I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 163

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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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“How did you know I would come?”

At Michael’s question, Oscar smiled without answering. The wrinkles on his face curved kindly.

“I received advance notice. That Your Eminence would come to see me.”

“Advance notice? Who on earth…?”

“From the one I serve.”

Michael’s eyes widened involuntarily.

Oscar was a man who held the position of chairman of the Privy Council, the Emperor’s advisory body no less.

Yet such a person had someone else he ‘served separately.’

His expression naturally hardened.

Michael believed his intuition about people was quite accurate.

That’s why he had come to see Oscar today as well.

He thought Oscar would be able to understand and accept the situation he was in.

Michael examined Oscar carefully with a wary expression.

‘…Perhaps I should have been more cautious about revealing my true nature.’

But Oscar already seemed to know everything.

Michael slowly steadied his breathing. His mind was complicated.

Coming to see Oscar after the Emperor collapsed was something Michael had done at great risk.

He had secretly infiltrated by mixing in with the priests permitted to enter the Imperial Palace.

It would have been impossible without his special ability.

Michael asked Oscar while hiding his complex feelings.

“Could you tell me who this person you serve is?”

Instead of answering, Oscar smiled the exact same smile as before.

Michael’s confused inner thoughts were transparent to him.

Just before meeting Prime Minister Milano, Oscar had already heard the general situation from Selene.

That Michael might come, and even what the reason would be.

‘Oscar. Michael will come looking for you soon. At the earliest, in two days… No. Since the Emperor collapsed, both Cardinals are at the Imperial Palace, so it might even be today.’

‘Is it because of what you mentioned before? That the temple is doing various things to hide Fluma’s existence…’

‘Right. Perhaps due to the aftermath of the Dearmant incident, unofficial grand masses have become frequent recently. The problem is… only Michael isn’t being invited to them.’

Oscar quietly gazed at the young Cardinal before him.

Michael was someone who received the fervor and support of not only believers but even Empire citizens who didn’t believe in Fratres, thanks to his dazzling appearance and good nature.

There was no one who disliked the young, good, angel-like priest who seemed to have descended from heaven.

In fact, most people gossiped that Michael would surpass Paul, the other Cardinal, and ascend to the future papal position.

‘For such a person to not be invited to grand masses for several months already…’

It was blatant disregard and tantamount to exclusion from The Order.

‘Why is that? The reason they’re excluding Cardinal Michael from the grand masses.’

‘Michael probably doesn’t know. About the secret the Fratres Order is hiding.’

Selene added in a serious voice.

‘Remember Cardinal Paul? He was always hostile toward me. A few years ago, he seemed to be behind the incident where Father Mayer brainwashed me too.’

‘…’

‘But Michael is different. He seemed to know nothing. Crucially, right now, he’s being ostracized by The Order.’

Oscar raised his head.

He could see Michael frozen with a tense expression across from him.

Oscar spoke gently.

“What Your Eminence suspects. That is correct.”

Michael’s eyes widened at the sudden words.

“I heard you’ve missed The Order’s grand masses several times recently.”

“How do you know that…?”

“Ah, I shouldn’t say ‘missed.’ Since you weren’t invited in the first place.”

Michael’s face went blank.

“You suspect it, don’t you? Cardinal Paul’s behavior and the Pope’s true intentions, and furthermore…”

“…”

“Regarding the Fratres deity.”

Michael closed his mouth at the feeling of his heart sinking with a thud.

Oscar was accurate.

He had pinpointed exactly what thoughts he had come here with, without a single error.

“I will explain everything slowly from now on. As Lady Tigris commanded me to do so.”

“I was a child abandoned in a village ruined by war.”

Michael said while casting concealment barriers on the doors and walls.

Oscar watched him from behind.

“At that time, I was suffering from a terrible lung disease. I could have died at any moment, so perhaps that’s why no one took interest in me.”

“…”

“Except for His Holiness the Pope.”

