Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: I Am on the Lord's Side
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“In truth, countless people have tried to save my sister under my father’s pressure over the years. Some were promised wealth, others power, and there were even those who tricked my father, took the money, and fled. None of them succeeded in treating her, and they were all chased away after a single meal.”
The prince, seated across from me, slowly opened his mouth.
Archbishop Armata had told us to talk among ourselves as young friends and left, but in truth, I had nothing to say to the prince.
Our lives and the worlds we lived in were different, and we clearly didn’t know each other. There was no common ground to spark a conversation.
So I felt a bit relieved when the prince spoke first.
“Among them was the Saintess Sestine of the Holy Church of Hillai from the Papal State. As the saintess chosen by the Goddess of Healing, Hillai, no one on earth can surpass her in healing.”
“So my father made considerable concessions to the Papal State to bring her here, but even she failed. This is just my opinion, but...”
The prince placed both hands on the table and quietly looked at me before continuing.
“I don’t think Priest-nim’s personal abilities surpass Saintess Sestine’s. How much superior can one person be to another? The difference in that ability—where you could succeed and she couldn’t—must surely come from the one standing behind you.”
I just smiled faintly. I had thought about it a lot and pondered deeply.
If He hadn’t chosen me, what would I have been? Just a boy from a rural village, nothing special. That’s all I would have been. So I’d always wondered.
Why did the Lord choose me? Why me, of all people?
Did He see something in me that I couldn’t? Or was it just a random choice?
I was curious, but I left the answer as a question. The Lord surely had His reasons, and what I needed to pursue wasn’t the truth but helping those in need of divinity.
But the Lord was far greater than I had imagined, while I, looking back at myself, was just an ordinary child with nothing special.
It was inevitable that I wondered even more what He had seen in me to choose me.
“I don’t know why someone like Priest-nim has sided with my sister, but do you know this? Whatever she can offer you, I can offer too. There’s no reason for us to be on opposing sides.”
“You consider the princess to be on the other side, Your Highness.”
“Well... I’ll just say that I wasn’t the one who drew the line first.”
A hint of passion mixed into the prince’s words. For a fleeting moment, he couldn’t control his anger, letting it seep into his voice. It wasn’t just a matter of poor sibling relations.
There must have been some secret history between them that I didn’t know.
“Priest-nim. I don’t think you’ve fully committed to my sister yet. So why board a sinking ship?”
“I said that whatever she can give you, I can give anything. If you’ve already aligned your ships, I can’t match that, but a noble person like Priest-nim surely hasn’t shared her bed.”
I won’t deny it. Right now, I was closer to the princess’s side than the prince’s.
I knew that to others, it might look like I had grabbed her line. But tearing others down and picking sides wasn’t my role. It wasn’t what the Lord desired of me, nor what I desired of myself.
“I am solely on the Lord’s side.”
A priest must engrave only the Lord’s image in their heart and live following His teachings.
Even if He doesn’t answer others’ prayers, He answers this foolish body’s prayers because I live according to His will.
If it aligns with His will, I can side with anyone, but if not, no reward can sway me.
“And my Lord holds no prejudice against Your Highness. Does it seem like He favors the princess over you?”
A thread of holy power left my hand and flowed toward the prince. Tasting the gentle holy power, the prince started to say something but closed his mouth.
“Your Highness. Just as the sun rises wherever our feet tread. In the demon world where those demons live, in the North Pole where Grimudo resides, in the great southern volcanoes, in the elves’ great forests, and even in this imperial palace—day comes to us all. Each time, the sun in the sky shines upon us.”
“The sun does not shine preferentially on one place. It does not bestow its light on only one nation. That is my Lord. Though people hope for and pursue a special god who cares only for themselves, their faction, or their country, to Him, such standards are like lines drawn in the dirt by a child. If I may be so bold, to Him, both Your Highness and the princess are merely humans.”
Sometimes I wonder why He proclaimed Himself the God of Hope.
There was a time I thought the Lord was born from the gathered hopes of people. Like how the wishes and grudges of those yearning for tomorrow in despair coalesce to birth a death god, perhaps the aspirations condensed to forge His independent divinity.
Because I knew that the Heavenly God Aldehir was born in such a way.
That’s why, among the Five Great Gods, He is special. Born from humanity’s longing for the heavens, their wishes, and their thirst to explore the mysteries of the firmament.
