I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

It's unclear what message Roland just conveyed to Senior Catherine in his mind, but this is Senior Catherine's response.

Catherine: ["Hehehe, good, good, you traitorous dog! You used me and my father to climb to your current position, yet you show no gratitude whatsoever. Instead, you're always thinking about clinging to me."]
So, you dog, you think you have a chance to turn things around?
Roland: ["You bitch, I've wanted to turn things around for ages, and you keep being stubborn. Wait till I get back, I'll show you who's the dog."]
Catherine touched her lower abdomen and gave Roland a look: ["Don't worry. When you come back, you'll have your chance to be a dog."]
Roland understood his senior's hint—she felt she was pregnant.

His gaze gradually softened with tenderness and reluctance, conveying a 'simp' mentality to his senior.

Catherine glared fiercely at Roland, then their eyes met.

A moment later, Catherine, her eyes filled with disappointment and worry, said to Roland in her heart: ["Roland, after today, Father will do many, many things. But I think you two will always think alike, and even without communication, you should understand the meaning behind his actions, right?"]
Roland replied, "[Catherine, anyone in this world might kneel before the gods, but the Thousand-Eyed King alone will not. He has more confidence in me than I have in myself."]
Catherine gave Roland a strange look: ["You're not really going to betray us, are you?"]
Roland replied helplessly, "[I'm already on the verge of kneeling. At this rate, once we get to the Holy Court, I'll have to become a traitor.]"
Catherine worriedly said to him in her heart, "Whatever you do, don't let your wizard lords find out, or they will kill you."
Roland replied, "Of course we can't let them find out, otherwise how can I help the gods control this group of disobedient people?"
Catherine: ["Don't look at me, your wife is already looking this way."]
Roland: ["Two people in love, forced to become enemies and mortal foes because of their different positions. Shouldn't they linger a little longer, reluctant to part, and gaze at each other a little longer?"]
Catherine: ["This nemesis might come looking for you and try to assassinate you."]
Roland: [“She had better succeed, or I’ll tie her to the bed.”]
Catherine: ["Then you mustn't let your wife find out."]
Roland: ["It's alright if they find out. It's only natural that assassins who fail should be punished severely like dogs."]
Catherine was furious at Roland's words. She regretted that Roland wasn't leaving until tomorrow, otherwise she would have made him see who the dog was tonight.

At this moment, the wizards loaded Roland's suitcase, which they had prepared for him, onto the vehicle.

Catherine gave Roland one last look: ["Go."]
"Take good care of yourself."
Roland glanced at Catherine one last time, then boarded the train without looking back.

Many members of the Vatican had by this time "discovered" that the wizards of the Alaye faction were actually expressing their stance, and they were overjoyed.

They respectfully surrounded Roland from behind, expressing their attitude through their actions.

That fellow, Count Barr, actually forced the prince to make a statement, which was indeed unexpected for the bishops, yet not entirely surprising.

As people who jumped from the Papacy to the East, the Draculas were already considered traitors by the Papacy and would not be welcomed by the Papacy, but they would be even less welcomed by the wizards.

But the situation is very different now. Although the prince has not yet officially sided with the Papacy, the Draculas have submitted a pledge of allegiance that has greatly satisfied the Papacy.

The bishops could see that the Alaye faction would become a third-party power on the continent, and the Holy See would be very friendly to them and would try its best to win over Dracula.

For Count Barr, this was undoubtedly the wisest and most advantageous choice.

As for the Vatican, they will have more room to maneuver.

Soon, the steam train sounded its whistle, and the church members had all boarded.

The atmosphere on the platform was very subtle. Belinda and the other high lords dared not utter a sound. They pretended to wave their arms at Roland on the train while carefully observing Catherine's expression.

At this moment, someone noticed the culprit, a horse named Foxfire, which seemed to have been forgotten to be put on the carriage.

Someone coughed, trying to remind Count Barr. But Count Barr seemed not to hear, remaining standing there with his horse.

At that moment, a graceful figure mounted her horse. She held her head high and looked down at a lady inside the train window with an arrogant expression, like a swan declaring her territory.

