TCIWTFY - Part 2 Chapter 116

Valdina Palace.

The palace was busy preparing for the wedding.

With the death of the Queen Mother, only Peleus and Medea remained in Valdina.

Since there was no royal female to officiate the wedding of the princess-to-be, the Valdinians were more cautious in their actions to avoid making any mistakes.

"Put that here, and put that in the box! Make sure to prepare it water proof just in case it gets damaged."

Madame Pinatelli, the chief maid of the imperial household, was very upset as she harshly reprimanded the court ladies.

"I wonder if Her Highness the Young Princess will be able to get along well in that unfamiliar Katzen. I can't help but feel uneasy."

"Don't worry too much. But since Her Highness's husband loves Her Highness so much, shouldn't it be okay?"

The old maids looked at the piled-up gifts for the First Prince and said.

"Even though his father, Emperor Katzen, is against it, the First Prince does not give in at all. The Katzen Imperial Family's connections are all taken care of by the First Prince's faction."

Regardless of social status, marriage is the same everywhere.

If your husband is a strong pillar, you won't be easily shaken by any storm.

But they knew from life experience that if things were the other way around, even the strongest walls would crumble from the roots.

While Valdina's court ladies were busy preparing for the Princess's wedding.

The Princess's palace was preoccupied with entirely different matters.

"Your Highness... a messenger has arrived."

Saya approached Medea quietly.

She could immediately recognize the target from her unusually hesitant demeanor.

"Is it from Theo?"

Saya nodded.

A few days before Medea and her party left the kingdom, an unexpected guest visited Medea.

It was Theo.

The virtuous boy knight had become even bolder than before.

"Your Highness... I have something to tell you."

After staring at Medea for a while, he spoke in a trembling voice.

"I'm sorry, but I can no longer prove myself to those who cry out for faith. Go away."

Medea gave the order to banish the guests with her usual indifferent face.

Theo bit his lip.

Every word that the Princess of Valdina uttered seemed to pierce his heart with a cold chill.

"...You know that too, don't you?"

"What?"

"You felt it. I know. You were the only one who recognized her cunning."

Medea paused.

"Are you talking about your Saintess?"

"She is not my Saintess."

Theo's answer was sharp and clear as a blade.

Even she was momentarily taken aback by that decisiveness that left no room for doubt.

'I feel like I should say that.'

This irresistible feeling of his body moving before his head still haunted Theo.

If he hadn't been so irrational, he might have knelt at the Princess of VaIdina's feet and paid his respects the moment he saw her.

No, it felt like it had to be that way.

Awe and affection welled up in his heart, as if a stray dog had finally found its true owner.

'These are not my feelings.'

Even in the midst of the chaos where reason and emotion were acting separately, Theo knew exactly what the problem was.

"I want to find out the truth about the Saintess."

What Theo held out was a small fox-shaped badge.

"The young awakened priest who was by the side of Saintess Rachel has recently disappeared. No one is looking for him."

"It's strange, Noah has disappeared. Since he met the Saintess. Sob, sob. No one listens to me, Sir. Sob, sob..."

The last person the little priest, who had narrowly escaped danger when Rachel was fabricating the fake oracle, visited was Theo.

"We have always believed that when the Saintess appears, the Holy Nation will restore justice and the world will be saved. But what is the reality?"

Theo continued.

"The Holy Nation has become more arbitrary, the monster waves are becoming more and more violent, and a dark and ominous aura is spreading through the temple rather than a holy one."

"..."

"I don't think that's a coincidence. And you must feel it too. Is the Saintess we believe in really a 'Saintess'?"

Medea broke Theo's expectations with her indifferent voice.

"How would I know that? Don't you think you're looking for the wrong people? You should look for the Pope or the High Priest."

"Did you not see anything? Am I the only one who felt their ugliness?"

Theo's eyes turned red.

His voice was filled with despair, as if even the last bastion he had believed in had collapsed.

"I have barely escaped the shackles of sacrifice, but I do not wish to be branded as a wicked woman who has even bewitched a paladin."

Medea passed him by without a second thought.

"I have nothing to do with those who do not even dare to confirm the truth of the justice they proclaim."

Theo, who had been stabbed in the back, lowered his head without saying anything.

It was when he, staggering and collapsing, was no longer visible.

"This is Noah's."

Kensington approached Medea.

"Are you talking about the subordinate you sent to the Holy Land?"

What she was looking for was the fox badge that Theo had left behind.

The dried blood on the badge was a sinister color. Kensington's face hardened.

"Yes. I was thinking it was strange because the chimney was cut off, but eventually..."

He had a gloomy expression.

"What happened to the request to find out about Rachel?"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. I haven't found any clues yet. It seems that only Theo, the paladin, saw something different."

If only he had discovered the Saintess's strangeness, which even the most astute of scribes had failed to notice.

"Maybe so."

