“Episode 53”
Sharo pursed her lips, and the Pope, seeing his wilful illegitimate daughter, mirrored her expression.
“It was you who insisted on coming this long way together, Sharo. If you don’t intend to be called ‘Your Holiness’ among your sisters, then go back immediately. Or is it true? The rumor that you’ve been enamored with that bastard Duke who appeared here a year ago—”
“Mother! Oh, no! Your Holiness, how can you spread such baseless rumors? That’s too much!”
Sharo exclaimed with a snap. The priestesses, witnessing the mother-daughter quarrel, chuckled.
Despite being in her twenties, Sharo, the Pope’s late-born illegitimate daughter, seemed like a child.
Unlike the priests of the New Faith in the capital, who remained unmarried and lived alone, priests of the Old Faith were free to marry and have children. Therefore, most of the priestesses here had married Northern territory residents and bore several children. Seeing how they adored her as if she were adorable, Sharo muttered discontentedly.
“I don’t like unreliable and weak-willed men like him.”
Sharo turned around abruptly, looking outside. Despite the dampness in the air due to the stench of the cattle herd, Sharo narrowed her eyes and gazed into the distance at the ducal castle.
Upon seeing the beautiful castle, her mind became tangled. Once again, Sharo pursed her lips in thought.
“No matter how I think about it, that man is in trouble. How dare he attempt to use the Pope as a pawn in his trial for his unfaithful wife.”
With a huff, she let out a snort and curled up, unable to bear the discomfort from being in the carriage for so long. Trying to escape from the stuffy sensation, Sharo briefly drifted into sleep.
However, perhaps due to her mother’s malicious words, she dreamed again after a long time. A dream of fighting savages and monsters.
The man she saw on the battlefield always wanted to return home even as he fought as if he were about to die. Even though he eventually returned to a peaceful life, he was still preparing to fight.
Only for his wife.
Sharo was curious about that man and his relentless love for his wife.
“Sharo!”
“Hmm?”
Sharo, awakened from her light sleep, barely opened her eyes. The Pope and the priestesses had already disembarked from the carriage and were passing through the back gate of the castle.
Hurriedly jumping out of the carriage, she followed her mother hastily. But on one hand, irritation surged within her. Despite having avoided the eyes of others for so long, it was too much to park the carriage in such a remote place and make the priests walk again. Wasn’t that too much?
It was too cunning to falsely testify that this distant lake was the gateway to the underworld to the Pope, who had come all this way. With such thoughts in mind, Sharo briskly caught up with the priestesses.
While she had heard that the ducal castle was similar to a small royal palace, it was really too spacious.
Even the garden behind the remote back gate was as grand as a forest. The unfamiliar trees of the western region grew tall into the sky, making the surroundings dark despite the sun still being up.
“Mother!”
As Sharo reached the lake, she suddenly grabbed the Pope’s sleeve from behind the priestesses. As if accustomed to the sudden appearance of “mother,” the Pope firmly held Sharo’s hand.
“Lady of the Duchy, is this…?”
Only then did Sharo notice the balanced figure of the unfamiliar woman.
The woman, dressed in a simple dress, left her long hair untied, yet she was incredibly beautiful. The green hue that gently enveloped her dark brown pupils sparkled unusually. Her thick lips, gracefully curved upwards, caught Sharo’s eyes after being taken aback by her mysterious gaze. Furthermore, her flawless skin was as smooth as a freshly boiled egg.
Feeling embarrassed standing in front of such a beautiful woman, Sharo quickly hid behind her mother’s back.
Unlike Sharo, who was flustered, the Pope, Neimia, who paid attention to the lake in front of her, beckoned the duchess again as if urging for an answer.
“Lady of the Duchy, is what I see really…?”
“……Mother?”
Sharo
Sharo glanced up at Neimia, her mother, who was much taller and bulkier than adult men, so she was not usually afraid of anything. Of course, she had been a bit scared when she was among the priestesses who were abducted by black magicians last year, but she had never shown fear in front of strangers like this before.
Sharo found it strange that her mother, who usually made her feel protected, now made her feel unfamiliar. She watched as her mother followed Neimia’s gaze, looking out over the calm lake.
Indeed, while the water color was beautiful enough to be compared to the jewel ’emerald’, the lake was still just a lake.
‘What’s going on?’
At that moment, Sharo felt a strange sensation and looked around. Even the priestesses had completed their assessment of the situation and were enveloping them.
To be precise, they were surrounding Sharo. Even though she was accustomed to being protected like a child, Sharo found it strange. It was as if they were protecting allies on the battlefield.
“Yes. What His Holiness sees is indeed true.”
Saying so, the duchess approached her mother.
Even though it was a bright spring day, the sunlight fell perfectly on her feet due to the trees surrounding the sky like a dome. And soon, among those rays of light, the duchess, who walked in between them, looked as dangerous and beautiful as a succubus.
