Chapter 129
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: A Pact
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‘What should I do?’
He couldn’t reveal his identity.
Even if he wanted to, it was impossible.
Causality made it impossible for him to reveal his original identity.
Besides, she wouldn’t accept clumsy words of comfort from a complete stranger.
Above all, Chris knew instinctively.
Olivia’s heart was in no state to be moved by a few simple words.
He could feel the fortified walls she had erected around it.
‘I had hoped she was doing well.’
Chris let out a sigh.
He had no choice.
He decided on a drastic measure.
“I asked what brings you here.”
“Ah. I came out of curiosity.”
“…What did you say?”
A thoroughly infuriating smile appeared on Chris’s lips.
“I heard this is where that pathetic fool, the Cursed Prince, used to live. I was curious to see if he truly was the seed of a demon.”
“!!”
Olivia’s face flushed red with anger.
“How dare you! Take that back and apologize, right now.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I’ll drag you to my brother’s grave and force you to your knees to apologize.”
Harsh words, uncharacteristic of Olivia.
But it wasn't an empty threat.
A cloud-like white radiance began to emanate from Olivia’s body.
An intense energy that made his skin tingle with tension.
‘Was Olivia’s power always this strong?’
He never knew, as Olivia had never revealed her power in any way during their childhood.
Just from the power she was revealing now, she was at least a 4-Star.
‘Though her abilities are geared more toward support than combat.’
Olivia’s power was different from that of a knight or a mage.
It was the power of an awakened one who had inherited the Holy Blood.
‘That power is the key to resolving this situation.’
For reference, awakening the Holy Blood was so rare that only one member of the Arhen royal family of the Law Nation managed it every few generations.
Therefore, Olivia was currently the only one who could use the power of the Holy Blood.
“I don’t understand why you’re so angry. I’m just calling a fool a fool.”
“You…!!”
Just as Olivia, unable to hold back, pulled out a small staff and pointed it at Christian.
“He died without saying a word, even after being falsely accused. That makes him a fool, doesn’t it?”
Olivia froze.
“What… what do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said. I heard the Cursed Prince was born having conceived the seed of a demon.”
Chris shrugged and looked around the room.
“I don’t sense any lingering traces of a demon here.”
“……”
Olivia swallowed hard.
“H-How would you know that? No one can recognize the traces of a demon.”
She was right.
No holy knight or inquisitor could recognize the traces of a demon by sight alone.
This was because demons concealed them with their authority.
‘This is why so many innocent people become victims. Since it’s impossible to tell from the outside, they accuse the innocent of being demon worshipers, torture them into false confessions, and burn them at the stake.’
In a way, Chris was one of those victims.
Although no demonic energy was ever detected from Chris, the people of the Law Nation had simply assumed the demon had hidden its traces.
“Our Dark Magic House has a secret art for discerning demonic energy. Even using that method, I can’t feel any energy left by the seed of a demon.”
A lie.
No such method existed.
Such a secret art would be developed around the middle of the Age of Ruin to root out the demon worshipers hiding throughout the Alliance, but it didn’t exist yet.
“Besides, don’t you already know, Princess?”
Chris smiled faintly.
“That the Cursed Prince actually had nothing to do with demons.”
“!!”
“You knew, which is why you’ve fallen into such despair, isn’t it? The guilt of being unable to save him.”
Clang!
The staff she was holding fell to the floor.
Olivia’s face was pale as she opened and closed her lips, unable to utter a single word.
That’s right.
Olivia knew.
But she couldn’t save Chris.
She was still too young and lacked the power to save him.
Finally, a tear streamed down from the corner of Olivia’s eye.
“…So what are you trying to say?”
Olivia growled.
“Who are you to talk so high and mighty?!”
It was a cry that sounded like a wail.
Seeing his sister like this, a pang of pain shot through Chris’s chest, but he couldn’t help it.
Right now, he had to get her to move, no matter what.
Even if it meant hurting her.
For Olivia’s sake.
Not just to prevent her ruin.
But also for her wounded heart.
This process was necessary now so that she wouldn’t be completely broken by the terrible truth she would later face.
“It’s just frustrating to see you wallowing in sadness.”
“What do you know…!”
Chris said abruptly.
In a different tone than before.
“Don’t you want to uncover the truth?”
In that instant, the surroundings fell silent.
Olivia’s eyes widened.
“What… do you mean?”
“If the Cursed Prince had no connection to demons, then someone must have framed him. Isn’t that right?”
“……”
Olivia swallowed hard.
A voice, like a demon’s whisper, reached her ears.
“If you so desire, I will use my power to uncover the truth. I may not look it, but I am a man of many talents. However.”
Thud.
Chris took a step forward.
The distance between them closed, and Olivia stared at him with vacant eyes.
Chris raised a finger and wiped away the tears streaming from Olivia’s eyes.
A low voice flowed out softly.
“Are you prepared to face the truth? No matter how ugly it may be.”
“!!”
Olivia’s eyes wavered.
From within the shadows.
She could see Christian’s blood-red eyes, glowing as they sank into darkness.
Pupils that held an inexplicable pain.
“What… do you mean by that? An ugly truth?”
Olivia asked, as if she couldn’t understand.
‘Olivia probably still doesn’t know that the Pope was the mastermind who framed my mother.’
When Chris’s mother was framed as a servant of a demon, the Pope, of course, had not acted directly.
Above all, the Pope had always presented himself as a good father to Olivia. Unlike with Chris, he had loved Olivia as his daughter.
So Olivia was unaware that her father was such a horrific monster.
