Actually, I was the Real One

Her gaze alternated between the empty altar and the shards of shattered glass.

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Lira: “H-how did this happen? I swear I didn’t! I’ve never gone up to the altar!”

The high priest tried to stop her trembling and said.

“Let’s calm down for now.
I heard that you were forced to evacuate because of the fire.
Did you lock the door when you evacuated?”

Lira: “No, there wasn’t time.”

“Are you sure?”

Lira: “Yes, there’s a nun who took me out.
She’ll testify.”

“Good.
So, what happened after that? The door was locked when we arrived.”

Lira: “After the fire was extinguished, I hurried back.
After all, milady urged me to lock the door if I ever needed to vacate the prayer room.
That’s when I ran into milady who came back from the door of the prayer room.”

“Then why did her Ladyship return to the prayer room again?”

Keira answered.

Keira: “I heard there was a fire when I was changing clothes.
Since the laundry room was close to the prayer room, I came because I was worried that my maid might have been injured.
I think I said this earlier in the main hall.”

“Good.
Then the two of you met again right after the fire was put out… Were you feeling well back then?”

Lira: “Yes, of course.”

Lira intervened.

Lira: “Milady suggested that I get a more thorough treatment, so I locked the door and went to the doctor.
Quite a few people were waiting for medical treatment, so I haven’t been able to come back until now.”

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“So it means that the divine beast would have come here in the short time you evacuated to the time you came back and locked the door.”

In shock, Lira asked.

Lira: “The divine beast is here?”

“There.”

“Ah.”

She turned towards where the high priest pointed to see a fox tossing and turning in a nun’s arms.

Lira: “Then… Did the divine beast destroy the divine artifact?”

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“Looking at the current situation, that seems to be right.”

“…”

Lira bit her lip and knelt.
Her face was pale and terribly distorted.

With her lips trembling, she wept.

Lira: “It’s all my fault… I should have looked more closely at the prayer room before I locked the door… Miss Keira did nothing wrong! I’ll take all the punishment for ruining the ceremony.”

The prayer room had many blind spots.
In addition, it was also wide.

If a small fox sneaked in, it would be difficult to find it, especially when one wasn’t aware that the fox had even entered.

If it were her, would she have been able to find the fox and prevent the accident? Probably not.

It was a thought that ran through the heads of most of those gathered here.

Keira pulled Lira back to her feet and said.

Keira: “Stand up.
If you’re wrong for not looking at the prayer room, those who didn’t manage the divine beast properly have done twice as wrong as you.”

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As she said that, she looked at the high priests.

Keira: “Of course, I agree that my maid and I were careless.
But why did the divine beast, which should have been in another prayer room far away, come all the way here? Shouldn’t we also look into it?”

“You’re right.”

Keira: “Don’t you think so, Cosette?”

“…”

When Cosette said nothing, Keira asked again.

Keira: “Why? Do you not agree?”

Cosette: “…no, no.
It’s not that.”

Keira: “Then can we call for your maid? I heard your maid took care of the divine beast while you were volunteering outside.”

“…”

Cosette didn’t answer this time either.
Well, it didn’t matter whether she agreed or not.

Keira told the priests to bring Mina, Cosette’s maid, and they found her not long after.

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As the priests led Mina to the prayer room, her face turned pale.
The moment she spotted the divine beast in the nun’s arms, she looked like she was ready to pass out.

The priest pushed Mina’s back and said.

“I found her hanging around in the hallway of the inner hall and brought her here.”

“Your name… Yes, you said it was Mina, right?”

The high priest asked in a soft but clear voice, obviously holding back his anger.

Mina: “Yes, yes.
My name is Mina.

“Mina, this is a temple, the place closest to the goddess here on earth.
So, I believe you will answer without a single lie.”

Mina: “I-I’ll try my best.”

“I heard that Lady Cosette left you in the prayer room, right?”

Mina: “Yes.”

“Then why was the person who was supposed to be with the divine beast in the prayer room standing around here?”

Mina: “…Because the beast was gone… I went looking for it.”

“Then what did you do until the divine beast disappeared?”

