209. Two Stars
209. Two Stars
- 1 -
The royal capital of Hysen, the palace of Hylash.
Within the palace's conference room, the follow-up negotiations from the Tripartite War continued.
Documents concerning the ownership of the newly created occupied territories west of Hysen and war reparations lay thickly piled across the table.
Only representatives from Hysen and the Holy Kingdom sat in attendance at this gathering.
That was because the conference among the three nations would only begin once each nation's stances and compromises had been fully coordinated with the Holy Kingdom.
"That is so. How about Your Holiness the Saintess staying here for the time being? It would surely be of great help in maintaining peace among our three nations."
A dignified, stately middle-aged male voice resonated throughout the conference room.
The owner of the voice was Duke Astermark, a collateral descendant of the Hysen royal family.
Though it was merely a title inherited through bloodline with no real authority, he was a man of considerable skill who had gained the royal family's trust and had thus been appointed as the representative for these peace negotiations.
He wore a deep smile as he looked toward the Holy Kingdom's mediation delegation.
"Is that not so, Your Excellency the Bishop?"
"It is correct. Your Highness. Your Holiness. There is no need to doubt this gentleman's proposal. Your Holiness surely knows how many opportunities His Highness has offered for the sake of our holy followers."
"Hmm..."
It was, in particular, the ties of fate he possessed with the clergy that had greatly influenced this appointment.
Every year, he had donated vast sums of offerings to the Holy Kingdom, and he had built two cathedrals on his small and unremarkable territory.
For this reason, the high-ranking clergy of the Holy Kingdom regarded him as a 'devout believer.'
From Esther's perspective, it was a somewhat dubious assessment, but in any case, he was someone who had given much 'devotion' to the Holy Kingdom.
He was a man whose position even she could not ignore.
"I must now head to the Norn Empire as well. Regrettably..."
A note of discomfort crept into Esther's voice.
Her eyes, imbued with divinity, were already reflecting the heart of the person before her.
The blessing of 'Truth and Emotion Discernment.'
While it could be useful, for her it was primarily a power that caused her discomfort.
Especially at times like this, when the other person's heart was filled with worldly desires.
"I understand there is another Saintess residing in the Holy Kingdom. Could not a Saintess who has yet to be dispatched travel to another country?"
A shadow of something sinister flickered across the smile hanging on the Duke's lips.
Throughout the entire peace negotiations, he had been waiting for this moment.
Because from the instant he beheld Esther's pure beauty, he could not suppress the heat that ignited in his heart.
"But to cause such inconvenience to another..."
"Ohoho. How could that be an inconvenience? It is but help among colleagues."
The Duke's gaze passed fleetingly over Esther's face.
Deep desire dwelled within those eyes.
That gaze made Esther uncomfortable.
'He's looking at me as a woman.'
In truth, she was accustomed to such looks.
Her voluptuous figure and beauty frequently drew the eyes of many nobles.
'Am I really that attractive...?'
She simply did not know the true nature of its cause.
To her, affection between men and women was pure love, and only after entering such a relationship did the desires to be together fuse into one.
She had never imagined that people who engaged in loveless relationships could possibly harbor such thoughts even toward a Saintess.
"What say you, Your Holiness?"
At the Duke's proposal, Esther clenched her fists tightly, suppressing her displeasure.
Regardless of the other's gaze, she could not attempt to 'purify' someone simply for harboring lecherous thoughts.
The doctrine of the Holy Kingdom did not deny the natural desires of humanity.
It merely taught them to practice moderation so that those desires would not lead to grave sin.
'I will dedicate my entire life to the holy followers.'
She knew of precedents where senior Saintesses had stepped down from their position for passionate love, but Esther had never thought for a single moment that she would ever be in such a position.
Her heart was resolute.
"As I thought, I shall go to the Norn Empire and then to the Holy Kingdom..."
"Your Holiness."
But in that moment, her adjutant dispatched from the Holy Kingdom intervened.
"It is said that Saintess Clementine has already departed for the Norn Empire."
Esther immediately sensed that something was strange.
Her adjutant's words were so timely, as if they had been prepared for this very moment. Far too timely.
In any case, it was now clear that her justification for refusing the proposal had vanished in an instant.
[This time, devote more time in Hysen. Observe the movements of the central nobles, and confirm whether they are following the Holy Kingdom's doctrine well...]
Moreover, the personal letter from the Holy Emperor that had arrived a few days prior surfaced in her mind.
