Chapter 8: CH 8

Pulling myself together after hearing his next words, I turned around, grabbed the congratulatory speech, and handed it to him.

In the original story, he had a mysterious and secretive personality, but in reality, he was even more difficult to deal with. I had no idea what his eyes were thinking, and the atmosphere flowing from him brought a series of tensions.

A cool breeze blew in through the slightly open window.

I could see his long eyelashes fluttering.

“…”

After a long silence, Reihausd raised his head from the congratulatory speech and looked at me. Somehow, I felt a chill in his eyes. Is there something that I do wrong? When I winced, the chill disappeared like a lie.

It was such a fleeting feeling that I thought I might have felt it wrong.

He opened his red lips.

“…It’s excellent.”

It was definitely a compliment, but I felt uneasy at the sound of his strangely submerged voice.

“Is there anything wrong?”

“No. Just… You’ve grown a lot. Enough to believe that it’s someone else’s writing skills.”

I answered without being flustered.

“It’s just a slightly modified version of the sentence I saw in the book.”

I also had my own thoughts that I had to act so as not to raise his suspicions. In fact, I could have written it better, but that’s why I copied the book.

Reihausd glanced at the [A Collection of Congratulatory Messages for the Imperial Banquet] book to which my fingertips pointed.

“I see. In any case, it’s much better than the love letter you wrote last time.”

Anyhow, even if it was written with feet, shouldn’t it be better than that?

After a while he said with a light smile.

“But there must have been some commotion in the library a while ago.”

I stared at him with a subtle tension.

It was a bit exaggerated for Hans’ shameless attitude, yet it seemed to have entered Reihausd’s ears.

“Yes, I stopped by to borrow a book to write a congratulatory speech, and Baron Ragefield’s son made fun of an apprentice priestess. I gave him a little bit of caution as the Saintess.”

It’s better to be honest about these things than to be confused and bewildered.

“I think it was a little too much.”

At the end, I added an Ariel-like silly smile.

“He’s been expelled.”

But I caught my breath at Reihausd’s words that followed immediately.

“Not only Hans Ragefield, but all the believers of the Ragefield family.”

His eyes were cold, without a single smile.

“Ah…”

I was trying to control my expression when I heard his voice.

“If there is any such blasphemous incident in the future, please tell me right away. I’ll take proper action.”

[The God of Knowledge, Hessed, carefully analyzes Reihausd.]

After a while, another sentence appeared.

[The God of Knowledge, Hessed, is wary of Reihausd.]

He said that all members of the Ragefield family were expelled?

The cruel hand that cut Annie without moving his eyebrows came to my mind, which chilled his spine again.

“…”

[The God of Knowledge, Hessed, judges that Reihausd has an impure heart.]

And looking at him in that tension, another strange sentence came to mind.

[The God of Art, Mond, argues that Reihausd’s external nobility can make up for his inner impurity.]

I blinked at the absurd sentence in the tense atmosphere.

‘No, out of the blue, what else is this?’

And then the conversations continued.

[The God of Knowledge, Hessed, criticizes Mond’s appearanceism.]

I opened my eyes as blurry as possible to the sudden crowd of the Gods, making the chat window transparent. It was because it was difficult to manage my expression when I saw these sentences with my cool face.

“Are you dizzy?”

Suddenly, Reihausd’s voice was heard in the blurred vision.

“No. It’s just…”

As I was thinking about what to say, I suddenly spoke.

“I think the High Priest’s determination is amazing.”

In a friendly conversation with the person, I need to maintain a good relationship with.

“…”

He stared at me at the words.

“It’s not always easy to cut out the rotten parts. There will be entangled interests here and there, and there will be interests involved.”

“…Those priests think of me as a dictator, but the Saintess here seems to have a different opinion.”

I looked at Reihausd’s words as if he was trying to test me and answered.

“I think the High Priest is a fair and just person.”

It was something I could confidently say because I had read the original story.

“I’ve always thought that way.”

Reihausd’s eyes widened.

