I will not die a Villainess's death

"Rahan, fancy seeing you here again. Did your master send you here to assist me?"

Head Priest had already emptied the room for this conversation. He was glad to see the Rahan in front of him again since nothing was going right for him.

Head Priest Yohan had done everything he had been asked to do, but things were still straying away from the intended path they had to take. And he could not figure out why that was happening.

"Ugh, finally. Do you know how irritating it is to try and reach the temple while keeping my identity hidden? I feel like there is petrol at every corner I turn at. What is wrong with this empire?"

Rahan sounded irritated as he threw his body on the couch behind him. It had been incredibly lucky of him not to have run into someone.

He was lucky that their boss had a sixth sense for such situations and had warned Rahan against taking the wrong route.

"Things in the empire are not…alright. Some prisoners who attacked the Crown Prince and the Saintess managed to escape so there is a manhunt going on. But it has nothing to do with us."

Rahan felt his temperature drop as soon as he heard those words. He had escaped to the Akatsuki kingdom once Boras had rescued him. And then he went into hiding for a few days.

That was why he was unaware of the situation of the outside world for some time now. How was he supposed to know that there was a man-hunt going on for him?

"Anyway, my job is done here so I will go back now. I hope you have a nice day ahead."

The sooner Rahan was out of this kingdom, the better for him. Especially since he knew his boss had big plans for the empire that was about to unfold.

Akatsuki kingdom's Head Priest Akane had already started his planning and he was even recruiting the right people for the job.

And unlike Head Priest Yohan, Akane was on their side and knew everything. It made things easy to control in the Akatsuki kingdom's politics.

"Rahan, wait a moment. You can go after you tell me what happened to this pendant. It was supposed to contain a lot of magical energy but it seemed to have been sucked dry."

Head Priest Yohan held the pendent in front of him with a raised eyebrow. Rahan wanted to run away without answering him.

After all, how could he explain the situation to Head Priest Yohan without attracting his anger? No one could have seen it coming.

"Well, an accident happened so now the pendant lost its power.  Things are as simple as that. There is no one at fault here."

Rahan tried to lighten the situation by waving it off. But the more he tried to make the accident insignificant, the more Head Priest Yohan seemed interested.

Maybe not saying anything would have been the best choice for Rahan. But he had already dug his own grave.

"Oh, look at the time. I need to leave now since I need to meet my boss. I gotta go now."

Rahan ran away before the Head Priest could catch him again. The guards noticed a blur running past them but they ignored him because of the priest robes he was wearing.

They had been asked to check every suspicious person they came across but the priests did not make their way on that list and it was all because of the bribery that was going on behind the scene.

Most of the nobility had already been bought by the temple priests so they were free to roam around without any trouble.

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"Your holiness, I might be getting a little ahead of myself here but I need to ask you this. What are you doing here?"

Chrome was a busy emperor who did not have a lot of time on his hands. He had a hundred other work to do and not enough hours in the day.

And with the Dirac sibling in the mix, that workload had all but tripled for him. He did not have time to entertain anyone else in his schedule.

So he was annoyed to see the one person who had enough authority to ask for an audience with him and not be touched by Yohan.

"Emperor Yohan, it had been a few months since we last met. How have you been in the time I have not seen you?"

Head Priest Akane was a menace. He was way too happy, way too cheerful, and way too popular for Chrome's liking. The temple did not use to have much influence in the Akatsuki kingdom before Head Priest Akane had shown up.

And usually, it should be a good thing for the religion to flourish in the nation. And the temple was also agreeable with Chrome most of the time.

But despite all that, there was always something 'off-putting' and dark about that man. Even his eyes looked hollow and dark on his cheerful face.

"Head Priest Akane, please spare me the small talk and tell me what you came here for. I currently do not have enough time to decipher your words properly."

Chrome held his head in his hands as he tried to get his headache out. It was exhausting having to deal with the Head priest. Especially when he never got a straight answer out of the crazy man's mouth.

"You want to know what I am doing here? Well, I have to wonder the same thing as well. I asked Lady Dirac to head a ceremony for us since she has experience with it, but Lord Dirac said to go through the proper channels. So here I am."

Head Priest Akane breathed a sigh as if he was being tortured by the mere idea of asking for help.

But Chrome was dumbfounded once he looked down on the proposal that had been handed over to him. The ceremony on the ritual said 'Herman's rite.'

'Herman's rite' was a ceremony to celebrate the closing of the demon gate in Akatsuki and to thank the god of fighting for all its contributions to the kingdom. It was a male-exclusive ceremony that followed the traditional ceremony.

"This is…Head Priest, I think I would have to decline this offer of yours. I don't think it is right of us to make this decision. This ceremony is not one Lady Dirac should head in the first place."

Chrome's headache was evolving into a migraine slowly. He was not sure why the Head Priest was suggesting something like this but even Chrome could tell that this idea was ridiculous.

Not only would the general public rebel but including someone like Elysia could also anger the gods.

"Emperor Chrome, I have never been surer about anything else in my life until now. You know that the past few ceremonies have been a disaster for us and we cannot afford to fail another one in succession."

"Lady Dirac is an experienced sister of the temple and she has the most experience heading such ceremonies in the empire. I am sure she will adapt and we will be able to appease the general public if we succeed this time."

Head Priest's words were like a sweet poison in Chrome's ears. They sounded tempting but he knew that he could not allow that to happen.

Not only because it was wrong for Elysia to be given such heavy responsibility, but also because he was terrified for his life.

Lucas had trusted Chrome to put an end to the Head Priest's pursuance but Chrome was not sure he would be able to make the determined man back off.

"Emperor Chrome, take my words as a warning for now. Just because I have been holding myself back until now does not mean I am not capable of causing any trouble for you."

Now, this was a warning if Chrome had ever heard one. The ever easy-going Head Priest was warning the emperor not to go against him.

Chrome was taken aback by the sudden verbal attack he heard. He had not expected the Head Priest to ever speak like this to him.

"So, emperor Chrome, are you sure you want to gamble a chance? You have just gained your power so what would happen if you lose all your support right now? Can you afford to take this chance?"

Chrome bit his lips as he heard the threat that was being made against him. He had no intention to follow the temple but now it seemed like he had no choice.

He did feel sorry for Elysia since she would have to deal with the temple and all its bull crap. But she was strong and she even had Lucas behind her.

"Fine, I will give you the written order. But the next time you try and threaten me, I will have you killed."

The Head Priest smiled once he got the order in his hand. Finally, things were happening his way.