The Holy Emperor had commanded her to examine the situation in Hysen more deeply.
Especially regarding those forces that had risen rapidly after the war, such as the Ironfield Margrave.
'It would be nerve-wracking too, and...'
In addition to that, she herself also intended to investigate further the strange aura she felt emanating from the south of this country.
"It has turned out well. Do stay for a while and sample the culture of our Hysen. I am certain that Your Holiness will come to like our nation as well."
"Your Holiness. Now that our schedule is clear, it would be permissible to take some time for the recovery of the heart and spirit."
"...Haa."
Esther let out a sigh.
Even so, her heart did not feel heavy.
Though the Duke's gaze remained somewhat on her mind, she had her own convictions to trust.
'As long as I hold my will steady, they won't be able to do anything anyway.'
She was a Saintess of the Holy Kingdom.
On this continent, she held the most exalted position save for the Holy Emperor and the kings of each nation—a woman who possessed pure blood and a noble soul.
Whatever one's birth, from the moment one became a Saint, their body and spirit became fixed as such.
Even if the other party were a duke, or even royalty or an imperial family member, they could not dare to lay hands on her lightly.
"...Understood. I shall stay for a time."
As Esther expressed her consent, a smile spread across the Duke's lips.
Glances were exchanged among the nobles of the Holy Kingdom and Hysen, but Esther, who faced only the Hysen Kingdom's side with her head held high, did not notice their covert exchange of looks.
Just as what lies in the shadows is not visible beneath a lofty light source.
- 2 -
- That is not permissible.
The moment the cold, resolute voice of the shadow warrior rang out, the teacup trembled minutely.
The tea within sloshed as if about to spill over at any second.
"Compose yourself."
Her master furrowed his brow.
It was because the moment her emotions stirred, the demonic energy dormant within her had been inadvertently released.
In the past, such a thing would have been wholly impossible, but having weakened compared to before, she had become somewhat inexperienced even in controlling that power.
- I apologize. Your Highness.
The shadow warrior immediately prostrated herself on the spot and bowed her head.
Her master was no simple merchant.
Although he presented himself as merely the representative of a trading company, his fundamental status was that of a Prince.
As such, the task he had undertaken this time was also a crucial one.
"This is unavoidable. The Hysen side has stated they will never lower the transit tolls without a trade agreement with Kija."
The Prince's voice carried a note of resignation.
The one who had appeared before them as they sought to pioneer new trade routes was a prince of the Kija Kingdom's royal family, an ally of the Hysen Kingdom and the one slated to become the center of the new trade route.
The two nations, which had been brother nations from their founding, had recently been engaged in behind-the-scenes negotiations to merge their territories.
Moreover, recognizing the vested interests of the existing Kija royal family, whose territory bordered the coast and the capital, in the sea routes was already a settled matter.
To this end, Hysen planned to grant the northern territories of Zenota, occupied by Elena Ironfield, to the small kingdom's royal family.
After the two nations were unified.
- But, to serve drinks...
And the condition presented by that prince was precisely the shadow warrior's 'hospitality.'
Though they called it serving drinks, that 'duty' usually extended late into the night.
What the Prince of Kija sought to obtain in such a setting was all too transparent.
She was not so foolish as to not know his true intentions.
Sreung.
The shadow warrior's hand grasped the hilt of her sword. Her teardrop mark glimmered faintly before subsiding.
- What if I were to eliminate him, Your Highness?
Although she had lost her glorious position of the past, she still possessed the ability to dispose of even a noble without anyone knowing.
If she stepped forward, that noble would meet his end as if falling into a deep sleep.
"You must not."
But the Prince shook his head.
"That suggestion of his was the most moderate condition. Because among other parties' conditions, there were even demands to hand over an 'elf.'"
She lost her words and closed her mouth.
A thought crossed her mind that perhaps the conclusion had already been decided long ago.
Elves, called a blessed race across both east and west.
They were a race who lived out their entire lives bearing beautiful appearances and a high affinity for mana.
Even among the Ain races, they were among the rare few who had endured the continent's changes and survived.
But the elves of the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent had walked different paths.
She was one of the very few beings who had witnessed that difference firsthand.
'The isolationism of the elves here was at a terrifying level.'
While the elves of the Eastern Continent had chosen isolation deep within the forests, severing contact with the outside, the elves of the Western Continent had melded deeply into human society and lived among it.
They lived naturally mingling as nobles or commoners, and half-elves born from union with humans could also commonly be seen.
