Chapter 63 – The Art of Manipulation (Hestia's PoV)
She stopped behind Eina's chair, her hand gently touching the chair's back.
"First, about the 'clean' character." Freya smiled thinly.
"Good staff member, aren't the most dangerous criminals exactly those who are best at wearing masks of innocence? How many serial killers have been described by their neighbors as 'good people who never hurt a fly'?"
I felt my blood run cold hearing that.
Freya was starting to attack!
"But—" Eina began to protest.
"Not finished yet, dear." Freya raised her finger with a graceful but firm gesture.
"A clean record could actually show that someone is very good at hiding their true nature. A perfect theater actor."
"That's speculation!" Eina argued with a rising voice.
Clearly Eina didn't want to lose, but I knew it was impossible for Eina to win.
Because Freya had much more experience!
"You can't accuse someone based on theoretical possibilities!"
"Oh?" Freya smiled wider.
"Isn't your entire argument also based on speculation? You don't have evidence that he didn't do it, only assumptions based on character you think you know."
I started feeling uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation.
"Freya, you can't—"
"Second," Freya continued while walking toward me, ignoring the interruption, "about the time. Less than ten minutes you said, Miss Eina?"
"Yes, based on reports—"
"Young miss," Freya's voice turned cold as ice.
"For a man controlled by lust, even eight seconds is enough to do unforgivable things. The short time actually shows how impulsive and uncontrolled he was."
"But that doesn't make sense!" Eina stood up from her chair, her emotions starting to lose control.
"A normal man wouldn't immediately—"
"Normal?" Freya laughed softly, a beautiful but terrifying sound.
"Who said we're talking about a normal man? We're talking about someone who, according to your own arguments, was experiencing mental trauma."
I watched Eina fall silent when she realized her own words had just been used against her.
"And third," Freya returned to her throne with very graceful movements.
"About trauma from robbery." She sat with regal posture, her purple eyes looking at me with intensity that made me feel like an insect under a magnifying glass.
"Hestia," her voice changed to almost like a melody.
"Tell me. Kaen is an adventurer, isn't he?"
"Yes," I answered with an increasingly uncertain voice.
"He goes down to the dungeon every day, facing monsters that could kill him in the blink of an eye?"
"Yes?..."
"And you want to tell me," Freya's purple eyes gleamed with cold light.
"That an adventurer who faces death every day, who fights against terrifying creatures in the dungeon's darkness... was mentally broken by being robbed by a small child?"
Suffocating silence filled the room.
I was very shocked that what Freya said made sense.
If I had never spoken with Freya before...
About the meaning of home.
I might have believed her.
This Freya was very... dangerous.
Talking to her made my heart pound with nervousness.
"Sorry, Hestia, but that doesn't sound like trauma. That sounds like... concerning character weakness. Someone with such fragile mentality, wouldn't they be more likely to 'explode' and do unpredictable things?"
I felt like I'd been slapped.
"But he's still young—"
"Young?" Freya interrupted with an increasingly sharp tone.
"How old is he?"
"Seventeen—"
"Seventeen years old. At the same age, other adventurers have already become Level 2, even Level 3. They've already faced Rex and emerged victorious. But your young man... traumatized by a small child?"
Eina tried to defend, "Everyone is different in facing—"
"Exactly!" Freya clapped with mocking gestures.
"Everyone is different. And that difference shows character. Weak, unstable, and potentially dangerous character."
Ganesha, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke.
"Freya, these arguments—"
"Are based on the same logic they're using," Freya cut in with a calm but firm voice.
"If they can argue based on possibilities and interpretations, why can't I?"
I felt all my hopes starting to crumble.
Every argument we had carefully prepared was destroyed with logic that... sounded reasonable.
And most painfully, I began doubting my own conviction.
Every word from Freya seemed to plant seeds of doubt that began growing in my heart.
No, wake up Hestia, you're being deceived.
I mustn't be fooled by her a second time!
I won't!
What if Freya was right?
What if I misjudged Kaen?
What if he really...
"No!" I stood up suddenly, my voice trembling with mixed emotions.
I was so scared...
With just a few words, Freya could make me doubt Kaen again.
Now it wasn't just my heart pounding fast.
My hands were also trembling like having tremors.
"I know Kaen! He's not like that! He would never—"
"Know?" Freya smiled with an expression full of fake compassion.
"Dear Hestia, how long have you known him? Five months? Six months?"
"One month, but—"
"One month," Freya repeated with a tone as if lecturing a small child.
"And in that one month, how much time did you spend together each day? A few hours in the morning and evening?"
I fell silent, unable to answer.
"While the rest of the time... more than fourteen hours every day... he was outside the house. In the dungeon, on the streets, interacting with people you don't know. You think you know him?"
"I... I'm his goddess—"
I felt like a small child when talking to Freya.
I felt my brain getting a bit foggy.
"And that means nothing about someone's true character," Freya stood again, her voice getting louder.
"How many goddesses have been disappointed by their familia members? How many thought they knew their children, only to find out they were wrong?"
I felt tears starting to well up in my eyes.
"But he... he's always been kind to me..."
"Of course he's kind to you!" Freya laughed, but there was no warmth in that sound.
"You're his source of power! You're the one giving him falna! He needs you! Of course he'll act sweet in front of you!"
