Chapter 142: Pope Glacia Part 2

“Why don’t you want to hear it? You’re old enough, yet everything you do is useless. So what now?”

“If you entrust me with it again, I will make sure to handle it properly.”

‘Does he think this is some kind of royal succession competition?’

There’s really no hope.

“If I entrust you with it again, what? Are you planning to make me go and apologize personally next time?”

“Th-That’s…”

I thought he would mature after seeing the wider world thanks to the hero’s party, but instead, he’s just been a disappointment.

“If you just kept quiet and reflected, the position would naturally come to you. Do you desire it that badly?”

“Your Holiness, aren’t you about to appoint one of these petty men, who do nothing but argue, as the next pope?”

“Yes, that’s exactly my plan. If you had been one of them, the position would have naturally fallen to you.”

‘William may be an incompetent fool, but he is still family. Of course, I would rather see him become pope than someone else.’

‘If he had just shown some restraint, things would have worked out on their own. Why does he insist on making such foolish decisions?’

“Are you truly willing to let the next pope be a mere petty man, dragging down the dignity of the Holy Nation?”

‘Is he seriously saying that?’

He refuses to back down, no matter what.

“Hah. You certainly talk big. At least they are handling things within the walls of the Holy Nation. Unlike you, who’s been influenced by some militaristic empire.”

“That is not true.”

He’s quick with his words, but in the Holy Nation, we follow our own laws.

‘What is he even trying to do?’

“Reflect on your actions for a while. I will handle the matter of welcoming the saint myself.”

“…Yes.”

His ambition is too obvious.

‘Is this even a Holy Nation anymore?’ It feels more like a monarchy.

***

After William left, Elias, who had been carefully watching the pope’s expression, cautiously spoke up.

“What should we do now? Even if William has ruined things, that saint is completely rotten. Her mental state is…”

“Hmm…”

Yeah, she doesn’t seem to be in the right mind.

Elias isn’t the type to lie, and honestly, it does seem that way.

A corrupt saint.

And to make matters worse, she called for me personally.

“You must not go.”

“Yes, I shouldn’t. But this isn’t something we can just ignore. The blame lies entirely with that grandson of mine.”

He caused the mess, and yet I’m the one left to clean it up.

‘How long will I have to keep handling the trouble he causes?’

‘Perhaps I was wrong to send him.’

‘Maybe it was my mistake, too. If that’s the case, then this situation is my fault as well.’

There’s no point in arguing about who’s right or wrong.

“It’s best if I go. The Empire’s founding festival is approaching, and the saint is a Grand Priestess. The Emperor will summon her. If the pope who called for her just sends her back, it would be a disgrace.”

This is a troublesome situation.

If I refuse to bend my pride, we’ll be stuck with no way forward.

Elias wasn’t a fool.

She understood my decision and said nothing more.

In the end, this entire situation is playing right into that woman’s hands.

“What a shame.”

“And she knows it. That’s why she had the audacity to summon me. Perhaps she would have done so even without William’s involvement.”

Now that I think about it, this is quite a troublesome predicament.

“That… That’s true.”

“She’s quite something. Aside from that magician Noah, no one has dared to challenge me this much.”

“Even that magician never took things this far.”

Noah, the mage from the hero’s party.

Because he was with the hero, he had no choice but to be cautious around me.

But if Noah had been in Olivia’s place, things would have been the same.

“He only held back because he was in the hero’s party. But yes, she’s more formidable than he was. We’ll see how this plays out.”

I’ll know for sure once I meet her in person, but she’s clearly no ordinary woman.

***

Meanwhile, after leaving the Vatican, William gathered his closest knights.

“That damned saint. Arrogant as ever. If it weren’t for Ashtar, I would’ve put her in her place already.”

“Sir William, what should we do?”

At a knight’s question, William turned his head.

‘What else?’ We proceed as planned.

“There’s no issue with carrying out the plan. We continue as scheduled.”

“But the Imperial Saint…”

‘The Imperial Saint?’ She’s not a problem.

If anything, she’s what makes this plan possible.

That’s why I haven’t provoked her unnecessarily.

“Isn’t that exactly why we’re doing this? Ashtar will be busy preparing for a banquet to smooth things over. That’s when we’ll act. What can that woman do? She won’t dare interfere in our internal affairs.”

She can’t afford to ignore the authority of the Holy Nation.

And since we haven’t touched Ashtar’s noblewomen, she won’t be able to say a word.

“Understood, sir.”

Yes, the time is near.

It’s time to pull my grandfather down from his position as pope.

***

A day passed.

Unexpectedly, the pope himself arrived at the inn.

It was so surprising that I blinked several times.

“What? The pope is already here?”

“That’s what they’re saying.”

Still unsure, I asked again.

Syria blinked and answered, “Yes.”

She arrived much sooner than expected.

‘The pope…?’

But it was still far from over.

Right now, the pope was waiting outside.

In other words, since he had come all the way here himself, he expected me to crawl outside and greet him.

‘But why should I?’

