Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 183

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2, Chapter 50

I was about to hit him but held back.

He’s a patient, after all. A patient.

I repeated this to myself.

Instead of punishing him, I reached out and ran my hand through his lustrous hair.

The soft hair felt so good wrapping around my fingers.

“We have to go to the Temple tomorrow anyway. That should be fine, right?”

“Of course. The matter is already settled.”

The Elderly High Priest wasn’t present at the scene of the tragedy.

So Adam thought that Lawrence and he were either collaborators, or it was the Elderly High Priest’s negligence.

Though it was buried by orders from Adam and the House of Evant, the fact remained that people had died within the Temple.

Regarding what happened in the Temple, the Elderly High Priest took responsibility and decided to step down from his position.

That letter bore the clear seal of the Elderly High Priest.

The problem was that he acted as if nothing was wrong despite losing the Elderly High Priest’s seal.

I don’t think the Elderly High Priest deliberately set a trap for us.

He wasn’t the type to have such guts.

If he were that type, he wouldn’t have put Adam forward but would have had a decisive battle between the Temple and the Imperial Palace. However, valuing his position and power, he waited until Adam grew as a Hero.

Such a coward couldn’t have cooperated with Lawrence.

But now that Lawrence had killed all the nobles and High Priests who were on his side, he went into hiding with his tail between his legs.

It was disappointing not to drag down the Elderly High Priest and instead end it with him stepping down voluntarily, but we had to protect Lawrence’s honor, so we decided to end the matter with the Elderly High Priest’s resignation.

Then, if the Elderly High Priest steps down taking responsibility for this incident, who would take his place?

Obviously our Meriel!

Meriel, who should now be called the Elderly High Priest rather than High Priest, was entrusted with Judith’s coronation.

And this time, Judith’s coronation would truly take place.

“This time, don’t hide and come with me.”

“Yes, since Eve said she’d protect me, of course we should go together.”

I burst into soft laughter.

Asking to be protected when he has power that wouldn’t lose to anyone.

Of course it would be like that, but I liked his coquettishness that only I could see.

“Good night, Eve.”

Adam, who returned to his room and turned off the lights, quietly looked at me.

I could feel his gaze watching my sleeping form for quite a while.

But I couldn’t shake off the drowsiness that was overwhelming me enough to open my mouth and ask why.

‘I’ll have to ask tomorrow…’

What Adam was thinking about.

But when morning came, I had completely forgotten.

As if Adam’s expression that briefly crossed my mind before sleep was a lie, he was the same as usual.

* * *

It was past noon when I met someone unwelcome.

Judith’s coronation ended successfully.

It concluded with Meriel, who had become the Elderly High Priest, placing the crown on his head.

Now there would be no one to block Judith’s path. The Temple, with Meriel at its peak, wouldn’t use schemes to seize power.

I blessed Judith, who had suffered greatly under an unwanted father.

I came out to the hallway in a good mood as things went smoothly.

Meriel, who had become the Elderly High Priest, would be busy, but I was thinking of meeting her if time allowed.

However, meeting an unexpected person was certainly not by choice.

While walking through the now-familiar Temple hallways, I encountered the Elderly High Priest.

No, he was no longer the Elderly High Priest.

He wasn’t wearing his usual ornate robes embroidered with gold thread, but ordinary High Priest robes.

I thought he would be ashamed of his appearance and run away.

But surprisingly, the former Elderly High Priest spoke to me first.

“I heard you met the former Hero.”

“Yes, the Temple’s defenses must not have been solid. Even if he was a former Hero, someone corrupted by demonic energy entered here and tried to kill Adam.”

There was no need to avoid a fight that came to me first.

I spoke sarcastically.

It was none other than the center of the Temple.

A place created away from people going to and from the sanctuary.

It was a place others wouldn’t have known about, but if Lawrence was discovered there, it meant one thing.

Either there was an informant, or someone had been discovered by the Demon King.

I believed it was the latter, but that wasn’t what was important now.

“Lawrence must have been one of the Demon King’s pawns too.”

More precisely, he would have been the Emperor’s pawn.

From the beginning, the Emperor hated everything that threatened his power.

His own child who was the Prince, or even the Hero who received people’s support and love.

The same was true for the former Hero.

Through the ritual to revive the Demon King, he awakened him and made the unprepared Lawrence kill the Demon King.

Though his target would have been Adam’s father, not Lawrence…

“But why use him now?”

“Well, maybe he thought he was a pawn no longer needed.”

The former Elderly High Priest stepped closer and said.

“Former Hero Lawrence disappeared decades ago. It would have been easier to kill him by controlling Lawrence when the Hero was young.”

“Such words are disrespectful to the House of Evant.”

“Listen to me. I’m saying all of this is your fault.”

“…”

“Because of your existence, things that shouldn’t have happened occurred and ruined everything.”

“Don’t blame me. It wasn’t my choice.”

Why did Lawrence attack Adam now?

Because if he attacked now, Adam would be consumed by his demonic energy and completely devoured by the curse.

But I had no obligation to explain that fact to the former Elderly High Priest in detail.

The former Elderly High Priest seemed displeased with my behavior of looking directly at him without averting my eyes.

Seeing how quickly he threw away his mask of being a good person.

“You seemed to know Adam well from the very beginning… I should have realized then. That you would block his path.”

A voice filled with hatred poured out at me.

But the voice blaming and condemning me wasn’t as scary as before.

The former Elderly High Priest lamented that I, who knew nothing about him, was manipulating Adam.

I didn’t answer.

It wasn’t that I deliberately didn’t answer, but rather I was momentarily speechless from absurdity.

‘What is the former Elderly High Priest suddenly coming here and talking about?’

If anything, it was Adam who manipulated my feelings.

He tried to give me control, but even that was overwhelming affection for me.

But it would be ridiculous to explain all this in detail to the former Elderly High Priest.

To him, who was no longer Adam’s godfather or the Elderly High Priest.

I ended up having to quietly listen to his words that were close to lamenting his fate.

It was also true that Adam’s attitude had mysteriously changed even more since that day.

I thought the former Elderly High Priest might have closely noticed changes in Adam that I didn’t know about.

“Did you know that child would make foolish choices? That it would drag him to hell? Look even now. Isn’t Adam doing foolish things? It’s obvious he’s suffering from his choices, grieving and festering.”

“…?”

I frowned as I listened to the former Elderly High Priest’s sincere lament.

Synchronization is activated.

Your Deity asks what you’re doing.

He answers that your Hero is pruning.

‘…He looks fine though?’

More than that, what kind of pruning is he doing? Has Adam taken up an interest in gardening?

This was the first time I had seen the Elderly High Priest, who always pretended to be calm, lose his composure like this.

He probably thinks he’s lost control over Adam.

However, Adam had never given him control in the first place.

He had simply let the Elderly High Priest believe that illusion.

The Elderly High Priest continued to look anxious.

“If I’m not by his side… If he’s not by my side, I’ll surely be killed by my political enemies. Don’t you feel sorry for me?”

“Is not dying what you desire?”

“Well. I used to think so in the past. Do you think I climbed to the position of Elderly High Priest comfortably? The Duke of Evant will only let this slide for now, but he’ll surely target me to silence me.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

I wasn’t curious about the past affairs of someone I had no more business with.

“If you say you don’t want to die, Adam will fulfill the Elderly High Priest’s wish.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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