Chapter 257
Chapter: 257
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 257
>Chapter Title: Regina's Crossroads (1)
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>It was an incredibly strange phenomenon.
The intense energy that had seemed ready to surge forward and sweep away everything in sight began to subside gradually, like water had been poured over it, the moment it met the Holy Emperor's calm silver-gray eyes.
The uncontrollable rage that had been boiling over hadn't vanished entirely. It was just that he became aware of another perspective within himself—one that erected a barrier around that difficult-to-control emotion and observed it from a step away.
The manic laughter faded, and the rapidly flickering gaze in his eyes slowly settled.
"...Father."
The exorcist, who had been quietly observing Seongjin, patted his shoulder a couple more times.
Tap, tap.
For some reason, it felt like praise for a job well done, leaving Seongjin's mood subtly unsettled.
"...Your Highness? Sir Sharon?"
Orden called out to them cautiously from the side. Both the prince, who had exuded an ominous aura while bursting into laughter, and the exorcist, who had appeared out of nowhere with an unusually strange atmosphere—everything had been utterly bewildering.
The Holy Emperor glanced at him briefly with cold eyes before turning his head toward Seongjin.
"Your Highness."
It was unmistakably Sir Sharon's voice from before. For a moment, it felt like he had returned to being Sir Sharon.
Yet, seeing the bright light flickering in his eyes made it clear that the Holy Emperor was still there. He was probably conscious of the eyes around them.
"The old lady seems to be in poor condition, so the young lord should stay by her side to attend to her. I'll handle the rest, so Your Highness, please return to your room with me."
No, Father. You have zero talent for acting.
If you're trying to pretend to be Sir Sharon, your tone and demeanor are way too serious.
"......"
Orden blinked in surprise as well. Having traveled and clashed with this mad exorcist for quite some time, he knew his usual behavior well.
Realizing the need to quickly smooth things over, Seongjin nodded promptly.
"Yes. Let's do that. Let's head back now."
Orden hesitated for a moment. Being quite perceptive, he seemed to have sensed that something unusual had just happened.
But there was no way for him to detect the brand etched into his soul or the curse carved with malice. In the end, Orden nodded with an anxious expression.
"Then, I leave Your Highness in your care, Sir Sharon."
Before the words even finished, the Holy Emperor possessing Sir Sharon turned away coldly. He didn't spare a single glance at the old lady frothing at the mouth and writhing on the floor.
"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle."
"Oh dear, what is all this? Madam! Pull yourself together!"
It looked extremely grave at a glance. It was proof of just how heavy Seongjin's curse had been, reducing a person to that state from the blow to her soul alone.
"A doctor! No, a priest first!"
"Ah, there's a holy knight here... Holy Knight?"
Someone belatedly recognized the exorcist and called out, but the Holy Emperor walked down the corridor with quick steps without looking back.
Seongjin, who had been staring blankly at the old lady, jolted in surprise and hurried after him a step behind.
"Father, I...!"
"Be careful, Your Highness. There are many eyes around."
Replying in a tone utterly unlike Sir Sharon, the Holy Emperor strode ahead as if he knew the count's residence inside and out.
'Hey, what kind of escort knight walks ahead alone like that?'
Seongjin thought with a sulky face but hurried his steps without saying more. A profoundly heavy atmosphere emanated from his father's briskly walking back.
Crossing the count's residence at a near-run, they soon arrived at Seongjin's room.
Click.
The moment the door closed, Seongjin, whose mouth had been itching to speak, opened it quickly.
"Father, Father! Something strange happened. Just now, I...!"
[Moreth.]
At that moment, the Holy Emperor cut him off firmly. It was the Holy Emperor's voice resounding in his mind, one Seongjin knew well.
[You know it too, don't you? Don't think deeply about it anymore.]
"Uh......"
And before Seongjin could even respond, he pointed to the bed out of the blue and said this!
[Just lie down here and get some rest.]
What?
Seongjin looked at him in bewilderment.
"No, sleep...?"
[I mentioned before that I'd teach you how to handle artifacts from the material world, didn't I? That's what I came here for originally. I'll teach you now, so calm your excitement and just sleep. Then I'll move your soul into the rift where the thought form can easily materialize.]
What? So suddenly?
"Wait a minute, Father! This isn't the time for that! My sister...!"
[Can you stop those chaotic thoughts right now and completely suppress those savage emotions on your own?]
"......!"
He knew exactly what he meant.
The abuse his sister had suffered since childhood, the immense rage that had surged the moment he learned of it, and the terrifying curse he had poured out with all his might.
