“History books record that Dilte lived for over a century, but that’s wrong. Dilte actually closed his eyes before reaching fifty. Since severe cavities caused inflammation to spread to his brain, he must have been extremely fond of sweets.”
Rou spoke sharply as if he still got off easy.
If he’d fought through battle, won, and taken the honey, he probably wouldn’t be this angry. After all, nature was a place where the strong survived, and beehives often became prey for bears and birds. But they took honey after enduring bee stings and winning through hardship—they didn’t cowardly rob an empty hive.
Burglary was low quality.
Jes made a surprised face. He was already used to the High Priest pouring out knowledge in unexpected fields. What surprised him was none other than the High Priest’s tone. That he, who was benevolent and kind to all humans and even embraced the mad Emperor with love, would speak in such a thorny tone.
“That’s not the end of it. He’s known to have unified weights and measures and created pulleys, contributing to the Southern Kingdom’s development, but that only remains in documents. Why do you think no artifacts have been discovered yet! The currency and pulleys never existed in the first place!”
Rou got a bit excited and poured out his words rapidly. Since it was the first time speaking at such length, he felt a bit dizzy and short of breath after finishing. Rou slowly regulated his breathing and finished drinking the golden beverage in his hand.
After Rou’s words ended, his surroundings were quiet for a while. Though it was deep, narrow, and biased talk, that kingdom had long since perished, and its ending wasn’t beautiful, so no one claimed to be its descendants. Therefore, in today’s Empire, the High Priest saying such things was not problematic at all.
“You’re truly remarkable.”
The Count simply admired the High Priest’s knowledge.
“Exactly as you said! Dilte’s achievements tend to be greatly overrated. As you mentioned, the ruins that emerge are insignificant compared to the recorded achievements, so I too have been thinking it might have been exaggerated by later generations.”
“Right?”
Rou was glad to finally hear negative words about Dilte. If he’d heard words defending that honey thief, he might have gotten truly upset.
“Yes! Of course. Didn’t the Southern Kingdom perish due to a popular uprising in the first place? There’s plenty of room for descendants to have manipulated records to cover up such mistakes.”
“An ancestor who stole honey that bees worked hard to collect—how would his descendants be any different?”
The nobles admired Rou’s erudition. There were those who regretted not studying in advance if they’d known the High Priest was interested in ancient history. The ancient history that had been utterly boring when the Count spoke it sounded like a minstrel’s thrilling song when it borrowed Rou’s lips.
Even afterward, the Count only provided objective information about Dilte, but since he wasn’t a virtuous ruler, it was mostly slander. Rou listened to that story with sparkling eyes and occasionally burst into laughter.
“Really? Such a thing happened to Dilte? I didn’t know.”
“Yes. Judging from the remaining ruins, there’s a high possibility he suffered from stomachaches until the day he died. Epidemics were frequent in those days. Some days he must have spent more time in the toilet than working.”
At those words, Rou laughed, showing his pure white teeth. His soft-looking lips curved, and his eyes drew a crescent moon. At that moment, even the beverage sloshing in the cups stopped, and the low notes of string instruments stretched endlessly. Not just the Count, but everyone in the banquet hall felt the same emotion.
Through such conversation with the Count, people began to gradually understand what kind of person the High Priest was.
A High Priest who was astonishingly beautiful, benevolent to everyone, and extremely erudite in all fields.
There wasn’t a single unattractive aspect to the High Priest. Even those who had only sent exploring glances from afar had now approached and were hovering around the High Priest.
The Count was a good shield, but the effect didn’t last long. Since he wasn’t originally skilled at conversation, the Count soon ran out of topics and didn’t know what to do, then had his place stolen by another noble who had been waiting behind.
“Wait…”
Jes was pushed by the surging crowd and moved a bit away from Rou. No one wanted to miss this precious opportunity to face the High Priest up close. Everyone who gathered desperately wanted to see the High Priest’s face even one step closer.
“High Priest. Please look at this.”
The one who seized the next opportunity was a Viscount notorious for being quick-footed. A sparkling silver pendant emerged from his bosom. Rou blinked his eyes a couple times at the familiar-colored hair.
“A farmer from my territory offered this to me. At first I thought he was spouting lies, but when I heard stories from other territories, apparently everyone who visited the temple received this precious item.”
The Viscount subtly omitted that he had no choice but to pay an expensive price to obtain this. While doing so, he glanced at the High Priest. Though he didn’t say it directly, he was suspicious of his tenant. His thinking was that there was no way such a precious thing would be given to a mere farmer.
