Outside the palace, a series of carriages halted, their insignia revealing their affiliation with the monastery.
One after another, several armored individuals in pristine white clothes draped over their steel armor lined up around the carriage.
But the unusual thing about them was that there weren't any weapons on them—no swords, no spears—as if they were here with bare hands.
Yet, they all possessed artifacts with golden gems embedded in their armor, revealing the presence of void flux, which boosted their overall strength.
"Ahem, what a hurtful day has arrived," an old man exited the carriage, his eyes glancing at the palace doors.
Servants stood in rows, with two ministers waiting for their arrival, bowing, which made the high-placed man feel truly depressed seeing that this day had finally come.
All this time, the king and the royal family had tried to implement heretical rules and manipulated the people around them, making them do hard labor to earn pennies instead of just giving them charity or freebies.
This had finally prompted the monastery to intervene.
Wealth from rich people should be distributed to the poor to balance everyone and eliminate poverty and the rich hierarchy.
After all, why would any king possessing so much wealth try to make poor people work instead of helping them by providing shelter and food?
With the revelation of the goddess Agastasa, the high priest had finally taken the matter into his own hands.
He would eradicate this aristocracy and establish the rule of the goddess herself.
"How does it sound?"
Another man exited from behind, holding a notebook and adjusting his glasses as he glanced towards the high priest, clearly inquiring if the story he had orchestrated to reveal to the common folks would suffice in case they asked why the king was executed.
"Very good," the high priest said with his eyes closed and a serene smile that radiated the warmth of the holy.
He seemed satisfied with the story they were going to tell the common people.
After distributing some free bread, funded by the treasury money of the royal palace, they would be able to silence the public for most of the time until they established their rule over the whole kingdom of Vandrete.
"WE GREET THE HIGH PRIEST!"
"WE ASK YOU TO JUDGE THE CORRUPT KING!"
One after another, both the ministers flailed in front of the maids, performing a 90-degree bow as they grinned, having just received their share of 10,000 gold pieces each from the empire itself that very morning.
They were satisfied enough to genuinely express their desire for the king to be executed.
"....It's disheartening, given I saw that child grow myself yet..."
The high priest shook his head, showcasing first-class acting skills as he spoke.
Holy light seemed to emanate from him as he uttered those words, a tear daring to slip past his eyes, yet he quickly wiped it away before anyone noticed that it was nothing.
'Ohhh...the high priest for a reason,' one of the ministers thought, clearly surprised by the high priest's acting skills, especially considering he was the one who had instigated this whole affair, guiding them towards their goal of getting rid of both Santus and the king in today's events.
Seeing him act as the most devastated and anguished figure in front of everyone made it clear why he held the position of high priest.
The man beside the high priest, adjusting his glasses, held a smirk as he looked at the old man before recalling the situation in this kingdom.
To put it simply, there were a total of four factions within the monastery.
Based on the performance of either faction, they elevated in position and became the main decision-makers.
Twenty years ago, this high priest had discovered a girl who later became the saintess, helping him climb the ladder.
However, now that he had established his rules, he found that her decision-making did not align with his.
Feeling helpless and restricted, the high priest slowly decided to get rid of her.
But the issue was what would happen if he were to eliminate the centrist, who was the sole support keeping his rule over the monastery intact.
To tackle this situation, he colluded with the Empire, which then proposed a deal to get rid of Queen Astara Vandrete.
The high priest decided to use this as an event for revolution, manipulating events to stage a coup while using the corrupt noblemen, who were too foolish to realize they were tightening their own nooses.
Once he became the ruler of the kingdom, the first action he would take would be to execute all the noblemen one after another to prove his allegiance to the goddess and that all this was done in the name of justice.
So now, once he takes over the kingdom, the saintess will catch and reveal the proof of Saintess being defiled by the king.
He would use this pretext to rid themselves of both her and the king.
Meanwhile, he had already sent soldiers to kill Queen Astara in the background and would leverage all the support from the Empire to become the sole ruler of this land after getting rid of the king and the Saintess.
"Knights! It's saddening, but barge in to reveal the true face of those heretics!" Without hesitation, the High Priest commanded, and all the knights sprinted towards the palace gates. Servants gave him way as they, one after another, a little more than a dozen of them, entered, sprinting through the palace.
"High Priest, should we first meet the finance minister?" The one behind, knowing the situation could change or become suspicious if they were to directly barge into that particular room first, decided to let the knights roam around the palace to search for the king and the Saintess.
They would sneakily meet the finance minister before catching them red-handed.
He himself had decided to do this to remove any variables where their plan might fail, ensuring the king was not present when they barged in with full confidence.
So, to confirm things beforehand, both of them made their way inside the palace, followed by both ministers and the servants.