Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 367



Only Noblemtl

367. The Return of the Prodigal Son (2)

Investigating Empress Elizabeth presented more challenges than expected.

She was surrounded by great informants who had been assigned by the Holy Emperor for her safety, and Grand Duke Asain was also using numerous servants to keep an eye on the empress.

It is nearly impossible to conduct an investigation without being noticed by such people. So Dasha is said to have had no choice but to ask for the cooperation of one of the empress’s informants.

“There is a legendary senior who is still active. When I told him that I had made a request, he readily agreed.”

The Empress’s childhood was unremarkable.

Born as the youngest of the four daughters and one son of Grand Duke Assein, Lizabeth Assein was not particularly outstanding among the Grand Duke’s children, but like other noble girls, she received a proper education and grew up in the mansion.

It is said that during his childhood, he was not as sociable as he is now, and rarely went outside the mansion. In addition, he was known to be weak, so he lived with a doctor and took medicine since he was young?

This led to the investigation into Galen, the old physician who had been taking care of the empress since she was a baby.

“Although Galeno had already passed away, we were able to obtain the medical records remaining in the mansion, which allowed us to find out what treatment the Empress received at the time.”

At the time, surprisingly, the attending physician was treating young Lizabeth for infertility.

It is said that dried pig uterus was boiled and taken regularly along with numerous medicinal herbs known to be good for pregnancy.

‘… Infertile? Empress Lisabeth?’

The shock was fleeting.

This question immediately appeared in Seongjin’s head.

‘Infertility treatment from a young age? How on earth did you diagnose that?’

To be honest, Sungjin didn’t believe in the medicine of this world. Wasn’t it a crazy world where they spray perfume on patients with plagues and treat trauma patients with bloodletting?

Moreover, wasn’t diagnosing infertility in women considered quite difficult even in modern times?

If you think about it from a common sense perspective, that’s true. First of all, after you get married and don’t have children for several years, you start going to the hospital and getting all sorts of tests done.

But how is it possible to diagnose infertility from a young age when there are no secondary sexual characteristics?

‘And the Empress gave birth to me… Mores, right? So, doesn’t that mean she wasn’t infertile?’

Even if we were to give in a hundred times and say that Empress Elizabeth was truly infertile, there was no way that the medical standards of this world could cure such a thing.

Seongjin asked, having reached a tentative conclusion.

“Who is that Galeno? Where on earth did he learn medicine to make such a stupid diagnosis?”

In this way, Sungjin received Galeno’s entire medical notes from Dasha.

Flap flap.

When I flipped through the notebook, I saw notes roughly scribbled down about the symptoms the empress had shown and the corresponding prescriptions. It was the worst of the worst handwriting, but for some reason, Sungjin had no difficulty deciphering the imperial language.

-All the other princesses were born healthy and began practicing stacking layers on their lower abdomen from a young age. However, it is said that Lady Lisabeth, the only one who was born prematurely, was unusually short and had a thin frame, so she never got to learn the exercises.

So, Grand Duke Asain, who was concerned about his daughter’s health, came to me, who was the most skilled member of the Plague Society at the time, and asked me to take charge of Miss Lisabeth’s treatment.

And Dasha, who was standing next to Seongjin, saw a faint light flash across his eyes for a moment.

‘… Is this a mistake?’

She looked puzzled for a moment, but after confirming that there was nothing particularly wrong with the prince’s condition, she soon turned her gaze to the notebook he was holding in his hand.

According to the records, Galeno was a member of the Plague Society of Kshantra. At the time, it seemed to be a fairly radical Plague Society that was active mainly in Asain.

“Is Danchenga still active now?”

Naturally, such a question arose.

In relation to the Plague Society that he was supporting, Sungjin had once ordered an investigation into all the famous Plague Society operating on the continent. However, he had never heard of the Kshantra Plague Society.

“They are not active now, my lord. They were all tried and burned at the stake a few years ago due to the controversy over heresy. All records related to them were burned at that time, so it is almost a miracle that these medical notes still exist.”

