Chapter 159
Chapter: 159
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 159
>Chapter Title: Apostle (3)
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>“This is my fiancée, Olivier.”
At Domenico’s introduction, the young woman slightly lifted the hem of her dress and said,
“I’m Olivier Ramari.”
The moment he saw her, Seongjin knew.
‘This woman’s an assassin! What the hell kind of guy is this?’
Her appearance was quite different, but the instant he faced her, Seongjin immediately thought of Dasha. The sharp glint in her eyes, her sociable smile. Her quiet footsteps.
Above all, her aura.
She had it skillfully concealed, but the woman was definitely hiding aura. She must have built up a fairly high level.
She seemed to want to appear as having only the aura activation of an ordinary person, so she was partially using aura concealment. She probably thought it suited her status as a noble lady running a business.
Because of that, there was a slight sense of incongruity different from when she completely erased her presence.
Of course, if it weren’t for Seongjin, who had recently mastered aura concealment, it would have been hard to notice easily, so the others probably hadn’t sensed a thing.
“…Ramari? That’s a family name I’ve never heard of.”
Masain stepped slightly in front of Seongjin and questioned her. He seemed to have a nagging suspicion.
His rigidly set face looked quite intimidating even to Seongjin, but the woman showed no sign of being intimidated.
“It’s a viscount family from Brittany. We run a small business.”
For the eldest son of Delcros’s wealthiest man, it was a modest background. Perhaps noticing Masain’s thoughts reflected on his face, she added,
“I met Dominic through business, and we’ve kept in touch ever since.”
“Hmm. What kind of business?”
“A small fabric business. We grow high-quality linen ourselves and produce textiles. We also handle Carthago wool occasionally.”
No way. She looks like she’s definitely in intelligence or assassination?
Seongjin thought that inwardly, but the woman’s softly smiling face was utterly shameless.
It was enough to confuse even the Demon King.
[Her blood pressure and pulse barely changed? She seems to be telling the truth. Lee Seongjin, isn’t this your mistake?]
‘No. That woman is definitely a skilled assassin. She’s extremely good at lying, or maybe she really runs a front business.’
He’d have to ask Dasha to investigate Ramari later. The tasks piling up for her kept growing.
But at Olivier’s next words, Seongjin nearly lost control of his expression.
“Most of it comes through the Milo Merchant Company, so the name Ramari might be even more unfamiliar in Delcros.”
Seongjin asked back.
“Milo Merchant Company?”
“Yes. Many items coming from Brittany these days go through the Milo Merchant Company.”
“I see.”
Seongjin nodded calmly with a composed expression. He sensitively caught her gaze briefly scanning him.
He knew the Milo Merchant Company distributed liquor targeting Asaine and Rohan, so what was this, probing people carelessly?
“So, you’re planning to trade directly with Delcros through Scarpacino now?”
“Huh?”
“Dealing through other merchants makes it hard to balance the books, doesn’t it?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
“Good. Then soon, Ramari’s name will be heard in Delcros’s dress shops too. I look forward to it.”
“…….”
Even as they conversed, Domenico Scarpacino stood a step back, silently watching the situation.
Then Sir Masain subtly spoke up.
“Your Highness, the withdrawal military ceremony will be soon.”
Seongjin brightened.
“Is Logan coming out again?”
“Yes. There’ll probably be a solo drill demonstration by the Lilium detachment in the middle.”
Oh! Can’t miss that.
Wish there was a camera. He felt like a parent come to watch a talent show.
“Then we’ll head a bit further front. What about you?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please enjoy the viewing. I look forward to seeing you again.”
Domenico’s attitude was impeccably polite as he bowed.
But Seongjin shot him a glare before turning away.
You bastard!
Introducing an assassin as your fiancée and even having her probe me?
No use pretending to be courteous now. You’re already marked as suspicious in my book!
As she watched the departing prince’s group, Olivier spoke.
