Carlyle, however, was not asking out of curiosity.
“I don’t know. It’s impossible unless it’s you.”
“Sudden death is literally death without a reason. Why are you asking me for the reason?”
“It just occurred to me last night, but come to think of it, you were the priest in charge of my father’s Monday prayer.”
Carlyle stared at Gabriel, who had closed his mouth with a brazen face, and now drew the puzzle of that day, which was finally complete, in his head.
“Just looking at how you unleashed the barbarians on Pervaz, you must have guessed what would happen at that lunch. Well, the Empress Dowager might have known first.”
“…….”
“You must have gone in to see my father’s prayer that morning, used black magic to kill my father, and worked things out with the Empress Dowager in no time. It’s more likely that you planned it in advance.”
Gabriel snorted. However, Carlyle was not fooled.
“The order of events or the details may be slightly different, but I’m sure you haven’t gotten out of here.”
Things happened eerily quickly. The death of the previous emperor, the closure of the imperial palace, the intervention of the temple, the enthronement of Matthias.
Well, what could have been difficult? A powerful black magician is helping with everything while hiding his identity.
They were just waiting for the right time.
“It’s okay. The struggle for power is all like that, you know. But there’s something I just can’t let go of.”
Carlyle’s eyes sharpened.
“How dare you attack Pervaz……?”
The air, which had felt languid, froze in an instant.
“Is it because you’re a bastard who’s never been to a war zone? You don’t even have the slightest courtesy. It’s no wonder you have nothing to say. If you touch the rear where there are women and children, you’ll become a public enemy.”
“I don’t know, but isn’t it a bit of a stretch to put Countess Pervaz, who has skills comparable to Your Highness, in the category of ‘women and children’?”
“Isn’t she your enemy, Asha, is she? To say that the person who made me his enemy attacked Asha, which means he attacked ‘women and children,’ you bastard who can’t even understand even simple words!”
Carlyle’s tone was like spitting venom.
Thinking of Asha, who had to lose her old comrades and family-like servants in front of her eyes because of her contract marriage to him, he still felt like he was going crazy.
“Remember well. You’re the bastard of the world. Your remaining life may not be long, but until the day you die, no, even after death, you will forever be known as a bastard.”
With that, Carlyle sneered.
“Holding Asha in your heart yet attacking Pervaz…! You despicable bastard.”
Each time he spoke, ‘bastard’ popped out, but still, his anger didn’t subside. Thinking of the filthy things Asha had to endure, he felt like tearing Gabriel apart like a chicken.
However, Gabriel, who inadvertently revealed his true feelings, retorted.
“Holding her in my heart! I just felt sorry for Countess Pervaz. It’s because it’s regrettable to see her deviating from the path of God and following a demon like you.”
“Fine, let’s keep it that way. It’s better than people talking about you having strange feelings for my woman.”
Carlyle found Gabriel’s desperate attempt to maintain his pride amusing. Gabriel must have sensed it, because he tried to provoke Carlyle.
“‘My woman’? If anyone heard you, they’d think Your Highness is in love with Countess Pervaz.”
“So be it. Because it’s true.”
Gabriel’s brows furrowed. Carlyle repeated himself, thinking that Gabriel might not have understood properly.
“I love Asha. I love her more than my life. Does that make you feel better now?”
“Lies……!”
Gabriel’s eyes shook even more than when he realized he had completely lost his black magic.
However, Carlyle did not smile in victory. He felt a little sad, thinking that he and Gabriel were both losers in love.
* * *
As news of Carlyle dragging away Gabriel spread, Beatrice hurriedly turned to the Temple for help.
The temple, which had been in collusion with her, immediately issued a statement condemning Carlyle. The place where it was announced was even the conference room of the imperial palace where they had met for negotiations.
“The kidnapping of the High Priest is a grave act of religious oppression. This is not only an act that cannot be forgiven by God, but it will also not be tolerated by all the believers of the Chad Empire!”
Archbishop Radrell, who read the statement with his neck veins throbbing, looked quite different from when they had met before.
The position from which he was reading the statement was not the neutral position of the conference room, but rather much closer to Beatrice and Matthias.
Carlyle laughed at his quick turnaround, finding it both funny and pitiful.
“Do you all agree with Archbishop Radrell’s words?”
