Chapter 51
After the long prayer gathering came to an end and the guests departed, the Temple finally regained its quiet.
Upon receiving word that the last carriage had left, one of the high-ranking priests gave a slight nod and resumed walking. The priest beside him then spoke in a measured voice.
“What do you think?”
They had been discussing the Empire only moments earlier, so the conversation continued naturally.
“By next year, they won’t have any choice.”
The agreement between the Order and the Empire would last only until next year.
And yet, during this prayer assembly, a blessing more overwhelming than any before had descended.
Would the Empire truly be able to hold out until the end?
When every other kingdom was already bowing its head before the Temple and attending the prayer assembly without hesitation?
Impossible. Even if they were forced to yield to the Temple, they could never tolerate falling behind the other kingdoms as well.
The two priests met each other’s gaze, immediately recognizing that they were thinking the same thing.
Even so, neither of them could celebrate just yet.
“Assuming nothing unexpected happens.”
“You mean Lord Abel?”
Abel, the Herald of God.
A man who had always remained peacefully detached, going wherever he was pushed or pulled without caring in the slightest how the people around him changed because of it.
Yet recently, there had been something undeniably unusual about the way he had been acting.
“Do you truly believe he cares for Sir Felix?”
“It’s hard to say.”
If Abel had claimed to love an ordinary holy knight or priest, the Temple would never have been thrown into such turmoil.
But the person Abel had chosen to keep by his side was Felix.
“Why Felix of all people?”
“Perhaps precisely because he’s Sir Felix.”
By himself, the power Felix possessed was unremarkable. If anything, he was an unimpressive man. But the circumstances surrounding him were extraordinarily complicated.
He was an illegitimate child, yet he carried the blood of the imperial family and the blood of the Pope.
The man who had raised him and given him the Spencer name was the Duke of the Empire.
He possessed no real power of his own, and yet the web of connections surrounding him stretched farther than anyone else’s.
He was the perfect person to use…and eventually discard.
And now the Herald of God was whispering words of love to someone like him?
Some believed Abel truly knew nothing of worldly affairs, and that he loved Felix with complete innocence, having never shown the slightest interest in such matters before.
But to people as weathered and calculating as they were, that was far too naïve a conclusion.
Lord Abel had finally awakened from his long slumber.
It was a rumor that had quietly begun circulating throughout the Order.
The man who had always remained indifferent, leaving every matter in the Pope’s hands, was finally beginning to move in earnest to seize the Order for himself.
“If he uses Sir Felix to extend his influence over the Empire…”
Abel could keep the Pope in check while joining hands with the Empire to push the Pope aside.
“But would he even need to?”
“Is there any reason for him to go to such lengths?”
At present, the Pope’s faction naturally held overwhelming influence within the Order.
But that was only because Abel had never shown the slightest interest in matters like these.
If Abel ever truly decided to build a faction of his own, his influence would grow at a terrifying pace.
Especially after the vast holy power he had displayed during this prayer gathering.
It had shaken even the hearts of the devout, unquestioningly faithful clergy who worshipped no one but the Father.
Even without drawing strength from outside the Order, Abel would have more than enough support to prevail.
“If Lord Abel wished it, there would be no shortage of people willing to follow him.”
“And that’s not all. If Lord Abel were to extend his influence into the Empire, His Eminence would naturally respond in kind. The situation would become far more complicated.”
If it came to that, even the Pope who had originally been born into the Empire’s nobility would have no choice but to rely upon the Empire’s support.
And once both sides began borrowing the Empire’s strength, the struggle for influence over the Empire, which was finally nearing its conclusion, would be prolonged indefinitely.
At least until the conflict between Abel and the Pope had been decided.
That was precisely the outcome the Order wished to avoid above all else.
“Lord Abel cannot possibly be unaware of that.”
“Indeed. Besides, Lord Abel has never been particularly friendly toward His Majesty or the Duke and Duchess.”
Someone intending to use Felix to gain the Empire’s support would never have behaved that way.
Which meant another possibility now presented itself.
“Then, do you suspect Sir Felix?”
Assuming everything Abel had shown them so far had been genuine and that he truly still had no interest in politics or power, then there was only one person left to suspect.
Felix Spencer.
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