Don't Be Holy! - Chapter 23
Already, a month and a half had passed—a long time by any measure.
During this period, he searched everywhere and met as many people as possible.
However, the house contained nothing but herbs and medicines, and in this small village dominated by Hecate’s magic, it was impossible to know whose words to trust, or if trusted, what parts could be believed.
For example,
They couldn’t even remember exactly when Rubel had arrived in the village. Those who had witnessed it first hand had somewhat accurate memories, but everyone else’s recollections were vague and inconsistent.
Only the culprit would be closest to the truth…….
‘That means that woman is the closest to it.’
Rubel looked again in the direction where the woman had disappeared. She was the one who could get closest to the witch’s magic, and she was the one who had taken over after Hecate’s death.
‘But could that woman really be the culprit?’
Being so foolish and all.
Rubel’s eyebrows naturally furrowed.
No survival skills. No social awareness. Head, seemingly quite empty.
Could this woman, who fulfilled all three of these criteria, really have killed the great witch Hecate, stolen her legacy, and been living here?
Of course, Rubel had spent the last three years observing witches closer than anyone else, learning painfully well how freely they could change their personalities and expressions. But he had never encountered one quite this foolish.
This woman called Eir constantly did suspicious things as if begging to be caught and was incredibly careless.
Like sweet honey in front of a trap.
But she had definitely recognized his identity, and that precisely made her the most suspicious.
Everything—from referring to him as ‘Lu,’ to lurking around the temple, to almost calling him ‘Lord’—all of it.
And secondly.
Even though this was a place under Hecate’s magic, the village was still within the Divine Empire, filled with ordinary people who were deeply religious and hated witches.
Yet while living in such a place, she had carelessly let not only the villagers but also his presence into that house, which would reveal witch’s items with even a cursory search.
How could she do that while knowing he was Rubel Shinote? Did she really believe his lie about losing his memories so completely?
Or did she think Hecate’s magic would keep her safe?
And finally…….
‘Vua Sea Dua Ran.’
The words she had muttered at Hecate’s grave in the rain.
Wasn’t that the prayer for protection by darkness spoken backwards?
A woman confronting a pack of Alupu at a grave while reciting prayers backwards—who wouldn’t see that as witch-like behavior?
But what was most puzzling here was Rubel Shinote—himself—who had stepped in and dealt with the Alupu when he couldn’t stand watching anymore.
Why had he done that?
If he had just stayed still, he could have seen how she would handle the Alupu, and could have confirmed whether she was truly a witch or not.
Was it because she had saved his life once?
Rubel furrowed his brows, then shook his head as if to dismiss the thought.
If that was the case, he had already repaid that debt. Now it was truly time to determine whether she was the culprit or not.
***
“Hey, Eir. Can’t you come out a bit earlier?”
The boy sitting on the sofa said while swinging his feet that didn’t quite reach the floor, apparently bored. Eir was gathering her books while simultaneously adding dried herbs to a bubbling medicine, stirring it diligently.
Since the concentration was crucial for this medicine, she watched it intently with furrowed brows, but her nerves were becoming increasingly frayed by the child’s constant interruptions.
“It’s not even close to class time yet. Why do you keep rushing me?”
“What class time? You and I are the only ones retaking the beginner class because we couldn’t advance—whenever we go, that’s class time.”
“But Mr. Linden set a specific time for us. You know, that’s what we call a social commitment. If you grow up breaking such things, you’ll go very wrong, you know.”
However, these words seemed too difficult for a 12-year-old to grasp, as Otis just muttered ‘Whatever.’ and leaned his head back against the chair.
“Ah, I made plans to play with my friends this evening.”
“So that’s why you came here in the middle of the day?”
“Since you know, please get up. Please.”
“I need to finish this. Unlike you, I’m not a kid with free time—I’m an adult.”
As if these words had ignited something in the child’s heart, Otis suddenly jumped up, fuming.
“An adult like you! Huh? How can you still be in the beginner’s holy language class! You should be ashamed!”
Unable to get his way and apparently angered by being called a ‘kid with free time,’ he had snapped.
Of course, she didn’t believe he’d come up with these words on his own. It didn’t make sense for him to suddenly change like this when just last week he’d said, ‘I’m so happy to be in the same class as Eir.’
He must have picked up these words from someone else.
‘How bitter.’
But perhaps because she heard it so often, it didn’t really bother her anymore. After all, this was her sixth time failing to advance to the intermediate class.
The village elders, shocked by the fact that an adult like her couldn’t properly read even one line of prayer, had hurriedly placed her in a corner of the children’s class, but that had been over three years ago.
‘Still, since you’re an adult, you’ll advance quickly and soon be able to read prayers smoothly.’
The teacher who had said those words soon found himself pale-faced and bewildered by Eir’s stupidity.
Because Eir would forget everything she had learned the previous day.
‘How did you even learn the Imperial language!’
Because of the teacher’s astonishment, Eir realized that for her act to be convincing, she needed to make mistakes with difficult characters in the Imperial language as well.
And so even now, most of the medicinal labels she writes go out with intentional spelling errors.
When she first came to this village, she was known as a ‘refined and pretty city lady,’ but after repeatedly acting this way, she had become known as ‘a woman who somehow managed not to starve to death on the streets.’
Even though Granny’s magic helped prevent people from remembering the specific number of times she had failed the beginner’s holy language class—six times—everyone seemed to clearly recognize that she was a stupid fool.
Granny had asked if it was really necessary to pretend to be foolish, but Eir knew she had to consistently work at it to make such a personality believable.
