The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 82.2

Chapter 82.2: Proof of Spring (4)

He reached out his wrinkled, thin hands to gather the tea-making utensils and set them on a tray.

Holding the tray with both hands, he brought it to Cain’s table and began to set it up one by one.

Cain watched for a moment before helping him.

As if he had been waiting for this moment, Barbetta sat down opposite him and explained to Cain how to do it.

When Cain gave him a puzzled look, he grinned.

“Don’t you like helping an old man struggling with his strength?”

“You’re so different from the person I met at the station that I had to take a second look.”

His words were curt, but Cain’s hand movements were precise.

Everything was set up in an instant, and Barbetta began to brew the tea with practiced ease.

“There are many people who call me ‘Archbishop’ there, so I acted accordingly.”

“Is that why there’s no one here?”

Cain stared at Barbetta.

He didn’t trust him and refused to enter the cathedral. However, Barbetta seemed to trust him, as there wasn’t even a single soul around here.

‘I thought at least one paladin would accompany him.’

After all, even if Cain decided to draw his sword, no one would be able to stop him in this situation.

Barbetta nodded at Cain’s question.

“If someone were here, I wouldn’t be able to say what I want to say. I would only be able to speak as the Archbishop.”

“What would you do if I attacked you like this, Barbetta?”

Thud━.

He finished putting the ingredients and clear water into the kettle and closed the lid with a click.

He pointed to the white kettle, its contents hidden from view.

“Do you know how the tea inside is brewed?”

“Something from the tea leaves will come out and turn the plain water into tea.”

“Can we see that happening?”

“……No.”

“But even though we can’t see it, we can still know what’s happening, can’t we? Cain Ethelred. I also do not trust you. But.”

Barbetta pointed his index finger at Cain’s chest.

“I just know that you, who call me Barbetta instead of Archbishop, wouldn’t do that, just like the inside of this kettle.”

Cain smiled wryly inwardly.

It would have been easier to deal with someone arrogant and condescending. However, someone as sly as Barbetta was difficult to handle.

The two stared at each other in silence for a moment.

Whoosh━.

White steam began to spew from the spout of the heated kettle.

Barbetta hurriedly turned off the fire and spoke casually.

“Cain Ethelred, you must undergo the Inquisition.”

The same line he had said at the station.

But the nuance was different.

If it meant ‘You are suspected, so we need to investigate’ at the station, now it felt like ‘It can’t be helped, so we have to do it.’

Barbetta, who had been waiting patiently like he was steeping tea, tapped his fingers on the table as if impatient with the wait.

“An accusation has been made.”

“An accusation.”

“They say you received a witch’s blessing from Glumiêm of the ‘Unseen Forest’ and became stronger.”

“……!”

Cain’s eyes widened.

He was able to grasp in an instant what kind of person the accuser was.

At Cain’s reaction, Barbetta shrugged.

“What audacity. To think they would use us for their own gain, as if the Holy See is a sword they can pull out from their pockets whenever they please.”

“You know it’s a political move. Why are you doing this?”

Thud━.

It seemed like the steeping was done.

Barbetta lifted the kettle.

He poured the reddish tea into Cain’s cup first, speaking as he did so.

“Because the Saintess wishes for your end.”

As an unexpected figure was mentioned, Cain asked back in surprise.

“Caterina Fiorelli?”

This time, it was Barbetta who was surprised.

He widened his eyes and asked back.

“How do you know the Saintess’s full name? She became the Saintess recently, so even many priests in the parish don’t know.”

Cain bit his lip slightly.

He couldn’t not know, even if he didn’t want to.

The heroic tales of Saintess Caterina, who traveled with the hero Abel, had spread even to the eastern end of the Great Wall.

‘I guess the Saintess hasn’t been made public yet.’

Realizing his unexpected mistake, Cain resolved to be prepared for such situations in the future and answered.

“I just found out. But why does this Saintess want me dead?”

Fortunately, Barbetta didn’t pry any further and answered readily.

“She said you are the Demon King.”

“……What?”

“Since the Demon King and the Hero were born as brothers, the Saintess believes that the Demon King must be killed before he grows stronger.”

“…….”

Cain lifted his teacup and took a sip of the hot tea.

Despite being brewed by an Archbishop, it tasted quite cheap, but the warmth felt good inside.

Barbetta also lifted his teacup.

“Judging from the fact that she came all the way here from Henerali-fe in one go, I suppose she truly believes that.”

At that moment, Cain recalled Henerali-fe, the capital of the Holy See.

He couldn’t forget it.

The day when flowers, not rain or snow, fell.

The place where he killed his brother, the hero Abel, with his own hands.

As Cain retraced the journey he had taken to fulfill his younger brother’s wish on the white cliffs of Ethelred, he looked up at Barbetta as if he had realized something.

“Was it the Saintess who saved Count Edmund?”

“Not Father, but Count Edmund?”

“…….”

When Cain, struck by the truth, remained silent without answering, Barbetta chuckled and nodded.

“Yes. I heard that she saved him in Eire on her way to Airian.”

Now the picture was beginning to take shape.

The one who had been moving behind the scenes, unbeknownst to Cain, was the Saintess. And it was the Saintess who had saved Edmund. And now, he, who should have died, was walking this land once more.

As the domino-like chain of events unfolded, Cain looked at his reflection in the tea.

‘How?’

Why did the Saintess make a move?

In Abel’s case, as the hero, it made sense for her to act when the Demon King began to rise in full force, threatening humanity.

‘But there’s nothing now.’

Why did she, who shouldn’t have left the Holy Palace in Henerali-fe, go outside?

Why did she call Abel the hero and him the Demon King?

“I have heard that the Light has revealed a prophecy through the Holy Crown, ‘Autumn’.”

And Barbetta readily provided the answer.

The 『Four Seasons』 that allowed him to cross timelines was a miracle created by combining the 〈Sacred Treasures of the Four Seasons〉.

‘Though I still don’t know what it is.’

Among the sacred treasures that made up the 『Four Seasons』, ‘Autumn’ belonged to the Saintess, both in the past and now.

Then it made sense that she, like him, possessed memories of the previous timeline.

‘To be precise, she must be observing the timeline through the sacred treasure.’

If he, who died and came back to life, had crossed timelines, she was probably the ‘observer’ of the timelines.

Now he understood why she called him the Demon King.

Clink.

Barbetta brought his teacup close to Cain’s, where Cain’s serious expression was reflected.

For a moment, the tea rippled, blurring Cain’s reflection.

“It seems you’ve figured something out, Demon King.”

“I’m not the Demon King.”

“Are you saying the Saintess is wrong?”

If the leader of the Holy See was the Pope, then the Saintess was the one who represented their faith.

To point out that she was wrong in front of the Archbishop was tantamount to picking a fight.

“She’s wrong.”

And Cain did not shy away from the fight.

“Is that so?”

Barbetta asked again nonchalantly, as if he had expected this.

“Then are you saying it’s also wrong that your mother, Chloe, is a witch?”

“……!”

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