Only God

Constantine VI had never thought that matters could one day become so thorny, so troublesome.

Before the public eye, a Priest had offended himself, an incident that, under normal circumstances, would have led to the immediate disposal of him and his entire circle of friends and family. Who would have imagined that a Great Council would be convened for this Priest, and who would have thought that, after finally reaching a verdict on his guilt, a Priest would suddenly burst forth, claiming in the name of the Prophet that Eden should not be executed.

Constantine VI was furious.

He cast an angry glance at Veldor and Eden, then turned his thoughts to the Dwarf Priest's words.

As the Emperor, while he could become angry, he seldom lost his reason.

Veldor had brought forth the Prophet's Letter, demanding the convening of the Great Council to publicly judge Eden, and after the verdict was pronounced, suddenly claimed that Eden was a man favored by the Prophet and must not be killed.

This series of events seemed so full of suspicion.

Constantine VI's intuition told him that Veldor was lying, that the heretical Priest Eden had not been favored by the Prophet at all, that even the Prophet's Letter was a complete fabrication.

He was about to raise his hand and order the Priest to be dragged away,

but just then,

Emperor noticed that within the assembly, as Veldor spoke, the Priests began to clamor again.

People discussed Veldor's words with passion, the Priests who had been suppressed and sympathetic towards Eden were now raising their voices, defending Eden in the name of the Prophet.

Even among the Royal Family's seats, a small disturbance arose.

"Merciful Lord, have mercy,"

the Queen whispered low.

"That man is like Dorias..."

Arsia said subconsciously.

Upon hearing this, the Queen lifted her eyes, her gaze complicated as she looked at Arsia,

"Don't talk like that, Arsia!"

Despite her sympathy for Eden, Arsia's words were akin to calling her father the ignorant King Dovlo, were they not?

Arsia, realizing she misspoke, quickly shut her mouth, her eyes fixated straight on Eden.

Even though the Princess had stopped talking, their voices still reached the ears of the envoys from Ausenco, and these foreign emissaries started chattering amongst themselves, prompting co-Emperor Philip to stand and strive to calm these visitors from afar.

Noticing the noisy scene in the assembly, Constantine VI had no choice but to stop and fall into contemplation.

Whether Veldor's words were true or false, he had, after all, seen the Prophet; dealing with the Priest brutally in public would have no good outcome.

Moreover, the troubles that the heretical Priest had brought to him were already more than enough.

The Emperor started to feel that his intuition might not be reliable, as it was not impossible for one to be deceived by their own instincts.

After weighing the pros and cons, Constantine VI lowered his hand and could not help but start contemplating countermeasures.

Even if Veldor's words were highly dubious, due to his status, they still had some degree of credibility.

If it had been someone else who burst out, he unquestionably would not have hesitated like this.

Although Constantine VI believed Eden was not a man favored by the Prophet, even a ten percent possibility had consequences that he could not bear.

After much consideration, Constantine VI waved his hand to declare a temporary recess, instructed the Great Shepherd Danschel to bring Veldor to him, and also ordered for several Shepherds to come and verify the truth of Veldor's words.

............…

Veldor underwent nearly two hours of interrogation, causing him to miss the time for evening prayers.

He knew well that both the Prophet's Letter and the so-called favor of the Prophet were nothing but lies.

But he had already committed himself, there was no turning back now.

To sustain a lie, he had to tell even more lies.

Thanks to his experience as a Wanderer, lying was not difficult for Veldor; on the contrary, in his youth, he was quite adept at deceiving and swindling.

In front of a group of Shepherds, Veldor steadfastly invoked the name of the Prophet Xilan, elaborating on Xilan's regard for Eden, aside from that, he refused to discuss anything else, and as to how the Prophet made contact with him, Veldor said it was as sudden as a Miracle, without signs and unrepeatable.

Due to the admonitions in the Scriptures, no one dared to risk the great sin of prophesying about the Prophet or related individuals; they could only judge the truth from Veldor's words, and in further questioning, the adept liar Veldor did not show any slip-ups.

Besides Veldor's performance, the key figure in this interrogation was Shepherd Casas.

As one of the Shepherds of the Church, Shepherd Casas was always respected for his reputation as a good-natured person, his words held much sway among the Shepherds.

Of course, more crucially, he was the only one who knew of Veldor's deceit.

Shepherd Casas not only concealed the truth for Veldor but also played along with him, claiming that among all the people he had seen, Veldor was one of the most sincere towards God.