Since it was also what the Viscount and other nobles were most curious about, the nobles craned their necks and waited for the next words to come from Rou’s mouth.
“I’m giving gifts to believers—is that a problem?”
“Oh my, no! It’s not a problem! It’s just that it seems too valuable an item for a mere commoner to possess…”
Rou’s clear brow furrowed. When the High Priest, who had only been benevolent and kind, frowned, the impact was considerable. Those around the Viscount moved several steps away, fearing they might be lumped together with him, and condemned with their eyes the one who made careless remarks.
“The Viscount tends to take his words and actions too lightly!”
“Indeed! You must consider time and place. How can you so disrespect before the High Priest those who worship the same Goddess Kaine!”
“Viscount, do you not know the passage that before Goddess Kaine, we are all like children?”
Rou had only narrowed his brows, but the Viscount was instantly surrounded by other nobles and verbally beaten. However, his words and actions had been quite reprehensible, so there was no compassionate feeling to rescue him.
“You’d better return the gift I gave to its owner.”
Rou spoke in quite a firm tone. The Viscount became tearful and walked away with powerless steps. Even watching his drooping shoulders, no one comforted him. All the connections he’d built up had completely crumbled with one expression from Rou.
After that, people threw countless questions at Rou. Rou’s eyes mainly sparkled when talking about Goddess Kaine, her scriptures, and ancient history.
But what the nobles were really curious about wasn’t the stuffy old stories already recorded. What they were truly curious about was the very existence of this unbelievably beautiful High Priest before their eyes.
Dietary preferences and reading tastes. The music he enjoyed and his favorite scripture passage. And even whether he preferred to sleep on the left or right side of the bed. Countless questions came and went. It was as if they would learn everything about Rou.
“Well. I seem to enjoy sweets. I most enjoy reading scriptures. My favorite passage is…”
A favorite scripture passage. It was a question he’d never once thought about. Rou pondered briefly, then spoke the first sentence that came to mind.
“Behold the dark clouds rolling in from afar. You will face the lightning shining within them.”
Rou’s words had considerable resonance, making the noisy nobles shut their mouths for a while.
“Ah. And did you ask about my bedroom?”
But it was only for a moment.
At the gaze full of curiosity, Jes felt dizzy. Whatever answer came from the High Priest’s mouth, it would never spread from mouth to mouth in a beautiful form. As rumors tend to be, there was a greater possibility it would be passed on in an unwholesome way.
Jes made eye contact with a musician he was acquainted with. The musician immediately understood the situation from the sight of the High Priest surrounded by nobles and picked up his bow. He exchanged glances with his colleagues.
Before Rou could answer, a waltz began. Jes succeeded in diverting not only the nobles’ attention but also the High Priest’s. Rou naturally dropped that topic.
“The song has changed from earlier.”
Since the High Priest wore ceremonial robes, he was quite unsuitable for dancing a waltz. Thanks to that, people couldn’t ask Rou to dance and paired up among themselves to move to the center of the hall. Though the nobles looked regretful, they hurried their steps, afraid of earning the stigma of having no partner.
Jes visibly relaxed and guided Rou to a sofa placed in a corner. Humans had as many questions as newly born honeybees, and having answered them without rest, Rou was a bit tired, so he leaned against the plush sofa and watched the humans dance.
‘No matter how many times I see it, it’s a fascinating dance.’
Bees occasionally danced too, but that was a signal sent when telling each other where honey was abundant. The humans’ waltz, danced solely for the purpose of dancing, was very refreshing.
Watching the dancing humans reminded him of when he was a bumblebee, making his bottom wriggle, but human dances had different forms from bumblebees and quite complex sequences, so Rou quickly gave up.
Instead, he searched for Brukisel with his eyes. If he danced in Rou’s place, it felt like it would be extremely satisfying. Brukisel’s physique looked stronger and firmer than anyone else’s in Rou’s eyes, pleasing him, and his face was aesthetically excellent too. The dance he performed would probably be something different.
But unfortunately, he too just sat on the throne with a bored face. Rou’s heart sank. Did no one want to dance with Brukisel? He was very worried.
Rou made quite a serious expression. At the sublime face as if worrying about the nation, Jes wondered what troubles the High Priest was carrying. He couldn’t dare ask.
“Does Brukisel not have a partner? I should do it for him!”
Jes thought it was truly fortunate that only he heard the High Priest’s following remark.
