Volume One: Forest Knight, Chapter 88: A Scheme to Eliminate Miura (4)

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Count Greer glared at Sir Sandiman and cursed, “You idiot, you fool. Didn’t you tell that old nun this was my order?”

Looking aggrieved, Sir Sandiman replied, “My lord, I did. But Sister Myra said that even if the sovereign himself came, she still would not open the door or let anyone into her room.

“She also cursed us, calling us a pack of ingrates, saying that because we were nothing but gate dogs for a petty count, we had begun to think ourselves above others.”

Hearing this embellished report, Count Greer turned red with fury. He slammed the table and stormed out of the dining hall with the household knights to Sister Myra’s room.

Seeing this, Jess quickly tugged her mother, Lady Mary, to follow behind Count Greer and see what would happen.

When they arrived before Sister Myra’s door, Sir Sandiman once again pounded heavily on it with his fist.

At that very moment, Sister Myra, who had just lain down for a second sleep with a belly full of rage, felt the fire in her chest flare up at once.

She rose angrily, went to the door, and while opening it cursed, “You dogs, don’t you know I’m sleeping? Who gave you the nerve to come disturb my rest?”

After pulling the door open, Sister Myra saw Count Greer standing there with a face full of anger. Realizing her words had gone too far, she hurriedly dropped into a curtsy and asked, “Honored Count, what brings you here?”

“Hmph!” Count Greer gave a disdainful snort and waved his hand.

At his gesture, Sir Sandiman and the other five household knights rushed straight inside and began searching Sister Myra’s room thoroughly.

Watching these knights rudely rummage through her belongings, Sister Myra trembled with rage. She shot Count Greer a savage look and ground out, “My lord, I may have offended you, but there is no need to humiliate me like this!”

But Count Greer ignored her entirely and simply waited for the search results.

Then came a cry of surprise, and one knight shouted, “I found snakes! There are several of them here! And they’ve only just been fed.”

Another knight also made a discovery. In a chest beneath the bed, he found a snake goddess statue with a human face and serpent body, unique to the Serpent Worship Cult, as well as a hideous doll, exactly like the one Sister Myra had used to frame the maid Pree as a witch that day.

After Count Greer came in and saw these items, he immediately fixed Sister Myra with a murderous glare. “What do you have to say now? So after all this, you are the evil heretic. Men! Arrest this witch at once!”

At his command, Sir Sandiman and the others swarmed forward, threw Sister Myra to the ground, and bound her with coarse ropes.

While she was being tied up, Sister Myra urgently begged Lady Mary and Jess for help. But just as Lady Mary was about to speak, Jess tugged at her sleeve and shook her head.

Lady Mary understood her daughter’s meaning. She also did not dare say anything recklessly, so she remained silent and did not plead for Sister Myra.

Once Sister Myra had been bound, Count Greer ordered, “Take her to the city square and prepare the pyre. We will burn the heretic and her evil objects.”

Seeing that her husband truly meant to burn Sister Myra, Lady Mary hastily said, “My dear husband, shouldn’t we inform the bishop first? After all, Myra is a church official.”

“Yes, yes, that makes sense,” Count Greer said with a nod. “Sandiman, go inform the bishop. We will wait for him in the city square.”

Sir Sandiman accepted the order and went to notify the bishop. Count Greer then led his household knights, escorting Sister Myra and the incriminating items seized from her room, toward the city square.

Jess and Lady Mary, along with the maid, also went to the square to see how the matter would unfold.

After hearing Sir Sandiman’s report, the bishop was utterly stunned. He absolutely refused to believe that a high-ranking nun like Sister Myra, born into a noble family and a close confidante of the sovereign’s wife, could be a heretic of the Serpent Worship Cult.

He immediately took several priests with him and hurried to the city square, intending to rescue Sister Myra before she was bound to the pyre.

For the public good, Sister Myra and he were both clergy; he had no reason to stand by and do nothing. Privately, she had sent him many fine gifts, and the sovereign’s wife had written to him several times, asking him to look after Sister Myra properly.

By the time the bishop arrived breathlessly in the square, Sister Myra was already bound to the pyre, and a tall stack of firewood had been piled beneath her. With one command from Count Greer, she could be burned alive at any moment.

The bishop hurried up to the platform in the square, wiping sweat from his face as he said to Count Greer, “My lord, you cannot simply burn Sister Myra like this. I absolutely believe she is innocent.”

Count Greer opened a nearby basket covered with black cloth and gave the bishop a cold smile. “Look at these things. I searched them out of that woman’s room myself. Innocent, you say?”

At the sight of several writhing black snakes, the hideous doll, and the terrifying human-faced serpent idol, even the bishop could not help but shiver.

But he quickly composed himself and continued pleading with Count Greer. “After all, Sister Myra is a member of the clergy. Whether she is a heretic or not, I think we should judge her ourselves. It would be best to send her back to the Grand Cathedral in Wallonbre and let the archbishop decide.”