Thus, despite the lingering doubts, neither the Emperor nor the Shepherds dared to conclude that it was a lie.

After the questioning, Constantine VI exhaled a heavy breath, coming alone to the end of the corridor, his face twisted with ferocity.

"This heresy...despicable heresy..."

Constantine VI felt a wave of humiliation.

The troubles that Eden had brought to him were really too numerous; he felt that if he continued dealing with them, the problems would only increase rather than diminish, and would intensify. Even if they could eventually be resolved, it would come at a great cost.

Reason told Constantine that it was time to put an end to it.

And Constantine chose to listen to his reason.

He clenched the marble balustrade of the corridor, constantly muttering curses about Eden under his breath. For the first time, the Emperor of Danschel felt a tinge of powerlessness and humiliation.

Moments later, when he appeared in the meeting hall again, that fierce expression had vanished, replaced by a calm and composed smile.

The Great Shepherd of Danschel stepped in front of the tribunal and proclaimed the latest decision for the Emperor,

"By the sacred decree of the Great Council..."

The judgment of Eden as a heretic was not overturned, for that was decided by the votes of the priests, no one could whimsically alter it, but Eden's punishment was changed. The Great Council gave him two months to reform without restricting his personal freedom, simply exiling him from the country.

In short, the death penalty was changed to exile.

Upon receiving this result, Veldor finally let out a long sigh of relief, his taut nerves finally eased, almost causing him to fall to the ground.

After inquiry, neither the Emperor nor the Shepherds dared to assert their words as lies, nor could they confirm them as the truth. As a compromise, they decided to expel Eden from the country and imposed a minor excommunication that would not strip him of his Divine Office.

This was already the best possible outcome.

............

............

That night, Eden was released.

Veldor hastened to receive him and took him to his own place.

When Eden met with Veldor, apart from blessings, the first thing he did was excitedly inquire about the Prophet's estimation.

If it had been anyone else, they might have been caught off guard and flustered by the question, but Veldor was well-prepared,

"The Prophet is waiting for me to bring you to him, beyond that, I am not privy to any details."

Understanding the principle of 'the more you say, the more mistakes you make,' Veldor gave such a mysterious response.

Without a doubt, Eden believed these words and praised the Prophet and Veldor to their faces.

"Am I to follow you from now on?"

Eden asked,

"I have nowhere else to go, and I must leave this Empire, but what about you? Are you not staying here?"

Before Veldor replied to Eden's question, he first corrected him:

"Eden, there is no need for formalities with me, 'you' will suffice. We are but servants of God."

Immediately afterward, Veldor lowered his head as if contemplating something.

He wanted Eden to come with him not truly to lead him to the Prophet but out of concern for his safety.

Anyone knew that Eden had offended the ruler of the Empire.

Veldor wasn't particularly worried about the Emperor's tactics; in his view, the Emperor would not openly break the agreement or go against the sentence under the name of the Prophet. However, those loyal to the Emperor, those seeking to please the Emperor, were a different story.

That was precisely why although due to the Prophet's name, not many would dare target Veldor, it was still possible that some of the Emperor's supporters might take a risky move and try to harm Eden.

After all, for some supporters, this was a high-risk, high-reward gamble. If Eden was truly favored by the Prophet, then they would accept their loss. But if he was not, it meant an opportunity to curry favor and move closer to power.

As Veldor was contemplating where to go, a sudden knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

The Dwarf Priest opened the door only to find the Queen's maid.

"Priest, Her Highness the Queen requests your presence at the Imperial Palace to explain Scripture to Her Highness the Princess..."

Veldor instantly knew that explaining Scripture was but an excuse; the Queen likely had another purpose in mind.

Thus, he asked Eden to follow him, and they went to the Imperial Palace together.

At this late hour, the streets near the Imperial Palace, where guards patrolled, were quiet and still.

Following Veldor and led by the maid, Eden entered the Imperial Palace for the first time.

Previously only glimpsed from afar, now as he stepped inside, Eden marveled at the splendor and radiance of the palace.

"God, how magnificent, it's like a cornucopia in the Mortal World."

Eden murmured to himself,

"And to think, such a place is inhabited by sinners..."

This Imperial Palace, together with the capital of the Empire, Danschel, represents both power and sin, like the capital of the whole world, resplendent as a gemstone embedded in the heart of the earth, nearly as if it were eternal.