Gilles de Rais's voice wasn't loud, but it was very clear.
Ian turned his head back and saw Gilles de Rais staring intently at him.
In those black pupils, there was now only anger and dissatisfaction towards the uninvited guest who had intruded into his "territory."
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Ian wouldn't be surprised if Gilles de Rais pulled out a weapon and pointed it at him right now.
Seeing that Ian didn't answer his question, the tall man asked again.
"Can't you hear me?" Gilles de Rais's voice was cold and laced with irritation.
"I'm asking you, why did you enter my room?" he demanded, his gaze piercing.
"..." Although he knew that if he didn't answer, Gilles de Rais would likely get angry.
But Ian couldn't think of a suitable answer to his question for the time being.
The room fell into a deathly silence, as if a fierce duel could break out at any moment.
But just at this moment—
Another figure appeared in the doorway.
It was Atalante.
Although she had agreed to let Ian sneak into Gilles de Rais's room alone, the cat girl was still worried about her Master's safety.
Therefore—
She chose a way that could both follow Ian's instructions and meet any unexpected needs.
That was to follow directly behind him, observing everything in secret.
This wasn't difficult for Atalante of the Archer class.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate.
The cat girl's preparation really came into play at this very moment.
She witnessed Gilles de Rais turning back—and he happened to bump into Ian who was entering the room.
Realizing that she had unintentionally dug a big pit for her Master, Atalante immediately took action.
"Ian?!" the cat girl said, feigning surprise.
"Why did you come into Caster's room?" Atalante asked, her golden eyes wide with feigned shock.
"Didn't I show you the way properly?" she added, looking at Ian with a hint of reproach.
Saying these words, Atalante directly took all the responsibility onto herself.
She bowed deeply towards Gilles de Rais and began to apologize.
"I'm so sorry, Caster, it's my fault," Atalante said, her voice filled with remorse.
"I thought that by telling Saber the route, he would know how to get to Master's place."
"It seems that's not the case... I should have accompanied him," she added, looking at Gilles de Rais with an apologetic expression.
Atalante cleverly linked her words with what she had said earlier in front of the other Servants.
In this way, even if Gilles de Rais really went to ask the other Servants, he would get consistent answers.
However—
The tall man didn't seem to intend to do that at all.
"..." After a moment of silence, Gilles de Rais nodded.
"I understand," he said, his gaze softening slightly.
"Then please leave with him now."
Atalante breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing these words.
"Okay!"
She looked at Ian, gave him a wink, and then continued to pretend.
"Then——"
"Let's go!" Knowing that in the eyes of the other Servants, Ian was already the Black Jeanne's husband.
So even though she really wanted to take this opportunity to hold his hand, Atalante finally restrained herself.
However—
Something unexpected happened at this moment.
Ian didn't follow the steps Atalante had laid out for him, but turned back and questioned Gilles de Rais.
He looked at the grimoire sewn with human skin on the table and said very seriously.
"What exactly is this? You... why do you have such a grimoire?"
"..." Hearing these words, Atalante's tail stood on end.
Her purpose in coming here was originally to "protect" Ian.
But not only did he not accept this kindness, he actually threw himself right back into the fire.
He had to know that he had barged into this room without Gilles de Rais's knowledge.
How dare he question him?
What the cat girl didn't know was that Ian had completely different thoughts at this moment.
He wasn't a true Servant, but a "human" with past memories.
Therefore—
The human skin grimoire in Gilles de Rais's possession, which emanated traces of François Prelati's magical power, absolutely had to have its origins clarified.
Even if it meant paying the corresponding price!
Otherwise, the Singularity here might never be repaired.
"..." Hearing Ian's words, Gilles de Rais was taken aback for a moment.
He probably also didn't expect that someone could barge into someone else's room and then so confidently question the owner of the room.
However—
This tall man wasn't the kind of person who would immediately lose his composure just because someone questioned him.
He said,
"Why are you asking about such a thing?"
"Does it... have any meaning for you?"