“Dominic, you might have misjudged this time.”
If the group that infiltrated the townhouse was truly the prince’s people, he couldn’t be unaware of the Milo Merchant Company.
They’d left the Dark Church’s mark at the scene and vanished cleanly. So at least, he was connected to the Dark Church, or someone who knew well the ties between the Dark Church and Milo Merchant Company.
But whatever she said, the prince, who had seemed utterly disinterested throughout, kept his sullen face to the end.
If that was deliberate expression control, the boy was a born con artist. He could probably fool even the leader of her organization. Something impossible for a prince raised softly in the palace.
But Domenico thought differently.
“Well, after that prince attended the meeting, Ricard ended up like that, didn’t he? Plus, the prince has been close to Ricard all along. That guy doesn’t befriend just anyone.”
“That’s true.”
“And there’s no evidence, but oddly, I feel Isabella losing consciousness isn’t unrelated to that prince either.”
Domenico adjusted his glasses slightly and added,
“And that’s not all. Isn’t Archduke Sigismund being quiet these days?”
Orden Sigismund had noticed events in his territory. He’d been clumsily poking around in investigations on his own.
As a martial artist to the bone and moving with limited men secretly from the family head, mishaps were bound to happen.
But lately, he’d become quiet without such reckless actions.
“Do you know why he suddenly went silent?”
“He gave up?”
“No way. It’s not confirmed, but there’s info he entrusted the case to the monster task force.”
“Monster task force?”
“Yeah. The department managed by that Prince Mores.”
Observing the conversation between the prince and Olivier, he was convinced.
He was definitely more adept at hiding his true feelings than himself. No ability an ordinary boy his age could easily possess.
“Olivier.”
Without taking his eyes off the receding prince, Domenico ordered.
“From now on, let’s investigate that prince a bit.”
* * *
“An apostle?”
At the old priest’s shock, Clemens nodded.
“Yes. They’re clearly saying that. That the youngest princess is the god’s apostle.”
“And the Orthodox Church acknowledged it?”
“Yes, so it seems.”
“Bethel…….”
The old priest rubbed his face with a troubled expression.
After their grand undertaking for the Great Harvest had gone up in smoke.
The two surviving brothers of the Sowing had been hiding in a logistics warehouse on Bertrand Street until now.
They had originally planned to rely on the Milo Merchant Company, which had ties to the church, but the bishop had firmly dissuaded them. With eyes increasingly watching the company lately, it wasn’t safe.
“Now of all times? What are they thinking?”
The old priest looked utterly confused. The content about [Apostles] was part of scriptures the Orthodox Church had long buried along with the underground church.
Otherwise, the saint known as Saint Bastian would originally have been called Apostle Bastian.
Of course, the two had no idea.
That the Holy Emperor, to more solidly back his daughter’s fabrication, had inevitably unearthed the concept while citing scriptures corner to corner to win the argument against the council’s picky old men.
In any case, Priest Clemens’s face was flushed with excitement.
“If they’ve acknowledged the [Apostle], then someday they’ll have no choice but to accept the underground church’s doctrines too, right? They won’t be able to brand us as the Dark Church anymore!”
It wasn’t unreasonable for him to make such hopeful predictions.
Originally, the underground church brothers considered the archbishops of the four sects as the god’s apostles.
According to their doctrines, Fervor, Sowing, Penance, and Repose were each different gods and at the same time one god. They explained them as other manifestations of the main god.
Thus, in the early reign of the Holy Emperor, the Orthodox Church had deleted most content about [Apostles] from the scriptures.
The easiest way to deny the underground church was to deny the existence of the apostles leading them.
“Maybe all this is Prince Mores’s doing? His preparations are finally showing visible results!”
“…Prince Mores?”
The old priest asked skeptically. It was because there had been circumstances suggesting that Hayes Priest opening the gate unexpectedly was actually on Prince Mores’s orders.
