Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Prophecy
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“Ta-da.”
Several hours after the holy power had swept through the Opstein territory. Just as we were nearly back at the Mist Forest in the carriage with my sisters...
“W-What... is that...?”
“Eek.”
“……”
Uriel sister, who had been smiling to herself for a while, suddenly pulled something grotesque from her black mouth. My sisters and I all felt our hearts drop at once.
“It's a heart.”
And understandably so. What Uriel sister held was a heart with black liquid dripping from it.
“From that worm crawling pathetically on the floor earlier?”
No, when did she even extract that?
Could a heart really stay so lively and alive even after being separated from the body?
“...I'll have to collect this and analyze it.”
As I tilted my head in thought, Uriel sister, who had been quietly observing the heart, began muttering with gleaming eyes.
“I have a great interest in heretics with black hearts.”
“……”
“Anyway...”
Then Uriel sister turned her gaze to me and gave a faint smile.
“How are you feeling, Kairen?”
Of course, her faint smile while holding a beating heart was a bit scary, but it was so quintessentially Uriel sister that it didn't faze me much.
“……”
So after mulling over her question for a moment, I answered in a low voice.
“...It's kind of strange.”
With that, I glanced around at my sisters sitting quietly beside me.
“But still...”
I put on a bright expression and answered with all sincerity.
“Having my sisters is definitely great!”
At my words, my sisters all smiled warmly with their eyes.
“Uriel.”
But for some reason, Eldest Sister Edelasia wore a cold expression until my words ended, then spoke in an icy tone.
“Put the heart away.”
“Pardon?”
“...It's gross.”
At that, Uriel sister flinched slightly before quickly stuffing the heart back into her black mouth.
- Shiver...
But I saw it.
Eldest Sister Edelasia, who had turned her gaze from Uriel sister to the window, was trembling.
“……”
Her face pale and beaded with cold sweat—she clearly hated creepy things a lot.
“It'll be hard to return to Opstein now.”
Even so, after taking a few deep breaths while staring out the window, she regained her blank expression and spoke.
“I wanted to have a picnic...”
At that moment, the carriage finally arrived at the Mist Forest campsite and came to a stop.
“We can just do it here!”
In that situation, I hopped out of the carriage and spread my arms wide, shouting energetically.
“A picnic is a picnic as long as the family's together, no matter where!”
And the next instant.
“Correct, Kairen.”
“Whoa?”
Suddenly, slender hands wrapped around my sides and lifted me up high.
“Good job, kids.”
I was startled for a moment but soon realized it was Mother's voice from above and relaxed, turning my head.
“Huh?”
For a very brief moment, I couldn't believe my eyes.
“Ugh.”
“Ahaha...”
Lilien sister and Uriel sister seemed to react the same way.
“...!”
But Eldest Sister Edelasia was the only one whose eyes sparkled with excitement amid the scene, suddenly leaping energetically out of the carriage.
- Thud thud thud...
With hurried footsteps, she demurely sat in a spot with a teddy bear-shaped mat spread out, back straight.
“...What is she doing?”
Having finally secured her dream perfect picnic spot, she looked at us with wide, sparkling eyes and spoke.
“Picnic time.”
At the same time, Eldest Sister began slapping the spot beside her with her palm.
- Slap slap!
The mat bounced a few times from the impact, but the message was clear.
“...Let's play.”
Eldest Sister, who had been mouthing words while slapping the mat, had finally succeeded in conveying what she wanted.
“...Huh?”
“Ha...?”
Of course, the other two sisters, still not grasping the situation, wore utterly dumbfounded expressions.
“It seems there will be much to explain.”
Even so, there would be no more misunderstandings piling up between family from now on.
“But for now...”
Because there would be plenty of time together ahead.
“Let's raise a toast.”
So for now, let's enjoy this moment!
*****
Meanwhile, at that same time in Opstein territory.
“Urgh...”
The ruins of the marquisate, where the holy power pouring from the sky had finally subsided, were shrouded in a deeper silence than ever.
“U-Ugh...”
In that silence, Dorsia, still collapsed on the ground and trembling, forcibly lifted her body.
“Mom...”
In her field of vision were the traces of what had become her mother's ashes.
“...Couldn't save you.”
Dorsia, dazedly caressing those traces, soon muttered with a chilling expression.
“...After all I did for you.”
Her demeanor was far too eerie to belong to the person who had just been begging at Kairen's feet.
“You ignored me to the end.”
It wasn't just emotional volatility—it felt like the groveling had been an act from the start.
“Toy acting like...”
As she bit her nails in that state, blood began dripping from her fingers.
“Toytoy toytoy toytoy...”
