The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 134

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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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134.

“What brings the Minister here?”

Despite the unexpected situation, Wesley Morel opened his mouth confidently without showing any signs of being intimidated.

“His Holiness the Pope personally told me that before investigating this place, I must receive permission from the person in charge of Riedern.”

Of course, the Minister also opened his mouth as if he had been waiting for those words.

“It means His Holiness trusts Your Grace very much.”

“Really? His Holiness sent the Minister here in advance because he trusts me?”

Wesley asked back, deliberately pretending to be moved.

“Of course, it means His Holiness the Pope will broadly embrace even the Saint’s affection for the Clupea Margrave.”

It was really smooth groundwork.

But since this was Wesley’s stage, I decided to watch the situation while suppressing my restlessness.

“Oh my! So His Holiness said that since I came, I would definitely receive permission!”

“That’s right! Finally Your Grace is understanding His Holiness’s heart.”

The Elder Priest looked at Wesley with a face that seemed ready to shed tears at any moment.

“How much we worried all this time, everything we said was for Your Grace’s own good, yet you questioned whether each thing was the will of the gods.”

He then brought up Wesley’s usual behavior in a negative light, demonstrating excellent topic-diversion skills.

Of course, Wesley wasn’t one to fall for such things.

“Oh my, Wesley has always known well how much His Holiness cherishes me.”

His smile became very pretty.

“That’s why the First Empress, oh wait, she’s the Fourth Consort now, isn’t she?”

At the same time, the Elder Priest’s face flinched slightly.

“Anyway, when she requested the subjugation of magical beasts, he initially said he would step forward, but when he heard a dragon appeared, he said he couldn’t send me out.”

Through such direct words, Wesley reminded them of past events when the Temple acted honorably.

The Elder Priest momentarily hardened his face, but soon looked bitter as if looking at a thoughtless grandson.

“Why bring up past events again? No parent can win against their child…”

The Elder Priest fidgeted with his wrinkled hands.

“In the end, didn’t His Holiness listen to Your Grace’s wishes? As you said, he cherished you so much that even if it looked unseemly, he had no choice but to make that decision.”

It was a way of speaking that showed his age wasn’t gained for nothing.

“And this investigation is the same. Hundreds of years ago, the Temple verified that Riedern was land that shouldn’t be touched.”

The Elder Priest continued speaking and let out a deep sigh.

“Nevertheless, because Your Grace wanted it, didn’t we carefully dispatch even an investigation team like this?”

He looked at Wesley like a child who didn’t understand his heart.

“Please don’t misinterpret His Holiness’s intentions one by one, and accept them favorably, Your Grace.”

In an instant, he had torn down Wesley Morel’s image.

As if dealing with someone arrogant and selfish.

‘Is it okay to act like that?’

He’s still the Saint that the Temple puts forward…

The way the priests picked fights with Wesley on the way here too.

The reason the Temple is deliberately cutting its own flesh is surely—

“Aaaahhh!!”

“Kuhuk!”

Just as I thought that, with perfect timing, loud screams came from inside the abandoned mine.

Bang, rumble—!

Following that, sounds of something exploding and collapsing echoed, and several people rushed out of the abandoned mine with confused faces.

Even those who came out later were in such panic that they could barely walk properly and almost crawled out.

The Elder Priest, who had been confronting Wesley, also clearly showed agitation on his face and approached the people who came out.

“What happened?”

When the Elder Priest reached out his hand to comfort them, one of the investigation team members grabbed his sleeve tightly.

“M-Minister.”

“This place, this place won’t do…!”

They shook their heads vigorously and acted like people who had seen something they shouldn’t have.

‘…But there was nothing there?’

Casian and I had thoroughly searched it for days.

It was just an ordinary abandoned mine, and people wouldn’t be able to approach the side with Gaia’s gift to me—the cafe.

In fact, no intruder alerts came to the scroll wrapped around my wrist.

‘How can they act so obviously?’

When I glanced at Wesley, he also had a disgusted expression.

Unlike me who watched from outside, Wesley who lived inside seemed to read their psychological state more clearly.

“Brothers, don’t panic like that and tell us step by step.”

“That’s right, since the Saint is here too, you don’t need to worry so much.”

Meanwhile, the priests who came with the Elder Priest comforted them and guided them to tell their story.

The one who came out first grabbed the Minister’s sleeve and trembled as if truly frightened.

“We walked step by step while checking the map Your Grace sent. There were several forks in the road too. The, dr, dragon’s…”

After saying that, the man glanced at Wesley.

As if afraid of offending him.

“It was around where the shoulders begin. Su-suddenly goosebumps rose all over my body…”

“An evil aura…! It was a wicked aura, without a doubt.”

As the man trembled and barely managed to continue speaking, a novice priest who followed behind shouted loudly as if finally coming to his senses.

“Although I haven’t been in the Temple for long, I’m certain! That was an evil aura!”

“Th-that’s right. Still, since Your Grace said it wasn’t something evil, we tried to endure and go see, but then…”

The man gasped for breath while staring blankly into space as if lost.

