Chapter 55: CH 55

o be sighing at that noisy voice.

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The morning dawned on the day of the proclamation ceremony. Since I was being proclaimed as the Saintess of Lunar, who was the god of night, my proclamation was scheduled to be held when the moon had risen into the sky at night. Thus, it was time to prepare for the event that would be held in the evening.

I had nothing else to do after choosing which clothes I’d wear. Even if I tried to help with the preparations, the priests would aggressively stop me from doing anything by forcefully keeping me in my room. To be honest, I was actually a bit tired since I had stayed up all night chatting with Lunar yesterday.

[So what you’re saying is, the truth is that you actually had divine power in your previous life, but that world was a place where divine power couldn’t be manifested, right?]

Even now, I seem to be sighing at that noisy voice.

[But despite that, the people around you are still fundamentally influenced by your divine power and are able to receive peace of mind just by being by your side…]

‘You really do talk a lot… Lydia wasn’t just saying it after all…’

[A lot? But I’m only talking about things of importance right now? If you don’t listen carefully, you’ll regret it when you end up hitting the ground later…]

They read my thoughts yet again. 

Haa… How is it possible for them to talk without even taking a single minute’s rest? If we’re talking about skills, then this is one too. What’s even more impressive is that it’s all stuff I haven’t heard before, with not even a conversation overlapping.

‘I thought I wouldn’t be able to hear you in the middle of the day when the moon disappeared.]

[The moon always exists somewhere. Like you said, just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.]

To think that they even used the line I said to Alion. Cheap, they’re too cheap!

[Aha! I suddenly remembered it since you said something about things you can’t see. Aren’t you curious about how the shield you have is made?]

I’m not curious. No, I’m curious, but I don’t want to tell them that I’m curious. Since it’s obvious that we’ll end up talking about that topic for another hour. 

‘I’m going to sleep. Don’t disturb me.’

[Daughter! You’re too mean! We’ll need to part ways after tonight is over!]

How terrible, to have to endure until tonight. 

I lay down on the bed, leaving Lunar, whose dignity as a god had disappeared over night, to kick up a fuss. Nevertheless, I still couldn’t sleep. This time, there was another distraction apart from Lunar.

“Saintess, His Highness the Prince has come.” 

There were visitors coming in and out as soon as day broke.

‘Looks like I won’t be getting a good sleep today either.’

[There’s originally something like destiny you see, so you’re born with some parts, and there are parts that you make as you live…]

“Haa…”

And Lunar, who had started talking about that straightaway. The reason why the Lunar religion’s saintesses don’t appear very often was probably because even if they did appear, they’d just run away from Lunar’s chatty self. 

With a sigh, I stepped out to meet Linden. I changed into my light inside-wear and went to the drawing room where Linden was waiting for me. 

“What did you come here so early for when the proclamation ceremony is at night?”

“I had something I wanted to show you. But Ara, why does your complexion look so pale?” Linden asked anxiously as he looked at my dark circles that seemed to hang down to my cheeks.

“I just couldn’t sleep well. It was probably because the issue I was worrying about hasn’t been fully resolved yet.”

I couldn’t bear to say, ‘I couldn’t sleep because Lunar was being too noisy’, so I smiled and made something up. 

“Really? Then you’d probably be even more glad to hear this.”

“What is it?”

Linden placed a piece of paper on the table. It was an official document that came from the imperial palace. It’s said that there wasn’t any inn or tavern that wasn’t connected to it.

“They’ve decided on the death penalty.”

Everything that Saintess Olivia had done so far was written down on it. Compared to all her other malicious acts, the story of her deceiving everyone as a saintess was written in the headlines the most.

“It’s also written that the Solar religion was also damaged because of this. Though I don’t know how much of this the people will believe.”

Wouldn’t they have already lost a lot of their trust in the Solar religion when they mistakenly took Olivia to be a saintess in the first place? But that was something for the Solar religion to worry about, not me. 

“As per your request, they seem to have excluded the story of you and the Grand Duke Arvis as much as possible.”

Although there was no way they couldn’t write about it, they thankfully only labelled him as someone who helped.

“That’s a relief. That way, it won’t seem like it was the Lunar religion who was saying all of that for no reason.” I brushed the official document slightly with my fingertips. My thoughts became complicated.

“What’s with your expression? I thought you’d be happy.”

“Hm? No, that’s…” Considering what Olivia had done, I thought that this punishment was well deserved for her. My thoughts weren’t complicated about that part. “There’s no mention of the crown prince at all.”