Hearing the bishop’s words, Count Greer understood that Sister Myra had powerful backing. If he destroyed her like this, he would undoubtedly offend many people. And now the bishop had even brought up the purple-robed archbishop, which was plainly a threat.

Count Greer let out a long sigh. “If not for the sake of our old friendship, that old woman would already be a lump of charcoal.

“Take her away. I do not want to see her in Janveksh City ever again. If I ever see that woman again, I will not spare your old friendship.”

“Hahaha!” The bishop clapped his hands and laughed. Patting Count Greer on the shoulder, he said, “Rest assured, my old friend. I shall send her back to Wallonbre today.

“You remain as merciful as ever, and you also consider the feelings of an old friend. On this matter, I owe you one. I will remember it.”

Count Greer did not take the bishop’s words to heart. After all, compared with the slyness of these high-ranking clergy, politicians were almost honest; their promises and assurances were nothing but hot air, not worth believing.

After receiving Count Greer’s permission, the bishop happily took two priests and went to bring Sister Myra down from the pyre.

When the bishop reached the pyre, he ordered the two household knights guarding Sister Myra to untie her. But these two knights had long suffered much from Sister Myra’s bullying, and now they pretended not to hear him and did not move.

Seeing that he could not command the two knights, the bishop grew irritated. Supported by the two priests, he grumpily climbed the ladder to the pyre.

The moment Sister Myra saw the bishop, she burst into tears. Crying as she thanked him, she said, “Dear bishop, thank you for coming to save me.”

“Oh, my good sister, helping you is only right. I’ll get you down.” As he spoke, the bishop began untying the ropes binding Sister Myra’s limbs.

Just then, while he was unfastening the ropes, he suddenly heard a hissing sound beneath his feet. He looked down at once, and what he saw nearly made him leap out of his skin. In his alarm, the sixty-something bishop lost his footing and fell from the woodpile.

Though the pile was not high, he was still an old man in his sixties. The moment he hit the ground, he let out a pained cry. The two priests, seeing him fall, rushed over to help.

As they lifted the bishop, they saw a patterned snake wriggle out of the woodpile, flicking its tongue as it tried to slither toward a small flower garden nearby. This startled the already shaken bishop yet again.

The old man, his hair and beard both white, was now trembling all over. After being dragged to the side, he pointed at the woodpile with shaking hands and screamed, “The devil! The devil! The devil!”

By then Count Greer had also reached the bishop’s side. Seeing the fallen bishop and the snakes crawling out of the woodpile, he flew into a rage.

He snatched a torch from one of the household knights and hurled it straight onto the woodpile. The dry timber, already soaked in oil, instantly burst into roaring flames.

The bishop had only managed to loosen half the ropes; one of Sister Myra’s hands was still tied when the bishop was frightened by the snakes and fell. Thus Sister Myra remained bound to the pyre.

From within the blaze, Sister Myra let out shrill screams and howls. Hearing them from afar, Jess and Lady Mary were both shaken. Jess gripped her mother’s hand tightly. This was the first time she had ever come so close to death; fear was inevitable.

At the same time, compassion and reluctance welled up in Jess’s heart. Though she hated this nun for keeping her under such strict discipline, Sister Myra had never directly harmed her and had taught her many things.

Unlike Jess’s pity, the maid Pree felt only joy. This Sister Myra had falsely denounced her as a heretic and caused her endless suffering in prison, nearly getting her burned alive.

If Jess and Sir Berion had not saved her, she would have been burned to death just like Sister Myra.

Jess glanced at her maid Pree and saw the girl smiling coldly with excitement. She could only shake her head. If she had been Pree, she would never have felt sorry for her either.

After Sister Myra and the snakes in the woodpile were burned to death, Count Greer ordered his household knights to escort the bishop back to the church. He then left the city square with his wife and daughter.

By then, the onlookers had also learned the full story from the count’s guards, and they all cheered. After all, what reason did they have not to be pleased at the burning of a witch who might have brought disaster upon Janveksh City?

When the woodpile and Sister Myra had been reduced to ashes, the city magistrate hired several laborers from the poor quarters to sweep up the remains, load them onto a cart, and haul them out of the city. They would throw the ashes into the sea.

On the second floor of a tavern beside the square, in a small private room by the window, Berion, who had watched the entire affair from start to finish, sat together with Bran and Hake, eating fine food and drinking good wine.

The man who had orchestrated the whole affair now looked as though nothing had happened, chatting and laughing with the two boys. There was no trace of satisfaction from having rid himself of an enemy, nor any sign of discomfort at having indirectly caused a person’s death.

After downing a cup of wine, Hake said carelessly to Berion, “My lord, you really are formidable. The moment I heard your plan, I knew that nun named Myra was doomed for sure.”

“Hey, don’t make me sound so wicked, all right? If you hadn’t used your clever hands to arrange those things, it wouldn’t have gone so smoothly,” Berion said with a wry tone.

Bran then cut in and asked, “Hake, how did you get so many snakes?”

Hake set down the roasted chicken leg in his hand and turned to Bran. “For just twenty copper coins, the children in the slums can catch as many as you want.”