What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 863

What Happens When the Sub-Male Lead Goes on Strike – Episode 863

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The Grand Chamberlain, Ronald Rüffert, stood at the very edge of the collapse.

“Grand Chamberlain! What is the meaning of all this? Did you truly know beforehand?”

“I can’t believe it. I truly cannot believe it!”

The authority of the Papal States crumbles like a sandcastle.

“Duchess Wilhelmina Schneider is about to stand trial in the Royal Capital! Are you truly saying that His Majesty knew of her plans for deicide [the act of killing a god]? If so, then what you told us back then…!

‘If you knew what secrets the Royal Capital held, you would not point fingers at me so readily.’ I remember it clearly! I remember every word the Grand Chamberlain spoke that day, without missing a single one!”

The sanctity and honor built over thousands of years, the things countless Popes sacrificed their lives and deaths to construct.

“I had always suspected, but is it true? You knew all along what lay beneath the Royal Capital, yet you remained silent the entire time!”

“Ah, Lord God. Do you know how many innocent people have died because of this war!”

“It’s chilling!”

“How can you be so irresponsible while wearing a human face? Isn’t the Grand Chamberlain the Pope’s representative!”

“If Her Holiness Irene knew beforehand, and it was seized by the Schneider family, then His Majesty had countless opportunities to thwart and discourage them!”

The crowd filling the dark corridors of the Papal States was mostly composed of Cardinals and Archbishops.

Many leaned towards the Empire, but there were also quite a few from the Grand Chamberlain’s side.

The torchlight and magical illumination cast a bloody hue on the faces of the high-ranking clergy, who were in shock.

Dozens of shadows stretched out like spider legs across the pale marble floor.

Rüffert stood before the wide-open door, slowly turning to look at those who once shared the same faith. At the head of the group was Cardinal Ari Schött, leaning on a cane.

“How can the Grand Chamberlain, who is supposed to stand in for the vacant Pope, be worse than the vacancy itself?”

“Good heavens, how could this happen…? History will judge you, Ronald. Are you not afraid?”

“Ronald! If you haven’t lost your tongue, answer us with dignity!”

“Say something, Grand Chamberlain!”

They had ‘coincidentally’ accepted Cardinal Ari Schött’s suggestion to attend dawn prayers, and while doing so, they ‘coincidentally’ overheard the conversation between the Prince and the Grand Chamberlain through the open door.

The old man realized faster than anyone that this was a meticulously planned inevitability.

Now, the servants of the Lord God, with their power and influence, were ready to completely turn their backs on him.

The Papal States, already experiencing internal strife due to Aurelie Boutier’s public opinion campaign, was finally shattered to pieces…

“Move! Get out of the way!”

-Thud!

Suddenly, the Grand Chamberlain’s gaze lifted.

A knight was shouting sharply as he ran down the wide corridor.

The Grand Chamberlain’s aides and guards were bewildered and turned to look.

“What on earth is going on? Why are you all running around in the sacred temple?”

“I need to get through too! Make way!”

-Whump!

“Ouch!”

“You’ll fall! Come here!”

“Be careful! There are children!”

-Clatter!

“Oww…!”

The children who collided with the armored adult were tearful and sitting on their bottoms, but another group of knights, as if not caring about such commotion, suddenly appeared from here and there and ran towards the opposite side.

Rüffert slowly moved his head, looking around.

A wider view was infiltrating his vision.

-Thump, thump, thump!

“What, did a war break out in the neutral zone? Why is everyone like this…!”

“Ugh, my stomach, my stomach hurts so much!”

“It’s full here, can’t get in! Upstairs! Go up! Up!”

-Crash, bang, thump!

‘Hurry!’ Some knights on the lower floors screamed, waving their arms wildly.

Then, other knights, their faces pale, staggered as if they were about to fall, but hurriedly changed direction and rushed to the upper floors.

Screams close to shrieks erupted from various places, and those who ran without hesitation and those who looked at such colleagues with astonished eyes coexisted.

The interior of the Papal States, decorated with holy stones, was already filled with frivolous echoes.

To make matters worse, a very unpleasant smell spread to every corner of the corridor, starting to sting the noses of the crowd.

The horrified priests hurriedly covered their faces with their sleeves.

Rüffert silently took in the scenery of the temple.

“That communion was the problem, there was something in that wine…!”

“Go! Go, hurry! You go first!”

“What is this…”

“You are the one who destroyed it.”

Outside the window, the sky was slowly brightening with blue light, but the Papal States of the new dawn were in complete chaos.

“You are the one who has so desecrated the sanctity, crushed and trampled the dignity of the Papal States, and so miserably insulted the ownerless sacred seat.”

“……”

A beautiful voice pierced his back like a well-honed blade.

The old man listened to the commotion like a marketplace and slowly turned around.

Prince Yesser Venetian, who had approached from behind, was aiming at him.

The man who alone knew all the information, who was fluent in all languages, who had returned from the waning to the waxing moon.

“Why didn’t you do anything?”

“…A mere…”

“‘A mere elected official and administrator like myself does not have the power to influence such a vast destiny.’ You certainly said that.”

Ari Schött, at the head of the clergy, received the words as if he had been waiting.

The old man’s gaze was as hard as hazelnut, not retreating or wavering in the slightest.

Rüffert opened his mouth with a face as stiff as hardened rubber.

“…The steward of the Papal States is, literally, a steward. My duty is only to establish order in the temple and maintain cleanliness inside and out.”

“The Grand Chamberlain’s definition of order and cleanliness is quite different from what I know.”

The Prince glanced at the chaotic Papal States and replied.

It was a clearly mocking attitude.

“Your Highness, please look into the history books. There has been no Grand Chamberlain who has taken advantage of the Pope’s authority to act presumptuously in the past two thousand years.”