'There are even stories that, knowing each other's cultures, both sides despised one another...'
But that very fact was the wisdom of the Western Continent's elves.
Instead of ostracizing half-elves, they embraced them, and thanks to that, they were able to flourish even more.
- ...Either way, it is a choice of the utmost ugliness.
"What can one do? In this aspect, we are the weaker party. The Eastern Continent has many good resources."
A bitter emotion simultaneously crossed the eyes of both master and servant.
But soon, the Prince steeled his expression and spoke to her.
"You will know that I have cherished you greatly all this while."
- ...Of course, I know it well. Your Highness.
The shadow warrior answered with a bowed head.
It was the lord before her very eyes who had taken her in when she was ruined and rotting away.
A lifesaving grace that, having survived, a lifetime of repayment would still be insufficient.
But she had never once imagined that she would repay that lifesaving grace in this manner.
'Such humiliation...'
She was not human, and thus she was not obsessed with virginity.
However, she did not value it so lightly as to simply cast it away in a relationship that was not even love.
Although it was something that had vanished in the past, she was a being who had once held glory, and she had wished to obtain a process and conclusion befitting that glory.
'But there is no helping it.'
She steeled her resolve.
She knew well.
How crucial this trade deal was for the Prince, that the future of the Han Nation hung upon this very trade route.
'I did want to confirm it...'
At the same time, a different voice spoke from within her.
That this was not the path.
The voice that whispered she must go to the place of that destiny which had risen in the east, and which now pointed south.
- Even so... I will buy some time.
The words she cast out at the last were steeped in deep resignation.
A voice that betrayed her heart's wish to delay just a little longer, even while knowing it was an inevitable fate.
"I entreat you."
And to her, even while knowing the predetermined conclusion, the Prince nodded his head.
'Your Highness...'
A subtle sense of betrayal flickered through the shadow warrior's heart.
But she immediately denied that emotion.
For the devotion she had offered so far was still far too meager compared to the grace of being saved.
With her head deeply bowed, she stared down at the cooling tea.
- 3 -
While two stars were thus in danger of losing their light, the stars that had gone ahead were already making preparations for them.
"If what you say is true..., then by now they are in a less than favorable situation..."
"That's right, Shue."
At Lin Xue's words after hearing Yuran's divination results, Yuran smiled her usual dazzling smile.
But her two comrades could tell instantly.
That her smile had blossomed atop a solid resolve.
"So, I'll go ahead to the royal palace of Hysen. To lay the groundwork to protect the two of them."
"It's dangerous for you alone... Ran. A royal court is a den of demons. You know that well too."
Shue immediately restrained her, but Yuran shook her head.
"It's fine. I already contacted Talhan and Haley and made all the arrangements. You two wait for our husband and prepare to escort him to the royal castle."
For a while, the two demons stared into Yuran's golden eyes.
Not a single trace of wavering showed in those eyes of hers.
Nevertheless, Evangeline shook her head.
"I shall go as well."
"Evangeline? If the two of us leave our post..."
Yuran objected, but Evangeline stubbornly refused to relent.
Of course, she had not made the decision rashly.
"This place is now sufficient with just Lady Sonia and Shue. Judging by how the other escorts and the Queens have already been sent back, our Master's plan is also nearing its end. Even if not, it won't be much longer. And..."
The corner of her mouth drew an arc.
It was a smile imbued with longing, familiarity, and consideration.
"You're not the only one who wishes to greet them. The same goes for me."
"...Haa."
Yuran, who had been staring at Evangeline, let out a sigh.
It was one filled with both resignation and affection.
"You, too, truly. Couldn't you just bask at our husband's side while I'm away?"
"Well, that is so. But there is nothing you could do to stop me even if you were present."
"How annoying."
There was no way Yuran didn't know her true feelings, that she was on guard against even the slightest chance that she might get hurt.
Evangeline gave a sly grin, and Shue shook her head as if there was no helping it.
"You two go on ahead... I'll escort our Master and join you soon."
"Alright."
"Understood."
Evangeline adjusted the sword at her waist and began to walk slowly.
It was the darkest moment, just before the dawn broke.
While the two women stepped into the darkness of Hysen, their greatest star was shining with a brilliant light in the skies of the Demon Realm.
Their master, the one they loved, was weaving the final thread amidst the net of demonic politics.
"So, it will be soon."
The Black Fox whispered, and the hero who had been a champion merely nodded her head.
They were certain.
That their greatest master would surely return soon.