The World I Was Supporting Was Real - Chapter 81



81. A Nun? and a Prince (5)

What?

Did I just hear wrong?

Ares calmly asked his sister again.

“Sis, what are you talking about? Not here?”

“Like, a nun named Karen doesn’t exist, at least not within the Igguguodon Cathedral.”

“What do you mean? That can’t be. She wore a nun’s habit, always carried a bible, and most crucially, she was sent by the Saint. And—”

“Hold on, Ares. Calm down for a second.”

Linea placed a hand on his shoulder, which seemed ready to argue, and pushed him back slightly as if telling him to calm down.

“Explain it from the start. Why are you looking for a nun anyway? Is it something you need? Or is something up?”

“…Ah.”

Come to think of it, unlike himself or Yuria who resided in the Imperial Palace, Linea was practically a married-out daughter.

Ares explained to her in detail what had happened so far.

“The Saint dispatched nuns to teach about religious doctrine?”

“Yeah. Not just me, Yuria sis got one too.”

‘The core of doctrine is not to impose religion… yet they send nuns to the Imperial family?’

Something didn’t quite add up, but Ares didn’t seem to be lying.

“Okay, I’ll look into it. If they’re dispatched nuns, they might not necessarily be affiliated with the Cathedral.”

She knew so much about what had happened at the Igguguodon Cathedral, which is why the words, ‘but…’, nearly came out of his throat.

Ares didn’t bother bringing up the subject.

He wanted to hold onto hope. The hope that if he looked, he would find her.

“…I’m counting on you, Sis.”

With those words, Ares turned his back on Linea and walked out of the church, Karen’s voice still echoing in his ears.

* * *

How many days had passed like that?

“Princess Linea is looking for you, Prince.”

‘Finally!’

After lightly thanking the maid who’d brought the news, Ares immediately changed into his formal attire and got into the carriage.

Before long, he arrived at the Yggdrasil Cathedral, and there he saw Linea, her figure seeming quite comfortable now in the knight’s attire.

“You’ve come, Ares.”

“Sis. Did you look?”

Before even greeting her properly, Ares cut straight to the point. Linea replied with a somewhat troubled expression.

“…Yeah.”

“Thank you. So, which order does Sister Karen belong to?”

Linea, looking as if she didn’t know what to do again, hesitated for a moment—

“Listen carefully, Ares.”

She put a hand on Ares’ shoulder, her face wearing the expression of an older sister, a protector—an expression she hadn’t worn since their childhood.

“There’s no nun by the name of Karen in our order.”

“…What?”

“I checked the list of nuns stationed across the continent. Cross-checked it several times, even… and there’s no one by that name. I’m really sorry, but maybe you’ve got the name wrong?”

Got the name wrong?

…Then she lied to me?

But there’s absolutely no advantage to her gaining anything by lying about her name to me, is there?

If there was something to gain, I guess I could understand it, but there wasn’t, so this answer was hard to accept-

‘No. It’s more likely she used an alias.’

I don’t know the specifics, but it’s not impossible that she’d hide her name.

After all, a person named Karen definitely doesn’t exist.

The strongest evidence is myself. The days we spent laughing, talking, playing board games, or just sharing meaningless chatter.

Each one of those moments is etched into Ares’s memory now as an incredibly intense recollection.

Ares tuned out Linea’s murmuring, focusing on his own thoughts.

‘Even if she lied about her name, it’s okay. She must have had a reason. I just want to apologize for getting suddenly angry.’

‘How can I contact Karen-noona, I wonder?’

‘Wait a second.’

‘Come to think of it, Mother definitely said “The Holy Maiden ordered it directly,” right? That means the Holy Maiden was the one who sent Karen-noona to me?

‘So…maybe if I asked the Holy Maiden, she would help me?’

“… Ares? Are you listening to me?”

“Ah, noona. Sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

Linea let out a deep sigh at Ares’s overly confident reply.

“That’s what it seemed like.”

“More than that, Sis. I want to meet the Saintess.”

“……What? Out of the blue?”

“Yeah. If possible, right now. Would that be okay?”

Line shook her head, looking troubled.

