Chapter 024: As Expected of Lady Pandora! (Patreon)

But everyone has a future, and to protect it, everyone must remember the past so as not to repeat their old mistakes. Yet the future — and people themselves — can change, can't they?

She smiled as she said it.

So I won't hold today's recklessness against you — or anything from your past, for that matter. All I ask is that from now on, you live however you like, so long as you're mindful of other people's feelings.

Once again, Pandora found herself impressed by her own knack for dispensing wisdom.

"You..." Regulus lifted his head. In that moment, Pandora looked to him exactly like the "perfect mom from next door" he remembered from childhood — saintly, gentle, the kind of presence that made all his unease and irritation melt away without him even trying.

Though that last line did sound a little strange, somehow...

Knock, knock, knock.

Just then, a knock came at the door.

"Lady Pandora... are you all right?" came the bird's voice.

"I'm fine," Pandora replied, glancing at Regulus. "Just a small mishap a moment ago. Don't worry, nothing here has changed."

What she meant was that nothing here had "vanished."

"As long as you're all right."

If anything ever happened to Pandora, he'd smash his own skull against the ground before Capella even got back — better to die first, out of respect.

After all, once Capella returned, he wouldn't even be allowed the mercy of dying!

As for the other Archbishops also in the meeting room...

Aside from Archbishop Romanée-Conti, whatever became of the other two had absolutely nothing to do with him...

...

Once no further sound came from outside, Pandora spoke. "All right, Archbishop Regulus — wipe that look off your face. We should move on to the next topic."

She shook her head, looking at Regulus, who glared back at her with those golden eyes.

[Still just a child, after all...]

"Let me be clear — I don't need your pity! If you've got the nerve, drop the Authority and fight me one-on-one!" With that, Regulus rose from the sofa, looming over Pandora.

"Are you being serious right now?"

"Obviously!"

With that, Regulus reached out and grabbed for Pandora's throat, and then...

...The strange bird outside, wings just starting to flutter, heard an enormous crash erupt from within the meeting room.

"See? You used your Authority again." Pandora sighed and released Regulus's throat, looking down at him pinned motionless against the cracked, splintered table.

Seeing this, Geuse — not sure what to do — traded a glance with Ley, who had been lost in thought, and the two of them turned their eyes to the table.

"You... you used it too, didn't you!"

"I gained this strength long ago, through a change I made using my Authority. So even without invoking it now, the strength doesn't just vanish."

"That's cheating! You liar! You should just die—"

His tone suddenly turned strange partway through, because—

"There, there — 'look, the table's still perfectly fine, isn't it?' And you're not hurt either. I know you're exhausted, but you could try talking to your wife about the pain inside you, instead of bearing it all alone."

"I..."

Why did a woman like this even exist?! That devastatingly beautiful face, spouting such venomous words!

Right now, Regulus was falling apart inside...

"Can we... just move on... to the next topic...?" By now his voice had lost every trace of the overwhelming confidence and arrogance he usually carried...

"Sure — if that's what you'd like." Pandora nodded.

Just as Regulus let out a sigh of relief...

"Though once the meeting's over, I'll still need to have a proper talk with you, so that neither your present nor your future goes astray out of confusion."

Pandora's voice came again.

"I... I—!" His brow furrowed in pure fury, and then, "Yes... ma'am."

He lowered his head again, utterly defeated.

If he could have simply made her disappear, he would have. But since he couldn't, running away would just have to do!

"Mm." Seeing this, Pandora nodded and walked back to her seat. "Then let's move on to the next—"

Crack!

"Archbishop Lye?"

Pandora blinked, puzzled, at the sight of Ley pinning the Gospel to the table with a pair of twin blades.

Never mind whatever grudge he had against the book — but the table? Did he have some deep, burning hatred for furniture too?

"Lady Pandora, we understand now!" With that, Ley crossed his twin blades, and with a tearing sound, the Gospel split cleanly in two.

"You... understand?"

"Yes! We understand completely! As expected of Lady Pandora!"

...

What was even happening... she genuinely couldn't follow the workings of Ley's mind.

"What you meant to say is — this little thing has had us running ourselves ragged gathering ingredients, controlled by it, while we ignored our own feelings the whole time! That's why we've grown distant from ourselves! That's it, isn't it... Lady Pandora..."

By the end of it, Ley had actually covered his face and let out a long, heaven-gazing sigh.

"As expected of Lady Pandora! Truly as expected..."

All right, she really couldn't take any more of this. These people's capacity for imaginative leaps was simply too strong! And somehow they always leapt in the right direction...

"For our second topic..." Seeing all this, Pandora decided not to say anything more and simply moved on. "It's much the same as what I was just telling Archbishop Regulus."

Pandora sighed, glancing at Regulus, still slumped over the table and refusing to lift his head.

"Do what you want to do, while being mindful of others' feelings, and then..."

She paused.

"Our ultimate goal is to found a nation of our own — a nation belonging to the Witch Cult."

"Huh?!" The moment the words left her, all three of them shot to their feet — Geuse, who'd been listening earnestly, Ley, mid-sigh, and even Regulus, who'd been lying motionless on the table.

"Lady Pandora, you've finally come around to that person's way of thinking!" Geuse buried his face in his hands, tears streaming freely. "This humble servant... this humble servant is truly... more grateful than words can express!"

"Mm..." Pandora wasn't entirely sure who 'that person' referred to, but...

Piecing together everything she knew and what she'd gathered so far, she guessed 'that person' had to be Satella.