The Elders' Divine Revelation
Anna and her fellow nuns narrowed their eyes, wearing gentle, knowing smiles.
“It’s not like that!”
“Rowan, Ellara’s been stuck to you like glue all this time… so that’s how it was, huh?”
“N-no!”
“Look at how red his face is.”
“Aaaargh!!”
Rowan bolted toward Babil Hill.
“Anna, Rowan must be really embarrassed.”
“Of course he is. Everyone knew the two of them would end up married.”
“They even share the same birthday. And Ellara was always searching for Rowan like her life depended on it.”
“Yes… if only Lord Oberon hadn’t passed away like this…”
More importantly, the Great Elder and the other elders were deep in serious deliberation.
The cult did not run on loose whims. The council of elders functioned like the future strategy room of a massive corporation. No matter the situation, the elders always prepared at least two contingency plans to ensure the cult’s expansion never stalled. If the primary plan never came to pass, it was discarded. Essentially, it was their Plan B.
The elders had prepared up to a third, fourth, and even fifth plan for every scenario.
Plan 1: The son born from the Holy Mother inherits the position. In case of multiple sons, priority would be determined. Discarded after the Holy Mother’s death from illness.
Plan 2: The third Cult Leader to succeed Oberon may be a recognized bastard son. Discarded upon the Cult Leader’s death.
Plan 3: Select one of the elders’ sons as the next Cult Leader and marry him to Ellara. The smallest age gap between any elder’s son and Ellara is fifteen years. Even if the marriage were to take place when she came of age… it would be the kind of thing that would get someone called a predator back in Korea. No matter how common polygamy was in this monarchy, it was ethically difficult to justify.
And now, something that wasn’t even in Plan 4 or Plan 5 had occurred: the man Ellara herself had chosen was about to ascend as Cult Leader. This issue had returned to the elders as a grave agenda.
In the elders’ meeting chamber, Great Elder Cornelius, seated at the head of the round stone table, spoke in a heavy voice.
“Through Lady Ellara’s choice, Rowan has become both the next Cult Leader candidate and her fiancé. I wish to hear the esteemed opinions of the elders on this matter.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Elder Borin slammed his fist on the table.
“Rowan?! Rowan as Cult Leader?! This is preposterous! He was raised by the nuns from infancy. How could someone like him possibly—”
“I agree. Rowan is an orphan of heaven. No matter that he is the child of martyrs, his parents were serfs. If a commoner becomes Cult Leader, the faithful will feel humiliated and leave us.”
Elder Cassian, seated across from them, spoke to Borin and the others.
“Borin, Caret. Have you considered why the Great Elder would listen to Lady Ellara’s opinion and even convene this meeting? Great Elder Cornelius values the honor of our order above all. There must be a reason, don’t you think?”
Elder Theron nodded in agreement with Cassian.
“Hmm. Let us hear Elder Cornelius’s thoughts. He must have his reasons. Why did you take Lady Ellara’s choice of Rowan so seriously?”
All eyes around the round table turned toward Great Elder Cornelius.
“During the Cult Leader’s funeral rites, I offered prayers to Wessel. And I received an answer… This matter is not born of human will. It is a revelation from Wessel himself. How could we mortals dare question the choice of a god?”
Borin asked incredulously, “A revelation from Wessel?”
“Think about it. Why, at the very moment our Cult Leader ascended due to an unfortunate accident… why, of all people, would the pure Lady Ellara—who possesses no spiritual power—name Rowan, who bears the most sacred ability in our entire order? Do you truly believe all of this is mere coincidence?”
As was common with those deeply devoted to religion, everything was interpreted to fit their narrative. Cornelius’s eyes gleamed sharply. Like a true fanatic.
“Have you seen that child’s eyes? That deep, tranquil abyss that cannot possibly belong to a thirteen-year-old… We should have realized it the moment he perfectly memorized the cult’s scriptures in a single reading. How could that be the mind of an ordinary genius? It is proof that divine wisdom dwells within him!”
“Ooh…”
“That does make sense.”
The elders nodded. Gradually, the mood among them shifted toward approval. Elder Cassian, who had been leaning toward supporting the engagement, added his voice to the Great Elder’s.
“Indeed. Perhaps even the fact that Rowan’s parents martyred themselves for the previous Cult Leader was a sacred sacrifice meant to bring about this holy descent.”