“There is an error in that logic. In the past two thousand years, there has been only one case where the Pope was vacant when a large-scale war broke out.”

“……”

Schött and the clergy looked at the Grand Chamberlain with cold eyes.

Before he could speak again, the Prince looked up at the ceiling of the Papal States and said, ‘It seems that the Grand Chamberlain is mistaken about one thing…’

“Doing nothing is also power.”

“……”

“Being confident that the current situation will be maintained even if you do nothing. Believing that your wealth and power will remain unchanged even if you do not take any responsibility. That is the arrogant [excessively proud] ease that only the powerful can enjoy.”

He gave a chilling smile like an angel banished from heaven.

Rüffert had a vision of all the commotion in the Papal States being sucked into a distant darkness.

“You must have felt pleasure seeing everyone prostrate at your feet and appealing to your authority. Or is that not so? Can you deny my words by oath?”

“……”

“You adorned yourself as ‘the one who protects the Pope’s authority and glory,’ but in fact, you have been acting as a powerful figure for many years, taking advantage of his position. An incompetent, useless, irresponsible, and merciless powerful figure.”

“……”

“That is your sin. Doing nothing in the face of countless deaths.”

“Underground! Go underground, there’s trouble there too!”

‘Check the security posture of the labyrinth!’ As one woman shouted at the top of her lungs, some of the knights who had been milling about rushed down the stairs without even lining up.

Before long, the entire building was slowly brightening.

There was no warmth in the Prince’s purple eyes, which were filled with the light of dawn.

He looked straight at the Grand Chamberlain and whispered to Schött.

“Your Eminence, this man, who could not even protect the Holy Grail, is not qualified to represent the sacred seat and oversee the temple.”

“Yes. We have confirmed it ourselves.”

The old man answered, shifting the hand holding his cane.

“…From now on, we will gather all the Cardinals and proceed with the impeachment [formal accusation of wrongdoing] of the Grand Chamberlain. There will be no reversal.”

“That’s right!”

“Yes, I agree!”

“Ronald, you have been a scarecrow for decades. What the Papal States without a Pope needs is not a scarecrow, but the real thing.”

“We cannot proceed with the Papal Conclave [meeting to elect a new Pope] trusting him as he is! Now, only impeachment will do!”

“I agree. We must replace the Grand Chamberlain before the smoke stops rising from the chimney!”

“Impeachment! Impeachment! Impeachment…!”

Someone’s murmur became a shout, and the shout soon became a wildfire-like cry that spread in all directions.

The Prince slightly raised the corner of his lips and met Schött’s gaze.

The young man’s lips moved silently.

‘Thanks to you, I had a good time, ate well, and rested well.’

‘Thank you for the guidance.’

It was a familiar greeting.

The old man’s wrinkles deepened as he remembered the day the sentence flowed.

In the midst of the chaos, only two people were smiling.

Time flows and flows and flows… It’s already Thursday.

Wow, time really flies.

-Tap, tap, tap…

“I need to delete this again… Enter here. Ah, my neck is stiff.”

I stopped typing on the keyboard, stretched my back, and leaned my head back.

At the same time, a long sigh burst out from my solar plexus [area in the abdomen behind the stomach].

At the company, I at least get to wander around under the guise of meetings or business trips… But being stuck at home for days, staring at the monitor, is not easy.

In between, I look at pictures of my friends—thankfully, they’ve become much clearer than before—to cheer myself up, but even if I’m the Prime Minister of Staying Home…

I can’t do housework or other chores and have to be stuck here all day…

“It’s not easy, is it?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah…”

“Look at this. Already getting lazy.”

Jung Hyun-seo, who had brewed another cup of espresso, saw me from outside the door and clicked his tongue.

I quickly straightened my posture and grabbed the mouse again.

Then my brother came in, dragging his slippers, and chuckled. ‘Hey, I can’t say anything.’

“Working time fifty-five minutes, break time five minutes. Or fifty minutes and ten minutes. How many times have I told you to set the timer and only work eight hours a day?”

“…I understand it in my head, but eight hours a day seems too short. It’s not just working, it’s a job of reconnecting an entire world line. I have to prepare diligently and properly so that the readers of the contest can enjoy it, right?”

“No. There’s no such thing, they’ll leave right away if it doesn’t suit their taste.”

“Ah…”

I see… The world of content is ruthless.

“If you work like this, you won’t last long. If this were a normal web novel, I wouldn’t say anything because you’d realize it yourself someday…”

Jung Hyun-seo scanned me up and down, then glanced at Sir Yo Han, who was trimming water parsley in the living room.

As soon as I followed my brother’s gaze, I met his eyes. Hello, Herit’s father!

“Switch with Yo Han.”

“…Huh?”

Switch?

“Isn’t it about time for that person to appear?”

“Huh? Yeah, it seems like he’s already appeared. No, he’s appeared. I’m not just focused on filling in the blanks, I’m definitely reading the content too.”

“…Did you reenlist? You’re very quick.”

Jung Hyun-seo laughed in a low voice, then called Sir Yo Han to switch with me.

He explained that there was nothing strange about it since Eun-seo and his brother were also planning to lend a hand on the weekends.

I got up from my seat with a slightly dazed feeling and switched places with the Cardinal.

Sir Yo Han, who had been carefully observing the amount I was doing for the past few days, quickly began to do the manuscript work. Amazing.

“…Thank you, Sir.”

“You’re welcome. This is quite fun too.”

“Hahaha. I’m glad.”

-Tap tap tap, tap tap tap!

As expected of a Cardinal, when I looked closely, even the speed at which he typed on the keyboard was different from mine.

Thanks to drinking a pack of apple juice and mastering Korean, he seemed to have no problems with reading comprehension or application.

I gulped down a bottle of cool mineral water and thought.