Amal had left her seat to attend the evening prayers, and I seized that opportunity to search the room. I rummaged through pockets, the desk, inside the dresser, and even under the bed, but the old, faded brown parchnt was nowhere to be found.
Irritated, I scratched my head furiously.
“Argh, I can’t find it anywhere!”
I had searched every conceivable place.
Yet why couldn’t I find it? It was as though soone had hidden it from
or deliberately taken it away.
(If that were the case…)
I was the only one who knew I had brought that parchnt back from the library. No one else should even be aware that I had entered the library. I had been careful about that; there should be no mistake.
Let’s assu soone took the parchnt.
Honestly, the most likely person would be… Amal.
She takes care of everything for —als, cleaning, laundry, everything. It’s natural to think that she might have co across the parchnt by chance and taken it.
I ruminated on the words I had written on the wax tablet in my head.
The oath is sothing to be protected.
The oath is sothing to be broken.
The oath is unrelated to Christian precepts.
And―――
(―――The oath is to protect a secret)
If so, could that be the reason Amal took the parchnt?
But what I can say for certain now is that she doesn’t want
to know about it.
Amal is incredibly obedient to .
She serves
like a servant, and sotis she even speaks as if she were on par with God.
For soone like her to take my belongings, there must be a significant reason. I could assert that much.
Of course, all this speculation is based on the assumption that Amal took the parchnt. It’s hypothetical and not confird.
If I’m so troubled, I should just ask Amal directly… is what I think, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
It’s because of what Johanna said, to carry on without letting the other convent dwellers know. Naturally, that includes Amal.
It’s not that I don’t trust Amal. But I want to know the truth. To live with Amal from now on. To protect her from now on.
(What I can rember…)
I tried to recall the content of the parchnt. The details still elude . I had only skimd it, after all. But there must be sothing that stayed in my mind.
I sat down on the chair, deep in thought. I closed my eyes, slowly bringing forth the image as if searing it into my mind. The texture of the parchnt, its condition, the characteristics of the letters, and the content…
(Co to think of it, wasn’t every sentence… ending with sothing that must not be done?)
Yes, all the sentences ended that way. That’s why I thought it might be so kind of precept.
But upon further reflection, this might be a taboo, a kind of prohibition, right?
A taboo is to suppress actions that should be avoided. There is hardly anything scientifically proven about it.
However, what could have been thought to happen here if one violated this taboo? From there, one should be able to uncover the basis for the founding of the convent and the relationship between keeping secrets and obeying taboos.
To investigate that, I must unravel the vow.
If so, I indeed need that parchnt.
If Amal took it, where could she be hiding it? The first place that cos to mind is her room.
Amal’s room is at the very back of this convent, right next to the chapel. She is at prayers now, so it would be difficult to enter her room without her noticing.
In fact, Amal is with
almost all day. The only ti we’re apart is when she’s at prayers, but it’s tough to take advantage of that.
(In that case, the only way is to slip out at night under the pretext of going to the bathroom)
That seems to be the surest thod.
Once the plan is set, all that’s left is to act.
While feeling a sense of guilt towards Amal, I resolved to do just that.
We are currently recruiting. CN/KR/JP Translators/MTLers are welco!
Discord Server: .gg/HGaByvmVuw
Reviews
All reviews (0)