Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: Mutation - 6
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‘……Should I stop thinking about it?’
The moment the thought surfaced in my mind again, it happened as if it had been waiting. At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder if the act of thinking itself was the cause.
In truth, it was easy enough to predict that Kaikilia would arrive much sooner than in the game.
Floretta’s arrival here meant Minerva had arrived too, and Minerva would naturally think of getting the Pope’s blessing to dispel the barrier on the bedroom.
She’d simply been too busy receiving Floretta’s blessing to consider it right away.
I turned my gaze. There was Kaikilia, dressed in her battle-ready suit from last time, and Minerva, in a bathrobe that exposed a good portion of her chest.
Kaikilia’s expression was rigidly hardened, while Minerva’s was subtly complex. It was the kind of look that couldn’t be brushed off as simply administering a blessing.
I tried at least to pull my hand away from her breast, but Floretta’s grip on my wrist didn’t budge an inch. If anything, she was drawing me even closer to her chest.
The empowered breast squished to the side. The side boob, pressed out from under her armpit, pressed against my upper arm.
“Is it that you don’t hear me, or are you pretending not to?”
Of course, Kaikilia couldn’t have missed this sight. Her voice came, distinctly colder than before. If I left things like this, something was bound to explode, so I squirmed my arm.
Floretta, who had been kissing me with her eyes closed and letting out lewd moans while tangling our tongues, slowly opened her eyes at the shift in atmosphere and untangled her tongue. A silver thread stretched between our lips.
Floretta broke it with her finger and sucked it back into her mouth. A benevolent smile, one she’d shown countless times before, spread across her face. The legs that had been firmly holding me released.
“Emperor of the Empire, it’s been a while.”
And just like that, Floretta casually greeted Kaikilia, as if nothing had happened.
“A while, you say.”
Kaikilia scoffed, as expected.
The holy sword was planted vertically in the hallway right beside her, and her golden-glowing eyes held a far more murderous glint than usual, much like the sword itself.
“Recall what you were doing in the imperial palace. No—recall it and say it with your own mouth. What were you doing in the imperial palace?”
“The answer is already decided. Was I not bestowing a blessing upon a guest of the Holy Kingdom?”
But Floretta calmly brushed off the killing intent. Not just brushing it off—she treated it as if it were utterly inconsequential.
“A blessing? Did you just say blessing?”
Her excuse didn’t seem to land at all. I’d have reacted the same way. A deep kiss with tongues intertwined and kneading the breast like squeezing—what part of that was a blessing—
“Since when has a blessing involved allowing an outsider man to touch one’s breasts while administering it? Are you daring to mock me?”
‘Ah.’
From the way Kaikilia singled out only the breast-kneading as the issue, it seemed she’d accepted the kiss itself as part of the blessing and moved past it.
That made sense. The knights of the Silver Dawn Order and even Minerva had calmly accepted kisses from the Popes right in front of them as blessings.
It wouldn’t be strange at all if Kaikilia’s perception had shifted on that front too.
‘Wait, so she overlooked the kiss as a blessing but tripped over the breast touching... that means……’
I turned to Floretta with eyes that said I’d realized something. No way, right?
“You seem to be under a great misunderstanding, Emperor of the Empire.”
Her soft, serene voice rang out again.
“First, the guest is no outsider. Even at the lowest estimate, he is a man right below our Popes—or perhaps equally important. Second, it is an undeniable fact that for a greater blessing, the blessers must touch each other more. To fulfill that condition, what else is there on a woman besides her breasts?”
With that, Floretta slightly lifted her breast from below.
The heavy mass of fat rose briefly upward, then, as her hand fell away, it swung downward with gravity, bouncing elastically.
“You made him knead your breast to bestow a greater blessing? You lie without batting an eye.”
“How dare I lie in the name of God? If you cannot trust me, ask the Pope of the Moon.”
“Aren’t all you Popes in the same boat? A thoroughly meaningless question. Moreover, for a greater blessing, simply embracing would suffice. Out of all those many body parts, you deliberately chose the breast—that must be due to your own desires.”
“There’s the buttocks, which serves the same function as breasts on a woman…… But since mine are similar in size, offering the easier one to touch is mere consideration, no?”
Why was she casually comparing her own breast and butt sizes like that?
I struggled to keep my expression neutral. Her first impression definitely hadn’t been like this. She must have just been hiding her true nature. I hoped it wasn’t because of me that she’d turned out this way.