“Well, the thing is… that’s because His Majesty also thinks that he’s a victim who has been deceived by her.”

“He’s right to some extent, but it’s also the crown prince who set up the stage that allowed for her to run wild.”

Would she have been able to become that unruly without Ziken backing her? She received his protection just by shaking her shoulders tremblingly and shedding a few tears. Using his love for her, she transformed a lie into the truth. 

“There’s no way the emperor would have been unaware of that fact…”

“Still, he’s the crown prince. He wouldn’t want to put a stain on his reputation for nothing.”

“Even though the reason why that woman was able to commit those deeds that drove his innocent fiancee to become a villainess and annul his engagement with her was because he openly dated that woman?”

People were already aware of that fact. The nobility would already be suspicious of the crown prince’s qualifications, and that would serve as a lifelong weakness for him. Since the crown prince being described as a ‘wronged victim’ could also be interpreted as lacking the qualifications to succeed the throne.

“The only people who like pushovers that are blinded by love are those treacherous subjects who are in positions of power.”

“Nevertheless… it’s because he’s the crown prince. Even the emperor’s arms will naturally curve inwards1.” Linden’s voice was bitter as he said those words. 

I cast a look at his face. The look in his eyes as he stared at the official document seemed to be entangled with complicated emotions, and his lips that were tightly sealed into a straight line seemed to contain an unconcealable sense of grievance and anguish. My own concerns seemed to fizzle out when I saw the expression on his face.

‘Although I’ll be going to the demon realm after the proclamation ceremony ends anyway, I can’t just stand by and watch the empire descend into a shit storm.’

As I jumped up from my seat, Linden’s eyes widened, as if he were shocked.

“Linden, the emperor…”

“…?”

“He has two arms.”

“What are you talking about…?” At the sudden irrelevant words, the voice of the dazed Linden trailed off. 

He seemed to get a grasp at what I was thinking. “Ara, no! It’s dangerous!”

He jumped up from his seat. “Do you think the empress will just sit by as you do that? Even if that’s not the case, the situation right now is already so worrying, so…!”

“Linden, answer me this one time. Do you want to be the crown prince?”

“That’s not what is important right now!”

“It’s important. Your opinion is the most important of all.”

“I won’t do, no, I can’t do anything that puts you in danger…!” He said, gripping my shoulder. 

“That’s not the answer to my question.”

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“So, this idea is seriously crazy…!”

“I asked if you will be the crown prince?”

“…” Linden’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down violently. His eyes were especially eye-catching. “It’s impossible. No matter how much this incident has shaken his position, he still has the empress as well as the Duke of Darchez, so…”

“Linden.” I asked again, interrupting his blabbering. 

“Crown prince. Do you want it?”

“…” 

With his lips pressed tightly together, he bowed his head in the end with a small sigh. The hand clasping my shoulder trembled slightly. 

“I at least… am confident that I’ll do better than Ziken.” 

He confided his innermost thoughts that no one else would’ve seen to me. 

“At first, all I wanted to do was survive. But then, it became something that I refused to yield on that stemmed from my grievance with them.” He started to get angry at the empress, who wouldn’t let him go even if he lived quietly.

“But now, especially as we’ve experienced this situation… I’ve started to become greedy.”

It was understandable though. The Lunar religion, who opposed the Solar religion and stood on his side, as well as Lecht, who he began to spend more time with, even though it was rather difficult to say that they were ‘on the same side’. 

As the incident continued to unfold, there naturally must have been many voices among the nobility that said, ‘I’d rather the prince be…’. A chance could be seen in that road, which had only been dark before.

“If I had the same authority as he had, just how much quicker and easier would I have been able to handle this, and I kept thinking that I’d be able to be a better crown prince than him… because I’m confident that I will hold more love for the empire’s citizens than him.”

Well, that much is obvious.

“However, that doesn’t mean that I want it so badly to the extent that I’d push the people who are precious to me to be my arms and legs.”

Raising his head again, Linden moved his hands from my shoulders and gently cupped my jaw. Unable to reach it, he put his hand around that area and swept my cheek lightly with the tip of his thumb. It was an extremely soft touch. It seemed to tremble slightly as well.

“Ara, please don’t do anything dangerous for me. Even more so if it’s for me.”

“…”

“Promise me you won’t do anything reckless.”

I raised both hands to grab his hand. I lifted his hand off my face and smiled as I lowered it. “Alright, I won’t. I won’t do anything dangerous.”

