♚♚♚
THEY left the mausoleum and returned to the tombstone-lined cemetery.
“By the way, do you remember the other matter I wrote you about?” Ebel asked in a quiet voice as Rock blinked against the sweet-smelling wind.
“…About Krister?” she asked back in a whisper. He nodded.
“I have something to tell you about him. Are you all right if we go for a short stroll?”
“Yes. Where to?”
Their destination mustn’t be far if he was choosing to leave the carriage behind.
“To a church right around the corner,” he answered gently.
Rock fought not to let her internal disgust show. But her attempts ended in vain as Ebel burst out laughing.
“Please don’t look so miserable. I know it’s not your preferred destination, but I have good reason to take you there today.”
“I-I don’t hate it that much!” Flustered by her blunder, Rock quickly tempered her voice to calmly ask, “What reason do we have to go?”
Ebel quietly answered her as he began to walk in the direction of the church. “Did you notice the smell inside and around the mausoleum?”
Rock kept pace beside him as she drew on the still-fresh memory.
“It smelled good. Like a spring forest…”
“Exactly. The caretaker burned incense before we came.”
Rock frowned at him mentioning incense.
“Incense? Don’t tell me—”
“It’s as you’ve guessed. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it the other day…” Ebel groaned, pressing a hand to his forehead. “Burning incense isn’t limited to the pastimes of the rich and famous. It’s also used by priests and caretakers to remove unpleasant smells or for more religious reasons.” His expression turned grim. “Isn’t it possible that Krister Gionet was visited by a priest who uses incense daily at work?”
If that was true, then it connected with other clues Rock had come across.
The wealthy customer had ordered robes from Krister. Clothes that didn’t show the body’s shape were out of style and not used for everyday wear. But there were places that wanted clothes tailored specifically not to draw attention to an individual’s figure.
“Are there any clergymen who wear blue robes?” Rock asked. Ebel swiftly shook his head.
“None in the imperial capital as far as I know. Everyone who serves God wears purple robes.”
A white limestone church with a towering steeple came into view, and a past-middle-aged priest welcomed them at the door.
“Thank you for coming all this way, Count Mateus.”
The priest greeting them with a jovial smile wore a robe dyed a stunning shade of indigo-purple. From the gold-thread embroidery work and the regalness of the holy sigil hanging from his neck, it could be inferred that he was a high-ranking priest.
“I just finished visiting my father’s grave and would like to rest here for a spell,” Ebel explained.
“Our doors are always open,” the priest said warmly. “May you rest well in God’s holy light.”
The sanctuary overflowed with multicolored lights filtering in through the stained-glass, fixed-frame windows depicting various religious figures and spilled onto the pews below.
Only one middle-aged man had his head bowed in prayer inside the gorgeous sanctuary. Perhaps that was why the priest personally showed Ebel and Rock around.
“Your father is surely overjoyed by your piety, Your Excellency,” he courteously praised Ebel once again as they walked together.
How did Rock appear in his eyes as she accompanied them? He restlessly asked about her only after they’d reached the center of the sanctuary and he’d finished lavishing Ebel with praise.
“By the way, who might this lovely young lady be…?”
“Ah.” Ebel looked over at Rock. He lightly smiled at her as she wisely kept her mouth shut. “She’s the daughter of a distant relative on my mother’s side. She is currently staying at my residence while she undergoes etiquette lessons.”
“Oh… I see, I see.” The priest nodded several times as if impressed by something left unsaid.
“She still isn’t used to high society and is a mild-mannered quiet girl, as you can see.”
It took all of Rock’s will not to laugh after being introduced as having a personality that was a far cry from the truth. As it was, her interest lay more with what the priest was wearing than what he thought of her.
Krister’s ledger had several letters crossed out right before it said “blue robes.” What if he’d mistakenly written purple first?
Krister’s customer had been some sort of clergyman. So he’d simply assumed the order would be for purple robes and wrote that down before the fact. However, what the customer wanted was blue robes, so he hastily blotted it out and corrected the details in his ledger.
Somehow that all seemed like a likely story.
The sweet, elegant scent permeating the sanctuary seemed to support her hypothesis.
Rock and Ebel sat side by side on the sanctuary pew.
Although she was sitting down, this was the last place Rock could relax. The light shining through the stained glass shimmered on the floor like inlaid jewels. It was so quiet when they weren’t talking, you could even hear their clothes rubbing against the pew when they moved.
And then there was the sweet, luxurious smell of fragrant wood in the air.
Rock thought it smelled similar to the scent lingering in Krister’s hovel that night.
Noticing Rock’s restless energy, Ebel started a conversation with the priest to get the ball rolling.
“May I ask you a question, Reverend Father?”
“You may ask me anything, Your Excellency,” the elderly priest replied with a respectful bow.
He looked like a high-ranked priest, but even someone of his status paid respect to a count.
Ebel put his question to the priest as Rock processed the surprising hierarchy at play.
“I see you are wearing purple robes. Are there any clergy in the imperial capital that wear blue robes?”
“No,” the priest replied without delay. “Blue is a damned color.”
“….Damned?” Rock couldn’t help repeating that unsettling word.
Her voice unexpectedly traveled through the high-ceiling sanctuary, and the “mild-mannered, quiet girl” hastily covered her mouth with her hands.
“It is. There is a reason why our robes are purple,” the priest continued without minding the interruption. “Namely, the blue of water and the red of blood, the gift of life from God and the origin of all existence, combine to make purple.”
“…That’s what I thought,” Ebel whispered to Rock. He seemed to know that convention.
In that case, who in the world would order blue robes?
The blue of water, the red of blood, damnation—every word had an edge of danger to it that left Rock terribly unsettled.
“Why do you ask about such a thing, Your Excellency?”
It was the priest’s turn to question them.
“My maid said she saw a group of several people clad in blue robes wandering through the capital,” Ebel answered smoothly as Rock felt her hands go cold. “Apparently, their robes were embroidered, but I wonder what the design was…”
Ebel was awfully skilled at making up convenient lies. Rock was impressed. Meanwhile, the priest seemed to fall for it as his eyes went wide with surprise.
“I see… Do you have any idea what color thread was used for the embroidery?”
“Unfortunately not. All I can say for sure is that my maid is deeply unsettled by how suspicious and scary the group appeared,” Ebel answered as casually as if it were the truth and shrugged.
Just then, the person sitting on the pew behind them suddenly stood up. It was the well-dressed middle-aged man who’d been praying in the sanctuary before they’d arrived.
“Oh, are you—”
The man didn’t stop to hear the priest out as he exited through the thick double doors and gruffly shut them behind him. The disregarded priest seemed a little baffled by his rude behavior.
“…He seems to be in quite the hurry,” he said, unable to keep the discomfit out of his voice.
“Who was that gentleman?” Ebel asked without missing a beat.
“Someone who comes daily to pray. I haven’t asked about his identity…” The priest took a breath to dispel his confusion and looked anxiously at the door. “I believe he is a devout believer as he prays in earnest every day.”
“Then he must have left because we were being too loud,” Ebel said as if he believed that was the reason the man suddenly departed, but one look at his side profile told a different story.
After stealing a glance at his expression, Rock cast her restless gaze down at the brightly colored floor.