I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel

“There’s supposedly one date per month.
I did tell him to give me a heads-up!
But still, going on a date during something like the Founding Festival?”

“Don’t you have a lot to do?”
First of all, Daisy was a noble of the Empire.
At founding ceremonies in various countries, including the Holy Nation, representatives from different orders were usually dispatched.
Even at Leon’s Founding Festival, a cardinal from the Holy Nation had come.
…Though I heard he was a cardinal executed after Daisy’s reforms.
Anyway, someone like Daisy was the type of person who had to go around the Empire’s founding events in endless rounds.
Not someone who could just enjoy youthful dates.

“I thought so too.”
Daisy avoided my gaze as she spoke.
That was what she looked like when she felt guilty about something.
Still, she knows what’s what!
If she were a typical romance fantasy male lead, they’d think there’s some deep story behind it.
I think so too.
I guess Violet made her a bit shameless.
She wasn’t fundamentally a bad person.
It’s just that, due to the fate of the romance fantasy female lead, the people around her suffer.
So romance fantasy male leads would gladly share Daisy’s hardships, but I wasn’t one of them.
For starters, I wasn’t a romance fantasy male lead, and I was the only person Daisy dragged into her troubles directly.

“What the hell is going on?”
Because of that, my tone inevitably grew curt.
“Well, at this Founding Festival event… the Pope is coming from the Holy Nation.”
“The Pope?”

No matter that it was the Empire’s founding event, there was no reason for the Pope himself to visit the Empire.
Just moving him caused countless Holy Knights and personnel to mobilize in the Holy Nation.
The Pope, being a figure with ceremony equivalent to a king of a country, was a burden even for the Empire.
So it was understandable.
“Could it be the Pope’s unilateral decision?”
“…Yes.”
This wasn’t a politically meaningful or deeply secret event.
It was just a romance fantasy style action without any real reason.
The proof of that was Uncle Aerin’s hair.
Knowing the Pope was coming to the Empire, there was no way Uncle Aerin’s hair could be intact.

“So, there hasn’t been an official talk with the Empire yet?”
“Probably not.”
“If the Pope doesn’t come, then there’s no reason for the date, right?”
“Yes.”
At that, I recalled one specialist.
“I’ll handle it.”

Codename, Boradori.
Deployment.
Two days passed.
– Sorry. Mission failed.

“Ah.”
Thinking of Boradori who fled leaving only a letter behind, I could only feel frustrated.
“Boradori failed?”
The agent who had boasted a 100% mission success rate had failed.
That only meant the Pope’s will was unshakable.

“…Even though he knew it was fake, he’s still coming?”
Daisy said,
The Pope’s reason for coming to the Empire was purely to see me and Daisy. And as a bonus, Violet too.
Somehow, that bonus felt heavier.
Anyway, if this continues, I’ll have to face two huge events: a date with Daisy and a meeting with the Pope.
“Emergency! Super emergency!”

So I kicked open the familiar warehouse door after class.
“What, what is it?”
The chief and Boradori were used to this, but the other shadows were surprised to see me like this for the first time.

“The Pope is coming to the Academy!”
“What?”
“What kind of crazy nonsense is that…”
“…Save me.”
While others looked at me as if I was talking nonsense, only Uncle Aerin muttered desperately with a hopeless look, begging to be saved.
“Uncle Aerin! Stop it!”
“I’m begging you! Please stop it!”
“This is Empire business!”
“I had a feeling! If you know things even the Empire Intelligence Agency doesn’t know! You must have heard it directly from Miss Daisy! You’re the culprit, aren’t you?!”
Damn, he really is a special agent of the Empire.
Even in this situation, he went straight to the root of the case.
But it’s a bit unfair.

“The culprit is Daisy.”
It was Daisy who had already freed the Pope and forced me into being a fake boyfriend.
Well, fundamentally, it was Violet’s snowball rolling that caused it.
I couldn’t tell that part.
“Lovers are supposed to be one mind.”
“Since you have a wife, that argument holds some weight.”
“…Students can’t possibly have wives!”

Though they complained it was nonsense, a brief silence fell, and people exchanged glances.
“As expected…”
“I think he’s got a son and a daughter too.”
“Well, no matter how loyal to the Empire and the duke’s house he is, if he didn’t have kids, he couldn’t be so involved.”
“Is that the burden of being the head of a household?”
Their voices, as if speaking for me to hear, made Uncle Aerin blush.

“So, why exactly is the Pope coming?”
“Stop changing the subject.”
“Answer me!”
He shouted, closing his eyes tightly. It looked a bit pitiful, so I briefly told him the Pope’s plan and reason for the visit.
“He’s coming partly to see the Saint’s fake boyfriend, and partly to stamp a cardinal’s seal on the Saint’s childhood friend.”

Hearing about the fake boyfriend, Uncle Aerin held his head and muttered, “Of course, it’s you again…” but his eyes suddenly widened.
“Cardinal? What’s that about?”
“You know Violet, Daisy’s friend.”
“Of course, I know! Cardinal! Why suddenly is Violet a cardinal?!”
Since he looked genuinely clueless, I told him roughly what I knew.

