What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 730

Magna Carta (3)

‘A papal document’…?

“Why is something like that here?”

“It’s probably stolen goods.”

“Pardon?”

What? I was so shocked that I turned around.

The Crown Prince and Duke Djoff frowned at the problematic term.

Leopold Lasso, whose face was swollen like a bun from crying so much, craned his neck and carefully examined the old parchment.

Well, he was also a cardinal, so he would have understood the sacred language.

“Stolen goods? Why would something like that be in a royal family’s manor?”

“That’s… It’s easier to understand if you consider the business our family was involved in.”

‘Sniff.’ The Duke sniffed his reddened nose once and continued speaking.

Since when had he stopped stuttering altogether?

“The rare monster trade can’t be clean from the start. I heard from Chief of Staff Dolph… that in some territories, catching monster cubs is completely illegal. If there are enough monsters, they can prevent ordinary beasts from attacking the homes of the common people, and in winter, when food is scarce, the territorial residents can also obtain monster meat…”

“Population control, I understand.”

“Hmm. But even when I was over thirty, poachers from all over the country gathered at our castle to receive rewards and sell monsters… I also remember seeing the head of a pirate crew outside the window when I was young.”

“Ah.”

Djibril Djoff reacted as if he understood.

He stared intently at the document in Sir Johan’s hand and muttered.

“So, the Lasso ducal family’s ‘business’ has long straddled the line between illegal and legal. Then they must have received valuable items instead of cash quite often.”

“Yes, most likely.”

“There must be quite a bit of political bribery involved as well.”

“Bribery?”

The Duke looked back at me in surprise. It seemed he hadn’t thought that far.

I explained in a calm voice.

“If a politician receives cash as a bribe, it can cause problems later, so they sometimes use artwork or rare items instead. I heard that the Lasso ducal family doesn’t have direct ties to the political world, but it would have been difficult to avoid collections that have circulated through political circles. In short, it means that rare items that were exchanged as bribes among powerful families may have flowed here as payment.”

“Ah…!”

The Duke nodded his head as if he had gained a great lesson.

This was a common occurrence in Korea as well.

“Even so, this is a document from the Vatican, Duke. If it’s genuine, it must have been leaked from the Temple of Boundaries [a high-security archive]. How could such a thing…”

“It just means there were rotten guys in that temple too. I’m not very surprised.”

I continued speaking seriously, but the magician’s sullen face didn’t change much.

Meanwhile, Sir Johan was carefully unfolding the parchment, whose edges were crumbling.

This time, a voice sprang up from an unexpected direction.

“But there’s also a purple tulip here, isn’t there? This is definitely a flower that only grows in the Liester Imperial Palace.”

“Ah, Ms. Gain.”

“I was bored just sitting, so I came. I want to see too.”

Still with messy hair, she received the glass dome from Cedric’s hand.

A faint color was returning to her face, which had been covered in fatigue.

The man looked down at the tulip with a very unpleasant expression.

“Your Highness?”

“The cover seems to be a magical tool, so don’t open it—”

“Eek.”

He warned in a low voice, but Ms. Gain, who was curious, was already licking her lips and trying to lift the dome.

Her short exclamation and action were virtually ‘committed’ at the same time.

The moment a seemingly unremarkable layer of glass slightly opened its mouth—

-Fsssss…

“Wow, damn. What is it!”

“Ollie. My brother is listening, so you have to use nice words.”

“Sorry, but look at this!”

Ms. Gain, her eyes wide open, showed us the glass dome.

Cedric and Djoff squinted at the same time.

The divine beasts and Rindo also opened their small mouths in circles. ‘Wow.’

-Fssssst…

-Kkia…

That’s because the tulip, exposed to the outside air, instantly turned brown and withered.

The petals and stems, suddenly deprived of all moisture and dried out, were eerily unreal.

The flower stem twisted thinner than a cracker in the blink of an eye, and soon crumbled into dry powder. Crumbles, fsssss…

Ms. Gain muttered with a blank face.

“No, how did they store this that just opening one cover…”

“I warned you it was a magical tool.”

“Good heavens… When I was still a snot-nosed kid, this caused an uproar in the manor. I’m not sure, but it’s probably right!”

“Huh? You’re still a snot-nosed kid.”

“Ms. Gain.”

“Ahem.”

I quietly called out to my partner who was teasing the Duke (perhaps because a large amount of ether was supplied immediately, his mind seemed quite clear, apart from his staggering body).

Lasso seemed somewhat embarrassed but replaced his answer with a faint smile.

While Sir Johan, immersed in silence, continued to review the Pope’s document, the group discussed the purple tulip, which was far away from the imperial palace’s garden.

Actually, it wasn’t much of a discussion.

“…Did I hear correctly? Myker Lasso had this stolen?”

After a while, Ms. Gain frowned and asked.

His Majesty Hanan, who was climbing on Sir Johan’s shoulder, also clicked his tongue.

“That’s right. I never knew the flower in question was such a sacred color.”

The Duke, who answered in a wet voice, looked down at the door of the secret study with a queasy look.

In the compartment where the tulip was first discovered, several purple flowers, still full of life, were trapped.

In the empty compartment next door, Rophy was quietly baking seasonal bread.

“I was about twelve years old. The commander of the Knights came to me and shouted, ‘Did young master touch the Duke’s tulips?’ I was shocked because I didn’t even know my mother grew flowers. Taking care of the plants was always my job and the gardeners’ job. Overnight, all the servants and maids in the castle were mobilized to find a missing flower…”

“Hmm…”

So, the flower withered and crumbled as soon as the magical glass dome was removed.

If these tulips were in the manor when the Duke was young, it means that at least thirty years have passed since they were cut from the imperial palace’s garden.

