Bộ Sưu Tập Tội Lỗi Của Vị Linh Mục Ngoan Đạo - Chương 8

“Ah, there you are—huff—! I’ve been looking everywhere for you…!”

Vừa Theodore sắp hỏi cô ấy đến văn phòng của anh ta, vừa Daphne hy vọng trốn thoát, Bishop Caleb ào đến giữa hai người. Nhờ có anh ta, Daphne được giải thoát khỏi bàn tay đang giữ cô ấy.

“It took me a good forty minutes just to find Your Eminence! Oh, I’m out of breath…”

Dựa vào ánh nước mắt lấp lánh trên trán hói của Bishop Caleb, có thể thấy anh ta đang nói thật.

“Come now, please, let’s go!”

“…Bishop Caleb.”

Cổ họng Theodore chuyển động với một nuốt nước bồi hồi khi nhìn xuống vị giáo chủ. Người đàn ông hình thể cường tráng ánh nhìn bình tĩnh, nặng nề khiến vai Caleb giật mình tự phát.

“And where exactly are you taking me?”

“His Holiness is waiting for you.”

“His Holiness? For what reason…?”

“Well…”

Bishop Caleb, người đã bỏ lỡ cơ hội xin lỗi, liếc nhìn Daphne một cách không tự nhiên trước khi nâng tiếng deliberately.

“You saw that star rise the other night, didn’t you? Because of that, His Holiness has summoned all the cardinals. He’s terribly worried, you see.”

“……”

Anh ta nói to enough for everyone to hear.

Cảm thấy không có điều gì tốt đẹp từ việc ở lại lâu hơn, Daphne cẩn thận cúi xuống, đảm bảo chiếc khăn quanh người không chạm đất.

“Then I’ll take my leave. May the Father’s grace be ever with you, Fathers.”

Khi cô ấy quay đi và bước nhanh, Bishop Caleb lắc đầu không thích.

Gesturing with his chin toward her retreating figure heading back into the cloister, he muttered:

“It’s all their fault, isn’t it? If not for them, there wouldn’t be this uneasy air in the temple. And the cloister wouldn’t have had to be declared a restricted area.”

The prophesied saint had been interpreted as someone of high rank — anyone from a bishop to, at most, the Pope himself. That was why, whenever the three stars rose every twenty years, high-ranking clergy felt both a sense of relief and anxious tension.

There was relief that the current novices in the cloister would return to secular life without causing problems. But there was also fear — fear that if they failed to properly guide the incoming novitiates to become “true” priests, the prophecy might actually come to pass.

To become a bishop-level priest required a certain threshold of divine power. And obtaining that much holy strength was no easy feat — it often took a lifetime of training, if it was even possible at all.

Naturally, the stronger one’s divine power, the greater their responsibilities and authority within the temple. And the more irreplaceable they became as clergymen. Among them, the most exceptional by far was the man standing right here — Cardinal Theodore Valentino.

“Your Eminence, you shouldn’t remain in a place like this. Even if those ones are no longer considered part of the prophecy, their nature hasn’t changed. Do you think the cloister was made off-limits to priests for no reason? It was done to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled.”

Among the clergy, the prophecy and the purpose of the cloister were topics best avoided. But Bishop Caleb assumed it was safe to speak openly in front of Cardinal Theodore. After all, delivering punishment to sinners was among a cardinal’s many rights.

And Cardinal Theodore had never hesitated to deal harshly with priests who strayed from doctrine or abandoned the Holy Father’s teachings. Caleb believed he would be just as unforgiving to those born under the three-star sign.

But Cardinal Theodore Valentino’s reaction was not at all what Caleb had expected.

“I understand your concerns, Bishop Caleb, but those individuals are proper clerics as well. They’ve trained in devotion, offering daily prayers and sustenance to the Holy Father. It would be best to refrain from speaking ill of them.”