🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 19
The Pope, having entered the reception room, first asked that everyone be dismissed.
“Have everyone step back one hundred paces. It’s been a long time—I want to speak comfortably with my daughter.”
Zenaida didn’t want to prolong an argument, so she complied with his request.
“Have everyone withdraw.”
“But, Your Highness—”
“I’m asking you. Nothing serious will happen.”
When she spoke firmly, Laura nodded as if she had no choice.
The door closed, and the surroundings fell into an almost oppressive silence.
Before the two of them, warm black tea let off gentle steam. Zenaida curved her lips slightly and spoke first.
“I didn’t know Your Holiness had so much to say to me.”
The Pope took a sip of tea and replied in a soft, gentle voice.
“It’s because it’s been so long. So—do you dislike it?”
He acted as though she were the one at fault, as though he were pitiful.
So now I see it.
The Pope’s tone and behavior—things she hadn’t noticed before her regression.
He had been subtly guiding her in the direction he wanted by prodding her sense of guilt.
Zenaida bit the edge of her lip, suppressing a hollow laugh.
Getting emotionally shaken here would mean falling right into the Pope’s trap. She had endured this far—wouldn’t it be a waste to collapse now?
She calmly grasped her teacup and answered evenly.
“Of course not. However, wouldn’t it be better for you to strengthen your relationship with the Grand Duke rather than with a daughter you’re merely close to?”
With her final words, Zenaida drove the nail in.
“Unfortunately, my relationship with the Grand Duke isn’t very good.”
At that, the Pope’s face visibly stiffened.
“Then why did you save the Grand Duke from the assassin?”
When the words she wanted finally came from his mouth, Zenaida gently curved her lips and continued.
“That’s exactly why I saved him. He needs to trust me, doesn’t he? The reason I asked His Majesty to stop the assassination plan was entirely for this purpose. The Grand Duke isn’t an ordinary man, after all.”
She clenched the cup and spoke words she didn’t mean.
“If you’re going to kill someone, shouldn’t you do it decisively?”
After uttering the lie, bitterness spread in her mouth.
For no reason at all, Zenaida dropped a sugar cube into her tea and drank it.
Despite the cloyingly sweet aroma that stung her nose, her lips felt painfully dry.
Faced with her aggressive stance, the Pope seemed flustered. He closed his mouth, unable to counter for a while. Cold air, sharp as frost, settled over the reception room.
How much time passed?
Slowly, the Pope opened his lips.
“Have you spent your first night with the Grand Duke?”
The question didn’t match the flow of the conversation, but though she found it strange, there was no reason to hide it.
Besides, even if she tried, he was the kind of man who would find out anyway.
“We haven’t yet.”
“Is that so? That’s good.”
At the sudden brightness in his voice, chills ran down Zenaida’s back. She had thought she was pushing him back well, but an unease lingered.
And soon, she understood why.
“On your first night, kill the Grand Duke.”
At the unexpected order, Zenaida froze for a moment.
“This is Niveus, isn’t it? You’re telling me to kill the Grand Duke here?”
The capital might have been one thing, but Niveus Castle was Kaiden’s territory.
Though it belonged to the Empire, Kaiden’s orders took precedence here. That was precisely why Zenaida had gone to such lengths to come north with him.
Because she wouldn’t be able to kill him here.
But the Pope completely crushed her expectations.
“Why? You can’t do it?”
Zenaida swallowed dryly and began persuading him with logic, just as she had done with the Emperor.
“Haven’t I already explained? It’s difficult to defeat the Grand Duke by force. That’s why lowering his guard comes first.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
The Pope was utterly unreasonable.
“If you truly are loyal to His Imperial Majesty, obey. My command is the Emperor’s command.”
Absolutely not.
This was one order she could never follow.
I will never obey you—or the Emperor.
As Zenaida stalled in silence, the Pope clicked his tongue in irritation.
“If you continue like this, I’ll have no choice either.”
In a voice sharp with menace, he threatened her.
“If nothing happens to Kaiden by the time I leave, I’ll withdraw the blessing over Niveus.”
The reason the Pope and the Saintess regularly toured the nation was to prevent outbreaks of plague.
If a land lost divine protection and became a target of demons, it would be sealed off.
“Then everyone in Niveus will suffer because of you.”
Perhaps one day, they might even be used as sacrifices for the Pope’s revenge.
