Everyone within the hall was stunned, and so was I.
‘…I’m not tripping, am I?’
Staring in the direction of the Saintess, and then turning my attention to the other Saintess, I rubbed my eyes again.
‘Yes, I’m not.’
There were indeed two Saintesses.
But most importantly.
‘That weird reporter was the Saintness…?’
That… it made absolutely no sense to me. Why in the world would she want to disguise herself as a reporter? Not only that, but was it truly a coincidence that she sat next to me?
‘Wait, what about those weird questions that she asked me?’
I started to shudder.
“I can understand everyone’s confusion.”
Bringing the hall to a calm, the Saintess walked forward towards where we were. Her calm demenour and voice made it seem as though she had everything under control.
Eventually, she reached the front, stopping before the other Saintess.
With a gentle smile, she rested her hand on the other Saintess, as a soft white glow surrounded her. Gradually, the features of the other Saintess shifted, transforming her into an entirely different person. Her hair was dark brown, and her eyes were green with soft freckles marring her face.
In the time it took for me to take a breath, her disguise was completely gone.
The crowd looked at the scene in shock as the real Saintess turned her attention towards them.
“There aren’t two Saintesses. She was just pretending to be me.”
Realization dawned on a few while some others frowned. I could tell why they were frowning. Firstly, they were probably curious as to why she would do something like this, and secondly, they were apprehensive about the fact that they couldn’t see through her disguising abilities.
I was also surprised to see Delilah look confused.
‘Looks like it even fooled her.’
Just how strong was this Saintess?
“I understand that a lot of you have a lot of questions, and I’ll explain soon. For now, however…”
She paused, turning her attention to the reporter, who had now regained composure. Her expression grew slightly serious as her gaze shifted to the nearby Templars.
“Apprehend him.”
Her words were final. There was no rebuking her words.
The moment she gave the order, the guards immediately moved to apprehend the reporter.
“Wait, what…! What’s going on? What are you doing!? I’m just a regular reporter!”
“Sure you are.”
The Saintess covered her mouth, giggling.
“…Unfortunately, I am almost certain my eyes aren’t deceiving me. You truly are a spirit user, just as the young man claimed.”
“What, no!”
The reporter trashed around, in an attempt to get away from the guards, but could he really escape from their grip?
Obviously not.
Eventually, he was detained by the guards. Regardless of how much he resisted, the guards wouldn’t budge.
“Let… let me go!”
“Search him.”
As the Saintess gave the order, the guards immediately started searching his body all over.
“Here.”
That was when they eventually managed to find a small bracelet resting on his wrist. It was a black bracelet with intricate gold carvings that looked just like any regular accessory.
However, the moment the guard eyed the bracelet, the reporter grew flustered.
“No, wait! Don’t! That’s my—”
“Stop resisting.”
The guard quickly reached for the bracelet and retrieved it.
Swooosh!
The moment the guard retrieved it, a powerful surge of mana burst out from the ‘reporter’. Immediately, the crowd grew rowdy, with many eyes falling on the ‘reporter’ and mumbling things like, ‘So it was true? What sort of situation is this…!? Quickly, report this!’
“Haha.”
The Saintess laughed in amusement as she reached for the bracelet and took a good look at it.
“A mana-suppressing bracelet.”
Beyond the amusement, there was a certain glint in her eyes as she turned to face the Emperor of the Verdant Empire.
She tossed the bracelet in his direction.
“It seems like the security is rather lax here, isn’t it? Before coming here, I was thoroughly checked by the guards for any artifacts or items. And yet, something like this managed to slip in?”
She gave the Emperor a meaningful look. One that even I was able to understand, and had understood before.
‘It’s as I expected, whoever is working with the ‘reporter’ must be some big shot that managed to create a hole in the security, allowing for something like this to occur.’
But who…?
Who exactly was the one responsible for this?
“It looks like I’ve embarrassed myself in front of the Saintess.”
The Emperor smiled, putting the bracelet away. He didn’t seem to be at all flustered, which felt a little odd.
My brows furrowed at the thought, but soon an idea popped up in my mind.
‘Wait, no way…’
“There’s no need to be embarrassed, your majesty. What matters is that we were able to prevent a disaster from occurring.”
At the same time, the Saintess turned her attention towards me, her clear eyes locking directly with mine.
She smiled softly at me.
“We were able to prevent such a disaster, especially with the help of such a talented young man.”
