"It is necessary, my lord. Once a person is rumored to be a witch, she can never escape the brand unless a special trial pronounces her innocent. And rumors that Erika was a witch were already circulating. Very quietly, and very discreetly."
Small communities were far crueler and less forgiving than I had imagined. Even if I executed every one of those men, the suspicion would linger among the villagers so long as the rumor had spread.
The witch, that terror of the unknown, gnaws away at people's reason just as the Devil does. Even if the problem were settled for now, the moment anything went wrong in Feuzen, Erika would very likely become the target.
Famine, disease, natural disasters, death: all manner of misfortune gets blamed on a witch. In the cities they would scoff and ask what sort of nonsense that was, but in the rural villages it was another matter entirely.
"So that's why you demanded a special trial."