“All because of you.”
To hide her trembling, Zenaida quietly clenched her hands beneath the table.
Once again, a foul sensation crept up her body like crawling insects.
Again. Again. Again.
This damned sense of guilt.
No matter how much she cursed it, she couldn’t shake off the image of Priest Liam from her past.
“Liam died because of you.”
Even if she were mocked by the Pope for it until her dying breath—
The Pope sneered and deliberately dropped the half-full glass teacup.
Only seconds after the sharp sound of shattering rang out, someone knocked on the door.
“Your Grace, this is Laura. It sounded like a cup broke—may I come in?”
The Pope let out a mocking chuckle and stepped closer to Zenaida.
“I told them to step back one hundred paces. Either you’re very close with the Grand Duke… or quite the opposite.”
Then he gripped her shoulder tightly and murmured in a low voice.
“If Kaiden doesn’t die, this land will receive no blessing.”
Kaiden returned alone to his office and picked up his work again.
Though his eyes scanned the report, none of it registered. Eventually, he tossed the papers aside and decided to rest.
He closed his dry eyes, but the thoughts swirling in his mind refused to settle.
The Pope and Zenaida.
Before the regression and now, the two had always been close.
There were rumors that in private, Zenaida called the Pope “father.” Seeing it in person left him with a strange feeling.
Zenaida follows the Pope. The Pope is aligned with the Emperor.
The reason they asked for privacy was likely to discuss something secret between them.
And if it was something that needed secrecy between those two, what else could it be but killing him?
Kaiden pulled the bell cord. Morris, who had been waiting outside, entered.
“You called for me?”
“Place surveillance on the reception room where the Pope and the Grand Duchess are. And keep watching until the Pope leaves the castle.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once the surveillance was in place, the unease subsided slightly.
He wasn’t afraid of dying.
If he were, he would’ve placed guards on Zenaida as well, not just the Pope.
Still—
Zenaida didn’t look well.
Kaiden’s instincts were usually accurate.
Especially when it came to ominous things.
I just don’t want to see the Pope running rampant.
He rationalized it, deceiving himself about his own feelings.
After finishing her conversation with the Pope, Zenaida left the worried Laura behind and lay alone on her bed.
The Pope’s words kept echoing in her head.
Yet she couldn’t escape them.
It was suffocating.
Did the Emperor really give such an order to the Pope? Or is the Pope testing me?
She sank into deep contemplation.
Then suddenly, she remembered something the Pope had once said to her before her regression—words that sounded as though he had betrayed even the Emperor, his longtime patron.
Could someone like that really not falsify a single imperial decree?
What if he had fabricated it to control her?
If the Emperor truly wanted Kaiden dead, he would have killed him before he left the capital.
No one understood better than the Emperor that once Kaiden left his sphere of influence, killing him would become far more difficult.
The theory that the Pope had acted on his own carried more weight. Still, she couldn’t completely ignore him.
If the Pope withdraws his blessing, a plague will break out here before long.
Back when she had been a holy knight, she had visited villages sealed off due to plague—sent there under the guise of “purification,” to give people painless deaths.
“P-please, save me. It hurts so much.”
“Just kill me. Please. It hurts too much.”
They hadn’t begged to live—they had begged to die, saying death was the only salvation.
Imagining such a nightmare repeating itself brought tears to her eyes.
I can’t let that happen.
If Niveus became like that, she would be crushed by yet another layer of guilt.
But she couldn’t kill Kaiden.
No matter which path she chose, it was the worst possible choice.
There’s only one week until the Pope leaves.
Within a week, she had to decide—and act.
Zenaida racked her brain, searching for a way to survive this crisis.
The Pope was now doubting her loyalty.
To dispel that doubt… what option was there besides killing him?
And after attempting it, how could she prevent him from ordering another assassination…?
By the time her head felt ready to split, Zenaida released the pillow she had been clutching.
In the end… there’s only that method.
She had never wanted to use it.
But she had no choice.
Having made up her mind, Zenaida moved quickly, determined to reach Kaiden before she could change it.
Just then—
“Madam, it’s Laura. May I come in? I have something to tell you.”
“Ah—come in.”
At her permission, Laura entered and bowed her head.
“His Grace the Grand Duke is asking for you.”
Calling for her out of the blue?
Zenaida felt puzzled, but she headed for the office where he was waiting.
