Chapter 276
At that moment, Reginald’s pupils shook. I stared at him and turned my back.
It was the beginning of the war.
***
The pope’s office.
Several cardinals, including Cardinals Benedict and Reginald, rushed to the Great Gate (the building where the pope’s office is located).
A huge ivory gate carved with angels in the temple. The colorful sunshine permeated through the stained glass soaked the floor, and the magnificent melody of the pipe organ from the ceiling fumbled down the stone pillar.
“His Holiness!”
“His Holiness.”
As the cardinals with their hands on their chests bent their knees, the man who had been silently fixed his gaze on them opened his mouth.
“It’s noisy.”
Reginald said in an impatient manner.
“The Dubblede demanded Mina’s verification, and the emperor accepted their request. Oh no. If the investigation proceeds like this, Mina’s identity will be revealed.”
“…….”
“His Holiness!”
As Reginald shouted, Benedict shook his head at him.
Reginald clenched his teeth.
“How long will we be holding back?”
If Mina’s identity is revealed, everything they have prepared so far will be ruined.
Other cardinals will notice that the pope and his closest aides have created a child of fate through magic, and the opposing cardinals will be eager to bring down the pope along with the Central Temple.
It would have been rather fortunate if the outcome was only replacement of the pope. In the worst case, the Neliard religion’s survivability will be threatened.
“It’s not something to be calm about, His Holiness. If we get caught……!”
“What’s the matter?”
“Yes?”
“It is true that Mina is the soul God has given for our world. We’ve only created a vessel to capture the savior of this world.”
“But it was magic. Even using the Duchess of Dubblede!”
“She was originally born to be the figure of the savior. It can’t be a problem that we got back what we raised.”
“B, but…”
The pope touched Reginald’s shoulder.
“Reginald.”
Ugh…
Reginald groaned. His shoulders held by the pope were in pain as if they were going to crumble.
The pope’s hand was not at all like a human. In the aftermath of subjugating the devil decades ago, his skin became brittle, his veins and muscles protruded at random, and even his nails were transformed in a strange way, just like that of a monster.
“Yes, yes, His Holiness.”
“Get your mind right. Have faith.”
“Ugh…yes.”
With his hand away from Reginald, he moved on. Only the sound of footsteps echoed in the quiet room. The pope bent his knees in front of the statue and muttered,
“It would have been great if I had given Mina a perfect body, but I missed the daughter of the saint and made her take over the role.”
Reginald, Benedict, and the two cardinals bowed down.
The pope continued to speak while looking at the statue.
“We finally have the daughter of God, but now our replacement is useless.”
“She’s a pitiful child. A life full of lies, blooming in the lowest places.”
“But it was all for the peace in the arms of God.”
He smiled brightly and picked up the bottle that was placed on the stairs. Barley wine fell on the wooden cup, and the pope opened his mouth.
“We do not tolerate failure twice.”
“Leave it to me. I will do the will of God with this body and my life.”
The pope with a drink said,
“For God.”
The men, who were bowing down, raised their heads.
“For God.”
“For God.”
The sun was swallowed by clouds, and darkness arrived in the world.
***
A few days later, many families gathered.
All day long meetings, meetings and tug-of-war with the nobles, the whole family looked tired.
Henry was the first to speak.
“As soon as the temple sets the date, we decided to start the investigation.”
“What is the temple’s reaction?”
“They’ll be struggling to avoid it. Because they don’t want us to investigate Mina’s body, where the remnants of magic are left.”
Johann nodded his head.
“They’ll want to take their time and get things done. In the meantime, we’ll catch the guy who uses the curse in the mock battle. The problem is, how far does the guy named Max know…?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I pulled up the corners of my lips.
How could Max be revealed at the same time as the cardinals’ protests took place?
‘I manipulated everything.’
To be exact, I was lying.
Shortly after hearing that the cardinals had survived, I sent Emeline and Tri to the dungeon where Max was held.
“Listen well. Because the feelings I had when I was a beggar remain like a cockroach.”
“Emeline, feelings as a beggar? Even a dog passing by will laugh!”
“Don’t be silly if you don’t want to let that passing dog eat your body. You, if you stay like this, you’ll die without anybody knowing.”
