The Holy Kingdom's Invitation (2)
Leaving the brothers' office, I tilted my head.
No matter how hard I thought about it, I simply could not understand.
That I had supposedly trained those guys.
"I didn't really do anything special."
"No, Lady Olivia. When an ordinary person goes through that much hell, not changing would be the strange part."
Just that much? I hadn't changed at all.
Those idiots were the weird ones. How pathetic did their bodies have to be for something that trivial to transform them?
Still, if it had actually helped them, I supposed it wasn't a complete waste.
"Is that so? I just took it for granted."
"That's because you are the strange one, Lady Olivia."
Me? Strange?
"Don't treat a perfectly normal person like some freak."
Looking down on normal people as if they were idiots wasn't a healthy habit either. Celia was going to need some serious correction one of these days.
"Anyway... what kind of person is this William?"
"Ugh, I have to go see that bastard. Great."
What a pain. Meeting him was honestly worse than dying.
I stomped forward, each step loud against the floor.
There was no helping how annoying this was. If I weren't an Ashtar, I could have just refused to go at all.
"Is he really that bad?"
"Don't even start. One conversation with that piece of trash drains the life right out of you. He's just... one of those people who suck the soul out of everyone around them."
"Is he ugly or something?"
"No. Among the men I know, he's actually the best-looking."
Anyway, I had already agreed to meet him once.
But when I reached his door, voices drifted out from inside.
"Will the acting head of House Ashtar even listen to our request?"
"Who knows. Whether she does or doesn't, it won't be a problem. But Ashtar isn't stupid. If they want good relations with us, they'll have to send the Saint."
Oh-ho. Mocking House Ashtar, were they?
As Olivia, I really ought to say something about that.
I clapped my hands together and pushed the door open, wearing the most mocking smile I could manage.
"Wow. You figured that out all by yourselves? Truly impressive people."
"Pffft—!"
William actually choked on his own spit. What a delightful sight.
Good. Decision made. Shaking up the Holy Kingdom a little would be excellent. Strengthening diplomacy while thoroughly humiliating this William bastard at the same time? Perfect opportunity.
"Well, fine. Since you were looking for me, I suppose I should grace you with my presence."
I said it as if I were doing them a favor.
"S-Saintess...?"
"Yes. Just as you wished, the Saint has arrived. Is there a problem?"
William looked me up and down, slowly.
That gaze was thoroughly disgusting.
Hmm. Now that I looked closely...
"I had heard the Ashtar bloodline produces exceptional beauty. It seems the rumors were true."
Ah. Now I understood why this bastard was staring so hard at my face.
He had fallen for me. Ever since I became like this, I had developed a knack for reading people.
He definitely liked me. That lecherous look in his eyes was unmistakable.
Honestly, it was only natural that men would stare when they saw Olivia's body. I couldn't exactly punch every single one of them for it.
"I already know I'm pretty, so spare me the empty flattery. Anyway, I heard His Holiness the Pope wishes to see me, so I figured I should at least go once."
"Hmm. Are you aware that I am the Pope's grandson?"
He cleared his throat and became the living embodiment of an unbearable person, puffed up with self-importance.
Looking at him swagger around like that, I genuinely had no idea what he expected me to do.
His face was fine enough, but the man himself was so thoroughly unlikable that even that kind of stare just pissed me off.
"You call that a compliment and then act offended?"
"If you know that much..."
I had no idea what he was talking about, so I waved a hand dismissively.
There was zero reason for me to hold back here.
My older brothers would cover for me no matter what I did. I could feel it. The Olivia inside me was saying the same thing.
"I think you're laboring under some serious misconceptions, and it's making this awkward."
"Excuse me?"
"You're the Pope's grandson. You're not the Pope."
"!!"
There it was. This bastard's lust for power was enormous.
A single remark like that made his face flush red with agitation.
For a tiny little Holy Kingdom. If they weren't a religious state, the Empire would have smacked them around ages ago.
The only reason they still existed was because they were the headquarters of the Goddess Church.
"Besides, I am an Ashtar. There's nothing I don't know. I can see the Holy Kingdom's situation perfectly clearly. Why on earth should I try to get on your good side?"
This one I could mock as much as I wanted.
"Are you not a noble young lady?"
"There's noble and then there's noble. I have no reason to curry favor with Holy Kingdom envoys who came looking for House Ashtar with ulterior motives."
Judging by his face, he was thoroughly pissed off.
But honestly, I was right.
I was Olivia. The young lady of the Empire's greatest house.
"If you continue like this, His Holiness may refuse to see you."
"I doubt that. The Pope isn't that kind of man."
From what I knew, that man had something in common with the Emperor: he was rather harsh toward his own blood.
Honestly, even I wouldn't find a grandson who was plotting behind my back particularly adorable. At least on the Emperor's side, the princes and princesses had no intention of stabbing him in the back.
Who would want to backstab an insane emperor who walked around naked in his own house? Especially when they already knew that parliament handled all the actual politics and the Emperor's power was essentially useless.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You, his grandson, should know better than anyone. Don't you?"
