Episode 146
Elonia, after hearing Lucius’s story, was even more reluctant to return to the Imperial Palace.
“Llewellyn must have told Alberich as well.”
A threat? Had Simon really threatened her?
“…I didn’t think of it as a threat.”
“It was a threat.”
Elonia, still unconvinced, asked,
“But don’t threats usually come from someone in a position of power?”
“He tried to exploit your kindness. That’s a threat.”
Lucius’s unwavering response made Elonia pause, her gaze dropping to the floor as she considered his words.
‘…Is that so?’
What if someone else, like Dolce, had made the same proposal?
‘…That would have been infuriating.’
Perhaps she had been lenient towards Simon because he was her younger brother, and because she herself wasn’t entirely blameless.
There were drawbacks to accepting both her past and present selves. Her past connections sometimes clouded her judgment.
She still struggled to reconcile her two identities.
But she knew, with absolute certainty,
“Thank you.”
She smiled at Lucius, her voice sincere.
“If it weren’t for you, I would have been dragged away… You saved me.”
Lucius’s eyes widened, his ears turning slightly red. He looked down, like a shy boy.
“It was nothing. I was just repaying my debt.”
“What debt?”
He was twenty-two now. It had been a twenty-two-year-old debt.
She wondered if his perfect recall, a gift and a curse of his apostle’s power, was binding him to her, to his past, when,
“Your Highness, we found Marquis Hellington and his accomplices!”
Two knights came running towards them.
“Really?”
“Yes, but…”
The knight’s hesitation was a bad omen.
“Lead the way.”
They found them.
But they were dead.
Their bodies were transported back to the Imperial Palace, and the knights, their mission complete, returned as well.
But Elonia and Lucius went to Lucid Academy. Elonia went straight to Caroline’s office.
Caroline, seeing Elonia’s disheveled appearance, gasped.
“Your Highness, what happened?!”
“Things happened.”
“What do you mean, ‘things happened’?”
“Here, I brought you the potion of luck research data.”
Caroline had become more naggy with age. Elonia, to avoid her scolding, presented the research materials she had retrieved from the watchtower.
Caroline, her face a mask of surprise, murmured,
“…Since when did ‘investigate’ mean ‘raid their headquarters’?”
“I didn’t plan on it.”
Caroline remembered Elonia’s penchant for destruction during her academy days.
But this wasn’t the time for that. They had the research data now. Creating the antidote was just a matter of time.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
Caroline returned to her lab, but Elonia remained. Ricardo and Lucius, who were with her, looked at her, puzzled.
“Aren’t you going back to the palace?”
“…I had a fight with Dad.”
“Oh dear.”
Ricardo sighed dramatically, while Lucius, his voice filled with concern, asked,
“What happened?”
“…It was about the potion of luck.”
Elonia briefly explained her argument with Artius. They both understood their respective reasons, so neither Ricardo nor Lucius took sides.
Elonia, unable to bear the silence, changed the subject.
“I have a question for you, Lucius.”
“Should I leave?”
“You can stay, but are you sure?”
“I’d rather not be caught in the crossfire.”
Ricardo, realizing it wasn’t a trivial argument, quickly excused himself. He was still good at running away, despite his injury.
Elonia sat down in Caroline’s office and gestured for Lucius to sit across from her.
“The animal carcasses were moving.”
“…!”
“Tristan calls himself the God of Resurrection. And he actually resurrected them, and even created a chimera.”
Lucius’s face hardened. He was thinking the same thing she was.
“Is he one step away from becoming a god?”
If he became a god, it would be a disaster. Not only would it bring chaos and war, but Elonia would also cease to exist.
‘What should we do?’
Tristan’s power, as Lucius had witnessed in Heilan, was almost godlike.
They couldn’t defeat him without the holy relic.
Lucius’s gaze fell upon the sword at Elonia’s waist.
“That’s a new sword. It’s not the one you usually carry…”
“Ah, right. I found it embedded in the chimera’s back. It collapsed as soon as I pulled it out.”
Lucius’s shoulders stiffened.
Could it be…? A possibility dawned on him, and he leaned forward, his voice eager.
“May I see it?”
“Sure.”
Lucius took the sword. It was old and heavy, its blade chipped and worn.
The marks of time only strengthened his conviction.
He wanted to test it immediately, but,
‘…She’ll be angry.’
He had already caused her enough trouble. It was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
He quickly unbuttoned his shirt.
“What are you—?!”
Elonia gasped, but before she could finish her sentence,
Lucius pressed the sword against his chest.
“…What are you doing?!”
Elonia shouted, her voice filled with disbelief and anger. He had almost died, and now he was trying to kill himself?
