I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 189

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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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Les Temple in the North District.

A luxurious carriage pulled by four horses stopped in front of the entrance.

Black muddy water splashed onto the marble steps.

Soon the carriage door opened and a man in long priestly robes stepped out.

It was Cardinal Paul.

“They’ve built quite a grand temple for an idol.”

He muttered with contempt in his voice as he looked toward the temple’s main gate.

“Come now, everyone move aside!!”

“What are you all doing! Holy knights, this way!”

Five accompanying High Priests were dispersing the bustling crowd.

Between them, a fully armed holy knight order quickly rushed in.

“Is this the place?”

The Knight Captain who had approached Paul asked.

Paul gestured toward the entrance with his chin.

“That idol is inside. The official documents have already been sent several times, so we can proceed with the demolition immediately.”

The Knight Captain nodded and gestured, causing the formation to split in two.

The knights approached the main gate with orderly movements.

People coming out of the temple backed away from them with frightened faces.

“By order of His Holiness the Pope. We are demolishing an unauthorized false idol.”

The knights all bowed their heads in unison.

One knight stepped forward and threw open the temple doors.

Soon the magnificent interior was revealed.

The Knight Captain’s gaze turned to the goddess statue rising majestically in the center.

“That’s the object. Demolish it.”

The knights nodded.

Several with explosive-type abilities stepped forward from the back.

Just as they were about to step into the temple.

“What’s going on here?”

A woman blocked the path of the imposing knights.

The knight froze in place, startled.

He glanced back at the Knight Captain, then spoke in a stern voice.

“We are His Holiness the Pope’s direct holy knight order. We received a report that there is an unauthorized idol here…”

Then Paul, who had been in the back, stepped forward.

“I’ll handle this.”

Paul looked down at the small woman in front of him with a displeased expression.

“It’s been a while, Lady Laurent.”

Then Estelin responded with a bright smile.

“Indeed it has, Your Eminence Cardinal.”

Paul suppressed his rising irritation at that composed smile and took a breath.

“I didn’t know Lady Laurent was residing at Les Temple. It would have been better if you had come to our Grand Cathedral to express such deep devotion.”

“Hmm, what do you mean?”

Paul lifted his lips in a crooked manner.

“Isn’t Les Temple led by Lady Tigris, who became a saint through improper means? Its legitimacy falls far short of the Grand Cathedral.”

“But wasn’t it His Holiness the Pope who appointed Lady Tigris as a saint?”

“That was! Unavoidably…!”

Paul bit his lips hard. Then he pressed his temple and continued.

“Enough. I didn’t come here to exchange unpleasant jokes with Lady Laurent.”

He raised his head and gestured with his chin toward Fluma’s statue sitting prominently in the center of the temple.

“We came to demolish that thing. Please cooperate.”

“Ah…”

Estelin looked back at the statue. Then she answered cheerfully.

“I’m sorry Your Eminence, but that would be difficult.”

And she continued gently.

“Just how long do you plan to keep hiding it?”

Paul flinched and stared at Estelin.

Then he glanced back at the holy knight order behind him and lowered his voice.

“Lady Laurent. What are you saying now…”

“Do you happen to know what my brother’s and my dream is?”

Estelin took a step forward. Paul reflexively stepped back, unable to hide his bewilderment.

Estelin continued with the same gentle smile on her face.

“To punish you with our own hands.”

“…”

“Because you cursed our mother.”

Paul’s body stiffened and his complexion gradually turned pale.

“Did you think you could hide it forever?”

“…La, Lady Laurent.”

“We weren’t staying quiet because we didn’t know. Even knowing, even knowing… we were just enduring it.”

Estelin lifted the corners of her mouth with a somewhat gloomy expression.

“We won’t demolish that statue. This temple was originally built to worship the god Fluma anyway.”

At those words, murmuring erupted from among the holy knight order in the back.

“What did she just say, Fluma?”

“Wasn’t Les Temple a temple that worships the god Fratres?”

Paul, who had been frozen, finally snapped back to his senses.

“Wh, what are you saying! How dare you speak so shamelessly before me about worshipping a false god-!!”

However, he soon closed his mouth.

And he stared at the ground with wide eyes.

“Wh, what is this…”

The marble floor he was standing on was distorting into bizarre shapes.

When he raised his head, the surroundings were the same.

The Knight Captain looking at him with surprised eyes, the carriage, and the temple entrance were all strangely twisted.

Only Estelin remained in clear form, looking directly at him.

“I’m really so grateful to Selene.”

Estelin spoke in a calm but chillingly gentle voice.

