Chapter 80
Chapter 80
It was deathly quiet everywhere.
Even the remnants of the lightning that had just torn the night sky to shreds, and the fierce killing intent of the holy knights, had vanished as if they had never been there.
Only the groans of the East Cross Knights, who had been stripped of their weapons by the Gold Cross Knights, and Cardinal Barneo's rough breathing as he knelt bound on the ground before them, drifted through the stillness.
Swoosh.
When the cold night wind blew in, Iveline suddenly felt her mind clear.
'What was I just doing...'
It had been a shout she had belted out because it was necessary to calm the situation.
But the other party was no ordinary noble.
As nothing more than an imperial princess—not even the emperor, let alone the crown prince—she had openly been rude to the pope, the apex of the Church and one of the Empire's two pillars.
It was an act that inevitably carried political baggage.
'I'll be the talk of high society.'
There was no guarantee it wouldn't deepen the Church's hostility toward imperial authority, either.
It had been a decision made in an unavoidable crisis, but it was clear Iveline would be branded an arrogant, insolent princess because of it.
That was the very moment her red eyes trembled faintly as she studied Pope Heinz's stiff expression.
"We shouldn't just let this end like this. Wouldn't it be better to make it clear and put an end to it right away?"
"……!"
As always, that easygoing voice shattered the heavy silence, and Iveline's head snapped around.
At the end of her line of sight stood Cassian del Farne, with one leg crossed over the other and one hand shoved into his pocket.
"C-Cassian……!"
"This isn't a place you ought to be sticking your nose into!"
A gasp of shock burst from the mouths of the elderly professors standing guard at the main gate.
Every one of them looked utterly horrified, as if to say, 'Oh, this crazy bastard is really doing it!'
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
No matter that he was the son of a court count, he was here as nothing more than a student, and in the middle of the imperial family and the pope facing off, suddenly butting in to voice an opinion was beyond all common sense.
If Iveline had thought he was just an ordinary young nobleman, she would have reacted exactly the same way as the old professors.
But she knew.
She knew that the essence of that man was a great being from myth, one that could not be measured by human standards.
"I-I apologize on his behalf for the discourtesy, Your Holiness! Your Highness!"
The academy's principal hurriedly rushed forward and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
"This student merely lost his bearings for a moment at what was happening right in front of him and misspoke! Please, I beg your generous understanding……!"
The principal's desperate attempt at damage control continued, sweat pouring down his forehead as he blocked Cassian's way.
Watching that farce, Iveline felt a flash go off in her mind.
'...It shifted.'
All of everyone's attention.
It had shifted away from her arrogant remarks and overstepping toward the pope, and onto Cassian del Farne's sudden action as an individual.
A miraculous oddity in which the core issue of the situation was pushed completely to the back in an instant.
'Did he intend that?'
Iveline bit her lip lightly.
With a single flippant remark, pretending not to read the room and acting cocky, he had completely overturned the flow of the situation.
He had casually taken the political arrows aimed at her and absorbed them on his own back.
'They say dragons are cunning, capricious creatures who think human lives are worthless.'
In one sense, it was chillingly terrifying, and yet at the same time absurdly reassuring.
For a great being to personally go so far as to put on such a clumsy act just to protect one human who would be crushed by his breath.
'Let's do this right.'
She couldn't miss the chance he had created; she had to clean this up properly.
"……Your Highness?"
Iveline lightly passed the principal by and met Cassian's eyes squarely.
"Thank you for your courage in speaking up, Young Master Farne."
"Pardon?"
Cassian's eyes went round, and he made a dazed expression.
Just from his expression, it looked like he was thinking, 'What's wrong with her?', but Iveline knew even that was a modest act born of the dragon's long experience.
Soon after, she turned her head toward the rigidly frozen principal.
"That man's remarks were by no means a slip of the tongue."
"Your Highness. Do you mean……."
"I will hear it as candid advice that saw straight through the core of the matter."
Iveline's clear voice rang out, bright and pure, in front of the main gate.
"Everyone here must remember that this man's remarks were a proposal made with the intention of bringing today's matter to a proper close."
"We will comply, Your Highness."
"The academy also deeply agrees with Your Highness's wishes."
The principal and Eric, the department head, hurriedly bowed their heads and replied.
The elderly Pope Heinz, who had been standing nearby, also smiled gently and nodded in silence.
'Thank goodness.'
Iveline let out a long breath of relief inside.
She had naturally secured a chance to maintain her dignity while also appearing magnanimous.
With this, she could cement the image that she was not just a tyrant who barked at the Church, but a member of the royal family who could also listen to the words of those below her.
"Then, could you tell us a little more about your opinion?"
Iveline asked, looking at Cassian with eyes softened as much as possible.
She was smiling on the outside, but inside she had clasped her hands together and was praying desperately.
'Please, may this petty show of respect toward that great being not have offended his mood.'
Fortunately, Cassian del Farne didn't seem offended at all; instead, he shrugged one shoulder as if he truly hadn't given it any thought.
