The Predator’s Contract Partner

Merha jumped.

“Let go— let go!”

The nobles who saw Merha started blatantly gossiping.

“What happened?”

“I think the high priest is really insane! Look at his eyes.”

As Merha struggled, people avoided him and stepped aside.

“Call the doctor. I need to get evidence! Someone drugged me. The drug made me misspeak. Somebody—some fucking bastard—drugged me, so—”

He pointed at Lucerne.

“You did this! The Lord will not forgive you. You will be punished. No. Everything I just said was a lie… … . It’s a lie. everyone. I am the High Priest, I am the High Priest!”

Merha shouted when suddenly his face turned ashened. He grabbed his neck on the spot and started to fall down gradually.

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

“Call the doctor!”

Someone shouted. It was the last voice Merha heard before he lost consciousness.

***

“I’m sorry for ruining your debut, Elisha,”

Lucerne said soberly, with a smile contained in his eyes. But his mouth was not grinning.

“Are you serious?”

“No,”

Lucerne admitted after he thought for a moment. Elisha nodded

as she observed the attendees gathering around Merha’s limp body and Risralpho’s corpse.

“I think it was a rather splendid party. If it was possible, I wish it would transpire every night.”

“How deep is your grudge against our family? You hate Merha too? As much as Jacob?”

Elisha turned to her husband with her eyes filled with disbelief as if she had heard something exceedingly strange.

“Your enemy is my enemy. Because he tormented you when you were young.”

She didn’t think much of her statement, but somehow it made Lucerne freeze, unable to move or breathe.

Since there was a lot of commotion around them as they whispered and with a cacophony surrounding them Elisha did not notice his bizarre state.

“Ah, the security forces are here. Let’s go ahead and welcome them, Lucerne.”

“… ……right.”

He moved slowly as she followed him.

***

It was only after the security wardens arrived that the place could be cleared. The mayor of Yurif, who was aiming for a long and peaceful public life by avoiding difficult work, begrudgingly accepted the case with bitter tears.

And the next day, the shock that began in Yurif swept the capital.

Those who donated money to the memorial service for Lysralpo, the collection of Risralpho during his lifetime, and those who attended the biggest event, the bone fragments auction, converged and rushed in the temple.

“How are you going to handle this?”

“Didn’t someone say bad luck would come to those who had Risralpho’s bone fragments? The money I invested abroad has plummeted. I’m going to sue you!”

“I heard that too. My parents’ health has deteriorated! The bone fragments didn’t even belong to the prophet. What a scam!”

Additionally it was shocking to find the Risralpho’s body, who had a splendid funeral eight years ago.

But what made it even bigger was that Merha appeared at the scene and blurted out that he had killed Lyst Ral Poe. Without witnesses, the scandal would have been suppressed.

But that night was the night of a grand ball. There were too many witnesses of high standing.

In the end, the heretical inquisitors of the temple came forward and took over custody of Merha in Yurif. They detained him in the temple’s prison and started the investigation. It was truly a major event that shook the empire. High Priest Merha, who was Risralpho’s supporter and protector at the time, was suspected of killing Risralpho. Overwhelming evidence was found in detail as if it had been prepared for discovery by someone else. The tattoo marks on the body, and divine powers of the first-class priests. And a close examination of the body revealed that LisRalfo’s body was real.

In addition, in Risralpho’s pocket, half of the ticket used for the concert at a theater in Yurif was found. The date of the ticket made it clear that Risralpho’s death was eight years ago.

“It’s ridiculous that I murdered Risralpho. I was on drugs!”

Merha kept repeating the same words, but no drug was detected in his body.

Regardless, there was no way for him to escape charges, even if he hadn’t confessed at the ball. At that time, he was the one who had verified and retrieved the body, saying that the prophet had died in an accident.

Eight years ago, he said he couldn’t handle the excessive power in his body. He had testified that he had died of a fever.

But it turned out that it was all a blatant lie. In addition, a significant number of the temple leaders were involved.

“No, you mean you didn’t even check the body properly?”

“It means that High Priest Merha, member of the Cartier family, promised that he would personally take charge of everything at the time. Inspection of the body and preparation for the event were all carried out by people from the agency set up by High Priest Merha!”

About 50 priests were incriminated in one day. All were those in Merha’s faction.

Given this situation, people’s eyes naturally turned to Gunner.

Overnight he became the next most likely candidate for Pope.

‘Good riddance.’

People trembled at Lucerne’s terrifying plot. He used a tactic to slay his uncle and raise the one that greeted him to the position of Pope. There was no one in the capital that didn’t guess such a fact.