You, who are aiming for the papal throne, should know best of all.
"Ha... haha. How remarkable."
He twitched an eyebrow but answered with forced nonchalance.
The Holy Kingdom had already lost its original identity.
I could overlook the vicious torture a hundred times if I chalked it up to them desperately trying to force someone into the role of Saint—call it the problem of a few rotten individuals. But looking at this bastard alone made it clear: the Holy Kingdom was nothing more than a monarchy with a different name.
Just a nation no one invaded and that never invaded anyone else, solely because it was the headquarters of the Goddess Church.
Which meant that for the Holy Kingdom to turn around and call us rootless was pure nonsense.
"Remarkable? Hardly. So am I supposed to accompany the Holy Kingdom's envoys?"
"Ah. Yes. It seems that will be the case."
"Then I'll need to bring an escort."
Surely they weren't planning to handle that themselves?
As if. What possible reason would I have to trust them enough to follow along?
"Our Holy Kingdom knights will provide the escort."
"Oh, please. As if I could trust that."
I grinned and shook my head.
These were people I truly, fundamentally could not trust.
"Now look here, Saintess! That is far too rude! Are you saying you cannot trust the knights of the Holy Kingdom?"
The knight beside William barked in outrage.
Well, of course he would. My words just now were essentially an attack on the Holy Kingdom itself.
And when it came from a princess of House Ashtar, the Holy Kingdom couldn't simply ignore it.
"During the last expedition, the ones who looked down on me as 'just the Empire's Saint' were your knights."
"Ahem... that is... unfortunate."
The way he casually turned his head away was genuinely irritating.
Why did knights always pull that 'if it's not convenient, it never happened' nonsense?
And William, who had already insulted me once, was still busily looking me up and down.
"Anyway, to be perfectly honest, I'm simply going to bring the Mage Corps as my escort."
"If you insist... then do as you please."
William twisted his face into the ugliest expression he could manage and let out a long, theatrical sigh.
I was going to have to finish off William's schemes for good.
After thoroughly tearing him down, I left his room.
With the Mage Corps accompanying the envoys, the road to the Holy Kingdom would at least be secure.
"Um, Lady Olivia. Couldn't you just handle it alone? If something happens, you could deal with the incident and then use that as leverage to crush them."
Celia offered a decent suggestion.
True enough.
"I'm an Ashtar first. I can't give that William bastard even the tiniest opening."
I had thought of the same thing. But I had my pride.
The person I actually wanted to meet was the Pope, not William.
"What?"
"Honestly, you sounded like a total princess just now."
"I am pretty, aren't I?"
To put it bluntly, I was ridiculously beautiful.
"Ah. You've been like this since you were Lord Noah."
"'Since Lord Noah'? You're being awfully harsh. I was just stating the obvious."
My personality had always been like this.
If I tried to act humble, people would just insult me. That was simply who I was.
It had always been the same. Even in the Ruined Land, if I downplayed my skill people would accuse me of looking down on them. And with looks like these now, the answer was obvious, wasn't it?
So of course I was like this.
"Even back when you were Lord Noah, you'd say 'of course I'm good at magic' like it was nothing. And now you're calling yourself pretty out loud. Your princess complex has gotten completely out of hand."
"Is that a bad thing?"
We had had this conversation several times already.
I leaned in close, right into her face.
She said she liked me, so let's see how long she could last.
When I stared straight at her, Celia looked like something inside her was about to explode—then she jerked backward.
Honestly. She couldn't even hold out.
"It's not that... You really are beautiful. Ugh. I genuinely love you, but at the same time the jealousy just wells up."
"You're very beautiful too. Don't put yourself below me."
"See? This is why I can never hate you. Let's share a blanket tonight."
"Pass."
"But William's eyes were seriously filthy. What if he tries to force himself on you, Lady Olivia?"
That bastard forcing himself on me? Impossible.
His gaze was definitely disgusting, but he was still a man who could think. He would try to seduce me or use me instead.
My looks would just be a bonus he wanted to claim along the way.
In short, he was going to try every trick he could think of to win me over.
"He won't force anything. He thinks too highly of himself for that. Besides, he's after something else through me."
"Wait... is that why you were so harsh with him, Lady Olivia?"
Well, the fact that he was an unbearable bastard was the biggest reason, but yes—he intended to use me to get something far more important.
"Yeah. That moron is probably planning to use me to build a power base in the Empire and go after the papal throne."
"What is this, a monarchy?"
Celia shook her head with an incredulous look.
It wasn't a monarchy, but the Holy Kingdom might as well have been one at this point.
Unfortunately, that was the reality of its current state.
"That's how it is. The Pope is a king, and the high priests and clergy under him are basically bureaucrats. Even the knights—who originally came from noble families—are recruited from just anyone over there. Some of them are treated like private soldiers."
That was true enough.
"Now that you mention it..."
"In the past they received military power from the kingdom, but after the Demon King appeared, the kingdom's knights pulled out. That gave them the perfect excuse to build their forces this way."
Long ago, the Holy Kingdom had received its military strength from the kingdom.
That was the origin of the Holy Knights.