Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: The Holy Kingdom's Opening (3)
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Who was Teringsha?
In truth, Hepiriya didn't know him all that well.
She only knew from her background checks that he had committed various crimes.
He had been around since the time of the previous Saintess, Luciana, but had never risen to the rank of cardinal.
She didn't even know if that was by his own choice or the Pope's.
Because of that, Hepiriya couldn't help but harbor negative feelings toward him.
She knew she should look upon him without prejudice as a Saintess, but in the end, she was only human.
She began to ask, not as the Saintess, but as Hepiriya herself.
"To start with, why on earth did you commit those acts?"
"Which acts exactly?"
"You know what I mean."
She waited without spelling it out first.
Teringsha let out a scoffing laugh, as if it was absurd.
"You've really gotten brazen. The little bird who used to trail after Lucy has grown into an eagle."
"...Stop dodging the question."
Hepiriya sighed and sat down on the chair the guard had brought.
At that, he straightened up as if he'd been waiting, adopting a serious demeanor.
"You asked why I did it? The reason's nothing special. If I just say 'because I wanted to,' will you understand?"
"Not at all. Everything has a reason."
She shook her head, and he laughed as if he'd expected that.
"The Goddess bestows unconditional love upon us. Can you find a reason for that?"
"Humans aren't gods. Sigh... If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."
She racked her brain, recalling various pieces of information for her next question.
As she pondered, Teringsha spoke up.
"It started with something very small. Sneaking an item out of the warehouse."
Hepiriya looked up at his words, having been lost in thought.
Teringsha, meanwhile, kept his head bowed, staring at the floor.
He looked almost like he was reminiscing about the past, which made her expression subtly shift.
"It really was nothing. Just an item that had been flagged for retention."
His voice grew strangely earnest, leaving her dumbfounded.
What had he felt from those deeds then, and what was he feeling now?
Her tone sharpened without her realizing it.
"...Didn't you say you had a heavy tongue?"
"Why? Should I stop?"
"No. Keep going."
In the end, it was she who surrendered.
She shook her head in a gesture promising not to interrupt, and Teringsha continued in an even more affectionate tone.
"At first, I was scared and terrified. Me, an archbishop, doing such a thing! I thought the Goddess wouldn't forgive me."
"But you didn't stop there."
"Right. Then, during prayer, I had a realization."
What Teringsha had realized was something trivial if trivial, or profound if profound.
At the time, he was tormented by guilt.
It was a decision he'd made himself, but he hadn't expected to actually go through with it.
He was shocked by his own audacity, shocked again when he actually held it in his hands.
And thirdly, shocked that all he'd taken was an imperial pocket watch.
"It was one of the luxury goods made with the Empire's alchemy at the time. Well, it's even more advanced now."
The archbishop confessed his sin to the Goddess and begged forgiveness.
The Goddess did not answer his prayer.
Normally, he would have thought it impossible to sense even a trace without being a Saintess-level figure.
But at that moment, he was in a weakened state, both mentally and physically.
His thinking wasn't clear, and that led to an unexpected outcome.
"I thought, the Goddess's silence must have a reason!"
"Twisting the Goddess's will to suit your—"
"Twisting? No, not at all! If she wanted to stop me, she wouldn't have stayed silent!"
Hepiriya swallowed a sigh as she watched him spread his arms wide in excitement.
The Goddess couldn't respond to everyone, and even an archbishop was no exception.
She didn't know why responses couldn't be given—not even as the Saintess—but regardless, his thinking was wrong.
She had come here only to learn why he had committed those acts and what exactly he had done.
Her rebellion—no, now it could be called a revolution—was nearly complete.
All that remained was convincing the people of the Holy Kingdom.
That was why she was here.
"Whew, anyway, after that, my actions grew bolder by the day."
As Hepiriya said nothing, the somewhat calmed Teringsha began confessing his sins on his own.
Starting with smuggling imperial goods as before, he brought in illegal herbs and drugs.
It didn't end there; he even dipped into the Holy Kingdom's budget.
He siphoned funds and forged documents to cover it up, among other things.
"Of course, I wasn't the only one. Others were already doing it before me."
"Sigh, it's impressive how you say that with pride."
Hepiriya's head was starting to ache.
Teringsha, on the other hand, burst into hearty laughter—whether at her reaction or his own situation, she couldn't tell.
"Still, I'm tame compared to the others. You know that from what you've seen, right?"
"I haven't seen everything yet. Anyway, get to the point."
