Chapter 52
“Oh my, you’ve arrived. Come this way, Duchess.”
A melodious voice, like rolling pearls, echoed through the garden.
Alice flinched at the Empress’s voice, as beautiful as Baroness Meltain’s, before stepping under the gazebo.
“I pay my respects to Your Majesty, the moon of the Empire.”
“Duchess, please be seated.”
“…Thank you.”
Seated, Alice slowly raised her gaze to meet the Empress’s face.
[She was indeed a woman of ethereal beauty, worthy of being called the lily of high society. Despite her age, her elegant appearance hadn’t faded, comparable to Sienna, who was like a blooming rose.]
This was the description of the Empress from the book.
And Alice thought to herself.
That description failed to properly capture the Empress’s beauty.
If Baroness Meltain was a flower yet to bloom, the Empress before her was in full blossom.
Golden hair as if spun from gold and amethyst-like violet eyes.
The unapproachable, elegant aura emanating from her was enough to captivate anyone’s soul.
No wonder people were fooled by her angelic appearance.
Alice gazed at the Empress with calm eyes.
Eyes that didn’t waver at all.
Considering how she had fallen for Kylus’s handsomeness and used her holy power in the past, this was incredibly surprising.
Alice was extremely susceptible to beauty, after all.
But no matter how beautiful the Empress was, she absolutely couldn’t fall for her.
In the world of the book she had read, the Empress was the person she wanted to avoid the most.
There was only one reason for this.
Lariella Pentium, Empress of the Pentaum Empire.
She was the world’s greatest sociopath and the ultimate villain.
Readers were as shocked as the protagonists at the twist revealing the Empress, whom they thought was an angel.
Some readers even found it hard to believe.
But later, everyone recoiled at the Empress’s revealed evil deeds.
The Empress had used her beautiful appearance to maintain a web of secret lovers, using them as her chess pieces.
Even Hasis, whom Alice had seen yesterday, was one of the Empress’s hidden lovers.
The Empress had killed countless people to make her son the Emperor.
First, she killed the previous Empress and the First Prince. Then, she killed Kylus, who had become a war hero, for not supporting the Second Prince, and destroyed the Dearrut ducal family.
Afterwards, she killed the factions supporting the Third Prince and even Baroness Meltain’s close associates.
The number was too many to count on both hands.
But was it because she was blinded by love for her son that she did such things?
That wasn’t the case either.
Empress Lariella’s ultimate goal was to place her incompetent son on the throne so she could rule as regent.
In the end, even her own son was just another chess piece for this woman.
A woman who thoroughly used everyone except herself.
That’s why she was called the sociopathic villain of the century.
In fact, when she was just a character in a book, Alice had sometimes thought of her as a woman with incredible ambition.
The problem was that this world was now Alice’s reality.
That’s why she wanted to avoid this person at all costs.
“You are truly lovely, Duchess.”
Alice felt goosebumps rising at the Empress’s smooth smile.
“…It’s nothing compared to Your Majesty’s beauty. You flatter me.”
“Not at all. You really are adorably charming. No wonder the Duke doesn’t want to let go of such a lovely woman, who even saved his life.”
“…Pardon?”
Alice’s golden eyes trembled slightly.
It was because of the strange words mixed in with the Empress’s compliments.
Did she just say ‘saved his life’…?
As Alice was wondering if she had misheard, the Empress’s red lips parted.
“Oh my, you seem surprised. I should have mentioned it earlier, but I actually know everything.”
The Empress leaned towards Alice.
A low whisper, as if sharing a secret, resonated across the table.
“That you saved the dying Duke with your holy power.”
Gasp.
She hadn’t misheard.
The Empress wasn’t simply saying that a miracle had occurred for Kylus due to her prayers.
Her holy power.
She knew the fact that Alice had saved Kylus with holy power.
How on earth…?
Alice was so shocked that her breath caught in her throat.
“…!”
The Empress smiled at the pale-faced Alice and straightened her posture.
“Despite appearances, I have quite good sources of information. The Duke, whom everyone said would die, survived, and I heard quite an interesting piece of news from the temple.”
The Empress dropped a sugar cube into her teacup. While stirring to dissolve the sugar, she continued speaking.
“The Duchess wants to become a priestess. And she knows how to use holy power.”
“…”
Ting-
The clear sound of the Empress setting down her teaspoon rang out.
Using that sound as a backdrop, the Empress continued her unfinished story.