Calm down right now? It was an impossible demand.
"There's no way I can. You know that too, Father? In this mansion, how much my sister... "
Just thinking about Amelia made something surge up from within again. The barely subsided emotions began to churn wildly like a stormy sea once more.
Tap.
Then the Holy Emperor's hand quickly began patting Seongjin's head. It was the same steady, rhythmic tapping he had experienced before.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
"Uh......"
His complicated mind cleared, and the churning in his chest settled in an instant. Seongjin blinked blankly at the Holy Emperor.
'Wow, that's amazing. How exactly does he do it?'
Soon, confirming that Seongjin had calmed, the Holy Emperor let out a low sigh.
[Yes. I knew something like this would happen someday, but I didn't expect it to come so suddenly, in such an unstable state.]
"So that means you knew what would happen today. That's why you deliberately blessed that damned old hag? For the balance of... karma? Is that right?"
The Holy Emperor didn't answer the question, instead gazing at Seongjin with slightly complicated eyes.
"Ah, there's another problem. Anyway, I just did something tremendous to her. I felt like I clearly knew what it was earlier, but now my memory's hazy and I have no idea."
[.......]
"What the hell is going on? Father, what did I just do, how?"
A hint of desperation crept into Seongjin's voice. In truth, what he really wanted to ask was this.
-Father, what am I exactly?
The reason he couldn't voice that question directly was obvious.
There was the Holy Emperor's plea not to doubt recklessly, but more than that, an inexplicable vague anxiety that he would truly be done for if he did.
'But how long do I have to live in this awkward state?'
If he couldn't ask directly, he would have to speculate on his own to some extent.
Why did Cardinal Benitus regard him with such wariness? Why was Sir Masayn so worried that Seongjin might get caught up in heresy accusations?
And why was Hayes, a minion of the Dark Church, subservient to him?
'The answer isn't far. Probably because I...'
As Seongjin thought that far.
Tap.
A light tap on his forehead interrupted the thought. Looking up with wide eyes, he met the Holy Emperor's worried gaze.
[Be careful with everything, Moreth. Didn't I tell you not to define yourself recklessly? Beneath the thoughts and perceptions of an oracle lies a vast power you don't yet know.]
"...If I don't think about it."
Suddenly feeling melancholic, Seongjin lowered his head and asked in a slightly cracked voice.
"If I don't define it, if I don't touch it. Then I'm still not that something, right?"
Still.
Sensing the sorrow implied in that word, the Holy Emperor ruffled Seongjin's hair vigorously.
Whoosh, his light blond hair became a mess in an instant.
[Moreth.]
"...Yes."
[You are my son. That fact alone is an eternal truth that will never change.]
"Mm, yes."
You've said that before......
The Holy Emperor, sensing Seongjin's lukewarm reaction with ghostly intuition, stopped ruffling his hair and stared down at him intently.
[Why? Is that not enough? Do you want to confirm again what happens when you deny it?]
"What?"
Seongjin glared at the Holy Emperor with fierce eyes.
This guy! Threatening people with his own body again? Got a taste for it?
Then, a moment later. Huh? He tilted his head.
"But this is someone else's body right now, isn't it? Are you planning a self-harm show with Sir Sharon's body this time? What did she ever do to you?"
...Oops.
A faint look of surprise, as if caught off guard, flickered across the usually emotionless face.
'Good grief, this is ridiculous...'
Separate from the surge of anger, his sorrow and anxiety strangely deflated like a punctured balloon.
Seongjin awkwardly changed the subject with an embarrassed expression.
"...Mm, so, you want me to sleep for now?"
In any case, Seongjin decided to obediently follow the Holy Emperor's instructions.
He wanted to master using the ice heart to give his sister a wonderful gift, but it really seemed like sleeping was the only option.
Even now, just a little thought about his sister made uncontrollable emotions well up.
'No, but do I really need to hold back? That damn Zigsmunt, I'll just...!'
Without realizing it, he ground his teeth, and tap tap, the hand patted his head right on time.
Seongjin suddenly felt a chill. If he stayed like this, he might really cause an irreparable disaster.
"Father, at least teach me this one thing."
Calming again, Seongjin lay obediently on the bed and asked.
"Did I properly avenge my sister?"
[Yes, you exacted the greatest revenge you could on that woman. In a way, it's a punishment that could be seen as excessive for the sins one person commits in a lifetime.]
Answering that, the Holy Emperor added with a slightly subdued expression.
[However, I have doubts about whether it's complete revenge. How could it be entirely that woman's fault alone?]