At his question, the nobles and temple representatives sitting behind Beatrice all nodded their heads. There were even those who snorted as if it was ridiculous to even ask.
Carlyle also nodded his head slowly.
“I see. You’re all in agreement with High Priest Gabriel.”
“I feel some insincerity in the use of the word ‘agreement’.”
“Rather than insincerity, there is a matter that we need to think about.”
Carlyle slowly looked around at everyone, including Radrell, who was pressing him question after question.
“Whether you agreed with High Priest Gabriel knowing that he was a black magician, or whether you agreed without knowing… Shouldn’t we investigate that?”
“Ha ha, now you’re really saying all sorts of ridiculous things! Not only are you rebelling and kidnapping the High Priest, but you’re also calling a servant of God a black magician?”
Radrell rebuked Carlyle with an exaggerated attitude, but the expressions of the two or three high-ranking priests standing next to Beatrice became a little subtle. However, no one noticed it.
“Well, I believe that most of them were deceived by that human’s skin and words. Surely no one would have sincerely followed someone who sold his soul to the devil.”
“Watch your words!”
“Shall we bring him in for now? Lionel! Bring that bastard in.”
The sight of Carlyle speaking rudely, not even holding back, made the nobles on Beatrice’s side frown. However, on the other hand, his attitude of not backing down and speaking without hesitation also caused some unease.
‘What is he confident in?’
Such thoughts were beginning to arise.
However, as soon as the wretched-looking Gabriel appeared, everyone assumed that ‘Carlyle was the bad guy after all’.
“I apologize for the inconvenience I have caused you all by not being able to escape the clutches of the rebels.”
Gabriel apologized to the people on Beatrice’s side without even looking at Carlyle.
“But I am innocent! All of you here know that I have lived a life that only seeks the will of God.”
At this, the priests who lived in the same temple with him quickly nodded their heads.
Of course, Gabriel Knox’s family background and beautiful appearance played a role in his becoming the youngest High Priest, but his fervent faith also played a large part.
Gabriel was the one who followed the scriptures to the point of being obsessive and feared even the slightest deviation.
‘This kid should have been an actor.’
As Carlyle watched Gabriel’s self-defense, he got bored and cut him off.
“Now, how do you explain the magic circles appearing all over the palace and the barbarians from the abandoned land popping out of them? Did you tell the Imperial Knights or the Holy Knights in advance?”
This time, it was the High Commander of the Holy Knights who came forward as Gabriel’s lawyer.
“He said that through the passage created by divine power, God would send enemies befitting the rebels. He said that even the High Priest did not know what their true identity would be.”
“You said that the magic circle was drawn by God, so why did you say that you drew it yourself? Ah! I guess it would have been better for you to pretend to be God’s servant.”
“Don’t cloud the truth with your own speculation! That can never be proof that the High Priest is a black magician!”
As Radrell shouted again, Carlyle spoke with a cold face.
“Isn’t it? Even if we put aside the fact that those who came out of there were soaked in magic, this man did not possess divine power in the first place. That magic circle was made with black magic, not divine power.”
Then Gabriel shouted.
“That’s a lie! I poured almost all of my divine power into creating the magic circle and stopping the rebels. And I, weakened, was simply robbed of all my remaining strength by His Highness Carlyle!”
“That’s an amazing statement. How did I steal someone else’s divine power?”
“That’s not for me to ask, but for Your Highness to answer!”
Gabriel lied without hesitation.
Then, Archbishop Radrell and some of the nobles, including the priests, came out in support of Gabriel.
“Stop harassing the High Priest and let him go! If you blaspheme God any further, we cannot ignore the excommunication of Your Highness.”
Carlyle realized once again that Gabriel was truly a remarkable man. He was already jealous of his rapid rise to fame and popularity, but no one here suspected Gabriel.
Even Radrell, who had been worried that Gabriel would take the papal seat first, seemed to believe in his innocence.
“Archbishop Radrell. What are the ways to prove that someone is a black magician? Oh, you don’t know?”
Radrell’s brows furrowed at the dismissive remark.
“Of course you will be punished by God.”
“What kind of punishment?”
“It varies. You may not be able to see, your body may be severely injured, or you may have nightmares all the time… Anyway, it is known to be related to black things.”
As he said this, he pointed to Gabriel.
“There is nothing like that for a person like High Priest Gabriel, who is like the incarnation of an angel.”