Cedric and I exchanged serious glances.

Then, did they steal it before the war era?

At that time, there was active exchange between the Empire and the Holy Kingdom, so someone with guts outside their belly might have stolen it from Arian Liester’s garden.

“So what happened?”

Ms. Gain asked, rummaging through my bag.

She seemed hungry from consuming too much mental power.

She had been scolded by Sir Johan all night and fought, so it was understandable.

I quickly took out the biggest jerky and handed it to her.

“As I recall… In the end, they didn’t catch the culprit.”

“Aww.”

“However, after that, the entry of foreign priests into the manor was strictly prohibited. My mother’s vigilance, who already hated clergymen, deepened even further…”

“Wait a minute. A priest?”

I watched Ms. Gain share the jerky with Isabel and Rindo, and then threw a question mark at the somehow awkward flow.

Why a priest all of a sudden?

“Well, I don’t know exactly. I can only guess that a priest from another region was on the suspect list… It was the festival season, so social gatherings and prayer meetings were often held, and the castle was bustling with foreign guests. In the Holy Kingdom, all priests are treated with great respect… Perhaps there was only suspicion and no evidence.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Someone stole a flower from the imperial palace’s garden a long time ago, and then someone else risked their life to steal it again. Then, did that priest sell it and become rich?

While I was tilting my head, Cedric moved his hands bluntly.

I turned around to see what the man was doing and momentarily paused.

“Cedric?”

-Click, click, click…

Without any explanation, he was removing the glass covers of all the tulips.

Fssss, fssss… The beautiful flowers instantly crumbled like sand and scattered westward on the wind.

As I stood there in confusion, Djoff explained instead.

“We can’t let the blessing that the main god gave to the Empire be misused. In this case, the imperial family should take it back directly.”

“I see.”

“Why, did you want to have one?”

He said mockingly.

‘There’s one here too, take it as a souvenir.’ He kicked a glass dome with his foot and snickered, so I immediately shook my head.

“No. Your Highness’s judgment is correct. They are flowers that haven’t rested properly for a long time, so it’s better to let them go.”

“…It’s not fun.”

-The glass Venetian is crazy!

“Heok!”

Right then, His Majesty Hanan’s roar, which resonated and shook the ground, poured out.

It was truly a lie-like moment.

With that cry as a signal flare, the world suddenly turned upside down.

We witnessed a small cloth doll floating up from Sir Johan’s shoulder. And—

-Kwaaaang!

“Kkuh!”

“Ugh…!”

I literally experienced the terrible sensation of the vessel shaking as a whole and was thrown out.

Kwagwang! Kwaaaang, kwaaaang! At the same time, hell-like black vines exploded upwards from all directions.

The suppressed red energy of the spirits wrapped around the vines and stretched wildly into the morning sky. I was dumbfounded.

Surprised Rophy jumped out of the box, and the frightened divine beasts ran to me and began to tremble.

I couldn’t even grasp what this situation was. I frantically moved my arms and legs to collect the children, but it was all useless.

Voices stacked in two, three, and four layers burst out like the devil’s venom!

-Yuri, not only did you betray me with your filthy three-inch tongue, but you also insult the main god!

“Keok, heok, keuheok…!”

-Kkiang, kkiaaa…!

Before my fingers could reach out, my breath was suffocatingly constricted.

No matter how hard I tried to clench my teeth, I couldn’t lift my head.

This was a form of oppression that was on a different level from the disaster caused by an air-attribute paladin.

Pure rage like obsidian, in which no other emotion could dare to mix.

A curse close to disaster poured out on someone who no longer existed.

-Thump!

“Heok!”

I barely regained my senses when Cedric, who had knelt on one knee, pulled up my shoulder.

Fortunately, he was holding up well, but he was still a weak archbishop.

He couldn’t fully withstand the great anger of a cardinal who had been tempered for a thousand years with his bare body.

The man’s left hand, with blue veins standing out on his forehead, tightly gripped the Hyegeom [a sacred sword].

The bright red Physis at the end of the hilt emitted a dazzling light as if it would break. The whole world was turning dark.

-Yuri Venetian!

-Kwagagagang! Paaaaang!

“Ugh, Tite! Close your eyes! Keep your eyes closed!”

-Awooong!

‘Venetian, Netian, Tian…!’ His Majesty’s deep voice turned into an echo.

Of course, it wasn’t a force attacking us, but sharp fragments and mud flew up like bullets in the heavens and earth.

I heard Isabel earnestly calling His Majesty Hanan.

But it was buried in the roar and could no longer go forward.

“Your Majesty…! Please…!”

-The one who invoked the protection of faith as a justification for striking Unio, was he so steeped in filthy greed and arrogance that he coveted the perfect power of God?

-Was that your family’s ‘unyielding belief’!

-Kwakwakwakwa…!

-Ssaeeeaeek!

“Sir Johan!”

Kuguung! Sir Johan, who was trying to block her wrath, was slammed into the other side of the castle in the blink of an eye.

The Pope’s parchment he was holding fluttered helplessly in all directions.

I bit my trembling lip and rolled my eyes to look around.

Ms. Gain, who had no stamina left, was breathing heavily after collapsing on a rock, and Duke Lasso, who had been exhausted after opposing his mother, was in a similar state.

Finally, I was horrified to see Djoff pulling up the mana of his entire body. A clear lightning bolt was forming at the end of the man’s staff.

…Are you crazy? Are you really crazy?

“Duke! Duke, don’t respond to His Majesty with force! He is not the same paladin as our friends! This is something that I, as a priest, must handle…!”

-You dare! Did you lay a trap on unclean ground and attempt deicide [killing a god]!

At those words, my eyes flashed open.

I felt goosebumps all over my body and gasped.

Your Majesty, what did you just say…