“Then what do you think I should do?”

Catching the softening in Stano’s tone, Leticia knew she had an opening. “I can tell you’re not going to give up. Fine. You’re right—I don’t have much way to stop you. But could you at least stop walking and go back to the village before we talk?”

You didn’t know until you looked—and then you got a real shock. She’d already left the village! She could even see the main road in the distance!

How long had it even been?!

Leticia shuddered at the thought. Thank goodness she’d stopped this little punk from throwing his life away in time. Otherwise, the consequences would’ve been unthinkable…

“Heh. Beanpole, I know what you’re thinking.”

Stano scoffed. “You’re trying to keep me here, then figure out some way to stop me, aren’t you?”

Oh, for crying out loud! How can you be so stupid when you ought to be clever, and so sharp when you really shouldn’t be?!

“No, I just wanted to ask if you could explain what’s going on first…”

Leticia was starting to feel exhausted. People always said taking care of kids was tiring. Today, she was getting a taste of just how tiring it could be!

“Yesterday, I was worked up. Just think about who you are—a young master from a military family, and not even a citizen of the Kingdom of Intis. And me? I’m just an ordinary person. Maybe you don’t think it’s a big deal, but some things would be the worst kind of disaster for me!”

Leticia tried appealing to both his heart and his reason. “It’s not that I can’t understand why you want to save someone. But acting this recklessly won’t save anyone! You’d just be throwing your life away!”

It was enough to drive anyone mad.

“I know!”

Stano growled. He sounded deeply troubled, as if countless thoughts were tearing at him. “Beanpole, do you know what impalement is?”

“Impalement? What’s that?”

So far, she’d only encountered burning at the stake—and only by hearing it happen. She hadn’t been able to see a thing.

As for impalement…

Did Grand Duke Vlad have his own heroic legend in this place, too?!

Leticia mused to herself, thoroughly entertained. Maybe the Impaler was actually a little stronger than Jesus Christ?

Otherwise, why was there no mention of God here, yet people still talked about the Impaler’s method of execution?

“Yeah, figured you wouldn’t know.”

Stano’s voice sank as he gave her a rough explanation of impalement. “That’s what my uncle’s facing right now. If he gets caught, there’s a good chance they’ll impale him.”

“…”

Leticia was stunned.

She’d already gotten a sense of how fanatical the Church in this world was. But over the past year, while studying with Pastor Marshall, the old man had seemed so full of boundless compassion that she’d almost forgotten how crazed he’d been while carrying out the execution of that Witch.

They really had no shortage of ways to execute people—and each one was worse than the last.

If you stripped away the Church’s divine aura and radiance, they were nothing but a terrorist organization!

“Your uncle really has gotten himself into a colossal mess.”

Leticia spoke quietly. “I-I don’t know much about this, but once the Church gets involved, it’s hard to settle things peacefully, isn’t it?”

“I know. But so far, we haven’t heard of the Church issuing any orders, so I think there’s still a chance…”

Stano said, “If my uncle is fully exposed, it won’t just affect him. Our country—and even my family—could be caught up in it.”

Now that was a truly wonderful piece of news…

Leticia nearly rolled her eyes. If this brat got knocked down a peg, she’d be more than happy to see it.

“Hey, aren’t you a believer too? Why don’t I get any sense of devotion from you?”

In that conversation just now, the kid had seemed pretty contemptuous of the Church, hadn’t he?

“Hmph. No point hiding it from you. The relationship between the great military families and the Church is pretty delicate—unless you’re talking about troops directly under the Church’s command.”

Stano said it casually. “Everyone knows we’re the ones who expand the borders and earn military honors, while one of the Church’s principles is peace.”

Fair enough…

In Leticia’s world, the struggle between royal and religious authority had been intense. It had led to all kinds of terrible events and cost countless lives.

Here, religious authority didn’t seem to be an empty shell. The monarchy was kept in check, but it still held on to some power of its own.

So this kid was a bit of a rebel at heart, huh?

Leticia hadn’t expected the kid to let so much slip. Well, he was still just a kid. He wasn’t very calculating and couldn’t keep things to himself. That was a good thing.

“So you’ve already thought it all through. Why are you still going through with this?”

“Then let me ask you this. If your uncle John were about to be executed, and you had a chance to save him before it happened, would you?”

“…”

Leticia fell silent.

“Besides, I know you’re not exactly a goody-goody at heart, either.”

Stano said lightly, “Who was the grave you made for?”

“Huh? Hah!”

Leticia jolted. Back then, she’d felt sorry for the Witch, who’d been reduced to nothing but black ash. Thinking she might as well earn herself a little good karma, she’d quietly gathered some of the drifting ashes, dug a small hole, and stuck a blade of grass in it, treating it like a gravestone.

Even that hadn’t escaped the kid’s notice?