The Saintess Returned to the Emperor’s Arms – Chapter 147

Author: Chewyy

Yvonne’s Secret

Soon, an imperial order was issued reinstating the Imperial First Knight Order and the Empress’s Guard.

The next morning, they all returned to their positions.

As if nothing had ever happened.

However, as if they had all made a promise, they moved with even more energy and determination than before.

Asion was no different.

He started his day early in the morning, arriving an hour earlier than usual, handling his backlog of work, bringing the schedule to the inner chambers, and following Herhan around like a shadow.

“Asion. You don’t need to follow me to the bathroom.”

“No, Your Majesty. You’re still not fully recovered, so I should assist—”

“Cut it out.”

Herhan’s fierce teasing toward Asion had returned to normal.

Asion, as if simply happy about that, followed his lord around like an excited puppy.

“Oh my, Captain Asion. You seem especially full of spirit today. But what happened? Your eyes look so swollen. Did you cry all night?”

At Amelia’s teasing, who had come to visit the inner chambers, Asion flusteredly covered his face.

“Priest Amelia, actually…”

“Pfft. You don’t have to explain. I already know. Your Majesty the Empress—I’ve already heard rumors about that amazing ‘potion of forgetfulness.’”

In other words, Amelia knew everything and had teased Asion on purpose.

Seeing this unexpectedly mischievous side of Amelia, Riela burst into laughter.

At some point, Amelia had grown used to wearing dresses, and around her neck hung a blue necklace.

Riela had also retrieved her mother’s keepsake—the same necklace—from Kyle, but she still hadn’t been able to wear it.

How should she put it— It just didn’t feel like something she could do yet.

As if noticing her feelings, Amelia looked at Riela with firmer eyes and spoke.

“Actually, I plan to go meet Archbishop Ludovico today. It’s time to settle things, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Ah…”

“Would you… like to come with me?”

Riela hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Amelia gently but firmly took her hand.

* * *

Ludovico tried to appear calm.

If he let his guard down even for a moment, his legs would tremble and his teeth would chatter, but he forced himself to stay composed in case anyone was watching.

‘I must not lose the dignity of the great Archbishop of the Central Temple.’

Just then, the prison door opened and someone stepped inside.

Ludovico recognized that it was Amelia and doubted his own eyes.

“Amelia…? How did you get here? And what is that outfit?”

The wrinkled brow of the white-haired old man in his eighties, worn down by hardship, twisted with dry lines.

His eyes, accustomed to darkness, flashed as he scanned Amelia from head to toe.

Dressed like a noble lady—it didn’t suit her at all.

He almost didn’t recognize her.

“I had to conceal my identity to come here.”

“Don’t tell me you came all this way to save me after hearing my situation?”

“Of course, Archbishop.”

Only then did Ludovico let out a sigh of relief.

Indeed, after struggling to survive this long, he couldn’t possibly end it all here.

“Good. Did you receive my letter well? Are the preparations to save me ready? This is a fight against the Emperor. A few petitions won’t be enough—you must gather all the priests across the nation. You must make it clear that attacking me is blasphemy—”

“Archbishop. Before that, I have something to ask. Do you happen to know Priest Yvonne?”

“What? Y-Yvonne? Why bring that up all of a sudden?”

Ludovico frowned.

Yvonne.

It was such an unexpected name that he almost thought he misheard it.

“Recently, I received a report that you were responsible for harming Priest Yvonne, who went missing in the past.”

Ludovico was briefly shaken, but soon regained his stern composure.

“Isn’t that something from long ago? What does that matter now? What’s important is that I clear my name and get out of this prison!”

“That’s why I’m asking, Archbishop.”

Amelia responded calmly to his reprimand.

“I heard Kyle has been arrested.”

“What? Lord Kyle?”

“Yes. The imperial family is currently investigating all the crimes of Kyle and the alliance. So at this opportunity, we must pin all the wrongdoing even slightly connected to you onto him. That is the only way for you to leave this prison.”

“Ah… that… Lord Kyle…”

Even Kyle had been captured?

That was certainly shocking.

At the same time, it opened up another possibility for Ludovico.

‘If, as Amelia says, everything can be pinned on him, I might survive… But will that really be so easy? What if this is also a trap?’

“Archbishop. Please tell me everything you know. Only then can I save you.”

“….”

“Do you not trust me?”

He couldn’t trust her easily.

After all, hadn’t he been deceived by someone he believed to be an ally at the banquet, ending up in this situation?

‘But…’

It wasn’t that he trusted her because he could.

It was because he had no other choice but to trust her.

“…Yvonne. That woman was a bold and troublesome one whom the former Archbishop Romano cherished greatly.”

In the end, after hesitation, Ludovico made up his mind and slowly began to speak.

From the beginning, Ludovico believed it was only right for the temple to stand above the “descendants.”

So he had practically imprisoned the descendants of Enril in a camp and sought to control them.

It was so that, when the “necessary time” came, he could use them as the temple’s army.

What constantly opposed Ludovico’s will was none other than Priest Yvonne.

She insisted that the “descendants” were neither criminals nor cursed beings, but simply people like themselves.

So the temple had no right to treat them carelessly, and she boldly challenged Ludovico at every turn.

“She was such a thorn in my side. Because of that one young woman, I couldn’t carry out my plans.”

That was why Bishop Ludovico joined hands with the alliance.

