Chapter 81
Chapter: 81
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 81
>Chapter Title: Responsibility (2)
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Despite suddenly gaining another unconscious patient, the Ninnias Clinic seemed rather relieved.
“With that grim face of his, he wouldn’t leave the patient’s side—what a nuisance he was. Much better now that he’s lying there quietly.”
He beamed as he began slathering mashed herbs onto Karmen’s face, which was now visibly starting to swell.
In stark contrast, Marquis Masayn and Sir Kurt began shrinking back, glancing nervously at Sungjin.
It seemed the prince who had suddenly knocked out an imperial knight with a single blow felt utterly unfamiliar to them.
“…It’s true that the fool deserved it, Your Highness…….”
“You could’ve gone easy on him… that face of his, ahem! Ahem!”
Hey, what’s with them? I sacrificed one punch to save a poor soul.
Especially Sir Masayn—what’s with that look?
The same guy who would’ve been first in line to throw Karmen in prison if he’d actually committed blasphemy!
Just then, Sungjin’s group received an unexpected visitor seeking the patient.
Captain Katrina of the Saint Aurelion Knights.
She had rushed into the treatment room with her adjutant, Francis, in tow.
“…Captain Bruno.”
Staring at the captain in disbelief at his changed appearance, she soon adopted a heartrending expression and approached his bed. She carefully placed her hand on his shoulder and began channeling faintly glowing holy power into him.
Known for her aloof demeanor—like an iron shield serving only the Holy Emperor—she rarely showed much interest in anyone else.
Yet here she was, pouring her holy power into him with desperate prayer.
“Holy power isn’t much help against the gray plague.”
Even as Physician Ninnias tried to intervene, Katrina couldn’t pull her hand away from the captain for a long while.
Francis, watching her with a slightly sullen expression, grumbled to Sungjin.
“So that tragic commoner knight captain was this guy. I heard he was a comrade-in-arms who shared life and death with our captain. She always said they were quite close.”
That explanation only deepened Sungjin’s doubts.
Quite close?
Well, judging by Katrina’s reaction now, it made sense.
But then why hadn’t she sought out Captain Bruno until he’d reached this state?
Was it somehow related to the Holy Emperor turning his back on him?
“Anyway, what do I care? It’s all pointless ties from the past now. And yet he goes and worries our captain like this…….”
Crunch.
Sungjin, lost in thought, startled at the clear grinding sound and looked up.
This crazy war dog. You’re jealous even of a critically ill patient?
But as he raised his head, Sungjin’s eyes met Katrina’s, who happened—by chance or design—to be looking right at him.
Sungjin tilted his head.
‘Am I imagining it? Why’s she staring at me so desperately, like I’m her one lifeline? Not that I am, of course…….’
But it wasn’t his imagination.
Turning from the bed, Katrina slowly approached Sungjin and spoke with an earnestness he’d never seen before.
“Your Highness. I beg you. Please help Captain Bruno.”
“……?”
Help how?
As Sungjin puzzled over it, Katrina placed her hand on the breastplate of her light armor and bowed her head politely in formal supplication!
“No one has served Delcross with such pure devotion as he has. His loyalty to the Holy Imperial Family runs deeper than any other, so I implore Your Highness to show him mercy.”
“…….”
Even amid his bewilderment, Sungjin’s mind raced.
She surely wasn’t asking a powerless Moreth to heal him directly.
There was only one possibility.
“…You want me to personally ask Father to help him?”
Katrina didn’t reply, but her head dipping even lower confirmed it.
“Why not ask him yourself?”
Sungjin asked out of genuine curiosity.
She was his most trusted right hand, who had served at his side for so long.
He wasn’t the type to casually dismiss her requests.
But Katrina shook her head.
“That wouldn’t be enough.”
“Enough?”
“Yes, Your Highness. His Majesty can’t help everyone unconditionally just because someone pleads desperately.”
In that moment, a thought flashed through Sungjin’s mind.
One born from suspicions during the recent gray plague crisis—that the Holy Emperor might know the full truth.
If so, where should he intervene, and how far?
Sungjin had come to see the Holy Emperor as someone whose limits were hard to gauge. It was easy to unconsciously assume he was omnipotent, like the chamberlain did. If he truly willed it, what couldn’t he solve?
So where should he draw the line?
Even with just the plague as an example: knowing and curing every disease didn’t mean Delcross’s subjects could rely solely on him.
If he prevented every illness before it arose and healed every one before it worsened?
Would physicians be needed? Public hygiene?
Would anyone bother finding the plague’s true cause?
It would be a poisoned chalice. Delcross would spiral into infinite regression.
Perhaps the Holy Emperor’s recent lukewarm responses weren’t unrelated.
-His Majesty can’t help everyone unconditionally.
As Katrina said, he needed specific [conditions] to act directly.
And she was saying Sungjin himself had to meet those [conditions].
“Would my personal plea be the [condition] for Father to help the captain?”
When Sungjin asked, Katrina averted her gaze slightly and gave an enigmatic reply.
“Sometimes, just speaking words aloud can shake foundations so badly they crumble, Your Highness.”
“…….”
She couldn’t say more.
Well, still better than the Holy Emperor who’d clam up entirely.
Sungjin nodded and said,
“I was planning to ask Father about him anyway. Though I can’t be sure how much good it’ll do. As you heard, the gray plague doesn’t respond much to holy power.”
