Ceres, Ceres Alkamine (2)

    Ceres, Ceres Alkamine (2)

    Ceres had no idea that the emperor had changed.

    It hadn’t been announced externally, and Ceres’s information gathering ability without Alevian wasn’t particularly outstanding.

    If she had continued to act as the regent at the Port of Kapatia, she might have been able to obtain information from the communication and transport ships passing through, but Ceres had long since left her position as regent.

    “Y-Your Majesty the Emperor… is it you?”

    “Yes. The Emperor of Katus, Amira Al Aforzha.”

    “Show your respect.”

    At Yona’s mocking words, Ceres hurriedly stood up from her seat and knelt before the emperor, Amira.

    A rather intense pain shot up from her knee as she knelt down hurriedly, almost slamming it, but in reality, such a thing was no problem at all.

    “Please rise, Elder Ceres. I didn’t expect to meet you in a place like this.”

    At Amira’s voice, Ceres slowly rose to her feet.

    She still couldn’t look the emperor in the face properly, but it was enough time to organize her thoughts in the meantime.

    “You must have been surprised. A trainee suddenly becoming emperor and appearing. Let’s sit down and talk comfortably for now.”

    At Amira’s gesture, attendants hurriedly came forward and arranged a chair for the emperor to sit on.

    Amira sat down in a chair elegantly engraved with intertwined patterns of snakes, lizards, and other beasts symbolizing Katus, and then with her gesture, Yona and Ceres followed suit and sat down.

    “Now then, Elder. Shall we hear the reason why you wanted to see me?”

    At Amira’s words, Ceres rolled her eyes and glanced at Yona.

    Originally, she had planned to say that she had received a request from the Saintess and ask for permission to resume missionary work for the Celestine Church. But now that Yona had appeared in this place, it was unreasonable to bring that up—

    ‘No, maybe not.’

    Rather, she needed to confirm why Yona had appeared in a place like this.

    Whether Amira, who had become emperor, appearing with Yona was for a simple reason or if there was another reason.

    “—Your Majesty, do you know who this… former nun of the Celestine Church by your side is?”

    Yona didn’t show any expression. But to Ceres, Yona seemed to be smiling coldly. As if saying, go ahead and talk as you please, let’s see what you’re trying to do with these words—that kind of feeling.

    “I know her as an apostate of the Celestine Church.”

    Amira answered naturally.

    She actually did know that, so it wasn’t difficult.

    “But how… She must have been in the embrace of the Celestial Deity at one time, so how can you keep an apostate, an enemy of our Celestine Church, by your side like this? This cannot be.”

    “That’s why I asked you the reason you wanted to see me. Elder, do you find my words amusing?”

    Seeing Amira’s tense expression, Ceres closed her mouth without pushing further.

    When she had seen her in the church territory, she was a weak and timid imperial princess who seemed severely lacking somewhere, but now Amira was not like that. Amira’s demeanor, telling her to stop talking nonsense and just answer her questions, was something even Ceres was seeing for the first time.

    ‘I-It’ll be alright—’

    Amira was trembling inside. If Yona hadn’t been by her side, she probably would have been visibly shaking. But Amira remembered what Yona had said.

    Ceres ends here.

    Yona, who will continue to live on, and Ceres, who will soon disappear.

    Choose one of these two—

    In fact, just thinking about having demonic energy embedded in her heart, Amira had no choice, and moreover, seeing Yona moving with the sole intention of killing Ceres, choosing another option didn’t make sense either.

    So Amira was able to steel herself. Being the emperor of a country was surprisingly helpful in allowing her to speak boldly, and besides, with Yona by her side, it didn’t seem like the Saintess of the demon realm would be weaker than a divine official of the demon realm. Above all, hadn’t Amira seen Yona instantly dissolve her family members into bloody foam?

    When weighing fear of Yona against fear of Ceres on a scale, there was no need for lengthy consideration.

    The fear of Yona easily crushed the fear of Ceres.

    “…I came at the request of the Saintess to bring the apostate back to the church territory.”

    “Ah, the Saintess— so you came all this way at Big’s request?”

    Yona, who had been silently keeping her place until then, finally opened her mouth.

    The mocking tone in her voice was somehow very irritating, and Ceres glanced at Yona.

    “An apostate should not casually call the Saintess’s name.”

    It was quite a stern statement from Ceres.

    But Yona wasn’t intimidated by those words at all.

