I will give you a reward.
I will give you a reward.
As the dance with Elisia came to an end and the banquet was in full swing, an old man wearing black clerical robes stood before us.
The old man bowed politely before us.
"I greet the Saint-nim and Adjutant Rhea Valentia-nim."
Since Elisia still refused to acknowledge greetings, I stepped forward to respond.
Just who was this old man?
I had never seen him before.
"What is the matter?"
When I asked, the old man lifted his head and replied.
However, the answer that came from the gentle-looking old man's mouth was completely unexpected.
"Her Holiness the Pope wishes to see Adjutant Rhea-nim."
The Pope, who hadn't shown so much as a shadow of her nose at the banquet, was calling for me.
Letting out a dry, incredulous chuckle, I looked over at the empty seat of the Pope.
It seemed she had no intention of showing up at the banquet hall from the very beginning.
I couldn't refuse this.
For my sake, and for Elisia's sake as well.
"Where is Her Holiness?"
"She is waiting in the secret reception room of the annex."
"Let us go."
I tried to follow the old man, but couldn't take a single step.
Because Elisia wouldn't let me go.
For some reason, she held on tight and refused to let go.
"Saint-nim."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I hate it."
While speaking boldly, Elisia was completely cowering.
As expected, she reacted strongly to the keyword 'Pope'.
This was all the more reason I had to go meet her.
She seemed to be an enemy, but I needed to at least verify it.
"If she has something to say, tell her to come here."
"Her Holiness the Pope said she wishes to speak with the adjutant in private."
At the old man's response, Elisia's grip tightened immensely.
Udeudeuk.
Thanks to that, my fingers screamed inside Elisia's grasp.
Actually, they snapped, so it wasn't a scream but a death rattle.
Good thing they immediately mended back together.
"It hurts."
"I feel awful."
"That doesn't mean you should crush my hand."
"Let's go together."
Elisia requested.
It sounded as if she was speaking to me, but in reality, it was an ultimatum directed at the old man.
A look of trouble appeared on the old man's face.
He surely knew well that no one could stop an Elisia like this.
"I apologize, but Her Holiness the Pope only requested Adjutant Rhea-nim..."
"Then Rhea isn't going either."
"It is a matter decided by Her Holiness the Pope. It is not something the Saint-nim may dare interfere in."
At the old man's words, her blue eyes rippled with rage.
"She's my adjutant, though?"
"Yes."
At this rate, I could envision a future where Elisia tore down the banquet hall.
So I stepped in.
I stood as if blocking the space between Elisia and the old man.
Then, with my free hand, I gently cupped Elisia's chin and made her look at me.
"Wait obediently."
"I don't want to."
"I'll be right back."
"How can I believe those words?"
"Where on earth would I run away leaving Saint-nim behind? If you wait obediently until I return, I will give you a reward."
"How dare someone like you offer me a reward?"
"Yes."
Elisia's eyes wavered.
I chuckled softly.
This was why I had no choice but to stay by Elisia's side.
"You may look forward to it."
"Ha. From someone like you?"
"Then please don't worry."
"I wasn't worried."
"Yes."
"I really wasn't."
"Understood."
Accepting it so readily seemed to displease her even more.
Elisia's red lips twisted.
Even so, the hand tightly clutching me loosened.
"How long will it take?"
"It depends on what Her Holiness the Pope has to say."
"Ten minutes."
"That is too short."
"Five minutes."
"Why is it decreasing?"
"If you're later than five minutes, I'm coming to find you."
It felt like it would take longer than that, but I agreed for now.
Having received something akin to permission, I followed the old man who had already turned around.
And then I lightly waved my hand at Elisia, who was looking at me with a sullen pout.
As if even that displeased her, Elisia stomped her foot, slightly cracking the marble floor beneath her.
'What on earth should I give her?'
Of course, the reward I promised to give Elisia was a blank check.
I came up with it on the spot, so there was no way I had prepared anything, right?
Who am I?
The adjutant pulling a scam on the Saint.
Please, let me just keep my life.
.
.
.
The secret reception room was located deep inside the annex.
The moment I stood before the door, I could feel it.
Beyond this, the entire space was shielded by powerful divine power across every wall and door.
When I stood still, reluctant to even enter, the old man nonchalantly opened the thick door.
"Your Holiness the Pope. I have brought Adjutant Rhea Valentia-nim."
"Please come in."
A soft female voice echoed out.
I entered the reception room alone through the door the old man held open.
As soon as I stepped inside, the door closed, completely severing the room from the outside.
Inside the reception room sat a woman.
Pure white hair.
Eyes curved downward in benevolent warmth.
A gentle smile gracing a face far too beautiful for her age.
The pinnacle of the religious order.
Pope Adelheit.
Having lived for centuries, she was an apostle of God and the leader of the order who still maintained her youth.
And the pinnacle of the order who ruined Elisia, as well as the suspected ultimate mastermind who successfully foiled my route with poison.
"I greet Your Holiness the Pope."
I bowed formally to this uncanny figure.
The Pope actually rose from her seat to greet me.
"I apologize for keeping you waiting for so long."
"Did I wait?"
"Because the Pope is a position that must see and hear many things, you see."
It was an ambiguous answer.
The Pope soon pulled out the chair opposite her own with her own hands.
It was an excessively polite gesture for the supreme authority of the order to extend to a mere adjutant.
It was so excessive that it felt downright burdensome.
"Please sit."
"May I ask why you are treating me with such courtesy?"
"Having invited a precious guest, this level of courtesy is only natural."
Me, a precious guest.
Was she speaking in a roundabout way to say she was wary of me?
For now, I sat on the chair she pulled out while watching every single one of the Pope's movements.
