Chapter 244
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 244
“Aaaah!”
“Saintess! Saintess, have you been poisoned?!”
“She’s vomiting blood from every orifice now!”
“Count Lyon! Count! Imperial Physician! The Count has fainted!”
“Marchioness Atran has collapsed as well!”
The horrific sight caused nobles to swoon left and right. Corico’s state was so shocking that it was impossible to remain composed.
Earlier, she had only been spitting up blood from her mouth, but now it was different.
Eyes, nose, ears, mouth—blood gushed from every opening in her body.
“Corico!”
Grandfather, horrified, kicked the High Priest aside and gathered the bleeding Corico into his arms.
My heart twinged slightly.
It wasn’t because Grandfather cherished Corico. It was because the person he considered his ‘sore thumb’—the girl he believed to be the flesh and blood of his daughter, Hyacinthia—was a fake.
How shocked would Grandfather be when he learned the truth? How heartbroken would he be?
The Emperor, for his part, was so enraged his eyes seemed to flip. He roared, “High Priest! What in the world is the meaning of this?!”
“I-I don’t know why this is…”
The High Priest’s hands trembled violently. He, too, seemed completely lost.
Beneath my long sleeves, I spread my ten fingers wide and then clenched them into fists. Now was the time.
An event that would be recorded in history!
An unprecedented incident!
Slap!
“…?!”
The moment a Grand Princess slapped a High Priest in public!
“…”
“…”
In an instant, a deathly silence fell over the noisy Grand Banquet Hall.
A bright red palm print remained on the High Priest’s cheek. He looked utterly dazed, staring at me blankly.
When had he ever experienced such an insult?
“…Grand Princess Frezier?”
Emperor Alexander barely managed to call my name. He, too, looked as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened before his eyes.
Before the High Priest, the Emperor, or anyone else could regain their senses, I shouted first.
“Your Majesty! There is something Corico Frezier, my cousin, confided in me previously!”
Emperor Alexander was still the Emperor. Even in his agitated state, he responded.
“What did she say?”
“That the High Priests were wary of the Saintess’s advent and viewed her with displeasure!”
“…?!”
The High Priest bolted upright.
“What on earth are you talking about?! Grand Princess! Why would the Saintess say such a thing?! Do not mislead people with lies!”
“Lies? This is exactly why Corico was afraid of you all.”
“What?”
“The High Priests have been the highest-ranking figures in the Temple until now, haven’t they? But she said many of them were unhappy because they had to yield their positions after the Saintess appeared!”
“The Saintess would never say such a thing!”
Of course!
She wouldn’t!
Because Corico never said that!
‘But what are you going to do about it?’
I knew the solid relationship between Corico and the High Priests better than anyone, but the public didn’t.
After all, the fact that you all conspired to offer children as sacrifices is a tightly guarded secret, isn’t it?
Those bound by the secret of their evil deeds shall crumble under a vicious lie…
I retorted coldly, “How can you be so sure Corico never said that?”
“That’s because, obviously…!”
“Obviously what? Besides, the child is dying right now because you fed her something!”
“To insult a High Priest while the Saintess has collapsed! I will not let this matter rest!”
“You won’t let it rest? Fine!”
For a moment, the High Priest flinched. He seemed to realize something was going wrong from my positive response.
Of course, it was already too late.
[System] Benefit ‘Super Lotto’ is activated!
From this moment on, I would absorb all the luck of the nobles; my words were now the words of God.
“Your Majesty!”
I spoke with burning eyes.
“The sole bloodline of the late Grand Princess Hyacinthia Frezier was nearly poisoned by a wicked scheme! The House of Frezier formally requests a search of the Temple!”
The priests, their faces turning pale, began to scramble out of the banquet hall.
* * *
An unprecedented event occurred.
The Grand Temple was blockaded.
The Grand Temple was an independent power. It housed the only God of the Spring Continent and served as the people’s spiritual pillar, so its autonomy was natural.
Normally, even the Emperor wouldn’t have dared to search the Grand Temple.
But the circumstances were different now! The Saintess had nearly been poisoned by a High Priest!
Furthermore, that Saintess was a direct descendant of Frezier, and Frezier was the Grand Ducal House of the Brillant Empire, whose fame echoed across the continent!
Fierce debates broke out in every nation of the Spring Continent. If public opinion leaned toward Frezier being ‘excessive,’ the Frezier Knights searching the Grand Temple would have to withdraw.
‘But it takes days just for the delegations of each country to gather. Days for discussion. And days to co-author an agreement and send it to Frezier.’
By then, everything would be over, so it didn’t matter.
The Grand Temple was located a short distance from the Brillant Empire, situated in the center of an independent city.
Clank, clank.
The Grand Temple was already swarming with the Frezier Knights and the Brillant Imperial Knight Order.
Since the poisoning had occurred within the Imperial Palace, Emperor Alexander had also decided to dispatch his knights.
‘The Grand Temple is certainly vast.’
It was larger than the Brillant Imperial Palace; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a small city in its own right.
So, somewhere in here, they were hiding the children, and somewhere in here, there were suspicious places…
‘…I might be a bit short on time?’
I raised an eyebrow as I walked toward the High Priests’ prayer rooms.
“You absolutely cannot enter here!”
“Do you wish to sin against God?!”
“How dare you try to trample even the prayer rooms of the High Priests!”
I stopped as I watched the young priests desperately trying to block the way.
“You’ll have to cut off our heads first!”
“We will protect this holy sanctuary with our blood!”
“Just knock them all out,” I whispered to a knight, who nodded in response.
Just then.
“Tulia Frezier! You devil!”
A priest behind the knights, who had recognized me, screamed at the top of his lungs.
“You incited the powerful of Brillant to create this horrific situation! Do you not fear God?!”
“If my Crown Princess is a devil…”
A heavy voice echoed from behind me immediately after.
“Does that make me the devil’s minion?”
It was a chilling question. A shiver ran down my spine. The voice, resonating coldly, was as terrifying as frost on a blade.
I turned around.
“…Ferdinand.”
He was striding down the hallway. The embodiment of pure divine power, whom the High Priests loved so dearly.
And the man who had readily gifted me a marriage proposal.
A person’s gaze doesn’t change like a flick of a switch. The red eyes that glanced at me still held a lingering murderous intent he hadn’t quite erased.
“Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince…”
Their attitude shifted completely. Ferdinand Cassel Ewigkeit.
“Priests.”
“Your Highness…”
“Do you treat my Crown Princess with such insolence when I am not around?”
“N-No, that is not it…”
“It’s not?”
Ferdinand leaned down slightly. Since he was so tall, he had to do so just to bring his gaze somewhat level with the priests.
“Priests.”
“Yes, yes. Your Highness…”
“Do you all actually look down on me? Have you been treating me like a fool behind my back while pretending otherwise?”
“No! No, Your Highness!”
“How could we ever do such a thing?!”
The priests fell to their knees and began to beg. Their appearance was so pathetic they looked like sinners sentenced to excommunication by God and cast into hell.
However, their God—or perhaps, God’s proxy—that beautiful, cold, and merciless man merely continued in a numb voice.
“If not, then prove it.”
“P-Prove it? How…”
A voice carrying the breath of a predator echoed in their ears.
“Get lost from the Crown Princess’s sight. If anyone blocks her path one more time, I will summarily execute them, even if they are a priest.”
His red eyes flashed chillingly.