"Just a bit longer. When else would I get to talk like this?"
Teringsha shrugged and made his brazen demand.
Unable to hold back her sigh, she gave a small nod.
"Make it quick."
"Got it. Then, let's talk about recent events."
It was while he was depleting the Holy Kingdom's coffers through various schemes.
He came across a book by Prometheus, the author who had appeared like a divine revelation from the Empire.
"I was truly shocked when I first read it. Human imagination always surpasses expectations."
"So you've read it too."
"Yes. I even read it after it was banned as forbidden literature. And recently, reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde brought another realization."
Before Hepiriya could react to his words, Teringsha's expression turned strange.
It was a mix of relief, sadness, joy, and regret.
"The Goddess has set our sins. At the same time, we define our own sins. That novel made me realize—perhaps we're all trapped in shackles we've forged ourselves."
That was why he could decide.
From now on, his actions would be sincere, his decisions free of regret.
Of course, he was prepared for death as well.
That was why he'd deliberately let the Saintess strike him down.
"No regrets. Though a few are creeping in now."
"...I get all your rambling."
Hepiriya sighed after hearing everything.
In the end, it meant he didn't consider his crimes as crimes.
Even if he did, he was saying he didn't care.
Teringsha smiled at the Saintess.
"You must be under a lot of stress lately. You used to be so poised and gentle, but now you're this sharp."
"You know you're one of the culprits, right?"
"Haha, true enough."
Hepiriya sighed, Teringsha laughed.
The guard standing a little distance away watched with a subtle expression.
After a moment, Teringsha spoke.
"You asked why? It was just for pleasure. In this boring place, it was the only way to endure."
So bold, so shameless.
In Hepiriya's judgment, he was utterly clueless about his own guilt.
There was no need to invoke the Goddess's words.
No decent human could commit such acts and speak like this.
That was her conclusion, as both Saintess and Hepiriya.
She glared at him with a colder face than before.
"That's just you not feeling any pangs of conscience."
"No. It's just a different way of thinking."
"Ha! Shameless to the end."
There was no point in further conversation.
She had heard all his misdeeds and his motives.
Now, how she framed it would decide his fate.
"I'll be going now. You won't see the outside world for a while."
"Do as you like. I didn't say anything important anyway."
He shrugged confidently.
At that, Hepiriya recalled the documents found in his mansion.
Would this work?
"Dungeon. We found it in the bookshelf in your mansion's study."
"...What? That—no. Never mind, don't worry about it."
His reaction was odd.
Teringsha was greatly startled by the word "dungeon" but quickly composed himself.
As if his crime had been exposed and he was pretending otherwise.
Hepiriya was now certain something was there.
She didn't know what, but it was clearly something that troubled him.
"We'll investigate it later. Goodbye."
"...Yeah, come visit sometime."
"I'll think about it."
Hepiriya gave a brief nod and left the prison.
Teringsha fell deep into thought as he listened to her departing footsteps.
"They found the dungeon. But I hid it well—found it in the bookshelf, huh."
He thought of his accomplice.
A handsome young man with blond hair and blue eyes, who had vanished at some point.
He'd assumed he'd just fled or lost interest.
"Maybe. No, just idle speculation."
Dismissing it as needless worry, Teringsha lay down on the simple bed.
He closed his eyes and sought quiet sleep.
It was the greatest luxury available in prison.
Once out of the underground prison, Hepiriya contemplated her next steps.
She had obtained everything she needed.
From his deeds to his motives.
But how to weave it all together—that was the issue.
"Should I ask the aide?"
If she couldn't figure it out alone, she could put heads together.
Back in her office, the Saintess held a meeting with her aide and several others.
On the day the finalized statement was announced.
"Everyone. The lives we've lived until now have been false."
Sedition always mixes lies with truth.
This time, it contained only clear facts, so the Saintess's role was simple.
To add a dash of falsehood as seasoning and appeal to the heart.
But Hepiriya did not do that.
"I will set the Holy Kingdom right."
"Waaah!"
The Saintess was the proxy who conveyed the Goddess's words.
The truthful statement was enough to capture people's hearts.
Of course, there were no small number of doubting voices.
After all, from the moment she used force, they questioned if her intentions were truly righteous.
Yet her usual eloquence, which comforted people's hearts, shone through.
It even made the doubters nod along for now.
"So please believe in me. I will carry out the Goddess's will."
Come what may, she was the Saintess.