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143 Chapter

“Is everything ready?”

“Yes.”

I nodded at Caesar while adjusting the buttons on my uniform sleeves.

A strange tension hung in the air, with both Cal and Aria expressing their worry. In the midst of it all, I smiled casually.

“I’ll be back soon.”

Dressed in formal attire that I usually didn’t wear, I felt constricted in my clothes.

Dressed impeccably in a dignified silver uniform befitting the House of Crisis, I truly looked like someone heading to an important occasion.

Early in the morning, Caesar and I finished preparing to head to the Sun Temple.

The terrorist attack on the capital during the national founding day caused quite a stir among the Empire’s elite.

The fact that no one knew a bomb was set on the Emperor and Crown Prince’s carriage, particularly had the Royal Knights Order in charge of security completely turned upside down.

‘They say most of the knights on guard that day were fired, only Reiner survived.’

It was understandable. The lives of the Emperor and the Crown Prince were at stake. Had Reiner been unable to stop the bomb, the knights wouldn’t just have been dismissed from the order; their heads might have rolled.

‘Particularly, the First Knights Order was utterly shaken.’

Caesar informed me that Reiner’s father, the head of the First Knights Order and Sword Master, Noah Einhart was completely enraged that he could do nothing during this terrorist incident. From his demeanor, it seemed that the discipline of the First Knights Order would be completely reinstated with this opportunity.

Thanks to the timely handling of the bomb, both Helios and Diego were safe, and the investigation was closing in on Cyphrus as a suspected collaborator from the North.

No one yet suspected Tina as the whistleblower, and the capital remained unharmed.

‘While everything is fine, I’m the only one feeling tumultuous.’

I rested my chin on my hand, gazing out the carriage window with a sigh.

The capital’s streets were bustling and lively as if the terror attack had never occurred. Even amidst that scene, I couldn’t shake the uneasiness.

“Shushu. Are you alright?”

Caesar, who sat opposite me, asked, his words laced with concern.

“Ah, yes. I’m just a bit nervous.”

I wiped the back of my neck with my hand. Perhaps due to the approaching summer season or my anxiety about what was to come, a thin layer of sweat had formed on my nape.

“No need to worry. If any difficult questions arise, I’ll handle them.”

Caesar, observing my stiff expression, reached out and ruffled my hair. His touch was warmer and gentler than the summer sun.

“……Thank you.”

I relaxed my previously tense face and smiled gently. My heart, which had been churning like a huge wave, gradually calmed down.

As war drew near, I’d been summoned as a witness to the grand noble meeting at the Sun Temple.

Inside the majestic temple, likely due to the grand noble meeting taking place, armed paladins stood in formation instead of priests.

I walked across the familiar temple, which I had traversed in preparation for my meeting with El.

“This place is always unpleasant.”

Caesar frowned, casting a disdainful glance around. While I felt comfortable in the temple filled with holy power, it was likely that it didn’t agree with Caesar’s constitution, leading him to dislike the temple and its priests.

‘Caesar really is a peculiar one. Most swordsmen using mana feel at ease in a temple filled with holy power.’

Thinking of Caesar, who would avoid holy healing for anything less than a serious injury, I let out a sigh. Today would not likely be a pleasant one for him at the Sun Temple.

“Please wash your hands before entering the hall.”

As we arrived at the meeting room door, a priest bowed and greeted us while presenting a golden basin.

Thanks to El and Julian, who had carelessly skipped the tedious procedures, I had visited the temple several times without going through the necessary steps before meeting the Pope and the Grand Priest.

However, Julian had told me that meeting the Pope in the temple indeed required a lengthy process.

‘Normally, to meet the Grand Priest and Pope, you must wash your hands with holy water… but it’s really just plain water unless it’s used for special purposes. It’s only those sensitive to holy power, like me or that Pope guy, who can distinguish between plain water and holy water. Even if I change it with the water I washed my feet with, no one would notice.’

Recalling Julian laughingly explaining the unnecessarily elaborate procedures to meet the Grand Priest and Pope, I faced the ordinary holy water and hoped that the slightly crazed Julian hadn’t acted on his words back then. I didn’t want to wash my hands in the water he used to wash his feet.

It seemed they didn’t plan on keeping the expensive nobles for too long, as the procedure ended with just washing hands. If I had to go through all those elaborate procedures Julian had told me, the meeting might not have started until night.

“Please enter.”

The priest opened the ornate marble door. Taking a short breath at the light spilling from the doorframe, I stepped confidently forward, alongside Caesar.

Thud thud.

The sound of our boots echoed through the vast hall. Among the gazes directed toward me, several familiar faces emerged.

‘We really arrived the latest.’

As I scanned the seats in the hall, which were mostly filled except for the seat for Crisis, I sneaked a glance at Caesar’s side profile.

I had guessed that he was preparing to enter late on purpose, but I never expected we would arrive later than the Emperor and the Pope.

‘Recently, the Emperor has been showing interest in you. It’s quite bothersome how he asks about your well-being every time we meet. I’ve always had a dislike for the Pope. The kid is dark and eerie…’

Thinking of Caesar grumbling about the Pope, whose voice could send shivers down anyone’s spine, I understood that this was just his way of being grumpy.

I let out a secret sigh at the sight of Caesar, who seemed entirely nonchalant despite being late.

