Chapter 99.1

“ah, i’m late to greet you. nice to meet you, high priest adshel.”

as if greeting someone i met on the street, my father waved his hand with an unconcerned expression. he even shook his hand, as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“bebe, this is adshel, the high priest. he has god’s power to be omnipotent.”

“ah…! hello! i’m bebe!”

in an atmosphere where i felt like i had to say hello, i bowed my head slightly and said hello. even though he knew it was a situation, the high priest just nodded his head with his arms and legs tied, perhaps because he could not ignore my greeting.

“ah, hello. i’m high priest adshel. oh no, it’s not like this, grand duke…”

he let out a deep sigh and shook his head relentlessly, as if he had come to his senses a step late.

“you can’t do this. you’re the one who kidnapped me.”

“why not? why didn’t you just follow my instructions?”

“oh, how can i do that? i can only use the power of god once or twice in life. i don’t even know who this woman is…!”

my dad shook his head firmly, who spoke as if he were innocent.

“it’s not just anyone. it’s the grand duchess.”

“but, your majesty, if i use that power… i may die.”

“don’t worry. i’ll save you.”

“ha…”

“of course, i can’t save you from dying of old age.”

when he spoke like that with a corner of his mouth raised, the high priest looked scared.

“do you really want me to die? i still…”

“who said you were going to die?”

“ha… your majesty…”

“but if you don’t even try, i will kill you.”

the high priest’s face hardened even more than more. his expression clearly saying ‘how crazy!’.

“…that would ruin your relationship with the church.”

“high priest.”

“…yes.”

“did you see that i’m on good terms with someone?”

the high priest’s hair, drenched with sweat, shook abnormally.

“that’s…”

“i’m not on good terms with the retainers of my family.”

“…i don’t know why you’re doing this. if his majesty the emperor finds out about this, he will get angry. that power… that power, after all, is for his majesty.”

“that’s funny. since when did the emperor and the church collude like that? it exists to keep each other in check, but it’s for the emperor. why didn’t you get involved in the death of the previous emperor?”

the high priest’s mouth twitched at my dad’s words for a long time like a fish.

“is it optional? or were you deeply involved in the process of becoming a high priest at a young age? unlike those who were chosen by god at a young age to become high priests, adshel, you were different.”

i stared at my dad quietly at the words i couldn’t understand. sometimes, my father’s blue eyes looked at me affectionately.

unlike the harsh words that came out of his mouth, his eyes were warm.

“that’s…”

“there is no way that the church must have known that the previous emperor died without any preparation. it wasn’t long after he was on the throne, was it?”

“isn’t it unusual for the current emperor to have a particularly fond hobby of gathering various powers? it could be magic. it could be called witchcraft in other countries, and the former high priest… his hair turned white, as if he died of old age… it wasn’t poison, but there were one or two suspicious spots. i mean, i have no intention of letting this go.”

his face turned pale as my dad spoke very slowly.

“you’re the last person the previous high priest saw, right? it was such a secret meeting, so there were no records anywhere, but the scribe who had to check and record every move of the high priest even wrote it down.”

“…”

“the meeting between the previous high priest and you… you tried to cut the scribe as soon as time passed and you became the high priest, right? very interesting. why is that? did the scribe write something that shouldn’t be written down?”

the high priest forced himself to stand up instead of looking up to my sarcastic father.

as if my father’s words were a catalyst, or as if he had given up his last bit of hope, the high priest quickly gave up his attitude that he had been sticking to until now and approached the bed.

“it seems like you’ve come to your senses.”

“you must have figured it out already. as if you wanted me to speak for myself…”

“well…”

“if that’s the case, why did you choose to kidnap me like this without telling the church?”

hearing those words mixed with resentment, my father grinned.

“for you.”

“that makes sense…”