“hmm.”

In Seongjin’s view, all plague societies were equally uncivilized, but the Kshantra Plague Society was said to be a powerful school that practiced quite groundbreaking treatments at the time.

Thanks to this, a man named Galeno also showed an outstanding ability to detect the auric activity of the human body and use it for diagnosis.

– Compared to other princesses, Lady Lizabeth’s aura was noticeably weak, especially in her abdomen. Her abdomen was full of cold energy, which made it difficult for her to digest food, and she had trouble waking up early in the morning. This is a common symptom in infertile women.

Seongjin frowned slightly.

No, since you haven’t done any aura training, of course your danjeon’s aura will be weak. You detected the aura activity just fine, so what the hell are you talking about now?

-Perhaps it is because the uterine energy is weak and the liver function is stagnant, causing congestion. This is an unmistakable symptom of infertility.

Ah, Bethel, my lord. Unfortunately, the precious daughter of the Asain Grand Duke is infertile.

The diagnosis, which was reached through a process of bizarre reasoning, was, as expected, extremely miserable.

Wait a minute. But, Bethel?

“Isn’t this… a holy name mainly used by the Dark Church?”

Seongjin still remembered it. Belinda, the now deceased parish priest of the Penitents, had once recited this mantra while talking to Seongjin.

And what about Leonard?

-Bethelah.

Didn’t that unlucky son of Rohan also greet Sungjin like this at first?

-Do you know that? Your forgotten old brothers are eagerly awaiting your command.

Sungjin has had a gut feeling that Leonard has some kind of connection to the Dark Church. That’s why he has been consistently ignoring Leonard’s repeated requests to meet.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s completely gone now, but until a few years ago, there was an active underground religious sect that used this holy name extensively.”

Dasha nodded in response to Seongjin’s question.

“But that doesn’t mean that Galen was really a heretic.”

“Why is that so?”

“At the time he was active, the underground sect had not yet been branded as a heresy. It wasn’t that long ago that His Majesty the Holy Emperor completely expelled the underground sect by naming it the [Dark Sect]. So back then, the people often used this holy name as a hymn to praise the Lord, without distinction between the Orthodox Church and the underground sect.”

Hmm.

Although he felt something was off, Sungjin quickly flipped through his notes without asking any further questions.

– He boiled the fruit of Ramus and fed it to her, first inducing the cold air in her stomach to naturally go away. However, the more she had diarrhea, the more Miss Lizabeth did not get better and only withered away. Perhaps it was because her body was too weak to endure the treatment.

Hey, if you induce diarrhea, the person will become dehydrated and weak. What did this kid do to a perfectly healthy child?

– So I decided to change the treatment plan. I prescribed her to take angelica root, cinnamon bark, and dried pig’s uterus. I also told her not to use common perfumes, but to always keep the scent of earth-heat-bearing bulbous plants close by… … .

Clink clinking.

While going through those ridiculous records, a thought suddenly occurred to Seongjin.

‘Ever since she was little, Mother… Empress Lisabeth has been receiving such nonsense treatment. So, whether or not she was infertile, it is highly likely that she at least firmly believed that she was infertile?’

Then, nearing the last chapter, a phrase suddenly caught Seongjin’s eye.

-Why is the treatment so slow despite all the methods? Perhaps it is because God arranged it this way in advance.

It is a miracle that fires can rise in the bitter cold and grass can grow in the desert because Death himself breathed his breath into it. For this to happen, the ground must first be extremely cold and extremely dry.

Seongjin blinked.

“uh……?”

wait for a sec.

Huh? Haven’t I heard this somewhere?

‘So, I guess it was something like this.’

Passion kindles flames in the bitter cold, sowing crops in the desert, and rest itself breathes… … .

Beep-

Suddenly I started hearing ringing in my ears and lost consciousness.

“… Your Majesty? Why are you doing this?”

When Seongjin put down his notebook and stumbled, Dasha, startled, hurriedly supported him and asked.