I thought my Lord was similar, but now I’m not sure. The more I try to understand Him, the deeper my dilemmas grow.
“Then it would be best if such a being stayed in the heavens forever.”
Prince Edmund warned me. He didn’t raise his voice or shout.
His tone didn’t grow louder at all, and he showed no anger, speaking calmly, but it was undoubtedly a warning. I wasn’t so oblivious as to miss it.
“Priest-nim. As people walk the earth, they face rain and wind, and sometimes their bodies don’t obey their hearts. I understand your intent, but I am deeply worried. In the quagmire of politics, who can maintain absolute neutrality?”
“Your Highness’s words are not wrong. Unless one ascends entirely from the earth, one cannot escape the fray of right and wrong. As a human myself, I too may sometimes lean one way.”
No need to look far. I healed the princess who came to me and gave her a chance at life. That in itself isn’t bad, but the prince probably wants me dead now.
Saying I didn’t know she was the princess is meaningless. The fact that I saved her remains unchanged.
With the outcome set, what came before holds no reason or meaning to discuss. In his eyes, I am already on the other side.
“But what I want to say is this: I know exactly where I stand. I am the Lord’s person. No matter which side I stand on or what I do, I always prioritize His will.”
“Aren’t you afraid? Everyone around us right now is my person.”
The prince lowered his voice, whispering quietly.
“I’m agonizing over it now. Such an opportunity may never come again for me. So, tell me. How should I treat Priest-nim?”
“Treat me as your heart leads you.”
“Even if I say that if you don’t cross over, I’ll consider you an enemy—your resolve truly won’t waver?”
“If one hasn’t cast aside fear and fixed the center of life on the Lord, how could they be called a priest?”
The subtle threat in his voice was something not even worth considering.
As the prince opened his mouth to speak again, a strong light flashed behind me. It wasn’t my halo or something bestowed by the Lord. Like the midday sun, a brilliant light blazed with intense heat.
The prince, reflexively covering his eyes as if blinded, said in surprise.
“The sun...?”
Turning around, in a light so dazzling it could blind, Roca had stopped eating her egg pudding and was glaring at the prince.
The small sun-like form that appeared behind her was ready to unleash powerful force.
“Your Highness. Just a moment...”
A woman who seemed to be his guard knight approached the prince’s side and whispered something in his ear. Only then did the prince sigh and rise from his seat.
He pushed his chair back and stood.
With utmost restraint. But he couldn’t hide his anger.
“Very well. It seems the conclusion is already drawn. Then I won’t take more of Priest-nim’s time.”
He walked away from me with complicated steps. Roca, having finished her egg pudding, wiped her mouth with a napkin and finally approached me. The child hesitated before speaking.
“There are so many strong people here.”
Of course. This was the center of the empire’s power.
Undoubtedly, it crawled with countless experts. Roca seemed much stronger now, but she was still far from making a big splash in the capital.
“This is the capital.”
“If the people that man brought had tried to harm Master, I couldn’t have protected you. I want to get stronger. How can I get stronger?”
I didn’t ask why she wanted to get stronger. In a world where power is the right to speak, it was obvious.
Especially for this child, who had lived that life more than most. A world where she couldn’t raise her voice without power.
“Roca.”
But no matter how much that world dyes a person black.
Even if one can’t remain pure white, they must not turn completely black. Even if it means compromising with the world, one must remain gray to protect oneself.
“Sit here for a moment, will you?”
So I wanted to tell her a story.
Excluding the Lord and the angel-nim, the strongest being I had ever seen on earth.
A sage who held immeasurable wisdom. But one who became the Demon King.
I hoped Roca wouldn’t repeat the tale of that foolish one dwelling in the North Pole.
“Long ago, there was a man who suffered a great wound.”
Recalling the past he himself had told us, I began the old tale.
Humans are foolish, and history repeats. But the foolish learn nothing from experience, while the wise learn and awaken from history.
I’m not saying Roca is foolish, but
I wanted Roca to become a wise person.
“When even his most precious ones turned their backs on him, he pursued power so it would never happen again. In the end, he became stronger than anyone, but now no one stands beside him.”
At the very least, I hoped she wouldn’t become like that one in the North Pole.
Just my wish, nothing more.
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