    Ceres and Yona know about each other’s identities.

    But Amira probably doesn’t know Yona’s identity— Ceres had passed on information about Yona to Emperor Aforzha and Arami.

    She hadn’t particularly told Amira, so she probably wouldn’t know.

    Even if she did know, she would undoubtedly only know Yona as the Saintess of Berbaria.

    However, Yona’s next words were more than enough to throw Ceres off balance.

    “You’re really being ridiculous. Do you think Amira here doesn’t know that I’m the Saintess of the demon realm?”

    “…What are you saying…?”

    “And Ceres, she knows that you’re a divine official of the demon realm too. She also knows that you’re a fortune teller, and that it was you who schemed to kill me behind the scenes and ended up driving Amira’s family members to their deaths. Isn’t that right?”

    So that was the scent of blood.

    Ceres’s mind began to race quickly.

    The pervasive scent of blood in this audience hall.

    Yona’s words that all of Amira’s family members had died.

    ‘That crazy bitch ended up causing trouble after all.’

    Ceres glared at Yona.

    Yona glared back at Ceres with an indifferent face.

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but the apostate is saying such absurd…”

    “Catsy.”

    At Yona’s words, Ceres stopped mid-sentence.

    Catsy, Catsy.

    Ceres knew about Catsy too. But Catsy was a Grand Duke weaker than her— to be precise, weaker than Berbaria, and although her ability was somewhat peculiar, there was no reason for Ceres to pay attention to her.

    “You underestimated the power Catsy possesses, Ceres. You should have noticed when I mentioned the fortune teller.”

    Yona grinned and glared at Ceres.

    Catsy’s power turned out to be unexpectedly useful. Although it’s said to be a power that doesn’t work at all on opponents stronger than her, that’s only applicable to Grand Dukes, and ordinary humans can’t be stronger than Catsy. What use are swords and spears against a cat the size of a house?

    “…No way.”

    “Yes, that ‘no way’.”

    Yona’s eyes curved strangely. It was an expression that was ambiguous to call a smile, but it clearly revealed mockery directed at Ceres. Seeing that expression on Yona’s face, Ceres thought that things were going wrong. But it was already too late, and it was becoming something that couldn’t be undone.

    “The snakes of Azrami couldn’t possibly be stronger than Catsy. Put them to sleep, search their memories. Catsy can do this as easily as turning over her palm. And now Catsy is subjugated to me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

    “…Haa.”

    Ceres closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

    She should have thought of that. But Ceres was originally a powerful being, and she was in a position where she didn’t need to worry about someone like Catsy, so she naturally didn’t pay attention, thinking Yona would be subjugated.

    But in contrast, Yona was originally an adventurer. Adventurers have to face strong enemies with insufficient power from the start, and Yona was an adventurer who had survived for quite a long time, who had been around for a while. So as soon as she obtained Catsy, she made good use of her power to confirm the sins of the Azrami imperial family and— the main culprit who had inflated them with false hopes until they became like that.

    “…So, what does the Saintess intend to do? Are you going to take my head right here and now? Because I tried to kill the Saintess, I should pay for that crime with my life, is that it?”

    Yona looked at Ceres and smirked.

    “Killing you because you tried to kill me, that’s not such a trivial reason. That’s too obvious, so it’s rather insignificant. The reason you have to die here is something else.”

    “What is it?”

    “It’s because you tried to use me.”

    “…You mean the revival of the False Celestial Deity?”

    “You know it well.”

    Dark red mud began to flow from the chair where Yona was sitting, dripping onto the ground with a pattering sound.

    The floor of the audience hall, which was well-polished brown oak laid on the ground, soon began to be covered with that dark red mud, and Yona and Ceres were looking at each other with displeased expressions.

    “I don’t mind being used. I’ve used other people too. But you shouldn’t have been caught. You should have been prepared for trouble if you were caught.”

    Yona steeled herself.

    Now, today, she would kill Ceres here.

    And then think about the aftermath later.

    She had tried to use Yona to her heart’s content,

    And in the end, she had tried to use Yona’s body as a vessel for the False Celestial Deity.

    That alone was unforgivable.

    Yona smiled.

    “You, you die here today.”

    Seeing Yona like that, Ceres also smiled faintly.

    “This should be interesting. Shall we see who dies?”

    Ceres’s fingers slowly began to form hand seals, starting to emit a blue light.

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