"Stop!" I screamed, tears starting to flow down my cheeks.
"You don't know him! You don't know how good he is!"
"Don't know him?" Freya's purple eyes gleamed with something very cold.
"Hestia, I've lived for thousands of years. I've seen thousands of human souls. I know how they think, how they hide, how they lie."
Freya walked closer, her voice changing to a dangerous whisper.
"And more importantly... I know the type of man who could do something like that."
"He's not like that!"
"Really?" Freya stopped right in front of me.
"Then explain to me, Hestia. If he's really innocent, if he's really as strong as you think... why didn't he fight back when arrested?"
That question made me fall silent.
"An innocent adventurer who has the courage to face monsters... would fight to prove his innocence. But him? He immediately gave up. Like someone who knows he's guilty."
"He was in shock because—" I wanted to say Kaen's mental state was severely damaged.
"Or he knew he couldn't deny the existing evidence," Freya cut in calmly.
"Because he really did it."
Eina, who had been silent from shock, finally found her voice again.
"This isn't fair! You're twisting all our arguments!"
"I'm using the same logic as you," Freya turned to face Eina with a cold smile.
"You use possibilities and interpretations to defend. I use possibilities and interpretations to show the truth."
"Truth?" Eina screamed in frustration.
"You call it truth? You've never even talked to Kaen! You don't know anything about his character!"
"I don't need to talk to him," Freya smiled with an expression terrifying in its elegance.
"His actions already speak louder than any words."
"What actions?" I shouted loudly.
I realized my composure had been destroyed by Freya.
Even my brain couldn't think clearly!
"Bumping into someone because of trauma? That's not a crime!"
"No, Hestia," Freya's voice became very calm, I even saw the corner of her lips lift slowly as she looked at me.
"Grabbing an innocent girl's throat. Pushing her against a wall. Covering her mouth when she screamed for help. That's not the action of someone who's just 'traumatized'."
Freya walked back to her throne with slow steps, like a judge about to pass sentence.
"That's the action of someone full of lust who lost control."
Those words hung in the air like knives stabbing my heart.
The entire room fell into suffocating silence.
I sat back down in my chair weakly, tears flowing heavily down my cheeks.
Ganesha, who had been trying to stay neutral, finally spoke with a heavy tone.
"Freya... maybe we could find a middle ground—"
"Middle ground?" Freya looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Ganesha, we're talking about women's safety in Orario. We're talking about justice for an innocent victim. Where's the middle ground?"
"But if there's a possibility he's innocent—"
"And if there's a possibility he's guilty?" Freya asked back.
"Would you take responsibility if he repeats his actions? Would you explain to the next victim that you freed a rapist because of the possibility he wasn't guilty?"
Ganesha fell silent, unable to answer.
Clearly Ganesha wasn't an opponent for Freya in verbal combat.
I raised my head, my eyes red from tears.
"Do you... do you really believe he's guilty?"
Freya looked at me with eyes full of something that looked like compassion.
"Hestia, I understand this is difficult. I understand you want to believe in your familia member. But the evidence is already clear."
"Evidence that could be fabricated!"
"By whom?" Freya asked calmly.
"Who would have a motive to frame a Level 1 adventurer with no enemies?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out.
I realized I had no answer.
"Who would bother framing someone unimportant?" Freya continued with an increasingly gentle tone.
"Someone with no power, no influence, no wealth?"
Each word was like a punch to my stomach.
This was the same as calling Hestia Familia very poor and pathetic.
"Hestia," Freya's voice changed to very soft, almost motherly.
"Actually... I hate seeing a fellow goddess suffer like this."
I raised my head with a confused look?
Or empty?
"I also don't want to see a young man who might still have a chance to change, destroyed in prison forever."
"What do you mean?" my voice was barely audible.
Freya was silent for a long time, as if considering something very heavy.
She walked to the large window, looking at Orario spread out below.
"Maybe..." she finally said.
"There's a way to resolve this without any party feeling wronged."
The room fell into tense silence.
Ganesha straightened up, Eina took a deep breath, and I looked at Freya with eyes beginning to sparkle with hope.
"What if we made a... deal?" Freya turned to face us with a very thin smile.
"A contract that could protect all parties."
"What kind of contract?" Ganesha asked carefully.
"Five conditions from you, Hestia. Five conditions from me. If we agree, this case can be resolved in a... creative way."
I looked at her with wide eyes.
"Freya... You... want to negotiate?"
I realized from the beginning our visit here was for the purpose of negotiating with Freya.
Because I got carried away by emotions...
Eina and I forgot about it!
"I don't want to see a goddess suffer," Freya smiled with an expression that seemed sincere.
"And I also believe in second chances... under the right conditions."
"Someone will definitely change."
She paused, then added with a very soft voice.
"And as a sign of my good faith... I'll give you a Grimoire."
That word exploded in the room like lightning.
I even forgot about my tears that hadn't been wiped away.
Eina and I exchanged glances with disbelieving eyes.
Grimoire...
A very rare and valuable magic book that could completely change an adventurer's fate.
'Grimoire,' I thought with my heart starting to pound hard.
With that, Kaen's power would increase drastically.
He could become a very strong adventurer.
Our familia could rise from adversity...
"A-are you... serious?" I asked with a voice trembling with disbelief.
"Very serious," Freya nodded with what looked like