Episode 106
“How do you know something only Chelon would know?”
There was only one answer. Elonia was Chelon. There was no other explanation.
But she couldn’t tell him the truth.
She had blurted it out, trying to snap him out of his panic attack, and now she couldn’t think of an excuse.
“Is it difficult to answer?”
‘Obviously.’
Caroline might have kept her secret, but Lucius was the apostle, a Heilan citizen.
She had been surprised when he had mentioned Chelon saving him, but she hadn’t expected him to remember the details of his imprisonment.
No one remembered their diaper days, no matter how intelligent they were. How could Lucius remember so vividly, even if it was a traumatic experience?
And no one could have told him. As he had said, only he and Elonia knew about the box.
Lucius, seeing her reluctance to answer, changed his question.
“How did you sneak into the prayer meeting?”
“I’m sure you already know, Apostle.”
“…You used Noah Anglores.”
As expected, Noah had regained her senses. Setting fire to the prayer altars meant she was siding with Ravanta.
And Count Rossi’s brainwashing might have been broken as well.
Lucius removed his cape.
“W-what are you doing?”
Elonia, startled by his unexpected action, stammered. Lucius calmly gestured to his exposed neck.
“You’re here to kill me, aren’t you?”
“…What?”
“You heard about the apostle from Lady Anglores. Kill me.”
“Are you crazy?”
Elonia’s voice rose in anger, but Lucius remained impassive. In fact, he seemed almost relieved.
This was his chance.
He wanted to die, to escape this life.
But Felix’s promises, Tristan’s false hope, and the life Chelon had given him had always held him back.
“You’re here to kill me. And I’m the one who started the fire, so if you kill me, things will quiet down for a while.”
And dying at the hands of someone who resembled Chelon wouldn’t be so bad.
He owed her his life, after all.
“This was my destiny. It’s just happening a little sooner than expected.”
Lucius was only afraid of the dark and confined spaces.
He didn’t want to be hurt, but he wasn’t afraid of death. That was why he was offering his neck so readily.
Elonia, seeing his willingness to die, felt a surge of anger.
“Why do you think I saved you? I had a chance to kill you earlier.”
“Ah, you need information. I’ll tell you everything I know. Ask me anything.”
“That’s not the point!”
“…?”
Lucius couldn’t understand her anger.
Her face darkened, her voice sharp.
“If you were truly willing to die, I wouldn’t have hesitated. I wouldn’t have felt guilty about triggering your trauma!”
“…I don’t understand. I’m offering you both information and my life. What more do you want?”
“Because I—”
“You…?”
Because I’m the one who saved you.
Because you recognized me and tried to save me, allowing me to escape that box.
You’re my savior, just like I was yours.
The words almost slipped out.
Elonia ran a hand through her hair, frustrated, and slumped to the ground.
She gestured for Lucius to sit down.
“Sit.”
“…”
Lucius, his face filled with unspoken questions, sat down obediently.
Elonia’s appearance, altered by the age-changing spell, reminded him of Chelon, her increased height making the resemblance even more striking.
“…Is that magic?”
“Obviously.”
“…Brown hair.”
Elonia, her cheeks flushing slightly, turned away.
But Lucius’s gaze was fixed on her hair.
He remembered everything from his life, from the moment he was born.
He had been granted the divine power of perfect recall, unable to forget anything.
So he remembered Chelon vividly, as if he had seen her yesterday.
She had been covered in blood, her blond hair stained brown, but the increasing number of similarities between her and Elonia was unsettling.
Elonia’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Lucius, I’ll be honest. I know more about Heilan than you think. A Heilan deserter came to me.”
A deserter? How could a deserter end up working for the princess? It was both plausible and absurd. Lucius’s jaw dropped slightly.
“But even he doesn’t know about Tristan. But he does know that the god you’re talking about isn’t a real god.”
Elonia reached out, her hand capturing his gaze.
“Who is this Tristan?”
Lucius’s pulse quickened.
And as if reciting a memorized script, his mouth moved against his will.
“He is… a true god. A god you shouldn’t speak of so lightly.”
“Don’t lie. A god who relies on brainwashing tools?”
“That’s…”
Lucius wanted to look away, but Elonia’s grip, though seemingly light, was unbreakable.
