Chapter 54

What should I do in this situation? Latil glanced at the Baihualangshu with a cold stare for a moment. He thought they were joking. He had gone to great lengths to hide the High Priest in his harem, and now it seemed that their location had been exposed, which made him furious. However, it was not a matter of simply persecuting the Holy Knights without diplomatic relations.

‘First, they don’t seem to know that the High Priest is already in my harem… or perhaps they are pretending not to know.’

Latil could hear people murmuring, “Is His Majesty trying to bring religion under his power?” He suppressed his anger and thought hard. Option 1: Get lost. Send them away.

‘No. Everyone will think there’s something wrong if I suddenly send them away.’

Option 2: Fine. Welcome them.

‘Absolutely not.’

Option 3: Pretend I don’t know and listen to what they have to say?

‘Fine. Let’s go with this.’

Latil made his decision and pointed to the door behind the audience hall with a smile.

“Let’s hear what they have to say. Follow me.”

As Latil walked out, the Baihualangshu followed in two lines, and the nobles and officials, who had been holding their breath, looked at each other in surprise and whispered.

“Did you hear that? The High Priest? He definitely said the High Priest, right?”

“Good heavens. Trying to bring the High Priest into his harem through marriage. How many moves ahead is His Majesty calculating?”

“Perhaps he’s planning a national marriage policy.”

“It’s not bad for us. The deeply religious people are very devout.”

“Now, the remaining power players are all supporting others, but they have come to His Majesty. Maybe this is why His Majesty is trying to build his own power base.”

It was true. The current ministers were actually supporters of the late emperor, Prince Leian, and those who secretly supported Tilla. Latil, having been a princess for a short time and with the late emperor being young and vigorous until his assassination, had not had the time to build her own power base. She had gathered these people as ministers based on their abilities and experience, but perhaps the emperor found this structure unsatisfactory. People speculated that the emperor might be using the temple and the High Priest to build his own power base, a more dramatic interpretation than the dream itself.

* * *

“Send the Holy Knights to the dining hall. They must be hungry from their long journey, so have them eat first.”

Latil, unaware of what people were saying about this, hurried to her room while giving instructions.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“It would be nice to eat with them, but it might be inconvenient with me around, so tell them to talk after the meal.”

“Yes.”

“Choose one to three people to meet with me.”

“Yes.”

The secretary, having received the instructions, ran to the Holy Knights, and Latil quickened her pace. She planned to change clothes and go to the harem to meet Zayshin. If she called Zayshin directly in this situation, people might think, “Zayshin must be the High Priest!” She didn’t want to reveal that Zayshin was the High Priest until she decided how to handle the situation. However, when she reached her room, Zayshin was already there waiting for her.

“Zayshin? How did you get here?”

“Can I have a moment to talk, Your Majesty?”

Latil led Zayshin inside and closed the door. Zayshin explained why he was there.

“I rushed here as soon as I heard the Baihualangshu had arrived. I thought Your Majesty might be looking for me.”

‘You’re more perceptive than I thought.’

Latil was impressed by Zayshin’s quick judgment and asked.

“How did they find out you’re in the harem?”

“I told them I was going to enter the harem.”

“What? Really?”

‘I thought someone had leaked the information, but it was you?’

“I apologize, Your Majesty. But the Baihualangshu needed to know where I was for my protection. Usually, just telling them is enough for them to watch from a distance, but this time they seemed very surprised.”

“…”

When Latil didn’t respond, Zayshin, sensing the tension, asked.

“Should I send them away?”

He seemed to think Latil was angry because he had told the Baihualangshu. While she wasn’t angry, she was frustrated by the complications, so she sighed and asked.

“What will you do if I send them away? People have already seen them come here talking about the High Priest.”

Her question was more of a rebuke.

“I see.”

Zayshin, looking dejected, cautiously asked.

“Then, Your Majesty, should we reveal it?”

This was actually what Latil had come to suggest to Zayshin. But…

“Is it okay? You’re here because many people are after you.”

This was the proposal she had been struggling with how to bring up to Zayshin. Fortunately, Zayshin nodded readily.

“Wicked forces have already targeted me in the harem. With the Baihualangshu incident, it’s only a matter of time before my location is exposed. It might be better to have their protection.”

* * *

After finishing the conversation with Zayshin, Latil sent the secretary to call a few people from the Baihualangshu to her private office. She arrived at the office first and waited. Soon, the door opened, and a Holy Knight in the Baihualangshu’s white uniform entered. He was the one who had stepped forward in the audience hall to request protection for the High Priest.

“I have thought deeply about your request. I have also spoken with the High Priest.”

“Has the High Priest already arrived?”

“He is already in the harem.”

“!”

“You can come in as a guard. We can discuss the details with Zayshin…”

“Yes.”

“Actually, I have a question for you as well.”

“Yes.”

“What’s your name?”

“It’s not my real name, but others call me ‘Baihua.’”

‘You don’t want to give your real name?’

Latil frowned at Baihua’s evasive answer but, knowing that priests often abandon their old names when they become clerics, she let it go and asked again.

“So, Baihua. I have a question. Do you know anything about black magic?”

Baihua, who had been looking at Latil with wide, attentive eyes, straightened up and answered.

“That’s not a topic for the Emperor to be interested in. Black magic may seem useful and powerful, but its aftereffects are severe and harmful to people.”

“I’m not asking to learn it.”

“Then…?”

“To identify traces of black magic.”

“Where did you see it? If there is any, we will eliminate it all.”

