What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Late at night, Leon returned to the room where he was staying. He unlocked the door with his key, entered, and quickly locked it again.

The room was completely dark, with no lights lit.

He assumed Weiss had temporarily fallen asleep from exhaustion. Walking over to the bedside, he used his night vision to inspect the area, only to discover that Weiss was nowhere to be seen.

Leon was slightly surprised. He turned around and lit the lamp before speaking.

“It’s me. I’m back. Come out.”

The room remained silent, with no response at all.

Leon immediately grew tense. Had Weiss left the room? In a situation like this, she still dared to act on her own?

Leon began searching the room. He checked beneath the bed and behind the curtains, and when he finally opened the wardrobe, he discovered Weiss curled up into a ball inside, sleeping soundly.

The anxiety hanging over Leon’s heart finally eased. He reached out and gently pushed Weiss’s shoulder.

“Weiss, wake up.”

Weiss abruptly jolted awake as though from a nightmare. Only after seeing Leon did she let out a sigh of relief.

“You finally came back.”

“You fell asleep?” Leon asked.

“Sorry. My condition calmed down a little during the night, and suddenly I felt very sleepy. Before I knew it, I accidentally fell asleep…”

“Then why were you sleeping in the wardrobe?” Leon continued asking.

“Staying outside just made me feel too uneasy. I kept worrying someone might suddenly burst in.” Weiss answered somewhat embarrassedly.

She had never experienced being hunted down like this before. Once Leon left, the fear immediately returned when she was left alone in the room.

Even though her body was already utterly exhausted, she still did not dare lie down on the bed to rest. In the end, only after hiding inside the enclosed wardrobe did she finally manage to calm down slightly.

“Alright, then…” Leon hesitated slightly at this point, but still raised his hand and pointed toward Weiss’s arms. “Why are you hugging the clothes I changed out of?”

“Eh?” Weiss froze for a moment, then lowered her gaze along Leon’s line of sight.

She had fallen asleep curled up in the wardrobe while hugging the gray monk robe Leon had changed out of.

When she had been restlessly pacing around the room earlier, she noticed this monk robe Leon had taken off.

When Leon transformed into a werewolf to save her, this was the robe he had been wearing.

At first, Weiss merely wanted to carefully check whether it had any bloodstains or tears on it, so she picked it up and examined it.

Then she discovered that simply holding the robe somehow soothed her anxiety. She did not know whether it was because Leon had carried her on his back while she remained pressed against this robe, allowing it to remind her of the feeling of having someone to rely on.

Before she realized it, she had already balled the robe up and hugged it like a pillow. Even after hiding inside the wardrobe to rest, she still had not let go of it.

Then, when drowsiness overtook her, she had simply… fallen asleep like that.

How did I end up falling asleep like this!?

As the memories surged back, Weiss felt blood instantly rush into her face. Although she still maintained a straight expression, her entire face had already turned bright red.

“I was just… well…” Weiss answered awkwardly. “I felt a little cold, so I casually grabbed something to cover myself with. Yes, that’s all.”

“I see.” Leon still looked somewhat puzzled after hearing that.

Wasn’t there a blanket in the room?

However, he noticed Weiss staring at him with eyes carrying a faint pleading look, and he vaguely realized she did not want him to continue prying into the matter.

This truly was not anything worth dwelling on anyway. Right now, there were more important matters he needed to discuss with Weiss.

“Then come out and eat something first. Sorry for making you wait so long.” Leon主动 extended his hand.

Weiss finally recovered a little of her usual composure. Grabbing Leon’s hand, she carefully climbed out of the wardrobe.

Leon led Weiss to the table and took out the meat pies, smoked ham, cheese, and other food he had brought back from outside from a basket. He then poured Weiss a glass of water and gestured for her to eat first.

“Thank you.” Weiss sat down beside Leon at the table and began eating somewhat stiffly.

Although she was not particularly hungry, she knew that if she failed to replenish herself after such severe exertion, her physical condition would likely worsen later.

“The holy water you asked me to buy earlier is all here as well.” Leon took out several kinds of holy water purchased from the Holy Healing Monastery. These were what Weiss had requested.

The Magic Potion still lingering within Weiss’s body had already become extremely weak compared to before. However, completely removing it still required some medicine. Fortunately, Weiss herself was the finest Apothecary possible.

“Thank you very much.” Weiss spoke softly.

“It’s currently one in the morning. Let me briefly explain the situation I gathered outside.” Leon began his report. “The knights of the diocese haven’t found any clues regarding us yet. They’re still patrolling around fruitlessly. Bishop Beckett could no longer endure his injuries and went to receive treatment.

The diocese released an emergency announcement claiming that investigations revealed you had already been attacked and abducted by heretics lurking within the city before the speech began. The ‘you’ who appeared at the speech venue was a Witch disguised by the heretics, all part of a conspiracy to smear the Church. As for how many people believe it, there’s no way to know.”

