Chapter 100
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Chapter 100
The incident unfolded the moment the carriage crossed into the Holy Empire.
Before we had traveled far along the broad entrance road, smoothly paved with stone.
Holy Knights suddenly cordoned off the area around us.
Including the Basilian Estate's carriage, all the other carriages that had been running ahead came to a complete halt on the road.
I wrinkled my nose, wondering what trouble awaited us this time, when Daren—who had been riding his horse alongside the carriage—suddenly went deathly pale.
"...!"
His face as white as his Holy Knight uniform, he hurriedly dismounted.
The commotion outside instantly fell silent.
It was an unnatural quiet, as if someone had poured ice water over everything.
Sensing the ominous shift, Belzeon quickly picked up Chesa and was about to descend from the carriage when—
The carriage door opened first.
A Holy Knight issued a command in a clipped voice.
"Descend and show proper respect."
As Belzeon and I stepped down from the carriage, I found everyone had already dismounted and knelt on one knee on the ground.
In Hilderd, there was only one person worthy of such elaborate deference.
One who placed all others beneath him and acknowledged only the Divine above.
Sianor Hilderd—the Holy King who ruled the Holy Empire.
An elderly man dressed in pristine white vestments, draped in a blue cloak embroidered with gold and silver thread, smiled with benevolence.
"I seem to have startled you."
The fact that the Holy King had appeared in person was surprising enough.
But Chesa was most astonished by something else.
'He's an old man?'
I had naturally assumed that someone possessing the continent's strongest divine power would maintain youth like Duchess Ibroyel did.
While I blinked in bewilderment at the unexpected situation, Belzeon set Chesa down beside him and knelt on one knee.
"Belzeon of House Basilian, Palen Empire. I pay my respects to Your Majesty the Holy King in the name of the Divine."
It was a greeting executed with flawless propriety.
Sianor raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise, then smiled with satisfaction.
Chesa followed Belzeon's lead and offered her greeting.
"Chesa of House Basilian."
She made a show of proper respect, but refused to kneel.
A fairy had her pride, after all, and she had no intention of kneeling before even a Holy King.
'He'll forgive me since I'm just a child!'
Chesa carried herself with bold confidence.
But then the Holy King suddenly bent down and lifted her into his arms.
The strength with which he hoisted her was considerable.
Sianor, who lifted Chesa with surprising ease for an old man, burst into hearty laughter.
"So you're Chesa."
He carried himself with the casual warmth of a kindly elderly neighbor.
"Hailon speaks of you so often. Though you're not quite as he described."
Unable to contain my curiosity, I laughed sheepishly and came out without waiting.
The Holy King himself had come to greet me.
It was an absurdly unprecedented honor.
Had they been anyone else, they would have trembled with emotion, wept tears of gratitude, and praised the Holy King's benevolence.
Yet the men of House Basilian showed no such gratification—their faces remained utterly unmoved.
In truth, that impassiveness was merely a mask concealing their irritation.
The Pure Child Prayer Ceremony, despite its noble purpose, was in reality a war between those vying to seize sacred relics.
Even before the ceremony began, they had been consumed with mutual vigilance.
And now, the Holy King had openly displayed favoritism toward a single child.
It was as though he had announced to all participants of the Pure Child Prayer Ceremony who their common enemy should be.
Precisely who they ought to target as a public threat.
Moreover, the Holy King's affection for Chesa was not genuine.
It was merely curiosity, as he himself had said.
Interest without protection was poison.
'And I don't like this man's attitude either.'
He was none other than Hailon, the very leader of the Heresy Inquisitors.
Yet the Holy King addressed him without the honorific 'Your Excellency'—calling him 'child' as though he were a mere boy.
'Does that bother me?'
Hailon had never once mentioned the Holy King to Lichesia.
Rather, based solely on their interactions thus far, I had drawn my own conclusions about him.
I had thought him merely a tyrannical old man, but to think he was this cunning.