When I sat down quietly, the Pope personally poured tea into my cup.
Golden tea filled the inside of the cup.
"There is no poison in it."
"Did I look like I was thinking that?"
"I thought you might be anxious."
The Pope said so and smiled gently.
She even went as far as taking a sip of the tea first herself.
The more I watched her, the less I understood why she was acting this way.
Just what was Rhea that she would go this far?
Regardless of my confusion, the Pope began to speak.
"It appears you are coming to resemble the Saint-nim."
"To handle her, I have to become similar, so it is an unavoidable phenomenon."
"Handle, is it."
The Pope slowly rolled that word around in her mouth.
"As expected, you truly can handle that child. I am relieved."
"Was it Your Holiness's will that I became the Saint-nim's adjutant?"
"Who can say."
'Who can say', she says.
If you didn't do it, who the hell did?
Since I was having a private audience with the Pope anyway, I pushed forward aggressively.
"There is no record of my appointment left behind."
"Even the record-keeping procedures of the order are not entirely perfect."
"Are they so lax that even the death of an archbishop isn't recorded?"
Even at my sarcasm, the Pope was unfazed.
She merely added sugar to her teacup and stirred it, maintaining her benevolent smile.
Tok, tok.
Setting down the spoon she had been stirring the teacup with, she met my eyes.
"You get straight to the point."
"I do not have much time."
"That child must rely on you a great deal."
"She said she would come find me if I didn't return within five minutes, you see."
The Pope covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled softly.
"She is still a cute child."
"If she were cute twice, there wouldn't be anything left of me."
"You are probably the only person who can speak about that child like that."
There was a strange sense of relief laced in the Pope's voice.
Why?
Because someone who could control Elisia had appeared?
Is she not the mastermind?
The Pope's attitude left my head so confused that I even started wishing I hadn't met her in the first place.
If she sent me solely to control Elisia, then not punishing me made sense as well.
Because there was no one else who could handle Elisia as well as I could.
"I killed him with my own hands."
"I know. Cleaning up after it took a bit of effort."
"Why is there no punishment whatsoever?"
"Do you wish to be punished?"
"I wish to ask why you cleaned it up for my sake."
The Pope lifted her teacup and took a sip.
Her gaze remained fixed on me the entire time.
In those eyes lay only a benevolent smile, devoid of any other emotion.
Rather, she even appeared at peace, like someone witnessing something they had long wished for finally come to pass.
"When tending a garden, one must occasionally prune rotten branches."
"Was Bertion a rotten branch?"
"Even I do not know that. However, it seems the master of the garden judged it to be rotten."
The Pope set down her teacup.
"The gardener merely follows the master of the garden's command."
I mean, the master of the garden is you.
She really has a damn annoying way of speaking.
I was on the verge of getting pissed off by the Pope's brow-furrowing way of speaking.
Because it sounded as if it wasn't by her own will.
After saying that, the Pope said nothing more.
She simply sipped her tea comfortably and merely looked at me.
Finding the Pope's gaze incredibly uncomfortable, I stood up from my seat first.
"It seems you have nothing more to discuss with me?"
"Are you leaving already?"
"I must go before the Saint-nim truly comes looking for me."
"You cherish that child a great deal."
"Yes."
"I see."
The Pope stood up from her seat as well.
And following me directly to the door, she opened it herself.
"Precious One-isiyeo."
Why is she calling me a precious one?
It feels like everything has a hidden motive, making it terribly suspicious.
Isn't there a saying?
The bastard who keeps grinning all the time is the culprit.
"Please take good care of that child."
"Those words are strange."
"What do you mean?"
"You sound as if you were the one who entrusted the Saint-nim to me. Did Your Holiness the Pope appoint me as the adjutant?"
The Pope's smile deepened slightly.
"It must be a coincidence."
A 100% lie.
I had no concrete proof, but at the very least, her last words were a lie.
Instead of answering, I exited through the open door.
At that moment, with a sarak, the sound of robes rustling came from behind me.
When I turned around, the Pope was bowing deeply at the waist.
This was not the kind of courtesy the Pope of all people should show to a mere adjutant of the Saint.
She probably wouldn't bow her head that deeply even before the Emperor.
Yet why on earth was she showing that level of courtesy to me?
"What is the meaning of this?"
"It is merely the courtesy of seeing off a precious guest."
The Pope replied naturally and closed the door.
It was way too strange.
However, there was far too little information I could glean.
I came to gain some sort of certainty, but things had only become more confusing.
I couldn't even tell whether the Pope was the mastermind or not.
.
.
.
"Saint-nim?"
I found Elisia before I had even stepped into the banquet hall.
Because she was leaning against the wall of the corridor between the banquet hall and the annex.
When I called Elisia, her silvery-white hair fluttered long down the hallway.
She hadn't even dashed from the distant wall, yet in a single instant, she arrived right in front of me.
"You're late."
"Not even ten minutes have passed."
"I told you five minutes."
"That was a time Saint-nim set unilaterally."
Elisia yanked my collar.
My stumbling body was pulled into her embrace.
My body was pressed flush against the soft chest wrapped in a silvery-white dress.
Her blue eyes quickly scanned all over my body.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking."
"Checking what?"
"Whether that thing laid a hand on you."
"We only talked."
"Really?"
"Yes."
As if satisfied with my answer, Elisia didn't press any further and pulled my hand.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"The banquet hall."
"I shall obey your command."
While returning to the banquet hall with me, Elisia casually tossed out along the way:
"Ah, I'm looking forward to that reward."
"Pardon?"
"Just try disappointing me. I'll punish you for as much as you were late."
I'm fucked.