“They minimized their own responsibility. At the very least, things have to appear acceptable on the surface. The Church could never publicly reveal that confidential project to the civilians, but they also needed to provide the public with an explanation quickly.” Weiss let out a long breath.

If the Church admitted that, for the sake of researching Witches internally, they had allowed the Saintess of the Creator Church to undergo a ritual and become a Witch, then the propaganda the Church had long maintained before the public would begin to crumble.

The civilians would also conclude that the Church’s research had gone wrong, causing heretical powers to spiral out of control and produce a massacre. The entire blame would then fall upon the Church. No matter how much the Church insisted that someone had framed her, it would be meaningless. The mere fact that a Saintess had become a Witch was far too explosive and would capture the overwhelming majority of public attention.

Nor could the Church claim Weiss had always secretly been a lurking heretic. If they did that, the issue of their own negligence would equally disgrace the Church, and they would additionally need to drag out a whole chain of people to take responsibility.

Thus, it was better to simply place all blame onto the currently unidentified heretic. And this was not entirely a lie. There truly had been “heretics” framing Weiss.

However, by choosing this explanation, the Church likely no longer wished for Weiss to appear alive before the public again. If the heretic responsible for killing so many civilians abducted Bishop Weiss and then returned her alive, Weiss would never be able to clear herself of suspicion as a heretic.

Furthermore, the moment the outside world learned Weiss was still alive, people would inevitably want to verify whether she truly was a Witch. That was certainly something the Church did not want to happen.

“Additionally, I made some inquiries. Archbishop Kulik, along with quite a few Church personnel working at the Saint Rosalia Research Institute, have all been taken away for investigation… Alright, to be honest, they’ve basically been detained. At the moment, it’s still unclear how severely your father will be implicated. However, you’d best prepare yourself mentally that there may no longer be anyone within the Church capable of protecting you.” Leon continued.

“……” Weiss remained silent, her expression dim.

After such an incident occurred, even if the College of Cardinals knew another mastermind existed behind the scenes, the Rose School would still inevitably be dragged out to take responsibility for the matter. There had already been many cardinals opposed to that research from the very beginning. This was the perfect opportunity for them to attack their political rivals.

Archbishop Kulik had even tried to save her earlier and stopped Bishop Beckett from attacking her. His current situation was likely far from optimistic.

As for her father, although he had no direct connection to this research and had even voiced opposition toward it, they were still father and daughter. Now that such an incident had happened to her, her father would inevitably have to endure attacks from many political enemies.

The Church now no longer wished for her to appear alive before the public. Those capable of protecting her, including her father, were all too busy dealing with their own crises.

Even if she returned now and accused others of framing her, the Church would still imprison her under the justification that she bore responsibility for the incident—even if they did not secretly execute her outright. After all, if she had not personally participated in that research project, none of this would have happened.

The Saint Rosalia Prison where she once worked would very likely become her final destination.

A cruel reality now stood before her.

She could no longer return to the Church.

As for going to her father, that was impossible as well. Based on what Leon had been willing to reveal earlier, the people framing her were actually targeting her father. That meant her father’s side was instead likely the most dangerous place. Right now she was a hot potato. If she ran to her father, who was probably already overwhelmed, she might only destroy both of them together.

She truly had nowhere left to go now.

Unless… she found a way to eliminate the enemies framing her!

“Regarding the people who framed me, are you still unwilling to tell me more?” Weiss seriously looked at Leon. “Please, tell me!”

She could tell that for Leon to mention the names Bishop Beckett and Arachne, he must possess clues regarding the true mastermind.

At the same time, however, Leon had consistently avoided this topic. She could imagine that it was directly connected to Leon’s own secrets.

“Then have you prepared yourself mentally?” Leon thought for a moment before asking while looking directly into Weiss’s eyes.

“Of course I have! Tell me the truth.” Weiss replied firmly.

“What I mean isn’t mental preparation for learning the truth, but for your future.” Seeing that Weiss still looked confused, Leon straightened his expression and spoke seriously. “What I mean is—are you willing to follow me from now on and accept my protection, Bishop Weiss… no, Weiss Rogers?”

If he told Weiss that the mastermind behind everything was the Earl, then it would inevitably involve his relationship with the Earl as well as the business he operated. It was not that Leon absolutely could not tell Weiss these things.

But the prerequisite was that Weiss had to completely become someone on his side.

In other words… she had to swear loyalty to him.

Weiss had already drunk the Cursed Blood, which meant she essentially no longer possessed any means of resisting Leon. Yet Leon still wanted to know Weiss’s own willingness.

But Weiss herself was completely stunned on the spot, her heartbeat accelerating with unprecedented intensity.

Mental preparation for the future? Spending the rest of her life following him and accepting his protection?

Why did this sound a little bit like… a marriage proposal?