Chapter 37

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“The problem is that the tea leaves are so thick that they can drink up all the water in this cup.”

Pelos shrugged as he watched the tea leaves accumulated on his teacup.

“In the Lady’s heart, this kind of scene is steadily progressing.”

I swallowed hard. Something about the tea leaves gave me the creeps.

“Then if that power consumes all of my divine power…”

“It won’t be able to use that much space.”

“Then……………….”

“You will die. Probably.”

Pelos chuckled and yawned once more, looking at Devan.

“This man doesn’t have much divine power, so the black magic ended up in his right eye. That’s why his eye looks dim.”

“So it’s not me.”

“Think about it. Which one is more dangerous, the one with his head cut off or the one with all four limbs amputated?”

Indeed, divine power filled my entire body. It was like blood, like organs.

In other words, it was like saying that black magic would soon take its place.

Die?

I blinked quickly.

Death was not an unfamiliar word to me. But that didn’t mean I had any intention of getting close to it.

“Then how…can I live?”

“Do you want to live?”

Pelos opened his eyes wide.

“I don’t think it’ll be that painful. Did it hurt when you used your divine power with the black magic coming in?”

I thought back to when I defeated all the demons. It was that moment when I was putting all my energy into trying to heal the wound on Devan’s back.

“It was painful. I felt awful.”

“It’s because the Lady refused to use black magic and tried to attract divine power to the spot. If you accept it, you will feel better.”

That being said, I remembered that when it first entered me, I felt a languid desire to give up everything.

“Surely if you accept it you can die painlessly. Isn’t that the best?”

Devan, who had been listening quietly, jumped up from his seat and looked agitated.

“There’s nothing more to hear from him. Because he’s crazy about dying.”

“You’re leaving already?”

Pelos’ eyebrows drooped.

“You don’t seem to know anything else, but do I have to stay? Give me some money.”

“Money? Are you extorting money from a clean priest like me?”

Devan wrinkled his brow.

“Why do you need money?”

“I told you. I’m going to the capital.”

“Oh, so you don’t have money for the carriage ride to the capital?”

It was a tease that Devan almost punched Pelos in the face.

“Then why don’t you just stay here for a while?”

“Why would I do that?”

“You want to go to the capital, and I don’t want to pay for it.”

“If I go to the capital, I’ll give you the money back hundreds of times over.”

Pelos shrugged at Devan’s words.

“That won’t be necessary. In fact, I’m going to the capital in a few days.”

“So?”

“As a good friend, I’ll give you the honor of riding in my carriage.”

****

It was a wonderful coincidence, Pelos said.

There was just a vacancy in the Imperial Temple and he was just getting tired of this village temple.

What a wonderful coincidence that Devan had just arrived and we could ride in the carriage with him.

On the carriage ride to the capital, Pelos repeated the same words over and over again in admiration.

“This guy’s goal in life is interesting.”

Devan chastised him with a single word, but Pelos wasn’t too offended.

“…… I’ve been wondering from the beginning, why on earth did you become a priest?”

“It’s because I have a natural talent for sensing divine power, that’s all.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“I thought it was the only way I could get back at my family.”

Devan interrupted.

“Revenge?”

“I can’t believe you just said such a violent word. Revenge? This is just a senseless deviation.”

“A deviation?”

My mind busied itself between Devan and Pelos’ conversation.

“Priests can’t marry. That’s the best I could come up with in the mind of a self-proclaimed genius.”

It certainly looked like he was having some bad problems with his family. Pelos only laughed, mumbling, as if it wasn’t his story.

He thought he understood why someone who had the innate ability to feel divine power just by holding his hand was only a priest of a separate temple.

There was also the reason why Devan had named his actions as senseless deviance.

It was his “revenge” against his parents that made him choose a boring profession compared to his family’s status and his own clarity.

His decision to come to the temple was a ‘deviation’ to get away from his family in the Imperial City.

I don’t say this lightly, but maybe he was in pain just like I was when I wanted to escape from Count Diego’s residence.

I asked carefully.

“Are you sure you want to go back to the imperial Palace?”

“Lady, I told you. There’s an opening in the palace! Of course a priest has to go where God needs him.”

Didn’t he say there was no God?

He seemed to have no intention of telling the truth.

Indeed, it was strange to share your honest feelings with someone you had only met a few days ago.

