Chapter 5

When I entered the large hall, I saw a familiar red carpet and a golden throne. 

There were four people on the podium, the king, the high priest, and… 

Aquila and Stella. 

I made eye contact with Aquila. Beautiful elegant-looking red-brown hair and sparkling green eyes. For a moment, the old memories came to mind. 

In my first life, I was accused of heresy by that woman and burned at the stake. Starting with that, a tough relationship with that woman continued and I tried my best to escape from my fate, but I never made it.

I remembered all the pain I had suffered so far when dying, and it made my whole body tremble, so I hid Phaeon’s legs to avoid her gaze.

‘… I said I wouldn’t do this.’ 

Even after coming back to life, I cannot avoid the pain and trauma that is deeply embedded into my mind. As I clasped his robe with my trembling hand, Phaeon turned around and said nothing. 

“I see the sky of Santra.” 

He bowed to the king. 

“Good to see you, Sir Parciel. You must have had a hard time because you couldn’t rest as soon as the war was over and had to take up another mission. I’ll hold a victory party as soon as things have calmed down and become stable and I’ll invite you to give you to celebrate your achievements.” 

“There’s no need. I just did what I had to do for Lux and Santra.”

“Haha, you’re so consistent.” 

This person… He doesn’t seem to have a good social life. At times like this, you just have to say thank you and accept it right away! 

While I was beating my chest inside and feeling frustrated, the king tilted his head to look for something. 

“But where is my granddaughter?”

“Ah…” 

He looked back in confusion. I took a deep breath, let go of his robe and stepped forward. 

“…… Asha is here.” 

I wanted to do my greeting according to court etiquette, but I thought it would sound too strange to have learned it from a book. 

As soon as the king saw me, he was stunned for a moment. It was the first time seeing this reaction in all my lives. He had always frowned and turned his head away. 

‘Did dressing up work?’

“You look just like your mother, no need for verification.” 

When he came to his senses, he let out a soft sigh. 

“Yes, that’s right. It feels like I’m seeing Princess Beatrice when she was a child. Although you’re a lot thinner than she was”, responded Bellus. 

“That ugly girl is Tris’ daughter?” 

As Stella grunted, Aquila said with a faint smile: “It really feels like my sister, who went to heaven, is back.”

Ugh! I really feel like throwing up. I hate both of them, but if I had to decide, I hated Aquila more. I rather she would hate me openly. Aquila’s methods were sunning and dirty, so I couldn’t handle her when I was still young.

“Do you know who I am?”, asked the king and stared at me. 

I wondered why he asked such a question, but I decided to show off my tearful acting skills that I had practiced in preparation for times like this: “…grandpa, right? 

“…!” 

“you hair and eyes are the same color as Asha’s.”

In fact, he is a handsome old man with gray hair and turquoise eyes like me. Now that I look at him, my eyes looked the same. 

“You … you’re Asha’s grandfather?”

When I spoke with tears in my eyes, the king flinched. 

“Well, yeah… I’m your grandfather…” 

He seemed a little perplexed and was speechless for a moment. 

“I am Ferdinand Ordo Entimos, the king of this country. And you’re the daughter of the princess of this country, Beatrice Sierenum Entimos. In other words, you’re going to become a princess of this country.” 

I‘m not a princess yet, am I?

Stella muttered discontentedly as if she wanted me to hear it, but I ignored her. 

“Asha can’t believe that what Lord Lux told Asha is actually true…”

“What did Lux say to you?”, asked he in surprise. 

“He visited me in a dream a week ago.” 

“What did he say?” 

As if curious, the eyes of the High Priest sparkled through his glasses.

“Lord Lux showed up unexpected” 

God killed me nine times, so at least I should be able to use him. 

“Don’t be surprised, little child who will bring the light, I will use you dearly. An angle of mine will come to pick you up”, recited I god’s word, which I made up to sound as holy as possible, after I took a deep breath.Everyone in the hall held their breath.

The king jumped up from the throne and shouted: “Have you ever told anyone about the oracle, High PriestBelus? That kid said ‘the child who will bring the light’ to Santra.” 

“…No, I only told the three of you yesterday and I didn’t tell anyone else. It’s amazing.” 

“The revelation in your dream happened earlier than the oracle!”, the king descended from the platform and approached me with an emotional look on his face, “Lux didn’t abandon Santra.” 

Then he added in a trembling voice: “Huh, did he say anything else besides that?!” 

“Only that his most cherished angel will protect Asha”, said I while looking at Phaeon with big eyes. 

“That means Sir Parciel! He’s the one, who is loved the most by Lux. Isn’t that right, Sir Parciel?!”

“…that…”

Phaeon was almost lost in thought.

“That’s right! The angel punished the bad ones who beat Asha! And he took Asha out of that house and treated Asha. And yesterday… he saved Asha from drowning!” 

