In the Royal Capital on the other side, Lilith met with the Pope of the Church of the Light Goddess in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.
“Your Holiness.”
Lilith still unconsciously used the etiquette from her time as a Saintess, but the Pope did not respond, as Lilith continued with the courtesy used during meetings with the King.
As long as both of them were not awkward, others would be the ones feeling the awkwardness.
“Your Majesty, how have you been lately?”
Although the old Pope referred to her as Your Majesty, his tone was more like that of a grandfather caring for his newly independent granddaughter.
“Everything is well. The recent reforms have been exceptionally smooth, and I must thank you and the other Cardinals for your strong support.”
After speaking, Lilith touched the lantern at her waist, reminding herself that she was no longer a Saintess and might not be qualified to use this lantern again, but the Pope showed no intention of taking it back.
The Pope also noticed Lilith’s action and simply said, “Let it remain with Your Majesty.”
Considering the strange death of Augustus III, Lilith nodded in agreement.
Recently, the Church of the Light Goddess had been unusually low-key, as if it were floating outside the whirlpool of the Royal Capital. However, for those who observed closely, they would find that many of the reforms in the Royal Capital were supported by the Church.
For instance, many pilot projects began in areas with a large number of believers, making one wonder if Her Majesty the Queen still had ties with the Church.
However, this was not strange. Not to mention that Lilith was a Saintess before ascending the throne, Augustus III had collaborated extensively with the Church from the beginning.
Lilith treated the Church as her maternal family, going to pray whenever she sensed danger.
Although Lilith remained less devout than the old Pope.
The Church of the Light Goddess was no longer as glorious as it once was; now it could only rely on the royal power, but as long as the old Pope had the intention, the Church’s extensive influence was still an undeniable force.
No one noticed that the old Pope was taking advantage of the Queen’s reforms to continuously push for internal reforms within the Church, making it more secular.
“Your Majesty, what do you think of the religious reforms we are currently implementing?”
Although the cathedral was decorated with extreme sanctity and surrounded by devout believers faithfully watching over the Pope and the Queen, it seemed as if everything was flourishing, but Lilith sensed a hint of helplessness in the old Pope’s tone.
“At least it is much better than my noble reforms.”
Lilith let out a bitter smile; there were some real red lines in noble reforms that must not be crossed. Once crossed, no matter how high her prestige was, it would only lead to her own demise.
The old Pope shook his head, as the King was gradually losing control over the noble lords of their territories, and what about the Church?
Traditional religious thinking was no longer applicable; after the Church of the Light Goddess split, it could only submit to royal power and was gradually becoming weaker. Now the Holy See must seek new paths, especially as the Goddess no longer answered the prayers of believers.
The approach proposed by the old Pope was to leverage the characteristic that the Church of the Light Goddess was the most widely followed faith among humans, making it increasingly secular and weakening the concept of the Central Church.
This was equivalent to the old Pope consciously giving up the power in his hands, returning faith to the believers. Although his power was reduced, it was exchanged for corresponding influence, yet the old Pope did not care about power; ensuring the continuity of the Church was the first priority now.
The old Pope even considered allowing interpretations of the texts of the Church to be open to the public, essentially returning the privilege of interpretation to the masses, but this met with fierce opposition within the Holy See.
Once opened up, many heretical doctrines would find foundations, especially from the small Holy See that had split off.
After a moment of silence, the old Pope took out a reform proposal from his bosom and handed it to Lilith.
“What is this?”
“It is the religious reform proposal for the Graythorn Territory.”
The old Pope’s gaze looked far away.
“I am sorry, Your Majesty. To be honest, we are no longer able to control most of the churches in the Northern Border; those church bases have already broken free from the control of the Central Church. Their internal operations are governed by another system, and we find it difficult to interfere.”
“That is not your fault.”
Lilith comforted the old Pope, honestly putting the blame on Augustus III, as it was he who first initiated the reckless pursuit in the Northern Border and abandoned the Cathedral of the Blessed Mother of Relief, leading to many churches in the Northern Border being in a semi-independent state at that time.
After quickly scanning through the religious reform proposal from the Graythorn Territory, Lilith set it down.
“Aren’t you the least bit shocked?”
The old Pope looked at Lilith’s calm face with some astonishment, but quickly became gratified. It seemed that Lilith had reached a level where her emotions were not outwardly expressed, which qualified her as a king; even without religious protection, she probably would not perform too poorly.
Hearing the old Pope say this, Lilith could only manage a somewhat embarrassed smile. Should she say that she had seen something similar to this reform proposal long ago?
After all, it was quite similar to the previous country’s regulations on managing religion.
Although some of the provisions seemed shocking to the old Pope, to Lilith, they were truly within expectations. If there was any surprise, it was simply that the other party dared to genuinely play with the divine matters amid the realities; that pious female protagonist actually agreed to it.
But to be honest, Lilith was still very envious. Although divine power still relied on royal power, her royal authority was not stable and fundamentally different from that of the Graythorn Territory.
The church in the Graythorn Territory had completely integrated into its administrative system, unlike the current Central Church in the Royal Capital, which operated as two independent systems from the King.
“This reform proposal has many aspects worth referencing, for instance, letting the religious personnel no longer conduct internal checks but rather include them in the territorial supervision system, which transforms the Church into a semi-administrative body, completely subservient to the lord.”
The old Pope flipped through the reform proposal page by page on the table. Although Lilith felt that the old Pope’s words were somewhat too shocking, it was no surprise that he was like herself in terms of being less devout to the Goddess.
“Some ideas from that Governor coincide with mine; without divine response from religion, secularization is the only way out. If we can implement similar reforms, it will greatly assist Your Majesty. However, to carry out these reforms, we must have a powerful king and a stable country.”
The old Pope looked up at Lilith and continued, “Unfortunately, I may not see that day. I have made some annotations on this reform proposal. If that day does come, Your Majesty, I hope you can use this reform proposal to protect the Church of the Light Goddess.”
After finishing, the old Pope took out a thick stack of annotations, even thicker than the reform proposal itself.
After Lilith picked it up and looked at it for a moment, she felt that the annotations in her hand were incredibly heavy. The old Pope not only summarized the religious plan executed in the Graythorn Territory but also combined it with the current situation of the Kingdom, analyzing how Lilith could carry out reforms based on the present circumstances.
Among the many methods outlined, even for Lilith’s current push for reforms, they were beneficial.
In these annotations, the old Pope had even analyzed the psychology of some religious figures rather thoroughly. Lilith could only sigh, no wonder the old Pope was not devout at all.
His faith was not in the Goddess but in the teachings of the Goddess to encourage unity and love among people.
“Old men like me are often portrayed as villains in knight novels. To be honest, one cannot blame those authors. After all, the Church did indeed… have somewhat violated the teachings of the Goddess in the past, engaging in heresy and religious wars, ultimately tearing itself apart, which is indeed difficult to speak of.”
“But I hope, at least starting from me, the Church can return to that image from the original teachings, the one the Goddess hoped for.”
After saying this, the old Pope revealed his true intention for calling Lilith out today.
“Your Majesty, the Holy See has decided to officially grant the title of Saintess Flora to the Northern Border.”
This was equivalent to collaborating with Lilith to right the wrongs, also helping Lilith create a good image, reaching out to the Graythorn Territory favorably.
“And to restore your title as Saintess.”
Upon hearing this, Lilith was taken aback.
“Are you serious?”