“I told you. The Saintess is incredibly busy with public activities, so you need to schedule an appointment in advance to meet her.”

“Is she out right now?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll wait here until the Saintess comes!”

“……What?”

“I’m begging you, Sis! Still, I’m royalty! Can’t you do something? You’re the only one I can trust…!”

Línea stared at Ares, who was bowing at a 90-degree angle, with a look of incomprehension.

The gaze he directed at her was so earnest, it made even less sense.

‘Why the heck is he like this?’

It was Ares who had never been serious about anything, treating most things half-jokingly and haphazardly.

He was like that even when studying the Imperial family’s manners, and even when his stepmother ascended the throne after his mother passed away.

He never once put passion in his blue eyes. It was as if he were looking down on the entire Imperial family, sneering as if to claim, ‘There’s nothing for me to do in this system.’

But, that Ares… he was making such a serious expression, even emphasizing that he was royalty, throwing away his pride and begging his sister.

Everything about it was out of character – but even if he was royalty, she couldn’t stand by as a Holy Knight while he was demanding to see the Saintess.

Maybe the Emperor, but a Prince was a completely different story.

In the first place, considering the current political situation, the Saintess’s status was much higher than that of a Prince who wasn’t even in line for succession.

So, I was thinking I’d just placate him here, send him on his way, and then discuss the schedule with the Saintess, when, right at that moment—

“What’s going on?”

“Saintess…?”

From beyond, Erin, accompanied by the high priests—a holy book held carefully to her chest—was walking towards us.

“You’re here early? I heard you’d be coming late today….”

“My schedule was canceled. I was going to have some quiet time for prayer, but…”

That instant.

Ares and Erin’s eyes met—and Erin nodded as if understanding the situation.

“It seems we have a guest.”

“Ah, Saintess. This is—”

“Please!”

Before Linea could even speak, Ares, this time bowing towards Erin, said,

“Please, spare me some time! I have a question for you!”

“Hey, you really—”

In that moment. Erin gently extended a hand towards Linea.

Linea easily understood that it meant to leave it to her.

“Your Highness, I hope you’re well. It seems you have some business with me… is that correct?”

“It is.”

“Alright. For a Saintess should share dry facts even with non-believers… please, follow me this way.”

“Thank you!”

Ares bowed to Erin several times, then followed her.

* * *

After arriving at the drawing room.

Erin was about to casually offer tea, but—

“I’m alright. Rather, there’s something I need to ask.”

“I heard you enjoy tea, you must be awfully urgent. Haha… Please, speak comfortably.”

Ares took a deep breath inwardly, then—

Raised his head, meeting Erin’s eyes directly as he asked.

“I’ll be blunt. These past few days, you sent a nun to teach bible studies to members of the Imperial family, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I did. For it was God’s will.”

“But, communication suddenly stopped not long ago. Her name was Karen, I believe, but considering the situation, it seems like she was using a false name… Still, since you, the Saintess, directly ordered her to go, I “thought you might know something about her.”

“So… if it’s alright, I’d like to meet her…”

Thump, thump.

For some reason, despite just asking a question… his heart began to pound like it would burst.

This wasn’t the sweet and tangy feeling of young love.

Rather, it was the opposite emotion—fear.

The feeling that he’d asked a question he shouldn’t have.

Erin, without saying a word,

Then slowly moves those pink lips.

“Ares-nim. You know, don’t you? Everything that you’ve experienced is a plain fact provided by Iguogweodon-nim.”

“……Huh?”

“You must know, right?”

A dry fact… …

From noble mtl dot com

And the time we spend getting to know each other like this, that’s also a dry fact from Iguo Guoden-nim!

I don’t know what she’s talking about, but for some reason, Karen’s voice is ringing in my ear—

Ares nodded slowly.

“Yes. I know.”

And, Erin.

With a tone like she couldn’t help it, calmly to him—

“Unfortunately, the dry facts of god have all been used up, so it will be difficult to arrange a meeting.”

“……Huh?”

“Everything is because of the ‘dry facts’ that Iguo Guoden-nim bestowed upon you, Ares-nim. And, those have simply been consumed.”