He answered calmly, but his eyes flashed dangerously as he spoke. Latil, seeing this, was about to say, “Good,” but then frowned as a thought occurred to her.

“I apologize if I was rude, Your Majesty.”

Baihua, noticing her expression, quickly calmed down and apologized, but Latil shook her head.

“No, it’s not that. You…”

“Yes?”

“Have we met before?”

Baihua looked puzzled, and Latil clicked her fingers a few times before smiling.

“No, never mind.”

It wasn’t that it wasn’t true, but she had a vague feeling that something had just come to mind. However, it didn’t seem very important, so she decided to let it go. What mattered was Baihua’s reaction to the mention of black magic. Latil liked the hostility and reaction he showed. If Tilla had really resurrected as a ‘Lord’ and was using black magic to reclaim the throne, could she use the Holy Knights?

‘I can use the Holy Knights, can’t I?’

Having made her calculations, Latil, with her characteristic kind smile, said, “Do you know something?”

“I am very devout.”

She smiled again, and Baihua, surprised, asked.

“Really?”

“Yes. To me, faith is… it’s… it’s… something good.”

Actually, Latil was a person with almost no faith, so she fumbled through her answer, but Baihua looked moved.

When black magic was strong, the Baihualangshu was also powerful, and people were deeply religious. But after dealing with the black mages and those of the dark, the Baihualangshu’s power weakened, and people’s faith diminished. The temple’s influence naturally waned, and many royals and nobles now sought to bring the temple under their control. Latil, as the emperor of a great nation, moved first, and it was touching to her.

‘No wonder the High Priest fell for the emperor.’

Latil, seeing Baihua’s expression, felt reassured. It seemed to have gone over well. She had wanted to compare faith to something very good but couldn’t think of what to compare it to, which was frustrating.

“Actually, Your Majesty, I was surprised when I first saw you in the audience hall.”

“Really? Why?”

“You radiated a very bright and clear aura.”

“You mean me?”

“Yes. A few years ago, there was a divine message about someone of Your Majesty’s age… Oops.”

‘Someone of my age… what?’

“Ha ha, you probably don’t care. Besides, it’s in the past.”

“Now you’ve piqued my interest.”

“Ha ha, it’s nothing. Anyway, Your Majesty seems very pure. The High Priest must admire you.”

Latil was curious about what Baihua had almost said, but since he didn’t elaborate, she suppressed her curiosity. Moreover, hearing Baihua’s words, the discomfort she had felt after meeting the Fox Mask was washed away. Specifically, the part where the Fox Mask had called her ‘Lord.’ She still didn’t know why he had said that, but this made it more likely that he was just talking nonsense. The High Priest and the Holy Knights, who followed only the gods, had sensed no suspicious aura from Latil, only a ‘clear aura.’ The Fox Mask’s words were likely intended to confuse her.

* * *

When the rumor spread that the casino dealer Latil had taken as her sixth concubine was actually the High Priest, people began to see her harem as a significant political strategy. They analyzed her intentions almost definitively, believing she was using many royal marriages to strengthen her power.

“Hmm. That makes sense. I was wondering why she was interested in a muscle-bound bodyguard. There was a reason.”

The Duke of Artax, who had heard the rumor, was somewhat calmed when he learned that the casino dealer Latil had picked up at the banquet, leaving Lana behind, was actually the High Priest. However, the person most affected by this rumor was the High Priest himself, who had been ignored as a commoner casino dealer seduced by the emperor.

“That’s… that person is the High Priest?”

“No wonder. I thought he looked noble from the start.”

“Me too. But I kept my mouth shut because you all kept badmouthing him.”

The acolyte, who had been pushing Zayshin’s wheelchair, clicked his tongue.

“People are so fickle.”

“What can you do? It’s hard to know what’s in people’s hearts, so they judge by appearance. What can you do about it?”

“But it’s too sudden. It’s annoying.”

“It means they are sensitive to external changes. Don’t hate people too much.”

“I lack the discipline…”

Just as he was about to say it was hard to do, the acolyte ran into Klein and his group. Remembering how Klein had looked at the High Priest like a bug, the acolyte now stood tall, thinking Klein would now treat the High Priest respectfully.

“You’re the High Priest? What’s a High Priest doing here? Get lost.”

But Klein, as before, bluntly dismissed him and walked away, leaving the acolyte speechless.

“Well, a consistent jerk is better than a fickle person.”

* * *

But Klein, regardless of what the acolyte thought, was very busy thinking.

“That dealer faked an illness to have the emperor nurse her all day…”

“Not a dealer, but the High Priest, Prince. And it wasn’t faked.”

“Whatever.”

“They’re completely different…”

Ignoring the servant’s muttering, Klein, after returning to his room and looking around, suddenly lay on the floor and patted the servant’s back.

“Stop whining. Go tell the emperor I’m sick.”

“Pardon? Are you unwell?”

“No, but tell her I’m sick. Hurry!”

Faking an illness? The servant, surprised, saw Klein waving his hands impatiently.

“Hurry up!”

“What should I say is wrong?”

“Tell her I have a headache and collapsed. Hurry!”

* * *

Latil, thinking about how to use the Baihualangshu, was surprised to hear from Klein’s servant, Vanil, that he was sick and rushed to the harem.

‘Could that wicked aura have affected another of my concubines?’

“Klein!”

She was worried because the High Priest had been pushed aside only a few days ago. But when she hurried to his room, opened the door, and went inside, Klein was lying on the floor with his shirt open, not looking sick at all.

“Klein, you!”

“Your Majesty, I feel hot. I think I have a fever… please check.”