“When I first heard that story, I didn’t think much of it, but as time passed, I grew suspicious.”
“…”
“The Duke, who had shown no signs of improvement for over six months, regained consciousness after the Duchess was brought in. And the Duchess actually had holy power. Thinking about it a bit deeper, I naturally came to wonder: could it have been the Duchess’s holy power that saved the Duke?”
The Empress’s gaze, which had been looking down at her teacup, now focused directly on Alice.
Feeling chilled by those gleaming violet eyes, Alice tried to deny it.
“…Your Majesty. I don’t have that kind of ability…”
“Then after meeting the Duke, I became certain.”
However, as if not hearing her words, the Empress cut Alice off.
“…What?”
Surely Kylus didn’t tell the truth…?
“Because the Duke protected you. Isn’t it strange? You’re the daughter-in-law brought in by Quillian, who is the Duke’s political opponent. For him to protect someone like you, unless the Duke had gone mad, there must be a reason.”
“…”
“So I became certain. That the Duchess possesses a very special ability.”
Having finished her long explanation, the Empress smiled at the stone-still Alice.
Then, very leisurely, she picked up her teacup and took a sip of the sweet tea.
Contrary to Alice’s brief doubt, Kylus had not told the Empress the truth.
But that wasn’t necessarily a relief.
Even though he hadn’t told the truth, the Empress had figured it all out.
At this point, denying it wouldn’t work; the look in the Empress’s eyes made that clear.
“Have some tea. Sweet things tend to help one relax.”
The Empress gestured towards the tea with her eyes.
But Alice didn’t touch the teacup.
Everything related to the Empress made her uncomfortable.
“…Your Majesty, why did you want to see me?”
Knowing that her holy power was extraordinary, there was no way the Empress had called her just to see her face.
The Empress was known for her cold personality, never dealing with people unless they were useful to her.
Since Alice couldn’t avoid this situation, she needed to know for certain.
What the Empress, or rather, this world’s villain, was thinking.
Sensing that Alice had no intention of drinking the tea, the Empress set down her cup and spoke.
“I called you here to grant your wish.”
“My wish…?”
“I heard that becoming a priestess is your wish. I’ll grant that wish. I’ll persuade the Duke to send you to the temple.”
On the surface, this seemed like a much better offer than Kylus’s.
Alice wanted to go to the temple, and the Empress was offering to make that happen.
It was essentially giving her exactly what she wanted.
But Alice wasn’t happy.
No, she couldn’t be happy.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
The Empress definitely hadn’t called her just to grant her wish.
Hadn’t Kylus also offered to give her whatever she wanted in exchange for staying by his side?
And the Empress… was even more dangerous than Kylus.
Even now, there was no emotion in those violet eyes looking at her.
Neither affection nor hostility, they were chillingly devoid of feeling, as if looking at an object rather than a person.
Alice, maintaining her guard, replied.
“…And what do I need to give Your Majesty in return?”
“You’re quite perceptive, more than you look. I like that even more. I don’t particularly care for people who can’t read situations and are naive.”
“…”
“Alice, I will make you the next Pope of the temple.”
“…Pardon?”
Pope?
For a moment, Alice doubted her ears, but the Empress continued calmly.
“There’s only one thing you need to do. Become Pope and support the Second Prince as the next Emperor. That’s all I want.”
The Empress finished speaking and curved her lips into a smile.
Though the Empress spoke as casually as if asking for a piece of candy, her words were dangerous enough that Alice’s life could be at risk right now.
Although the Pentaum Empire worshipped Helios as its state religion, the temple and the imperial family were separate.
The imperial family couldn’t interfere with the appointment of the Pope, which was the temple’s exclusive right, and the Pope wasn’t supposed to get involved in power struggles within the imperial family.
Yet the Empress had just proposed to overturn this law in one fell swoop.
As if it were nothing.
But it didn’t seem like she was speaking so carelessly out of recklessness.
When she first brought up the topic of Alice’s holy power, she mentioned hearing an interesting story from the temple.
The fact that Alice was going to become a priestess should have been kept strictly confidential by Prion, not leaked outside.
The fact that she had heard about it meant the Empress had people inside the temple.
And not just some low-ranking priest.
So if Alice went to the temple, the Empress could really build the power to make Alice the Pope.
It would cause a tremendous storm within the temple.
And Alice would end up in an adversarial relationship with Prion.
Just a moment’s imagination of this scenario left Alice breathless.