Michael turned around.

It was after he had meticulously cast barriers on every crack in the door, the ceiling, and corners of the walls.

“Now even the smallest breath won’t leak out.”

Oscar, who had nodded, sat in a chair first.

Michael took a seat across from him and continued speaking.

“So His Holiness the Pope was no different from a father to me. When I was about ten, there was a fire at the monastery where I was living…”

“…”

“He saved me then too. Those scars still remain on him now.”

A small sigh escaped between Michael’s lips.

“…In the end, it was all His Holiness’s doing. Taking that small, dirty child and making him a priest, saving a life on the brink of death twice, and thus allowing this humble body to rise to the glorious position of Cardinal.”

Oscar, who had been watching the deep anguish rippling in those green eyes, casually spoke up.

“I understand well enough what kind of person His Holiness the Pope is. However, that’s not the reason Your Eminence came here, is it?”

Michael pressed his lips tightly together.

Then after maintaining silence for a few seconds, he answered in a barely audible voice.

“You’re right. I… can no longer understand His Holiness’s intentions.”

He pulled out several thick bundles of papers from inside his robes and placed them on the table.

Oscar lowered his gaze from observing Michael’s expression to look at the paper bundles.

At a glance, they appeared to be several old documents.

The ink written on the parchment had mostly faded and become blurry.

Oscar calmly picked up the document that was on top.

He could see ancient languages that had now disappeared and scripts used by small tribes before continental unification.

Oscar, who read through all of it without difficulty, muttered.

“These are stories about heretics. ‘Fluma.'”

Michael nodded with a somber expression.

“I discovered this while investigating why Sungsu follows Lady Tigris.”

“…”

“Materials that couldn’t be found even after searching the entire Empire, even after directly seeking out and asking the ancient tribespeople of the Kingdom of Sorad…”

“…”

“Came from the underground library of the Grand Cathedral, specifically from a hidden section.”

Oscar silently looked down at the document. That’s when it happened.

“Please take a look at this as well.”

Michael pushed another document from the pile toward Oscar.

Oscar quietly took the document and began reading it.

“…Kumias, the priest who freely commanded the Sacred Sprites.”

“Yes. He was a priest of the Ancient Folk Religion who was active between the region where the current Kingdom of Sorad exists and the northern part of the Empire. He was famous enough that his name was known even across the strait, but…”

“It says here that he disappeared into the sky.”

“That’s correct. It means no one witnessed his death. He literally went missing, and it seems the opinions of those who followed him at the time were divided into two.”

“…”

“One was that Kumias had returned to the embrace of god. The other was…”

“…”

“That a demon who found the priest displeasing had annihilated and sealed him away.”

Oscar silently turned to the next page of the document. Then he paused and looked at Michael.

Michael nodded and began reciting the contents written in the document from memory.

“…On the night of Janus, a man with snow-white hair like falling snow appeared and bound Kumias with golden chains. Thus he was sealed in the darkest and filthiest, yet hardest and clearest place in the world.”

Oscar set down the document.

“…For mere words created about a missing priest, this is far too specific.”

Michael nodded slightly. As silence continued in the study.

Michael spoke in a voice so small it was barely audible.

“…The Order, you see.”

Oscar raised his gaze.

Fear could be glimpsed somewhere in Michael’s face. Even so, his eyes remained calm.

“Does not publicly reveal most information about the Fratres and related matters to the world. Even within The Order, they only secretly inform high-ranking clergy, keeping it thoroughly secret.”

“…”

“Things like the times when the Fratres manifested in the past, his appearance, the revelations he gave, and such.”

Oscar couldn’t understand what Michael was trying to say.

As he tilted his head and looked down at the document again, a voice continued from across the table.

“Snow-white hair like falling snow. Golden chains.”

“…”

“The thing described as a demon in the document you saw.”

Michael’s voice was trembling.

“It’s also the appearance of the Fratres… which is unknown to the public.”

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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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