Het remained stiffly frozen for a while. Brukisel snorted at him as if he were pathetic. He threw off his ceremonial robes and sat half-leaning against the chair. Just as Het had seen, Brukisel’s mood was at its worst.
Music praising Goddess Kaine was echoing through the Imperial Palace. Every time that dazzling music buzzed in his ears, it felt like pain was being revived. Brukisel picked up the long black bottle placed on one side of the desk.
Het didn’t know what to do as Brukisel attempted ‘that’ once again. However, he had neither the ability nor the courage to stop Brukisel. He could only obediently pour wine into his glass from the bottle placed in one corner.
Brukisel lifted the black bottle and dropped the black liquid, which reeked of a suspicious scent, into the wine. For the Emperor, the center of the Empire, to put such a thing to his own lips—watching this, Het felt complicated emotions as a citizen of the Empire.
Brukisel silently downed the wine. The sensation of what was mixed in the wine spreading throughout his body was vivid. His head dulled and his keen senses flickered out one by one, making his mind even quieter. Brukisel pressed his brow firmly. Now his noisy mind had finally cleared, and he could think normally.
He hadn’t expected hymns to echo through the Imperial Palace again. Moreover, that High Priest—to think he would really bring a sacred relic. Brukisel regretted dismissing him so completely. If he had known he actually had the ability to bring a sacred relic, he wouldn’t have demanded such a thing.
While hoping for all of Goddess Kaine’s temples to disappear, he had voluntarily brought a sacred relic into the Empire—it was the complete opposite of what he wanted.
Brukisel moistened his throat with the dark red wine while thinking of the High Priest. Unlike his young-looking appearance, he was quite skilled when conducting the ceremony. It wasn’t something he’d only done once or twice. The High Priest, who had been solemn throughout the ceremony, returned to his original bright demeanor as soon as the Blessing ended, as if nothing had happened.
“That bastard is really……”
Brukisel roughly raked through his hair. Hadn’t the High Priest definitely come to confess that he liked him? Of course, he had no intention of accepting it, but he had been looking forward to the idea that trampling on those feelings might somewhat offset the pain of his childhood.
However, as if mocking Brukisel, today the High Priest was enjoying the party with two women tucked in his arms, receiving desserts. Brukisel felt pathetic for having taken that confession seriously, even momentarily.
Was the High Priest originally this unprincipled and debauched? Even when he tried to ask, he wondered what business it was of his. The very fact that he was concerned about it annoyed him, so Brukisel decided to just stop.
“So. What are that bastard’s movements?”
“Pardon……?”
When Brukisel raised one eyebrow, Het finally realized who the Emperor was referring to. Having stayed at the temple all day long and lived a life centered around the High Priest, he hadn’t easily thought he would speak of him so disrespectfully.
‘Could it be that he drove me out…… because he thought I would go to the High Priest! To obtain information about the High Priest?’
Het wanted to say, ‘Even if my body is torn in two, I will maintain my loyalty to the High Priest!’ but…… the Emperor before his eyes knew no forgiveness, while the High Priest overflowed with mercy. In the end, Het tearfully and carefully babbled about the recent events.
In truth, Het didn’t think the Emperor wouldn’t know the information he knew. This was probably testing how much Het would speak for the Emperor’s sake. Het’s reason was devoured by tension and fear, and he began to spill even personal feelings that would belong in his diary.
The Emperor had an expression of boredom as if he already knew everything, but suddenly at a certain point, he raised his hand to stop Het’s rambling chatter.
“What?”
“Ah…… That, the story about how the King of Cana eventually left emptyhanded and lonely……”
“Before that.”
“Ah! That the King of Cana looked at the High Priest with passionate eyes……”
Het realized it was far too improper a thing to say and quietly closed his mouth. Incongruously with his large frame, he carefully covered his mouth with both hands and watched for a reaction.
“This debauched……”
Brukisel raised his voice without realizing it, then stopped upon seeing Het’s small eyes rounded. He was dumbfounded that he had gotten worked up when it hadn’t even been long since he resolved it wasn’t his business to be involved in.
This was all because of that strange High Priest. Brukisel had always had clear goals and had run all the way here for them. If he achieved just one goal, he could fulfill his lifelong wish.
Brukisel’s life, which had been so simple, had become a mess because of that High Priest. Though he wasn’t large in build, he sparkled so damnably that one had to deliberately turn one’s head to barely avoid taking him in one’s eyes.
