Chapter . 24
"If you entrust it to our Temple, we will take the statue and create a super-large mosaic mural of the story of Your Highness and the late Empress!"
"We will do a ceiling painting! We will fill the entire ceiling! We will unconditionally recruit the best painter who is fully booked and accepts no more commissions!"
"We will cover the entire Temple walls with reliefs! Just name the sculptor! We will show you a masterpiece that puts the Pietà to shame!"
The priests shouted excitedly. Like a flock of vultures doing a mating dance.
"What are you doing! Naturally, Saint Marcella should return to her hometown, Langseng!"
The Archbishop shouted, forgetting even his own diocese. Revealing his ambition to grow his hometown significantly.
"Do not show disgraceful behavior in the presence of His Majesty the Emperor."
Of course, the Cardinal, who finally broke his silence, stepped forward and scolded sternly.
"Naturally, the relic of Saint Marcella should be in the capital, Elan, where Prince Leontes, the discoverer, resides."
Since it is also his base as a Cardinal.
But that's just your thought.
"The zeal of the priests gathered here is truly surprising. Saint Marcella would also be pleased."
I gladly stepped forward as Saint Marcella's spokesperson. Since the Emperor had set the stage for me.
"Where Saint Marcella will find rest is not something to decide right here and now. If you are her faithful admirer, you would know her will that led me to discover the relic."
I cast meaningful glances at the Cardinal and the Archbishop and continued speaking smoothly.
Then everyone else followed me and looked at them alternately. Far from calm faces like mine, there were more faces giggling and sneering.
The faces of the two high-ranking clerics distorted. The person who tormented me telling me to submit to enemies until the day before the regression, and the person behind him.
It was good to see, but there was no time to appreciate it for long. Because the priests were waiting for me with sparkling eyes.
"If you send detailed proposals, I will evaluate them fairly and decide the placement of the holy relic. Until then, it will stay in the Audience Chamber of the Imperial Palace here."
Although many priests came to the audience today with their eyes lit up for gossip, not everyone came. A generous Prince who allows even those not present here to participate in the open bidding.
Meanwhile, the holy relic will grace every official audience of the Emperor. Its discoverer as well.
"Merciful Prince!"
"Thank you, Prince Leontes!"
The priests praised me in joy. Because I stopped what the Archbishop or Cardinal tried to suppress with their authority.
Competition will intensify if even those who didn't come here join in, but it's better than competition itself being impossible from the start.
"Indeed, befitting someone who received a revelation from the God Traneha. Prince, I am deeply impressed."
"You have shown true insight. I swear right here that I will show my deepest sincerity towards Your Highness in the future."
At this point, the Cardinal and the Archbishop immediately joined the flattery competition.
Because they were caught trying to snatch my decision-making power subtly. They had no choice but to bow lower than others.
It would be a disaster if they continued to act disrespectfully towards me and failed to enshrine the holy relic in their Temples. Priests who defeated them and won the holy relic would covet their positions, and donations from dissatisfied believers would fly away together.
"Whether you can truly do so, the God Traneha and Saint Marcella are watching."
Of course, through my eyes.
The Cardinal and the Archbishop hurriedly bowed their heads almost to the ground.
"I will do my best, Prince Leontes."
"Thank you for giving us the opportunity, merciful Prince."
Greasy flattery.
'The more they do, the deeper they walk into my Word Soul Magic on their own feet.'
Even I thought my Word Soul Magic was optimal for the flattery rooted in the court.
Before the regression, I was always suppressed by religious authority. The feeling of escaping the forced guilt that I was a bad person if I didn't do as they wished was refreshing.
"How wise Prince Leontes is."
"Even though he has not yet come of age, he is truly wise and highly virtuous."
"Being such a person, God's grace descended upon him."
Courtiers praised me with one voice this time.
Lords who ruled territories and often competed for power with local priests were the most delighted. Not to mention their families who suffered great losses because of those who gave all their property to the Traneha Temple.
"I declare to everyone while His Majesty the Emperor watches."
I continued without mentioning the Empress. Because the Empress glares instead of watching.
"From the revelation of the God Traneha to the excavation of Saint Marcella's relic, we have been together. Consider it an honor to have participated in this series of sacred events. Far from upholding that honor, if you try to tarnish it with inappropriate flaws, would it not be a truly evil act? Divine punishment will descend."
Let's say I encountered a man and woman in an adulterous affair targeting a minor while trying to excavate a dragon egg, no, a holy relic. The time when you wagged your insolent tongues is gone.
Even after everything became clear, if you tarnish my honor while only paying lip service to God's glory, be prepared.
Whether it is Duke Grimiati or the Empress's faction, they will no longer be able to drive me as a pitiful victim or a promiscuous libertine.
"Truly reasonable words!"
"God has proved Your Highness's innocence!"
"It is truly amazing that Your Highness did such a great thing despite all those misunderstandings!"
"We only sincerely praise Your Highness!"
Those who had the loudest voices when ridiculing me stepped forward first.
"No matter how much Duke Grimiati misunderstood, should he not apologize to Your Highness even now?"
"As the saying goes, 'what the eye sees is what the heart is full of', it seems the Duke assumed Your Highness was also enjoying a secret tryst because he intended to do so himself."
"It is too unjust for Your Highness."
