Episode 168
Lucius had awakened.
“Impossible…”
Tristan, his composure shattered, stared in disbelief, his emotions finally showing on his face.
“That power… it should only be mine… And it was taken from me the moment I died! How can Lucius, who can’t even hear the Calamity God’s voice, wield it?!”
How could this mere apostle brat wield that power?
Lucius was equally stunned.
He had awakened a new power before, the power of precognitive dreams. But this awakening felt different.
‘My apostle’s power… it’s fully restored…’
No, it was stronger than before.
He was suppressing Tristan’s power, something even Philemon couldn’t do.
This wasn’t just Holy Power.
It was the Calamity God’s power, the divine power granted only to gods, the power Philemon had possessed. And it felt even stronger than Philemon’s.
Grind. Tristan gritted his teeth, then forced a sneer.
“So that’s why you were so confident?”
“You’re the one who awakened me, Tristan. This is your own doing.”
Lucius smirked back.
Tristan clenched his fists, his shoulders trembling with rage.
“Lucius, you mere apostle of the Calamity God, how dare you—!”
“T-Tristan, calm down! Your true power is far greater than this!”
Felix, who had been standing dumbly beside him, rushed to embrace Tristan, trying to soothe him, but Tristan, consumed by fury, didn’t hear him.
He unleashed an even greater surge of power.
“Ugh…!”
Both Sarah and Elonia cried out in pain. Elonia, despite her vast mana reserves, struggled to breathe.
Lucius quickly countered, emitting an even brighter light.
“Cough…!”
Tristan vomited a stream of black liquid.
Felix stumbled back, his eyes wide with disbelief, and Tristan, wiping his mouth, his face pale with shock, stammered,
“No one should be able to touch me except the holy relic and Alex…!”
He glared at Lucius, his eyes narrowed. What had caused Lucius’s awakening?
He had said it was Tristan’s fault.
But he couldn’t understand how. He couldn’t see anything.
This despair was even greater than the despair he had felt when he realized he couldn’t escape the Calamity God.
“Tristan, it seems you’re not fit to be a true god after all.”
“Ugh…”
Lucius taunted him, increasing the intensity of his Holy Power.
Only Tristan was affected by this power.
“Tristan, it’s dangerous!”
Felix tried to shield Tristan with his own body, but it was useless. Tristan, his gray eyes burning with rage, glared at Lucius.
But then, just as quickly, he vanished. Along with Felix.
“…!”
Lucius had intended to finish Tristan off. He hadn’t expected him to have enough power left to escape.
He had taunted him about not being a true god, but he was undeniably close.
Lucius turned to Elonia and apologized.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I let him escape.”
“…That power… how did you…?”
“Well…”
Lucius glanced at Sarah, who had collapsed onto the floor, her strength gone now that Tristan’s power had receded.
“Gasp…”
“Sarah!”
Elonia rushed to her side, wanting to help her up.
But she hesitated, feeling unworthy to touch Sarah after everything that had happened.
Lucius, sensing the awkward tension, gently suggested,
“…I’ll explain everything later. You two should talk.”
Elonia looked at Sarah. She wouldn’t want to talk to her. Just as she was about to shake her head,
“…Okay.”
Sarah, surprisingly, nodded.
Sarah and Elonia were alone.
The silence in the reception room felt heavy, awkward.
They used to sit side-by-side on the long sofa, chatting comfortably. But this distance felt appropriate now.
Elonia cautiously called out to her.
“…Sarah.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Elonia asked, her eyes filled with uncertainty,
“Why didn’t you kill me…?”
Her eyes stung, but she couldn’t cry. She repeated inwardly,
‘Don’t cry. You don’t deserve to cry.’
She didn’t even deserve to ask this question.
“You must hate me. So why…”
But a sliver of hope remained.
Sarah still called her “Your Highness.”
She still called her “daughter.”
Even knowing she was Chelon, she still called her daughter.
Sarah looked at Elonia, whose eyes were brimming with tears, then averted her gaze.
“…I don’t know.”
Honestly, it had been an impulse.
“My body just moved on its own.”
Sarah looked back at Elonia.
Elonia sat slumped, her shoulders hunched, her head bowed like a sinner. Sarah’s gaze fell upon Elonia’s clenched fists.
It was still hard to believe that this princess was Chelon Heilan.
The Chelon Heilan everyone spoke of was a cruel, heartless War Demon, a calamity. Except for her genius in Sword Magic, she shared no resemblance with Elonia.
