The religion known as the Holy Religion is widely practiced across the continent.
It began long ago with a single girl claiming to hear the voice of the goddess. In essence, its teachings are simple: worship the goddess, perform good deeds, and you will live a happy afterlife in heaven—an idea that sounds cliche.
Perhaps it gained attention due to its comforting promise of peace after death or its doctrine of kindness toward others.
Regardless, the Holy Church experienced an explosive growth in followers from its founding.
As the number of followers grew, it became impossible for rulers to ignore the Church's presence.
Their initial interactions were marked by suppression, but over time, these relationships evolved into rulers actively leveraging the Church for their own purposes.
In exchange for using the Church—or rather, the Goddess— these rulers began to protect the Religion.
Thus, the religion became a nationalization faith.
With its new role as a Nation Religion with political legitimacy, the Church's influence grew significantly. One of the most well-known examples occurred several decades ago in the northern Empire, where a fierce conflict broke out between the emperor and the pope over the right to appoint priests.
Although the emperor and pope eventually reconciled, the realization that even the mighty Empire could not interfere with the Church's authority sent shockwaves through the nobility of other nations.
While some nations grew wary of the Church's expanding power, others, like the Kingdom of Alexandria, actively embraced and utilized its strength.
As the birthplace of the Holy Church, Alexandria had established its royal capital as a holy site, complete with a grand cathedral. Through cooperation with the Holy Church, the kingdom maintained a balance between central and territorial nobility, developing into great power in the process.
But power that grows too large is often susceptible to corruption…
In the grand cathedral at the heart of the royal capital, in the pope's private room, the current leader of the Holy Church was leaning back and showing off his fat belly
The moonlight shines
Jewel rings adorning his pudgy fingers,
An ornament rosary worn around his torso
A lavish robe embroidered with golden thread.
Each item was unusually gaudy for a clergyman, yet they strangely suited his ugly body.
Before the Pope stood a shadowy figure.
The moolight made it impossible to see the face, but from the figure it was clear that the person was a student at the academy.
"What do you want? I have exams starting tomorrow," the figure sighed, with exasperated tone
Without waiting for a response, the shadow chuckled wryly and added, "Pretending to be the good student is exhausting, you know?"
"You already know why I called you," the pope growled, narrowing his eyes as he sipped from a glass of wine.
"Things aren't going according to plan, are they?"
"Who knows? Maybe the plan was flawed from the start," the figure replied with a shrug, laughing mockingly. The pope clenched his teeth at the shadow's attitude
"You were involved in creating part of this plan yourself," he snapped.
Feigning ignorance, the figure shrugged again.
"Well, who'd have thought they'd come back? Thanks to that, the marquis has been keeping quiet."
"Isn't it your job to take care of that?"
"Even if you say that…"
The shadow seemed to pout but then clapped hands as if recalling something.
"Oh, but it looks like the Prime Minister's power is weakening."
"What?"
The Pope, startled, tried to lean forward, but his bloated stomach stopped him, forcing him to fall back into his chair.
Watching this pitiful display, the shadow sneered, "You're pathetic."
The Pope scowled deeply, glaring at the shadow, feeling movked.
"Sorry, sorry," the shadow said while shrugging playfully.
The shadow then reported that Prime Minister Dill—father of Dario—had been acting strangely as of late.
"Probably, he's gotten himself into some trouble. Most likely with the family of his son's ex fiancée," the shadow said, smirking and lacing their fingers behind their head.
"Although," the shadow added, "the other side seems to be keeping quiet for now."
The Pope fell silent, deep in thought. He seemed to be considering various possibilities, but none of them were more than speculation.
"Well, so be it. If the central government are weakening and factions are starting to oppose each other, then that's fine for now. For now that is."
Letting out a deep sigh, the Pope raised his wine glass once more.
"And? How our 'Saintess' doing?"
"'Our,' huh? You only think of her as a pawn," the shadow replied, sighing in exasperation at the Pope's sly grin.
"What are you saying? It was you who brought this idea to me in the first place," the Pope retorted with a malicious smile. "Isn't that right, Chris Rowe?"
As the Pope called out to the shadow—Chris, the son of the Justice Minister—Chris turned his face away. The cold expression on his face caught the moonlight, revealing his disdain.
"Who knows? I don't remember," Chris said indifferently.
With a bored look, he turned his back to the Pope. "Well, keep watching for now," he said before opening the door and disappearing into the brightly lit hallway.
"Hmph, an hungry brat as always," the Pope muttered, glaring at the spot where Chris had vanished.
He then downed the last of his wine in one gulp.
"Well, that's fine. The plan may have deviated, but if the country divided, it will all belong to me in the end. The Holy Church—no, I—will seize this kingdom and make it my own."
The Pope's low chuckle grew into a louder, more sinister laugh, his ugly features twisting in delight. The moonlight streaming through the window was the only witness to his ambitions.
☆☆☆
"Oh no! I completely forgot!"
Around the same time, Catherine was sitting in her room with her head in her hands.
"What will happen if the Marquis family rebels?"
Sighing, she pulled a notebook out of her desk drawer. It was a personal record, detailing event triggers, timelines, and character relationship diagram as far as she could remember.