“Cassian! Exactly. The late Cult Leader Oberon was great, but in his final years he fell into debauchery and strayed from the divine path. Merciful Wessel… has taken him back to purify the cult! And has chosen Rowan—the true saint who has shown us miracles since he was a mere infant—as the new vessel!”
Borin and Caret, who had been in the opposition, now nodded along.
“In any case, the legitimate bloodline belongs to Ellara. We will raise Rowan as a symbolic figure.”
“So there was such profound meaning behind it… We shall follow the will of the Great Elder. Glory to Wessel…”
“Glory to Wessel!”
“Let us pray!”
The meeting concluded with the five elders offering prayers to bless Rowan.
The grand hall, where the funeral had not yet fully concluded. Only Ellara remained, keeping vigil beside Oberon’s portrait.
Rowan held out a bowl of rice porridge loaded with spinach and carrots.
“Eat. You’ll collapse at this rate.”
“…I have no appetite.”
“Eat anyway. If you starve during your growth period, you’ll end up with nutritional deficiencies… You’re already skin and bones. At least you should grow taller. You’ll regret it later.”
The one who truly wanted to cry was Rowan. Who the hell wants to be the leader of a damn cult?!
Rowan had assumed the elders would never allow the engagement because of his commoner status. Yet rumors had begun to circulate that they were reviewing it positively. And now the nuns were moving in droves to prepare for the Cult Leader’s inauguration ceremony.
The cult operated like a corporation. The Cult Leader served as the public face, while the elders acted as shareholders. The “shares” were the believers who followed each elder. In other words, though invisible, the cult was divided into six major factions.
Regardless, once the council of elders made a decision, it had to be followed. Refusal would lead to a people’s trial with no exceptions—even for a child. There were no laws here to protect minors, nor any experts like Dr. Oh to look after them. It would almost be better if they just kicked him out. But if it went to trial, he could face summary execution like the heretics.
Rowan stared straight at Ellara and asked, a hint of resentment in his eyes.
“Why me?”
Ellara’s small, dainty lips slowly moved.
“Everyone else… scares me. But you…”
“What’s so scary? Am I not scary?”
“You don’t have any interest in me. People who approach me trying to win my favor are scary. They seem like demons.”
“That’s not trying to win favor… it’s just being kind because you’re the Cult Leader’s daughter. Once you start suspecting people, there’s no end to it. I’m the one who regularly deals with the heretics, aren’t I? So even now, if you just chose Elder Garrett’s son instead—”
“He’s not a heretic!”
A single teardrop rolled down Ellara’s plump cheek.
“If even you disappear… I’ll feel like I’m all alone…”
“Hey… I need to get out of here.”
“Why do you want to leave… I won’t let you.”
Had Ellara already come to see Rowan as family? As someone she could not live without?
Just as Rowan felt a pang of disappointment on days when Ellara didn’t come to Babil Hill…
Rowan stared deeply into her eyes and spoke. He was attempting his final bastion—‘persuasion’—but—
“Marrying me will be exhausting, you know? I can’t promise I’ll never get my hands dirty. We might fight every single day. Playing together and living together are completely different… It could take years—maybe even decades—for us to truly understand each other. Or we might break up before then…”
Ellara took it as a proposal.
And then.
“That’s fine! Mother said the Holy Mother must command the nuns! She said I need to become familiar with water…! Rowan. I’m going to become the Holy Mother. Someone respected by the believers, like a mother to all of them… That’s what Father said I should be.”
He had seen her sincerity. The way her tiny fist was clenched so solemnly.
Rowan realized how devastated Ellara would be if he left.
“I lose. Fine. Cult Leader. I’ll give it a shot, damn it.”
“Really?”
“First, eat your food. You have to eat if you want to become the Holy Mother or whatever.”
“Rowan…”
Ellara held out the back of her hand to him.
“Hm?”
“Kiss it. Then I’ll eat.”
Rowan couldn’t hide his bewilderment. A kiss on the back of the hand at a time like this? The gesture was used not only for greetings but also to express respect, encouragement, or comfort. Having performed roughly two thousand such kisses since the age of seven, Rowan naturally took Ellara’s hand.
After all, he couldn’t let her keep starving herself after she had refused both food and drink.
Chu.
“Rowan, now it’s just the two of us.”
Rowan slightly revised his plan to escape the cult.