“It seems you’ve run into some trouble.”
Gerald scrutinized Simon’s serious expression.
He held a candlestick in his hand, identical to the one Simon held.
It was this very candlestick that helped him escape after entering the dream.
The holy light of the two candlesticks resonated with each other—so long as they burned, the passage for entering and exiting remained open.
After leaving the royal city and returning to the manor, Simon found Belinda collapsed on the ground, her brows furrowed in pain.
No matter how he called her, she wouldn’t wake up.
He immediately realized something had happened to her.
By rights, Lothern shouldn’t have found Belinda so quickly.
He didn’t hesitate for a moment and brought her straight to the Imperial Cathedral.
To enter the dream and awaken Belinda, the only power he could rely on was that of the Church of Light.
Alexia could also enter dreams, but for now, she couldn’t boldly use magic directly.
If Belinda awakened in the dream and saw that Alexia had saved her, all the previous groundwork would be wasted.
After all, based on Alexia’s behavior before Belinda, she seemed entirely indifferent to Belinda’s life or death.
Likewise, Belinda wouldn’t believe Alexia would do such a thing.
“Although this time went smoothly, I’m afraid it won’t be so easy next time.”
Simon understood all too well the intent revealed in the Soulfire of the Empire’s leader.
It was a naked desire for battle.
If he entered the dream again, the other party would surely attack immediately.
But to be honest, Simon also wanted to respond and fight him.
After all, that was the Empire’s founder, once the Empire’s mightiest force.
Like himself, he could be called the first beneath the Empress.
As the Empress’s personal guard, he was responsible for her safety and conveying her will.
The difference was that he also oversaw the defense of the entire Imperial Capital, while the other only focused on Lothern.
Gerald lowered his gaze to Belinda’s brow, which was gradually relaxing, her body no longer trembling.
He reached out, releasing warm holy light over her face to soothe her spirit.
“Before she wakes up, there are some things I must tell you.”
“The Exarch Knight who returned from afar told me that the moment he stepped into the Empire and heard the name Alexia, he felt inexplicably repulsed—even though he didn’t even know the Empire had switched to Alexia before.”
“Combining this with my previous investigations, I suspect a witch is using a large-scale, covert witch ability.”
“This ability causes people within the Empire to feel repulsed or even hostile toward Alexia, even if they’ve never heard her name or seen her.”
After hearing Gerald’s account, Simon immediately thought of the third seat of the Witch Council—the Witch of Malice.
If it was her, she indeed possessed such power.
“That’s enough, Gerald.”
Simon spoke gratefully.
“You don’t need to dig any deeper into the witches.”
With this information, he already understood the truth about Alexia.
He just hadn’t expected these details to be absent from the story.
But thinking carefully, it made sense.
The protagonist of the game was Belinda, not Alexia.
If you chose the Imperial Empress route, confrontation with Alexia was inevitable.
So it was reasonable for her background to be left ambiguous, giving lore-loving players room to speculate.
Still…even though he’d found the root of the problem, solving it wouldn’t be easy.
He knew where the Witch of Malice hid, but only had one chance to make contact.
If he couldn’t resolve it in one go, finding her again would become exceedingly difficult.
Though the Witch of Malice acted capriciously, she was utterly obedient to the First Seat, never questioning orders.
If something happened once, the Witch of Malice would hide even deeper.
If the First Seat wasn’t dealt with then, finding the Witch of Malice would be impossible.
Whether his current strength could prevail was still unknown.
But Gerald shook his head.
“It seems you’ve obtained the information you sought, but this can’t end here.”
“You know as well as I do—this involves the pollution of an Evil God. I must get to the bottom of it. If anything happens, I can’t shirk responsibility.”
His primary concern was the corruption of the Evil God.
It was his duty to investigate, and as it concerned the doctrines of the Church of Light, he could not tolerate such a threat within the Empire.
The reason for confining those cultists was their harmlessness, but it was clear this Evil God’s corruption was not their doing.
He had to get to the bottom of it.
“Indeed, this is a matter that must not be ignored. If you need my help, just ask.”
Simon also realized the gravity of the situation.
Alexia would surely prioritize eradicating the Evil God’s pollution as well.
Gerald glanced again at Belinda, who was about to awaken.
The holy light in his hand faded.
He turned and walked toward the door.
“This little lady will wake soon. She might need your comfort, so I won’t disturb you further.”
As the daughter of Count Pandas, she wasn’t someone who should appear openly in public.
Some matters needed to be avoided.
Simon nodded.
Half a minute later, Belinda opened her eyes.
Seeing Simon, her unease melted away.
She sat up and immediately embraced him.
“What happened? Simon, it didn’t feel like a dream at all.”
But the surroundings and everything she’d seen told her it was a nightmare.
“It truly wasn’t a dream.”
Simon answered honestly.
He never lied to Belinda.
Belinda was a little surprised at Simon’s frankness, but at the same time, it seemed expected.
“So it really wasn’t a dream.”
She then asked Simon.
“You know what happened, don’t you?”
Simon nodded.
“Do you know the Empire’s founding Empress?”
Belinda blinked, then recalled.
“Lothern Loin?!”
“You even know her name.”
Simon was a little shocked.
Few in the Empire knew the Empress’s story.
“My father once told me about the founding Empress, about her slaying a god.”
This shocked Simon even more.
He hadn’t expected Pandas to tell Belinda about Lothern.
Did that mean Pandas was one of those aware of Lothern’s existence?
“Simon, do you mean the people I saw in the dream were the founding Empress’s imperial guards?”
“You seem very familiar with Lothern.”
Simon had thought he’d need to explain Lothern to Belinda, but it seemed unnecessary.
Perhaps Pandas had told her all about Lothern during their time together.
At his question, Belinda’s expression turned a bit forlorn.
“It was all my father who told me.”
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