Her body was still crushed, her hair disheveled into a mess—her appearance too horrific to behold.
“...I'll get revenge.”
Even so, Dorsia continued gnawing her nails, muttering darkly.
“I'll make you crawl before me for sure, Kairen...”
As she tried to force herself up again, her joints emitted grotesque sounds like turning gears.
“...Wedding games can be played without legs. Just need to keep the body.”
In the midst of that, she envisioned their inevitable future reunion with Kairen, smiling creepily.
- Step, step...
Then, at the sound of approaching footsteps from ahead, she hurriedly looked up.
“Over here!”
Naturally, no one from Belverk would return to the holy power-ravaged Opstein territory.
“I-I'm Dorsia von Opstein...!”
Convinced it must be Holy Church members come to retrieve her, she waved her broken arm joyfully.
“...Guhk?”
But what struck her was a brightly glowing spear of holy power.
“W-What are you...!”
“Incinerate the heretic.”
Before the escalating Dorsia, wracked with burning pain in her back, came a cold command.
“I-I'm on your side...!”
Desperately crawling forward at the order, she opened her mouth in injustice.
“You seem to be mistaken.”
The woman in modest yet ornate priestly robes looking down at her replied in a low voice.
“I am the mother of the faithful and the nuns.”
“...What?”
“I've never raised a heretic like you as my child.”
And the next moment.
“Aaaahhhh!”
Tremendous holy power poured onto Dorsia crawling on the ground.
“St-...op... plea...se......”
The instant she was engulfed, the horrific scorching over her body made her convulse before she lost consciousness from the pain.
“...A black heart.”
“Looks like cutting them off first was the right call.”
“The Saintess will arrive soon. What should we do?”
Black-habited nuns began surrounding her limp, unconscious form.
“……”
The priest-robed woman behind them, eyes closed, issued another cold command.
“Retrieve her.”
At the word, the nuns bowed and moved in perfect unison.
“She might serve as evidence against the Saintess.”
As the priest-robed woman added to the nuns and turned to walk away.
“...M-Mother.”
One nun securing restraints on Dorsia's arms and legs spoke in panic.
“This woman has no heart.”
“...Pardon?”
The priest-robed woman reacted gravely.
“...Huh?”
Dorsia, regaining consciousness with a dazed expression, reacted the same.
“Belverk's doing?”
“Likely.”
“Troubling. Even if the enemy of my enemy is a friend, with Belverk...”
Ignoring Dorsia, the nuns began debating gravely.
“Retrieve the body at least.”
“W-Wait... Mmph!?”
“...And it seems we'll need to meet soon.”
The priest-robed woman ordered the nuns again, gagging Dorsia, and continued softly as she walked.
“The prophecy's chosen one and the sole key.”
The nuns listening intently to her solemn words gaped at the continuation.
“...Kairen Nox Belverk.”
A brief silence followed.
“But, Mother...”
In the silence, a nun knelt urgently before the Pope and bit her lip before speaking.
“...No, Your Holiness.”
Breaking taboo by voicing the woman's hidden identity, she tried to dissuade her.
“Contacting Belverk rashly while your body is unwell from the false Saintess's schemes...”
“It's fine.”
The priest-robed woman—more precisely, one of the Holy Church's two leaders and head of the orthodox faction, the Pope—gently shook her head, cutting her off with a soft smile.
“...What's a little more dying?”
But an inescapable shadow veiled her smile.
*****
Having shown her resolve to the nuns, the Pope slowly began to walk.
“Then, Mother. Just tell me one thing.”
Her closest aide, giving up on stopping her, reverted to her usual tone and asked.
“What exactly does the prophecy say to make that child the key?”
The Pope pondered briefly before speaking softly.
“No reason not to...”
The surrounding nuns leaned in.
“The prophecy states that this world's fate hangs on that child.”
“……”
“More precisely...”
Pondering further, the Pope turned her gaze aside and spoke.
“The world's darkness will be decided by whom that child chooses as partner.”
Another brief silence.
“...However.”
In the silence, the Pope's ant-like voice resounded.
“The problem is that the child has far too many choices...”
As she continued, the nuns' mouths slowly gaped wider.
“For quick understanding, I'll share some lines from the visions I foresaw.”
“……”
“They may feel a bit scandalous...”
For these women who had lived ascetic lives devoted to doctrine without stimulation.
“...I told you it's tasteless.”
The lines emerging from the Pope's mouth were far too stimulating.
“N-Now I can't call you sister anymore...”
“……”
“...Young Master, that's how it is now.”
And the Pope voicing them felt the same.
“Finally... Sigh.”
Having lived a devout life strictly by doctrine her whole life, just like them.
“...What's good about an old lady like this.”