Chapter 265

“Did you complete your task and return?”

Princess Camille got straight to the point the moment she was alone with the envoy she had sent to the Papal States.

The envoy was immediately filled with awe at the fact that, in the short time he’d been away, she had already taken over the Imperial Palace’s audience chamber. Like it or not, it was an achievement difficult to imagine by any common measure.

But he was also afraid. On his way into the Imperial Palace and up to the audience chamber, he had barely encountered anyone. The minor nobles who used to swarm the court to curry favor, and the attendants who were always polishing and decorating every corner as if the palace itself had to glitter, were gone as though they had been erased.

Who would have thought the Imperial Palace could feel this desolate?

In the empty, ghost-like audience chamber, feeling fear at the sound of even his own footsteps, the envoy reported respectfully to Princess Camille, who sat on the throne in golden robes and looked down at him.

“I have done as you commanded, Your Highness.”

“Did the Pope seem to know about what happened in the past?”

“He didn’t seem to know, Your Highness.”

“On what basis?”

“He didn’t hesitate as he spoke. If the Pope knew anything, he should have shown fear or aversion when the past was brought up. Moreover, other priests were watching us as we talked.”

“Good. I thought that fox had lost his mind because he was so close to the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess.”

No matter how great the Pope was, his power came from the faith of countless believers. The belief that he represented God’s righteous law. The belief that when secular power rotted, faith alone could save even the most wretched vagrant.

There was no need to single out the Timaeus Religion among the many faiths that existed and accuse it of quickly aligning itself with power and rising to prominence. If it became known that the Bistor Family betrayed the other Three Heroes and distorted their memory, and that the temple did not stand with the weak in the process but supported the Imperial Family instead, the Pope would face an enormous political ordeal.

So the envoy had delivered a hard ultimatum. If they didn’t join hands now, they would sink together.

“It would be better if the Pope didn’t know the truth and got shaken, but it doesn’t matter even if he already heard it from Grand Duchess Elandria or found out on his own.”

Is that so?

The envoy was unsettled, because the latter seemed plausible. The Pope looked like a truly pure and devout man—had he been deceived, then, and returned without accomplishing anything?

Princess Camille’s eyes gleamed with a hard, cold light.

“The so-called high priests have always been busy protecting themselves. A truly pure person cannot rise to a high position. When you say you did as I told you, it means you saw the high priests go into a meeting, yes? You withdrew at the right moment, when they’d start wondering what I was thinking.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I did.”

“While they’re busy splitting apart and fighting over what benefits them, the decision will be made here.”

Since the current Pope was openly close to the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Maindulante, Princess Camille had never intended to win him over in the first place. What she wanted was time.

The envoy couldn’t understand where her confidence came from. Rumor said that Cledwyn Maindulante and his unprecedented army would soon besiege the Imperial Capital.

That desperate situation was why the envoy had accepted the dangerous role of threatening the temple in the first place.

But what could he do now? He could only cling to the Imperial Family’s last hope.

As the envoy stepped back, another figure entered the audience chamber as if taking his place. Princess Camille greeted him warmly.

“Welcome, Ulrich. Are the preparations complete?”

Those who once had to remain unseen, hidden in the shadows as Princess Camille’s people, now wandered freely like court nobles. After what happened to Abelus, no one dared speak of etiquette or status. They simply kept their mouths shut.

Ulrich—the mage who had concealed the existence of Silver Moon while casting sinister curses—had effectively taken the position of court mage. He surpassed most of the court mages who had come before, so he showed no sign of refusing.

“It’s complete. The moment this dagger touches the target’s body, the Seal will activate immediately.”

Ulrich gestured to the dagger at his waist. At Princess Camille’s signal, a member of Silver Moon’s shadow unit approached and received it.

Princess Camille glanced out the window. The moon was rising earlier than usual tonight.

“Number 39, Number 41, Number 52.”

She wasn’t calling the members present. The shadow operative understood what it meant to take only those three and bowed. There were no spares besides them.

Princess Camille spoke as though delivering a quiet verdict.

“On the night of the full moon, put the Grand Duchess to sleep forever. We confirmed last time that the Grand Duke cannot make rational judgments once the Grand Duchess is taken, so this works in our favor.”

Without the couple, the Maindulante army would become a small band of rebels, surrounded by countless imperial citizens.

‘And then.’

It didn’t matter what conclusion the Pope came to. In the end, she couldn’t trust him, either, and she would execute him when the time came. Princess Camille no longer cared what the people thought of her.

If she could seize Elandria’s power, what would the people’s talk of Betrayal matter?

Ulrich saw Princess Camille’s desire as clearly as a black flame. A man fated to rot in the gutter because he’d lacked the environment to properly learn magic despite his talent, and a princess about to lose the throne because no one would recognize her brilliance—those two were alike.

His life had changed completely after meeting the young princess. Now it was his turn to change hers.

Ulrich bowed, a tangle of emotions in the gesture—respect, loyalty, devotion—then stepped away from Princess Camille.

As he left the audience chamber, Ulrich saw Nellusion Elandria leaning against the door as if he’d been there all along. Ulrich gave the shabby young man a blatant sneer.

‘How foolish.’

