Johannes could not break the holy power of his son that bound him.

Yupheon approached the immobilized Johannes.

Bending down carefully toward him, Yupheon tore off the golden chain gleaming around Johannes’s neck.

This golden chain necklace was a sacred object imbued with divine power, also serving as the symbol of the Pope.

Originally, it could only be passed to the next Pope through proper ceremonial procedures during the coronation, but Yupheon had forcibly taken it.

In an instant, the power binding Johannes dissipated, and his body rolled on the floor.

Yupheon approached his father, who was coughing up blood. Then, gently wiping the stream of blood from his father’s mouth with his sleeve, he said.

“I’m sorry, Father.”

“Yuphe…”

“But I must protect Jella.”

Yupheon added, his eyes gently curving toward Johannes.

“You’ll understand, won’t you?”

“….”

Before his son, who asked so innocently, Johannes could not say anything.

Afterward, Yupheon confined father Johannes to the Holy Land, citing the reason that his health was not good and he needed recuperation.

“You… have followed that person more than me since you were young.”

Johannes, confined to the Holy Land, muttered in a bitter voice while looking at his son.

“Her predetermined death is all God’s will. Do you think you can go against God’s will by imprisoning me here?”

“What do you mean by that?”

Yupheon asked, tilting his head.

“God will continue to give oracles. If you don’t respond, eventually, God will spread His will through other agents. Until she finally meets her death.”

“….”

“She is destined to die in the end. You cannot prevent God’s will.”

Johannes explained, his face contorting in agony.

He too was sad and regretful about the predetermined death of Jella, whom he had cherished like his own child.

Yupheon stared at his father for a while, deep in thought.

Then he soon opened his mouth in a casual tone.

“Then I’ll get rid of that God.”

Surprised by those words, Johannes grabbed his son’s shoulders and shouted.

“What are you trying to do!”

“What else can I do? The one who opened my world was not that damn God you serve, but Jella.”

Yupheon said this with a straight smile, removing his father’s hands that had grabbed him.

“Yuphe!”

“The only God I’ll serve is Jella. So I must protect her.”

He whispered in a gentle voice into the ear of the astonished Johannes, then slowly turned his back.

“Yuphe! Yuphe…!”

Yupheon ignored Johannes shouting behind his back and went outside.

And from there, he ascended to the position of Pope himself.

His unilateral actions were met with fierce protests from the elder priests.

However, Yupheon consistently replied that his father Johannes was too ill to continue serving as Pope, ignoring the opposition directed at him.

While the Grand Temple was in turmoil and turned upside down, Yupheon’s mind was filled with only one thought.

‘Killing Jella is God’s will, they say.’

If that’s the case, there’s no choice.

‘Let’s kill God.’

Before God kills Jella, I must find and kill God first.

But although he possessed holy power superior to others, he was still just a human.

Being merely human, he had no way to meet God.

He stepped into the forbidden section of books that only the Pope could access, in search of a way to kill God.

And there, he learned that by cutting out the heart of God’s agent and offering it on the altar, one could meet God.

‘God’s agent…’

One person immediately came to mind.

Yuria, who claimed to have heard God’s voice, was not yet recognized by the Grand Temple but was already called a saint by the people.

He thought of that woman who had been deceiving people with the power of the main God, Arne.

That woman’s heart was the key to meeting God.

The problem was that Niel Alpenhayer had her.

‘That fool was swept up in the enchantment and betrayed Jella for that woman…’

First, he needed to get his hands on that woman.

“This will be a bit tricky.”

Yupheon muttered, furrowing his brow.

To deceive God, he had to deceive that woman, too.

Because she was God’s agent who could communicate with God.

He approached Yuria using the coronation ceremony.

Yuria fell for it easily.

In the process, he had to hurt Jella unintentionally, but it couldn’t be helped. Because that’s what Yuria wanted.

Yuria, who claimed to have heard God’s voice, firmly believed she was a hero who would defeat the villain Jella and therefore wanted people to be hostile toward Jella and love her instead.

Perhaps this woman was also an unfortunate fate swept up in God’s will.

However, for Yupheon, who had already deposed and confined his father with his own hands, sacrificing this innocent and greedy woman did not evoke any guilt.

So Yupheon acted according to her wishes. Like someone swept up in the enchantment of God’s voice ringing in his head.

He deliberately showed hostility toward Jella and poured sweet words to Yuria.

Each time he did so, Jella’s resentful voice scratched and stabbed him at every moment.

‘You, really, really are like garbage. The worst garbage.’

That’s right, Jella. I am garbage. The worst garbage.

I committed the sin of confining my father to save you, and I’m planning to cut out the heart of this unfortunate woman swept up in God’s will.

Of course, Yupheon had the option of telling Jella everything, but he couldn’t bring himself to reveal the truth to her.

Because she would never accept sacrificing someone else to save herself.

Even if that person was a crazy woman who harbored hostility toward her and went around enchanting people, saying she had to kill her.

It would be fortunate if she didn’t say she would willingly accept death for the peace of the world, given her nature.

To such a person, whether he revealed the truth or not, he could only be garbage.

I’m sorry for being garbage, Jella.

Perhaps my actions will never be understood by you.

I might forever remain a man hated by you.

My world and my universe. My everything.

If I can save only you.

It doesn’t matter.

I’ll just be garbage.

Yupheon ultimately couldn’t tell her any truth.

Rather, he wore a mask more thoroughly and acted.

“Leave Niel Alpenhayer and come to me, Yuria. I’ll treat you better, okay?”

He tried several times to lure Yuria away from Niel, but Yuria was too greedy to give up anyone.

“I’m sorry, Yuphe. But I love both Niel and Yuphe. So I can’t leave Niel’s side. You’ll understand my feelings, won’t you?”

-Understand and embrace her. Don’t make her uncomfortable.

Because Arne’s enchantment was ringing in his head, taking a stronger stance could raise suspicion.

With his usual temperament, he would have used force to kidnap her to the Grand Temple.

But Yuria was using Arne’s power to enchant numerous people and use them as her limbs.

Even he couldn’t do anything to such a Yuria by force.

But one day, Yuria fled from Niel on her own and came to the Grand Temple.

“Yuphe…!”

“Yuria?”

“Sa-save me! Niel, that crazy man is trying to kill me!”

She seemed to have gone through some rough treatment, as Yuria’s condition was quite bad.

“Oh my, poor Yuria. That’s why I told you to leave that man earlier.”

Yupheon pretended to comfort Yuria while inwardly smirking.

He didn’t know what had happened between the two, but that wasn’t important to him.

What mattered was that this woman had walked into his grasp on her own.

“Niel Alpenhayer is crazy! I think Jella Shunaibel… that woman has done something. Otherwise… Niel wouldn’t…”

“Mmm, yes, yes.”

“Yuphe, if you come to my bedroom tonight, I’ll tell you Jella Shunaibel’s weakness.”

“Jella’s weakness…?”

“You said you heard God’s voice saying she must be killed too, didn’t you? Isn’t that right?”

“Ah, yes. She must be killed. For the peace of the world.”

When Yupheon responded in a deliberately stiff voice, Yuria smiled and embraced him.

“Don’t worry too much. Once that woman dies, this world will be peaceful and you will have me.”

“….”

“I know how to kill that woman. Don’t you want to see Jella Shunaibel writhing in despair?”

“….”

Instead of answering, Yupheon smiled faintly.

At that enigmatic smile, Yuria also smiled brightly, following his lead.

“Tonight, instead of your bedroom, would you like to meet somewhere else?”

He asked in a dangerous voice.

Yuria blushed and nodded.