Their interests aligned perfectly—he wanted to gain more power by using the strength of the descendants.

Coincidentally, it was around that time that Yvonne suddenly fled in the dead of night.

“I thought she was lucky. Or maybe just quick-witted. I was planning to deal with her anyway.”

“Then… around that time, the accident that happened to Archbishop Romano… could it be…?”

“Yes. I was the one who took care of it.”

After killing the former archbishop and taking the position as head of the temple, Ludovico discovered Romano’s diary among his belongings a few years later.

Inside it was a tremendous secret about the runaway Yvonne.

Back when Yvonne lived in the temple, she had fallen in love with one of Enril’s descendants in the temple camp and became pregnant.

It might have been a love story you could find anywhere, but in Yvonne’s case, it was a bit more special.

After becoming pregnant, divine power of Antu manifested within her.

“That strong holy power probably came from the child in her womb.”

After learning this, Archbishop Romano helped Yvonne escape the temple.

He secretly kept in touch with her and continued to care for her—until he met his end at Ludovico’s hands.

After learning the truth, Ludovico obsessively tracked down Yvonne, who was still hiding somewhere.

To find clues about her, he interrogated all the descendants in the camp who had known her.

Among them, there must have been the man who had loved Yvonne.

But in the end, he never found out who it was.

Because all the descendants died, unable to endure the brutal torture disguised as drug experiments.

“Is that true? Bishop! D-drug experiments…?”

“There’s nothing to be surprised about, Amelia. Do you think the descendants in the camps obediently follow our orders today for no reason?”

Amelia trembled at the temple’s horrifying atrocities, but Ludovico’s eyes were already clouded with madness, unable to notice her reaction.

“God responded to my efforts. In the end, I found Yvonne.”

A chill ran down Amelia’s spine, and she instinctively stepped back.

Ludovico clenched his fist as if grabbing Yvonne’s throat again, just like that day in the past, and continued.

“But the result was disappointing. Yvonne died too easily under my torture, and the girl she had given birth to was lost right after that. Damn it. If I had gotten my hands on a true descendant of Antu back then, my situation now would have been completely different!”

Ludovico ground his teeth in frustration.

Seeing that, a deep nausea rose within Amelia.

This man— this horrifying human—she had served as God’s representative all this time.

“By the way, is it true that Lord Kyle has been captured? What kind of person is he?”

Amelia no longer wanted to hear even the sound of Ludovico’s breathing.

Facing him was unbearable, speaking with him even worse—she wanted to run away immediately.

But still, she forced herself to step forward again.

Because she, too, was a sinner.

And for Riela, who had given her a chance to atone, she had to see this through to the end.

“Kyle was a young man of twenty-three, Bishop.”

“W-what did you say?”

“No matter how omnipotent he may be, he couldn’t have ordered things that happened before he was even born. You committed all those crimes yourself—while knowingly pretending otherwise, using the alliance’s name.”

“Amelia, what are you—”

At those words, Ludovico’s face twisted.

Only then did he realize that Amelia’s expression, her eyes, her voice—had all changed.

“Hah…”

A furious breath escaped between Ludovico’s teeth.

His faded gray eyes narrowed as he glared at Amelia in a chilling way.

He had already fallen into ruin through betrayal after betrayal.

Being betrayed once more wasn’t surprising—

but it was different when it came from someone so young.

“Amelia. Did you deceive me? After all I’ve done to raise you, you ungrateful—!”

“How did you raise me? By committing countless evils, and nurturing me with the seeds of that original sin.”

Amelia shot back through tearful anger.

“You made me live while serving the very person who killed the one I love most with my own hands. Then how am I supposed to live now? I have no face to see Her Majesty the Empress while alive, and no face to see Priest Yvonne in death! How could you do something so horrific? Why? Why!”

Amelia cried out in anguish.

She demanded how he could do such things, but there was no way Ludovico would now make excuses or repent.

Glaring at him, Amelia continued.

“Kyle was executed a few days ago. His severed head hangs in the square—but you will never see his face. Because you will not leave this prison alive.”

Even in the darkness of the cell, Ludovico’s pale face stood out clearly.

As Amelia turned to leave, Ludovico hurled curses at her back—

and soon, another shadow fell before him.

“Thank you for your honest confession, Bishop. The priests across the country will be shocked when they hear of all these atrocities. Though honestly, I don’t really care what happens to the temple.”

It was Jess.

“By the way, you said you conducted drug experiments on the descendants in the camps. Interesting. What exactly did you do to end up killing them all?”

“Ugh… ngh…!”

“Ah. If you can’t explain it with words, you can show me with your body instead.”

“W-what…!?”

Jess didn’t say anything further.

He simply took out a pair of leather gloves and slowly put them on—and that alone was threatening enough.

When he flung open the black bag he had brought, several bundles of syringes filled with unknown substances were inside.

There wasn’t the slightest hint of emotion in Jess’s actions as he picked up the largest syringe among them.

Only then did Ludovico realize what this young man was about to do to him, and he began to struggle desperately.

“H-hey! Wait! What are you doing right now—!”

Ludovico begged for his life, tried to persuade him, and in the end even began reciting passages from the scriptures, cursing Jess.

“Be quiet. Even God wouldn’t want to listen to the prayers of trash like you.”

Jess’s cold words struck Ludovico more harshly than any curse.