The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 141

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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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【Chapter 141】

The returning holiday.

“I hear the Temple has been quite chaotic lately.”

Instead of visiting the Vincenheim Mansion, Rianel and Asil were strolling through the commercial district.

Though they had floated the idea of establishing a National Church to the Emperor through the Princess, they didn’t want the divided Temple factions to be absorbed into the National Church.

‘That would only lead to strengthening the Emperor’s authority.’

Rianel’s goal was to fragment the Temple piece by piece to pluralize religion.

Only then could they prevent the birth of a second Temple.

‘While also checking on the progress of my revenge.’

Rather than betting everything on a frontal assault, Rianel was conducting her revenge by inducing the opponent’s reactions while minimizing risks on her side.

To do this, she needed to gather information flawlessly and constantly monitor how situations were unfolding.

Since this entire process had to be covert, the two stood on the street in shabby clothing without escorts.

The thin, patched clothing provided no warmth, but since the weather wasn’t severely cold, it posed no problem for walking.

“Should I give you my coat?”

“Your current attire also appears to have lost its insulating properties long ago, making that proposal impractical.”

During their days as teacher and student, Rianel and Asil had not been wealthy.

Going out to the Academy marketplace dressed like this and mingling among people was familiar to them.

Walking side by side, the two looked exactly like a young married couple or lovers.

Of course, there were occasionally people who stopped and looked back at them.

The restrained gestures characteristic of well-educated people and the soft hands of those who had never done rough work caught the attention of perceptive observers.

“….”

However, those gazes scattered when the two picked up street food.

The street vendors were selling skewers made from chicken gizzards threaded on sticks.

This was food for those who couldn’t afford even chicken, the cheapest meat, and was slathered with pungent sauce to mask the fishy smell.

It was food that those raised in privilege would rarely touch.

Yet the two were eating it without any concern.

‘Those people can’t possibly be nobles.’

The onlookers smiled, assuming the two must be commoners, and their smiles turned to indifference as distance grew, eventually dispersing.

Rianel felt the scrutinizing gazes withdraw one by one and looked down at the skewer in her hand.

During her teaching days, she had eaten this often because it was cheap, but after becoming Empress, she had intentionally avoided it.

The nobles would whisper that it was because she was an orphan whenever she made minor mistakes, and eating habits marked by poverty were good ammunition.

The sweet and salty sauce smell she encountered after so long was much more pungent than she remembered.

Rianel suppressed her desire to taste the skewer and added defensively.

“This is nutritionally inadvisable food.”

“But isn’t that why street food is consumed in the first place?”

Is that so?

Succumbing to temptation, Rianel brought the tip of the skewer to her lips.

The sharp sweetness and spiciness that burned her tongue was more intense than she remembered.

Asil waited until Rianel had finished the entire skewer before asking.

“Shall I buy more?”

“If there’s stock available, please do.”

‘Your tongue is honest.’

Asil paid the merchant and received several more skewers to hand to Rianel.

This time Rianel didn’t refuse. Asil’s lips curved up slightly.

Rianel transferred the finished skewer stick to her other hand and began walking again while eating a new skewer.

“By the way, how is the Temple situation progressing?”

“Just as you predicted, Master.”

Asil continued while glancing around cautiously.

No one was paying attention to them now, but it never hurt to be careful.

“The Temple excommunicated Cardinal Janol, and Janol left the existing religious order with his supporters.”

There were more followers of Janol than expected.

This was because there had been no cardinal in the religious order as sincere and incorruptible as him.

His supporters were raising their voices, claiming that the Pope had no authority to excommunicate and that cutting out an incorruptible person proved the Temple’s corruption, growing their influence.

“Janol’s faction is considerable, so civilians are calling Janol’s group separately from the existing religious order.”

The religion Janol established separately was called ‘New Church,’ while the existing order was being called the ‘Old Church.’

“Then the Temple claimed that Janol had no teaching authority.”

They argued that only they had the right to interpret and teach the lessons and messages contained in scripture, making Janol’s actions an overreach of authority.

In response, Janol brought up the doctrine of universal priesthood.

“The claim that under the one God, all are equal children of God, so anyone can pray for others or teach doctrine.”

His position was that teaching authority could be held by anyone who read scripture, so there was no problem with Janol acting as a priest, interpreting and teaching doctrine.

