Isn't Being A Wicked Woman Much Better?

195

C195 - Side story #3 – An incident that occurred in the Great Temple

"What? Is the Pope coming to the capital personally?

One day, as the biting cold gradually subsided and sleet soaked the ground, I received unexpected news.

"Leading that aged body?"

Meanwhile, I had stubbornly rejected the temple's invitation letters. The temple had not helped from one to ten in the past, and there was a high probability that it would continue to do so in the future. Additionally, my current state of unstable divine power also played a role in my decision to decline.

"It will be troublesome if he complains about me demonstrating my divine power. Better not to get involved."

I thought he would give up even if his pride was hurt because I rejected all letters from bishop to the Pope, but it was my mistake. The Pope sent a letter saying he would personally go to the capital of Azutea, not to us, who gave no response, but to the imperial family.

He even revealed the reason for his visit.

"Why do you want to meet me even though you have to swallow your pride?"

Suddenly, I wondered why he came to the capital while informing the world of the unpleasant fact that he had been constantly rejected.

"Isidor, why is the Pope making so much effort to find me?"

I went directly to Blanchia and consulted Isidor. He narrowed his eyes.

"..."

"Since the imperial nobles' public opinion about the temple is not good, are they trying to compensate by using me?"

"... Of course, there could be a hidden motive, but I guess it's due to an issue within the temple."

Isidor seemed to know something.

"An internal issue?"

"Last month, high-ranking priests who had been sent to each region secretly returned to the Temple. Not only the high-ranking priests but even the fasting priests."

"Was there a major internal event? Something like a New Year's Mass."

"Even if there is a major event, fasting priests don't move. If you leave the training ground, you have to start fasting again from the beginning."

He hit the desk and spoke slowly.

"Still, the temple's behavior was strange, so I grabbed one of the priests and tried to interrogate him, but it seems there was a problem with the sacred relics stored in the temple."

"If it's a sacred object, when it was the incense burning ceremony...."

At his words, unknowingly, I straightened my back.

"Yes, the white rosary brought by the cardinal during the incense ceremony is a sacred object."

"Ah."

I sighed briefly.

If the Pope comes to ask me about the sacred relics, then I'll have to go. I am probably the only one who knows the true meaning and value of the white rosary, called a sacred relic, as I have a previous life as a saint.

First of all, to explain the sacred relic, we must point out where the imperials misunderstand. The imperial people know that Nayla cut her body into six pieces and built a barrier, but it was exaggerated and inflated in later generations to emphasize the saint's sacrifice, and it didn't actually happen.

"A pyre... No, although the spirit of sacrifice was strong, it wasn't that much."

But it wasn't a story that didn't exist at all. Saint Nayla gathered the remaining divine power for the future of the empire and her friends to create a barrier against the devil.