She winked at me.
“…I had a really entertaining conversation with him a few moments prior. He really is a promising talent. I’ve grown quite interested in him.”
I tried my best to keep my face straight, feeling something burn at the back of my head.
‘I have nothing to do with this.’
But most importantly, I started to realize what had happened.
‘If my guess is not wrong, she must’ve checked the surveillance videos of the incident a few days ago. Considering how the Round Table is closely tied with the Seven Churches, it would make sense for her to come here personally to resolve the situation with the Church of Oracleus.’
This part was already clear to me.
Another thing that became clear to me was the reason why she sat next to me.
‘She most likely found me suspicious, considering my actions on that day.’
That was probably why she disguised herself as a reporter and tried to strike up a conversation with me. But what I was confused about was how she seemed not to be surprised by the fact that the ‘reporter’ was a ‘Spirit’ user.
Could she have noticed something beforehand, or were her eyes special?
The thought made me burn with curiosity, but my thoughts were shattered by the sound of the Emperor’s voice.
“Let’s discuss those matters for later. Should we now take care of more important matters?”
Turning his attention towards Leon, the Emperor handed him the parchment.
“Just drop a bit of your blood on the parchment. That way we can wrap this up quickly.”
“…..”
Leon stood silently, his eyes locked on the parchment. Given how serious his expression was, I could tell he was still somewhat overwhelmed by what was happening. Perhaps the idea of becoming a prince was still not something that had completely settled in his mind.
Eventually, however, he nodded and pressed his thumb against the sigil, pinching slightly as a drop of blood fell onto the parchment.
Wam!
The moment his blood fell on the parchment, a bright light engulfed the paper, enveloping the small radius around it.
The faces of many changed, including that of the Empress, who covered her face, tears resting at the corners of her eyes.
Even though she was probably already aware of the truth, now that it was fully confirmed, she couldn’t help but let emotions show.
Amell had a complicated expression as he stared at the parchment while Aoife, who was also at the front, had a dumb look on her face.
I didn’t need to read her thoughts to know what she was thinking.
‘He’s a prince? Wait, I didn’t treat him wrong, right? I think I was good to him… I can’t have the relationship between the two Empires fall. Oh, no.’
In short, she was thinking the usual useless stuff.
Turning my head towards Leon as the afterglow of the parchment reflected on his face, I saw him slowly open his mouth, mumbling something,
Something like…
‘Execution.’
Wait, what?
*
To sum up the events of the third day of the Congress, “mess” would be an accurate description. From the appearance of the ‘Spirit’ user to the opposition Leon faced during the announcement, and the Saintesses’ antics, it was safe to say that the reporters had a field day.
Given the nature of the situation, the moment Leon’s identity was confirmed, the Congress ended, and the ‘reporter’ was escorted away by the guards.
In that moment, I also saw the Emperor and the Saintness exchange glances.
That was when I understood that the Emperor had been aware of the situation, and had been on it with her.
“Haaa, what a mess.”
Coming back to the Inn, I slumped down on the bed and covered my face.
Since Leon was now a legitimate prince, he had no choice but to stay with his parents, leaving the Inn. It also had to do with safety issues.
I was now the only one using the Inn.
“….Wait, now that I think about it, out of everyone, I’m probably the one living in the worst conditions.”
Aoife was a princess, while Evelyn had immense wealth from the Kasha deal. Kiera was also well-off, and both Caius and Kaelion were just as wealthy.
Amell held the title of prince, and now, Leon was one as well.
“Ugh.”
I groaned, thinking about their situation.
They were probably all resting in some refined Inn, enjoying all sorts of luxuries.
‘Damn fuckers.’
I had it the worst. Even though I had money, I couldn’t use it, since I was saving up for the future. And even if I wanted to spend it, I couldn’t. According to the family head, I had to make it look like our family was struggling.
This was so that his plan would work.
“Hu.”
I covered my face with my hands while expressing a groan.
‘…There’s also the fact that I probably can’t do anything about those from the Church of Oracleus from getting released.’
The reason why the Saintess had come in the first place was because of them. With the ‘spirit’ user now apprehended, they were most likely going to be cleared.
That was going to lead to something troublesome for sure.
And for that reason, I needed to make preparations in advance.
“In fact, I should probably do it now.”
I sat up in my bed and prepared to head out when…
“Hi~”
A certain figure appeared before me, her crystal eyes falling on me.
“….We meet again.”