Through the car window, Olivia gave her a deep look. An invisible spark ignited as their eyes met.

As the train whistled, it gradually disappeared into the distance, leaving the wizards behind bewildered and with extremely grim expressions.

"Let's go, ministers who are loyal to the future royal family. Until your emperor returns, I am still in charge here."

Catherine glanced at the traitors around her and sneered. Then, Lady Laugh took the reins from Earl Barr and, surrounded by a host of ladies-in-waiting, led Catherine toward the castle.

Count Barr pondered for a moment, then followed suit.

Seeing this, the wizarding high lords were all dumbfounded. The clever Miss Belinda muttered what Roland had just said, then cursed under her breath with a very ugly expression, before forcing a fawning smile and following behind Catherine.

Some clever wizard lords quickly realized what was going on, and with awkward smiles, they followed the crowd.

When the Earl of Bal asked whom the horse would be given to, His Majesty did not specify where.

He did indeed refer to His Majesty the King of a Thousand Eyes as his prime minister, but he also said that the king was his father-in-law, while Catherine was naturally his wife.

He had a rift with the King of a Thousand Eyes, but the political marriage still went ahead!

After many people figured this out, a tripartite balance of power emerged in everyone's minds.

Among these three forces, Alaya managed to move one foot from the ship of the Thousand-Eyed King to the ship of Heaven, causing a huge rift in the relationship between the two sides.

However, his other foot did not leave the ship of the Thousand-Eyed King.

In order to balance the power between the church and the wizards, the future emperor will most likely choose Catherine as his queen.

The King of Alaye will play both sides, and once one side completely breaks with him, he will completely switch sides.

Therefore, the Thousand-Eyed King will openly accept what happened today. Thus, Catherine also mounted her horse—no matter how much she resented everyone's boss, Roland, she was still Roland's wife. Both were future members of the Alaye royal family.

These ministers, loyal to the royal family, naturally continued to work under Catherine.

Having figured these things out, the many wizarding high lords, like Belinda before them, cursed under their breath. Then, forcing smiles, they caught up with the crowd ahead.

This time, everyone was truly crying out in their hearts, "Your Majesty, please come back soon!"

They prayed that Catherine would consider the bigger picture and not rush to eliminate them. At least, they should remain outwardly calm for a while.

After all, she should understand that if she were to take action against Roland's people now, it would mean that the Thousand-Eyed King had completely broken with Roland and would push Roland to the heavens.

Compared to wizards, bishops have a clearer understanding of political matters.

Therefore, they all understood very well what Roland had been expressing today.

In their view, it was very foolish for the lords to be so eager to express their opinions today, because as long as they did not express their opinions, both Alaye and the King of a Thousand Eyes would try to win them over.

Now, they have indeed established a strong relationship with the new boss, but they have completely offended the old boss.

To make matters worse, these guys would have to work for their old boss for a while afterward.

But although the lords made a foolish decision, it gave the church a headache.

Because the church originally thought that Prince Alaye was just a puppet in name only, after he turned against the King of a Thousand Eyes, he had no choice but to seek refuge with them.

After that, the church could naturally manipulate the prince at will.

However, through the lords' attitude today, the Church has come to a clear understanding of one fact: Alaye possesses the strength to exist independently of any other power. He is capable of becoming a third major power, separate from the Church and the wizards.

This so-called puppet is much more difficult to deal with than expected. Unbeknownst to him, he has already pried off many corners from the Thousand-Eyed King and has established a solid foundation.

The Vatican may need to change its strategy regarding how to deal with this situation in Alaye.

This Alaye will not be completely obedient. She cannot be completely controlled.

Moreover, he is extremely dangerous, and may even be more dangerous than the King of a Thousand Eyes in the future.

Perhaps, secretly joining forces with the King of a Thousand Eyes to eliminate this still-growing giant as soon as possible would be a good option.

But after his death, the Thousand-Eyed King will probably not allow Alaye, who is supported by the church, to come to power.

For the church, many things need to be weighed. From a macro perspective, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, after all, they can jointly elect a completely neutral puppet with the Thousand-Eyed King, who has no real power base.

But for the bishops, this matter may not necessarily be of personal benefit.

