Chapter 114

(Lurelia’s Belated Bonus – Update 12/14 🎉)

 

To mock someone for losing their parents early in such a way, she was truly a remarkable woman. But Angelina, who had little memory or emotion regarding her parents, just smiled slightly.

It was Ante who reacted instead.

His fingertips twitched and then began to tremble like someone with palsy.

The Empress, who noticed him quickly hiding this behind his back, finally smiled with ease.

“Shall we go have our conversation then, Marquis?”

Ante’s gaze toward the Empress was somewhat rude. But the Empress didn’t bother to point this out.

“…Yes, it seems we have much to discuss, Your Majesty.”

“Hoho, indeed. Let’s have some tea, Marquis.”

The Empress moved first.

“Lina, go home. Brother will be back soon.”

“I can wait.”

“Soaking wet like this? You’ll catch a cold, so go back quickly.”

“Will you come for dinner? Let’s eat together.”

“…Alright, I’ll come by dinner.”

Ante smiled affectionately and stroked her head.

Angelina wore a slightly worried expression, but soon nodded.

Ante left first, and Angelina watched his back with concerned eyes.

“The young lady truly cares deeply for the Marquis.”

Aiden, who had been watching from the side, spoke with clear envy in his voice. A pained smile appeared on Angelina’s lips.

“He’s the reason I’m standing here.”

A somewhat intense answer for simply referring to her brother.

“Brother is here. Everything’s fine now.”

But for her brother’s sake, changing the world once seemed worth trying.

***

Ante arrived at the tea time location a little later than the Empress, having sent Angelina home.

The Empress, who had dismissed everyone and remained alone in the garden, was leisurely sipping her tea.

“Always late. Is that a characteristic of magicians?”

“What do you want?”

Ante asked, throwing the note she had sent onto the table.

“Magicians are so cold. Not even asking how I am before getting to the point?”

“Stop the nonsense and tell me. What are you up to?”

“Hmm…”

The Empress exhaled a disappointed sigh and set down her teacup after smelling its aroma.

“The High Priest has been unusually noisy these days. He’s always been talkative, but lately he’s been saying so much about ‘someone’ related things.”

She frowned as if her ears hurt and pressed her earlobe firmly. There was no need to specify that the ‘someone’ was Ante.

“Why ask me about that fool’s stupid actions?”

He’s already lost two sacred objects.

Technically three, counting the one in the duchy, but neither the temple nor the Empress knew about the third one, so Ante didn’t mention it.

The Empress smiled slightly and slowly lowered her gaze to stare intently at his heart as she asked.

“How is Zeplictus doing?”

“Stop beating around the bush and tell me what you want!”

He slammed the table.

“My, how barbaric.”

She made a regretful sound, saying the tea had spilled.

Ante was reaching the limits of his patience.

“Which one bothers you? The Saint or the sacred object?”

It was clear she was telling him to hand over one of the two. Otherwise, she wouldn’t keep deflecting in this way.

But the Empress just smiled.

“These days, ‘someone’s’ lovely rabbit keeps coming out of its fence, doesn’t it?”

Ante’s gaze turned fierce.

“Sigh… Such a busy rabbit. Why did she go to the marketplace so late at night…”

The High Priest didn’t know, but the Empress had already figured everything out. The moment she discovered that the “mercenary” who appeared at the Grand Temple was Laura, all the tangled threads unraveled.

Bang!

A bright red fireball grazed the Empress’s face and flew past. A large scorch mark appeared on the garden behind her.

“…Touch her and I’ll kill you.”

It was a clear threat.

But it wouldn’t work.

“Me? How could I?”

Her smile was overflowing with composure.

“I’m just worried? If that ‘someone’ doesn’t fix the rabbit’s fence… Well, our little rabbit might see the deep, deep abyss of the temple?”

Ante’s complexion changed.

“Hmm, come to think of it, the rabbit who doesn’t know the truth seems pitiful…”

“Shut up.”

His clenched fist trembled.

Already, just hours ago, his heart had shriveled upon learning that some of Angelina’s memories had returned.

Even now his whole body was trembling from the aftereffects, and this woman was digging into that very thing.

“Aren’t you curious? What expression that innocent child will make… when she realizes that her brother is not actually her brother?”

T/n: (；☉_☉)

Bang!

Ante magically threw the table aside and grabbed the Empress by the collar. He looked as if he would twist her neck right then and there.

“I told you to shut up!”

A voice filled with killing intent.

It was sincere without a trace of doubt.

But the Empress remained calm.

She smiled slightly.