“Then another side effect occurred. The number of factions calling themselves New Church rapidly increased.”

As everyone became able to interpret God’s word individually, people establishing churches and calling themselves pastors increased in each province. Some even declared themselves completely independent religions.

The Empire hadn’t been entirely free of cults or other religions.

However, until now they had operated secretly while watching the Temple’s reactions, but now they could openly reveal themselves without facing sanctions.

This also meant the Temple had weakened considerably.

“…Hmm.”

Rianel looked at the white building visible in the distance.

The space that should have been bustling with crowds coming for donations or confession every holiday was shrouded in quiet silence.

The Temple, recently weakened and now facing internal strife, seemed to have no capacity to concern itself with external matters.

‘How interesting indeed.’

Thus, the two continued walking and stopped in front of another stall.

“The most popular among the new religions is Daechung Church… Oh, would you like some ale?”

Having consumed five skewers in succession, Rianel needed something to wash away the pungent taste of the sauce.

“Yes.”

Rianel accepted the wooden cup the merchant offered.

True to cheap street ale, it was watery and low in alcohol content. Still, considering it as an alternative to water from the poorly maintained sewage system, it was reasonably drinkable.

“But what exactly does Daechung Church refer to?”

“Ah, that’s—”

Just as Asil was about to explain.

A sound caught Rianel’s attention.

A strange religious gathering where one person led and several others chorused a single word in response.

Rianel turned her gaze toward it as if entranced and encountered a bizarre scene.

“All shall believe.”

Whatever!

“There shall be blessings.”

Whatever!

When a man in ordinary clothes shouted, the people behind him cried “Whatever!” like a slogan while trembling their tightly clasped hands.

The scene overflowed with frivolity rather than seriousness.

Even two people in the back row were chatting among themselves.

To dismiss this as a simple fanatic gathering, the participants lacked any sense of seriousness.

‘What is this…?’

As Rianel’s eyebrows twisted, Asil swallowed laughter disguised as a cough and explained.

“It’s ‘that’ religion that’s currently trending.”

Since it was a religion Til had created as a joke, the converts also approached religious activities lightly, with no one actually considering it a formal religion.

“Then why is it so popular?”

“People need plausible justification to avoid responsibility, and it’s a useful religion for such occasions.”

For instance, it was used to skip unwanted events for religious reasons or to refuse donation requests on religious grounds.

‘Like its name, the doctrine seems quite hastily made too.’

Rianel was dumbfounded, but simultaneously caught by a strange emotion.

The Temple, which had held the position of absolute faith, was being mentioned alongside Daechung Church and dragged down to a secular level.

The same religion that once made the Emperor stand outside the castle gates in a blizzard and kneel for three days and nights.

‘How interesting.’

Perhaps this too was part of the process on the path of revenge to bring down the Temple.

“More ale, please.”

And so Rianel spent a leisurely holiday eating nutritionally unbalanced food.

* * *

While Rianel found this situation interesting, there were those who found it unpleasant.

“A National Church?”

Yuna frowned, and the maid’s shoulders shrank.

However, when her superior asked about the outside situation, she couldn’t lie in her report or brush it off carelessly.

The maid inwardly cursed her luck for drawing the short straw and being assigned to serve Yuna, then carefully continued speaking.

“Yes. Former Cardinal Janol has taken control of the branch churches in the provinces, and the number of clergy supporting this and wanting to merge with the National Church is increasing.”

Yuna stared into space, speechless.

She immediately understood what this situation meant.

‘Does he think he’s Luther or something?’

Why is he carrying out a religious reformation?

‘And what’s this Daechung Church?’

Yuna gnawed at her nails.

Despite being holed up in her room, Yuna grasped the general flow just from listening to the maid’s report. With crisis approaching, her mind began working rapidly.

‘Though relations with the Pope have soured recently, it’s still better to have the Temple around for now.’

Recently, Yuna had been realizing that the Emperor was not someone she could trust.

So that the Emperor couldn’t easily abandon her.

At least until she became Empress and solidified her position, the Temple needed to hold out.

But the situation wouldn’t wait for her.

‘This happened… it’s all because of that man.’

[Why did you kill my master?]

In this Empire, there was only one person who would harbor clear resentment toward her.

