Chapter 123
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------
Chapter 123
Kieran returned safely to the Castle of Serpents.
His wounded right arm had been given only a hasty, temporary treatment.
The wound ran deep, so the bleeding continued for quite some time.
Though the scent of blood should have drawn the creatures of the Black Forest to attack, for some reason they remained silent.
Thanks to this, I was able to leave the Black Forest peacefully alongside Rose.
Throughout our walk through the Black Forest, Rose kept her swollen eyes wide open.
As if she were determined to protect me.
It was a ridiculous gesture, given that her own legs were far from whole, and she limped with each step.
In truth, had she not been there, I would have returned far more quickly.
I even considered abandoning her and pressing on, but in the end, I matched Rose's sluggish pace and slowly made my way out of the Black Forest.
The Servants who had been lingering near the Castle Gate, wondering when I would arrive, were overjoyed at our return.
I handed Rose over to them and went directly to receive treatment.
"The wound is quite deep."
Without proper anesthesia, they stitched the raw flesh immediately.
The wound from the creature had been remarkably deep, and even after treatment, the pain was severe.
In the end, I had to receive a medicinal compound with analgesic properties.
"The medication is potent, so you may experience some hallucinations or auditory illusions."
My physician handed over the compound matter-of-factly, adding the caveat without concern.
There was no particular worry in his expression.
It was a natural reaction.
Wounds deep enough to expose bone, potent and bitter medicinal compounds....
These were things I encountered daily when facing creatures in the Black Forest.
So there was truly nothing to worry about.
Yet why had that woman shed tears over something so trivial?
It was utterly pointless.
Recalling Rose's pink eyes as she wept as though her own arm had been severed, I attended to my duties as I always did.
Since I could write with my left hand as well, there was no problem in conducting business.
After handling urgent matters, I reviewed the records of my predecessors.
I was checking to see if there was any useful information about the creatures' abnormal behavior.
I found no meaningful data.
After completing all necessary tasks, I fell asleep at my scheduled bedtime.
That night was somewhat painful.
Despite taking the potent analgesic, pain surged upward, and I groaned while breaking into a cold sweat.
My distorted consciousness wandered in an ambiguous state between sleep and wakefulness.
Then, suddenly, as if someone had tapped me, my mind cleared.
"...."
A gentle, melodic voice reached my ears.
A lullaby whispered in an incomprehensible language.
Kieran thought hazily, captivated by a voice so pleasant it raised faint goosebumps along his skin.
I thought the medication was causing me to hear things that weren't there.
But I was wrong.
Along with the song, a soft cloth gently wiped away the cold sweat from my forehead.
The clumsy yet tender touch tickled, causing me to furrow my brow, and then delicate fingertips smoothed away the wrinkles with a gentle caress.
I didn't need to open my eyes to know who was touching me.
Presumptuous, irritating, foolish.
There was only one such being in the Castle of Serpents.
Rose.
The woman Kieran had named today.
How she had managed to creep into my bedroom remained a mystery.
'I'll have to teach her that she cannot simply enter a man's bedroom without permission.'
It seemed I would need to arrange for her to receive proper instruction starting tomorrow.
Thinking I would assign her the strictest of teachers, I slowly let my body relax.
It would be right to open my eyes and tell her to leave my bedroom.
But for some reason, I had no desire to do so.
I wanted to listen to the lullaby just a little longer.
When I focused on the gentle melody, the pain faded into obscurity.
That the pain—which even potent medicine could not erase—would vanish from a mere lullaby was, in truth, impossible.
The medication must be taking effect belatedly.
With that thought, I listened to the song and drifted into deep sleep.
***
"...Sigh."
I exhaled as I sifted through the memories of my past.
I shouldn't have recalled them.
Dwelling on a past that would never return only deepened the longing.
On days like this, I needed to be especially careful....
I had slashed through demons endlessly with my demon sword, leaving my mind in an unstable state.
It was better not to entertain dangerous thoughts.
Still, it seemed I would be fine now.
Because Chesa was here.
I gently stroked the sleeping Chesa and hummed a soft lullaby.
It was the lullaby Rose used to sing for me.
The lullaby I sang, following only the melodies I could remember, was a complete mess.
It lacked the birdsong-like quality that Rose's voice possessed.
Yet I sang with joy nonetheless.
It was one of the few things Rose had left me.
At the Castle of Serpents, I had erased every trace of her.
Despite having destroyed it all with my own hands, I would sometimes sing the lullaby when the mood struck.
Each fragment of memory pricked my flesh painfully when I retrieved it.
Even as I tasted the metallic flavor of blood, I licked the sharp edges of those fragments and sang with delight.
Looking back, it seemed I had sung the lullaby most often for Chesa.
It was because I knew so little of how to soothe a child.
I had no idea how to handle something so small and soft.
Belzeon, the Twins, and the other children bearing Basilian blood had all been sturdy from infancy.
'I'm grateful you taught me the lullaby, Rose.'
Thanks to her, I could live through today.
And today, I was dying once more.
I smiled as if chewing glass shards and soothed my fractured mind.
Not much time remained.
Soon I would see her again.
Surely....
As I patted Chesa and sang the lullaby, drowsiness washed over me.
Demons, the Holy King, Basilian, Hilderd, the Black Forest, the Fairy Queen's crown, and Rose.
All the tangled thoughts swirling in my mind slowly blurred together.
Following the softly sleeping Chesa, I too drifted into slumber.
It was a deep sleep without dreams.
***
The major incident that unfolded in the Hilderd Holy Empire spread across the continent through the participants of the Pure Child Prayer Ceremony.
The 'demons' that inhabited only the Black Forest in the Eastern Basilian Territory of the Palen Empire suddenly engulfed the Holy Empire.
They were abominations that defied the laws of nature.
The most accomplished Holy Priests and Holy Knights of Hilderd were all mobilized, yet they failed to properly dispose of the demons.
The one who purified all the demons was an adopted child of House of Basilian.
The sight of a small child purifying the demons with remarkable power seemed like a miracle of the divine.
But it was the power of a Fairy.
Because it was heretical power, it became problematic, and Count Basilian was imprisoned along with the child while defending the adopted one.
All this news spread rapidly, like wildfire across a barren field.
As if someone behind the scenes were deliberately orchestrating the rumors to spread.
With truth entangled with all manner of false gossip, some even claimed that the Underworld was deliberately spreading stories about House of Basilian.
Of course, it was treated as unverifiable hearsay and quickly swept away.
In the midst of all this, the Sun Emperor of the Palen Empire personally wrote a petition for a retainer he cherished.
The fact that the Emperor would write a petition to the Holy King of Hilderd for Count Basilian became yet another piece of gossip that swept across the continent.
House of Basilian, the subject of swirling rumors that raged like a tempest, appeared outwardly serene.
They remained quietly imprisoned without any significant resistance.
Yet it was only an outward calm.
House of Basilian was watching for an opportunity.
It was a moment when the attention of the entire continent converged upon them.
They would not miss this fleeting instant of sudden fame, and like a serpent stalking prey, they remained coiled in stillness, waiting for the most perfect opportunity to arrive.
And on the second prayer day of the Pure Child Prayer Ceremony.
A major incident finally erupted.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------