Lucius, his face contorted in pain, sank to his knees, but his grip on the sword didn’t loosen. He didn’t try to remove it.
“Just a little deeper…”
“Deeper?! Are you crazy?!”
Elonia knelt beside him and tried to pry the sword away, but it was difficult.
It was too close to his heart, and he was surprisingly strong, despite his frail appearance.
Elonia, her face pale with worry, tried to pull the sword away, but she couldn’t.
The blade, now slick with blood, glistened under the light. She was afraid he would bleed to death, and she was about to use force when,
“Ah…”
Lucius, with a soft sigh, released the sword, his face a mask of disappointment.
Elonia quickly snatched the sword and hid it, afraid he might try again.
She wasn’t as skilled in healing magic as Caroline, so she simply pressed her hand against his wound, using her mana to stop the bleeding. He groaned at the pressure.
“Ugh, that hurts.”
“You stabbed yourself in the chest. You should be prepared for some pain.”
“…Sorry.”
Lucius, his defiance gone, his body slumping against her, mumbled an apology. Elonia, unable to scold him in his current state, asked softly,
“…Why did you do that?”
“…I was just testing the sword.”
He averted his gaze, and Elonia, cupping his face in her hands, forced him to meet her eyes. Her voice, though soft, was filled with suppressed anger.
“That’s how you test a sword? By stabbing yourself?”
Lucius’s eyes darted around, and Elonia, her hands firm on his face, said,
“Tell me the truth. I deserve to know.”
Her gaze was intense, piercing, and Lucius’s pale blue-green eyes flickered, his hidden red eye probably trembling even more.
He finally surrendered.
“…Holy relics react to an apostle’s blood. The blood closest to their heart.”
He glanced at her cautiously, then added, as if offering a flimsy excuse,
“…I didn’t learn this by harming myself. I was tortured in Heilan.”
Tortured? Was that really the right word?
Lucius, looking up at her with a pitiful expression, asked,
“Are you angry?”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
Elonia retorted instantly.
The scars on his chest, the scars he had been so desperate to hide, were all sword wounds, concentrated around his left chest, just like the wound he had just inflicted upon himself.
They were a testament to the torture he had endured in Heilan.
“How could they…”
Elonia gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with a mixture of anger and sadness.
She tightened her grip on his face, her voice trembling with emotion.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Do you know how worried I am every time you get hurt?!”
“S-sorry…”
“You did the same thing seven years ago! I’m not asking for much, just a little warning! I feel like it’s my fault every time you get hurt, like I—”
Like I…? Both Lucius and Elonia thought the same thing.
What was she about to say? Elonia, realizing she was about to reveal too much, quickly released him and said, her voice flustered,
“That’s not what I meant. It’s just… I wouldn’t be able to face Mother… if anything happened to you.”
“…I understand. I apologize.”
Lucius nodded, but his expression seemed strangely disappointed.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s nothing.”
He shook his head, then glanced at the sword she had hidden. Elonia quickly hid it better, but he wasn’t trying to retrieve it.
Elonia, relieved, picked up the sword and asked,
“So, did you find anything?”
He had stabbed himself, so there had to be a reason. Lucius nodded.
“The sword is imbued with Holy Power. The Calamity God’s power.”
“So it’s the holy relic?”
“No. Or rather, it was a holy relic.”
She had thought the golden chalice was the only holy relic, imbued with the Calamity God’s power.
But she had been wrong. This sword was proof.
“It was strange that Heilan, a land where apostles are chosen every hundred years, only had one holy relic. This sword might be dead, but there might be other, active holy relics.”
Mana and Holy Power clung to metal objects. She had been too focused on the golden chalice.
Lucius, his voice a mix of excitement and anxiety, said,
“We have to search for other metal objects, not just the chalice.”
“Wait a minute.”
Lucius, looking up at Elonia, was surprised by her expression. She looked confused, not happy, despite the good news.
Elonia, her hand gripping his sleeve, her voice trembling, said,
“I have one. A metal object that was brought from Heilan to Ravanta right after the war.”
Lucius, his breath catching in his throat, asked, his voice barely a whisper,
“Are you serious?”
Elonia nodded.
Alexia’s dagger, the heirloom she always carried, the dagger Artius had brought to Ravanta after Chelon’s death, was also a metal object from Heilan.
It was a possibility.
Just as he was about to ask to see the dagger,
Bang!
“Your Highness.”
The door burst open, and Imperial Knights entered the room, grabbing Elonia’s arms.
They were arresting her.
Lucius, his eyes wide with shock, jumped up.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
The knights, looking down at him coldly, replied,
“Step aside. We have orders from His Majesty to detain Her Highness.”
Elonia felt her blood run cold.