“For entrusting your interrogation to our House of Laurent.”

With those final words, Paul felt a heavy impact on his body.

Paul tumbled backward helplessly and barely managed to get back up.

In the meantime, everything around him had completely changed.

In the stale air, something like the smell of blood stung his nose.

Paul turned his trembling gaze to look around.

Iron cages, iron cages, and more iron cages.

Dim candlelight flickered occasionally from stone walls without a single window.

Just as his lips were trembling.

“It’s been a while, Paul.”

A familiar voice rang out from behind.

Paul hesitantly turned his body around.

“I believe this is the first time since the day you came to see Kione.”

Duke Laurent stood there looking at him with cold eyes.

“What were you thinking?”

Paul looked at the Duke with difficulty through swollen eyes that barely opened.

“Were you planning to install a puppet king and wield influence from behind the scenes?”

“….”

“Is that why you tore the innocent previous imperial family to shreds like that?”

Before his eyes, there was no trace of the always composed Calypso Laurence.

The furious voice echoed back after hitting the cold stone walls.

Something that could have been blood or cold sweat trickled down Paul’s forehead.

“…Right. You won’t confess easily.”

Duke Laurent’s cold voice rang out. At the same time, one of Paul’s wrists twisted grotesquely.

“Ugh, aaaahhh—!!”

He screamed with his eyes wide open.

Blood dripped steadily from his completely mangled right hand.

The air surrounding his hand rippled strangely.

That was Calypso’s ability, ‘Refraction.’

It was the power to twist and rearrange space.

That power, similar in principle to teleportation circles, had been usefully employed until now to move armies, weapons, or Calypso himself somewhere else.

But this time was an exception.

“P-please, let’s talk this through with words. You can’t treat me like this without any evidence!”

Paul cried out desperately but soon shut his mouth with a choking sound.

A fierce light flashed in Duke Laurent’s eyes.

“Only answer what I ask. Next time I’ll break your neck, not your wrist.”

“T-that’s…!”

Paul trembled and swallowed his scream.

It felt like bright red lights were flashing in his head.

‘…Complete ruin.’

He hadn’t expected Duke Laurent himself to come out and kidnap him in the middle of the Northern District of the Empire.

To begin with, it was puzzling how Lady Laurent knew the details of that incident from over ten years ago.

Paul quickly recalled in his mind the people involved in ‘that incident.’

Empress Grace, and Duke Belmart, that woman’s father.

‘We’ve been at odds with them for quite some time now, so that doesn’t matter.’

The problem lay elsewhere.

Then Duke Laurent’s voice was heard.

“I’ll ask again. What was the reason for cursing Kione? Who is behind you, and what was the purpose of committing such acts?”

Paul’s lips trembled.

Yes, back then.

The temple had needed the imperial family’s power.

Because they had to quickly expand the Order’s influence in the Empire, and furthermore devour the continent and the world.

Paul had thought it would be best to make some kind of deal with the previous imperial family.

He thought he could persuade Emperor Jesper to give and take what each other needed,

and tacitly allow the Order to gain more power….

“Jesper and Sharlina won’t do.”

“Pardon? But Your Holiness, what other method could there be? Rather than cause unnecessary conflict, forming an alliance through persuasion would….”

“I’m saying an alliance with them is impossible, Paul.”

“….”

“The current imperial family are those who are fundamentally at odds with us. Just know that much.”

Paul closed his mouth.

Having been kidnapped to this place, his future was obvious without even looking.

Duke Laurent would continue torturing him until he confessed everything.

His trembling eyes gradually calmed. A resolute look appeared in his gaze.

Paul glared intently at Calypso then suddenly closed his eyes.

At the same time, a crunching sound echoed through the cold prison.

Dark red blood gushed out between his tightly closed lips.

The knight standing beside Duke Laurent cried out urgently.

“Y-Your Grace! This man has taken his own…!”

Paul smiled bitterly in his fading consciousness.

‘I devoted my entire life to the Order….’

For The Man, and furthermore for Fratres, the absolute being of this world.

‘A faithful life. This much, this much is enough….’

He would maintain his integrity to the end.

But Paul’s eyes soon slowly widened.

Something warm was flowing through his throat and into his mouth.

When he raised his head, he saw Lady Laurent looking down at him with an expressionless face.

“T-this….”

Paul stammered in a terrified voice.

His half-severed tongue was completely reattached.

An indescribably immense fear washed over him.

Estelin, who had withdrawn her high-purity healing power before his eyes, spoke.

“Don’t think you can die easily. I won’t let that happen.”

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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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