Episode 107
“…He just appeared in the palace? Not from the outside?”
“That’s what it seems like. Rumors can’t travel freely within the palace walls, so he must have been there all along.”
Elonia had spent more time on the battlefield than in the palace, so she couldn’t be certain.
She listened quietly as Lucius continued his story.
“I became an apostle the moment Tristan appeared. So when I was younger, I truly believed he was the Calamity God. But he wasn’t. The power he wielded was different from my Holy Power, fundamentally different.”
As expected, self-proclaimed gods were rarely true gods.
Lucius, after becoming an apostle, had become Felix’s closest confidant.
He hadn’t heard the Calamity God’s voice since his selection, so he had been lost and confused, unsure of his purpose, when Tristan first spoke to him.
“His Majesty told me about you, Apostle Lucius. He said you were saved by Chelon Heilan when you were younger.”
“…That’s true.”
“I understand your anxiety, Apostle. You haven’t heard God’s voice, and you have no one to rely on. You must feel like you’re walking a tightrope. I’ll share our purpose with you.”
Lucius had tried to refuse, but Tristan had been persistent.
He had said they were allies now, sharing the same fate, and revealed their purpose.
And their purpose was…
“Chelon Heilan’s resurrection?”
“Yes. It seems he’s planning to use her for revenge.”
“Why resurrect Chelon Heilan when he has that much power himself? Why not take revenge himself?”
“…I didn’t ask, but it seemed like both Felix and Tristan wanted to avoid getting their hands dirty.”
“Ha.”
Elonia was speechless.
Resurrection? She had been reincarnated.
And even if she was resurrected, why would she help those cowards who were trying to use her for their own selfish purposes? They were delusional.
‘…Well, I might have considered it if I had been resurrected directly, without being reincarnated in Ravanta…’
But how were they even planning to resurrect her?
It didn’t sound entirely impossible, considering Tristan’s immense power, which supposedly surpassed even an apostle’s.
She had entrusted her body to Artius.
He wouldn’t have disobeyed her dying wish. Her body must have been properly disposed of.
Elonia, pushing aside her questions, listened as Lucius continued.
“The resurrection ritual requires someone with similar power to Chelon Heilan. That good luck charm was meant to identify potential sacrifices with strong magical talent.”
“…Good luck charm?”
A familiar phrase.
The one Noah had given her, the one Lucius had taken and then tried to give back to her.
“What is that good luck charm, anyway?”
“It’s nothing special. …Just a mana measurement stone. But it’s imbued with Tristan’s power, so it would send him a signal if used.”
So both Noah and Lucius had been trying to kill her.
She shuddered, imagining what would have happened if she had accepted the charm.
“…Then why did its aura change? I didn’t sense anything when Noah gave it to me, but it felt repulsive when you tried to give it back.”
“That’s because I’m an apostle. Tristan’s power seems to be corrupted, and it clashes with my Holy Power. So I assume some of his power leaked into the stone.”
That made sense.
Elonia nodded slowly, her expression turning serious.
She didn’t know who Tristan was, but she understood why he was creating a false religion.
Faith was power.
The power of belief could sometimes create miracles.
And Tristan was planning to become a true god through those miracles.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
Tristan might not be a god, but he was incredibly powerful, even surpassing an apostle.
So she couldn’t dismiss the possibility of Chelon Heilan’s resurrection.
If he truly became the God of Resurrection, she might be resurrected as Chelon Heilan.
‘But what would happen to Elonia?’
The most likely outcome was her death.
And that was unacceptable.
Ravanta, the Imperial Palace, was her home, a home she had earned after sacrificing her previous life.
She couldn’t abandon her family.
The thought of Artius’s reaction to her death terrified her.
Lucius, who had been anxiously observing her, cautiously asked,
“Your Highness, may I ask you something?”
“…?”
Elonia tilted her head, her expression curious.
His question was surprisingly mundane.
“That day, when you tried to… knock me unconscious, what excuse did you give? Both Prince Simon and Princess Olivia looked at me with such pity.”
Ah, right, that had happened.
She had forgotten about it, too embarrassed to remember.
“I told them it’s a common phase for fifteen-year-olds. That you were seeing things.”
“…”
“Well, you tried to give me something dangerous, so it’s a small price to pay for your life, isn’t it?”
“T-that’s true, but…”
Elonia was shameless, even though Lucius was the one who had almost died.
She had expected him to be embarrassed, but he seemed surprisingly calm. He looked up at her and said,
“…Honestly, it wasn’t entirely false.”
What? Elonia’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You really see things?”
“…I don’t see them, I hear them.”
Lucius, slightly annoyed by her disbelieving expression, retorted.
