He was absolutely unbelievable.

I stopped and stared at him for a while, contemplating his rather simple comment.

Zahid put on a saucy smile as he opened his lips once more.

“Why, should I do it for you then?”

“......”

I had a feeling that he would end up blowing the lady’s head off instead.

I calmly shook my head.

“We’re in front of the kids. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“How kind and patient. You’ve got decent self-control.”

“I prefer educated and reasonable, but thank you.”

Who in the right mind would ever agree to be their governess if their sister goes around slapping people whenever she feels like it?

Besides, Countess Magellin was a renowned governess. I didn’t mind giving her a second chance.

My ego was not as important as giving my baby siblings the opportunity to learn from the best.

Zahid and I furtively whispered for a while before the Governess quietly cleared her throat.

Being treated like an invisible person must have offended her.

However, her annoyance dissipated at the sight of Zahid’s heart-melting smile.

As if he had just noticed her presence, Zahid greeted the Governess.

“Ah, Lady Magellin. I apologize for my belated greeting.”

He said, squeezing me in his arms.

Zahid rested his head on mine and continued.

“I just can’t seem to take my eyes off her. I guess that’s why they call it the honeymoon phase. Surely you would understand, right?”

A cheeky smile blossomed on his face.

Governess Magellin, completely enchanted by his smile, nodded with a benevolent face.

After a short conversation, she headed back to her place looking like a teenage girl in love.

Her cheeks were fully flushed, and it seemed as if she had completely forgotten about being treated poorly earlier.

This was living proof of how Zahid had lived his life up till this point.

That was the problem.

Nobody was able to withstand his beauty.

Zahid’s charm made even the most outlandish things to come out of his mouth sound reasonable.

Equipped with cheekiness and a great way with words, Zahid probably must have toyed with people all his life.

I looked at him and spoke with my eyes.

‘Absolutely unbelievable.’

Zahid lifted his eyebrows as if he didn’t see what the problem was with what he did just now.

“You are pretty incredible ……”

He responded to my drained comment.

“What is so incredible about me?”

“Just…… A lot of things.”

“It’s a bit too early for exclamations.”

He answered along with a deep chuckle.

“This is just the beginning.”

“......”

Zahid took me, who was speechless at this point, by my arms and grinned subtly.

“Shall we head back, hon?”

A strange feeling brewed inside of me.

I was pretty sure I was the wife of the protagonist, but for some reason, it felt like I had married the villain.

***

The Holy City was located not too far from the empire’s capital.

It was the size of any other small city and was beyond the Emperor’s jurisdiction.

In simple terms, the Holy City was more of a small country that was ruled by the Pope.

Excis, the only god worshipped by all of the lands.

The head of the congregation served Excis, the Pope.

He was in a position where nobody - not even the Emperor - could belittle him, and the main temple was his own imperial castle.

“We need to walk from here onwards.”

Zahid stopped the carriage upon our arrival at the Holy City’s main temple square.

Everyone had to walk on their feet through this plaza.

Even the Emperor would be required to cross the plaza by foot.

Zahid got off the carriage first and escorted me off the carriage.

As I left the carriage, my hand in Zahid’s, a breathtaking sight unraveled before my eyes.

I visited the main temple of the Holy City with my family when I was a child, but I didn’t really remember what it was like because I was so young.

It was a whole new experience, coming back to it years later.

The buildings were unearthly and ethereal; built to resemble the Divine’s unwithering glory.

This was for sure the pinnacle of architectural artistry.

The vast plaza was encompassed by marble building walls.

The buildings were built in blindingly white marble and were embellished with gold. Those who stood in its presence would feel like tiny ants.

On the roofs were the twelve archangels and Excis, beautifully carved in soft marble.

The thirteen statues’ gaze aligned at the center of the plaza, where stood a statue of the traitor Aarantium moaning in agony as she suffered from being penetrated by the holy sword.

It was a depiction of the devils’ empress regnant being punished by the Divine.

It was a sight enough to send its viewers trembling in reverence.

Ironically, however, the sculpture of Aarantium roaring in pain and misery was sculpted in a way that invoked lust.

Her luscious breasts and hips, as well as her silky-smooth thighs, peaked through the rough tears of her garments.

It was almost as if this sculpture was made to encourage lust towards Aarantium.

Captivated by an inexplicable feeling, I could not take my eyes off the statue.

Zahid, who had been walking slowly to my pace, tilted his head.

“Would you like to take a closer look?”

“Is that okay? Wouldn’t His Holiness be waiting for us?”

“It’s fine. He’s the one that wanted to see us. He should be able to wait.”

I cautiously approached the central statue.

Her delicate fingers, which seemed to be reaching towards Excis, looked brittle and pitiful.

Her eyes were made of dark-red rubies, and seemed as if they were filled with blood.

Excis and the twelve archangels, as well as the traitor Arantium, were a vital part of the plot.