His head throbbed. Brukisel lifted his glass and emptied it to the last drop.
It felt like the wine was insufficient. He had drunk wanting to empty his mind, but it had only become more complicated instead. Before he knew it, he was thinking again about the person who had caused this tiresome situation. Brukisel emptied the wine and dropped the black liquid into the glass again.
Het filled Brukisel’s glass with wine. When he leaned forward, Brukisel could clearly see the sparkling tie pin.
“Ha……!”
Sparkling hair came into view. So that was why he had seen many nobles wearing silver accessories of the same style today—they were accessories made using the High Priest’s hair. Brukisel let out a scoff of disbelief.
“Disgusting sight.”
To walk around wearing such accessories in his palace. Just thinking about it made his blood boil. One of those annoyingly sparkling existences was enough. He couldn’t stand the High Priest’s hair wandering around in all directions.
“Het. You’re responsible for recovering all of them. I’ll gather them all together and burn them.”
“Pardon?”
Me? I have to do it? I’m not your aide or anything anymore! Het wanted to shout that inwardly. However, contrary to his desperate feelings, he was already nodding his head.
“Get a warehouse…… No. So you can’t pull any tricks. Store them all neatly in the Empire’s treasury.”
To collect these treasures only to burn them. For Het, who had been planning to pass down his one and only tie pin as an heirloom from generation to generation, this was far too cruel a story. Should he embezzle one? He was tempted for just a moment, but unless he had nerves of steel like the High Priest who could be composed even before the Emperor, it was an impossible story to realize.
Het tearfully hoped the Emperor would reverse his decision, saying it was a mischievous joke (though there had never been such a time).
However, Brukisel merely issued an order to leave since he had finished giving all his instructions. Het had no choice but to trudge out with heavy steps. The door closed with a heavy sound. Het moved a little away from the door, then quickened his pace. Only after distancing himself from the Emperor’s shadow did it seem like he could breathe.
Now he could finally properly guard the High Priest’s side.
‘Was he alright?’
Since the banquet was in full swing, worry crept up that the High Priest might have been caught up in some strange scheme.
Of course, the High Priest possessed an extraordinary body that could survive for a week without water or food. According to rumors, he could read the future from flowers, was loved abundantly by the Goddess, and was surprisingly knowledgeable in many fields, making it difficult to see him as an ordinary human.
But the High Priest was extremely dull in unexpected areas. Though he was weak with metaphors and analogies, especially in the aspect of taking others’ words at face value, he was practically at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Empire’s gloomy high nobles.
He couldn’t leave everything to the old and diminutive former High Priest and Yan, who until recently had been nothing but a servant. Het hurriedly re-entered the banquet hall and was able to spot the High Priest at a glance. He had a somewhat troubled expression, as if caught by a noble.
Rou had been in the middle of following Brukisel when he had stopped at one noble’s earnest voice. He claimed to have worries troubling him and dared to request to hear the High Priest’s wise opinion. Rou had turned to leave after telling him to visit the temple anytime, but that noble introduced himself as the Emperor’s new aide, which was able to bind Rou’s footsteps.
Mac clasped his hands together like a devout believer and begged for the High Priest’s broad magnanimity. From outward appearance alone, he was indistinguishable from someone desperately in need of the Goddess’s help.
Rou wasn’t cold enough to refuse such pleading eyes, and especially when Brukisel was mentioned, he couldn’t take a step away. Rou looked once toward where Brukisel had disappeared, but by then he had already distanced himself far away.
No matter how fast he ran, with this body as fragile as glass crafts, he couldn’t catch up to Brukisel’s sturdy and strong physique. Rou knew this fact very well and soon postponed chasing after him to another opportunity.
Perhaps he could obtain more information from this man who had become Brukisel’s new aide.
“What is your concern?”
Mac smiled as if he had seized an opportunity. At his gesture, a servant who had been waiting behind brought a bouquet that looked heavy. It was yellow allamanda commonly seen in the south around this time. It was a flower Rou liked, as it held sweet nectar within its elongated bell-shaped petals, and it was also a flower often offered to the Goddess.
“Mac!”
This was definitely a conspiracy. Mac’s family was right at the center of those high nobles. He was clearly trying to humiliate the High Priest in front of everyone. It was cruel to the High Priest, who had only just set foot in high society for the first time.
He had to stop this immediately.
