’t a matter between the two continents, Garcia and Fineta, but between Valentine and Garcia.

“I will report this to the Cardinal right away.”

– Do it.

Aria looked back at the children after she replied indifferently. And she asked.

– In this orphanage, where is the location you were most reluctant to enter?

“The director’s…”

“The director’s office.”

Aria immediately headed to the director’s office.

“Wa, wait! If you act like this, we have no choice but to use force!”

Then Priest Nikola stopped her.

“Uwaacckk!”

His palm was immediately broken by Lloyd.

“Try it, use force.”

“Hu-ugh!”

The priest groaned, raising his divine powers to the limit and reciting prayers.

“Prot, protector of light. With your brilliance, guide me in the fallen darkness!”

However, Lloyd let out a snort as if it wasn’t even funny, and let the divine power pour out at him.

“Am I really the fallen darkness that you’re talking about?”

What kind of priest cannot even recognize God’s power while reciting prayers?

It wasn’t because they were weak that Valentine had never stepped out. They were keeping their promise.

The oath made with the whole world. To save this world.

“I was hoping you could differentiate between what you couldn’t do because you were afraid and what you didn’t do because you were too lazy. If I leave it alone, things are always climbing up without knowing their place.”

It was when Lloyd reached out his hand towards the priest to finish him off.

Aria asked the oldest-looking child that was from the Angelo family.

“Have you ever been here?”

“Not me, I heard from Jesse. That kid was the director’s favorite, and was always tasked with cleaning the director’s office.”

“Hmm.”

It was as she looked around the director’s office, immersed in thoughts.

“…I hear a scream.”

A weeping, suppressed moaning. Aria put her ear to the wall and muttered.

The child who was looking around with a slightly nervous look, said as if he had just remembered.

“Come to think of it, Jesse was told never to touch the bookshelf. Even going near the bookshelf, the director got angry…….”

Bookshelf.

As soon as Vincent heard those words, he picked up the carpet on the floor.

Just as expected.

A semicircular groove was dug in the floor around the bookshelf.

“It’s a structure that opens a secret passage when you pull out a specific book.”

“Then it would be quicker to turn over the bookshelf.”

“What?”

It was when Vincent questioned Cloud’s ignorant solution.

Winter, who was carefully looking through the books, pulled out a book at once.

[God is with the child.]

“It’s this book.”

At the same time, a clicking sound began to be heard.

Vincent checked the title of the book and muttered, convinced that it was the correct answer.

“Now a decoration like Sir Cloud is unique.”

But nothing changed even with the loud sound. The sound of the gears turning suddenly stopped.

As if something got caught in it.

“It’s strange. It’s a simple device, so I thought it wouldn’t have another passcode.”

After returning to his senses, Winter, whose brain was spinning fast enough to threaten Vincent’s place, questioned.

‘If it’s not a device problem…….’

Energy.

‘The priests double-locked it using divine power.’

Aria placed her palms on the bookshelf, and got a quick realization and went through her arms. She had brought the necklace with Gabriel’s divine power around her neck.

The priests who had cast anxious eyes at them breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

“That’s enough. Valentine will pay the price for breaking the implicit non-aggression pact.”

Priest Nikola, who had been screaming desperately, grabbed by the collar by Lloyd, regained his composure.

Until the bright light from Aria’s fingertips turned vivid.

“Th, th, that…!”

A divine power that he had never felt before, astonishingly powerful and pure. He never could have imagined that it would exist in this world…….

“How, how could you have such divine power…”

The divine power was enough to overwhelm even a high-ranking priest.

Priest Nikola and other priests also lost their spirit and opened their mouths with stupid faces.

Click, rumble-

The stopped device turned again and a passageway to a hidden secret area was opened.

Just then, Aria turned her head towards the priests.

Intense golden eyes that captured the radiant light of the sun were staring straight at them as if judging them.