Chapter 101
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 101
"Is this supposed to be me?" Jeremia asked, utterly bewildered. "Lady Rohanson… Is this what I look like? Not my current appearance, but my original self?"
I shook my head. Gabriel had definitely lost this one.
"Sir Gabriel, your drawing skills are… certainly unique," Jeremia trailed off, staring at the portrait. She gawked at the paper, seemingly unable to comprehend how the scribble he’d drawn could possibly represent a human being. Then, she clapped her hands as if she’d had an epiphany.
"Ah! Is it some kind of code? You drew it like this on purpose so that if anyone else saw it, they wouldn't be able to deduce who it is, right?"
Come to think of it, Gabriel was exceptionally skilled at drawing spell circles. Given his excellent drafting abilities, was this one of those tropes where the male lead was secretly hiding his artistic genius? But Gabriel remained silent.
Gabriel, are you actually embarrassed right now? So you do realize your drawing is just a scribble… The tips of his ears, peeking out from under his black hair, were flushed red. The contrast between his usual stoicism and this sudden shyness was surprisingly cute.
"I-I'm sorry."
Flustered by his reaction, Jeremia apologized, not knowing what else to do. And just like that, the impromptu guessing game ground to an awkward halt.
* * *
In the end, Gabriel covered the paper and began to explain verbally. Honestly, he should have just done that from the start.
"The body Lady Jeremia is currently occupying belongs to a knight named Azazel Astaroth. While everyone believes him to be a paladin, Sir Azazel is actually Bishop Marik's personal bodyguard."
Isn't a knight serving Bishop Marik basically a paladin anyway? Besides, the pure white clothes Jeremia was wearing looked almost identical to Gabriel's own attire.
"What's the difference?"
"To officially join the temple's order of paladins, one must undergo a ritual."
Apparently, to be recognized as a member of the temple, everyone—priest or paladin—had to be baptized.
"A baptism?"
Gabriel explained that the baptism was a ceremony to demonstrate one had received Goddess Rachel's blessing. A wound would be made with a holy sword and then healed by pouring holy water over it. The more favored one was by the goddess, the faster the wound would heal, a sign of the holy water's potent effect on them. The better one's recovery ability, the more attention they received from higher-ups, leading to rapid promotions.
"Some take advantage of this and resort to trickery."
Since the candidates were the ones who inflicted the wounds on themselves, the system was easy to manipulate. They would get blood beforehand and splash it on themselves at the right moment, making a shallow cut look like a grievous wound.
Because the actual wound was minor, it would heal almost instantly when the holy water was applied, making them appear far more capable than they really were.
But how does he know all this in such detail? Don't tell me Gabriel also rigged his own ritual for a quick promotion…? Did he become the commander not because he’s the male lead, but because he engaged in corruption behind the scenes? No, there’s no way. I believe in our Gabriel.
I decided to focus on Azazel instead.
"So Azazel…"
"Yes. He never underwent the ritual. He likely avoided it on purpose, as coming into contact with holy water would have been problematic for him. Since he wore clothes nearly identical to a paladin's and was known as Bishop Marik's close confidant, everyone just assumed he was one."
Does that mean Azazel has a cursed body, too? Since holy water would have a negative effect on him, he must have avoided the baptism. Wait a minute. Bishop Marik refused to give Ryder holy water, yet she kept Azazel—who was in a similar predicament—as her close confidant and worked him to the bone? Talk about a massive double standard. Madame Toten would be absolutely furious if she heard about this.
Anyway, to think even Azazel is vulnerable to holy water. Curses aren't some kind of trend, so why is the deity handing them out left and right? "Merciful and equal Sun Goddess," my foot.
Then again, what did I expect from a god in a romance fantasy novel? I already knew what the temple was about, seeing how they gave nobles royal treatment, discriminated based on social status, obsessed over money, and completely neglected the poor. Above all, the fact that Bishop Marik was the mastermind was all the proof I needed of its corruption.
But if we exposed this, wouldn't it damage Bishop Marik's reputation?
"If Bishop Marik's own knight is revealed to be a fraud, won't that tarnish her reputation?"
Jeremia, who must have been thinking the same thing, asked with wide eyes. The sight of her making cute gestures in Azazel's hulking body, her cheerful tone coming out in his deep voice, was incredibly jarring. It was going to take a long time to get used to this.
Gabriel shook his head.
"Unfortunately, it won't deal much of a blow to Bishop Marik."
"What? Why not?"
"Do you know how Bishop Marik acquired her current reputation?"
"I heard it was because she is frugal and devout."
That might be the public image, but knowing she was the mastermind, I could only admire her brilliant PR skills. No matter how hard I tried, I could never escape being treated like a villainess. How on earth did she pull it off? Is this the difference in caliber between a mastermind and a mere villainess? The image of Bishop Marik sneering at me to "know my place" flashed in my mind, and I quickly shook it away.
Gabriel continued his explanation.
"Bishop Marik was one of the key figures behind the Pagan Massacre some twenty years ago."
He explained that her ascension to the position of bishop was a reward for her achievements back then. Considering that most bishops were white-haired elders while Bishop Marik was still middle-aged, one could see just how unprecedented her appointment was.
For a mere nun from a remote monastery to rise to the rank of bishop, her achievements must have been extraordinary. Since Bishop Marik harbored no doubts about her god, she never hesitated to kill, nor did she shrink from torturing heretics. Countless lives must have been lost at her hands.