“Punished the ones who beat you? What is this all about, Sir Parciel?!” 

“…the commoner who lived with the princess abused her. I confirmed it and sent them to the capital. They were brought to Judithium,” 

“How dare they abuse this King‘s granddaughter and the child of God! I will tear them to pieces and dry them”, the king cried out even before Phaeon could finish.

“Also, what do you mean drowning? What happened! Didn’t she just come a day later because she was tired?” 

“…I didn’t report about it because I was afraid you might be worried. When the Princess prayed at the temple, she tripped and fell into a waterway. I saved her right away, so she didn’t suffer much.”

“Still, you should have reported such a big incident right away!” 

The king was outraged. King Ferdinand was a religious men and the number of temples increased significantly after he ascended the throne. The quarterly mass, was also changed to monthly. Nevertheless, I could not fully trust the oracle due to the misunderstanding that my father might be a mercenary from the enemy country.

I didn’t expect the King to get this angry though, but I think things worked out better than I expected them to.

“This won’t do. For the time being, Sir Parciel will escort the princess.” 

“That…!”, he stopped talking and frowned, and soon returned to his emotionless expression and answered coldly, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that’ 

This this guy for real? 

“I’m a a member of the temple and as such, I have my duties to carry out. The Escort of the Princess is under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Family. ” 

Why are you like this after I laid all the groundwork? I forgot to keep my act up and just stared at him in anger, but he didn’t even look at me. 

“But didn’t you just hear about the oracle? It’s the first oracle in 100 years!” 

“…maybe it’s a coincidence.” 

Coincidence? A coincidence? I almost cursed at him.

“Huh! Where in the world would there be such a coincidence?! I thought you were more faithful than anyone else. I’m disappointed!” 

“Even if it’s not a coincidence, I don’t think it necessarily needs to be me.”

He was a stubborn man. T

hen Aquila, who was quietly watching us, said: “I agree with him, Your Majesty. This is a matter for the Royal Knights. Sir Parciel has already a lot of duties as well. I’ll assign a competent knight to the princess.” 

The king clicked his tongue regretfully, but he no longer forced Phaeon. He began to discuss with Aquila the matter of my security and my life as part of the Imperial Family. 

Meanwhile stared Stella at me – she was amazed by the completely unexpected flow of things. 

I kept staring at Phaeon, too, but he didn’t look at me until the end. 

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

“Priest Belus, are you sure you haven’t told anyone about the oracle? I know that the child spent the night at the temple yesterday” , asked Aquila, who was left alone with Belarus, in the hallway of the Latio Palace. 

“Do you think I told Princess Anastasia about the oracle and told her to lie about having a  revelation in the form of a dreams?” 

“…Well, only God knows.” 

“I am a messenger of God.” 

“I believe in God. But”, said Aquila in a low voice, “I don’t trust people unconditionally.” 

She turned around and walked out. Belus looked at her back, sighed and shook his head. 

“The princess must be having a hard.”

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

“I, Conrad Mikhailov, a Knight of the 2nd Royal Knight Division, greet Princess Anastasia. From today onward, I will be escorting the princess for the time being.” 

In the reception room of the Icarus Palace, the smallest of the Santra palaces, a dark-brown-haired knight with a chubby build spoke slowly to me.. 

“Princess, I’ll be on my way then”, greeted Phaeon me goodbye heartlessly and tried to leave. 

I grabbed his robe as hard as I could. “Wait a minute!” 

“…?

“Let me talk for a minute.” 

When I was in tears, the new escort stepped aside, feeling embarrassed. 

Phaeon spoke col‘dly to me, who looked so sad in the room alone: “Princess, only powerful people get to join the Royal Knights, not just anyone. Even if it’s not me, they’ll do their best to protect you, your Highness.”

“But Angel won’t be here… I would be very lonely…”

Apparently, it was unreasonable to have Phaeon as my escort knight immediately. He was more stubborn than I thought. But no pater whom they pick of the damn Imperial Knights, they all will be useless!

“I’m sorry, but I’d like you to stop calling me that.” 

“…why?”

“I’m not an angel, so being called so is disrespectful to Lux.” 

…I didn’t know that he still had a conscience after all the blasphemous things he had done. 

“Sure, but Asha… Asha forgot Angel’s name.”

“…I am Phaeon Parciel. Just call me Sir Parciel.”

“Par…ssssui…parsui…sssi…pa… ” 

It is true that because of I wasn’t able to eat enough, my growth was very slow and I couldn’t control my tongue well yet. But I stammered more on purpose. 

“…”

“It’s hard (difficult)!”

“It doesn’t matter what you call me, so call me however you want. Except for angel.” 

Really? Are you sure? 

I delivered the long-awaited blow to his heart: “Well… I’ll call you Papa then.”

“!”