“Greetings to the sun of the Empire and the heavens.”

Caesar, whose face seemed to have a Great Wall built with iron plates, nodded before Helios and El.

Helios, who received the arrogant Caesar’s greeting, stared at him for a moment before cracking a smile. I recognized that smile; it was the kind Helios wore when he was preparing to mess with his opponent.

“Oh my. Isn’t this our lord duke? Did you accidentally meet a bandit on the way here?”

“I didn’t encounter any.”

Though Helios teased about our lateness, Caesar acted as if he didn’t catch the jab and received it with the same stoic countenance as always. I could see a slight crack forming in Helios’ smiling face.

“Haha! Being undaunted in all matters is quite your charm. Very endearing.”

This time, a little crack appeared in Caesar’s brazen expression as he faced Helios’ smashing attack. I barely managed to suppress a smile that was about to break out in response to Helios’ humor.

Glaring at Helios with a look that could have him thrown in prison for blasphemy, Caesar slowly opened his mouth.

“……You flatter me.”

“I would love to give you a round of applause just for not talking throughout today’s meeting, knowing your character.”

“I also wish to applaud myself.”

Caesar, answering as if he were a person whose conscience had been left behind in a puddle on the way here, made Helios’ eyebrow twitch in response.

I earnestly hoped the two would avoid any physical altercation as I subtly turned my head toward the direction of the intense heat of gazes that felt like they could ignite all my hair.

And soon, I encountered those silver eyes.

His eyes felt like a swamp that could swallow anything colossal in a single breath. No, they were a radiant and clear silver that felt infinitely distant from a swamp, yet my mind associated them with one. Though sparkling like stars, their essence seemed akin to a black hole capable of devouring them.

No, considering his eyes were originally black, perhaps he had always been this way. A person that absorbs all light, entirely the embodiment of black itself.

“Is the princess not going to greet us?”

A nostalgic scent of lilies wafted through the air as he swept his long sky-blue hair aside.

He was Pope Elior Riza, my friend El.

“……I greet the sun of the Empire and the heavens.”

I swallowed hard, clearing my dry throat before bowing.

El, resting his chin on the massive marble throne signifying the authority of the Pope, gazed steadily at me. If looks had shapes, El’s gaze must be in chains at that moment.

I felt an overwhelming pressure enveloping my body, prompting me to subtly avert my eyes.

‘Damn it, I should have contacted him earlier…’

After stopping a bomb, I had lost consciousness for three days, only to find my communication device was broken upon awakening. The device had seemed fine when I contacted Aria just before passing out, and when I asked the repairman about the sudden malfunction, the utterly ridiculous answer I received was:

‘Um… It seems there was an overwhelming surge of messages coming all at once. It couldn’t handle the overload and exploded. Oh, especially you four sent hundreds of messages a day. It’s no wonder it broke… The senders were Didi, El, Leuellin, and Leo. Are they by any chance your creditors?’

Since all four knew I was Mir, it made sense. They must have been appalled hearing rumors about me vanishing in a half-dead state after stopping the bomb.

I mourned for my communication device, which had burst from the excessive harassment disguised as messages, tugging at my hair.

‘What should I even say about this…?’

I felt the need to contact them, but I couldn’t figure out how to approach it. Grasping my brand new communication device, I pondered gravely.

‘Say I’m sorry for getting hurt? That’s weird. Should I apologize for worrying them? That feels awkward to send first…

I really had no knack for this kind of thing.

After a long hesitation, I figured perhaps I should contact El, since he sent the most messages, but I felt too intimidated to reach out to him directly. Instead, I decided to contact Julian, who was closest to El.

-……Lady Shumir……?

Julian’s face emerging on the communication screen was so striking that I could never forget it.

With dark circles under his eyes that looked like he hadn’t slept for days and that distinctly mischievous gaze now absent, his royal purple eyes appeared pale, making him look like a dying deer.

-Lady? Lady? Are you alright? You’re alive, right? Are you safe?

“Oh, yes… I’m perfectly fine, but… Julian, did you perhaps go hunting monsters after not seeing me?”

Seeing his expression was even more serious than mine, I couldn’t help but offer him concern, prompting Julian to sniffle and begin crying suddenly.

-Cough, Lady… sniff… I truly, I really had such a tough time…

“I got it, so don’t cry. Just tell me what happened.”

As I tried to ask gently, Julian began to sob even louder. After comforting him for a while, he finally spoke up.

-You know how hard it was to stop that bastard Elio from trying to storm the House of Crisis…? The entire temple was in chaos trying to hold him back…!

“Is that so…?”

-Gah… Since I led the charge to stop him, that bastard left my head sticking out in a potato field for three hours! That nasty guy… I barely held him back with the thought that you might not like it, but next time he said he’d strip me of my position as Grand Priest and throw me into an alligator breeding farm… sniff!

As Julian expressed his grievances, he looked pitiful—like a person who lost their job overnight. I could only watch him helplessly while sweating profusely.

‘El… is he that angry?’

I had never encountered an angry El before.

To me, El had always been an immensely kind and gentle person. Even though I understood that El could be very frightening when he was angry, especially when Julian complained about El’s actions, the thought of that anger being directed at me made me hesitant to contact him.

‘I should have just sent a letter instead of hesitating, thinking the others might be just as angry…’

I gulped down in response to the suffocating aura emanating from El.

 

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