The Obsessive Male Lead Is Obsessed With Me! - Chapter 165
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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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Episode 165
“Y-Your Majesty the Empress. Is it really alright to do this…?”
Eve, who had secretly guided the two people here while avoiding other priests, stood beside Cecilia and Lionel with an anxious expression, watching the Pope and Cardinals nervously.
However, the Pope and Cardinals didn’t even notice Eve’s presence. The appearance of the Emperor, Empress, and the stone tablet was so unexpected.
“Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Majesty the Empress. How did you come to find this place?”
“Why did you bring that stone tablet all the way here…?”
“More importantly, a religious trial is currently being held here. Since it’s a secret trial, please leave this place.”
“But I’m the victim, aren’t I? Then whether it’s a secret trial or whatever, I should be able to make a plea for the perpetrators, shouldn’t I?”
“What? A plea?”
The Cardinals looked at each other with bewildered faces. After confirming they hadn’t misheard, one of them asked Cecilia as their representative.
“Did you speak correctly just now? So… you wish for lenient punishment to be given to these people?”
“That’s right.”
“H-How can that be?”
“It’s a bit long to explain…”
Cecilia’s gaze turned toward empty space for a moment. After being lost in thought for a few seconds, she soon looked at Nicole and spoke.
“To be honest, I think I was able to marry my husband smoothly because Bishop Nicole said the oracle was hers at that timing.”
“But Your Majesty the Empress, if Nicole hadn’t extorted it in the first place, the oracle’s existence wouldn’t have been exposed to the outside.”
“If we get into that, the story will become very long… Can’t we just end it by saying that I, as the victim, have decided to forgive them?”
“No.”
The Pope answered firmly.
“These two people committed the sin of going against God’s will despite being in holy orders. This is heavier than any other sin in the temple.”
“That’s not right. As a result, I became pregnant with a child blessed by God and my husband ascended to the supreme position. Perhaps God had already considered that these two would act this way?”
Cecilia’s sophistry that even the two people going against God’s will was God’s will sounded quite plausible.
While several Cardinals were flustered, saying ‘This too was God’s will…?’, the Pope answered firmly once again.
“I understand that Your Majesty the Empress wishes to show mercy to these two people. However, if this trial ends with a not guilty verdict, there might be others in future generations who extort others’ oracles.”
“What I want isn’t the two people’s acquittal, but a reduced sentence. Oh, speaking of which, what punishment were the two originally supposed to receive?”
“They were to receive the maximum sentence. The punishment of going to the barren land and offering prayers to God for the rest of their lives.”
“The barren land?”
Cecilia exchanged glances with Lionel briefly, then asked the Pope.
“What exactly is this barren land?”
“The barren land that the temple refers to means a place where faith does not exist.”
“Where is this place where faith doesn’t exist?”
“A place without temples, without priests, and without believers.”
“I see…”
Cecilia rolled her eyes as if pondering something, then raised her hand high and said.
“I’ll withdraw my request for a reduced sentence.”
“What?”
“Instead, may I recommend the barren land? I know a place without temples, without priests, and without believers.”
“Where is that place?”
Cecilia smiled brightly and said.
“The Frost Border Baekryeong.”
* * *
The Frost Border Baekryeong, which was originally the Rotman Border Baekryeong in the North Mountain Range area, had become ruins due to the monster wave, then changed to the Frost Duchy and hadn’t been a livable city for very long.
But it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that more than half of the people who moved to the duchy were magicians or people related to magic. It was natural that rebuilding the collapsed temple was pushed down in priority in the duchy where making a living was more important. Basically, magicians have weak faith.
‘That doesn’t mean there aren’t any believers at all, but…’
How would people in the capital know the circumstances of that place, which had a new lord appointed and was now changed back to a border baekryeong?
I won by stubbornly arguing that how could there be believers when there are no temples or priests.
Thus, Seige and Nicole received the punishment of having to offer prayers to God for the rest of their lives in the Frost Border Baekryeong until they died.
“Excuse me, Archbishop, Bishop.”
After the trial ended, I came outside and called the two people to stop.
“Your Majesty the Empress. We have been excommunicated and are no longer clergy. It is not proper for you to address us that way.”
“Yes. Please call us by our names.”
Following Seige, Nicole said this and hesitated with her lips before kneeling in front of me.
“Though it’s late, I will apologize now. I’m truly sorry. For daring to commit the sin of extorting Your Majesty the Empress’s oracle…”
“As I said before, that’s really okay.”
I sincerely thought that thanks to Nicole claiming the oracle as her own, I was able to marry Lionel smoothly.
It’s a bit regrettable that our newlywed life in the north ended after only six months, but anyway, didn’t everything work out well in the end?
Moreover, I felt indebted to Nicole.
‘If I hadn’t asked Nicole to secretly inform about the truth of the rebellion incident in the first place, she wouldn’t have been cornered like this…’
Also, that wasn’t all.
“Speaking of which, I actually have something to apologize for too.”
“What? To me?”
“That… you know the alchemist’s notebook. I stole it.”
Nicole looked surprised at my careful confession.
“You were the one who took it, Your Majesty the Empress? How on earth?”
“I had someone help me. The thing is, no matter how I thought about it, the recipes recorded in that notebook seemed too dangerous, so I burned it. I’m sorry.”
For me, it was an unavoidable choice. I had seen the future where Nicole would use the recipes written in that notebook to brainwash Lionel.
But this was my circumstance. I sincerely apologized to Nicole.
“It was your mother’s keepsake, wasn’t it? I’m truly sorry for burning it without permission.”
“N-no, that…”
Nicole seemed very surprised by my confession and couldn’t say anything while flustered.
But soon she shook her head.
“No. I was also planning to burn that notebook once the palace affairs were finished. As you said… there were too many dangerous medicines.”
Nicole, who had shown a bitter expression, soon smiled comfortably.
“Rather, I feel relieved. I had been wondering what happened to that notebook all along. Thank you for telling me the truth, Your Majesty.”
It was a very impressive smile for me, who had a strong memory of her being dragged around by the Former Empress in the palace.
“Then you forgive me…?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then let’s call it even between stealing the oracle and stealing the notebook. Since we’ve forgiven each other, neither of us owes anything!”
“But Your Majesty the Empress, we cannot put God’s oracle and my personal belongings on the same level…”
“Ah, I don’t know, I don’t know!”
Covering my ears with both hands to avoid hearing Seige’s words, I asked Lionel, who was standing a step back behind us.
“Rio, are you finished writing?”
“Yes. Here it is.”
“Let me see… Mm, well written!”
As expected of my husband! Even writing impromptu without a desk, his handwriting is excellent.
After checking the content, I handed the document Lionel wrote to the two people.
“Take this with you when you go to the border baekryeong.”
“What is this?”
“It’s a letter of introduction. That place is where we originally lived, right? If you show this to the person written there, they’ll provide you with a lot of convenience.”
In fact, the barren land in general terms wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call an empty field.
A punishment where, in a place with no one to help, you must somehow be self-sufficient in clothing and food while only offering prayers.
However, the Frost Border Baekryeong was called a barren land but was actually a proper town where people lived. Moreover, it was a city that would develop much more in the future.
Therefore, His Holiness the Pope said he would triple the number of supervisors originally assigned to the two people. To monitor them so they wouldn’t enjoy comfort and prosperity unbecoming of their status as sinners.
“We just agreed to call it even, didn’t we? I’m really okay with it, so I hope you two don’t drive yourselves too hard as sinners and live a little more comfortably.”
When I sincerely held both their hands tightly, Seige asked me with a complicated expression.
“Why are you doing so much for us?”
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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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