Bab 225: [Chapter 226] Countless Special Days
"No, wait, wait a minute."
Neris stopped both Cledwyn and the knight. She looked up at her husband with sharp eyes.
"What is all that? The Grand Duke's heirlooms?"
"Those things are hardly heirlooms. I just collected them whenever I thought of you."
That many? Even if hundreds of craftsmen worked every day, it would take two years to… Neris blinked and realized.
Cledwyn must have been collecting those jewels before she came to this land.
"What would you have given them to me for if I hadn't married you? Were you going to give them to me to throw when you got angry during a fight?"
"That's good too, I would have begged you to use them to pave the ground you walk on."
"Who would do such a thing?"
"My wife. If she wants to."
Neris was dumbfounded. But she couldn't blame her husband for the waste.
She had known it well even when she was an advisor, but after becoming the Grand Duchess and being able to see all the documents of this land, she knew it even better. The Grand Duke of Maindelant was rich. Extremely rich. Moreover, he had several mines that produced very high-quality jewels.
This amount of treasure was within his means to collect. Neris grumbled, feeling a little ashamed of the wealth of the Morie Trading Company, which she had been confident in.
"What's in the next room? Surely there aren't more jewels in the next room?"
"Surely not."
Ah, good. There was nothing wrong with having a lot of jewels, but it was a little overwhelming, so Neris thought that.
And when the next room opened, she revised her thoughts upon seeing what was revealed.
Gold bars, a deep, dark color like the evening sky, shimmered. The gold, stacked like bricks, filled a space similar in size to the first room, a wealth that could only be seen in stories.
"This is… the Grand Duchy's emergency fund?"
"Just this? It's just for you to take out whenever you need it. I'll replenish it when you use it."
That's what she thought. Neris was getting a headache.
Cledwyn kept calling out, "Next, next." A scene like the treasure list of a dragon from a fairy tale unfolded. A room of the finest silk dyed in Tyrian purple, a room of gold and silver thread, a room of magical tools…
When the door to the last room opened, Neris thought she had no energy left to be surprised. But her thoughts were soon proven wrong.
What caught Neris's eye through the open door was a kaleidoscope of colors like an artist's palette. Thousands of ribbons, in all colors, fabrics, and widths, adorned countless shelves.
Pink, green, white, cream, crimson, navy blue, sky blue, silver… the surface of the shelves was completely covered in ribbons. They were all luxurious ribbons, undoubtedly meticulously woven.
The largest ribbon was not on a shelf, but on a marble pedestal in the middle of the room. A box on the pedestal was wrapped in a purple ribbon a foot wide.
Neris stepped out of her husband's arms and walked towards it. She pulled one end of the ribbon.
The ribbon, made of the finest silk, fluttered and danced in the air. The lid of the black velvet box was revealed.
Inside the box was a delicate, slender vine-shaped diamond tiara.
At least dozens of diamonds the size of fingernails, and at least hundreds of tiny diamonds for a subtle sparkle, were embedded, emitting a shimmering light. Scattered among the vines were dangling peach-colored conch pearls shaped like cornel cherries.
It seemed to be the most meticulously crafted item among the countless treasures she had seen today. Its value was so great that it was ridiculous to even try to estimate it.
Beneath the tiara was written, 'To my Queen'.
"What day is it today?"
Neris asked Cledwyn.
"It's a day when we are married and living together, feeling happy. I sincerely hope tomorrow will be a day like this too."
Strong arms wrapped around Neris from behind.
The familiar comfort, and the overwhelming excitement that came with it. Neris was flustered and covered her face with her hands.
"Are you crying?"
Neris wiped away her tears and burst into a light laugh.
"It's just that it's not a special day at all."
"No, it's one of the countless special days you're by my side."
'If you were a crown princess, you'd have to have something special, wouldn't you? The ability your eyes have? That's something that would have been much better given to a manager. I'm tired of your whining, so shut up.'
She had confided in this man about her boring and pathetic life, but it was still a secret what kind of marriage life Abelus had provided.
She knew that the past was gone, now that time had turned back, and it couldn't hurt her anymore. Anyone can think correctly. But that doesn't mean the wounds you've already received disappear.
Even if it was a wound that would heal and eventually disappear, it was still carving a deep groove in her now.
But these words, whispered as if they were insignificant.
This warmth that enveloped her body.
The weight of his head resting on her neck.
'It's not just a new skin.'
It gave her a sense of fullness and happiness that was as deep as the wound, no, twice as deep. It made her truly indifferent to the foolishness of the past.
Cledwyn whispered to his beloved wife.
"You don't need to think too much. As you know, I've been preparing for a long time, and they're only going to collapse quickly thanks to my wise wife. Lean on me whenever you need to. We're on the same path now."
Neris whispered back, "Yes," her voice muffled. Cledwyn laughed and inhaled her scent deeply.
Don't worry about evidence of the past. We can just fabricate it if we need to. But I don't think we need any other evidence.
Why?
Because no one can say that Bisto killed the evil dragon after seeing a dragon flying in the sky.
The day the secret chamber where Palos's power sleeps is destroyed will be the day the imperial family collapses forever.
****
The landscape of Ulevis, the Papal State, was drastically different compared to a few months ago.
