Chapter 169

Chapter 169: What is a God?

What is a God?
Chapter 169. What is a God?

Garnet asked Olivia with a wary look.
— How do you think Regent Ferda would react if he found out about this?
Ferda had suffered emotionally because of this scandal.
He had even agonized over whether this might inflict an absurd wound upon Valdrova.
Thinking he could not resolve it alone, he had consulted Olivia about the issue.
That meant he trusted Olivia.
However, the source of the scandal was Olivia herself.
If Ferda found out that the person he trusted was the very one who had stabbed him in the back, he would be more enraged than ever.
— I suppose there would be an issue with our trust then.
Olivia tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled.
She was calm, not like someone who feared the consequences.
— But you won’t tell him, right?
Even if one possesses a weakness, if it cannot be used, it cannot be a weakness.
Olivia already had something to believe in.
— Because the first and last contract we made stands above your loyalty.
— …….
— If you break that contract, you will dishonor your ancestors, and the credibility of the organization will completely collapse due to that action.
The first and last contract.
Garnet still remembered it vividly.
It was five years ago.
Although she was a novice leader, Garnet, a cold-minded businesswoman, managed the organization with skill.
The Black Band became known to many behind the scenes, proving that they gathered information no one else could match.
It was an ability that any wielder of power would naturally covet.
Valdemar Golt also tried every trick to bring the Black Band under his wing.
But to those who attempted to control them, they always set an example.
They showed that the Black Band was an untouchable organization.
Except for one person.
What shook Garnet was not some widely known powerful figure or an ambitious schemer.
A doll-like young girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
To the world, a single pure flower, a girl with a promising future.
It was Olivia Arken.
When they met, Garnet’s skin crawled.
She possessed mature, pessimistic eyes that no girl should have.
The words from her small, pretty mouth were:
— I know the fact that you, the Black Band, were the Empire’s Dark Department long ago.
A fatal secret that not even the current Emperor properly knew.
— So let us make a deal. I want this Empire to fall, just like you do.
That was the first and last contract made with the Black Band.
That contract ends only when the Imperial Princess or the Black Band dies.
— Besides, isn’t it more profitable for us if the relationship between you and the Regent is maintained?
— …….
— Who would benefit if we destroy our relationship over such a trivial personal matter?
— Stop acting so haughtily.
Garnet lowered her voice.
— I have observed your actions these past few days. Provoking Archduke Valdemar’s jealousy, subtly attempting to manipulate Regent Ferda. How long do you think I will overlook that?
As a third party observing from afar, she could examine the situation more objectively and closely.
However, Olivia did not falter.
— Provoking Archduke Golt’s jealousy was necessary. I had to show his ugly side so that Regent Ferda would not be deceived by his words.
She admitted to provoking the jealousy.
— But I have never tested Regent Ferda. Not even once.
— You are lying…….
— It is the truth.
Olivia interrupted her firmly.
Yet Garnet still could not believe it.
— Are you saying it is true that you intended to marry Valdemar Golt?
— Yes, of course.
Faced with the overly clear answer, Garnet was left speechless.
As the head of an intelligence group, Garnet seeks information everywhere.
She could even discern truth from lies through gestures and body language during face-to-face meetings.
That is why she is certain.
Those words—without a doubt, are sincere.
Garnet knows what kind of existence Valdemar is to Olivia.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that she lived hating and abhorring him, wanting to drive a knife into his heart.
She hated her own bloodline with the same intensity, a woman who would choose death over living as a tool for the Emperor.
There was no way she would unite as a partner with an enemy.
She could not believe that this mindset had changed.
So she grew curious.
— That person, Ferda… what value does he hold for you?
If her mindset changed, that person Ferda is the cause.
Is he worth that much?
To Garnet’s question, Olivia replied.
— Do you… believe in God?
It was a sudden question, but she answered.
— I do not.
— When I was young, I believed in God. I was a devout follower of Alte. Alte’s doctrine was so warm, so beautiful. I believed that my mother, who gave birth to me and passed away… was enveloped in His light and went to the world of angels.
She crosses her hands over her chest and smiles comfortably.
— But… I woke up when my sister died.
The smile shattered.
— Do you know what I did while my sister threw herself from the railing and the adults made political calculations?
— …….
— I went to the cathedral and prayed. According to the saint’s miracle, his daughter prayed devoutly to Alte and was resurrected within a week.
Olivia recalled that moment.
That young girl prayed with such devotion that she forgot to eat and fix her hair.
— So I thought that if I also prayed fervently for a week… my sister in heaven would return just like in the myths, with little angels beyond the cathedral’s stained glass windows.
The young girl’s dream seemed to come closer to reality each day.
— But that never happened.
Reality is always cruel.
— Alte did not answer.
Even though her beautiful hair became tangled and damaged, forcing her to cut half of it off,
Even though her kneeling legs turned deathly pale and nearly paralyzed,
Even though that little girl felt a pain too great to bear, Alte did not answer.
That day, the rose-tinted glasses of innocence the girl held shattered to pieces.
The ugly world was revealed, and the deeper she dug, the more she realized how stained with filth the world she had lived in truly was.
— If you do good, you should be rewarded; if you do evil, you should be punished. But God never punished this Empire. That was when I knew.
The words a saint must never utter.
— That there is no such thing as God.
— It is hard to believe those words come from a Saint Apprentice who reached the Fourth Circle.
— Right?
Olivia places both hands over her danjeon and puts on a happy expression.
— I thought… that perhaps I too had to give up on my dream.
The heartbeat residing within her danjeon.
No matter how devoutly she acted, Alte never chose Olivia.
— Then, Lord Ferda arrived.
The one who elevated her status to Saint Apprentice was Ferda.
— Even… when he told me to sacrifice myself, in the end he did not give up.
Her mind fills with the man named Ferda.
As she clasps her hands politely, Garnet witnesses something incredible.
“Is that… a Halo?”
The proof of faith that appears only on saints.
Thinking she might have seen wrong, she tries to observe again, but it vanishes like a lie.
— God is… an existence that responds to my faith.
Alte did not respond to all faith.
Ferda always responded to Olivia’s faith.
— He was… the God I was meant to embrace.
The ecstatic expression on her face sends chills down Garnet’s spine.
— How did you… come to be like this, Princess?
She also had unsettling aspects during their first meeting, but not like this.
As if the stronger her light became, the darker the darkness in her heart grew, she was twisting.
At Garnet’s words, Olivia smiles faintly.
— You wouldn’t understand, even if I told you.
Olivia turns abruptly and heads toward the medicine shelf.
Garnet looks at Acad and asks.
— How will you dispose of him?
— We must do it according to the law —she replied.
— Looking at this room, there are two images of Acad de Belung.
She extends her index finger.
— First, he was evil by nature, torturing and killing commoners without remorse. That means he is a typical demon follower.
Garnet knew he was not a demon follower.
But before the public, a simple definition would be needed.
In that sense, the words ‘demon follower’ make it simple and easy to incite rage.
And it is enough to damage Valdemar’s image as well.
Yet there is no way Valdemar did not know this fact.
Olivia extends her middle finger next.
— Second, a demon follower with perverted tendencies wore the mask of the good Marquis Acad de Belung and acted as his right-hand man. That way, we can prevent greater damage to Valdemar’s image.
— And the common point of both is that they can prevent the weakening of the Order of Alte’s power.
Whether a demon follower or a demon worshiper, they are seeds that should not exist in the Empire.
And it could be pointed out that it is not only religion that is corrupt.
— And both are people who do not need to remain alive.
She takes something from among the many medicine bottles.
It is an oil lamp.
Olivia detaches the oil container and places it on the table in front of Acad.
— Now go. You need to call the priests of the Order and report this tragedy to them, right?
— What will you do?
Garnet glances sideways at the oil lamp.
— I have to do purification work. Saints protect against evil and burn evil away. Even as an Apprentice, I still must fulfill my duty as a Saint, must I not?
— …….
Garnet, who knows the dark side well, knows what she is about to do.
— Then….
Garnet steps back.
Now only Olivia can move freely in the room.
She looks at Acad, turned into a doll.
She is smiling.
But that smile has no meaning; it is only empty.
— Merciful and Holy Altessi.
Her hand tilts Acad’s head back.
— Altessi, who takes pity on us, your followers, grant holy light to your faithful, so that they may repel the temptations of darkness.
She tilts the oil container into his mouth.
Yellow oil enters his mouth without hesitation.
Olivia’s prayer continues.
— Save us from the temptations and sins of the world with your light.
She dips her finger into the remaining oil and meticulously rubs his retina.
— Even if darkness falls and we are trapped in trials, make them understand that there is a lantern within you, and declare that evil is destined to perish in the end.
Olivia’s two hands grip Acad’s face.
— Purify evil with your sacred flames.
Golden flames erupt from her fingers.
— Divine Judgment.
Golden light bursts from Debelung’s body.
Fierce flames surge from every orifice of his face, burning him.
The flames roared powerfully!
Flames rising through his throat produce a deep resonance as his body trembles.
— Aah….
Olivia exclaims at the sight.
Acad de Belung, the wicked deceiver and Valdemar’s henchman, was burning in her hands.
Perhaps the vengeance she thought she would never achieve was being fulfilled by her hands.
The Circle in her chest beat wildly.
That golden light was ecstatic.
In her head, captivated by ecstasy, only one name resonated.
— Lord Ferda….
Olivia uttered that name repeatedly.
— Lord Ferda… Lord Ferda….
As if whispering into the ear of a lover she had loved for a long time.
— Your dream… I will definitely make it come true.
She offers a prayer to God.
The Empire’s morning was overturned.
Yesterday had been chaotic with the fact that the Bishop of the Cathedral was a demon follower.
Contrary to predictions that there could not be a more confusing situation, another shocking piece of news was released.
— Citizens of the Empire! Last night, another demon follower was discovered! His name is Marquis Acad de Belung! The one who discovered him is Olivia Arken, the Princess!
The agitators moved faster than anyone to spread the news throughout the Empire.
The inn where Ferda was staying was no exception.
He spent the morning listening to that incitement.
“He chose the side that damages the image the least.”
Ferda knew that agitator was Valdemar’s man.
As soon as it reached the ears of the Order, they built a response scenario and moved in an organized manner by morning.
It was an execution capability that could not be easily brought down.
— Regent, a guest has arrived.
Arwen’s expression shows bewilderment.
Without needing to be told, he knew who it was.
— Tell them to come in.
— Huh? Ah, yes…!
Arwen went back down, and soon the sound of footsteps of a group ascending the stairs was heard.
An elderly man enters through the open door, taking the lead.
His expression was a sight to behold.
Like the sugar that adds sweetness to bitter black tea.
— Welcome, Archduke.
— ……You have done something quite interesting.
Without acknowledging the greeting, he enters and sits wherever he pleases.
— I do not know what you refer to.
Ferda feigns ignorance and raises his teacup.
— From what I hear outside, it seems your close assistant did something even more interesting?
Valdemar’s iron face distorts.
It was a perfect scene for morning tea time.