She was the one who had the leash, after all. And she had had it for 18 years already.

***

It was a very old story.

From his childhood.

A story from the very early days of his life as the only child of the Marquis and Marchioness Flaubert.

 

17. What They Hoped Would Be Buried Forever

 

“Jeffrey… Ah! Zeplictus!”

Ante had been curious from a young age.

From the time he first began to walk, he wouldn’t be satisfied until he checked anything he was curious about, and he was equally adventurous and mischievous.

Around the time he was just learning to read, such a boy frequented the Marquis’s library and storeroom.

He had read all the texts he could read and touched all the treasures he could touch.

The Marquis and his wife didn’t greatly restrict him. Honestly, the Marquis was too busy with work to know where his son was or what he was doing, and the Marchioness was too busy going out to serve at the temple to look after her son.

Ante, who had grown up independently and bravely, was exploring the storeroom that day as well.

Then he discovered a stone inside a magnificent case. It was a strange, lumpy yet round stone.

After reading the text in front of it, Ante carefully opened the case.

Perhaps because it was an old item, the lock opened with just a light touch.

Ante reached out toward the jewel. He didn’t know what it was, but it seemed to be calling to him.

But the moment his hand touched that beautiful stone.

“Ugh, aaaargh-!”

Extreme pain pierced from the top of his head. It felt like his heart was bursting. His back felt like it was being torn apart, and the world turned red.

And he lost consciousness.

When he regained consciousness, he was standing in hell.

Collapsed buildings.

Thick dust and the smell of blood.

Blood soaked not only the floor and building debris, but also his own body.

Red blood dripped from his hands.

“Ah…”

Blurry scenes flashed before his eyes. And Ante’s face gradually turned pale.

Did I… do this?

All the servants of the Marquis’s household were dead.

The horses, the pet dogs they kept—everything was dead. The place looked as if a slaughter-crazed butcher had passed through.

“Augh…!”

As he tried to wipe his trembling hands vigorously on his pants, unable to believe the reality…

“Kyaaaaaah!”

A scream rang out.

Ante raised his head in surprise and discovered his mother looking at him with eyes filled with terror, and his father with one arm torn off.

He was sent to the temple.

Not an ordinary temple.

Located deep in the mountains where few people knew about it, the building’s appearance was far from that of a temple.

And there, Ante began receiving “treatment.” They said they needed to remove the demon from his body.

“Aaaagh! Kuk, kuaaak!”

The treatment was painful.

It was so painful that flesh was torn and dozens of bones were crushed.

It was a tearing pain that made him feel like he would lose his mind at any moment, but he couldn’t lose consciousness.

It was because of the power in his heart.

His heart, which had changed after touching the stone labeled Zeplictus. It emitted power as if it would devour him.

And the “treatment” was about killing the power of that heart.

“I’m sorry, please stop, kuaaaaaak!”

It felt like his breath would stop at any moment. But he was forced to breathe. It seemed like it would be better to go insane, but his heart wouldn’t let him go mad either.

The more they “treated” him, the stronger his heart became and the harder it fought. It poured everything into regenerating and healing him again and again.

And the more his heart fought, the higher the intensity of the “treatment” became, and the pain doubled.

“I’m sorry, kuaaaak! Aaaak!”

I shouldn’t have gone to the storeroom that day.

I shouldn’t have opened that case.

I’m sorry. Please forgive me.

He begged and begged.

But they didn’t stop.

The clash between his heart, which would never let him die, and the “treatment” that was trying to break the will of his heart, tore Ante’s body and mind to shreds.

And on days when the treatment failed, he was locked in that terrible isolation cell.

The stone floor was damp and bumpy, and the iron walls only emitted coldness.

It seemed like he was resting since no one touched him, but that wasn’t the case.

He suffered from the aftereffects of the treatment, and his limbs would become numb from the bone-chilling cold, only to be repeatedly restored by the power of his heart.

Moreover, to suppress the excessive magical power that his heart poured out, holy power was continuously injected into that room.

That made it difficult for him to breathe.

He couldn’t endure it.

He didn’t want to endure it.

Ante was terrified of the treatment time that would come again tomorrow.

‘Anyone, please…’

Mom and Dad had abandoned him long ago. His mother’s face, who occasionally visited to check on his condition, was always filled with terror, and his father didn’t come at all.

‘Please kill me…’

He wanted to die.

He desperately wanted to die.

But his heart wouldn’t allow him to die.

Anyone, please take me out of this hell, even if you have to kill me, please.

That’s when it happened.

Could it be that his prayer was answered?

“Bya?”

A voice was heard from outside the door.