What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 11

#011 Little Guest (1)

“Your Highness, is everything to your liking?”

Lady Elisabeth asked politely from outside the confessional.

“Yes, it’s quite cozy.”

I could hear her chuckle at my response. I leaned back and looked around.

It certainly didn’t resemble the confessionals I’d seen in movies.

Though, I suppose that’s to be expected from a fictional religion in a novel.

The space was large enough that I could stretch my legs out while seated, and the chair was exceptionally well-cushioned.

The ceiling was also high enough that I didn’t have to duck when entering.

“We will bring in the first confessor shortly. If you need anything or if there’s an emergency, please pull the cord on the left. We will be waiting outside the temple.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Looking to my left, I saw a long cord hanging from the confessional’s ceiling.

It was adorned with a fancy tassel, and its color and finish were so luxurious that it looked like mere decoration at first glance.

On the right was a large wooden window leading to the confessor’s seat.

I initially thought it was a lattice window, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to be engraved with the downward arrow pattern, the symbol of the Church of the Main God.

-Click

Soon, I heard the sound of a confessor entering the next booth.

I moistened my lips with the glass bottle containing the sage tea Ganael had prepared.

*Don’t be nervous, I’ve memorized the procedure.*

“Hello, believer.”

“Greetings, Your Highness.”

“Huh?”

It was a voice I knew well.

“Benjamin?”

“Yes, it is I.”

A neat, butler-like silhouette was visible through the dense wooden window.

“Have you come to confess?”

“Indeed. I have enjoyed the privilege of a servant without waiting in line. Please forgive me.”

“Hahaha.”

I burst out laughing, all the more so because I knew Benjamin wasn’t joking.

I felt the tension in my body ease. The pressure also subsided considerably.

[I forgive you.]

As I delivered the divine message, a subtle golden circle, the sacred ground, illuminated the floor of the confessional.

There seemed to be an ether reaction [a magical or spiritual energy] in Benjamin’s seat after receiving forgiveness, but it wasn’t clearly visible from my side due to the wooden window.

“It has been a year since my last confession.”

“Yes, then reveal your remaining sins.”

Distinguishing between ordinary conversation and divine messages was easier than I thought.

At first, I wondered how to differentiate them, but after imagining turning off the ether faucet when not delivering a divine message, I succeeded after a few tries.

For the record, the test subject was Ganael.

“I suspected Prince Yeser.”

“······.”

“Solely because Your Highness was under investigation by the Royal Guard, I believed that you might have stolen the sacred artifact. Even while thinking that you wouldn’t, I couldn’t shake off my doubts, and in the end, I obtained a vow from Your Highness.”

*Come to think of it, that did happen. I had completely forgotten about it because I was threatened that night.*

I remembered Benjamin’s face in the dewy garden, demanding that I become a responsible priest.

“Please forgive me for presumptuously harboring doubts and daring to insult such a noble person.”

Well, looking back, I wasn’t particularly angry.

Benjamin was a devout believer in the Church of the Main God, and I heard that he had requested a transfer from the Romero Palace to the Juliette Palace to serve me.

He had volunteered to be upright out of faith, but the prince, who was a bishop, was caught up in a huge theft case, so it was understandable that Benjamin would say such things from his perspective.

The timing of the treasure theft also coincided perfectly with my crossing the border.

I was a little wronged, but not to the point of holding a grudge. Benjamin, however, seemed to have a hard time forgiving himself for suspecting a priest.

[I’m fine, the Main God will also forgive you.]

My voice rumbled softly.

A much stronger ether reaction appeared in the next booth than before.

It was still not clearly visible.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Benjamin’s voice was much lighter.

I couldn’t help but smile wryly, wondering if he had been suffering in his heart.

“Your Highness, you must now give penance.”

“Ah, yes.”

That’s right, there was that.

Penance is the act of a confessor who has committed a sin making amends for their wrongdoings.

When I first read this part in , I didn’t understand it well.

I wondered if I should say, ‘I’ll forgive you, so give me an offering.’

Of course, I know what it is now. I’ve looked at many real examples.

[Tomorrow morning, lunch, and dinner, you shall have them with me. Ganael is of course included.]

I don’t know what it’s like in real-world religions, but at least ‘Toegye Gong’s’ [likely a reference to a figure of authority or a religious text] penance is up to the priest.

Because the priest is the one who wields the ether, the ‘power of the Main God’.

“Your Highness, that’s not penance······.”

[Didn’t you ask me for forgiveness? Didn’t you say you were sorry for doubting me? This is the penance I give.]

Benjamin sighed quietly from the next booth.

“I understand. I will faithfully carry it out.”

I smiled and took a sip of sage tea.

Benjamin is happy to be forgiven, and I’m happy that I don’t have to fill my stomach alone in front of the hungry servants.

It seemed like things were going well.

*

“Hello, believer.”

“······Hello, Your Highness.”

“Ganael? Is that you?”

“M-My last confession was last month.”

I failed to suppress my laughter again.

I could feel the flustered movements of the second confessor, Ganael, in the next booth.

“You see, Your Highness! Benjamin is doing it too, so I wanted to do it too······. You also said you would listen to my confession the other day.”

“That’s right, I did. I’ll listen.”

As I replied, Ganael cleared his throat.

I was naturally curious about what the story was, so I listened carefully.

“On the first day Your Highness entered the palace······. I brought you a book to read.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“But······. Th-The magazine······. It contained an article that insulted Your Highness. I, I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to bring it to you with that intention······. In my haste, it just happened······.”

The child’s voice trailed off with tears. I was dumbfounded, wondering what this was all about.