"Of course, it does." Ian replied without backing down.
"The magical power in this room... doesn't belong to our Master at all anymore, does it?"
"You——"
"Aren't you going to explain this?" Ian pressed, his golden eyes looking directly at Gilles de Rais.
"..." Hearing these words, Atalante suddenly realized that the concentration of magical power in this room was indeed so high that it felt somewhat suffocating.
She had been so focused on how to protect Ian that she hadn't noticed the surrounding situation at all.
And this was also a question that turned the tables—it rationalized Ian's reason for being here!
"..." Gilles de Rais frowned slightly, looking as if he had been stumped by Ian's question.
However—
Just as Ian was about to question him further, he heard unexpected words.
Gilles de Rais looked at Ian and Atalante before him and asked,
"Do you... really want to know what's going on?"
"..." This time, it was Ian who was surprised.
He had thought that he would have to continue to raise the stakes in order to get Gilles de Rais to confess the origin of the human skin grimoire.
But unexpectedly, the tall man took the initiative to speak at this moment.
However—
This was even better.
Since the other party was willing to confess, he had saved himself a lot of effort.
"Atalante." Ian instructed the little cat girl beside him.
"Go close the door."
Although she felt that things were developing in a direction she hadn't expected at all.
Atalante, who had immense trust in Ian, still nodded.
"...Okay."
With a click, the door closed.
Ian looked at Gilles de Rais before him and said with a serious expression:
"Alright, you can talk now."
"I'm very curious to know what exactly it is that you're going to confess."
Facing Ian's words, Gilles de Rais didn't show too much of an intense reaction.
On the contrary, he didn't seem nervous at all, and even had a feeling as if he wanted to "show off" his great achievements.
Gilles de Rais came to the table and picked up the human skin grimoire.
His eyes became quite chaotic for a moment.
"First... let me answer your first question."
"The reason why this room has such a high concentration of magical power is entirely because of this." Gilles de Rais said, holding up the grimoire.
An unsurprising answer.
Ian, who had already sensed the traces of François Prelati's magical power on it, didn't think this was any useful information.
He continued to ask:
"So——"
"How did you get this grimoire?"
"Stop." Gilles de Rais turned his head, wiggled his fingers slightly, and interrupted Ian's words.
"That's not the right way to put it," he said, a strange glint in his eyes.
"Not right?" Ian asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"Yeah," Gilles de Rais nodded.
"It——"
"Isn't just a simple grimoire."
"But the greatest textbook in this world—the Prelati's Spellbook!"
"..."
"..." Ian and Atalante fell silent at the same time.
Clearly.
Although the reasons for their silence might not be exactly the same.
But at this moment, both of them realized one thing.
That the human skin grimoire in Gilles de Rais's hand, which he himself called the Prelati's Spellbook, definitely possessed extremely special value.
Otherwise—
It wouldn't be possible to release so much magical power.
However, Gilles de Rais completely ignored the feelings of the two people before him and continued to speak with an extremely fanatical attitude.
"Let me ask you——"
"Is our Master a living person?"
Ian and Atalante exchanged a glance, neither of them answering Gilles de Rais's question immediately.
This seemed to make him a little unhappy.
He gripped the Prelati's Spellbook in his hand tightly and shouted hysterically.
"Answer me!"
"Does our Master count as a living person or not?!"
"..." Although he felt that Gilles de Rais seemed a little deranged.
But in order to obtain more information, Ian could only temporarily "comply" with his wishes.
"Of course, she does."
"She... is a genuine person."
Hearing this answer, Gilles de Rais, who was usually calm, suddenly seemed to lose control.
He raised the Prelati's Spellbook high and laughed loudly in the room.
"Right?!"
"I thought so too! After all, that's the real Jeanne d'Arc!" Gilles de Rais exclaimed, his voice filled with manic glee.
"She——"
"Has been resurrected!"
Gilles de Rais's laughter was so terrifying.
That even Atalante became a little scared.
She moved closer to Ian's side and said with a hint of worry.
