Chapter 133
---------------
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 133
"At last, the Divine has graced Hebaton with their gaze."
"The Prince is the hope and light of Hebaton itself."
"They say the Cardinal will personally guide the Prince! What joyous tidings..."
"Remy, my proud son."
"Without the Prince, what would have become of us? Truly, there is only the Prince."
A torrent of voices swirled together in dizzying chaos.
Countless tones intertwined and tangled, until at last they blended like carelessly mixed pigments into an oppressive black.
In that darkness, Remy cried out alone.
"I want to stop."
But no answer came in return.
Remy pleaded again.
"It's too hard.... I want to stop now."
"I really can't do this anymore. It hurts...."
Words that no one would hear scattered into the hollow darkness.
As they always did.
"...."
Waking from the dream, Remy wiped his damp forehead with the back of his hand.
Ever since his talent for Holy power had been revealed, he had been shuttled between Hilderd and Hebaton for instruction.
Having entered the Holy Empire since childhood—so young he barely remembered it—it would be no exaggeration to call Hilderd his second home.
Yet Remy could not bring himself to think of Hilderd as home.
With small hands, he gripped the blanket so tightly it crumpled beneath his fingers.
'I want to go back to Hebaton....'
He knew all too well that he would not be welcomed there.
What the Hebaton Royal Family desired from Remy was to ascend to a position of power within the Holy Empire.
They hoped he would become Cardinal, succeeding Cardinal Milliod.
Even his greatest efforts would never be enough—and yet here he was, harboring such weakness.
Remy thought of the expectations the Hebaton Kingdom held for him, of his Mother's fervent wish that he become the next Holy King.
"My son, Remy. I wish to see you standing above all others. Your mother believes it is entirely possible."
He steeled his heart and wiped away his tears with determination.
Sniffling, Remy descended from his bed, opened the window, and let the cool morning air wash across his face.
'If only I could win at the Pure Child Prayer Ceremony.'
Then perhaps something would change.
He didn't know what or how, but he wanted to believe it.
He needed to cling to even this futile hope, or each day would be unbearable.
Especially the "instruction" he received—he despised it.
He knew it was necessary for one as woefully inadequate as himself, and that the Holy King took special care in overseeing it, so he ought to be grateful....
"...hic."
Remy swallowed the tears rising once more and began his day with forced cheerfulness.
He dressed neatly and went outside to offer his morning prayers.
Had this been Hebaton Royal Palace, there would have been attendants to see to his needs, but here in Hilderd, Remy held no official position and had to manage everything himself.
He was hurrying alone toward the prayer chamber with quick, brisk steps.
Choosing an unfamiliar route to move faster, Remy's eyes widened as he passed through the Courtyard.
A man with dazzling silver hair stood in the Garden.
'Lord Hailon!'
Remy gazed at him with eyes full of admiration.
A living proof of holiness.
The one who wielded the 'Chain of Condemnation,' which had long sought a master, and possessed the most exceptional holy power in the history of the Holy Empire Hilderd.
He had ascended to the rank of First-Class Holy Knight through sheer ability alone.
Remy thought that someday he too wished to be called a proof of holiness, just like Hailon.
As he gazed at Hailon with reverence, something strange caught his eye.
Hailon was holding a flower.
Plucked from somewhere without its stem, the blossom was unlike any flower he had ever seen in the Holy Empire.
'It looks as though it was just broken off.'
The flower, glistening with moisture, was beautiful as if it would never wither for all eternity.
Hailon lowered his long lashes and gazed quietly at the flower resting in his palm.
His steady gaze was absolute.
As if that flower were his very god itself....
'Oh no!'
He had inadvertently harbored a most irreverent thought.
He would have one more sin to atone for during his prayers today.
Remy hid behind a pillar and lightly struck his own cheek.
'Come to think of it, Lord Hailon is Chesa's escort knight. Temporarily, at least.'
Hailon and Chesa seemed intimate with one another.
The icy Holy Knight always melted in the presence of the small child.