—She stated the truth in the language of a religious person.

“Huh? I’m… I’m sorry, but what are you talking about?”

“So, even if I wanted to let you meet again, we need dry facts, but they’re lacking.”

“???”

“If there were dry facts remaining, I could have allowed you to meet… I’m sorry.”

“??????”

Ares’s head started spinning complicatedly once again.

We can’t meet because there aren’t enough dry facts, what kind of nonsense is that?

It didn’t even feel like sentences to Ares anymore. Just words, strung together without any discernible rule.

“Wait…that, so like—”

—Calm down.

Faced with the incomprehensible ramblings of a fanatic, Ares regained his composure.

And began to analyze her words, each one, with starting speed.

‘Including Saint Erin, those who believe in the Guerdan Church tend to be completely consumed by their own rules, strictly based on the scripture.’

After all, usually, they wouldn’t treat a woman’s breasts as a sacred pouch of divine power or something.

But aside from the matter of breasts, it was just the way of expression that was strange – the meaning within was clearly easy for anyone to understand.

For example, the phrase ‘abandon the old and embrace the new’ sounded like total gibberish when taken on its own—

But, it was an easily woven, provocative slogan, overturning the contradictions of the old regime without any resistance.

If it hadn’t been for Saint Erin’s ‘massive show disguised as the knighting ceremony of three holy knights,’ such reform within the religious world would surely have been impossible due to the backlash of the established power.

Most of the recent moves by the church had been like this. Taking scriptures appropriately, creating plausible phrases based on them, and gaining absurd momentum to proceed.

Three holy knights were appointed without any discord, the old contradictory system was dismantled, and cooperation with the demons, which most humans would shy away from, was achieved.

The concept of ‘bare facts’ was used similarly during negotiations with the demons.

Even in the unprecedented situation where the demon king had suddenly turned into a girl, the fact that everything was resolved peacefully after the Saint, who had gained authority through this miracle, said, ‘It is thanks to the bare facts of God’ was no coincidence.

This was also the reason why he had, for the moment, given up on his plan to overthrow the Emperor and establish a new regime.

The Saint was already accomplishing everything without bloodshed, so why would he need to step up now?

Unless the Saint went berserk, there was no need for him to intervene.

Anyway.

If this was the way the religious world spoke… He felt like he knew what Erin had just said to him.

“So… you’re telling me that if I want to see Karen noona, I have to formally convert here and submit to the religious order?”

A plain fact—that to achieve religious enlightenment, they’d make *me* join the Gweodon church—

Is this some scheme to eliminate potential threats to the religious establishment, nipping it in the bud?

Ares’ eyes, with their sclera showing, stared at Erin’s face.

She, watching Ares, wore a faint smile.

‘She’s a more terrifying woman than I thought.’

It’s fortunate she’s using her cunning for the benefit of the masses, but what if she ever turned her mind to something else…?

Ares meets Erin’s gaze with a resolved expression.

“?”

And then—

“Saintess.”

“Yes?”

“I apologize, but I cannot do as you wish. Of course, just as Sister Karen told me, I know that my methods are radical. I acknowledge the need for self-reflection. But… I can’t shake the feeling that having me immediately join the Gweodon church here is also not the right thing to do.”

“….Huh?”

Looking at Erin, who tilted her head in confusion…

Ares turned his head, his gaze deeply sentimental.

“If you wouldn’t mind, could you please tell Sister Karen… noona, that I was truly, truly grateful to her? Well, if it’s difficult to convey, you don’t have to.”

“Um, Prince. It seems you’ve misunderstood. My words weren’t about you believing in the religion, but literally—”

“I’ve been rude. Then.”

Ares rose from his seat before Erin could finish speaking, and he left the reception room without looking back.

Erin stared at the closed parlor door—

“……???”

—and simply tilted her head again, speechless.

* * *

And the next day.

Unlike Ares, who, with a relaxed tone, said “Don’t bother telling me if you don’t want to” and roughly accepted the current situation that prevented him from seeing her—

‘… … .’

—the man’s pure heart could not, in any way, tolerate it.