"Chris Rowe…"
Murmuring his name, Catherine opened the page dedicated to Chris and began reading through the notes.
Chris Rowe
The son of Abel Rowe, the Minister of Justice, though in reality, he is the son of Abel's younger brother. Officially, he was taken in by the Rowe family as a noble act of adopting his deceased brother's child, but the truth was much darker.
Abel had orchestrated his brother's downfall and death, taking in Chris as a tool to consolidate his own power.
After the fall of his biological family, Chris was placed in an orphanage run by the church. His talents—possibly inherited from his father—quickly drew attention, and rumors of his exceptional abilities began to spread within the church. Abel, sensing an opportunity, appeared suddenly to took Chris in.
Abel then pushed forward an engagement between Chris and the daughter of an archbishop, who was rumored to become the next Pope. The goal was to secure a link with the future Pope and further strengthen Abel's authority.
However, Abel was unaware of two critical truths: Chris's true nature and the fact that the Pope had already set his sights on Chris before Abel intervened.
Outwardly, Chris appears timid and reserved, but in reality, he is a hedonist with a warped sense of pleasure.
The Pope, having recognized Chris's dual nature early on, began to manipulate him, indulging his twisted desires to win his loyalty. Now, Chris operates as the Pope's shadow, giving information of the central government through his adoptive father and monitoring Catherine as part of his role.
Chris's greatest pleasure lies in witnessing the moment of someone's death.
Watching people's final moments brings him an indescribable joy. It is because this twisted personality that he cannot resist meddling in the love triangle between Crown Prince Edgar, Saintess Catherine, and the Marquis's daughter, Elizabeth.
It's a scandal that could tear the kingdom apart
In the original timeline, Catherine dismisses her conflict with Elizabeth as "no big deal" and convinces others of the same.
However, with events now unfolding differently, Chris actively works to support Catherine's version of events, ultimately leading to Elizabeth's exile.
Chris's actions align with the Pope's desire to weaken and seize control of the kingdom, as well as his adoptive father Abel's ambition to abolish territorial nobles and concentrate power in the central government.
Chris, who is also behind the scene mastermind, played a key role in Elizabeth's downfall.
In the original story, the Marquis family's rebellion begins after the cultural festival, revealing Chris's darker side to Catherine.
Through a mix of confrontation and understanding, Catherine gradually breaks through Chris's shell, leading to his redemption and triggering an event to reform the corrupt church.
However, as things stand now, there are no signs of the Marquis family's rebellion.
"Is the rebellion not going to happen?"
Catherine sighed, looking back at her notes. In the rebellion, Chris would eventually confess that the Pope had been pulling the strings all along. This confession would unlock the event "Destroy the Rotten Church."
Since the rebellion is a mandatory event, it should trigger automatically… but there's no indication of it happening.
"No rebellion, huh?"
Catherine sighed again. While the lack of a rebellion wasn't necessarily a problem for her, it meant her plan to gain control of the church—and ultimately, the kingdom—could fall apart.
"Damn you, Elizabeth…"
Grinding her teeth, Catherine took a deep breath to calm herself. There was no point in panicking now.
After all, in the game, the rebellion didn't happen until much later. Perhaps it would manifest in a different form this time, exposing the church's corruption in another way.
"Maybe I should poke around and provoke that scheming old Pope and Chris myself…"
Over the past few days, Catherine had grown wiser. She realized that with Elizabeth disrupting the storyline so significantly, she couldn't rely solely on the original events to guide her actions.
"No, not yet. Not now…"
Since Catherine and her team still don't have enough power, moving recklessly could backfire. If Edgar and the others discovered the church's misdeeds too early, they would undoubtedly act out of their strong sense of justice.
"They'd never forgive the church ," Catherine thought.
Clashing with the church prematurely would lead to disaster.
The church's military might would crush them, and while Edgar and the others might avoid severe punishment due to their high status, Catherine herself, as the Saintess, would likely face severe repercussions.
That was a future she had to avoid at all costs.
"For now, I just need to focus on tomorrow's exams," she muttered, closing her notebook and returning it to the desk drawer.
She glanced out her window at the grand cathedral looming in the night. Even in darkness, its presence was imposing.
If she could seize control of that place, Elizabeth wouldn't stand a chance.
A sly grin spread across Catherine's face as she turned off the lights.
"Elizabeth, I won't let you have your way."
Catherine slipped into bed, and before long, her steady breathing signaled she was fast asleep.
——-
Meanwhile, our dear Randy…
"And that's how the grand cathedral was constructed," Liz explained.
…was holed up in an inn, cramming for exams under Liz's strict supervision.
"Oh, the cathedral? That ridiculously oversized thing?"
"Aye, that one. It's so domineering that it makes me angry, I want to smash it," Ellie grumbled.
"Please don't say such reckless things," Liz scolded, hastily glancing around.
Realizing they were alone in the inn room, Liz sighed in relief and picked up the textbook again.
"Well then, let's continue…"
Despite the occasional bombshell statement, the three continued their study session for a while longer.
"…Randy, are you even listening?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
Randy yelped as Liz slapped his hand to jolt him awake from his sleepiness.
——
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