Since I Don't Know Anything About It, Shall We Break Up, Your Majesty? - Chapter 62

Tamia poured warm tea from the teapot she had brought and handed it to Lumiere.

As the warm tea touched her hands that had grown cold from the unusually hard work, her body immediately felt languid.

“I never imagined such a thing would happen while I was away. I’m sorry, Miss. I shouldn’t have left my post.”

“Hm? Oh, no. It’s not like you left knowing something like this would happen, Tamia. And I’m fine now. I was a bit shocked yesterday, but I’ve recovered.”

Lumiere herself was amazed at how fine she really was.

To think that the anger that had been like a raging flame could be calmed like this.

Of course, that didn’t mean her heart was at ease.

When she thought of Tartien, anger still boiled inside her, and her determination to recover her memories remained firm.

‘Maybe next time I meet him, I might just vomit right in front of him instead of running away.’

Lumiere was unconsciously pinching the inside of her thigh when she was startled by a gentle hand grasping hers, and she looked up.

“Are you trying to make another wound when the previous ones have barely healed?”

“Ah… Has this become a habit? I did it without realizing.”

Lumiere laughed awkwardly and lowered her hand.

Tamia, who was smiling back at Lumiere like this, whispered.

“You’ll be alright soon.”

“Will I? I hope so.”

“But… Why is the studio in this state, Miss?”

“Ah, this… This is a long story too. It’s nothing. Oh! More importantly, Tamia, what happened to you? You didn’t come back without a word.”

Lumiere looked at Tamia with a worried face, as if she had just remembered.

“Ah, about that. Actually, I had something to find, so I went to the Grand Temple.”

“The Grand Temple? How did you go there?”

The Grand Temple wasn’t a place just anyone could enter.

Only royalty, nobility, and those blessed by the temple were allowed to set foot there.

“I know a priest there. Someone I’ve known for a very long time.”

…Or one could enter if invited by a mid-level or higher priest.

But it was unlikely that many people would know a mid-level or higher priest.

Priests were talented individuals selected from a young age, special resources managed by the temple.

“A priest… That’s an unexpected connection. So, what happened at the temple?”

Tamia nodded with a heavy face.

She took a short deep breath, organizing what she wanted to say.

“Actually, Miss, I saw… something strange there.”

“Something strange?”

Tamia nodded and slowly unfolded her story.

* * *

‘There’s a light. It’s over there.’

Finding those who had disappeared was as easy for Tamia as removing a foreign object from her eye.

She quickly found where they had entered.

It was a huge prayer room with the door half open.

‘…This doesn’t seem like a closed-off place.’

The prayer room had a small waiting room attached for bishops or confessions.

There was a window to monitor the situation inside the prayer room, and there was also an escape route prepared for any unexpected situations.

Tamia quickly entered the waiting room connected to the outer door.

Opening the window to look inside, she saw six old priests sitting, almost lying down, in plush armchairs that didn’t suit the prayer room.

They were all wearing green ribbons, indicating they were at the level of a high priest level.

‘Why are they…?’

Something felt off.

Tamia watched them while holding her breath.

There was a subtle undercurrent of excitement.

And not long after, the person they were waiting for appeared.

“Have you been waiting long? I’m worried I might be too late.”

A middle-aged man in a white suit, with graying hair neatly combed back and wearing a bright ruby ring.

Unfortunately, because he appeared with his back to the prayer room, his face wasn’t visible.

But everything he wore emitted an expensive light as if to represent him.

Behind him, a beautiful secretary followed carrying a black box.

“No, no. We live here, and you’re the one coming from afar to bring us gifts. It’s right that we wait.”

“That’s right. You’re the one who sneaked in here avoiding the Pope’s eyes.”

“Indeed, indeed!”

The six old men unanimously defended him.

All the while, their eyes never left the black box carried behind the man.

Such blatant gazes of greed…

The man leisurely looked around at the priests, as if enjoying it.

“…Have you used up everything I gave you before? It was supposed to last a month, but you’ve consumed it quickly.”

At the middle-aged man’s words, the priest sitting at the front, wearing yellow, red, and green ribbons, hastily spoke.

“This month, there was too little spiritual exchange, you see. Getting old, I lack the energy to serve God. I was too desperate for His peace.”

“All of this is due to our desperate desire to reach God.”

The old men spoke in unison, as if covering for each other.

The man nodded his head, responding with a low laugh.

“Jane.”

When he called the waiting secretary, the woman quietly held out the black box.

As the middle-aged man opened the box, the old men let out a sound like a sigh.

“First, I’ll light this for you. I’m not sure if this newly combined fragrance will please the hearts of the priests, who are God’s representatives.”

The middle-aged man walked in among the old priests.

Then he opened the box on a small table placed in the center and threw a small spark onto it.

Sizzle–

With sparks flying, a hazy smoke rose.

Seeing how he threw in the spark, it seemed that this box wasn’t an ordinary wooden box.

Tamia’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the rising white smoke.

Her sensitive nose detected a fragrant and strange scent.

She instinctively covered her nose.

This wasn’t ordinary fumigation.

‘No way…’

Tamia looked with trembling eyes at the middle-aged man turning around.

Tamia knew this man.

No, there was no way any citizen of this country wouldn’t know his face.

He was that famous, appearing frequently in the news.

He was none other than…

* * *

“…Schultz Tartien.”

Lumiere muttered that name as if groaning.

Schultz.

To think that he was there.

This was no ordinary matter.

“…Certainly, that doesn’t seem like an ordinary tobacco.”

She muttered as if crushed by something.

As soon as she heard the story, her heart started pounding dangerously.

Tamia nodded, carefully examining Lumiere’s face.

“As soon as the smoke spread, the priests became limp as if intoxicated by something. And they kept mumbling incomprehensible words.”

“……”

Tamia frowned, recalling the scene from that time.

They flailed their weakened bodies like people trapped in a happy dream.

Some started singing hymns to receive God, while others let out terrible and filthy moans.

But what Tamia focused on wasn’t the corrupted appearance of the priests.

‘To stand so calmly in that smoke. They must have taken some precaution.’

Schultz and his secretary seemed completely unaffected by the smoke.

It was certain.

They either had an antidote or something equivalent.

‘If only I had that…’

Tamia glanced at Lumiere.

She recalled the action from a moment ago when she unconsciously tried to scratch her thigh as if pinching it.

Miss said she wanted to recover her memories.

Now that she had made up her mind, there was no telling when the spell might break.

‘I need to hurry more.’

She needed to read more books.

Hoping that that perverted, obsessive record-keeper had surely written something down.

“Tamia?”

At that moment, a warm hand touched Tamia’s brow.

“Are you sick? You don’t look well. Ah! Look at me. Of course, after experiencing something like that, you must be more than just tired. Go in and rest. You don’t have to work tomorrow if possible.”

“Ah, no, Miss. I was just lost in thought for a moment. I’m fine. More importantly, what should we do about what I saw?”

At Tamia’s words, Lumiere fell into thought for a moment.

‘I thought Tartien’s side might have colluded with the temple, but to think it was something like this.’

To think that such a thing was happening in the temple, which should be the most sacred place of all.

‘So there was a reason for the temple’s full support of Tartien.’

Lumiere’s heart grew heavy.

The temple was where people with troubled hearts, circumstances, bodies, and souls went.

Even in an age where God is said to have left, people still carry their own gods in their hearts.

For some, it remains as an opportunity, a miracle, or a memory that allows them to hold onto hope.

And to think that place was becoming corrupt.

It really felt like this country, or rather this era, was crumbling.