And Felix’s words…
‘It didn’t feel like family.’
Sarah knew Chelon Heilan was the daughter of a concubine. But calling her a slave, livestock…
Even as a concubine’s daughter, wasn’t Chelon still a legitimate princess of Heilan?
‘Chelon Heilan died just before she turned twenty.’
Had she been treated like that since she was a baby?
And her mother had died when she was ten. Had she fought alone, without anyone to protect or guide her?
Was that why she became the War Demon? Because she had no one?
Sarah had so many questions. But she couldn’t ask about Heilan, not now.
She found herself curious about Chelon, the person.
“Why didn’t you kill His Majesty?”
“Huh?”
Elonia was startled.
Sarah asked again, her gaze serious.
“You fought him for five years, and yet you lost. If it were me, I probably would have tried to kill my enemy from the moment I held a sword.”
“…”
Elonia turned her head away.
But Sarah had known Elonia for sixteen years. She answered her own question.
“You didn’t want to kill him, did you? I shouldn’t have asked—”
“No!”
Elonia looked up, denying it vehemently. It was the first time she had raised her voice since the incident. Sarah’s blue eyes widened.
Elonia’s lavender eyes began to contort.
“No. Actually, I tried to kill him. Because he broke his promise.”
“Promise…?”
“He promised to be a good father to my child. He promised, and then he broke it.”
“Why would you leave a dying wish for His Majesty’s child?”
Elonia lowered her head, mumbling like a child caught with a secret diary, like someone burdened by inferiority.
“Because I was envious.”
Sarah blinked, surprised by the unexpected answer.
Elonia quickly added, embarrassed,
“I envied the family Artius would build. I wanted to be the child of parents like that too. So I projected myself onto his unborn child, a child I didn’t even know, and left that dying wish.”
“…”
“But when I woke up, I was Artius’s daughter. I thought I could finally be happy, but the family I longed for wasn’t there. So, I hated Artius. So I tried to kill him, but…”
Tears started streaming down Elonia’s cheeks.
Sarah, watching her, suddenly understood.
‘…So that’s why her first word to His Majesty was ‘idiot’.’
It was actually quite cute, coming from the War Demon.
She must have had self-awareness since she was a baby. Sarah remembered how Elonia used to cry whenever her diaper was changed, and she couldn’t help but smile faintly.
But the smile quickly faded, replaced by sadness.
Sarah remembered the day Elonia and Artius became father and daughter.
Elonia had cried, but she had also smiled, as if she had gained the whole world.
‘She must have been lonely. For a very long time.’
She had overheard that Elonia went to war because of Olivia and Simon. Elonia couldn’t ignore those who were kind to her. Those two children must have been Chelon’s anchor, her living conscience.
But she had been forced to protect her younger siblings at an age when she should have been protected, staining her hands with blood, bearing the weight of hatred.
It was a lonely and tragic fate.
Was that why she was so obsessed with family?
Elonia, seeing Sarah lost in thought, sniffled.
“I’m sorry, Sarah. I know I’m a traitor to you, your enemy. But please let me live until I kill Felix and Tristan. After that, I’ll leave or die, so until then…”
Sarah stared blankly at Elonia.
How could the War Demon, feared by all, be so fragile?
‘I hated Chelon Heilan.’
If it weren’t for the war, her mother wouldn’t have died.
Chelon Heilan was undoubtedly a great calamity that should never have existed.
But Chelon hadn’t chosen to become a bloodthirsty monster.
The Chelon she knew was deeply human, a child burdened by guilt over every small transgression.
Everyone knew Chelon was stronger than Artius. That was why Artius was hailed as a hero.
‘The truth must be different from what I know. She must have chosen death back then because she couldn’t bear it anymore.’
It was just speculation, but she could tell. Elonia had a tendency to treat her own life too lightly.
Just now, and earlier, she had wanted Sarah to kill her rather than be forced to kill Sarah.
‘I hated her, but I pity her.’
And she felt sorry for her.
The massacre couldn’t be justified, but Chelon Heilan had been shaped by her environment. This sin wasn’t hers alone to bear.
It was the sin of all of Heilan.
Sarah moved closer and sat beside Elonia. Elonia flinched like a guilty child. Sarah, feeling sorry for her, gently stroked her cheek, still soft with baby fat.
“Your Highness. May I tell you another story?”
Sarah smiled faintly.
Elonia, unable to resist, nodded, and Sarah began to share a secret she had kept hidden for many years.
“It was when Lady Philemon was still pregnant, her belly barely showing.”