"Ah, of course, the dim-witted Decaron Knights and the border count who turned a blind eye bear great responsibility too! Even if they didn't harm her directly, by ignoring and condoning it, they incited the people of the count's household!"
At that, the Holy Emperor's lips curved up slightly. It was an expression that seemed somewhat self-mocking.
[Do you think Amelia was neglected only by them?]
"......!"
Seongjin clamped his mouth shut in shock.
No wonder he had seemed so profoundly depressed earlier!
'...Now I see. He thinks it's all his own fault.'
The Holy Emperor had foreseen what Seongjin would do and balanced the karma, but there was an even more important reason he hadn't laid hands on the old lady himself.
'Does he think he has no right to punish her?'
If so, wasn't that excessive self-blame? Seongjin had heard the rough circumstances from Orden.
He had heard that Amelia's mother was a woman with very frail health. She had passed away young from tuberculosis, so no one in the capital would have expected her to leave behind even one daughter in that short time.
As a result, Amelia had suffered needlessly long outside the Holy Emperor's sight.
'But that wasn't intentional neglect, was it?'
Seongjin cautiously asked the dejected-looking Holy Emperor.
"Um, Father, do you perhaps think that God's proxy must be perfect in everything?"
The Holy Emperor slowly shook his head.
[The title of God's proxy is merely a pretext for properly wielding divine power in the world. I don't consider myself arrogant enough to mistake myself for a god.]
"No, then why do you blame yourself for something you couldn't help? If your angel-like sister knew, she'd be terribly sad. That would be the greater sin!"
Seongjin shot up from the bed in protest.
"It's more productive to do something else for your sister in that time. This continent is already full of lunatics wasting their days on pointless penance. Not that reflection is bad, but what I mean is......"
Flustered, he babbled incoherently.
A faint smile crossed the Holy Emperor's face as he listened quietly.
[Yes, Moreth. I know well that all of it is ultimately just self-satisfaction.]
"Uh......"
That didn't sound like he understood at all?
Seongjin opened his mouth to say more, but the Holy Emperor pressed his forehead down, laying him back on the bed, and spoke.
[That's why I'm doing what I can for you all like this. Now, shouldn't we turn your ice spirits into gifts the Orthodox Church can accept?]
Can accept?
"...The ice spirits defended Zigsmunt territory against the demonic beasts. Inquisitor Valerie confirmed they weren't corrupted. Plus, the capital is under God's [Grace], so as long as we bring them there safely, their safety is guaranteed, right?"
Entering the capital, forbidden to the corrupted—what more proof was needed?
The Holy Emperor slowly shook his head.
[It's not that simple, child. Glacier trolls treated as demonic beasts of the demon realm for a thousand years. The Orthodox Church will surely make an issue of it. Accepting unknown monsters with no records is one thing; this is entirely different in scale of backlash.]
He didn't explain in detail, but Seongjin somehow realized one crucial fact.
'It's because I'm the one controlling them!'
These were the people who had surrounded the Pearl Palace to summon the prince as a witness. If they learned the third prince—who was at the center of the controversy—had brought along massive demonic beasts, how would they react?
As Seongjin frowned in deep thought, the Holy Emperor dropped a bombshell.
[So, we're planning to designate the ice spirits as holy relics first.]
"...Pardon?"
Did I hear that right?
As Seongjin blinked, more unbelievable words followed.
[To back it up, we're considering the reign of one of the Five Great Holy Emperors. It's distant enough past to search records, and Granus, once a theologian, wrote in detail about glacier trolls. We're reviewing removing [Wonders of Continental Exploration] from the banned books.]
Whoa, whoa, hold on. Hold on.
Isn't the story progressing way too fast!
[Francis has already left the capital to handle this. He won't be in a good mood, so we should prepare what we can before he arrives.]
Seongjin's mouth fell open.
They're already preparing for that?
Round trip would take at least a month generously, and he could imagine the vice-captain's expression being separated from his esteemed knight commander for so long.
[If we're taking the glacier trolls as is, we might as well adjust their size and tweak their appearance a bit. Valerie had an interesting idea. Engraving the divine emblem on their chests would be a good method.]
"......"
He said he was bringing them as gifts, and to smooth the process, they're even fabricating this? Going to such lengths for mere souvenirs?
-That's why I'm doing what I can for you all like this.
But wasn't the scope of 'what I can do' ridiculously broad!
'Is this it? This is the new horizon of agitation and fabrication Siselle talked about?'
Seongjin blankly stared at the exorcist's face, his silver eyes gleaming.
Come to think of it, he had subtly seen him as a bit of an airhead, but this meticulous side was quite similar to his sister.