Chapter 188: Hurting Myself for Nothing

“The plan regarding ‘Paradise’?”

Lady Catherine repeated Rosalind’s words, her expression filled with suspicion and uncertainty.

“That’s right!”

Rosalind said.

Then, she gestured toward the empty seat, extending her hand to Lady Catherine.

“Now, are you interested in sitting down and talking with me?”

Staring at the woman before her, who exuded the aura of a scheming fox, Lady Catherine finally gave in and sat down, supporting herself on the chair.

“Then, shall I speak first?”

“Go ahead.”

Rosalind unconsciously opened her folding fan as she spoke, fanning herself.

“Then I’ll be straightforward, Madam… You’ve already slept with Roman, haven’t you?”

“Cough cough.”

Such blunt words made Lady Catherine spit out the tea in her mouth.

“No!”

Lady Catherine responded.

She really wasn’t lying—she hadn’t slept with Roman, only done things in the hot spring…

However, Rosalind was clearly not someone easy to fool.

She thought for a moment and then suddenly let out a ‘wow.’

“As expected of you, Madam—decisive and elegant in taste. You dared to have your first time with Roman under the witness of nature itself. I admire you~”

Under the witness of nature…

To describe an outdoor tryst so elegantly, Lady Catherine’s gentle face finally flushed with embarrassment.

“How did you find out?”

Rosalind smiled wordlessly from behind her fan.

Naturally, she wouldn’t reveal her Sacred Seal-related abilities, so she decisively pulled that Sister into the blame.

“What do you think?”

Rosalind replied ambiguously.

To Lady Catherine, this made things clear—other than that Sister, who else could know about her matters?

“So? Why did you come to me—what exactly do you want?”

After accepting this fact, Lady Catherine was unexpectedly calm.

After all, even the Holy Throne knew; if Rosalind knew too, there was no difference.

Upon hearing this, Rosalind immediately focused her gaze on Lady Catherine.

“Do you have any plans or expectations for Roman’s future?”

“As an elder, I don’t wish to interfere too much in his future. I only want to guide his path of transcendence and protect his safety.”

Whenever Lady Catherine spoke about Roman, her voice would soften.

“I see.”

Rosalind continued.

“Then let me tell you—Sylvia wants Roman to become the future Pope. Do you believe that?”

A brief silence, then a long one.

“You’re quite the comedian.”

Lady Catherine replied.

Obviously, she didn’t believe what Rosalind was saying.

On one hand, she felt that half of what came out of Rosalind’s mouth was true, and the other half was false.

Such a person was even more troublesome than a blatant liar—conversing with her was like solving riddles, always questioning which part was genuine.

So Lady Catherine simply followed her own thoughts, saying whatever came to mind.

“Comedian? So you don’t believe in Roman either?”

Rosalind began to stir the pot.

“It’s not about belief. I just know very well that Sylvia would never let Roman become Pope.”

Lady Catherine was unaware of Lainie’s existence, so it was natural for her to think this way.

After all, it wasn’t as if there was no Saintess now, and Princess Millis’s future was obviously brighter than Roman’s.

This was also one of the reasons she had rushed over the next day.

“Then let me tell you, Sylvia’s plan is to make Roman the future Pope. What do you think?”

“That’s not for you to decide—you aren’t the Pope.”

This statement choked Rosalind, and for a moment, she couldn’t help but feel irritated.

If she hadn’t been so crushed in the past and wasted years, who knew who would be sitting on the Holy Throne now…

Objectively speaking, it was Lainie who made Sylvia, yet at the same time destroyed her.

Of course, Rosalind would never admit such thoughts. In her heart, her own weakness and incompetence led to her current state—it had nothing to do with Lainie.

The person she resented most had always been her good sister, Sylvia.

Thus, she naturally ‘betrayed’ her own sister in front of Lady Catherine.

“Aren’t you curious? The Holy Throne’s attitude toward Roman is a little too special, or perhaps too favorable?”

This made Lady Catherine fall into deep thought.

Recalling the details of that evening, she was also surprised to find that Sylvia seemed to have some inexplicable affection and concern for Roman.

Not to mention her gentle persuasion, which was uncharacteristic of Sylvia.

And the coronation that day—her treatment of Roman was a little too kind.

Looking closer, apart from being unusually strict regarding Luo Xiya, she was almost boundlessly tolerant of Roman in every other aspect.

Such double standards were truly bizarre.

“Think about it again—if Roman really wasn’t valued by her, would he be placed in the Saint Key Knight Order? Don’t forget, that Rosetta is her closest confidant.”

“If she had randomly assigned a bishop to Roman, those people would have ostracized him, and Roman’s status in the church would have ended there.”

“Instead, she placed him in the Saint Key Knight Order and even arranged for an Apostle from the Heretic Tribunal to be his maid.”

“Do you still think the Holy Throne has no expectations or designs for Roman?”

“These are just your speculations.”

Lady Catherine still showed no sign of relenting.

If she hadn’t been forced, Rosalind would never have said this.

“Roman’s mother was once the Holy Throne’s lover.”

Silence fell upon the room.

Lady Catherine scrutinized Rosalind, as if weighing the possibility that she was slandering Sylvia.

“As for how I know this…”

Rosalind hesitated for a long time before speaking slowly.

“Because, in the past, I was once a love rival with my sister.”

“Does that explanation suffice?”

Unable to restrain herself, Lady Catherine picked up her teacup again and took a sip to steady her shock.

After pondering for a few seconds, the shrewd woman suddenly asked with a strange tone.

“So, back then, you lost?”

Gazing at the woman before her, all arrogance and allure gone, now sunken in self-pity, Lady Catherine finally believed Rosalind’s words.

After all, the state of the woman before her was not an act but genuine emotion.

“That’s right.”

After a long while, Rosalind finally looked up.

As if the woman lost in self-pity a moment ago had never existed, Rosalind once again revealed her usual charming smile, and seriously addressed Lady Catherine.

“That’s why I want to help my good sister—so that as Roman becomes the Pope, he can also be the happiest boy in the world.”