"What... happened to him?"
"..." Ian looked at Gilles de Rais before him and shook his head.
"I'm not too sure either."
"But it definitely looks like he's not quite normal anymore."
"But don't be afraid... I'm here."
Hearing these words, Atalante's face turned red.
She nodded: "Yeah, I'm not afraid."
After comforting the cat girl like this, the man once again questioned Gilles de Rais:
"What did you mean by what you just said?"
"What do you mean by 'the real Jeanne d'Arc'?"
Hearing this question, Gilles de Rais still maintained his previous state.
No.
It should be said that he had become even more frantic.
He looked at the two people before him, his expression twisted into an extremely hideous look.
And the words he spoke began to become chaotic.
"That's right... you guys probably don't know, do you?" Gilles de Rais said, his voice trembling with emotion.
"Jeanne... she was burned alive by the English—!"
"The people here could have gone there to save her, so why didn't any of them go?!" Gilles de Rais's voice rose in pitch, filled with resentment.
"Causing her to be burned to ashes, not even a little bit left! Not even bones were left!"
"I hate France! I hate everyone here!" Gilles de Rais screamed, his eyes filled with tears and rage.
"But that doesn't matter anymore——!" Gilles de Rais looked at the Prelati's Spellbook he held high.
"Even someone ordinary like me, with just this and the Holy Grail, can change all of this!"
"Jeanne has been resurrected now——! She will take revenge! And then she will make everyone regret the foolish decisions they made back then!"
"She will first destroy France, and then it will be England's turn!"
"The Saint will definitely lead us to complete our revenge——! And then she will rebuild a perfect country on the ruins of France!" Gilles de Rais declared, his voice filled with fanatical conviction.
"Hahahaha!!!!!"
Amidst Gilles de Rais's almost arrogant laughter and incoherent words, Ian pieced together the truth of the whole matter in his mind bit by bit.
Just like Singularity F.
This Singularity existing in the Hundred Years' War between England and France was also caused by the Holy Grail buried by Lev.
And because the Holy Grail was in Gilles de Rais's hands, he hadn't found it with Jeanne back then.
However—
Gilles de Rais didn't know what the Holy Grail's function was at first.
The real trigger for all of this was the successive defeats France suffered in the war due to the English dragon.
The invincible Saint Jeanne d'Arc appeared at this time—this made Gilles de Rais, who was an ordinary person, become her loyal follower.
Then came the trap in Domremy.
This led to Jeanne facing the so-called "public trial."
Of course.
This trial was not successful—because in the end, Jeanne was rescued by himself who had transformed into a dragon.
But François Prelati caused great destruction when he revealed his true form.
And Gilles de Rais, who had rushed there upon hearing about the trial, didn't find Jeanne's body.
The combination of these two things led him to believe that the Saint had been burned to ashes without a trace.
As an ordinary person, he blamed all of this on the lack of effort and inaction of the French nobles.
And François Prelati, who had lost his mind because he had successfully helped Jeanne escape, gave him the Prelati's Spellbook for some unknown reason.
And so——
Gilles de Rais, through various coincidences, used the Prelati's Spellbook as a medium and made a wish to the Holy Grail he had accidentally obtained, hoping for Jeanne's resurrection.
But she hadn't died in the first place, so there was naturally no such thing as resurrection.
Therefore, in order to "fulfill" this wish, the Holy Grail created another "Jeanne."
Because of Gilles de Rais's resentment, she was born with an extremely strong hostility towards France;
And because the Prelati's Spellbook was the summoning medium, she was also affected by François Prelati's anger, leading to partial loss of spirit and reason;
In addition—
Because she was a "copy" "created" based on Jeanne, the Black Jeanne naturally also "inherited" some elements from the original.
Such as an almost identical appearance;
And the dragon in her memories;
As well as... that feeling for him that transcended ethics.
The so-called Dragon Witch was nothing more than a product of the concentration of numerous resentments.
This was the truth behind the Singularity's genesis!