“The Pope liked him?”
“Why?”
“Because Violet rescued the Pope from the hands of the cardinals in the Holy Nation incident.”
“What? Not the Saint?”
“The Saint was busy fighting the cardinals and the Holy Knights.”
“I thought he was rescued during that.”
Apparently, even the Empire didn’t know the details of the Holy Nation incident.
“No, Prince Asid also participated.”
“…The prince said nothing about the event.”

He had exercised his right to remain silent. That’s a pain too.
But…
“Uncle Aerin, didn’t you go there too?”
Not only Uncle Aerin; I heard more than half the people here went.

“At that time…”
“Ah…”
“I was so dirty and pathetic I had to quit. I was so dirty and pathetic I had to quit…”
Uncle Aerin started reminiscing with a distant look, the flame user stared blankly at the ceiling, and someone even muttered about quitting with PTSD.
Good thing I didn’t go.
“But why do you know things we don’t?”

After mumbling for a while, Uncle Aerin suddenly snapped back and looked at me suspiciously.
“I heard it from Violet.”
“What? There were rumors of frequent meetings, but is it a two-timing affair?!”
“Huh?”
Far from two-timing, it’s not even a relationship °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° on one leg yet.
Some things can be said, some can’t.

“I was talking to someone else before.”
“What, what?”
“I said that if I were to date the Saint, I’d rather confess to a princess of the Empire…”
“What?”
“I heard a princess will enter next year…”
“How do you know that?!”
Uncle Aerin looked horrified, and others glanced at us with surprised expressions.
“Do you really want to see things fall apart?”

I felt sorry to use an unknown princess, but it couldn’t be helped since a royal subordinate had crossed the line.
“No, stop it!”
The already messed-up academy was threatened with destruction, and Uncle Aerin screamed.

“Then stop the Pope coming from the Holy Nation quickly!”
I had achieved my purpose.
And two days passed.

– Sorry, I failed.
Ah, damn it.
The roots of the Holy Nation had rotted.
The goddess in heaven always watches over us.
But literally, she only watches.

Some clergy who realized this forgot shame.
They twisted things, claiming the goddess approved their actions, and began to rot more and more.
Generations passed.
The position of cardinal, once a symbol of devotion,
had become no different from worldly powers.
All branches of the tree were rotten, all water entering the tree was stagnant and mixed water.
Eventually, no fruit grew, and the roots had to rot.
However, there were people who tried to revive the great tree called the Holy Nation.
But their numbers were very small, and their power even less.
They just waited for a chance that would come someday.

And that chance came.
Cardinals who suddenly summoned the young Saint to use her as their tool like the Pope did.
But the Saint’s nature was so pure she did not fall for their temptations.
Instead, she saw their injustice and sins and began to punish them without hesitation.
Therefore, some reformists in the Holy Nation joined her to fight alongside.
They believed if not now, there would never be another chance.
But not everyone thought so.
It was literally a last-ditch effort; they thought if everyone fell here, there would be no next chance.
And that judgment was half right.
There was no next chance.

The Saint used overwhelming connections, superior strength, and miracles to subjugate all Holy Knights and suppress the cardinals.
And her judgments afterward were perfect.
She ordered the execution of the seriously guilty cardinals, gave heavy punishments to those who didn’t deserve death, dismissed some, and gave the worthy chances to atone.
And though she could have become the supreme ruler of the Holy Nation, a country that could influence the entire continent,
“The vacation will be over soon.”
With that one phrase, she left without regret.
She believed those who remained could lead the chaotic Holy Nation well!
Thus, Cardinal Inas, a member of the reform faction and newly appointed cardinal, wept and apologized to the Saint.

“I’m sorry, Saint.”
And prayed to the goddess.
“Goddess, please grant the power to turn back the Pope’s heart.”

But it was hopeless.
The Pope had no intention of changing her mind.
Even the Empire’s diplomats could not sway her.
Perhaps even Violet’s persuasion, who tried harder than the goddess, was ignored.
The Pope’s heart was steadfast.
“My first trip ever!”
The Pope’s eyes shone brightly as she began cramming things into her suitcase.
Though there was still more than a month before the Founding Festival began,
she was excited to visit the place where precious people were born and living.

“This, this, and this too. Also, gifts.”
She stuffed the vial of holy water, something hard to obtain even in the Holy Nation, as if filling a spring.
She packed gifts for Violet, Daisy, and their club friends who helped them.
“And…”

The Saint’s lover.
Though fake, the Pope knew that name.
No wonder.
“He was the one Violet urgently contacted in an emergency… definitely!”
The Pope recalled a book she saw in the secret library of the Holy Nation when she was forcibly confined by cardinals in the past.
In the boring library filled only with boring scriptures, the only thing that had caught the girl’s interest was a romance novel.

“A love triangle!”
The spell of the romance novel was about to strike someone again.