"Your Highness, if Rachel is not truly a Saintess, why should she sacrifice the priests?"

Kensington asked curiously.

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough."

Medea shrugged and glanced in Theo's direction.

"It seems like you realized it yourself this time."

Theo, the book of weightlifters.

Even if he took the first wrong step, once he recognized the mistake, he was sharper than anyone else in digging into the truth.

As if he had grasped the reality of weightlifting.

And not long after, Theo contacted Saya with this message:

[Saya. I witnessed Saintess Rachel brainwashing the priests and turning them into her servants. It seems to be black magic.]

The letter written on parchment had the obvious appearance of having been scribbled in a hurry, perhaps to avoid the Saintess's eyes.

[This could put the continent in danger. If you will forgive my foolishness, please tell the Princess about this.]

Rachel uses black magic?

Medea's index finger tapped the table.

The black magicians, who based themselves on the darkness of the beginning, were in opposition to the holy nation that supported the goddess who tried to extinguish that darkness.

The Saintess the continent had been waiting for was actually a black magician. This is something that could turn the Holy Nation upside down.

'So Rachel's divine powers could be fake.'

Certainly, in her past life, the only time Rachel displayed her full powers was when she first appeared on this continent as a Saintess.

After that, Rachel, who became the Empress of Katzen, left the holy country and rarely used her powers.

Frequent monster waves. Holy power that is only displayed at coincidental timing.

Moreover, the black light flashing from Rachel's body that Medea had seen with her own eyes...

"If the source was actually black magic, then the devil would fit."

Medea's eyes sparkled sharply.

***

Princess Valdina's Palace.

"Priest Anastasia, can I leave this here?"

Anastasia, the Pope's chief priest, followed Medea and her party to VaIdina at the Pope's order.

She was now helping the palace maids move the ceremonial weapons that had arrived as gifts.

"No, you must not touch that seat. It would be better to move it in a box, as the consecration would be incomplete."

At that moment, Anastasia raised her head at the shadow falling over her head. It was Princess Medea.

"Priest Anastasia."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was this late..."

She was also given the task of teaching Medea the doctrines of the temple.

It was a mandatory ritual for the imperial family to perform ceremonies at the central shrine, which was the core of the old religion.

"No, you said you would skip class today. I have something I would like to ask the priest separately."

"To me...?"

Anastasia looked puzzled.

The beautiful Princess remained calm throughout the entire journey, even after Anastasia arrived in Valdina with her companions from the Holy Land.

It was the first time she had asked herself something.

"Ask me anything you want."

Since the person she was serving was friendly to the Princess anyway, Anastasia planned to answer anything she could.

"Is there anything among the sacred relics of the temple that can be found to have been tampered with?"

The Princess added softly.

"Like black magic."

"Did you say it was black magic?"

Anastasia tilted her head.

'You are curious about the black magic that has almost disappeared from the continent?'

Well, wasn't she the Princess who hunted the sacrifice herself instead of following the oracle in the first place? Of course, her interests were different.

"Hmm.. Among the relics in the central temple, there would be the Covenant Cup..."

The Covenant Cup is a twin cup, one made of gold and one of silver.

The gold symbolizes the protection of the male god, and the silver symbolizes the life force of the goddess.

It meant forming a sacred bond by drinking holy water from each cup.

"It is said that since it is a holy relic blessed by the goddess herself, if someone tainted by black magic touches it, the filth will not be hidden and will remain."

As she was the Pope's right-hand woman, she knew the inner workin mgs of the temple that ordinary priests were unaware of.

"Ah. And there's also the Mirror of Origin."

Anastasia frowned as if recalling a memory, then clapped her hands.

"It is said that the sacred relics stored in the Hall of Mirrors reflect the true nature of all things. Whether wearing a mask or a helmet, it reveals everything. That is why, during the Holy War, our knights used these sacred relics to catch the traitors who hid in the Holy Land."

"Are both relics still valid?"

"Of course it is valid. However, it has been so long since the Holy War was fought that it is hardly used anymore, so no one except for the elderly priests will remember it."

And Anastasia added proudly.

"Furthermore, the current Holy Land has become incomparably stronger than it was during the Holy War, so it is not a place where evildoers can easily hide."

"..."

Medea didn't try to break that belief.

"But Your Highness, why do you ask that..."

"Ah. I have something to ask you about the wedding preparations."

Medea bit her lip as if she were hesitating for a moment. Her expression of hesitation was clear.

"But I was worried that I might be causing more trouble than His Holiness has already shown me..."

"No, His Holiness has told us to react to Your Highness's wishes as much as possible!"

Anastasia waved her hand.

There are many who become arrogant by relying on the authority of the Pope, but this Princess was consistently humble and prudent.

As a believer, it was perhaps natural to feel fondness for such a person.

A strange light appeared in Medea's green eyes.

'Let's try it, Rachel.'

Is it really true that it was divine power that has supported you until now?

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