saint ch13

Private Audience (5)

“So, you came back without killing him.”

The emperor’s private office.

Having confessed the whole story during her private audience with the emperor, Azelia swallowed hard and looked at him.

In truth, Azelia already knew the answer the emperor would give.

He was a man who paid more attention to high risks than high returns.

Because he was the emperor of an empire that possessed more than anyone else in the world.

If it was a sword that sharp, he was the kind of person who would consider breaking it even if it was in his own hands.

“Azelia… you know without me saying it, don’t you? If he’s that dangerous, why didn’t you kill him?”

The emperor rubbed his eyes as if he were tired.

The emperor also believed that Azelia was intelligent enough to recognize his inner thoughts.

“Your Majesty, Saint Ronan needs only one chance. One chance to realize his purpose. He is a man who could lead the Order’s destruction, which the empire has longed for, with his own hands.”

“And also a hand that could lead the empire to ruin. So, you’re calling the Saint by his name now.”

The emperor noticed that there had been a change in Azelia’s feelings.

He also knew that even though Azelia possessed enough human emotions, she was not swayed by them.

There was a reason why he favored her and designated her as the empire’s next emperor.

But this time, something was different.

“You’ve been moved by the Saint. I sent you to kill the Saint, and you fell in love with him.”

“That is absolutely not the case!”

Azelia hurriedly denied the unexpected words.

“I’m not talking about passionate love between a man and a woman. Pity, sympathy, respect, intimacy, camaraderie, tenderness. I call all of these love. The beginning of affection is enough with just a handful of these emotions. What did you feel for the Saint?”

Azelia couldn’t answer.

She pitied the Saint’s situation, so she sympathized with him.

She respected his ability to not lose his innocence even in that situation, and at the same time, she felt tenderness.

She felt a sense of camaraderie as if their situations were similar, and thanks to that, she felt a secret intimacy.

If the emperor was right, she was loving him more than anything.

“Azelia. It’s dozens of times harder to bring the Saint over from the Order completely than to kill the Saint and deal with the aftermath. No, it’s beyond difficult, it’s almost impossible. You know that, don’t you?”

The emperor declared that Azelia was wrong, speaking gently but firmly as if teaching a child the correct answer.

“What means does the imperial family have to protect the Saint? Having a private audience with the Saint was a precarious limit. The Order will never allow anything more than that. As time goes on, the possibility of the sharpest sword in the world falling into the hands of the Order is high, so what are you going to do now? This time, your choice was wrong. It was foolish.”

“If the limit has been reached for what can be obtained through intimidation, then wouldn’t it be acceptable to offer a candy as well?”

Azelia replied to the emperor, who was asserting that it was impossible this time.

“How great a price must be paid to have the Saint’s residence conceded? Even if we pulled out the pillars of the imperial palace and offered them, those guys wouldn’t be satisfied.”

“There’s a good excuse to use, and a fruit that the Order would covet, but isn’t there a candy that we can manage well without losing it, even while pretending to give it away?”

“What on earth is…”

The emperor stopped speaking as if something had occurred to him.

Seeing that, Azelia sighed inwardly, realizing that she was still not good enough.

She had spent all day agonizing over the plan she had barely come up with, but the emperor had deduced its contents before she could even finish a sentence after hearing such cryptic words.

He was truly like a ghost, even though he was her own father.

“Are you perhaps talking about the Loven Academy?”

“The Saint still lacks learning, so isn’t that a good excuse? At least we’ll be able to get him out of the headquarters for sure.”

“Do you know what you’re saying? You’re saying you’ll borrow money to win a game with a large sum at stake. That’s the logic of suckers sitting at a typical gambling table.”

“If you truly thought there was no possibility, you wouldn’t be saying that to me. You would have given me a disappointed look.”

The emperor didn’t respond because that wasn’t wrong.

Accepting the tacit affirmation, Azelia elaborated on the plan she had been considering.

“Even now, the Order is an object of absolute faith to the masses, but to the deep-rooted nobles who receive education passed down through generations, the newly emerging nobles who receive education because they don’t want to be ignored, and even the wealthy commoners who want to be involved in it somehow, the Order is no longer an absolute existence to those who have read even a little.”

“That’s right. The empire has worked tirelessly to make it so.”

“Naturally, the Order is thirsty for the faith of those who have gained learning. Because that’s where the money and power come from.”

This world was one where the top 10 percent of people led the remaining 90 percent.

How could people be equal when there was a difference between being able to emit fire from one’s hands and not being able to?

Equality was a word that only applied to prisoners on the execution platform just before their heads were chopped off.

Because everyone dies equally the next moment.

“But we have thoroughly prevented the Order from reaching out to the academies that are in charge of education.”

Not only the Imperial Loven Academy, which was established under the leadership of the empire, but also all educational institutions established throughout the empire strictly prohibited religious facilities and religious activities.

If they didn’t encounter religion during the period when they were being injected with knowledge, they were less likely to become absorbed in religion later on, so it was actually a very effective means of checking the Order.