“You really won’t, right? You won’t do anything, right?”

“To me, I’m the most precious person in the world. I won’t do anything dangerous.”

He let out a sigh and smiled at my words that were said with a smile. It was a smile that was mixed with relief and bitterness. 

Understanding the meaning of that smile, I slowly started to move. “Then, I’ll get going first. Since I have a lot of work to do today.”

“Right, there must be a lot to prepare for the proclamation ceremony.”

“See you tonight!” I said my farewell to Linden brightly and left the room.

After that, I headed to the place where Lecht was at. He was talking to Ryno in the garden. 

“Huh? What brings you here, Ryno? I heard that you can’t participate in the proclamation ceremony though?”

“His Majesty personally cast an illusion spell on me!” 

When I looked at Lecht in surprise, he explained to me, “Tanma sent this guy instead since he has a lot to deal with because of the incident this time.”

Oh, he’s here instead of Tanma.

“That’s actually better instead. Ryno, I’m sorry, but could you give up on attending the proclamation ceremony today?”

“Heok, w-why…?”

I smiled at him, who was crying while asking if he had done something wrong. “I want to leave you with a matter that’s way more important than that.”

“What is it?” His eyes sparkled at the words, ‘important matter’.

“Listen carefully to what I say from now on. As soon as I finish telling you this, go over to the Darchez Duchy straight away, and…” I told him the plan that I had come up with. He listened intently with glistening eyes and nodded. Though the expression of Lecht, who was next to him, darkened a little. 

When my explanation was over, Lecht cut in. “But if the incident that you think of doesn’t happen, I think your relationship with Alion will worsen for nothing then.”

My plan was heavily dependent on other people’s actions, so everything could go down the drain and amount to nothing in the end. 

“No. Although the exact details may be slightly different, I’m sure that this sort of incident will happen.”

“How are you so sure?” Lecht shot me a look of doubt and concern. 

“There’s no end to human greed, so if she has nothing more to lose, she’ll also have nothing else to fear.”

“That might be the case for that woman, but what about the crown prince? He still has a lot to lose though.”

“Oh, the answer to that is even easier to predict.”

“…?”

“Lecht, just imagine that I had been imprisoned in an underground prison for being a con-artist that had deceived all the demons in the demon realm. Furthermore, I’ll soon be facing the death penalty as well.”

Lecht’s face stiffened immediately.

“But what would you do if I’m crying and clinging onto you, saying that I’ve been framed and that I don’t want to die?”

I had only asked him to imagine it, but black energy was already rising from Lecht’s feet. I didn’t even have to hear his answer for me to know what it was. Since he had already said those words before.

“If the regulations of the demon realm are the problem, then such a trivial thing like the demon realm, I’ll just replace that as well.”

I reached out and clasped his hand, which had been clenched into a fist so tightly his tendons were sticking out. 

“The crown prince would do the same thing.”

People were able to go beyond their limits to become impossibly brave in the name of love. So although it was still extremely dangerous on one hand, they would still be able to protect their loved ones. 

Especially Ziken, whose loved one was on the verge of death. A normal incident would already have him agitated to the extreme. I mean, that punk wasn’t even that smart in the first place.

“The difference is that you have the ability to do so, but he doesn’t.”

Lecht had the ability to not only save me, but also to protect the people around me. Tanma, Ryno; he had the overwhelming power and ability to protect me without sacrificing a single one of them. Lecht could do that. 

I could feel Lecht loosening his clenched fist at my words. 

“No matter how moving their love is, there’s no way I can leave a person who drives their people to such extremities as the crown prince who is supposed to protect them, right?”

He was a man who could bring about the destruction of the empire by causing political and diplomatic issues just to protect his loved one. I had already tried so hard to prevent the destruction of the empire, so there was no way I could just leave it like that. 

In any case. “I want to at least give Linden that much before I go to the demon realm.”

Since I didn’t think I’d be able to keep the promise that I wouldn’t leave you, no matter what. Although it was rather high-sounding of me to call it an alternative, I still wanted to do it for him. Since I thought I’d be able to depart to the demon realm with no worries if I knew that he’d be fine, even if I wasn’t there.

In the end, Lecht nodded with a small sigh, as if he knew how I felt. 

* * *

That evening, when the sun had set and it was already dark. There was a suspicious movement in the dungeon of the imperial palace.

“Livi.”

“Y-Your Highness…?”

“Hush! Hurry up and come out.”

The exact thing Ara had thought would happen was starting.

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