Hildegarde nearly dropped her teacup at the question. These two had undoubtedly raided their mother's room and closet. "Yes, I was aware."
Dixie pulled out Moniqua's satchel. "Do you recognize this?"
Hildegarde wiped away her tears. "Yes, I do. She took precautions, but it wasn't enough..."
Dixie took out a few books as well as the remaining blueprints and set them on the table. She opened one of the books to showcase Moniqua's handwriting.
Hildegarde stroked her fingers over the pages. "Oh, you are indeed her daughter. Are you also planning on exposing the church?"
"Yes, or rather the Pope. We know from the detailed drawings mother had of the central Cathedral's structure that she desired entry into the hidden archives. She was clearly after something, but we haven't been able to figure out what. Undoubtedly, it spelled trouble for her. Even though she died at the palace, I'm certain the Pope had a hand in it."
Hildegarde sighed. "Duchess Moniqua did express to me that she feared being poisoned. She took to carrying various antidotes on her at all times. Did so for an entire year. But she did not say anything about the Pope trying to kill her."
"She would not have wanted to implicate you, Nanny Hildegarde. The less you knew the safer you would be," Bonnie concluded. "We suspected the Pope was a suspicious person outside of whatever business he had with our mother. If he truly became evil after assuming his position, then it would make sense why she tried to investigate him."
Dixie rubbed her eyes. "If they were once close friends then she would have known a great deal about him and how he operates. If she became disillusioned then he probably had no choice but to kill her."
"It's awful to think that that so called godly man is actually so ungodly and vile. To take an innocent life. Makes sense why he ultimately went after Felicia as well. She was an even bigger threat to his disguise," Bonnie noted, looking at her sister.
"He is an imposter and Helena is his puppet. Real wielders of holy magic are threat to him. That much is beyond dispute," Dixie asserted.
Hildegarde glanced between them. "What do you mean by imposter, my lady?"
Bonnie answered. "We possess insight on the current Pope, more so than anyone else. And we recently met him during the Day of Prayer where...well, he made our skin crawl from the first glance. He appeared hostile."
"We doubt he cares about preaching the Goddess's message or building harmony or encouraging peace. It's all just a performance. He infiltrated the church early on and worked to get to the top so he could commit whatever crime he desired under the guise of being a holy man."
"Yes, that man is using the reverence that comes with the position of Pope to erode away all of the Goddess's teachings. He worships a Demon Lord!"
Nanny Hildegarde finally dropped her cup, her hands continuing to tremble. The sound of ceramic breaking echoed her thundering heart. What kind of trouble had the young miss and young master gotten themselves into?
"You will need excessive evidence to garner public support if you are to pursue such an accusation. If not, you will be killed for blasphemy!" She cried in hushed tones, glancing at her window.
Bonnie walked over to the window and closed it. She saw that their guards were still stationed around, but not close enough to hear.
"Not to worry, Nanny Hildegarde. We understand the risks and will not do anything rash. We already made a mistake and have learned from it." Dixie reassured. "Our goal is to cleanse the church of all of its corrupt occupants."
Hildegarde touched her chest. "Oh, dears! I truly fear for your safety now that you have told me all this. I do not wish to see you meet your end the way your mother did."
"We will not. Alex and I have each other. We have holy magic and Goddess Kartara's sword. Bit by bit we will gain more knowledge and allies. The people of this kingdom need to know that we have demonic forces masquerading as holy beings."
"You two have been blessed by the Goddess? The Holy Sword is in your possession?" Hildegarde whispered.
"Yes, we will show you evidence another time. We can't risk revealing ourselves out here. Simply put, Goddess Kartara has spoken to us in our dreams. She's tasked us to defeat a Demon Lord and all those who worship him."
"What---" Hildegarde's words broke off as a loud scream came from outside.