“…”

Mina didn’t answer.
Of course.

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Her gaze remained on the floor.
Her shoulders were shaking, but Keira didn’t feel any pity.

Mina left the prayer room to set the inner hall on fire and break the divine artifact.

Keira’s heart became even colder when she recalled the past in which Mina framed her.

“The priest is asking a question, right? Come on, answer!”

Mina: “I-I’m sorry.
When I heard there was a fire… I came out in case there was an accident.”

Keira: “Lies.”

Mina’s shoulders trembled more when Keira spat out.

Mina: “What do you mean I’m lying? I’m definitely not!”

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Keira: “The prayer room where you were was far away from the place where the fire started.
Well, let’s say you ran out because of the fire.
Who told you about it? You probably don’t have the clairvoyance to know about fires far away.”

Mina: “That… I mean, that… No one told me.
I heard the noise outside from people talking about a fire…”

Keira: “Is that right? Then shall I call someone to check if there was a commotion?”

“…”

Mina’s mouth shut.

The longer her silence grew, the colder the priests’ sympathetic gazes became.

“If you had been lazy, you should have been honest and asked for forgiveness!”

“Was the fire the best excuse you could come up with?”

It is a serious crime to ruin the memorial service by being lazy.

Moreover, Mina had just vowed to tell the truth in front of the goddess, and it fueled people’s anger to see her shamelessly lying.

Keira: “So, to summarize, the divine beast escaped from the prayer room while this maid was being lazy, and so it came all the way here and damaged the divine artifact.”

Keira then added.

Keira: “But it’s quite a distance from the prayer room on the other side to here.
So it must have taken quite a while for a beast to wander around and get here… In other words, the divine beast escaped a long time ago.”

“Oh, my.
Since when did you start fooling around?”

People around them started expressing their displeasure.

By then, Mina’s face was almost blue.

Cosette, who couldn’t stand it, stepped forward.

Cosette: “Keira, she’s not a bad girl.
She must have lied because she was so scared.
I’ll beg for forgiveness instead.
If you could let this go just once…”

Keira: “You seem to be misunderstanding something, Cosette.
Now is not the time for you to ask for forgiveness on anyone’s behalf.”

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Cosette: “What?”

Keira: “You, since this morning… No, what have you been doing since the first day you came here? Rather than focusing on preparing for the memorial service, you went out to help with chores.”

Cosette refuted immediately as if she was wrongly accused.

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Cosette: “B-but I didn’t go out without doing what I was supposed to do! Is it a sin to help people in my spare time?”

Keira: “You can only say that when an accident like what happened today didn’t happen.
Were you outside this morning as well? If you had stayed in the prayer room instead of entrusting the task of taking care of the divine beast to your maid, would this situation have happened?”

“…”

Keira: “It means that you’re responsible for what happened.”

Keira’s argument was sound.
Well, at least for the priest who had been preparing for the service a long time only to see it getting ruined at the last minute.

She turned around and looked at the priests.

Keira: “Fathers, what kind of punishment will be given in this case?”

“If one intentionally tried to ruin the memoria service, of course, the punishment is death.
But I don’t think it was intentional, and negligence and laziness were the problems…”

The high priest’s gaze shifted to Mina and Cosette.

How troublesome.

They couldn’t exactly punish Cosette, who was now treated as an esteemed lady of the grand duchy, harshly.

The high priest sighed and said.

“I think it’s too hasty to make a decision right now.
We should discuss it more.”

Keira: “It’s fine with me.”

“Haa…”

At the thought of the ruined memorial service, the priests’ faces were distorted miserably.

“For now, lock that maid in the dungeon.”

“Yes!”

Two strong priests grabbed Mina’s arms from both sides and lifted her.

Mina, who looked at Cosette with tears in her eyes for a moment, was led out of the prayer room by the monks as if she had become resigned to her fate.

Cosette’s gaze remained on Mina as she was dragged out.
Her clenched fist was shaking.

As Keira passed by Cosette, who was trembling in anger, she whispered.

Keira: “Thanks.”

She gave Keira the chance to get rid of Mina, a thorn on her side.