“Is the Pope of the Sun not content with coveting others’ possessions but now recklessly offering her own body too? How utterly repulsive and pathetic. Perhaps you have talent in that area as well. Why not try putting it to use now?”
Kaikilia sneered. The remark was shocking enough to make me doubt my ears.
Not only had she called her a wench, but she’d hurled a sexual insult and even dragged her faith into it. It was clearly teetering on the edge—or crossing it outright.
Even I, who knew little of political customs, felt that way—what must Floretta have thought?
“…….”
But contrary to my expectations, Floretta wore an utterly serene expression. Even though she had every justification to take offense.
“You are right.”
An unexpected response slipped from her vermilion lips.
“Since I have offered this body for the guest, what is normal between man and woman might seem promiscuous in the eyes of others when done by a Pope.”
“What?”
Even Kaikilia, who had thrown the jab, looked slightly surprised, as if she hadn’t anticipated that reaction. Minerva, watching the exchange from behind, was the same.
But Kaikilia’s expression soured completely at the words that followed.
“Emperor of the Empire, I envy you. You still preserve that pure body of yours, do you not? A body that knows no man, pristine like a blank canvas, kept untainted by anyone for life. I envy that purity.”
The final words, delivered with her usual benevolent smile, drove the wedge in.
“The Popes of the Sun and Moon are no longer pure bodies.”
“…….”
No longer pure. The implication of saying that in this place was all too clear.
Kaikilia’s golden eyes and Minerva’s silver eyes turned to me simultaneously. From the context, I was undoubtedly the one who had taken the Popes’ purity. I couldn’t deny it.
Floretta’s words didn’t end there.
“How enviable to remain a pure woman still. Surely the Sun and Moon are pleased with your actions.”
That was the decisive blow. Kaikilia’s eyes widened. Minerva looked intrigued as before, but Kaikilia was different.
Even if the words sounded like praise on the surface, the underlying meaning was entirely otherwise. To put it bluntly, ‘What were you doing while I was sleeping with him?’ And it was true.
I never imagined Floretta would go that far. As expected of a Pope.
“Emperor of the Empire, I am not trying to steal the guest from you.”
Floretta spoke again to Kaikilia, who was trembling with fists clenched, seemingly at a loss for rebuttal.
“I merely wish to ask that we all become the guest’s together.”
‘……What?’
This time, even I was shocked. Kaikilia shared the sentiment, grinding her teeth as she muttered lowly.
“What did you just say you were doing.”
“You may not know, but the guest is more than we Popes alone can handle. That is why I make this request, Emperor of the Empire.”
Though her words about not being able to handle him were literal, coming from the Popes, they carried a slightly different connotation.
No way she meant it that way, right.
“The guest has achieved feats in the Holy Kingdom beyond imagination. The Sun and Moon bestowed blessings personally, and he heard their voices through prayer. He is the one who found this holy relic as well.”
Three pairs of eyes briefly converged on the staff beside Floretta.
It was the weapon mocked as a flashlight yet praised for its flawless design—and now that its performance limits were overcome, it was unmistakably a holy relic no matter how you looked at it.
She was saying I’d found it, that a non-Pope had heard the Sun and Moon’s voices, and even received their direct blessings.
Feats that warranted immediate veneration in the Holy Kingdom on their own—and I’d accomplished them all single-handedly. Even Kaikilia’s face showed surprise.
Minerva, on the other hand, looked as if she’d expected as much. Finding the crystal scroll must have played a huge role.
“How could we dare monopolize such an exalted one?”
With that, silence fell over the hallway.
Floretta shut her mouth after finishing, and Minerva stared at me with eyes brimming with interest and curiosity.
Kaikilia did the same. Her golden pupils pierced straight through me. A chill ran down my spine. No matter how many times we met, those eyes never grew familiar.
“Come here.”
Her gritted-teeth voice rang out.
“……Yes, Your Majesty?”
“I said come here.”
I approached Kaikilia. I didn’t know what she was thinking, but with Floretta and Minerva here, it should be fine.
The sharply tailored suit caught my eye first. The white dress shirt faintly revealing the black lingerie beneath, the ankle-length suit coat, the form-fitting suit pants.
Kaikilia was already tall, and in that outfit, her proportions were staggering.
“…….”
Kaikilia glared at me coldly, then suddenly grabbed my collar and yanked me right up to her face. My center of gravity shifted, closing the distance instantly.
“I am not like your Popes.”
Her golden eyes flicked behind me—to where Floretta stood.
“I shall handle this man alone, so watch closely.”
And then, our lips met.