'I'm genuinely irritated now.'
I had resolved to behave myself throughout the Pure Child Prayer Ceremony, yet already I felt the urge to cause trouble.
I concealed my true feelings and smiled sweetly.
'Should I quietly mark him as prey?'
Looking at him, he didn't seem to possess much holy power at all.
If I applied just a touch of strength, I could mark him without anyone noticing.
The moment I, facing the Holy King and grinning, summoned the faintest hint of power—
"...!"
Startled, I immediately withdrew my power.
I was not alone in my shock.
Everyone flinched in surprise, forgetting the proper etiquette to maintain before the Holy King, and glanced about nervously.
A song echoed through the air.
Someone's distant, ethereal melody was strange and wondrous.
It seemed to come from very far away, yet also whispered directly at my ear.
Though sung in an incomprehensible language, the song's meaning was unmistakable.
Even without understanding the lyrics, their essence reached directly into the heart.
The joy and rapture of life's birth, the beauty of all things pulsing with vitality, a hymn to the grandeur of nature itself.
The dreamlike, ethereal melody scattered like spring blossoms in all directions.
Among those who had initially been bewildered and glancing about, smiles gradually bloomed.
It was a smile that bloomed unbidden, born from the surging tide of happiness.
While everyone else drowned in boundless joy, the Holy King could not.
Sianor's face, which had been kind and generous mere moments before, hardened into something terrifying.
He seemed to have forgotten that Chesa was watching from mere steps away.
Sianor's gaunt cheeks trembled with barely restrained fury.
"...Hailon."
He spat the name through gritted teeth, his voice a thin wire of suppressed rage.
"Summon Hailon at once."
The Holy Knight standing guard at his side jolted to attention.
The knight, who had been smiling pleasantly, sensed the Holy King's wrath and answered with sudden tension.
"But Your Majesty, Sir Hailon is...."
"Now!"
The low, cutting command slashed through the knight's words like a blade.
The Holy Knight obeyed without hesitation.
He mounted his horse in frantic haste and galloped away.
The thunder of hooves striking stone echoed deafeningly through the air.
The people who had been lost in song and smiling contentedly snapped back to awareness at the ear-splitting noise.
Chesa glanced in the direction the knight had ridden.
It was toward the heart of the Holy Empire—toward the Grand Temple.
"...."
Sianor drew a slow, measured breath.
He swiftly erased all traces of agitation from his face and smiled.
With kindness restored, Sianor spoke gently and warmly.
"It seems urgent matters require my attention. It was wonderful to meet you. We shall see each other again at the Prayer Ceremony."
And with that, he set Chesa down before Belzeon.
Sianor, his face wearing a subtle smile, surveyed the people around him who had not yet fully awakened from the song's spell.
"Rise, all of you."
The Holy Priest standing beside the Holy King called out loudly.
His voice was thunderous, as if desperately attempting to drown out the song that still seemed to linger.
"This is the new hymn of Hilderd. It is a song imbued with holy power, crafted so that all people within the Holy Empire may hear it, no matter how distant they may be."
Exclamations of wonder rippled through the crowd.
Before all eyes, the Holy Priest raised both hands toward the heavens and spoke.
"It is also a celebratory hymn welcoming those who have come to the divine kingdom for the Pure Child Prayer Ceremony. We humbly ask that you all listen with joy."
Cheers and applause erupted.
Those moved by the mysterious hymn infused with holy power responded with fervent enthusiasm.
Yet the faces of some Holy Knights and Holy Priests grew dark.
Though they forced themselves to smile with apparent composure, they could not fully conceal the anxiety that flickered in their eyes.
The strange song did not seem to be emanating from the Holy Empire's intention.
But even without their reactions, Chesa was already certain of the Holy Empire's deception.
Because....
'Because she's calling to me.'
This was the song of the Fairy Queen's crown, calling out to Chesa.
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