I Thought I Was Collecting Systems, Not Overpowered Wives

Chapter 65: Saga 65: The Missing Months

The sealed archives arrived two days later, carried personally by the Cardinal under heavy escort, a small chest bound with wards Kael didn’t recognize, layered in protective enchantments that clearly hadn’t been disturbed in over a decade.

"These records were sealed at the highest level following Vane’s disappearance," the Cardinal explained, setting the chest down carefully on the table in Ari’s chambers. "Only three people currently living hold the authority to open them—myself, the acting High Pontiff, and, as of her ascension, the Saintess herself."

Ari stepped forward, hand hovering over the chest’s clasp. "You’re certain I have the authority?"

"The seal responds to bloodline signature, not simply title. You’ve held that authority since the day of your ascension, whether anyone informed you of it or not."

Ari pressed her palm against the clasp, and the wards flickered, then dissolved entirely, the chest’s lid easing open with a soft, aged creak. Inside lay a modest collection of parchment, considerably thinner than the weight of secrecy surrounding it suggested it should be.

For a moment, nobody moved to touch the documents at all, the three of them simply staring at the chest’s contents as though the parchment itself might bite. Kael finally broke the silence.

"You’d think fifteen years of secrecy would produce something a little more substantial," he said, only half joking.

"I told you already," the Cardinal said, a trace of dry humor breaking through her otherwise grim composure. "Weight isn’t measured in pages, hunter. Some of the most dangerous secrets this Church has ever buried fit on a single line."

"This is everything?" Sylvia asked, surprised.

"Sensitive information doesn’t always require volume," the Cardinal said grimly. "Sometimes a single page carries enough weight to justify a decade of silence."

Ari lifted the topmost document, eyes scanning quickly, her expression shifting from cautious curiosity to something considerably darker within moments. "This is a ritual transcript. Some kind of experimental rite, conducted under Vane’s personal authority, six months before his disappearance."

"What kind of rite?" Kael asked, leaning over to read alongside her.

"An attempt to communicate directly with the founding covenant’s original divine source," Ari read, voice growing tighter with every line. "Vane believed the Church’s authority had grown hollow, disconnected from whatever genuine power originally established Songrel’s founding blessing. He sought to restore that connection through direct ritual contact."

"Did it work?" Sylvia asked.

Ari turned the page, and her face went pale. "According to this, something responded. Something that wasn’t the divine source he expected."

The room fell silent, the weight of the revelation settling heavily over all three of them.

"What responded?" Kael pressed gently.

"The document doesn’t say directly," Ari admitted, flipping through the remaining pages with increasing urgency. "But there’s a notation here, in the margin, in handwriting that doesn’t match the rest of the transcript. It simply says: ’He heard the Hollow Choir’s true voice, and it changed him.’"

Kael leaned in closer, studying the unfamiliar handwriting. "Any idea whose annotation this might be?"

"None," Ari said, frustration evident in her voice. "Whoever added this note either witnessed the ritual firsthand or gained access to the sealed records afterward, before they were locked away entirely."

The Cardinal studied the annotation herself, expression grave. "I recognize this handwriting, actually. It belonged to Vane’s personal assistant at the time, a young acolyte named Rosalind. She vanished shortly after Vane’s own disappearance, presumed to have fled in fear of whatever had transpired."

"Presumed?" Sylvia asked sharply. "Or confirmed?"

"Presumed," the Cardinal admitted. "No body was ever recovered, and no further trace of her was found. The Church assumed she’d simply fled the scandal surrounding Vane’s disappearance, though I confess that explanation always felt somewhat incomplete to me."

"So she might still be alive," Ari said, something calculating entering her expression. "Somewhere, possibly with Umbra Black, possibly hiding entirely separate from all of this."

"It’s possible," the Cardinal conceded. "Though after fifteen years, tracking her down would prove considerably difficult without further leads."

Kael turned back to the ritual transcript, searching for any additional detail that might point toward Rosalind’s fate, or toward whatever exactly had answered Vane’s call that night. The weight of the mystery pressed heavier with every new thread they uncovered, each answer only revealing further unanswered questions beneath it.

"Whatever we find next," he said finally, "I think it’s clear this goes considerably deeper than a single rogue Cardinal seeking personal power. Something answered him that night, and I don’t think we’ve begun to understand its true scope yet."

Ari carefully gathered the remaining documents, sorting them by date as best she could determine from the fragmented records. "I want copies of everything sent to Renodin as well. If Claire’s already researched the Sleeping Ruin’s history in depth, she may recognize patterns here that we’re simply too close to see ourselves."

"I’ll arrange it," the Cardinal said. "Though I’d ask for discretion. If word spreads that these sealed archives have been reopened, it may draw unwanted attention from factions within the Church who preferred this history stay buried."

"Factions loyal to Vane, you mean," Sylvia said.

"Possibly. Or simply those who’d rather avoid the scandal entirely, regardless of loyalty." The Cardinal’s expression turned weary. "Religious institutions rarely handle uncomfortable truths gracefully, in my considerable experience."

Kael gathered the ritual transcript carefully, tucking it alongside the other documents for safekeeping. Whatever answers still waited buried in these fragmented records, he suspected they’d need every scrap of information available before this conflict reached its inevitable conclusion.

Sylvia, meanwhile, had begun cross-referencing the ritual’s described components against her own knowledge of mana theory, brow furrowed in concentration. "This binding structure. It’s unusual, deliberately layered to obscure its true purpose from anyone lacking specific training in ecclesiastical ritual magic. Whoever designed this rite understood exactly how to hide its darker implications behind seemingly benevolent language."

"You think someone helped Vane design it?" Kael asked.

"I think it’s possible, yes. Or that whatever answered his call provided guidance on how to disguise the true nature of what he was actually inviting in." Sylvia set the page down, expression troubled. "Either way, this wasn’t a simple mistake born of misguided faith. Someone, or something, wanted this ritual to succeed exactly as it did."

Ari absorbed this with visible unease, gathering the remaining documents into a neat, careful stack. "Then whatever we’re truly facing here, it’s been planning this for considerably longer than fifteen years. Vane may have been a target himself, long before he became the man who sent assassins after me."

"That’s an unsettling thought," Kael admitted. "But it might also mean he’s more victim than villain, at least in part."

"Maybe," Ari said quietly. "I suppose we’ll need to find out for certain, one way or another."

She closed the chest carefully, the ancient wards flickering back into place around the now-thinner stack of remaining documents, and rose from the table with visible weariness. "I want a full night to sit with this before we decide anything further. Whatever this ritual truly unleashed, I don’t think we’re equipped to fully understand it yet, and I’d rather approach the next step with a clear head than exhausted panic."

"That’s fair," Kael said. "Nothing about this needs to be decided tonight."

The Cardinal gathered her attendants to leave, pausing at the door with one final, uneasy addition. "For what it’s worth, Your Holiness, whatever we uncover from this point forward, I want you to know the Church stands fully behind you. Whatever mistakes led to this moment, they were not yours to bear."

"Thank you," Ari said, though something in her expression suggested she wasn’t entirely convinced the burden could be so cleanly separated from her at all.

—

End of Chapter—