Emperor of Steel

A few days before the messenger had arrived in the area.

Two voices could be heard from the palace of Bless.

One was the voice of an old man who was opposing the voice of a stubborn young woman.

“I am definitely going to go there!”

“That is a battlefield, and you don’t know what can happen over there. What if there is a trap over there, what about the country which is looking for its only Pope?”

Constantine was suddenly troubled because of Veronica III, who from the day before was stubborn on her thoughts.

Moreover, it wasn’t just her going there to consolidate the soldiers.

Veronica had told him that she would go meet Duke Ferrierd to negotiate and stop the war if possible.

The reason being that she didn’t want the war to be the reason for the people’s suffering.

‘Dammit, all this is because of what Osram had taught to her!’

Constantine was definite that Osram had started to distort the truth and placed the wrong information in the brain of the naive pope.

Recently, Veronica III was very active, enough to say that she was literally changing by every moment.

Unlike the past days, she wasn’t listening to his words and started to think for herself, little by little.

In addition, her intellectual level too had increased, and her speech alongside her actions too have been different from before. Times when the gentle puppy-like eyes began to burn with hope and faith.

“If it is so dangerous, then the paladins will protect me. And I heard that there is a God’s Warrior over there. Would I be in danger if there is a God’s warrior near me?” Asked Veronica III.

“That, that is…”

“Wasn’t it the regent’s words? That I am an angel, God’s apostle. If I am an apostle of God, then I need to meet the God’s Warrior.”

“That, that is true indeed.”

When the word about God’s Warrior had come out, Constantine couldn’t help but go silent.

He never had thought that he wouldn’t be able to disagree with the girl’s words.

‘I can’t do anything anymore. If I don’t allow her, she is sure to run away…’

The harder he was with her, the worse his relationship was turning out.

Constantine decided that it would be better to give the lady what she wanted and in exchange, he would use it to strengthen her political power towards the people.

“Fine. Let’s go to the front line for an inspection.”

As Constantine agreed, Veronica’s face lit up. She jumped up from her seat and hugged him for a long time.

“Thank you, grandpa.”

“Well, you need to go to such places… now stop it. If Arch duke Gregory sees this, he will yell.”

After finishing the discussion, Constantine went out of the room saying that he had to prepare for the inspection which she wanted to go.

After Constantine resigned from the room, Veronica wasn’t able to sit down. Her heart kept on pounding, there was only one figure which was going on in her head.

‘I will be able to meet you now.’

For Veronica to suddenly insist on going over to the frontline of the soldiers, there was a reason.

God’s Warrior Lev.

When he saved Eisenberg from the ruins, she lost consciousness while performing a mass in the cathedral.

That was when Veronica had a dream.

The platinum-haired man, whom she had seen in her dreams before and the one she knew as Luke de Rakan.

What surprised her was what happened after waking up.

From the conversation between her maids, the captain referred to as Lev, flew to the sky with just one Gigant and stopped the Meteor Stike.

How was that even possible?

What was the relationship between Luke and Lev?

Veronica wasn’t able to sleep because of too many thoughts that were running through her mind.

When she barely managed to open her eyes, she could see herself smiling happily in the arms of Luke, in the garden of the Black castle.

‘Is Luke the God’s Warrior? If you think, they both are Rune Knights…’

What was much more important was how Luke de Rakan could be related.

Thinking about the things that she saw in her dreams, it seemed like the relationship between them was close and special.

The more she thought about it, the more would her heart pound than her brain trying to find the reason.

‘I need to meet. Otherwise, I won’t be able to find the answers.’

Which was why she insisted on going to the front lines.

But it wasn’t like she was lying about wanting to go to the soldiers, she wanted to encourage the hard-working soldiers and have talks with the rebels. She really wanted to.

A God’s Apostle was meant to do that.

-Well done. I think that you are finally ready to meet me now.

Her other-self gladly spoke.

Veronica, with her hand on her thumping chest, smiled with hope.

That evening, Arch Duke Gregory, who never asked for anything, went to see Veronica III.

“I have come to see the Pope.”

Arch Duke had always honored her with the utmost respect.

But due to the seriousness that he always had around him, Veronica was very uncomfortable.

‘This man, he would do anything for the Empire and for me.’

Gregory had always been very polite with her, but Veronica didn’t let her guard down.

She could see the seriousness in Gregory’s eyes.

His eyes were hard as steel, yet cold as a blade, and if it seemed like things went wrong, then blood would be the next thing one would see.

He wasn’t the kind to meet the Pope after the official event, but for some reason, he brought himself to meet the Pope.

She was still scared of meeting him alone, which was she sent a word to Constantine.

“I heard that you plan on going to the frontline.”

“Ah, yes. I hope that it will help a little for the soldiers and the knights who are risking their lives for us…”

Being careful to not be stopped, she was speaking in a rather high tone.

Unlike her worries, Gregory just nodded with a light smile.

“If the Holiness is the one to do it, the morale of the soldiers will rise greatly.” Spoke Gregory.

“Is that so? Thank you so much for accepting it.”

Her face brightened. But that very moment, the Arch Duke had placed a condition.

“Instead you need to take Saint Guard division and me.”

“Sorry?”

“If you take the Saint Guard, then I can be rest assured.”

The Saint Guard was the strongest power of the Holy Empire. One of their squadrons was as powerful as the entire knights division of the empire.

As long as the Saint Guard division went behind, everything could happen freely.

But she never thought that Gregory would try to follow.

“You are going to visit the king, right?”

“Yes, I would like to take this chance and solve things between the capital and the other places.”

It would be very uncomfortable if he followed.

Which was why Veronica looked at Constantine, who was standing beside.

She asked for him to be taken out, but Constantine just shook his head with a grim look.

It was Gregory who stayed back at the imperial military quarters as usual, but there was no one who could stop him from doing anything other than the Pope, herself.

Veronica, who was crying inside, couldn’t help but nod reluctantly.

“Phew, fine. Let’s do it like that.”

“Then, I will get ready soon.”

With those words, Arch Duke Gregory went out and sighs flowed out of Veronica and Constantine’s mouth at the same time.