The bishops all lived under the towering tree of the Church of Light and Shadow, and everyone under the tree knew that if the tree collapsed, everyone would be doomed.

However, the people under the tree each had their own thoughts.

The situation Roland faced on this trip became increasingly delicate.

Roland boarded in another carriage, two carriages away from Olivia, Joan, and Helena.

There are quite a few suitcases here that were just brought onto the train from the platform. In addition, there are some attendants who boarded the train with Roland.

Most of these suitcases were gifts that the wizards had just presented. Roland was very curious about these gifts because these suitcases were all spatial items.

Some of the bishops and knights who had boarded the train with Roland were working with his entourage to pack the luggage, intending to move it to another carriage.

Out of curiosity, Roland ordered the men to open several boxes. Looking inside, the expressions on Roland's and the bishops' faces became quite interesting.

The box was full of things, but they were all useless.

Or rather, something that was worthless in Roland's eyes.

Gold and silver jewelry, antiques, land deeds, small statues of deities imbued with the power of faith, and so on.

They opened several more boxes, and they were all filled with similar items. The most valuable one was a box of sacred fruits, but those were specifically for extending lifespan and didn't significantly improve strength.

To wizards, all of these things are rubbish.

Roland frowned, glanced at the group of bishops around him whose eyes were shining, and understood everything.

While everyone was preparing gifts last night, Catherine's ladies-in-waiting personally inspected them to prevent the lords from giving Roland anything inappropriate that would be taken to the Papacy.

As a princess who has held a high position for many years, Catherine is well aware that ministers often do some very stupid and outrageous things, which embarrass their boss.

Enn Roland was also an idiot.

Roland would likely be very fond of mysterious creatures packaged as gifts, incredibly evil high-ranking demon lords, rare undead phylactery boxes, keys to the gates of hell, and so on. The wizards were giving these things to please him, not to incite Roland to carry out any terrorist activities within the Papacy.

But these things were clearly not suitable to be taken to the Vatican as his luggage!
Therefore, Catherine would definitely have the ladies-in-waiting check everything. She would even personally intervene in deciding what gift to give.

Therefore, the reason why there is so much 'useless trash' in the box is probably the work of his good wife.

For wizards, wealth is worthless. Giving it as a gift is like packing up garbage to fool one's boss.

But for the people of the Papacy, they were all very interesting and wonderful gifts, showcasing the prince's wealth and status.

The bishops had long heard of the Eastern Wizards' boundless wealth and wondered how much riches the prince would bring to the Papacy.

But his actions far exceeded everyone's expectations.

Especially those land deeds. There are many riverside land deeds there, which are all money trees that can be passed down through generations!

Roland thought to himself, 'My senior really understands me. This is exactly what I need. They're more useful than a whole regiment of bodyguards. As long as I bribe my way from here to the Vatican, this trip will go much more smoothly.'

Just as Roland had guessed, his entourage, who had boarded the train with him, already knew which gifts were meant to be used to bribe whom.

From the so-called 'list' booklet carried by his attendant, Roland not only saw what he had brought with him, but also the names of many people and the information associated with them.

For example, Richard, the leader of the Crusaders, not only recorded his personal preferences in the booklet, but also many of his 'wishes'.

For example, he originally planned to secretly launder the looted wealth after winning the war, or register it under someone else's name through a series of operations.

For example, he hoped that after winning the war, he could honor those in the church and strive to make his children the lords of that place.

This information was not obtained by the wizards through questioning, but rather through divination using a quiz machine.

Roland put away the booklet, having made up his mind.

It's more of a wish list than a gift list.

And I can fulfill all these wishes for you.

Lord Richard, rest assured. The King of Alaye will not break his word. Not only that, he will give you even more. Of course, that is, provided I successfully ascend to the throne.

Otherwise, how could I rightfully grant you a fiefdom?
Once I become king, you will have not suffered a defeat this time, but rather achieved success in the peace talks. I will rightfully grant you your original land, as well as the land you desire, in the name of the gods.

But if I die, not only will you get nothing, but you, the defeated commander, will also be condemned by the Church and sent to the Inquisition. (End of Chapter)