“Such a thing shouldn’t exist…! I even thought Your Grace might have been bewitched by something!”

Once the scheme to turn the abandoned mine into a horror spot gained momentum, other people began to chime in as well.

Evil, wicked, can’t even think of purifying it, don’t know how far the ominousness extends.

It was filled with such words.

The Elder Priest restrained them several times, saying they shouldn’t speak like that and should respect Your Grace.

Still, they couldn’t calm their agitation and even looked at the Elder Priest resentfully.

“Of course, of course. I understand your feelings. It’s not that I don’t believe what you brothers are saying, but…”

In the midst of this, the Elder Priest seemed like someone fighting hard.

To somehow accommodate Wesley’s wishes.

“Isn’t this a place Your Grace cared about to spread teachings widely and embrace others… Please rest and calm down a bit.”

Just as the Elder Priest opened his mouth once more to comfort them.

“This won’t do, Minister!”

“What do you mean by that, brother?”

The attending priests who had followed Wesley to Riedern’s capital stepped forward.

“…Because you are Your Grace, because you are the precious Saint recognized by the Temple, we endured.”

“That’s right, but we think we can’t turn a blind eye to someone who has already been bewitched by something wicked.”

At the attending priests’ words, the Elder Priest made a horrified face and waved his hands.

“You mustn’t say such blasphemous things! Don’t you all know how precious Your Grace is!”

Then the attending priests stepped forward and spoke.

“Are you telling us to just watch as innocent other brothers get hurt while trying to protect Your Grace like that!”

“How much has the Temple endured all this time because of the reason that you’re the Saint—”

Thud—!

The moment the attending priest said that, the Elder Priest stomped his foot with a terrifyingly angry face.

“How dare you speak of such a precious person like that!”

“Minister!”

Then the attending priest approached him, lowered his body, and even knelt.

“No matter how precious someone is, if they’re going down the wrong path, isn’t it our role to correct them!”

“Even so, you shouldn’t act like this! In a place where so many people are watching!”

But it seems like the Minister himself is the one emphasizing that.

I watched that serious situation and thought to myself.

To think they would go to such lengths to publicly bring down Wesley.

‘The reputation that a saint holds, and the existence of a saint who defies the temple. It seems they’ve finished weighing these two options?’

When I looked at them with a cynical gaze, Casian slightly turned his body to block my face from others’ view.

As if to say I could focus solely on this situation without worrying about other things.

And after exchanging a few more words that cast suspicion on Wesley, the Attending Priest now shouted with his eyes turning red.

“If my words are lies, you may excommunicate me!”

The atmosphere stirred at the word ‘excommunication.’

The Attending Priest took a deep breath, glanced once at Wesley, then turned back to the Elder Priest and spoke desperately.

“Saint Wesley Morel…! Has been bewitched not by the temple, but by a heretical group!”

“It’s true, not just us but others have clearly seen it too!”

The other Attending Priests who had bowed down beside him also nodded and shot glances in our direction.

And at that sight, Casian Artez deliberately displayed a sharp aura toward them.

“Look at that! Aren’t those the eyes of cornered people!”

“Now the temple must finally clear its grievances…! Minister! Why should we turn a blind eye to heretics because of His Holiness’s reputation!”

“Oh, oh my…!”

Even though the Elder Priest immediately scolded them saying it wouldn’t do, they acted as if they were truly wronged.

It was the climax.

“Minister!”

“Please make a decision…! We know what His Holiness has conveyed.”

“Of course we know that you, Minister, have cherished His Holiness more than anyone…! But now is not the time to just protect him.”

At the Attending Priests’ words, the Minister let out a deep sigh while rubbing his face as if truly troubled.

He even appealed with an expression asking how he could cut down someone like his own child.

But the Attending Priests had fierce expressions as if they possessed righteous conviction.

“…Must it really come to this? If we cover this up—”

The Elder Priest opened his mouth as if he could no longer stop them,

“Minister, do you intend to abandon all the civilian investigator volunteers and young novice priests who came trusting the temple!”

“Moreover, if His Holiness is truly a saint, shouldn’t he be able to prove it! Rather, being defensive like this will raise suspicions that the temple has put forward a false saint!”

At the Attending Priest’s outcry, the Elder Priest looked toward us as if he could no longer block them.

“Given this situation, this old body can no longer protect His Holiness.”

Then the Minister quietly opened his mouth.

“—Those heretics, no, those whom His Holiness cherishes must receive the gods’ judgment together to prove themselves.”

In an instant, many investigators and the Sacred Knights they brought surrounded us fiercely.

As if they would drag us away immediately.

The gods’ judgment.

That was the highest punishment of heresy trials that had been practiced in temples since ancient times, from which no one was known to have survived.

Since everyone knew what it meant, silence fell instantly.

But at that moment, a familiar voice broke the quiet and shouted.

“That would be rather troublesome, Minister.”

It was the First Prince, Charli Artez.

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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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