“I know that the Theology Department has fallen into Heilan’s hands, and that there’s no God of Resurrection in Heilan’s history. Tell me who he is, what his motives are, and why you’re pretending to be his apostle.”
“…I can’t answer that—”
“Tell me. Then I can help you.”
Elonia’s unwavering gaze silenced him.
Help him?
That was impossible.
Even he, with his divine power, couldn’t defy Tristan.
Elonia, as if seeing through his doubts, pleaded with him, her voice filled with sincerity,
“I’ll help you escape Heilan. You don’t want to be part of Felix’s plot, do you?”
“…Why do you think that?”
“If you were truly loyal to Felix, you would have offered me your neck without hesitation.”
He should have tried harder to hide his true feelings. The thought of finally escaping this life had made him careless.
Lucius averted his gaze, his red lips moving soundlessly as he struggled internally.
After a long moment, he finally slumped in defeat, then took a deep breath and looked up at her.
His red eyes met hers. He finally spoke,
“I don’t know who Tristan is. But…”
“But?”
Elonia leaned closer, anticipating his next words. But his response only brought disappointment.
“I can guarantee this. Even if Chelon Heilan were alive, she couldn’t kill him.”
“…Even with the help of a Sword Master?”
“Not even Emperor Artius, or me, with my apostle’s power, could defeat him. Do you still want to challenge him?”
Lucius’s gaze was serious, almost pleading.
Elonia had never met anyone stronger than herself.
She couldn’t imagine it, but she wouldn’t have come this far if she backed down from a challenge.
“Of course. I’ll send him and Felix straight to hell.”
“…Why are you so determined, even though you know it’s dangerous?”
“I killed Professor Natalie.”
Elonia replied without hesitation.
Lucius frowned. Natalie… as far as he knew…
“I killed her while trying to uncover Tristan’s identity. So I have to see this through, to make sure her death wasn’t in vain.”
Elonia seemed to believe she was responsible for Natalie’s death. Lucius tested her.
“Professor Natalie wasn’t a close acquaintance of yours, Your Highness.”
“But she was a citizen of Ravanta. My citizen. And I killed her. So I have to make sure this never happens again, even if it means risking my life.”
“…”
Lucius had always thought Elonia resembled Chelon.
But for the first time, he thought she was different.
Chelon had been an ordinary person, a puppet forced to obey orders, her mind numbed by the constant pain and suffering.
He didn’t know her well, hadn’t even had a proper conversation with her, but he could tell from her actions.
She had saved him because she was an ordinary person.
Her power might have been extraordinary, but her personality wasn’t.
She wasn’t a cold-blooded killer who could abandon someone in need. But she wasn’t a righteous hero either. She was simply too tired to fight.
If it had been Chelon, she would have simply walked away, dismissing it as unavoidable.
But Elonia was here, determined to eradicate the root cause, to prevent such tragedies from happening again.
Lucius closed his eyes, then opened them slowly.
The hope Tristan had instilled in him was false.
True hope was right here.
The hesitation vanished from his eyes, and Elonia felt a surge of hope.
Lucius, unable to ignore her plea, finally spoke, his red lips moving,
“Your Highness, you must be wondering how I remember everything from my childhood.”
Elonia nodded.
“Gods are immune to the blessings of forgetfulness. And apostles are granted a portion of their god’s power. So the moment I became an apostle, I lost the ability to forget.”
Elonia swallowed nervously.
He remembered everything from his life.
It sounded like a blessing, but it was also a curse, a constant reminder of his past trauma.
‘…Then Mother…’
She finally understood the raw pain and resentment in her mother’s eyes. Her past trauma, the pain of being violated by Vermon, must have been as vivid as if it had just happened.
Lucius, seeing her troubled expression, looked at her questioningly.
Elonia shook her head, gesturing for him to continue. Lucius nodded and continued his story.
“…That’s why I remember everything that happened before Tristan appeared. He appeared before King Felix nine years ago.”
It had been after Vermon’s death, after Felix returned to Heilan with the hostage treaty.
Felix had locked himself in the prayer room for days, refusing to see anyone.
“The atmosphere in the palace was tense after he issued the closed-door order. Even Prince Dolce couldn’t approach him.”
Just when everyone thought Heilan was doomed, Felix finally emerged, his face pale.
And he was with a man. A man with ashen hair and pale skin.