The Web of Knightspur-Chapter 182

Princess Eleanor looked to the side in a daze.

Her heart was still racing, and for once she was confused between reality and illusion. Princess Eleanor knew that what she saw earlier, was not her current reality. But at the same time, she also knew that it might be a past reality. A fraction of her memory was about to reveal itself.

Princess Eleanor laid her palms flat on her chest to feel her rapidly beating heart. She could feel the movement, and that gave her the confidence that she was alive.

’I am here, breathing and well.’ Princess Eleanor told herself, but her gaze moved towards the open window.

The wind made the curtains move slightly, making it flutter and undulate as if there was a lady dancing behind it. Princess Eleanor’s eyes were focused on it as she enjoyed the movements of the curtain. Her mind registered that she was feeling cold, but her body did not react to it. Her mind was too focused on the thoughts still spinning around.

’Who was he?’ Princess Eleanor bit her lips, ’Did I see his face? Was he from the Empire?’

Princess Eleanor could clearly remember the eyes that had been looking straight at her. She swallowed hard as she struggled to maintain her breathing. Maybe because she was in a daze earlier, she could not remember the man. But now that her body was somewhat more relaxed and her mind was a little clearer, she could feel the similarity in the gaze.

The pace of Princess Eleanor’s heartbeats started increasing again. No matter how hard she tried to maintain her calm, she just could not. The feeling of suffocation overwhelmed her. Princess Eleanor threw her blanket aside as she quickly moved towards the opened windows.

Once the cold wind hit her face directly, only then did she feel alive. Her eyes that were previously blurred, were now narrowed and clear. ’It has to be him. He was there. He was the one that saved me.’

The face of a man with a mask came to mind. Princess Eleanor did not know what to feel anymore. ’But if he was there back then, why had he not said anything to me? Why was he hiding things?’

Princess Eleanor turned around and she closed her eyes in irritation. She had so many questions in mind and yet there were no answers to them. The feeling of uneasiness was growing and she felt helpless.

"Sir Kit, where are you?" Princess Eleanor murmured as she wrapped her arms around her body.

—--

"You hid it from me," Crown Prince Richard’s voice echoed loudly in the room. His eyes looked straight at the man who was sitting in front of him in a white robe, "I had thought we were on the same page."

"We are always on the same page. We both want what’s best for the Empire." Priest Erasmus’s voice was soft as if he was unaware of the current situation. He looked calm and composed as he blinked his eyes innocently. "That was what we had discussed. You were there when I received the prophecy on that day. It was the Crown Prince who suggested sending a marriage proposal to the Angevin Kingdom."

Priest Erasmus looked down at the wooden table. His hands rested on it as he continued, "The Crown Prince asked me to hide the fact that the prophecy had come down. I was ready to inform the Emperor, but it was you, the Crown Prince, who had brought up the issue of what if the Angevin Kingdom did not agree. The Emperor would go to war. To avoid the risk of having the people pointlessly lose their lives, I have agreed to your methods."

Priest Erasmus smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. "I have sacrificed a lot. And you know it too. I have known something for so long but I have believed your words and hid the truth from the Emperor. Because we were on the same page. We wanted the people of the Empire to be safe and prosperous. Wasn’t it the reason why I modified the prophecy and presented it to the Emperor? I have even waited until the time for the Princess to feel better and come to the royal palace."

Priest Erasmus looked up at Crown Prince Richard as he leaned back, "Although there was no need of calling the other Princesses here, they did come. Does the Crown Prince think I do not know why you insisted on calling them? Wasn’t it because you do not want to break the good relationship you have cultivated with the other Kingdoms? But the Crown Prince should not forget that I am a servant of God. I can tell lies for the betterment of humans, but I cannot tell lies to God. After all, God knows it all."

"And what does the priest mean by identifying the First Prince? Is it also the will of God?" Crown Prince Richard’s words were filled with rage. His fingers formed a fist. He wanted to show his powers but he knew that he had done something that was unacceptable.

The Crown Prince was aware that he had manipulated the temple to change the prophecy and presented it in front of the Emperor. He was able to do it because he knew some secrets and took advantage of them. "Priest Erasmus should not forget that it was the previous high priest that had made a mistake. If Priest Erasmus has forgotten, I would like to remind you that it was the previous high Priest that had planned to kill the Empress and the First Prince and now you are here acknowledging the man itself? How can you be sure that the man is the First Prince?"

Priest Erasmus was silent and his body had become stiff. He knew why he had to obey the Crown Prince. It was not only to reduce the bloodbath but because the previous Priests had made some huge mistakes. It was them who had taken the side of Crown Prince Richard’s family who believed and respected the temple and helped them to overthrow the Empress.

"I cannot deny the mistakes made by the previous Priests, but I cannot overlook the truth in front of me. God had sent the man here and gave me a chance to rectify the mistakes."

"AND SO YOU DECIDED TO BETRAY ME?" Crown Prince Richard shouted at the top of his lungs. He could see the slight change in Priest Erasmus’s expression but it soon went back to normal. This made him even more angry.

As a Crown Prince, it was in his nature to expect everyone to bow down to him. Otherwise, he had a tendency to eliminate others. There were only two parties he could never touch. The one was the Grand Duke of Beaumont’s House while the other was the temple. He had worked hard to destroy the Beaumont House and with the help of Princess Eleanor, Crown Prince Richard was sure he would succeed. But the temple was still something he could not touch. And that was frustrating him.

"Crown Prince Richard should quiet down and not try to threaten me with his position." Priest Erasmus blinked his eyes as if he was used to such situations, "We are not in the Royal Palace. And I am not your subject. I serve God and no one else, so I am not bound to reply to your questions. If the Crown Prince wishes to do so, we can have a civilized talk. Otherwise, we will meet at the Royal Palace when I tell them all about the prophecy. I cannot wait any longer. So I suggest that rather than blaming me for my discussion, the Crown Prince should focus on how to make Princess Eleanor fall in love with you. After all, the gist of the prophecy remains the same. She will choose her own King. She will choose the future Emperor. So if Crown Prince Richard wants to be in that position, I suggest not to think about the First Prince now and focus on the things that you can control."

Priest Erasmus stood up as he walked towards the door. But his steps paused midway as he turned back and looked at the Crown Prince who was breathing heavily due to piled up rage. "The Crown Prince should understand my stand too. I cannot ignore the First Prince now that we have found him. I request you to not be too caught up in the situation and hurt anyone in the temple. All the soldiers here are servants of God and not of the Emperor’s. They will not take things lightly."

Priest Erasmus shook his head as he walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, Priest Erasmus took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He knew that the actions he took earlier was something he had never done before. ’I just hope that I have not done something wrong,’

Priest Erasmus looked back at the closed doors, where he could still hear the loud voices coming from within. He had known the Crown Prince for a long time, enough to understand his character well. ’I will be losing some of my furniture today.’ Priest Erasmus sighed out as he took a step forward, but soon he stopped as he saw that the man standing in front of him had a mask on his face.