“You’re saying we should give them the right to proselytize at the Loven Academy. Certainly. It’s an attractive proposal that the Cardinals absolutely won’t be able to refuse.”

Giving this up meant that the Cardinals would gain the opportunity to recruit a new layer of believers, one with at least a minimum of wealth and power guaranteed.

It was a golden opportunity to increase the Order’s power exponentially.

“Then…”

Azelia’s face brightened slightly at the emperor’s first positive remark.

“But that alone is not enough. What if the Order actually becomes rampant within the Loven Academy? What if the students at the academy really become absorbed in religion? Religion is like a drug, once it starts spreading, it becomes unstoppable.”

“That’s… the imperial family will carefully examine it…”

Azelia’s voice became a little smaller.

Although it was called Imperial, the Loven Academy was a space with maximum autonomy guaranteed in order to produce high-quality talent.

It wasn’t a place where the imperial family could arbitrarily interfere just by observing carefully.

Azelia couldn’t come up with a solution to this part.

“…We should rather bring in other races as well.”

“Yes?”

But the emperor quickly came up with a solution to that.

And Azelia realized that the emperor was her father.

“We should affirm all proselytizing activities of other races as well. The academy will become chaotic. Injecting troops under the pretext of controlling the chaos will be tolerated to some extent.”

She had come up with a plan to double the stakes, but the emperor was talking about tripling the stakes, and Azelia’s mind went blank for a moment.

She instinctively felt that the empire was about to be torn apart into at least four or five pieces.

“Azelia.”

While Azelia was flustered by the emperor’s unexpectedly radical plan, the emperor’s deeply sunken eyes stared at Azelia.

Complex emotions were swirling within them at the same time.

Pity, pride, regret… and trust.

“Your command, Your Majesty.”

“You will also be sent to the academy.”

?
Azelia tilted her head at the emperor’s sudden words.

She was no longer of the age to go to the academy.

Then that meant she would be entering as troops to be deployed to the academy…

“There must have been nobles who guessed what the envoy this time meant. If the Saint is fine and a great upheaval occurs at the academy, there will be old monsters who can deduce what happened and how much value the Saint has. To those people, you haven’t made the right decision.”

Azelia lowered her head as if she had nothing to say.

“That’s not all. How will you explain to the nobles who don’t know the circumstances why the academy is being opened to the Order? You’re not going to let the Saint’s abilities be known everywhere, are you?”

Azelia looked at the emperor in surprise.

She hadn’t even considered that far.

Now that she heard it, it was such an obvious but very big obstacle that she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it.

But the emperor continued without hesitation, as if Azelia’s worries were insignificant.

“The superficial purpose of all these events will be to give the Order the right to win over the students of the academy, and at the same time, to awaken the Order’s children from the delusion of religion in the empire. Of course, the Order’s trainee disciples must also be brought to the academy. If we publicly proclaim that the Saint is the primary goal, the scales will be balanced in the eyes of those who don’t know the circumstances, and the Order, which has gained faith in the Saint through today’s private audience, will judge that they are at an advantage.”

Azelia let out a sigh of realization.

It was an exquisite move that she couldn’t even imagine.

“But all of this, while it may be a rational excuse, is not a sufficiently rational judgment. In a gamble that puts the country on the line, ‘it’s worth a try’ means it shouldn’t be done.”

Even if he came up with such an exquisite move, its essence was a gamble, so it wasn’t a good enough means to convince everyone.

“So, your going to the academy is a responsibility and a punishment at the same time. Your authority in the imperial family will weaken, and your actions will be restricted. The more you fail to win over the trainee disciples, the worse it will be.”

“Since it is the result of my choice, I will naturally accept it. I will definitely live up to His Majesty’s wishes.”

“And there is one more choice you must take responsibility for.”

“What is it?”

“I still don’t completely trust the Saint. Even less so your judgment, which has been moved by the Saint.”

Inwardly, Azelia wondered if the emperor would think this way even if he faced Ronan directly.

“Be right next to the Saint. If you think your judgment is correct, protect the Saint no matter what happens, and if you think it’s wrong, cut him down without hesitation. I’ll ask you again. Can you do it this time?”

“Leave it to me.”

The emperor offers one more chance to someone who has made a grave mistake.

Thinking back on what the emperor had pointed out one by one, the things she was trying to do were practically political suicide.

Especially in that she had failed to prepare a reason and a rational countermeasure to persuade the nobles.

If she had brought up the agenda at the imperial council without such preparation, she would have faced extreme opposition, and the opinion would have been rejected or forced through.

Either way, it was an act that would erode her political life immeasurably.

Therefore, this was the second and last chance the emperor was giving Azelia.

“I will not disappoint you.”

“I believe you.”

Azelia firmly swore before the emperor, even though she thought she would never turn her sword against Ronan.

In any case, the emperor supported her judgment and gave her faith.

She was confident that she would not disappoint him this time.

It was a judgment that she herself thought was quite emotional, that she could succeed if she was with Saint Ronan.

A few days later, a letter containing the emperor’s will reached the Order’s headquarters, and the Order was turned upside down.