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“Have you not seen your husband’s patches, Duchess?”

“What about them?”

“Have you heard that those patches resemble the devil’s motif of the ancient times, by any chance?”

“I heard that even though they’re similar, they’re not exactly the same.”

“The slight difference is not what’s important. The resemblance in and of itself is the problem.”

“…”

“Of all things, they resemble the devil’s motif… It would be difficult to deem it a coincidence. And most importantly.”

Bekah spoke with a relaxed tone as he drove his point home.

“The circumstantial evidence that your husband was cursed by the devil is as clear as day. On the other hand, I believe there’s no evidence that proves he wasn’t?”

It is originally the accuser’s burden of proof to provide concrete evidence of their claim. The accused isn’t demanded to provide evidence that the claim is false.

Yelena stared at Bekah as he shamelessly spouted such ridiculous logic and laughed insipidly.

“…I saw this coming, but who knew it would go exactly as I had predicted?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll tell you why I need my donations back.”

Yelena scanned the temple’s interior with a fierce gaze and continued.

“Now that I know that this temple doesn’t worship the sun god Ior, but the devil, naturally, I have to get my money back.”

“What nonsense…!”

Yelena threw another book she had been holding towards Bekah.

“Look through it.”

One of the pages was folded. Bekah furrowed his brow as he sifted through the book. There was a sublime motif on the page that Yelena had folded.

“You see the explanation, right? This is the motif that was engraved on the ancient devil’s sacrifices.”

“Why…”

“The same motif is engraved on the pillar to the right of the temple’s entrance.”

“…!”

The young priest received a look from Bekah and hurried outside. A few moments later, he returned, panting for breath.

“Ah, um, sh-she’s right. There is such a motif on the lower half of the entrance’s right pillar,” the young priest said with a bewildered voice.

“…”

“B-but it’s not the exact same! It is similar, but if you compare closely, the edges are different…”

“The slight difference is not what’s important.” Yelena cut the young priest off.

“The resemblance in and of itself is the problem. Isn’t that right, Priest Bekah?”

Bekah jumped up from his seat after being put on the spot.

“As if! This is simply a coincidence!”

“Of all things, it just happens to resemble the devil’s motif? Don’t you think your argument is weak?”

“…Even if it isn’t a coincidence, the motif was engraved by the pillar’s sculptor of their own accord. It has absolutely no relation with the temp—”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you have evidence that the sculptor wasn’t commissioned by the temple to engrave that motif?”

Yelena looked up at Bekah from where she was seated with only her chin raised.

“Serving the sun god Ior was just a front. Wasn’t the true purpose for building this temple to offer sacrifices to the devil?”

“Nonsense!”

“So give me the evidence.”

“…”

“If you want to deem my claims as nonsense, show me proof that they’re nonsense.”

There was no way he could show proof, as the temple had been built 200 years ago. The sculptor who had engraved the motif and the people who had commissioned him were all dead.

“The circumstantial evidence that this temple worships the devil is as clear as day. On the other hand, you don’t have evidence that it doesn’t.”

Bekah went pale. No matter how old he was, he couldn’t have forgotten what he had said only a few minutes before.

Yelena got up. Bekah was on the short side, so when Yelena stood up in her heels, she ended up looking down at him.

Yelena stared down at Bekah, who was at a loss for words, as she dealt her final blow.

“Bring me my money.”

***

Yelena exited the temple with a large pouch in her grasp. The pouch was huge, even though it was only filled with gold coins because of how large the total sum was. It was so heavy that two adult men struggled to bring it into the temple’s reception hall.

“Here is the duchess’s money. However, since it belongs to the duchess, she must carry it herself.”

Bekah had made a face as if to challenge Yelena to take the pouch if she was physically able, but that issue was resolved awfully quickly. Sidrion cast a spell that made the pouch light enough for a child to carry with ease.

Yelena walked with a spring in her step at the thought of Bekah’s unsightly face, unable to conceal his dejectedness.

As she and Sidrion made their way out of the temple, the latter suddenly asked, “How did you know?”