“No need to worry about that, Your Highness. The holy power from priests and His Majesty’s power may seem similar, but their paths are different.”
Confidence rang firm in Katrina’s voice. Clearly, the Holy Emperor had a way.
Sungjin nodded and rose.
No point delaying when his task was clear.
* * *
He’d originally planned just to drop by the office and make a casual request.
But as he left the treatment room, another thought struck him.
‘While I’m at it, should I just bring Captain Bruno from the start? It’s a hassle telling the Holy Emperor to come see the patient.’
The captain’s condition was worsening. The Demon King said the flame crystals in his brain were still slowly multiplying.
Even after extracting the egg, the disease hadn’t halted immediately.
Delaying treatment wouldn’t help, so he planned to shove the patient in front of the Holy Emperor the moment permission came.
‘Though he might refuse treatment…….’
Still, Sungjin had a baseless certainty—more like intuition—that the Holy Emperor would save Captain Bruno.
Thus, a peculiar procession formed: Marquis Masayn behind Sungjin, followed by the Saint Aurelion Knights’ captain and adjutant, and the palace knights carrying the litter with the gravely ill man.
The issue was how to explain this unusual group’s purpose to the inner palace guards.
But moments later, Sungjin realized it was needless worry. Upon arriving at the inner palace, Chamberlain Louis was waiting at the entrance to greet them.
He gave the pitifully laid-out captain on the litter a glance of pity, then turned and smoothly escorted the entire group to the Holy Emperor’s office. It was as if he already knew exactly why Sungjin had come.
‘Well, that’s the Holy Emperor for you. Nothing surprising.’
Sungjin shrugged and followed Louis.
“You’ve come.”
Entering the office, the Holy Emperor greeted them with his usual serene demeanor.
But his unexpected appearance made Sungjin flinch to a halt.
‘What’s with him now?’
The Holy Emperor had his head turned not toward the entrance, but in some odd direction, not even looking at Sungjin’s group.
Not looking—better to say he couldn’t. A black cloth was wrapped around his eyes like a blindfold.
Sungjin wasn’t the only one shocked. Marquis Masayn gaped dumbly, and even Francis’s eyes widened as he pushed up his glasses.
Only Katrina seemed to suspect something, approaching slowly to stand at the Holy Emperor’s side like a guard.
Bemused by the strange atmosphere in the office, Sungjin cut straight to it.
“Father, I have a request.”
“A request.”
“Yes. Could you heal someone for me? I brought a gray plague patient to the Pearl Palace yesterday. Someone you probably know well…….”
“Moreth.”
Rarely interrupting, the Holy Emperor continued in a firm tone.
“There is no need to tell me his name.”
“…….”
“Nor do I need to know his face.”
Sungjin blinked.
Ah, so that’s what the blindfold is for? No idea why, though.
“You don’t understand.”
“Honestly, no.”
“When asked why he does not see, he replied that he thus does not presume to guess beforehand where my staff points.”
“…Pardon?”
Sungjin stared blankly at the Holy Emperor’s face, and the corners of his mouth twitched upward slightly.
“…You still haven’t felt like cracking open that Introduction to Theology, have you.”
Sungjin sheepishly looked away.
Ah, so that was from the book.
“I’ve, uh, been trying to read it.”
He’d at least opened the preface.
Then slammed it shut after glimpsing the tiny, dense print that required a magnifying glass.
“Good. That suffices.”
Sungjin had braced for a scolding about studying, but surprisingly, the Holy Emperor nodded indifferently. He slowly extended one hand forward and directed.
“Bring him here.”
The palace knights, who’d been rolling their eyes until then, finally stirred into hesitant motion after Sungjin’s glance.
Soon, the litter bearing Captain Bruno was placed before the Holy Emperor. He lowered his hand deliberately, as if gauging, and touched the captain’s chest. Sungjin clearly saw his lips twist faintly.
Why did Katrina’s heartrending expression from earlier suddenly come to mind?
Caught in that odd feeling, Sungjin heard the Holy Emperor sigh softly and speak.
“Is he important to you?”
It felt like some ritual beginning.
Whatever the procedure, affirming his questions unconditionally seemed key to proceeding.
After a moment’s thought, Sungjin answered.
“He is one I value greatly.”
The next question followed immediately.
“Is saving him the right thing to do?”
That one was easy.
“He is a man of reputation who has suffered unduly beyond his merits, so he ought to be saved.”
Then came the third.
“Can you bear the consequences?”
“…….”
This question carried a different weight, so Sungjin hesitated, deep in thought.
Could anyone truly bear another’s life, their entire existence?
‘No, that’s not it. It’s just a formality to pass. Think simply.’
Sungjin gathered his thoughts and nodded.
He was prepared to take responsibility for Captain Bruno’s livelihood and welfare after recovery anyway.
“His past misfortunes stem from my fault, so his future shall be my responsibility as well.”
At that exact moment.
The Holy Emperor and Katrina simultaneously curved their lips into faint smiles, as if twins.
Sungjin realized something.
Katrina Valfaine. Known as the Holy Emperor’s sturdiest shield, but perhaps more truly his mirror.
“Very well, Moreth.”
The Holy Emperor’s calm voice continued.
“From this moment, he belongs wholly to your karma.”
With that declaration.
A blinding white light erupted from the Holy Emperor’s fingertips.