Chapter 263: Died
A silence appeared in the main hall.
A few seconds later, Archbishop Royce felt that he could move his mouth a little and got relieved a little.
He tried to say something, but Charles raised his hand and asked him a strange question.
"Do you have any family members, Your Eminence?"
Although Archbishop was startled by his question, he didn't put too much thought into it and answered.
"Y-Yes. M-My father… He is the Cardinal of Amber Church."
'Cardinal… A Rank-5 Existence, huh.'
Charles nodded his head and asked.
"Can you remove the 'Amber Curse' from my soul? I'm having a very hard life during these past few years. If not, I will sneak into your Church headquarters one day, and turn all the gold coins into ashes."
His voice turned serious.
Meanwhile, Archbishop went silent for a moment and shook his head.
"You won't live long to cause such ruckus, Charles."
The corner of Charles's lips twitched as he heard those words.
'So, he won't remove the curse, huh.'
"Confidence… 3 Years, right?"
He said with a mysterious smile on his face.
At that moment, Archbishop's expression froze.
The next instant, he widened his eyes and blurted out.
"H-How did you find out?"
"I know more than that, Your Eminence. When I caused variations in Red Prince's scheme, your 'Divine' also sensed the arrival of an Irregular. But this 'Divine' didn't act personally, monitored my activities all these times. Upon seeing my abnormal growth, 'it' ordered you to place this 'Amber Curse' to restrict my growth. Unfortunately, I gained Class Gems through other means and made your small plan meaningless. Your Divine must be hiding next to me and waiting for an opportunity. But-" Charles paused for a moment and asked with a smile.
"Your Divine doesn't want me to die now, right?"
Archbishop Royce didn't say anything and remained silent.
"Silence is a sigh of consent… I take it as 'yes' then. Hmm, Does the 'Divine' wants me to change the kingdom's Destiny? No, the 'Divine' wants me to change Rhea's Destiny? Does that mean Rhea isn't destined to become the Queen?" Charles's furrowed his brows, recalled the prophecy, and soon shook his head.
"No, Rhea is destined to become the Queen… But, the Divine wants me to do something else…" He frowned.
At that moment, a strange smile crept on Archbishop's face.
"You are thinking too much, Charles." He said.
His voice appeared ethereal, causing the magic lamp lights to flicker intensely.
Upon seeing such an eerie smile, even Charles got startled inside.
'These fanatics are hard to deal with… I don't even have the confidence to cast 'Fire Seed' spell on him and gather information…' He was afraid of getting another curse.
'Shall I kill him? No, the more I make mistakes; these guys and the 'Divine' will use that to put pressure on me.' A frustration appeared on his face.
After some thought, he took out a purplish potion bottle from his space ring and placed it on the coffee table.
Then, he looked at Archbishop and spoke.
"You have two options now, Your Eminence. The first option is getting killed by me. I will use this dagger, slit your throat, decapitate your head and place it on the City Square. It will be a clean death. The second option is suicide. Write a detailed letter about your crimes against me, remove the Amber Curse, drink this potion, and kill yourself."
"I have to kill myself? Dream on." A furious expression appeared on Archbishop's face.
On the other hand, Charles shook his head and added.
"I'm being serious, Your Eminence. Otherwise, I have no choice but to kill you myself. You have done too many sins."
His voice turned cold as ice.
"Charles, do you think you will get away after killing me? Amber Church isn't easy to be bullied. Moreover, I do have some trump cards." Archbishop Royce stared at him coldly and spoke.
A chuckle came out of Charles's mouth.
"You indeed have some trump cards, Your Eminence. But, you are too weak." He paused for a moment and continued.
"You are still wrong about one thing, though. Actually, I want you to use your full strength and fight me. I want everyone in the city to know that I'm the one who killed you-"
"What are you plotting?" Archbishop interrupted his talking.
At that moment, a foreboding sensation appeared in his mind!
Charles curled his lips upward and spoke with a mischievous smile on his face.
"What will churches do after learning that I killed an Archbishop of Lawful Church? They will hunt me. But I'm currently a representative of the second princess Rhea Boneflare." He purposefully paused and waited.
Meanwhile, Archbishop's face turned serious.
"They will hesitate to take action. Meanwhile, the Noble Faction members, Iron Tower Mages, and Royal Faction members will try their best and put this blame on Rhea… Churches will also feel unsafe to hand over the authority to such a person… Moreover, most of the Churches already decided to make 'Vance Boneflare' as the next Monarch…" His expression turned grim.
Upon hearing those words, Charles nodded his head and said.
"Yes. If this method didn't work, I will go to Nobles' houses, decapitate their heads, and put them on the road. Your 'Divine' wants Rhea to become the next Queen, Your Eminence. But I want nothing but a simple magic tower. If you don't choose the second option, I will take Rhea away from this kingdom, and ruin your Divine's plan. You know, I'm an Irregular and I love to cause another big variation."
Archbishop's expression warped as he heard those words.
Without waiting for him to answer, Charles stored the golden-hilted dagger into his space ring, turned around, and started walking towards the exit.
"You have 20 minutes, Your Eminence."
Saying so, he tapped the red gem-embedded bracelet and disappeared from there.
On the other hand, Archbishop Royce muttered a chant, nullified the paralysis effect, and let out a deep sigh.
Then, he closed his eyes and tried to contact the 'Divine One.'
Unfortunately, no response came from the other side!
'Divine One didn't want to talk to me? Wait… The Holem's Crown must be hiding nearby… That artifact might have some method to track down Divine One's location!' His heart chilled.
'It seems I have no other choice.' A forced smile appeared on his face.
He opened his eyes, took out a golden orb from his space ring, and broke it.
It was the 'Amber Curse' orb!
'Tsk, you are indeed a good schemer, Charles. Too bad, everything, even my death might be predestined by our almighty Divine Lady.'
Muttering inwardly, he also took out a scroll, an ordinary quill, ink bottle and placed them on the coffee table.
After that, he took the quill, dipped it into the ink bottle, opened the scroll, and started to write.
A few minutes later, he finished writing the scroll, took the purple potion bottle, and stood up from his seat.
Then, he walked towards the bifurcated stairs, stepped on the carpeted stairs, and soon reached the second floor.
After that, he moved towards the left side corridor, went to his room, and soon arrived in front of an iron door.
Following that, he took out an iron key from his space ring, put it in the keyhole, unlocked it, and entered.
He then locked the door from inside and stepped towards his cotton bed.
He sat on the soft bed, placed the scroll on the wooden table, and shifted his attention towards the potion bottle.
"I didn't expect my end would arrive so soon." He heaved a heavy sigh.
At that moment, his hand started to tremble a little.
"Wealth shall last forever!" He said in an ethereal voice, opened the potion vial, and directly gulped it down.
There was no hesitation on his face!
A few seconds later, his vision turned blurry, followed by complete blindness.
Simultaneously, he also lost the sense of touch, smell, taste, and hearing.
After some time, his body slumped on the bed.
His breath grew heavy, and his whole body started to twitch.
After one minute, his body stopped twitching and went motionless.
He died.