Chapter 158
All preparations for the festival were halted.
The people of the domain put on clean clothes, wrapped white cloths around their heads, and sought out the temple.
There was still a bloodstain at the entrance of the great temple. After Ragnar had coughed up blood, the priests and his subordinates had quickly cleaned up the scene, but the bloodstain that had soaked into the stone floor remained here and there without being completely erased. It was a strange occurrence.
The people of the domain wept aloud as they looked at the bloodstain. It was different from just hearing about it. The clearly left bloodstain was a vivid testimony to the tragedy that had befallen Ragnar in this very spot.
“Oh, God.”
“O, great Impellias.”
“Grant the Lord the protection of God. Grant healing to your faithful knight.”
People rushed into the temple to offer long prayers.
They all felt the same way. They wanted Ragnar. They wanted his holiness, his authority that ruled over all of Impellias on the continent, his fairness, his coolness, and his military power.
For a long time, the people who had been ruled by power-hungry religious figures and greedy Lords in various parts of the continent desperately wished to continue living carefree within the walls that Ragnar had built.
Within Ragnar’s castle, no threats arose. The dead, all kinds of ominous monsters, and fairies. Even famine and disease bypassed Ragnar’s walls. No one doubted that this was all a grace bestowed upon Ragnar, who held the seat next to God.
But even as everyone was lost in sorrow and prayer, inauspicious whispers were sprouting.
“…A curse has been placed upon our domain.”
Someone spoke in a fearful voice. The eyes of the people on either side of him were instantly directed at him.
“Look at that bloodstain that won’t wash away. Isn’t it just like the story in the scriptures?”
With his two hands still placed over his heart as if in prayer, the man spoke. Everyone looked around and held their breath slightly.
It was a word no one had dared to say aloud.
“…A while ago, they say the dead came down to the lakeside.”
But once the words were out, they were fleshed out little by little, as if they had been waiting.
“They say they can’t find the cause of the Lord’s illness.”
“Did you see the black color of the bloodstain? That’s not normal. To cough up black blood.”
“Now that you mention it, they say Del Rose was very angry at the castle.”
“Why?”
“It seems the chief priest said that a curse… seemed to have been placed upon the Lord.”
“How dare he say such a thing to Del Rose?”
“It seems Del Rose got very angry. They say that gentle person even drew his sword. The rumor seems to have already spread throughout the castle.”
“If he got angry to that extent…”
People’s eyes rolled around.
“Could it be that… there’s really something to it?”
The bell rang again among the people. The bell sound, which was usually only holy and magnificent, sounded ominous and inauspicious at this moment.
“I can’t help but think that maybe… the curse was placed not on our domain, but on the Lord himself.”
The person who cunningly exploited this moment was the real estate agent with sparse white hair.
He was a person famous for taking advantage of people with his dirty tricks, but he was faster than anyone at spreading dirty and vulgar rumors, and he had a talent for making everyone listen to his words.
“There was also an unsavory rumor recently, is what I’m saying.”
The real estate agent’s eyes glistened. His yellow glare was strange. He did not profit from the rumors he spread. Nevertheless, the man enjoyed picking up and spreading other people’s rumors. As if he enjoyed the mere act of being able to damage someone a little with his gossip. The malice he displayed without any compensation was even pure.
And such a pure passion always displayed a powerful force. The real estate agent’s way of spreading rumors was skilled, and everyone, while despising him, also listened to the gossip he told about others.
“Didn’t they say a woman was coming and going to the Lord’s bedchamber?”
The eyes of the people who had been silently listening to the real estate agent, who was dirtying his own mouth on their behalf, widened.
“Could it really be…”
“The Lord…”
The murmurs of the people grew louder as the circumstances suddenly fit together.
“He abandoned his vow as a Holy Knight?”
“Did he really betray his vow of purity?”
Everyone lowered the hands they had placed over their hearts for prayer. No one failed to show interest in this shocking and fascinating event.
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