“I don’t know who the client is. Really!”
“It’s not Blai-. No, the truth doesn’t matter.”
“What?”
“The important thing is that the person who comes out of your mouth is the culprit. So, memorize it. The person you have to point to is the cardinal. His description is…….”
No matter who asked for magic, there was no way that person would have personally visited Max.
There is no way he could reveal who he really was.
Of course, he would send another person.
So it doesn’t matter who the culprit is. It must have been done at the temple anyway, and if the temple did it, I would naturally point to the highest person.
Upon hearing my words, Isaac smirked.
“The worst villain in Dubblede might be you, kid.”
“Thank you for the praise.”
“I’m really smart because I resemble someone.”
Then Henry, Johann, and Dad simultaneously said, “It’s me.”
I ignored their words lightly.
“We need to tie up a cardinal and spread rumors about the temple. Let’s break out all the evil deeds the temple has committed so far and make it so that no one can trust them!”
Henry, a genius in public opinion, replied, “I’ll take charge of it,” and I nodded.
“Yes, I’m going to press the temple like that and ask to investigate Mina. For now, the only way to beat the temple is to beg.”
“Then kid, you should be investigated too.”
“Do we have enough time to have a public debate? I will keep working for the tears, so please take good care of my family.”
As I bowed my head, the four of them looked at me with a grin. Isaac said, messing around with my hair.
“Be sure to attach an escort. You can’t summon the devils at all right now, can you?”
“Yeah…”
“Damn it, those tears. It would be nice if I could get it instead.”
It would take a hundred poke in the eye to fill a vial with tears.
If the most righteous man was Duke of Amity, then even Isaac would not be able to shed that many tears.
It’s better if I go there myself.
‘But is it really the Duke of Amity.’
Is he the most righteous man? I couldn’t be sure because it was such an ambiguous condition.
In my personal opinion, he was just a hypocrite, but once he was called the most righteous man by most people, I put him on the list.
‘Just in case, let’s get other people’s tears.’
A tearful play planned by Seria was in progress in a shopping district.
I wandered around crying people, hoping to not get caught.
“Then, I’ll go now!”
“Yes. Be careful.”
“Be careful, be careful again! I know!”
“You have to be careful.”
“Go and come back.”
I left the mansion after being seen off by my family. Lea approached me as I was about to get on the carriage.
“Lady.”
“Lea.”
“Are you going out with Zachary?”
“Yes, Lea, you’re going to the castle?”
Just in case, I decided to bring the army back home to the capital. Lea, the leader of the irie, is in charge of guiding the army.
“Why are you wearing such thin clothes?” What about the jacket I gave you? It’s chilly in the evening.”
“Cardigan is stuffy…”
The child’s body lacks patience. Lea said as I lowered my eyebrows.
“If you’re sick, Lea’s heart will be broken.”
“I’ll go back early if it’s cold. Promise!”
Lea smiled as if she had no choice and kissed my cheek.
“Have a nice day.”
“Yes!”
I answered brightly and got into the carriage.
***
There was a long play in the shopping district.
The street play, in which tragic lovers is the theme, drew tears out of the eyes of spectators even before the first act was over.
I wandered around, but the devil’s passage never reacted.
‘Is it really the tears of the Duke of Amity?’
As I sighed, Seria groaned, wrapping her cheek with one hand.
“Shall we kidnap the Duke of Amity?”
“The soldiers can do that without getting caught again?”
“It’s not like that…”
“Let’s just live a little righteously!”
If I had been righteous, everything would have been solved.
Why is it that Dubblede cannot find righteous tears nearby because they are sinners?
I wandered around until sunset, but in the end, the passage didn’t respond at all.
“Let’s go to Duke Amity…”
I’ll have to ask him to cry.
‘Ugh, I didn’t want to see it.’
I walked with Zachary and Seria gloomily. It was the moment I was walking through the people.
‘Huh?’
I could feel something strange. Me and Zachary looked up at the sky at the same time.
Boom!
Some meteorites began to fall.
‘Meteor.’
Boom, boom, boom!
“Ahhhh-!!”
Screaming was rampant. Small meteorites fell, and large meteorites appeared above the sky. Where it’s heading…
‘Towards me…’
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