When she traced the Daechung Church’s biggest patron, the name of Asil, the sub-male lead, came up.

‘At this point, isn’t he not even trying to hide his involvement in this matter?’

Asil had essentially made a public declaration that he would stand on the opposite side from Yuna.

Yuna thought it was highly likely that Asil was also the one who had gathered the Temple’s human experimentation documents and arranged for them to be delivered to the Emperor.

Among the characters she knew, no one else had that level of capability.

‘Certainly, the situation is unfavorable to me.’

The moment Asil published those documents, the Emperor would declare a State Church and bring the Temple crashing down.

That would mean Yuna’s support base would crumble.

‘But there’s still a way to stop it.’

Yuna clenched her fists to suppress her anxiety. Cold sweat pooled in her palms.

‘I just need to persuade Asil, who must be holding the original documents. Then I can turn the tables.’

Yuna muttered to herself as if to calm her unease.

‘I’m the protagonist of this world.’

I was the one who killed the original female lead and took her place.

‘It’s natural for the protagonist to get a happy ending.’

Of course, to steer things in the direction she wanted, intervention was unavoidable.

Yuna left the Imperial Palace wearing a pulled-down hood.

Arriving in front of Asil’s mansion.

Having called Asil out, Yuna asked accusingly without even common greetings.

“All of this, it’s your doing, isn’t it?”

“That’s correct.”

Asil answered calmly.

He was so honest it seemed almost shameless.

“However, I don’t understand what has so angered the Saint that she would come all the way here. Would you explain?”

Yuna couldn’t continue speaking and breathed heavily where she stood.

Though she had resolved to persuade Asil without getting angry, the leisurely attitude characteristic of one who had cornered her and was now observing grated on her nerves.

“Look at the Empire. It’s overflowing with heretical sects and heretics everywhere, and if that’s not a problem, what is?”

“Heretical sects.”

Asil rested his chin on his hand and tilted his head slightly.

“What do you consider to be heretical sects, Saint?”

“Well, everyone who belongs to religions other than the Temple—”

“That is truly narrow-minded thinking. You cannot definitively say the Temple’s doctrine is perfect, so why do you define other sects as heretical simply because they’re different?”

More importantly, even real heretical sects often had doctrines that weren’t strange in themselves.

Religion needed to attract people to get started. Where in the world would you find people drawn to doctrines filled with nonsense?

“The Empire has no state religion. Therefore, we cannot punish Imperial citizens simply for having different faiths.”

Surprisingly, heretical sects weren’t illegal in the Empire.

They only became subject to punishment if they used religion to deceive people and extort wealth, or induced them to commit criminal acts.

If religious groups that engaged in such behavior were defined as heretical sects, the Temple couldn’t be free from that either.

Yuna fell silent.

She wasn’t particularly eloquent, and she had come intending to persuade Asil through emotion rather than logic.

But now that strategy was blocked.

‘What, what should I say?’

Yuna didn’t know what to do and only moved her lips slightly.

“If that’s all you came for, I’ll head inside first.”

Then, the moment Asil turned his back.

Feeling despair at her failed persuasion and anxiety about running out of time, Yuna stepped forward on her tiptoes and grabbed Asil’s sleeve.

Being in a hurry, she ended up blurting out the main point first.

“Do, do you hate the Temple so much that you’re doing this?”

“….”

“Answer me. Are you doing this because you despise me and want revenge on the Temple that took your master away?”

Asil smiled.

“You misunderstand. I actually rather like the Temple.”

“That’s, that’s a lie—”

“It’s the truth.”

Asil removed Yuna’s hand.

As if brushing off something dirty that shouldn’t be touching him.

Yuna was the one who had taken away his god, so she was indeed a being lower than vermin.

However, Asil sometimes showed mercy to vermin.

Especially when he could watch them crawl on the ground begging for a scrap of mercy.

Asil looked down at Yuna. So he could fully take in her face.

“So I hope there will be more temples.”

So that the Temple could fragment into many small factions and disappear.

“You’re, you’re insane….”

Yuna staggered.

Only then understanding Asil’s purpose, anger and fear rose vividly in her eyes.

Asil didn’t explain further.

He simply maintained an enigmatic expression.

And for good reason.

‘From the moment I started this affair, there was only one thing I wanted.’

Which was.

Now fight each other.

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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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