“There is another problem here. One of High Priest Malavoi’s subordinates, Cardinal Kaempfer seems to be intending to use this situation for his own greed.”
Kaempfer…that sounds familiar…ah! Wasn’t that the name of the priest that kept going to our mansion to meet Lily, but was stopped at the door by Mother? Wait, don’t tell me his intention was too…
“I believe you have heard that one of the High Priest’s seats is now vacant?”
“Yes, I have heard about it.”
“Cardinal Kaempfer wanted that vacant position. So he plans to make a deal with Lily-dono. In exchange for dismissing the charge against Mazell-dono, Lily-dono will enter the church as an apprentice priest under Cardinal Kaempfer, thus he will get the support of the hero.”
…As expected, that was his aim.
“But Cardinal Kaempfer cannot get in touch with Lily-dono.”
Yeah, since Mother kept refusing him to meet Lily in the mansion, while outside of the mansion Lily had been going to the exclusive library with me.
Wait, was the strange man who was trying to approach Lily in the library before had any relation with this Kaempfer?
“But then, there was an incident in the temple. The document ended up being seen by a young woman priest from a different department and this priest spread the words to the others that the esteemed hero will be put on trial under the charge of having illicit behavior.”
“In short…”
“The news blew up and now many people expressed dissatisfaction toward the church.”
The High Priest said that with a bitter expression. Well, I could understand his feelings. Since the news blew up, the church could no longer cover up the whole thing. Adding to that, the handsome and brave hero, Mazell, was really popular now, so the people of the church must be really stressed out because of the amount of complaints they were receiving right now…
…Wait. He said many people were expressing their dissatisfaction. Don’t tell me…
“By any chance…”
“You are quick to understand, Viscount. Some nobles have even sent an open letter questioning the church about the meaning of the hero’s illicit behavior.”
Even I couldn’t help but get a headache at the Prime Minister’s words. Since even nobles were involved, the current situation must be extremely chaotic.
“There were also some nobles who said all of this was the fault of the Zeavert House. But don’t worry. I will suppress that sort of opinion myself.”
As soon as His Highness said that, I felt like the room temperature immediately dropped. Scary.
“Um…so the accusation has already been accepted, you say?”
“Yes. Despite the dubious nature of the accusation and witness, the formal document has been accepted, so the trial must be held. In the current situation, if we didn’t hold the trial then people might start questioning the legitimacy of the temple’s trial.”
The High Priest said so with a bitter expression.
“How about we announce to the public that the document was fake?”
“That will stain the honor of a High Priest, and the noble house that raised the accusation would definitely protest. The position of that noble house…was special, so it would be a huge trouble if they started to make fuss.”
“So which house was it?” (Welner)
“The Coltrezis Marquis house.” (Seyfart)
That’s a pretty…nostalgic name. I haven’t heard that house’s name for a pretty long time. I couldn’t even remember if that house participated in the Finnoi defense battle. Maybe because I inadvertently revealed a strange expression, the Grand Duke started to speak again.
“It’s normal for someone your age to be unfamiliar with that house. They are the maiden family of the current king’s mother. In the era of the previous king, Marquis Coltrezis was a talented person but his successor has a quite terrible reputation.”
“To put it bluntly, that house has suffered a losing streak in the noble community. They lost to the Grunding house in the selection of the current queen, then they failed to get both the position of the current Crown Princess and the future Crown Princess.”
“I see. It seems like it would be hard for that house to shine at least in this generation.”
Unless they used some illegal means. But…I wonder why I got this strange feeling…
And in the next moment, I finally understand a part of the reason for this strange feeling.
“But even if they were no longer as powerful as before, the Coltrezis house was still a house that used to produce a queen, so they have many relatives. In addition, the current Marquis Coltrezis was in coma because of his illness, so the Marchioness was the real head of the Coltrezis family.”
Hm…the Marchioness was probably quite old now. In short, the woman that got her daughter and granddaughter dumped by the royal family was now the head of the house, huh. Considering she was the one that raised an accusation toward Mazell, her personality might be twisted.
Wait a minute. Don’t tell me her real reason for accusing Mazell was…
“…Is the Marchioness’ main objection was to smear Princess Laura’s reputation, rather than to attack Mazell?”