Come to think of it, he had started hearing the voice after their encounter four years ago. Since they had both revealed their vulnerabilities, he decided to be honest.
“In fact, I have a question for you, Your Highness. I started hearing the voice after our encounter at the entrance ceremony. What did you do to me?”
“What nonsense— Wait.”
Elonia gasped, about to retort angrily.
She had also heard a voice once.
Four years ago, when she had been sick after her fight with Artius.
It might have been just a fever dream, but the fact that Lucius had started hearing a voice after their encounter was suspicious.
Lucius, misinterpreting her silence, pressed on,
“If it weren’t for that voice, I wouldn’t have been talking to myself, and you wouldn’t have heard about Noah Anglores. Did you make me suspicious on purpose?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why else would you be so eager to be seen by Heilan, knowing the danger? Don’t you realize I’m trying to keep you out of their sight— Oh.”
“What?”
“…Forget it.”
“Why are you trying to protect me?”
Lucius quickly covered his mouth and turned away, his voice barely a whisper.
“…I just didn’t want to be indebted to you. You pretended not to see me when you visited the academy.”
“Ah.”
Elonia easily remembered that day. She had seen a small boy hiding behind a tree.
‘So it was him.’
They had encountered each other more often than she had realized.
Lucius had started hearing a voice after their encounter. Elonia, who had also experienced something similar, didn’t think it was just a coincidence.
She still remembered the voice vividly.
Hoping to find a clue, she revealed something she hadn’t even told Artius.
“I also heard a voice once, when I was younger.”
“…How old were you?”
“Are you calling me a child?”
“…No.”
His expression said otherwise.
Elonia glared at him, then replied,
“I was four.”
“…You remember that?”
“You remember things from when you were a baby.”
“That’s because I’m an apostle…”
Just then, a gust of wind swept through the sanctuary. Elonia wondered if her barrier had broken, but it was still intact.
“Your Highness?”
Lucius’s eyes widened. Elonia realized she had shrunk, her clothes suddenly too large. Her mint green hair cascaded down her shoulders.
“Ah, the spell wore off.”
It was supposed to last for a day, but Lucius’s constant use of Holy Power must have weakened it.
Elonia rolled up her sleeves, which were now too long.
‘Ricardo must have been notified.’
She still had questions, but she had learned what she needed to know.
She had to leave before they started fussing over her again.
“W-wait, Your Highness. You’re not going to kill me?”
Lucius, snapping out of his daze, asked desperately as Elonia stood up. His question, considering the urgency of the situation, annoyed her, and she snapped,
“What kind of question is that? I said I wouldn’t kill you, didn’t I?”
“A child…”
He had found the voice condescending when it called him a child, but being called “a child” by Elonia, who was much younger than him, made him speechless.
He tried to stop her, but Elonia had already turned to leave. Lucius, kneeling on the ground, grabbed her sleeve. Elonia, about to scold him, turned around and froze, seeing his expression.
“…Are you really… not related to Chelon Heilan?”
His face, his tear-filled red eyes, looked so young and vulnerable. He thought she was lying, that she was just trying to comfort him.
‘…He finally looks fifteen. He really is the same age as Llewellyn.’
Elonia had been wondering why he had been so obsessed with her, even though she had only saved him once.
But she couldn’t tell him the truth. He was under Heilan’s surveillance.
“You’re delusional.”
Elonia tried to pry his hand off her sleeve, but his grip tightened.
“What now?”
Lucius, his shoulders trembling, spoke in a strained voice,
“Professor Natalie’s death wasn’t your fault.”
“…?”
Elonia couldn’t understand.
She had killed Natalie. She had known there would be a clash of powers, and yet, she had prioritized breaking the brainwashing.
Lucius, his red eyes serious, said,
“Professor Julietta reported to me that day… She never intended to save Natalie. You were just used.”
Elonia’s eyes widened.
It made sense that Julietta would entrust such an important task to her. But the outcome was the same.
Elonia gently removed his hand from her sleeve.
“Julietta might have instigated it, but I was the one who held the knife. I was the one who struck the final blow.”
“But…”
“Thank you for saying it wasn’t my fault.”
Elonia smiled faintly.
She meant it.
Lucius’s eyes widened.
She was seeing so many new sides to him today.
He was known as a genius, rivaling Llewellyn, but she had only seen his languid and pessimistic side. Seeing him trying to comfort her was strangely endearing.
She patted his head without thinking.
“That must have been difficult to tell me. Thank you. I’ll keep my promise and help you escape Heilan.”
“…”
“Until then, be careful.”
He clamped his mouth shut, his pride probably hurt by being treated like a child.
Elonia, remembering that he was a sensitive fifteen-year-old, withdrew her hand and disappeared from the academy.