CH 175

The High Priest shut his mouth. The emperor was being rude. The current subject wasn’t even over, but he’d ended it. But he couldn’t refute anymore. He knew that the next subject would annoy the emperor further.

“We know that the person who summoned the pillar of light a few days ago is staying in the palace,” he said.

That statement alone was enough to anger Ridrian. The priest who faced it head-on tried his best not to faint.

“Sh-she is an important person who brings the will of God,” he stammered. “Even as the emperor, you can’t stop her from spreading that will.”

“So what you’re saying is that I locked up the group’s Saintess in this palace?”

“There is no other way to put it. Please forgive me. We’ll escort the Saintess to our main temple and serve her.”

“The Saintess…”

It seemed like they’d already decided Iona was the Saintess. Ridrian himself wouldn’t acknowledge it—if anything, he was denying it—but it seemed they wouldn’t listen to him at all. Not as long as Dylan, who was most trusted by the group, was the witness to the event. Ridrian, annoyed, wanted to end this meeting, but he decided to hold back.

I promised Iona.

Ridrian decided to play dumb, which was a game he wasn’t familiar with, but the nobles were good at. If he decided to do it his way, this meeting would turn bloody.

I’ll be hugging Iona tonight as well, so I can smell bloody.

He stood up.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The person I brought is Viscount Iona Lesprey and my attendee. She had a lot of work to do, so she’s been working overtime lately. There must be a misunderstanding. The Saintess you’re talking about isn’t here, so you’d best go back. Like I said, I’m a bit busy.”

“Your Majesty!” the High Priest yelled, as the emperor turned to leave. “You can’t treat someone who came down with the will of God like that!”

Ridrian scoffed. “How would I dare? I haven’t even met the person.”

“Your Majesty!”

Ridrian ignore him.

If the group keeps acting like this, then I’ll have to reveal this. I didn’t want to do this right before a war. If the Pope himself wants to be with Theres like that, then I’ll allow it.

Ridrian left the meeting room, seething with anger.

***

And a few days later, the Empire was flipped upside down.

It was the fifth day since the priest showed up to ask for the Saintess. The Theres group put up an announcement that was ten minutes long.

“The servants of Theres, the Supreme God of life and water, announce it. Supreme Theres sent someone with his will to protect the nobility of this beautiful land, and the pillar of light that surrounded the capital recently is proof. After a thorough investigation, that noble Saintess was found to be a citizen of the Ivant Empire, Iona Lesprey.

“The Theres group welcomed the emergence of the Saintess joyfully and sent the top crusader of the group, Dylan Lyn Fortis, along with the best crusaders to escort the Saintess.

“Unfortunately, the Saintess who came down to save those in pain is locked up in the Etherium palace. The Theres group serves the Saintess who brought the will of Theres, so so we politely requested to escort her personally a few times, but the current emperor Ridrian Ferid Lebrooks used the power of his knights to stop us…”

In short, it was an announcement stating that the emperor had locked up the Saintess against her will.

***

The moment Raven finished reading it, the chair arm in the emperor’s office was destroyed for the third time.

“It seems they want to go at it.”

I noticed his eyes turning red and looped my hand through his. He took one look at my worrying face, sucked in a deep breath and calmed down.

“Looks like the Theres group is all in.”

Chancellor Ivan gave a sigh. “Probably. When His Majesty took the throne, he got rid of those corrupt priests, even though they were against it. A Saintess that could recover their dignity has appeared, so they have no choice but to go all in.”

Eris nodded. “But I didn’t think they would bring citizens into this as well. Looks like the Pope is seeing this as the group’s last chance. I think it’ll be bad if we don’t completely end this.”

Raven frowned, like this was giving him a headache.

“Is the meaning of a Saintess this great?” I asked after listening to Ridrian, Ivan, Raven and Eris.

I hadn’t seen the existence of a Saintess in the original novel, so it didn’t really hit me. To be honest, I’d figured a Saintess was a famous female model who advocated for religion.

Am I too naïve?

“Iona, Theres is the most influential God on this continent. Now that they know you’re the one who summoned the pillar of light, which even the Pope can’t do easily, right now it is evident that you’re the most beloved by God on this continent.”

He frowned, even though he was the one who’d just said God loved me the most on the continent.

“On the other hand, the Theres group, even though it is the main religion in the Empire, is being treated poorly by the emperor and because it’s so corrupted, its followers are crying. Well, it’s so big that it’s not really noticeable yet.”

“That means…”

“We don’t know what crazy thing they will do to try to get their fame and lifeline back.”

I grabbed Ridrian’s sleeve in horror. As if demons weren’t enough—now the temple wanted me. After listening to him, I could clearly see what would happen if I went to the temple.

A naïve Saintess that had no background would be used by the High Priests. Even though they’d been replaced, it was uncertain whether the High Priests that remained were still sane.

Only Ridrian could reject this sort of situation. He seemed to notice how I was feeling and tapped my hand.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “They will never take you.”