I’m Not the One Who Seduced the Grand Duke Chapter 45

“What?”

The High Priest’s eyes widened.

He looked as though he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

“What did you just say……?”

“Ah. I’m sorry. I suppose I’ve been so worn down these past few days that I became a little more sensitive than usual without realizing it.”

“Heh-heh. I-I see. That can happen.”

The High Priest nodded with a benevolent smile, though the unmistakable hint of bewilderment on his face gave him away.

“Then shall we go over this again? So, High Priest Servando, you want me to remain a priest?”

“Yes. Yes. Exactly.”

“And in exchange, you’ll approve my engagement. And, on top of that, you’ll support me in the future.”

“That’s right. Precisely.”

The High Priest smiled broadly and nodded repeatedly.

Every movement betrayed his nervousness.

“Hmm…… But somehow, I don’t find that very convincing.”

Leon seemed to ponder for a moment before quietly stroking his chin as though he were troubled.

At his words, I saw the High Priest bite down on his parched lips.

“Which part is it that you don’t find convincing?”

“Well, didn’t you just say it yourself? That the High Priest is the master of the Temple, and that your voice is essentially the voice of God.”

“And what does that have to do with……”

“What if I accept your proposal and agree to remain a priest? Couldn’t you simply change your mind later? Keep postponing your approval, or add clauses that didn’t exist before, for example.”

Leon’s eyes flashed.

He was right.

There was nothing stopping the High Priest from changing his mind after obtaining what he wanted.

Of course, he wouldn’t be able to refuse outright without arousing suspicion. More likely, he would drag things out by coming up with one excuse after another.

“I understand perfectly well what His Grace is worried about.”

The High Priest spoke calmly, as though he had anticipated this, and pulled something out from inside his robes.

It was none other than the formal engagement certificate sent by the Imperial Family.

The blanks on the document already contained both my name and Leon’s, side by side.

“I understand your concern. If you give me your word, I’ll approve it immediately, right here and now.”

Oh-ho.

He was coming on pretty strong.

I looked at Leon, wondering what he would do next.

He nodded.

Servando’s face lit up like the sun as he took out the High Priest’s seal, which he had apparently prepared beforehand, and pressed it firmly into the melted wax.

It signified that, as the representative of God, he blessed the future of the two of us.

From this very moment, Leon and I had officially become engaged.

“Well then, I’ve given you everything I promised, so now Your Grace must give me your word as well.”

“I see.”

“I even prepared the document, just in case. It’s nothing serious, really. Just a small memorandum, drawn up as a precaution against any unforeseen circumstances.”

The High Priest casually slid a sheet of paper toward Leon, saying it was nothing important.

I quickly scanned it with my eyes and frowned.

Nothing serious, my ass.

The document explicitly stated that Leon would return to his position as a priest.

The problem was the duration.

It cleverly said only that he would “return,” while vaguely lumping together the guarantees after the engagement and everything else.

In other words—

If he signed this, Leon would effectively be unable to leave the Temple without the High Priest’s consent.

What is this, some kind of slave contract……?

I stared at Leon in disbelief and quickly looked at him.

Surely you’re not going to do this, right?

But he seemed completely uninterested in the document in front of him.

Instead, he was gazing proudly at the engagement certificate in his hands.

“Ahem. Your Grace, now, the signature……”

“……”

“……Your Grace?”

“I wonder. Now that I’ve obtained what I wanted, I don’t think there’s any reason for me to worry about appearances anymore.”

“……Pardon?”

At Leon’s words, the High Priest stared blankly with his gray eyes, as though he had no idea what he meant.

His face quickly flushed.

Just as he was about to open his mouth, glaring at Leon furiously as if asking whether he had been deceived—

“I hear you’ve accumulated quite a fortune by using me. And through dishonest means, at that.”

“……”

The High Priest’s mouth, which had been about to spew out all sorts of words, snapped shut.

His eyes seemed to scream one thing.

Damn it. How much does he know?

It had been quite some time since articles exposing the High Priest’s misconduct had spread throughout the capital.

