Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!-Chapter 671 - The battle for the next pope

A loud gasp was heard from the pope as he held on to his heart. He was surprised as to how his own grandson blatantly disregarded the pope title and gave it away like it was nothing.

The council of elders was stunned speechless at the sudden turn of events. I couldn’t blame them though since they were called here to confirm that Darth’s eyes were fully healed only to end up witnessing this drama of Clarence giving away the pope heir position to Darth.

*** A Little Backstory ***

As it turns out, Darth came from the original family line of popes from the time the Church of Lumienere was established. For some reason, Darth’s grandfather gave up the papal position to the rival family’s candidate. As for the reason, he was in grief after his son became gravely ill.

His son, the supposed heir, was pregnant with twins at that time, a very rare occurence in this world. His son, was Darth’s father. The man had to keep his son (Darth) at the church as per rules whilethe other twin, his daughter was sent back to the woman Darth’s father fell in love with.

The man was already in despair, being forced to leave the woman he fell in love with, the mother of his children. Now, he also had to give up his daughter that he knew that he would never see again. His whole being couldn’t take it and he fell gravely ill (most likely depressed) until he died only a few years after.

The pope then at that time decided to give up his position to Darth’s grandfather though he is already in his early 50s, quite late to take the position, since Clarence’s father died of childbirth and his only grandson is still too young to take the position, he took it since the church can’t be left with no leader. The current pope (Clarence’s grandfather) had to hold on to the position until it was time for the next generation to take the mantle.

Fast forward to almost 20 years after that incident, Clarence from the current pope’s family line and Darth from the previous pope’s family line are the ones vying for the position. The two aren’t enemies but they are also not friends, not one bit. They are rivals from the day they were born and are just plain civil to each other althroughout their lives.

*** Back to the present ***

After recovering from the shock, the pope shouted at Clarence, "High Priest Clarence, that is not something you decide on your own! The future of the church is at stake with this decision!"

Clarence looked nonchalantly at his grandfather as he said, "It is not like I was the one who chose the next pope. I am just backing out from the candidate list. You can always choose another candidate. Using my official title to address me and make me obey won’t work, Pope Aziel."

Silence permeated in the room for several seconds at the argument between the grandfather and his grandson. Even the council of elders looked scared on the side and chose to stay clear from the crossfire.

To ease the tension, I dropped a random question, "Is the pope not allowed to get married or something?"

My question successfully caught the two arguing men as they looked towards my direction. The pope was the one to first answer, "They are allowed to marry if they are to be married to the saintess. They also have the special exemption to keep their wife in a separate housing near the temple if they marry an outsider."

I followed up with another question, "So what is the issue with being a pope candidate after getting married?" The pope answered again, "Nothing! This man can be a pope but he is just damn lazy and did not want responsibility!"

Clarence this time interjected, "I am not lazy! I always told you that I did not want to be pope and just give it to whoever want that title! Now that I have Luna, I only want to be her husband and make a lot of babies with her!"

The last statement made the room pindrop silent. Realizing that what he just said was unbecoming of a priest, Clarence’s face flushed red from embarassment. I guess his heightened emotions prevented him from thinking before speaking.

For some reason, I started laughing and at the same time, Darth started laughing as well. We ended up looking at each other in surprise, our laughter ceasing abruptly. We looked at each other for a few seconds then ended up laughing again.

It took a few minutes before me and Darth stopped laughing. We felt several pairs of eyes at us, some glaring and mostly confused. I simply lifted my shoulders signifying "I don’t know" and sat back on my office seat nonchalantly. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I gave everyone in the room an order to "Sit down" and they obediently did as they were told even the older gentlemen. After they are seated I coldly said, "I do not care about your politics and all this drama. I came here to get married and give gifts to his family. Nothing else matters. Whatever your issues are with each other, deal with it amongst yourselves."

The only response I got is the nodding of heads of everybody in the room. The first to excuse themselves were Rafe, Jace, Eshmun as well as the council of elders. After they left, the only ones left in the room are me, Pope Aziel, Clarence and Darth.

I looked at Darth and asked, "Do you want to say anything about Clarence giving the pope position to you?" He gave an evil smirk which is a very unusual thing to dsee on a priest’s face, as he replied, "I don’t mind being the pope but..."

He chuckled as if devicing an evil plan as he continued, "You have to marry me too. Do you really think that I do not remember you carrying me inside my room and laying me on my bed. You even touched my face with both your hands. Nobody is allowed to touch a priest’s body except for their own mother and their wife. You have to take responsibility of me."

I immediately looked at Clarence and explained in a calm tone before he overthinks again, "I touched him because I had to heal his eyes. I covered his mouth because I thought he is going to scream and get me caught by the guards. As for carrying him, be passed out after the healing and I had no choice since I did not want to leave him laying on the dirty ground right by his frontyard vegetable patch."