Their tale was the foundation of wizards and the Excis congregation, but I didn’t know much about the details because the whole ordeal was mostly explained in the later chapters that I didn’t get to.

Anyways, this was Aarantium……

I stood there carefully observing the statue when Zahid asked me a question.

“Do you like it? Maybe we should get one of these for our place.”

“...... That’s a horrific joke.”

With a statue like this, I’d get nightmares every night for sure.

Zahid and I began to move along down the plaza, leaving the captivating statue behind.

“This generation’s pope, Pope Zenoxius, is a dangerous fellow.”

“Interesting.”

“He isn’t the most mentally stable, you see. Nobody knows what he’s capable of.”

‘Oh, so just like you?’

I almost said.

Instead, I brought up a different question.

“He surely must be aware of the fact that you are a wizard. Could that be the reason he summoned me to his abode?”

Zahid went silent.

Only the lively bustling of the plaza filled the air between the two of us.

Without noticing, I held my breath.

His face was stone cold.

His emotionless, sunken gaze tore me apart.

Underneath his freezing gaze lay his vicious curiosity.

I could instinctively feel that he wanted to tear my soul apart piece by piece to find out what exactly was beneath my skin.

My heart shriveled up at the idea.

I didn’t want to meet my end in some plaza.

It felt like the end of the world.

However, the terrifying tension didn’t last very long.

Zahid let out a sudden sigh and brushed the strands of his hair away from his face as he murmured in a deep voice.

“I am going to have to be extra careful, I see. My dear wife knows far too much.”

His aura, which was as scathing as shards of glass, was nowhere to be seen.

Zahid bent down and planted a noisy kiss on my petrified forehead.

“You know a lot, indeed. I’d even believe that you can see the future as you said.”

I quickly hid the electrifying fear and played along with his joke.

“You know, trust is very important in a marriage. Seems about time you acknowledge my future-telling abilities, no?”

Zahid broke into laughter at my response - loud enough to turn the eyes of those around us.

Those who absentmindedly turned their gazes in our direction couldn’t look away: they had been encapsulated by Zahid’s beauty.

With more eyes on us than I could handle, I flushed in embarrassment.

On the other hand, the recipient of all the attention seemed to be completely indifferent.

He even went on to tease me with nonsense, saying that they are staring because I was too beautiful.

“Stop teasing and answer my question already.”

I snapped.

He finally opened his mouth.

“Though everybody will become aware of the fact that I am a wizard once I lift the restrictions on my power and begin to use it, at this point only three people know about it - Me, you, and the Pope.”

He very specifically pointed out the three constituents and tilted his head the other way.

“His Holiness is especially keen about my affairs since I am able to control all four elements. Naturally, he would be curious as to what kind of a person filled the seat next to mine…… “

He flashed a transparent smile.

“Your assumptions are probably correct, Aerta.”

It wasn’t necessarily a good thing that the Pope had a keen eye on you.

I tried to trace back what the first encounter between Zahid and the Pope was like in the novel.

They were as incompatible as oil and water: a pope that loathes wizards and a wizard that is the first ever to have power over all four elements.

They were born to become enemies.

The Pope, with his elite divine powers, could detect fully manifested wizards.

Hence, from the moment they first met, neither of them bothered to hide their true colors.

The two were both polar opposites and a mirror image of each other at the same time, and both suffered from a severe hatred of their own kind.

These two foes who are dying to kill each other are currently in the same space.

All I could do was pray for my safe return home.

Zahid squinted at the reflection of the scorching sun on the blindingly shiny main temple building and spoke to me.

“Anyways, there is nothing for you to be afraid of. I will protect you no matter what.”

As we arrived at the entrance of the main temple, paladins and priests greeted us.

They led Zahid and me to a different part of the temple from the rest of the visitors.

I stared at the paladins as I walked across the corridors lined with pillars of marble.

Their pure white armors reminded me of my brutal past,

Reminiscing on the unforgettable night as a fifteen-year-old kid, I smiled bitterly.

Zahid noticed my expression, yet he didn’t say anything.

He must be aware of what was going on in my head, especially since he had dug through my history.

Instead of empty condolences, he firmly squeezed my hands.

Though it’s true that I felt a pinch of relief from the warmth of his hands, I didn’t dare let myself become vulnerable.

I was well aware of how meaningless the warmth would be.

What we came to after a lengthy escort was the central hall of the temple.

This hall was only used during important events, such as the celebration of the birth of Excis.

There we stood, in front of the gigantic door.

Zahid adroitly tried to enter the hall with me, but the paladins stood in his way.

The knights in full white armor respectfully addressed the Duke.

“Your Grace, we request that you wait here.”

The Pope wished to see me, and me alone.

Anybody would break into tears of joy at an opportunity to have a private encounter with the Pope.

Unfortunately, neither Zahid nor I was what you would consider just ‘anybody.’

“A private conversation……”

Zahid’s eyes stretched out into a displeased slant.