But the young, hot-blooded priest was thrilled for the first time in a long while.
“You know, brother, we mustn’t forget the archbishops’ prophecy.”
On the day Prince Mores was born, the four apostles of each church had unanimously blessed him.
-Rejoice! The baby is the [Prepared One] for the church’s glory!
-The underground church shall prosper again, freed from long oppression!
Clemens repeatedly emphasized to the reluctant old priest.
“The Prepared One is the one to whom the gods of the four sects simultaneously bestowed a great mission upon this land. Thus, Prince Mores is undoubtedly the main god’s apostle! The apostle of apostles, no?”
As he spoke in an excited voice.
“…Wait a moment. Let’s hear that story in more detail.”
Someone spoke from behind them.
“Bishop?”
The two priests jumped to their feet at once.
The bishop, who had apparently entered the warehouse unnoticed, slowly approached them from the shadows by the wall.
“What about Prince Mores? What do you mean prepared?”
“Yes, Bishop. As you know, the Prepared One is the main god’s apostle…….”
Answering thus, Priest Clemens suddenly stopped. Because the old priest grabbed his arm with a trembling hand.
“Brother Clemens.”
The old priest said in a highly tense voice.
“Since when has that man been our bishop?”
“…What?”
“How could a brother of [Sowing] not know about the Prepared One?”
At that, Clemens’s mind suddenly cleared, as if doused with cold water.
Come to think of it, years ago when they infiltrated Delcros per the church’s will, was the bishop with them then too?
Since when had they been reporting every detail of the heresy tribunal matters to the bishop?
‘Wait! Then the grand undertaking?’
Who first told them about that grand undertaking!
Since when had they been [Sowing] for the grand undertaking?
“…….”
Even facing the two priests’ eyes widening in terror and shock, the [Bishop] said nothing. Only the lips beneath the half-mask curved into a smile.
Clemens asked in a hoarse, cracked voice.
“…Who are you? Not a brother of Sowing? Since when have you been impersonating the bishop?”
“Indeed. What exactly was that grand undertaking you spoke of?”
“Hmm.”
The man in the half-mask, Romaine, clasped his hands behind his back and spoke in a somewhat deflated voice.
“For someone who’s lived as a brother of Sowing for quite a while, I thought I knew most things, but a sect passed down over a millennium isn’t so easily grasped.”
“…What?”
“Plus, the thing about Prince Mores really surprised me. I thought the Repose Church had done something to him, but to think it was all planned from his birth…….”
Shaking his head, Romaine took a step toward the priests. At the same time, the two recoiled.
[Calm down.]
At Romaine’s following command, they froze in place as if turned to ice.
[No need to fear. Brothers of Sowing. You still have quite useful words for me.]
A voice touching the depths of the soul, possessing some bizarre power.
Before they knew it, the two priests, with dazed expressions, were listening to Romaine.
[I am undoubtedly your brother. So tell me everything. Everything you know about Prince Mores.]
A strange yellow glow briefly passed through the faint brown eyes visible beyond the half-mask.
[What exactly is this Prepared One?]
* * *
*Achoo!*
Inside the carriage heading to the banquet hall, Amelia asked worriedly toward Seongjin, who suddenly sneezed violently.
“What’s wrong all of a sudden, Mores? Did you catch a cold?”
“No, it’s nothing. No way.”
Aura users rarely got sick. No way he’d catch a cold.
But contrary to that thought, Seongjin sneezed again.
“Achoo!”
Startled, Amelia carefully wrapped the shawl beside her around him and said,
“You must have overdone it with the banquet preparations lately. Go rest early tonight.”
Suddenly wrapped like a kimbap roll in the thick shawl, Seongjin sniffled awkwardly.
‘Weird. Is someone talking about me? I’ve had this uneasy feeling since earlier…….’
As Seongjin forced a smile toward Amelia.
One by one, thick raindrops began falling from the darkening sky.