Not yet.
‘Perhaps it would be better for Olivia if she never knew.’
But that was impossible.
At the end of this incident, Olivia would have to face the brutal truth.
“…Can you really uncover the truth?”
“Of course. My abilities are more than sufficient. However, there is a condition.”
“What is it?”
“First, you must personally cooperate in uncovering the truth behind this Arrayed Black Death.”
Olivia nodded.
She had been turning away in despair, but it was something she naturally had to do.
“Is that all?”
“Of course not. The second condition is what I truly desire.”
Something in his tone made Olivia’s expression harden.
“What on earth is the condition?”
Chris just stared at her for a moment.
As confusion spread across Olivia’s blue eyes.
Chris spoke.
“Form a ‘pact’ with me.”
* * *
“!!”
Olivia’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.
“What are you talking about? A pact, all of a sudden?”
“Ah, please don’t misunderstand. I’m proposing this because I wish to join hands with you, Princess.”
A pact was, literally, a promise imbued with a mutual oath.
If one were to break the terms of the promise, they would pay a great price, making it powerfully binding.
The contents of a pact could be anything.
From a simple contract to a lovers’ vow, a master-servant relationship, and so on.
The one Chris was proposing was an ‘alliance.’
‘I’ll have more business to attend to within the Alliance from now on, so I need someone who can be a source of strength for me there.’
Olivia was the perfect candidate.
If this incident concluded well, Olivia would become one of the most esteemed individuals in the Alliance.
Of course, Olivia’s reaction was not favorable.
“…Do you really think I would accept that condition?”
Chris was a Majin.
A figure who stood in direct opposition to Olivia, the Saintess.
Aside from that, this was the first time she had ever met him.
On what grounds was she supposed to form such a pact with him?
“I’m not asking you to decide right now. You can watch me closely as we resolve this incident together and then decide.”
“……”
“I assure you, Princess, you will come to trust me.”
Olivia furrowed her delicate brow at his confident words.
‘How unpleasant.’
In truth.
When Olivia first encountered Christian, she felt a shock so great it felt like her heart had stopped.
Though he was a complete stranger, she felt a sharp pain, as if her chest were being torn apart.
It was incomprehensible.
‘Is it because his name is the same as my brother’s?’
That made no sense.
Besides, her brother Chris and the Majin before her shared no resemblance at all.
If she had to find something, it was that they were both handsome.
That they were smooth talkers?
That they were geniuses?
‘If my brother had grown up in a proper environment, he would have become such a wonderful person that this infuriating man wouldn't even compare.’
The thought of Chris resurfaced, and Olivia’s heart ached.
She was the only one in this world who knew just how incredible Chris, who had been scorned as the seed of a demon, truly was.
Above all, her brother Chris was a warm and good person. Comparing him to this infuriating Majin was an insult.
- I’m always grateful for your help.
Chris always said that to Olivia, but it wasn’t true.
It was always she who received help.
Olivia recalled her past with Chris.
Their first meeting was by chance.
‘I was crying and running away from the pressure when I happened upon the tower where he lived.’
In her childhood.
Olivia carried a heavy burden on her shoulders.
She was, after all, an awakened one of the Holy Blood, the first to appear in a hundred years.
Everyone in the Law Nation wanted her to awaken an even stronger holy power, and she had to spend every single day honing her abilities.
Without a moment’s rest.
With the expectations of everyone on her shoulders.
For her, not even ten years old, the pressure was suffocating.
Her brother, whom she happened to meet while floundering in the agony of feeling trapped behind bars, had said to her with a blank face.
- You can rest here before you go.
Why?
Why did those words move her heart so?
In front of the brother she had just met, Olivia burst into tears.
After that, Olivia often went to see Chris, and each time, Chris would silently offer her a seat beside him.
If not for that warmth, Olivia would have crumbled under the pressure of her childhood.
That wasn’t all.
Chris had also saved her life. Several times, in fact.
30%.
That was the probability of an awakened one of the Holy Blood fully awakening their powers in the end.
Just because one awakened the Holy Blood didn’t mean they could handle the power smoothly.
The power of a Celestial was an extremely difficult authority for a human to wield.
One wrong step in the middle, and it was common for the power to go berserk or for the body to collapse from within, leading to death.
In particular, there was never more than one awakened one of the Holy Blood per generation.
So, one had to learn how to handle the power entirely on their own, without anyone’s help.
Olivia, too, had faced a near-death crisis, and it was Chris who had helped her then.
- That… the energy below your navel, with the energy gathered in your right shoulder…
It was truly incomprehensible.
Chris knew how to handle the authority of a Celestial.
When she asked, he said he just knew instinctively. That he could just see how the energy should move.
It was then that Olivia first realized Chris was no ordinary being.
Thanks to him, Olivia survived the crisis of death, and such incidents repeated several times.
If not for Chris, Olivia would have been dead long ago.
The grace she received from Chris didn’t end there.
As a Saintess, she couldn’t share her heart with anyone. He had been a friend by her side when she was alone, providing her with mental comfort.
And when she grew up and despaired upon realizing the horrific reality of the Law Nation, which was so different from her ideals, it was Chris who helped her get a firm grip on her heart.
She still couldn’t forget the sound of the whistle music Chris played by rolling up a leaf to comfort her when she was down.
There were countless other things she had received from Chris.
That was why.
That was why Olivia missed Chris so dearly.
Chris was not just her older brother.
He was her benefactor, her teacher, her pillar of support, her friend, and her everything.
‘And yet, I let him die.’