“I’m quite uncomfortable with that, to be honest.”

He threw his words like he would with daggers.

“How dare you suggest that I leave my wife alone with an unacquainted man?”

“Your Grace!”

Blurted out one of the priests, trembling at the blasphemous comment.

Zahid didn’t flinch one bit and continued to respond with utter shamelessness.

“Pardon me, I am quite sensitive when it comes to my wife.”

He wasn’t the type to hold back insults at anybody that had crossed him, even if it were to be the Pope.

The paladins and priests’ faces turned red in fury at the accusatory, blasphemous comment.

I applauded internally at the guts he had for maintaining a straight face in front of a crowd of absolutely livid paladins.

It’s a wonder how he behaves as such and still maintains to keep his head on his neck.

He must be pretty powerful indeed.

Though there was a bit of a quarrel, we came to the conclusion that I would go talk to the Pope alone.

Zahid took my hand and planted a gentle kiss.

“Yell out my name as loud as you can if anything goes wrong.”

I wanted to tell him that nothing was going to happen, but instead, I simply nodded my head.

It was undeniable that the whole setup was welcoming disaster with open arms.

The doors propped open, and soon sealed shut behind me.

A thick fog of silence filled the air.

I carefully lifted my eyes from the ground to take a glance at the magnificent sight.

A thick red carpet made of velvet, made to symbolize the blood shed by the martyrs, drew a path to the three-fold altar, on which a golden sacred throne sat in solitude.

The man on the sacred throne was draped in pure white silk, which was embroidered with golden thread.

The man with his long silver curls cascading down his right shoulder was none other than Pope St. Zenoxius himself.

I bent down in a curtsey and greeted the Pope.

“I pay my respects to the holy servant of Excis, he who herds the world. Aerta Arlez Carnoire, Your Holiness.”

He beckoned me in silence.

Holding up the sides of my dress, I approached the altar.

When I stopped where I thought was appropriate, he continued to beckon me in closer and closer until I stood right in front of his sacred throne.

He was uncomfortably close.

This was probably a rare occurrence on his end as well.

Whilst I was being overtaken by anxiety, the Pope looked up and stared into my eyes.

It felt as though he was reading into my soul with those black, doe-like eyes.

He had such a fair, feminine quality to his face, that some could even confuse him for a woman.

The edges of his features were clean and wispy like the air of a winter morning, and his slightly drooping eyes added a sense of innocence.

But the reverence was replaced with a chilling feeling of predation as his eyes bent into a smile.

As I had predicted, he was just like Zahid in that he was a dangerous psychopath.

His interested gaze made me feel as though I was some rare butterfly pinned to a wooden board.

The Pope finally opened his ample lips.

“So you are Aerta Arlez.”

He quietly chuckled, quite obviously leaving out the Carnoire surname.

His bell-like chuckle rang through the empty halls.

“I would have requested your presence much earlier if I had known how pretty you are.”

My brain refused to digest that sentence.

Despite my confusion-riddled face, the Pope continued with a sigh.

“I should have had you cuffed when the debt was still an issue…… Such a pity.”

I was still lost from his previous sentence, while he bulldozed through what I could barely call a conversation.

“Aerta Arlez, I suspect you to be the Purifier. Am I correct?”

He asked with a smile on his face.

A sense of panic blinded me, but all I could do was play dumb.

“Your Holiness, I am afraid I don’t understand what you are saying.”

“It’s alright. We can check and see for ourselves.

He pushed up his long sleeves and flicked his fingers upwards.

The calm, heavy atmosphere became turbulent as I looked up at the brightly shining ceiling.

An enormous magic sigil had revealed itself, with a bright light seeping through the geometric shapes and indecipherable archaic languages written on the sigil.

As the light filled the hall, the symbols began to rearrange themselves rhythmically and revealed what seemed to be a door.

The remaining symbols began to lock into one another, emitting white rays of light.

There was something alarming about the way this encounter was panning out.

“Z, Zahid……”

I attempted to shout his name, but all that came out of my petrified lips was a choked-up gasp.

The Pope rebuked me with a soft smile on his face.

“I am sorry, but your husband won’t be able to enter the room.”

That didn’t deter me from trying once more. Clenching the sides of my dress with all my might, I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“ZAHID!!!”

A very short moment of stillness was followed by an ear-splitting sound that surrounded the hall.

With an explosive noise, the walls of the temple shook warily.

The Pope snatched my wrist, making me fall into his arms as the walls continued to tremble at what was happening outside.

The Pope burst out heinous laughter.

At the fourth explosion, the tightly shut wooden doors burst open into pieces.

Shards of the disintegrated door came falling down onto the floor of the entrance.

Amidst the cloud of dust, a slender figure emerged with the ends of his coat fluttering along the turbulent air.

The man responsible for the now-ruined hall gracefully trod down the blood-red velvet carpet.

“Aerta, are you done?”

Zahid spoke with a laxed grin.

“Shall we head home?”