*If it’s a magazine, is he talking about ? There was something bad about me in there?*

“I have committed the sin of insulting a noble person······. Please forgive me······.”

“Wait a minute, Ganael. I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness······.”

Could it be because of the cover title that said something like ‘The Kingdom’s Playboy’?

The article also said that I was a notorious womanizer and the protagonist of various scandals, but I was indifferent.

Rather, I thought it was helpful to learn about character settings I didn’t know.

*He’s been worried about that until now.*

[Ganael, it’s okay. I enjoyed reading it. It was also very helpful.]

“Your Highness······.”

[There’s nothing to forgive, but I’ll forgive you. I mean it.]

“Thank you so much······.”

In the echo of forgiveness, a bright ether reaction poured out from the next booth.

Listening to Ganael sniffing, I came up with a very appropriate penance.

[The penance is, to continue recommending good books to me. And to tell me as much new news as possible.]

“New news······?”

[Yes, especially news about His Highness Prince Cedric and Lady Christel de Sarnese.]

Even though I specifically mentioned the two people who didn’t have much contact with each other yet, Ganael didn’t show any particular doubts.

He seemed so happy to be forgiven by me that he didn’t think deeply about the content of the penance.

“Yes, I will faithfully carry it out.”

“Okay, thank you.”

*It was a good thing for me. How can I avoid it if I don’t know anything?*

Now that Christel has opened her eyes, it is essential to understand her and the male lead’s movements in advance.

*

After Ganael left the confessional, the time that followed was a time that I didn’t know whether it was a confession or a national talk show.

“So, you’re saying you taught your middle name to a woman who wasn’t your wife and got kicked out of the house?”

“Yes, yes, that’s right. But I swear to the Main God that I didn’t cheat! She’s just a woman I met at a bar······.”

*You crazy bastard, why would you teach your middle name to a woman you met at a bar?*

No, why do you even meet women at a bar in the first place? Isn’t that cheating?

I felt a stuffiness as if I had swallowed 100 sweet potatoes without water [a Korean expression for feeling extremely stifled].

I felt like I was watching some kind of relationship counseling program in real time, which my brother used to turn on and curse whenever he used the steam cleaner.

“Believer, it is customary not to teach your middle name to anyone other than close family or lovers. At least that’s the case in the Kingdom of God. Is the Empire any different?”

I rattled off the knowledge I learned from as if it were my own.

People on the continent always put a middle name between their first and last names, and the middle name is only revealed to family, spouses, lovers who have promised to marry, or very close friends.

I studied the contents of an article that linked me with noble young ladies I didn’t even know, saying, ‘Who is the woman who will hear Prince Yeser’s middle name?’

“Well, the Empire is the same. But I thought I had made a new friend······.”

“You only saw her for a few hours, but you became such close friends that you told her your middle name?”

“That is······. I’m sorry. Please forgive me, Your Highness······.”

*Very best friend for life, best friend for life. What did you two do to get so close?*

I clicked my tongue and opened the sacred ground. The floor became as bright as if it were illuminated.

[This is not a problem that I can forgive. It’s a problem that your wife will forgive. Go home, kneel in front of the door, confess honestly, apologize sincerely, and swear never to commit such a sin again. Write a memorandum and, if possible, it would be good to quit drinking.]

“That’s······. That’s too harsh······.”

[This is the penance given to the believer.]

The golden circle sparkled and slowly rotated clockwise.

The ether reaction of forgiveness did not appear. It was a natural result because I refused to embrace it.

[If your wife doesn’t forgive you, accept that too.]

I drove in the wedge.

I can’t know the details of the couple’s affairs, but if he can’t be forgiven even if he begs like that, it also means that the trust he has eroded so far is considerable.

“I, I will obey······.”

The man replied in a subdued voice, then opened the door and left the confessional.

I sighed with the sound of dragging footsteps in the background.

“Really, what······.”

At first, my conscience was a little pricked.

I wondered if I, who didn’t even know the religion of ‘Church of the Main God’ properly, should be acting as a priest just because I had ether.

No matter how much I’m doing it to save my own life, no matter how much they are characters in a novel, it’s not easy to deceive people who are vividly alive in front of me.

Especially with ‘religion’.

But just now that guy, and what did he say earlier, that human who said ‘Is it such a big sin to ask to wait 10 years until I have the ability to repay’······.

It seemed like I really had an overflowing conscience.

In the old days, I would have received two refrigerators [another Korean expression, implying that the person is being overly generous or naive].

-Thud!

“Huh.”

I was startled and turned my head.

It was a sound from the next booth, but it was clearly different from the noise of the confessional door opening.

“Who is it?”

I opened the sacred ground at the same time as the question. It was for self-defense, not confession.

Perhaps because I had been attacked by the twin assassins once, my body reacted faster than usual.

“Keuk······.”

I heard a person’s voice, and the sound of cloth rustling.

“Are you a confessor?”

I pressed my nose against the dense wooden window and looked at the other side.

My vision was a bit stuffy, but I could definitely see more than looking from afar.

······It’s a kid?

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

I spoke carefully.

A little boy with his head bowed was barely sitting on the confessor’s chair.

The jet-black hair was trembling, and it was clear that he was not in a normal state.

The sound I heard a little while ago was neither footsteps nor the sound of a door, so I couldn’t figure out how he got in.

“Where are your parents······.”

At that moment, the child suddenly raised his head.

Eyes as clear as the sun, orange eyes stared straight at me.

“······What are you doing here?”

The boy frowned as much as he could and asked. I was dumbfounded and opened my mouth.