The articles never explicitly stated exactly what source of income the High Priest had made such good use of.

But anyone who read them could easily put two and two together.

“You will regret treating me like this, Your Grace. That document only concerns your engagement, does it not? The Temple’s approval may not have legal force over a marriage involving a member of the Imperial Family, but who knows? If I, as the High Priest, publicly oppose your marriage, I wonder what the devout believers will think.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I can simply obtain approval from someone more qualified.”

“Someone else?”

There was only one High Priest, so what on earth did he mean?

Leon brushed the question aside.

The High Priest frowned slightly, looking displeased, then shook his head.

“I understand your dissatisfaction, Your Grace. Very well, then. How about this? I’ll arrange suitable compensation for you as well.”

“Compensation.”

“Yes. You are an invaluable asset whom the Temple cannot do without, so naturally, you deserve to be treated accordingly. What do you say? As long as you continue working with me, I’ll make sure you receive a generous share.”

There, there.

In other words.

Right?

The High Priest once again began coaxing Leon with his soft, ingratiating tone and gestures.

He even rubbed his hands together as he suggested adjusting their profit-sharing ratio immediately.

At that moment, he looked less like the head of a religious institution and more like the CEO of a company who had come to pitch a business deal.

“So you really were treating this like a business.”

“No, that’s not what I meant!”

“That’s enough. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. You’ve just given me the testimony I needed.”

“What? Testimony?”

The High Priest blinked stupidly.

He looked utterly baffled by the word testimony, as though he had no idea what Leon was talking about.

And then—

BANG!

The closed doors burst open with a loud crash, and the people waiting outside poured into the room.

From priests wearing white clerical robes to the familiar uniforms of the Holy Knights.

And even the Imperial elite knights, clad in blue cloaks bearing golden insignia……

“Eek!”

At the sudden appearance of the uninvited guests, High Priest Servando’s face went deathly pale.

“W-What? Why are all of you here?!”

Why?

Because we called you here, of course.

I grinned at the High Priest, whose heart seemed ready to leap out of his chest from sheer shock.

As you may have guessed, all of this had actually been a carefully prepared show.

We had prepared this stage from the moment we used the press to pressure the High Priest and, after being hounded by the nobles, he sent us a letter saying he had something important to discuss privately.

Since our opponent wasn’t merely a priest but the High Priest himself, simply reporting him probably wouldn’t be enough to bring him down. So I figured we needed some degree of evidence from the scene itself.

I never expected him to so readily give us statements that practically amounted to a confession in his own words.

“Your Grace, what exactly do you think you’re doing?!”

“What do you think? You’re watching your life fall apart.”

“High Priest Servando.”

While the flustered High Priest stammered, a small man strode out from among the unexpected guests.

Ash-gray curly hair and a dark complexion.

He was even shorter than the elderly Servando, whose back was slightly bent with age, making him look rather young.

He stopped in front of the High Priest and glared at him with utter contempt.

He was Priest Dominiel, one of the chief priests of Asterion Temple.

And, more importantly, he was currently competing against High Priest Servando for the position of High Priest.

“I hereby formally accuse you of embezzlement of Temple finances, selling priestly positions, accepting monetary bribes, and blasphemy. Furthermore, I accuse you of inciting false religious beliefs and disgracing the honor of the Temple.”

“What? Who do you think you are, some mere chief priest, to dare accuse me, the High Priest!”

“Your misconduct has already been reported not only to the Temple but also to the Imperial Family. We have obtained actual testimony as well. It will be difficult for you to escape this.”

Chief Priest Dominiel calmly brought the situation to his attention.

The shocking words seemed to make Servando’s vision spin, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

His body even swayed as he acted like some tragic protagonist suffering an unjust fate.

But not a single person moved to support him.

In the end, the High Priest collapsed onto the floor and looked up at the dozens of eyes staring down at him with empty expressions.

He could only tremble.

The miserable final of a corrupt High Priest who had been respected and regarded as benevolent by everyone, while secretly accepting bribes and amassing wealth and prestige for himself.

Just as it seemed the matter was finally being settled—

“Excuse me, Your Grace.”