"Even if Bishop Marik brought a personal bodyguard into the temple, no one would have dared to stop her."
Bishop Marik loathed heretics more than anyone, and the number of heads she had claimed was countless. Having climbed to such a high position by shedding blood, she had naturally made many enemies. Therefore, no one would question her motives for hiring outside help for her own safety.
"She likely used outside assets for tasks she couldn't officially assign to the temple's knights."
"Like trying to kill me…" Jeremia murmured, placing a hand over her stomach as if recalling the moment Azazel attacked her.
"Besides him, there are likely dozens of others like Viscount Hwikel who follow Bishop Marik behind the scenes."
"Viscount Hwikel…?"
The very same Viscount Hwikel with the wide network of acquaintances who loved to act important? The one I had used as a stepping stone to speak with Duke Hosaquin?
"Yes. I heard Viscount Hwikel handed a dagger to Count Rohanson. I met with the Count and confirmed it. It is highly suspected that Viscount Hwikel received a bribe from Bishop Marik to deliver the blade."
To think the dagger my father brought came from Bishop Marik… I had to resist the urge to clutch my head and faint.
Bishop Marik really was the mastermind. I was merely dancing in the palm of her hand on a stage she had meticulously set. At least I’d managed to save Jeremia.
"What on earth… is Bishop Marik trying to do?"
At Jeremia's question, Gabriel fell silent for a moment before speaking quietly.
"A reenactment of the past I just described."
"The past…?"
"Yes. The Pagan Massacre."
Gabriel's words left both Jeremia and me utterly dumbfounded.
What kind of bishop wants to commit a massacre? That doesn't just make her a mastermind; she's the final boss…
"Bishop Marik's goal is the revival of the temple. Do you remember the spell circle on the banquet hall floor on the day His Highness the Crown Prince passed away?"
"No. It was so chaotic back then…" Jeremia searched her memories but shook her head, unable to recall. Since she had swapped bodies with Tenebrae at the time, and it was Tenebrae who had danced with the Crown Prince, it made sense that she wouldn't know.
"Bishop Marik drew that spell circle? Why?"
"Because it was the perfect way to etch that spell circle into the public's memory. Is there anything more shocking than the death of the empire's sole Crown Prince?"
To make matters worse, it happened on the victim's birthday, and the alleged culprit was his own daughter, who was subsequently stripped of her imperial status and put on the wanted list. The entire empire was in an uproar. Very few events could generate that level of impact.
Furthermore, the reappearance of a spell circle that had vanished twenty years ago made it an even hotter topic. 'A pagan used sorcery to manipulate the princess into murdering the Crown Prince.' It was the perfect narrative for the temple to stage a grand comeback.
Word would spread like wildfire, and in the process, the number of people interested in spell circles would grow rapidly. It didn't matter if real shamans had returned. It only mattered that the world believed they had.
"Bishop Marik is putting on a play. She is the faithful believer annihilating God's enemies…" Gabriel's gaze landed on me. "…and Lady Evangeline is the enemy."
Just as a hero needs a demon king to shine, the temple needed a villain to rise again. I could only marvel at the mastermind's sheer resourcefulness. Look at her, framing me for everything when she's the actual final boss. Wait, could all those nasty rumors circulating in high society have been started by Bishop Marik, too? Unbelievable. Her scheming was on a whole other level.
Listening quietly, Jeremia looked utterly hollowed out as she realized Bishop Marik's motives.
"Then… was my father murdered because of that? Just to spread the spell circle? Because he opposed the temple? Because he stood in Bishop Marik's way? For nothing more… than that?"
Large tears welled up in Jeremia's eyes. However, Gabriel didn't comfort her, instead pulling her back to cruel reality. Seeing as he’d fallen for me at first sight, he was clearly a sucker for a pretty face; perhaps that was why he treated her so coldly now that she was in Azazel's body.
Did she choose the wrong body? As I was briefly regretting our decision, Gabriel added another reason.
"There is one other reason I can think of."
"Another reason?"
"…To strengthen the Emperor's power."
"…What?"
"His Majesty the Emperor was an illegitimate child. He ascended the throne after killing his older half-siblings. At the time, many criticized him as an immoral usurper, questioning his very legitimacy. The backlash from opposing factions was immense, particularly from the one led by your father, Lord Laudes."
"No, surely…"
"They were purged after being revealed as heretics."
Since this happened before I transmigrated, it was technically something I didn't know, but I nodded as if I understood the gist of it. It wasn't a particularly rare story. Once someone takes the throne, they usually butcher all opposing factions to secure their legitimacy and power.
If anything, it was surprising that Jeremia hadn't known about this until now. It seemed she had been raised in a very sheltered environment, and there was no reason to teach a princess about the shameful secrets of the Emperor and the imperial family.
The parallels between the Emperor's past and Jeremia's present were striking: both had used the temple's power to murder their own flesh and blood.
Gabriel lowered his eyes slightly, shadows falling beneath his long lashes. His exceptionally blue eyes sank deep, shimmering with a cold light.
"It seems Bishop Marik has already chosen the next emperor. Given that Princess Tenebrae is involved in this series of events… perhaps the demise of His Highness the Crown Prince was also in accordance with Lady Tenebrae's wishes."