“It’s something we need to wait and see.”

“Huh?”

Syria, for some reason, was being unusually slow on the uptake.

This was something to wait and see.

‘Why? Because it was obvious.’

“He’s not coming inside and is instead making his presence known. Isn’t that basically telling me to come out and greet him?”

I caught on immediately.

That man, who had always treated Noah like an arrogant mage, would never just accept a saintess from a rootless empire so easily.

“Yes, I suppose so?”

“And why should I?”

‘What reason did I have to go outside and greet him? For the pope?’

‘He wasn’t even the emperor of my empire.’

‘Why should I do that for the pope of another country?’

It’s not like he came as an official envoy of the empire.

If he had a problem with it, he should have just become me instead.

“But that could be an issue. Diplomatically speaking.”

‘A diplomatic issue? Who was I?’

I was Ashtar.

Besides, the emperor openly declared that I was his woman and showered me with favor.

Even if I wanted to refuse, knowing the emperor’s nature, he wouldn’t just let me go.

Which meant that even if this turned into a diplomatic incident, the emperor would clean up the mess.

Even though imperial authority was weak, the fact that Ashtar was the emperor’s mentor meant that even the Ashtar-born members of the council would have no choice but to take my side.

And then there was the Grand Scholar.

So, I was in a position to say whatever I wanted.

Honestly, I liked how I had more backing now than I did in my hero party days.

“It could definitely be seen as a diplomatic discourtesy. But think about it the other way—who would ever expect the pope to personally visit a mere inn?”

Absolutely no one.

That was the weird part.

So all I had to do was play dumb.

‘I have no idea what’s going on! This is all a misunderstanding!’ That kind of approach.

Syria glanced out the window.

Her gaze subtly lowered, probably trying to catch a glimpse of the pope outside.

“He’s standing right there.”

A quick glance confirmed it—an unmistakably grand white carriage.

It wasn’t overly ornate, but it gleamed, clearly announcing, ‘This is no ordinary carriage.’

The emblem of the papacy was engraved on it, and the horses pulling it were pure white.

“Which is exactly why I shouldn’t go out.”

“Haah… Fine. I don’t know anymore. I’ll just relay that to the nun outside.”

***

A little time passed.

Then, there was a brief commotion outside.

—”So that insolent girl really wants to push this to the end?”

I could faintly hear the pope’s voice.

He must have heard what I said, and there was a definite hint of irritation in it.

A whole lot of annoyance, actually.

Well, if he was going to yield, he should’ve gone all the way.

If he wanted to meet me, he should come in himself.

—”Saintess, the pope has personally come to see you.”

The nun standing guard outside relayed the message.

“So, he’s come in person.”

Apparently, he had come all the way to my door.

Honestly, this was quite a concession on his part.

It was extremely rare for the pope to leave the Vatican.

Not just because of his position, but also because of the people who would flock to worship him as a divine figure the moment he stepped outside.

After all, the pope was the highest authority of the Goddess Church.

He was seen as God’s representative, chosen by divine will, essentially the emperor of the faith.

For someone of such standing to move personally—it was an enormous hassle.

Regardless, I decided to let him into the room.

The innkeeper, caught off guard, nearly foamed at the mouth and collapsed.

Truly, the pope’s influence was something else.

***

“No way… I had a feeling, but did you really come?”

I had thought it was only a slight possibility.

“Hahaha. The empire’s saintess said she wished to see me. How could I ignore that? I also came to offer an apology for my grandson.”

‘The saintess wished to see me.’

What that really meant was, ‘How dare a nobody like you say you want to meet me? Let’s see that smug face of yours.’

He was probably referring to William’s incident.

Though, he was clearly taking a jab at me in the process.

Sure, apologizing for William was the right thing to do.

‘But was I really so petty as to get upset over just that?’

It might seem like I was overanalyzing things, but considering it was this pope, it was obvious.

If an emperor of an empire ever became the pope, he’d probably turn out like this.

No, actually, even that madwoman of an emperor wouldn’t go this far.

In short, his words were laced with thorns.

As expected, it was so like him.

The same pope who had once made Noah’s life miserable.

There had been circumstances back then, but still, we met again like this.

Then I had to respond accordingly.

I put on an expression of sincere regret and carefully opened my mouth.

“Oh my, I’m terribly sorry. I had no idea… I never imagined that the pope would actually come in person.”

I played the role of someone truly apologetic, lowering my stance.

Of course, only on the surface.

The pope was definitely analyzing my words.

The meaning was clear: “Did the great pope really lower himself to come all the way here?”

He understood it well, and I could see a slight twitch in his eyebrow.

“Is that so? Well, well. I thought you’d be taking your time, figuring I wouldn’t come because of my grandson. Maybe I should have let you wait longer?”

He laughed as he deliberately brought up William again, acting as if he was never going to come.

But that was just another way of saying he had assumed I’d stay locked up until he arrived.

And now, since he had magnanimously decided to come, I should welcome him properly.

‘Did he think I had no response to that?’