“What book?”

Loren keenly seized on the key point. Logically, a book from the Bountiful Magic Academy shouldn't contain content like this. The best new generation of the entire theocratic state was gathered here, so the authorities were deeply concerned about their spiritual education.

Every book had been reviewed. If someone actually dared to write such things in one, they'd have their entire family killed for it.

Loren speculated that only the Dawn Princess's Diary could contain such words.

Hearing Loren's words, Paqina hesitated for a moment, but ultimately opened the thick history book in front of him. Loren had checked this book before and found nothing wrong with it.

Then, Loren saw that another book was tucked inside this one—just like hiding a phone during school days by hollowing out a textbook to conceal something that couldn't be seen.

“This is…”

The book looked very familiar. Loren pulled it out.

“You mentioned earlier that you wanted to find a diary. You should be looking for this one. This book is very special—nearly indestructible.

“I noticed that the books you'd searched all had cleanly trimmed edges, and even my book had needle marks. You did all of that, didn't you? Your goal was to find this indestructible book.”

Paqina had mentally prepared herself quite a bit before saying these words. At first, she suspected Loren was just talking to her at length to extract information, that he'd already guessed the book was with her.

But she quickly dismissed that thought. Loren had absolutely no reason to do something like that. If he genuinely suspected the book was with her, he could bury her on the spot, and the Church would praise him for protecting the environment.

The fact that Loren was willing to talk to her so extensively showed that he was giving her full respect, and Paqina truly felt flattered.

Moreover, the knowledge Loren was sharing was priceless and genuinely forbidden. That he dared to tell her proved he trusted her.

Since Loren treated her this way, Paqina naturally couldn't hold back either.

“Your observation skills are truly sharp…”

The changes Loren had made to those books were very subtle. He hadn't even trimmed the corners flat; instead, he'd shaved a ninety-degree right angle into a ninety-point-one-degree obtuse angle. No normal person would ever notice.

Since Paqina had already discovered this, Loren stopped hiding it and directly took out a needle to stab the book she'd given him.

Sure enough, the needle snapped, and the book was completely unharmed.

“The part about witches in the book is here…”

Paqina flipped through the book in Loren's hands, clearly remembering which page contained certain content.

“Today, Teacher found a witch. I had always wanted to meet a witch—a being that embodies all fine qualities. But unlike my excitement, Teacher remained silent. I couldn't read any emotion from his black eye…”

Loren read the content aloud. Paqina was extremely nervous, glancing around anxiously as if afraid someone else might see.

“Teacher said that the appearance of witches isn't necessarily a good thing. If witches appear, it means something is wrong with the world.

“If this world were a living organism, witches would be equivalent to its immune system. When the world goes wrong, witches appear. So in a sense, the emergence of witches represents the arrival of calamity…”

This was the first time Loren had heard this perspective. No wonder he hadn't noticed many witches in the Dawn Princess's Diary when he'd read it before. No wonder there were so many witches now—Loren was practically raising a whole nest of them.

It was because the world had gone mad, trying to save itself by having witches appear in large numbers. That was why the Orthodox Gods desperately killed witches.

The Orthodox Gods were like a virus, and the witches were the immune system.

“So that's how it is… Now everything makes sense…”

In that instant, many things clicked into place for Loren.

“So… is what the book says true?”

Loren was silent for a long time. Paqina couldn't wait any longer and hastily asked.

“It's true. This is the Dawn Princess's Diary.”

“!”

Paqina's eyes widened. She remembered Loren's earlier assessment of the Dawn Princess, and now with his confirmation, everything written in this book had to be absolutely true.

“So… witches aren't as evil as the Church says, are they?”

“Right.”

Loren took out a handkerchief and wiped Paqina's tears, continuing to read the book's content:

“I was very happy after meeting the witch, and Teacher even agreed to let me give her a name.

“There's just one thing I'm curious about. Logically, there should be hardly any witches left in the entire world right now. Why did we just happen to encounter one? Teacher said it was because of him—that fate would cause witches to gather around him, that he would lead them. He was the central nervous system.”

Well, now Loren understood completely. This was why so many witches had gathered around him—even more than the Witches' Church had.

And all the signs about Paqina indicated that she was also a witch. A normal person wouldn't burst into tears just from learning the truth about witches.

Paqina really could cry. Loren's handkerchief was completely soaked, so he simply took off her glasses and wiped her tears with his sleeve.

Under the Church's brainwashing, many witches genuinely believed they were born with original sin. Some witches, even if never discovered, would commit suicide out of guilt.

This method only worked on innocent-minded witches and certain fools. If someone told Loren he was born with sin, he'd twist their head off first.

You say I'm guilty? Then I'll actually go commit a crime. Since everyone already thinks so, wouldn't I be losing out if I didn't actually do something?

Her emotions too intense, Paqina hadn't controlled her volume. Fortunately, Loren had cast a Shielding Spell in advance. Otherwise, she would have drawn everyone's attention, and then she'd have died of embarrassment.

Loren didn't speak. Although Paqina had already revealed her identity, she still hadn't admitted she was a witch. Loren didn't expose her either, just silently stayed by her side.

After a long time, Paqina finally stopped crying. Only then did she realize her behavior was somewhat inappropriate and quickly tried to explain:

“Sorry, I lost my composure. I was just feeling sad about the witches' plight…”

The excuse was a bit lame, but Loren didn't call her out on it. He just patted Paqina's head and looked at the next page of the diary with her.

“After careful consideration and discussion with Teacher, we decided to call her Chloe. This word means 'new life.' We hope she can truly save this world someday.

“Upon hearing her name, the infant Chloe smiled. She liked this name too.”

“Chloe!”

Hearing this familiar name, Loren remembered—the witch from the Witches' Church who had visited him during Christmas was named Chloe!

Now Loren was completely certain. She was the Secret Witch.