First, the excessive taxes were gone. The construction of the mausoleum was completely halted, and the payments that had been suspended were paid off by the Papacy. And relief was provided to the believers who were suffering from severe poverty.
The new leadership of the Papacy vaguely brushed over where the money came from, but the citizens of Ulevis knew. They knew that the new Pope, Renus, had confiscated the former Pope Omnitus's private fortune and used it without any reservations.
Omnitus's illegitimate children protested, but public opinion was not on their side. In fact, people condemned them.
People loved the story of the new Pope, who had remained the only member of his fallen family, endured hardship, never lost his good heart, and ultimately returned in glory. In the face of that adventure, Omnitus's children, who dared to demand the fortune their father had unjustly amassed, were nothing more than villains.
Father Adams, who had followed Renus since before his ascension, was appointed as the new treasurer and ruthlessly cleaned up the long-standing corruption, implementing personnel changes based on ability. The new Pope was praised both inside and outside for bringing a new era.
The young Pope, the subject of such praise, was currently holed up in the dusty library. Even though it was called a library, it was just a couple of bookshelves, a worn-out desk, and a worn-out chair.
"Achoo, achoo! Damn it, ventilate this place more often!"
He had cursed, but even Ren knew it was a mistake. The place he was in was a secret archive that no one but the past Popes could enter.
Such spaces existed throughout the Papacy. A bedroom that only past Popes could enter, a treasure vault that only past Popes could enter, a balcony that only past Popes could enter, a balcony that only past Popes could… and so on.
But no space was as thoroughly kept secret as this small, modest room. A secluded room with no windows. No one dared to even go near it to clean, and even the Pope's closest confidants were not allowed in.
He felt like the dust had settled on his bright pink hair. Ren idly brushed his hair and looked at the bookshelf in front of him.
The reason this was a secret archive was because it contained only the most secret records of the past, records that should never be shown to anyone, and in some cases, it was better to destroy them. But the Papal State had existed for hundreds of years, so those records had piled up and piled up, becoming quite extensive.
Ren wanted the oldest records of all, the ones Neris had requested.
Ideally, something from 600 years ago.
"I don't know?"
He pulled out a few records left by the early Popes and searched through them, but there was nothing new that Ren didn't already know.
In fact, Ren didn't know that many secrets. He had spent a long time in the Papal State as a child, and he had been favored by many elders, joining their meetings and picking up sweets. He had even snuck into this place without his respected brother knowing.
'I was caught right away because I didn't know how to clean up after myself when I was a kid.'
The letter that had arrived from Maindelant recently was written in Neris's refined style, but Ren could read the shocking assumptions behind it.
The story of the three heroes who defeated the evil dragon is not true, and the first Pope of the Timaios Church was among those who fabricated that heroic song.
Even a traveling troupe that wanders from village to village wouldn't put on a story like this because it's too far-fetched. And the Neris Ren knew wasn't someone who would believe a far-fetched story without any evidence.
'At least I should check.'
If, as Neris hinted between the lines, the first Pope had conspired with the brave Bisto and fabricated a false history, there must be records related to it.
He must have felt the need to hold a weakness over the Bisto family in the temple during that turbulent time.
'That kind of person.'
The temple extols the first Pope as a great saint for political reasons, but those with a little more brains can't help but feel his political cunning in his achievements.
There weren't many records left by the first Pope that were important enough to be in this room. Ren quickly searched through all the records from that time period that might contain such content, but he was disappointed to find nothing.
"Ah, useless."
Ren didn't care about old truths. In fact, it didn't matter if the three heroes didn't exist. Not unless it affected his life.
But Neris wanted his help.
"Another room?"
It didn't seem likely that documents containing the first Pope's secrets would be kept anywhere other than this secret archive… but Ren's steps, which were about to leave the room, stopped.
There were all sorts of dirty things in the early history of the Timaios Church. Of course, there were also true saints who left behind legends out of pure compassion for people, which is why he came here.
But among those dirty histories, something like what Neris hinted at was top secret. It was something that even the past Popes would have been better off not knowing, unless something extraordinary happened…
Something vaguely came to mind. It was like I saw something interesting here in my childhood… The next moment, Ren lowered his body.
To match the eye level he had as a child.
He saw something strange under the desk. A recess in the wall, right below the desk that was attached to the wall, a shadowy space that would never be in the field of vision of an adult of normal height.
And in that recess was a wooden chest.
"Oh."
Ren got under the desk and pulled out the wooden chest. He placed the chest on the desk and opened the lid.
Inside the chest was a pile of old, worn paper filled with writing, enough to make about a book. It wasn't neatly bound, and the size and color of the paper varied, suggesting that it was a collection of notes written haphazardly over several days.
He was worried, but thankfully, the writing was in the Divine Language. It was a little more complex in its use than the Divine Language used today… but that was a good thing.
'This means that this document was written right at the beginning of the formation of the temple.'
The Divine Language didn't just naturally come into being in its current form. It was a simplified form of the Ancient Language used by the noble races during the time of the evil dragon. The grammar of the Divine Language we use today was largely established around the time of the third Pope.
It's something that people who don't study theology deeply or have access to these confidential documents wouldn't know.
Ren carefully took out the paper from the chest. He sat down on the chair and began to read it.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone