Chapter 54
“After losing my parents so helplessly, I was left alone. I couldn’t even go outside. I was still a young child, and without adults to protect me, I couldn’t trust even the neighbors.”
Ianes held his breath. He understood what that meant.
“They might have eaten me…”
As Ianes murmured blankly, Theogrim nodded. His solid face still bore a gentle smile.
“I endured for days, trapped in the darkness. Until I understood that my mother and father would never return… I even thought I just wanted to die like that.”
“How… did you survive?”
“God answered me.”
At the unbelievable answer, Ianes widened his eyes.
“Every night, a figure in my father’s form came to me with food. Meat—something that could not possibly have been obtained at the time.”
“No way…”
“That figure gave me food and disappeared. It happened every single night. I ate, regained my strength, and by the time I had…”
“You received a revelation!”
Theogrim nodded. Ianes clenched his fist with astonished eyes.
“Del Rose, what you’ve experienced is exactly like the story of a saint written in the Canon!”
The tale of receiving mysterious food from a figure in the image of one’s father and receiving a divine revelation was astonishingly similar to the story of the saint of Impellias.
Moved by the miraculous story that seemed almost fabricated, Ianes spoke with a face full of awe.
“It is certain that the Lord came to this land to grant new life to Del Rose.”
The saint’s parents had lived to give birth to the saint, died for him, and became mythical beings to deliver sustenance to him. Ianes tightly suppressed the heat swelling in his chest.
“Del Rose’s hair color and eyes, too…?”
“They changed as I ate the food given by the figure of my father. A searing, burning light shone upon me and transformed my body. Originally, my hair was a light brown mixed with the color of sand.”
Theogrim said as he gently stroked his bangs. Each strand, as if spun from silver threads, was a clear and pure silver color—a trait that had long appeared in the successors of Impellias. It was a rare hue, scarcely found even if one searched the entire continent.
“Del Rose is indeed the chosen heir of Impellias.”
“…I still haven’t awakened divine power.”
“The time will surely come. Just as the Lord has given hardship to Del Rose, surely the path to find your divine power carries the will of God.”
With deepened loyalty, Ianes spoke with shining eyes.
“Already, the people of the territory live peacefully through Del Rose’s prayers, don’t they?”
Those prayers demanded Theogrim’s blood and suffering, but Ianes, knowing nothing of this, looked up at him with pure eyes. The fervent loyalty and respect were unmistakable.
“Our Impellias will grow ever stronger through Del Rose’s power. The vile fae will never again be able to defile human lands.”
Ianes looked out the window with a resolute gaze. Beyond the high castle, a vast expanse of land stretched out.
The blood of hundreds, even thousands, of fae had been scattered across this land. They rebuilt the city upon the curse left behind by the fae. The very act of making this accursed land the new holy ground of Impellias stemmed from their sense of superiority.
Indeed, Ragnar, who had rebuilt the Rosenburg territory, had now become a power whose name echoed across the continent.
“I too want to serve Del Rose more faithfully, and someday become one of those allowed to attend the Rite.”
Theogrim silently looked at Ianes. His smile was flawless.
With the window at his back, Theogrim looked dazzlingly beautiful. His silver hair caught the sunlight, shining more clearly and brightly, and his violet eyes were as clear as earthly gemstones.
It was the face of someone who had endured immense sorrow and pain, filled with deep emotion.
The only remaining flaw in Del Rose’s sculptural beauty was the scar on the left side of his face.
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