"If we just wrap things up here and part ways, odds are we'll end up getting tangled up later through paperwork and giving each other headaches."
"……Arguing through paperwork?"
"Yes. Send official notices, issue explanations, then rebuttals. Before long, it'll snowball into a pointless pride contest, and we'll end up wasting time to no end. That's what I think."
Cassian's blunt way of speaking left the old professors speechless, like mute men who'd eaten honey.
There wasn't a single wrong word in what he said.
If they tried to resolve political friction through documents, a grueling diplomatic battle would last for at least several months.
"So? What solution are you aiming for, young master?"
When Iveline asked again, Cassian tossed out the answer with an easy smile.
"Right now, all the interested parties are already gathered in one place, aren't they?"
"……."
"When the leaders who can perfectly represent the groups they belong to are all gathered for this matter, why not go inside the academy and settle it there?"
"Settle it?"
"Yes. Once all the parties involved—including that cardinal old man tied up on the floor there—are gathered, wouldn't it be cleanest to hear direct testimony from all of them and end this properly?"
Ah.
Iveline felt an intense catharsis, as if something inside her chest had suddenly burst open.
It was a perfectly sound argument.
Without overthinking or weighing this and that, it was the most direct and perfect solution: cutting through the tangled knot in one clean stroke.
'It feels like the road is opening up.'
Admiring that insight worthy of a great being, Iveline also seized the chance to put on a graceful show of deference to the pope.
She turned gracefully and faced Pope Heinz.
"Your Holiness."
"Please speak, Your Highness."
"Just now, the situation was so urgent and grave that I had no choice but to strongly state my own opinion."
Iveline lowered her head slightly in a courteous bow.
"However, just as this gentleman suggested, I have no intention whatsoever of speaking to the Church about the aftermath in such a one-sided, heavy-handed manner."
"……."
"Your Holiness, what do you think of this young lord's proposal?"
The moment Iveline finished speaking, deep relief spread across the old pope's face.
It had been a crisis where the Church's dignity could have been dragged down into the dirt by an imperial one-sided declaration.
But thanks to the princess first respecting the pope's wishes and handing over the right to speak, they could preserve at least a minimum of justification and face.
"Even though the cardinal of our Church has committed an unforgivable and enormous blunder."
Pope Heinz nodded deeply with a solemn expression.
"We can only sincerely thank you for so greatly respecting and considering the Church's position, Your Highness."
"Then do you agree to moving inside the academy?"
"Yes. We, too, agree with that student's proposal to make the truth crystal clear in a gathering where all parties are present."
The moment the pope's affirmation fell, the academy principal clapped his hands and chimed in.
"Good. Then we will immediately open the grand conference room in the main building. Everyone, please follow me this way."
The situation began to move forward as smoothly as gears meshing together.
Watching that flow, Iveline once again looked at Cassian del Farne's back with eyes full of reverence.
'As expected, you had everything planned and set in motion.'
Iveline was silently and fervently applauding the dragon's deep and vast wisdom in her heart.
* * *
"Ah, thank fucking God."
I let out a small sigh of relief as I followed behind the professors heading toward the conference room.
Just a moment ago, I'd still been breaking out in a cold sweat.
'I nearly would've been dragged all over the place later and ended up writing dozens of statements.'
Even in the military, the most annoying thing when something blows up is writing a statement.
Who did what, when, and where; cross-checking it; filing the report; getting approval.
When I thought about that miserable paperwork hell, worse than Sloth Hell, it would've been a hundred, a thousand times better to just grab each other by the collars and have a three-way face-off right now.
"Why are you so relieved all by yourself?"
Professor Iris, walking beside me, gave me a nudge and asked.
Her eyes behind her glasses were sparkling like she'd found something very amusing.
"I get that you're thrilled to dodge the busywork, but I think you need to work on your facial expressions a little."
"What's wrong with my face? Anyone would think I was a student who'd just barely gotten through an emergency and was now patting his chest in relief."
"Didn't you see Her Highness the princess's reaction just now?"
Professor Iris snickered and poked my side with her staff.
Seriously scary, considering she had literally roasted a person alive.
"Her Highness the princess seemed to be extremely careful around you."
"……No way."
"It's true. For the whole time she was looking at you earlier, she had stars in her eyes. Just when did you manage to bewitch Her Highness the princess again?"
"I'm just a normal aspiring bum who hates troublesome things, that's all."
Even after my explanation, Professor Iris still didn't believe me.
"For an aspiring bum, I’m starting to think your knack for shaking up the board is pretty extraordinary. What do you think?"
"You're too kind, Master."
I shamelessly shrugged and admired the back of Cardinal Barneo's head as he was dragged away by the knights in bonds.
'Whatever.'
No paperwork for me, and I get to watch that fake holy geezer lose his head, too.
Wasn't this the perfect cathartic ending—a real two-for-one, like digging a ditch and catching a crayfish?