He was like a grim reaper to the villain Ariel, but he was a strong shadow and support for Camilla.

Although he set up a fake saintess by conspiring with the prince with political intentions, it wasn’t for his personal gain, but to settle the confused public mind in the absence of the saintess.

“But I didn’t know you were going to expel the entire Ragefield family.”

If I weren’t Ariel, the villain.

And if he wasn’t one of the three men who will kill Ariel.

Maybe I’d admire him a little.

I looked at him and smiled softly.

He stared at me silently for a long time.

His gaze lingered for too long, and when I wondered if I was doing something wrong, he pursed his lips and looked away.

“Looks like I took too much of your time.”

I didn’t deny it because I wanted him to leave.

“Haha.”

“I will go out. Enjoy your meal.”

Reihausd, who immediately spoke to me in a stern tone, left the room.

Then I gave strength to my eyes again. The oracle was actively discussing Reihausd.

[The God of Art, Mond, shares his views on the golden ratio of the human body.]

[The God of Love, Odyssey, is seriously listening to Monde’s views.]

I put my hand on my forehead.

[The God of Knowledge, Hessed, preaches that the inside is more important than the outside.]

[The God of Art, Mond, snorts at Hessed’s words and says that appearance is the most important thing.]

[The God of Love, Odyssey, insists that there is a man more handsome than Reihausd, so let’s wait a little longer.]

“Would you mind having a little constructive conversation?”

But my answer was nothing but an empty echo. After that, the conversation between the Gods continued for a long time.

***

She no longer blushed or averted her eyes. Didn’t she even look directly at him with clearer eyes?

Reihausd hardened his eyebrows and nervously took off his jacket.

‘What has changed?’

Nothing has changed.

[Reihausd de El.]

It was the first time he heard his full name from those lips.

Somehow, it felt so strange that his nerves were getting sensitive.

Had her eyes been blue?

Even that was the first time he realized it. And that blue light had been following his nerves and bothering him lately.

[I think the High Priest is a fair and just person.]

A faint smile on his red lips.

Was Ariel a woman who could smile like that?

Her words, which were always whining or exaggerated, were entering his ears for the first time.

She had been around for a long time.

“…”

Reihausd shook his head.

The reason he brought Ariel was because she was naive and hustle enough to fit into this fake saintess play.

‘No matter how much people change…’

Then the door to the office swung open, and someone came in angry.

“How can you expel a believer without consulting me!”

It was the Chief Priest, Heinz.

His bald head gleamed in the light of the holy stone hanging on the wall. He breathed heavily and stood in front of Reihausd.

“I heard what happened to Saintess. No matter how it’s for the Saintess, I’m deceived by the fact that you mentioned expulsion so directly, how can even the High Priest do that!”

Reihausd stared at Heinz with expressionless eyes.

“I can’t believe you expelled a family under the system of association! Priests are absolutely unacceptable.”

His face, as he ran wild on the road, looked ridiculous.

“You are having a big misunderstanding.”

Reihausd sat in the chair slowly, staring at the other side.

Heinz trembled with his fists at the arrogant attitude of the High Priest, who was much younger than him.

“The decisive reason for the Ragefield family’s expulsion…”

His eyes slowly turned to Haynes.

Heinz, who met Reihausd’ eyes, felt the boiling anger oxidize.

His golden eyes terrifyingly made him feel frightened to live. It was like standing in front of a beast.

“Because they’re having a dirty deal with some rotten high-ranked priests.”

Heinz felt his throat clogged.

“I’m saying that it’s inside the Temple of Elium.”

It was common for small noble families like Baron Ragefield to pay bribes to the priests of Elium, because it was necessary to stand out from the central aristocratic society through them.

And Baron Ragefield was Heinz’s line in Elium.

“It’s hard to cut out the rotten, but someone said it was great.”

He could tell that he was seeing through everything. Reihausd raised the corners of his lips as he saw Heinz hesitated as he suddenly lost his temper.

“I’m considering taking root in addition to cutting it out, what do you think, Chief Priest?”