Chapter 55: The Special Relationship Between Lady Mephia and the Witch

Parker didn’t spare the corpse a single glance from start to finish.

“If you don’t want to live, you can try running.”

One could hear a pin drop in the hall.

Some Inquisitors looked away from the corpse, remaining silent, while others clenched their fists hidden inside their sleeves as a surge of anger rose in their hearts.

This anger wasn’t directed at the members of Snake Eye, but at the City Guard — specifically, Commander Parker.

In their eyes, even if these traitors truly belonged to Snake Eye, they were still under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition.

As the Commander of the City Guard, what right did Parker have to execute these traitors on their behalf?!

However, they only dared to suppress such thoughts deep in their hearts for now.

They weren’t stupid enough to challenge Parker head-on.

Or rather… the fear rooted deep within their souls kept them from making a sound.

Amidst this suffocating silence, a trembling roar suddenly erupted from the other side of the hall!

“Don’t come any closer!”

Everyone turned toward the sound.

A middle-aged Inquisitor with a dark, sinister expression was pressing a short sword against the neck of a young female Inquisitor, dragging her toward a corner.

The veins on his forehead bulged, and his eyes were bloodshot with a mix of fear and madness.

Clearly, Commander Parker’s overwhelming presence had driven him into total despair.

The hostage in his arms was Irene.

Yet, there was no plea for mercy on her youthful face; in fact, there wasn’t much expression at all.

She simply allowed herself to be restrained, her eyes slightly distant as if she were lost in thought.

“I’ll kill her if anyone dares to come closer!”

The Inquisitor screamed, his voice warped with desperation.

“None of you want someone to die inside the Inquisition, do you? She’s even your colleague! If she dies, it will make all of you look utterly incompetent!”

His gaze darted back and forth between Parker and the Director of the Inquisition, like a cornered beast frantically searching for an exit that didn’t exist.

The Director of the Inquisition turned pale with rage.

“Damn it, let her go!”

His voice carried a hint of bluster, but he didn’t take a single step forward.

The rogue Inquisitor seemed to catch a glimmer of hope from the Director’s hesitation.

A twisted smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Let her go? Certainly, as long as you let me leave this place safe—”

Before he could finish his sentence, a silver light flashed.

No one saw Mephia draw her sword.

No one even noticed when she had stepped out from the shadows at the edge of the hall.

They only saw that silver light, like a falling star, slice across the Inquisitor’s neck.

A head flew high into the air, eventually coming to a stop right in front of Parker’s military boots.

The latter narrowed his eyes slightly.

The headless body stood frozen for 2 seconds before collapsing to the floor, blood erupting from the severed neck.

Irene stood where she was.

A few drops of blood had splattered onto her Inquisitor uniform, but her face still showed no sign of fear.

Seeing her composure, Mephia sheathed her sword, feeling quite curious.

“Are you all right?”

Irene shook her head.

“I’m fine.”

Mephia studied her for 2 seconds.

“You seem remarkably calm.”

Hearing this, Irene lowered her gaze to the bloodstains on her cuff.

“Because I’ve seen through it all. This Inquisition is terrible.”

She stated it as if she were calmly reciting a fact.

“As Inquisitors, they don’t act for justice, but only for themselves… Compared to Young Lady Tia, they are far inferior.”

Remembering something, the corner of her mouth curved into a faint smile, carrying a sense of pious radiance.

Mephia raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve met Tia?”

Irene nodded.

Mentioning that name finally brought a spark of life to her pale face.

Even her tone lifted slightly, as if she had found a beam of light in a gray world.

“Yes. I saw her that night, and she… I truly admire her.”

Mephia remained silent.

She just watched Irene quietly, waiting for an explanation.

Irene’s thoughts seemed to drift back to that burning night, back to the alley filled with the stench of blood and death.

“Do you know?” her voice was soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.

“Even as a Noble Young Lady, she was willing to lure away more than ten monsters all by herself just to save her maid.”

As she spoke these words, she still found it hard to believe the reality of that scene.

“Anyone else would have likely just abandoned their servant.”

After speaking, she glanced around the Inquisition.

The chaos in the hall continued in the distance.

Parker’s personal soldiers were checking names one by one against a list.

Most of the Inquisitors whose names were called looked deathly pale, while a few tried to fight back, only to be executed on the spot.

The uninvolved Inquisitors stood with their arms crossed, watching the drama unfold.

A few gritted their teeth, feeling that being judged by the City Guard was a stain on the Inquisition’s honor.

They were nothing but a disorganized rabble.

Mephia remained silent for several seconds before asking in a low voice, “You’re saying Tia lured away more than ten monsters by herself?”

Irene nodded.

Mephia said nothing.

If she remembered correctly, when she had reunited with Tia that night, Tia had said she hadn’t encountered any monsters…

So, was she hiding something?

“How did she escape then?”

Mephia couldn’t help but press for more.

Irene’s breath hitched.

Her eyelashes trembled, and her fingers unconsciously gripped her sleeve.

“…Someone helped her.”

A trace of conflict crossed her pretty face.

“I’m sorry… I can’t say anything more. That person helped me too, and she’s very low-key. I really can’t reveal her identity.”

Mephia gazed back at her.

After a long silence, she said softly, “It was Nightingale, wasn’t it?”

Her tone wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact.

Irene froze in place.

“Huh?”

If she didn’t feel perfectly lucid right now, she would have suspected the Inquisitor before her had cast an Illusion on her to make her spill everything she knew.

Mephia didn’t explain.

She simply looked out the window, murmuring as if to herself, “As I thought. Only she would save people like you.”

With that, she turned and left the hall, which was gradually filling with the scent of blood.

Irene stared blankly at Mephia’s departing back, her mind racing with thoughts.

‘As she thought? What does that mean?’

Did this Inquisitor know about Nightingale’s kind nature all along?

Or was there some special relationship between them that she didn’t know about?!

…The latter wasn’t impossible.

After all, the Inquisition had tried to capture Nightingale so many times, yet she escaped every single time.

If it wasn’t because Nightingale was too powerful, it meant someone inside the Inquisition didn’t want her caught.

Which would mean Lady Mephia and that Witch…

At this thought, Irene quickly slapped her cheeks to stop herself from thinking any further.

Though she hadn’t been an Inquisitor for long, she knew very well that knowing too much wasn’t a good thing — especially in an Inquisition as terrible as this!

***

Meanwhile, at Harris Manor.

“Achoo!”

Tia rubbed her delicate nose.

‘That’s strange. Is someone thinking about me? Could it be Mephia?’

After a moment of silence, she shook her head and turned her attention back to the Witch Council’s communication crystal.