Thinking this was the time, the Empress's faction, the Bastard Prince's faction, and the Emperor's faction pounced on Grimiati. The group who hated him for straddling Roncer and Armatia, disliked being rejected by him, and were jealous of his wealth and appearance all at once. Because if they attack together, they are not afraid.
"Prince Leontes."
However, Grimiati was an iron wall. The man who didn't laugh alone when others laughed showed no fear when others were angry.
The platinum-blond Duke approached me, looking only at me.
To the extent that people stopped cursing him and shut their mouths out of curiosity.
"Dear Prince receives the love of Her Majesty the Empress."
As if Empress Rhiannon would love a Prince other than Desmond.
Those bewildered thinking so were greenhorns. Most courtiers knew the fact that there was only one person Grimiati recognized as Empress.
That is the reason hatred, which could not be hidden even by Rhiannon's iron mask, appeared now.
" Knowing that fact only now, how can you claim to serve my Mother?"
I also scolded him calmly. In front of the Duke who remained unfazed even when losing, pretending not to be excited even when winning... life is truly.......
"Her Majesty the Empress is naturally someone who loves her child. However, whether that child deserves Her Majesty's love is another matter."
'...What is he saying....... Is this guy saying now that even if my Mother loves me, I do not deserve that love?'
I wanted to smash that face with the statue of the saint. However, I barely suppressed my anger because Grimiati's cold gaze was scrutinizing every bit of my face where anger was rising.
"Your Highness could have attributed everything to your own merit. However, by claiming it was Her Majesty the Empress's protection, you heightened the honor of Her Majesty, shining even more after her passing."
How reverent the face speaking those words was.
For a moment, the Duke, dressed as luxuriously as the Empress, seemed like a monk indeed.
'Go do a silent fasting prayer for a hundred days in memory of my late mother.'
When I was lost in thought for a moment, the Duke took action.
"Oh my!"
"Good heavens, I cannot believe my eyes!"
"Ohhh!"
"That lofty Duke!"
People gasped breathlessly.
Because Duke Grimiati, lofty but actually arrogant, knelt on one knee before me.
Not a servant or a messenger, but if a high-ranking noble like a Duke kneels, it is a posture of pledging loyalty.
It was no wonder people were surprised.
But it was also a posture of asking for forgiveness. When asking for forgiveness, one kneels on both knees, but the Duke knelt on only one knee even though he was in a position to beg for forgiveness from me.
'Only we know our bet, is that it?'
Surprising the courtiers and me and leading to misunderstanding, but in reality, it was a trick to cleverly conceal his humiliation.
Even Maximilian was mistaken. The gaze glaring this way was burning. Because the Duke had never knelt before him in front of people.
'If you are dissatisfied, come yourself and kick the Duke's back to make him kneel on both knees.'
I was the one dissatisfied. But whether one knee or two, I couldn't scold someone who openly knelt in front of many people.
'Because only I would become an unmerciful Prince.'
There was no need to cast off such pretense between us anew, as our relationship never existed originally. But it would be a big problem if the perception that that Prince doesn't treat those who offer loyalty properly takes root.
"I failed to recognize Your Highness who has such deep filial piety towards Her Majesty the Empress. Please do not forgive this sinner."
I had to look at the sky where Mother resides. Before I roast the kneeling Duke alive.
First, Grimiati didn't admit that he misunderstood, whether intentionally or not. Second.......
'Asking not to forgive when begging for forgiveness wouldn't be enough? Pretending to be a tragic protagonist without even begging properly.'
His words are beautiful beyond measure, but in reality, he's like a greased eel. I wanted to fry him with lightning.
"Ah, Duke!"
"To think that noble person calls himself a sinner!"
"What a beautiful sight this is!"
...This time, it wasn't a quick change of stance.Regardless of gender, people were genuinely moved.
'Is emptying those heads full of trash called court romance by splitting them with an axe also the Emperor's job?'
Although angry, it was the method Grimiati maintained his reputation for a long time. Even when the atmosphere of cursing him for being arrogant was prevalent, eventually, the story always flowed in a way that his devotion and love for my Mother had to be acknowledged.
Anger surged, but fortunately, Maximilian's burning gaze, angrier than me, saved me. Desmond saves Maximilian, and Maximilian saves me.
'Brotherly love works really well.'
I decided to break this ominous cycle by saving no one.
"Duke, whatever your intention, if you go against the will of me, the beloved filial son of Mother, she will never forgive you. Keep that in mind."
Deciding so, I reached out my hand. To grab the kneeling Duke by both shoulders and lift him up, as he acted like his buttocks had taken root.
'If I don't remove him from my sight quickly, I might cut his throat.'
Let's not test my patience myself.
However, the Duke snatched one of my two extended hands and pressed his lips on the back of that hand. With the speed of a viper striking with its triangular head stiffly raised. After biting, he fell away quickly.
"I thank Your Highness for your deep mercy in forgiving me."
'This guy deserves to be beaten to death!'
Kissing a hand is a greeting for a noble lady, but for a male noble, it was a pledge of loyalty and proof of being forgiven in front of everyone.
Unless forgiven, there is no reason to extend a hand again as proof that the pledge has been restored.
I didn't even receive a pledge of loyalty from the guy.
'Rather than saying I forgive a guy who didn't even beg for forgiveness, I intended to gloss over it with the gesture of lifting him by the shoulders, but that guy dares...!'