The air became chillingly tense.
“What kind of nonsense is that?!” Prince Patrick shouted, his face twisted in anger, almost as if he were a different person.
Grandfather scolded him harshly, “Be silent! I shall ask the missing persons directly. What happened?”
“The Duke speaks the truth! I lost a great deal of money investing in the Dawn Butterfly Flower with a former business partner. Then, the late Duke Eisen, who was executed, came to me offering help. But…”
According to Baron Train, the previous Duke Eisen had advised him to visit the secret prayer room in the Grand Temple.
The Grand Temple was supposedly helping believers in dire straits.
“They promised me a variant of the Morning Glories and asked me to sign a contract. But I suddenly felt stomach pain and excused myself, leaving my partner to receive the variant first. When I returned, I heard his screams from the room. Shortly after, Archbishop Liang came out of the room alone. But…”
Baron Train squeezed his eyes shut, as even recalling the memory was tormenting him.
“Through the cracked door, I could only see my partner’s clothes. The man himself had vanished.”
The terrified Baron fled from the temple. He didn’t know what exactly happened to his partner, but he knew something was definitely wrong.
The Grand Temple and the late Duke Eisen pursued him after his escape. Eventually, he was captured by the late Duke Eisen and taken to his villa.
“But for some reason, the duke, who was supposed to send me to the temple, never showed up. I survived by drinking stagnant rainwater with the others imprisoned there until the new Duke Eisen came to our rescue.”
The testimonies of other missing persons were similar.
They had visited the Grand Temple, sensed something suspicious, tried to escape, and were caught again.
“Your Majesty, how can we trust their testimonies? These people are debt-ridden fugitives. They could be lying. Someone might be using money as leverage for false testimony,” Prince Patrick quickly interjected.
I nodded in agreement with his words, “I agree with His Highness.”
Prince Patrick looked at me in shock.
“But it’s only fair that we thoroughly investigate whether their testimonies are true.”
Grandfather narrowed his eyes, trying to discern my intention. Soon, an unspoken emotion spread across his face. He had realized my goal.
‘To find out if they’re telling the truth, we must investigate the Grand Temple.’
We needed to see if they had indeed signed the contracts. Whether the missing persons had left any traces there. And to do that, the Grand Temple had to be directly investigated.
‘That’s exactly what I’m aiming for.’
I wanted a chance to thoroughly examine the Grand Temple’s interior. Through this, I could locate Grauser’s temple.
‘This is why I spread the rumors.’
I had been the one to spread the rumors that the last whereabouts of the missing persons were at the Grand Temple. I had predicted the temple would try to shift the blame onto someone else to divert attention.
As expected, the Grand Temple had fallen right into the trap, not realizing it was a setup.
The Grand Temple had dug its own grave. And I had merely nudged it further in.
Reading my intention, Grandfather declared loudly, “Indeed. To determine the credibility of these testimonies, we will conduct an internal investigation of the Grand Temple. Immediately!”
***
The Grand Temple’s plan to divert attention by using me had failed. Instead, it was about to be thoroughly scrutinized.
The temple reacted fiercely. Their stance was completely different from the low profile they had maintained before.
‘They must have a lot to hide.’
But there was no room for stalling. The investigation proceeded at a pace that was almost like a raid.
***
“You can’t enter this place!”
“How dare you try to step into His Holiness the Pope’s chamber!”
Archbishop Liang and the priests blocked the path, shouting in protest.
“Step aside. His Majesty the Emperor has ordered a thorough investigation of the entire temple without exception,” Viscount Munich warned them.
Behind him stood the Imperial Knights and the city guards.
“What on earth is happening…”
“No matter what, investigating the room of a dying pope…”
The people, who had come to the temple to pray but now found themselves witnessing this confrontation between the Imperial family and the Grand Temple, whispered amongst themselves.
Though they stood at a distance, their disapproval could reach us.
“This is absolutely unacceptable! Leave at once!”
Finally, Saint Yenna rushed out.
“Haven’t you humiliated the temple enough?!”
When the small, frail-looking saint blocked the path of the burly knights, the people sighed in pity.
“The temple has always kept things at a minimum. No matter how much the Imperial family has mistreated us. But this is too much! Even the world I came from, I have never seen such disrespect!”
“That’s right!”
The voices of the people agreeing with Yenna’s words reached even Viscount Munich. His face darkened with frustration.
Yenna with her eyes glistening with tears, glared at Viscount Munich.
“This is all to protect Lady Hanelope, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You think people don’t know about what happened at the charity event? People have the right to know Lady Hanelope was involved in the kidnapping incident.”
