Chapter 983: Saint once more (1)
It didn't take long for the pope and his group to arrive again.
During this time, I also had the maid bring over the prime minister and the regent.
If I was going to face them, naturally I would have my people with me as well.
All of us gathered in one of the meeting rooms of the castle. Since it was a castle, naturally there would be places to receive important guests, which was what this room was for.
After we were all seated, the pope was the one that began by saying, "Your majesty, thank you for meeting us. I apologize for the misunderstanding last time, I hope that we can clear that up this time."
I slightly knitted my brows, but it didn't seem like there was any hostility in his words.
It didn't seem like he was rubbing it in, it seemed like he was sincere.
But it did rub me the wrong way that he said this...
For now, I suppressed that annoyed feeling and focused on the group that was in front of me. It was the pope and two priests, but there were also a few knights that were waiting outside. It was unknown whether this was because they were simply being cautious since it was the pope or if it was because they had other intentions. Though with the wyverns that were posted in the castle, it wasn't as if they would get far if they were to try anything.
After a moment of silence, I gave a simple nod before saying, "I don't think that there's a misunderstanding. I have already stated that I have no intentions of accepting this saint title and following you to the Holy Empire. If there's anything else that you wish to discuss, then please feel free to bring it up now."
The two priests on the side slightly knitted their brows, but the pope just raised his hand to stop them before turning back to say with a smile, "Your majesty, like I've said, there's been a misunderstanding. There's no need for you to follow us back to the Holy Empire even if you do accept the saint title."
The pope calmly looked at me before suddenly giving a nod.
I was certainly surprised that he would be this direct, even going as far as looking at me with a smile on his face.
The way that he looked at me was as if there was nothing that he had to hide, even though it was clear that he had his own intentions.
So after looking at him for a bit, I said, "Then can you say that you didn't have any intentions in announcing to the world that you wanted to give me the title of saint? Can you say that you didn't have any other intentions in announcing this Mark of God to everyone?"
The pope looked calm, but I could see that there was a twitch coming from his lips.
It seemed that I had indeed struck the heart of the matter with these words.
After a tense moment of silence, the pope said, "Your majesty, I wish to say..."
I didn't give him that chance as I suddenly raised my hand to cut him off. After cutting him off, I said, "I don't care what you wish to say since you've already made your intentions clear. As such, I feel that there's no need for us to discuss this matter at all."
The pope had a surprised look on his face as he never thought that I would reject him this simply.
But to me, I knew that there was no way that we could cooperate if this was how he was going
to act.
He was one of those people that acted kind on the surface, but stabbed people in the back.
If I were to associate with this kind of person, it was unknown when he would sell me and make me count his profits.