Don’t Be Holy! - Chapter 168

Evidently not as lost in thought as he appeared, Rubel suddenly spoke up and rose. His red hair cascaded down, partly concealing his sharp eyes.

The knight quickly reported what he had discovered, trying not to become the target of Rubel’s displeasure.

“I obtained a letter the young master sent to the little mistress. It stated he was going to the villa in Mahma territory.”

“Why would he suddenly go there?”

Abel interjected with a question. Originally not particularly fond of his eldest brother, Abel had lost whatever affection remained when he heard Magnus was the kidnapper. He continued with a voice mixed with anger and contempt.

“Surely that’s not the meeting place with the witch?”

“Let me see that letter you obtained.”

The knight quickly handed over the letter copied by a spy placed at Nora Shinote’s side. Rubel’s eyes skimmed over the seemingly worthless letter.

After reading it, Rubel briefly wore an unreadable expression.

The content was ordinary. There was nothing about a witch who was supposedly in love with Rubel; it simply stated that he wasn’t feeling well and was leaving for recovery, asking not to worry too much.

It wasn’t strange for him to send such a letter. Nora Shinote was the type of woman who cared only about knowing her husband’s whereabouts, regardless of whether he was being unfaithful. So reporting his location to his wife in a letter was entirely in character for Magnus Shinote.

“After five days, he suddenly appears and says he’s going to the villa in Mahma.”

Rubel muttered this, closing his eyes. His eyes were tired from staying up night after night for the past few days.

Today marked the sixth day since Eir had disappeared. During that time, he had used every resource at his disposal to search for Magnus Shinote, but couldn’t find a trace of him.

It wasn’t that he had been wasting time chasing false leads.

From the beginning, he had suspected that Magnus had kidnapped Eir to hand her over to a coven of witches, so he thought by tracking the traces of magic, he could find them soon.

Three days at most.

That’s how long he expected it would take. But surprisingly, he was wrong.

He couldn’t describe how anxious he became as each day passed. If there had been anything he could have done outside, he would have left long ago, regardless of Abel’s objections.

But tracking magical traces was primarily the work of priests, and Abel had promised to “deploy all his resources to help find magical traces if his brother stayed inside,” so he had reluctantly remained inside.

In the end, it had all been for nothing.

“At least he went somewhere with few people around. That’s fortunate.”

Rubel said this as he rose from the bed. Abel pondered what that meant, and as Rubel approached the door, he extended his arm defensively.

“What are you doing?”

“I need to leave.”

“Hey, that’s different from our agreement. You said you’d stay inside, brother!”

At that, Rubel’s gaze, which had been fixed on the door, slowly shifted to Abel. Abel stiffened his back in surprise.

Empty eyes.

Eyes as if his soul had died met his gaze.

“Don’t you understand yet? Magnus has already handed Eir over to the witches. He’s finished his business and headed to Mahma to avoid me.”

“Then we can send knights to Mahma to bring him back. There’s no need for you to go…….”

Bang.

Suddenly, a fist landed right next to Abel’s face. A loud noise reverberated, loud enough to deafen, and where his fist had struck, the stone was indented with dust falling.

“Hah.”

Abel drew in his breath. Looking impassively at his frightened brother’s face, Rubel spoke quietly.

“Until now, I’ve listened to you and stayed inside. But what has changed?”

“T-the traces of magic appeared in so many places simultaneously that it was difficult to find our eldest brother, even you admitted that.”

“Yes, I’ll grant that. I don’t blame you. But now it’s different.”

“Wh-what…….”

Is it that sending knights would take more time?

But Rubel didn’t answer that way. Without changing his expression, he whispered quietly.

“If we send knights, they won’t be able to kill my brother, will they?”

He’s conveniently crawled into a place with few people around; I can’t let such an opportunity pass.

Abel felt as if he had heard those unspoken words.

Of course, he should have stopped Rubel, who was planning to escape the central temple to kill his brother, but in that moment, Abel couldn’t say anything.

He knew all too well where Rubel’s fist, which had just made a hole in the wall, would land next if another word of objection came from his mouth.