While Sharo was staring at her as if she were a dazzling creature, she licked her lips. Beautiful, how can she be so beautiful? She looked like she could kill someone…
Unlike her daughter, who innocently looked at the duchess, Neimia, who was simply astonished by the situation, shouted.
“Duchess! Such actions go against our doctrine.”
“It wasn’t my wife’s doing.”
As if hearing the duchess’s voice from somewhere, the duke approached from behind her with a gruff sound.
Despite the clear day, he was soaked all over. His white shirt clung to his swollen body. With a click of his tongue, he put on a coat that hung dry on a rock.
Sharo thought that if the duchess seemed as dangerous as a succubus, the duke was already an incubus, who would have already devoured foolish humans.
Although she didn’t voice her amusing thought, unexpectedly, the duke chuckled. But a few seconds later, Sharo realized that the reason he laughed was simply to reassure his wife. It was inappropriate to soothe the objections of the priestesses and the Pope.
In the end, Pope Neimia spoke firmly.
“I said you only need to testify that it’s the gateway to the underworld, didn’t I? What on earth is this audacious act… You will incur the wrath of God!”
‘The gateway to the underworld?’
Creating the gateway to the underworld with black magic itself was a dangerous act. Even their ancestors, who tried to use the power of that abyss, ended up becoming monsters.
Sharo, who quickly understood the situation, took a step back. To think that such power was hidden in this peaceful and calm lake. That was truly blasphemous.
Unable to contain her anger, Sharo stepped forward. Only then did the duke notice her, or rather, pretended to know. Of course, it wasn’t a friendly gesture.
“Oh. Priestess Sharo. Would you like to receive the reward for saving the past priestess now?”
“You, you impious scoundrel!”
Sharo yelled angrily. She pulled at her hair, which had grown like a prosecutor’s, and began to speak.
“Do you know what will happen if this news spreads?!”
“Oh, it seems the priestess is still the same.”
With a tsk tsk, Evan, barefoot and stepping on the muddy ground, approached slowly while sticking his tongue out. However, his gaze was directed not at Sharo, but at Neimia.
“Pope. The day to choose your successor is approaching. I’m sorry to say, but you’re getting old, and the priests are already expanding their influence, even coveting the Pope’s position like greedy dogs. It’s unfortunate. Do we have to witness the likes of that pig-like Dorswell flipping your position?”
“…Naive as it may sound, I thought you were helping us with the intention of protecting the empire. I can’t stand to see false saints disturbing the empire.”
“Me?”
Unlike Neimia, who grimaced grimly, the Duke, Evan, responded with a cheerful smile.
“Pope, let’s be honest. You must have known that I didn’t wander around the northern mountains to protect the empire out of pure intentions, nor did I intend to help you.”
Upon hearing that response, Neimia couldn’t help but think about her personal desires.
What happens to the child of a pope who couldn’t become a pope?
It was okay for her to fight in the barren lands of the north, endlessly repeating battles. She thought that was the path of faith.
But Sharo, Sharo was too noble to do such a thing. My precious child…
Neimia muttered under her breath with a frown. It was rare for her to express her inner thoughts.
“Am I having impure thoughts?”
Evan still smiled broadly and replied.
“I find it difficult to agree with such thoughts of the faithful. How is planting a bit of the underworld’s gateway in a perfectly fine lake impure? I think serving a false saint is more disrespectful.”
“You’re good with words. Wasn’t helping me to expel that saint your intention?”
Neimia chuckled wryly. Then, with gloomy gray eyes, she looked at the lake.
The artificially stitched fragments of the underworld, growing vigorously on the bottom of the lake, swayed as if they were just swaying in the wind, without a care in the world. It would probably take decades to purify this lake.
‘I thought he was just a slightly biased magician, but I never imagined the Duke was at this level…’
Neimia heaved a long sigh.
“Duke. You’ve trampled on my courage to speak out. Planning to move the ‘real’ gateway to the underworld. You won’t go to heaven. You might end up as a monster spawning on the bottom of this lake.”
Watching the situation silently, the Duchess, Yuliana, responded.
“Well then, I guess I’ll have to save him.”
“Oh, Duchess. You’re doing something terrifying. Why do you involve us in such actions because of that so-called saint?”
As the Pope grumbled, Yuliana smiled gently and replied.
“Oh, please. Pope. Please be honest. Didn’t you make a contract with us because you wanted to give us a more comfortable position rather than a life chasing monsters and demons to kill for your daughter? Please calm down a bit. I don’t think badly of someone who does reckless things for love.”
Sharo wanted to intervene in the conversation that revolved around her. She raised her head and interjected.
“Mother! Please don’t get involved in dangerous things because of me. How could you throw away the honorable position of the Pope, which is meant to purify the gateway to the underworld, into political games!”
“Sharo.”
“…Yes.”