With Nellusion’s help, Princess Camille had purged Abelus’s remaining supporters from the court. In an ideal world, one might have become a great Monarch, and the other a great prime minister. Together, they worked well.

But this was not an ideal world.

Nellusion had demanded the Grand Duchess as the price for entering Princess Camille’s service. And both Princess Camille and Nellusion knew perfectly well that the price would never be paid properly.

Now they were simply waiting for the moment.

The moment to cut off the other’s breath, and claim everything they wanted for themselves.

Ulrich believed the winner would be his Monarch, because she would be granted a power this descendant of a false hero could never obtain. Ulrich would make it so.

Nellusion watched Ulrich’s retreating back with cold, sunken eyes.

❖ ❖ ❖

“So, one thing is clear.”

White priestly robes filled the conference room of the Lily Palace, flooded with autumn sunlight.

In the time of the former Pope Omnitus, thick jewels would have been proudly hung from those robes, and golden ornaments placed along the fireplace, masking elegance beneath oppressive shine. But in the current Papal States, it had become conspicuous in the worst way for a high priest to indulge in extravagant fabrics, seasonal finery, and embroidered thread.

The finest warm cloth and gold thread already carried artistic value, and at first some priests accustomed to luxury had raised their voices in complaint. However, Priest Adams drew his sword without exception. The affluence enjoyed by Omnitus’s illegitimate children had become inseparable from their dead father’s disgraceful image, so those complaints soon died out.

Besides, it was after all the luxury goods of the Lily Palace had been sold off.

Now the priests shone only in the dazzling purity of white worsted fabric. Priest Adams did not demand greater frugality from them. He knew where the realistic line was, and he’d brought them this far.

One of the priests in white concluded bluntly, meeting the gazes of his colleagues.

“The Bistor Family is desecrating sacred duty and trying to exploit the truth of the past for private desire.”

Those who heard him nodded solemnly. Ren Fayel, seated at the head of the conference room, smiled gently.

Princess Camille likely believed she could predict how the priests’ minds would move. Most of the men here were sons of excellent families, and it was true their way of thinking often resembled hers. If Ren were not in this position, everyone would have tried to appease the Imperial Family and protect their standing, just as she intended.

But the Papal States were no longer the Papal States of Omnitus.

‘Everyone thinks they are noble.’

If someone was a serial killer, they would still believe they weren’t that bad. If they couldn’t believe that, they would suffer.

The same was true of the high priests who preached repentance with their mouths each day. Men who had once lived not much differently from secular nobles had recently gained more grounds than ever to be proud of themselves.

Priests who no longer wore jewels now prayed more actively than before and helped poor believers more readily. And they began to subtly despise anyone dressed more luxuriously than they were.

High priests who had learned to enjoy faith and refinement in this way were men of noble birth, and their pride was strong. Whether they supported Ren’s policies or not, none of them could look kindly on a secular Monarch who tried to shake the temple at will.

The priests’ gazes gathered on Ren. Ren nodded with a sorrowful expression.

“The sin committed by the first Pope is clearly heavy. As you have seen, the first Pope deceived all humanity and joined hands with wickedness. Though the Bistor Family’s defeat of the Evil Dragon itself was for humanity, does doing one good deed make the wrong disappear? It is truly shameful that we have spoken of right and wrong while carrying this history.”

The priests who had read the records of the first Pope agreed in silence.

Ren lifted his gloomy eyes and slowly looked around the room.

“But would it not be wrong to hide that mistake because it is shameful, and stack another mistake on top of it? We have learned from many figures in the Bible that when a mistake is hidden for too long, it eventually returns to seize one by the ankle.”

The priests, who had all read the Bible cover to cover, agreed once again.

If they yielded to the Imperial Family now, from that moment on, they would be completely vulnerable to them. Considering Princess Camille’s nature—acting as Crown Princess and shaking everything within the Imperial Family—she would use the temple however she pleased whenever the Imperial Family was in trouble, not only during this war but long after it ended.

When he was certain their thoughts had aligned, Ren finally allowed a faint smile.

It was a compassionate smile that made those watching forget the chains that had bound them.

“So, I propose this. Let all believers know the truth, and show what it means to truly repent of an old mistake. It will also set an example for our believers. However, I do not believe we must publicize the old story in overly sensational detail. Fortunately, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Maindulante, descendants of the victims, desire reconciliation.”

Ren’s proposal—to spread the old history, interpreted and adjusted in their own way—was bold. But the high priests had already been prepared to agree. With the play and the complete version of Betrayal already a blazing topic, there was no need to burden believers with long, complicated explanations.

They only needed to say a few words during sermons—that the story was true, and why. Believers who loved the play’s protagonists would likely welcome the fact that the tale was history.

Of course, some adjustments would be needed regarding the first Pope’s actions. There were past Popes who had later been criticized. Even if the first Pope joined that list now, would it truly be such a great issue?

At Priest Adams’s announcement that the meeting was adjourned, the priests in white robes stood.

They left the conference room at once, hurrying to inform their dioceses of the outcome.

By the time the next full moon rose, preparations would be complete—so that no one on the entire continent could remain unaware of the truth behind the Three Heroes.

(T/N: I just love how they keep on outsmarting the empire. On that note, a couple of chapters left before the finale!)