'...I too.'
Remy pressed his lips together.
The image of that child winking at him with one eye came to mind.
'I wish I could grow closer to her....'
Sometimes the power within his body felt strangely peculiar.
Each time it happened, Remy lost his memories.
After falling into brief darkness and awakening, his recollections would be gone, as if someone had excised them.
There had been a moment when it nearly happened again.
When he displayed his holy power before the Basilian siblings at Cardinal Milliod's command.
'But Chesa protected me.'
The soft, warm energy that small hand had breathed into him.
It had been rapturous, as if he stood in the midst of a magnificent Flower Field.
Had it not been for Chesa, he would have suffered another unpleasant gap in his memory.
"...Gasp!"
Remy, his face flushed as he thought of Chesa, started in surprise.
Before I knew it, Hailon was gazing down at me.
"H-Hailon. Good morning."
Gathering my courage to greet him, his cold blue eyes swept past Remy without emotion.
He spoke curtly.
"You'll be late."
"Oh!"
Morning prayers were nearly upon us.
"Th-thank you."
Remy bolted past the Courtyard in a frantic sprint.
By the time I arrived at the prayer chamber, breathless and barely on time after my hurried dash, it was already beginning.
"Remy!"
At that piercing voice, Remy's shoulders flinched violently.
Cardinal Milliod, who had been waiting before the prayer chamber, rushed forward and seized my arm.
"Come with me."
"But... the morning prayers—"
"There is no time for prayer now. You must demonstrate your holy power on the third prayer day."
My small frame was dragged along by his rough grip.
Remy's face drained of all color.
Today was a training day.
My heart raced wildly, making it difficult to breathe.
Remy struggled to steady myself, gasping for air.
I was still far from complete, still unfinished.
Training was only natural.
Only then could I possess holy power as remarkable as Hailon's.
Yet no matter how much my mind understood this, each training session filled me with dread.
Biting my parched lips, I descended into the Temple Underground with Cardinal Milliod.
The dim underground stood in stark contrast to the pristine, luminous Temple above.
Following the underground passages—reminiscent of a wine cellar—the humid, cool air raised goosebumps across my skin.
Beyond the labyrinthine corridors lay the deepest chamber of the Temple Underground.
The vast, empty space was peculiar in its uniform pallor.
Every surface—floor, walls, and ceiling—was covered in a mineral found only in Hilderd.
It was the sacred white mineral used to forge the Holy Knights' holy swords.
Surrounded by stone blessed by the divine, I should have felt sanctity.
Yet each time I entered this place, instinctive revulsion and nausea washed over me.
The strange blue patterns densely etched across the floor only deepened my unease.
They were not the symbols of the Holy Empire.
I had once asked what they meant, but no one would answer.
"Sit down."
Following Cardinal Milliod's command, I positioned myself at the center of the pattern.
As my skin touched the cold, frigid stone, my trembling body convulsed with even greater intensity.
Lemil wrapped his arms around himself, desperately seeking any trace of warmth.
Miliod, who had stepped completely outside the pattern, clicked his tongue in disapproval at the sight.
Lemil, sensing the displeasure, finally lowered his hands.
"Begin!"
Miliod issued a command toward something unseen.
A deep, resonant hum echoed through the space.
The sound emanated from the pattern etched into the floor.
The azure pattern began to stain crimson, spreading from its edges inward.
Confirming the pattern's color shift, Miliod turned and departed.
"We shall meet again tomorrow."
With those final words, the iron gate slammed shut with a resounding clang.
Lemil stood alone in the white expanse.
"Hah... hah..."
Lemil gasped for breath, watching the encroaching crimson draw ever closer.
He longed to flee, yet there was no escape from this sealed chamber.
On the precipice of consciousness, driven to the brink by overwhelming dread.
"Hello, Remy."
A fresh floral fragrance swept through the air, and pink eyes materialized in his fading vision.
It was Chesa Basilian.
It was Chesa Basilian.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------