“What God? I thought it would be fun, but I didn’t know you were interested in black magic.”

“Of course I’m interested in black magic.”

“Black magic too?”

Devan’s eyes narrowed as he focused on the words.

Pelos’s gaze went to the window.

I waited for the next words to come out of his mouth, but he didn’t talk until we reached the capital.

I thought about the connection between black magic and death in my own way, but it didn’t yield much. I thought about it for an infinitely long time, but I couldn’t come up with the right answer.

In fact, there was a feeling of anecdote.

It was for the point that Pelos would come to the capital and investigate the black magic. For only a few days, while living with him in the separate temple, I was able to learn a little more about it. He really was a genius.

Despite his “wanting to die,” he was intellectually curious, and once he saw or heard something, he never forgot it.

I believe he would be able to give me the right answer to a problem I could not solve immediately. So he can teach me how to live.

That’s what I was hoping for.

Now I’m going to worry. It’s not like I’m going to get any great ideas.

It took us more than half a day to get to the capital.

The carriage provided by the temple was not enchanted, unlike the one I had ridden in when we first left the Grand Duke’s residence.

I felt a little motion sickness because of it.

It didn’t seem to be a lie that the temple had called him, and when we arrived at the capital, Pelos really stopped the carriage in front of the temple.

“I’ll see you soon then.”

Leaving a word without sincerity, Pelos left the carriage.

As soon as he come to the imperial capital he went to the temple instead of his home. He seemed to hate his family a lot.

I looked out the window.

Before I knew it, the temple was so far away that all I could see was its ivory-colored spire.

The clock tower was so high that I could see it anywhere in the city, and seeing it made me realize that I was in the capital.

I looked at Devan and said.

“Now that we’re are in the capital, hurry up and find the knights and Eunice.”

After the battle with the demons, Devan and I were the only ones moved to the village.

After deciding to ride in Pelos carriage, we went around the vicinity of the village, near the forest where the battle with demons happened.

But we could not find any clues.

Not even a clue to those big dragons and giants.

Where the hell did they disappear to?

I had a gut feeling that the temple had something to do with this disappearance.

“If we don’t hurry to find it, something might happen.”

Devan said, “Oh,” I blurted out.

“You didn’t forget about it, did you?”

“It’s not that I forgot, I just postponed it for a while. When we get to the Imperial Palace soon, I’ll be able to order people to recognize you right away.”

“The Imperial Palace? We’re going to the Imperial Palace now?”

Devan looked even more puzzled about my strange expression.

“Is there anywhere else we could go?”

“That’s not it..……… Do you continue to stay in the imperial palace during your stay in the capital?”

“Yes. Although to be precise, it would be a separate palace a little further away.”

He was a member of the royal family, so it was only natural.

“There will be a lot of people to meet, since we’re taking our marriage vows. I hate that kind of thing.”

“You said you don’t care about your external image.”

“Is introducing someone I’m going to marry to my family related to my external image?”

Family….

His parents were the emperor and empress of this country. So, I’m going to meet the emperor and empress?

I rubbed my palms on the hem of my dress, feeling nervous. I was unfamiliar with the feeling of touching the cheap fabric.

“… Before we greet them, I hope you give me new clothes.”

Devan’s eyes fluttered open.

He still seemed to have no idea what was wrong with my clothes.

***

Soon the carriage came to a rattling halt. Did we arrive at the imperial palace already? I bit my lips nervously.

“I’m getting off.”

As far as I know, it’s been quite a while since Devan been to the capital or the Imperial Palace.

With a nonchalant look on his face, he opened the carriage door and got out first. In no time at all, the light flooded in. I opened my eyes in a daze.

“Hahaha!”

I heard a cheerful laugh just in front of the carriage.

Laughter?

Devan’s low sigh accompanied it.

“Who is this?”

The red ponytail shook greatly.

Beneath it, I could see a large chest wrapped in silver armor.

No way.

I froze, my mouth hanging open as I was about to step out of the carriage.

“Astrilla…..”

Devan mumbled in a muffled voice. It was a name he chewed on alone, not calling anyone else.

Astrilla.

She was Astrilla Lantimos, smiling boldly in front of the carriage with her hands on her hips.

She was the Crown Princess of this empire, infamous for being the best woman of her age in the empire.