Not a Confession, but a Declaration - Chapter 36

If there was anyone who might not have noticed, it would be Abel, who had not participated in the conversation at all and had merely been sitting in the seat of honor opposite the Pope.

Even though the discussion concerned him, Abel had not been paying attention. When he noticed the Pope looking at him, he slowly opened his mouth.

Although he had not been listening to the conversation, he could roughly guess what was being asked of him, so he gave a vague answer.

“I had just been blessed with a lesson from our Father. I was so focused on my enlightenment that I failed to properly notice the changes.”

It was not a lie.

Before returning to the past, Abel had learned how to love another person besides himself, and in doing so, had undergone tremendous growth while overcoming Father’s trial.

In the first place, the miracle that allowed him to return to the past had only been possible because of the growth of his divine power.

However, he had yet to fully recover the divine power he had expended in returning to the past. Since Abel still remembered the overwhelming sense of fullness he had felt back then, he found his current divine power unsatisfactory.

Given those circumstances, Abel had no interest whatsoever in how much greater his current divine power was compared to what it had originally been.

Several devout priests nodded in satisfaction at Abel’s answer.

“What a blessing this is!”

“Lord Abel’s dedication to striving even further is truly admirable.”

“But to say he failed to notice such changes is a bit…”

“Why focus only on outward appearances? You should be focusing on inner growth.”

Before long, the priests had begun arguing among themselves with smiling faces, leaving Abel out of it entirely.

Abel willingly withdrew from the discussion and resumed the train of thought he had been having moments earlier.

‘Did Gregory give Felix an order?’

Yes, even while the entire Holy Land was in an uproar over his growth, Abel was thinking about Felix.

Because what mattered to Abel was neither the power struggle with the Pope nor the prosperity of the Temple, but Felix.

Although it was rather late—having been distracted by the kiss he had shared with Felix and the injuries that had followed—Abel had asked for Felix’s opinion the day before.

‘Felix, what do you want to do? You don’t have to come with me.’

Abel had said something similar the day before.

Back then, Felix had accompanied him to the banquet because he claimed he couldn’t trust Abel.

And at that banquet, Abel had drawn attention by arguing with the Duke and Duchess. Then, by taking Abel’s hand in front of everyone, Felix had only increased people’s interest in him.

Because of that, Abel had assumed Felix would immediately distance himself.

‘No. I want to come with you.’

Yet Felix had answered that he would attend the prayer ceremony.

Since they had needed to board the carriage and head to the central plaza as quickly as possible, Abel had simply nodded at the response without saying anything more.

But that did not mean he understood Felix’s decision.

‘It was strange from the moment he decided to come to the banquet in the first place.’

The excuse that he didn’t trust Abel had sounded plausible enough, but considering the way Felix had behaved toward the Duke and Duchess, it was odd that he had followed Abel all the way to the banquet hall merely because he was worried about what Abel might say.

And now, even after grabbing Abel’s hand and making the rumors spread even further, Felix was going to accompany him again?

After Abel had even kissed him?

‘This is strange.’

Avoiding Abel would have made sense, but following him around like this was absolutely not something Felix would do.

Naturally, Abel found himself suspecting one person.

‘Gregory.’

The one who kept Abel in check more than anyone else. The one Abel believed had placed Felix at his side in the past.

And the one bound to Felix by blood.

Having assumed that Felix might have received some sort of suggestion from Gregory, Abel immediately took action.

If Gregory was planning to use Felix for something, then Abel had to stop it.

‘If he only targeted me, that would be one thing, but if Felix ends up getting hurt too, that would be a problem.’

Thus, Abel chose to spread his divine power as widely as possible during the Invocations.

He had thought it might be exhausting, but after the prayer ended, he realized that his body felt perfectly fine. That was when he understood that his divine power had increased.

‘Whatever the case, it was the right decision.’