The crowd, which had been watching silently, grew noisy at her words.
The Emperor had ordered everyone to remain silent about that day’s events until the truth was fully uncovered, fearing unrest among the people.
“People need to know that the Imperials are sacrificing the Grand Temple to cover up Lady Hanelope’s crimes! Haven’t some of your family members gone missing too?”
Yenna shouted, deliberately addressing the people.
Indeed, there had been missing persons among the commoners as well, people who had no connection to the flower trades.
“Your family members disappeared, but because they weren’t nobles or wealthy, no one paid attention. And now the Imperial family is hiding the truth!”
The commoners had already been frustrated that the upper-class missing persons were getting more attention, and Yenna’s words stirred their resentment.
“So the Emperor is doing this just to protect his own family?”
“They lied to us all along, and now they’re trying to pin it on the Grand Temple!”
The mood of the crowd grew dangerous.
Viscount Munich approached Yenna and whispered sternly, “Saint Yenna, what do you think you’re doing?”
“What about you, Viscount? What are you doing?” Yenna smirked as she looked at him. And closed their distance.
“What are you…?”
Without answering, Yenna suddenly collapsed.
“Kyaa!”
She staged this to appear as if Viscount Munich had pushed her. This further inflamed the crowd’s anger.
“You think you can cover up the truth by threatening the Saint?”
“Tell us where our children are right now!”
The people rushed toward Viscount Munich, and only the knights barely managed to hold them back. Amidst this chaos Viscount Munich kneaded his throbbing head, then he glared at the collapsed Yenna.
‘What will you do now?’
Feigning innocence, Yenna raised her eyebrows and taunted him. Locking eyes with her, Viscount Munich gave his order.
“Enter the Pope’s chamber immediately.”
“!”
“Everyone, move in!”
The knights and city guards pushed aside the priests and stormed into the Pope’s room.
Archbishop Liang and Yenna were at a loss for what to do. They hadn’t expected Viscount Munich to take such decisive action. The priests were powerless against the strong soldiers.
The Pope’s chamber was the one place they hadn’t yet searched in the Grand Temple.
‘We haven’t found any evidence so far. There must be something here.’
While the knights held off the enraged citizens, Viscount Munich entered the Pope’s room.
Inside the dimly lit chamber, the Pope lay sleeping behind a curtain. The knights and guards began searching the room, carefully to avoid disturbing the Pope.
But they found nothing. No money, no hidden treasure.
“Have you found anything?”
“Just a pile of shabby clothes.” A knight reported.
Viscount Munich let out a hollow laugh in frustration. At this rate, all they would do was justify the Pope’s innocence.
But then Viscount Munich’s eyes were drawn to the clothes. There were far too many for a dying Pope to wear, and the sizes varied greatly.
A sudden realization struck him like lightning.
“These clothes…!”
“Stop harassing His Holiness the Pope!”
“Tell us where our children are!”
The enraged crowd was now overpowering the knights and storming toward the Pope’s room.
Just then, Viscount Munich calmly walked out of the room.
“I will tell you where your missing loved ones went.”
“You’re just trying to deceive us again!”
Viscount Munich raised his hand, holding one of the clothes he had found in the Pope’s room.
The crowd, confused, looked on. Then, several people recognized the clothes and gasped in shock.
“T-That’s my father’s…!”
“That’s my son’s clothes!”
The ordinary garments were instantly recognized by the families of the missing.
Viscount Munich added coldly.
“These clothes were all found in His Holiness the Pope’s room. And…”
A knight emerged holding a thick bundle of papers.
“We also found contracts stating, ‘In exchange for the agreement, I swear to offer my body and soul entirely to Prache.’ These are the contracts signed by the missing persons.”
The Grand Temple was thoroughly exposed. In the Pope’s chamber, they discovered the missing persons’ clothes and the signed contracts.
Archbishop Liang, the priests, and many others connected to the temple were arrested.
Yenna was among them.
Terrified, some of the lower-ranking priests confessed even before the full interrogations began.
“T-The missing persons entered His Holiness the Pope’s room and never came out! We don’t know where they went, but that was the last time we saw them!”
However, Archbishop Liang and the higher-ranking priests remained tight-lipped. And with the Pope being unconscious, he couldn’t be questioned.
The Emperor took decisive action.
“There’s no other choice. We must hold all involved accountable for their crimes. Only then will the people’s hearts be eased.”
He declared that all those responsible would be executed.
As the blade neared her neck, Yenna finally spoke up.