But in Seongjin’s ears, her voice had already gone so far away that it was beyond his range of perception.

Instead, what fills my auditory nerves is the sound of someone’s heartbeat, which becomes increasingly louder along with the intense heat.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

And it was the roar of the crowd, full of ecstasy, vividly reviving from oblivion.

-Rejoice! And worship!

-The baby is [the one reserved] for the glory of the church!

It was a long-standing nightmare that I had forgotten about for some time.

‘Oh, that’s right. Something like that happened once… … .’

That day, Seongjin sat on a high altar, wrapped in black robes.

And a group of people wearing the same black robes were shedding tears and shouting madly at Sungjin at the same time.

-O prepared one! O apostle of the Lord!

-Ah, now is the time!

-Freed from long oppression, the underground sect will flourish once again!

Those who know that the suffering of the soul will never end, and realize that the salvation they await is still far away, but are relieved that others will never reach salvation, and just cry out prayers at the top of their lungs that have no answer.

How else can one describe the complex and intense emotions on their faces other than [madness]?

Seongjin looked at those fanatics and felt both endless compassion and deep fear.

-Yes. The time we’ve been waiting for has finally come!

And there he was, too. The accursed Archbishop of Rest, who had planned and executed this whole mess.

The archbishop, who was standing upright next to the altar and watching this whole scene, looked straight into Seongjin’s eyes and confidently curled the corners of his mouth.

-Look! His preparations are not over yet!

No, not yet.

Step by step.

Seongjin thought as he hurriedly turned his gaze away from the archbishop who was slowly approaching him.

‘It’s not time yet! You shouldn’t see the author now!’

The Archbishop of Rest, who will surely remain vividly somewhere in one’s memory.

Trying not to look at his face, Sungjin closed his eyes hastily and thought to himself.

‘Quick! Somehow! If I don’t get out of this nightmare right now… …!’

[Mores!]

Just then, an urgent thought calling him came from somewhere.

It was the same voice of salvation that day, but at that time he couldn’t answer, and yet it was the voice of salvation that Seongjin had always been waiting for without thinking.

‘…father?’

It was the moment when Seongjin reflexively responded to that voice.

Swaaaah-

With the powerful divine power pouring down like a waterfall, I soon felt the nightmare disappear into the distance.

The blood-stained black altar and the eerie sight of the fanatics worshipping it. And even the sight of the archbishop who tenaciously wouldn’t take his eyes off Seongjin.

Although all those memories soon faded away beyond recognition, this time, Sungjin didn’t feel any regret about it.

“Mores, are you okay?”

Seongjin blinked and opened his eyes as he felt the heat slowly subsiding.

As expected, the sight of the city was right before his eyes.

As I looked into his usually calm gray eyes, for some reason, I felt an absolute sense of relief.

Phew.

Seongjin looked around, letting out a breath he had been holding for a long time.

Then, his eyes caught sight of Dasha, who was clinging to one side of the room, her eyes turning pale.

“Stand, stand, Your Majesty!”

Dasha, who was unable to run away due to the sudden appearance of the saint, was frozen in place, not knowing what to do.

“How on earth? Where did you come from all of a sudden? I definitely didn’t feel anyone around here.”

ah.

Seongjin looked at her with a slightly pitiful gaze.

No wonder, Dasha. Your father probably didn’t move from his office next door for a second.

Maybe you were just hovering around, waiting for an opportunity, so he completely erased your presence and told you to come in comfortably?

But Dasha’s suffering did not end there.

“Oh my god!”

Boom!

Sir Marsain rushed into the treatment room, practically shoving the door open. He had been dragged out by Logan for a moment, but he had come running after hearing about Seongjin’s anomaly.

“I heard from Logan! He said you seem to be running a fever again…! Are you feeling better now?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s okay.”

Logan walked in behind Marsain with an embarrassed expression. Then he went straight to Dasha, who was huddled in the corner of the room, and apologized with a sad expression.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’re done yet. Mores’s condition is like that. But don’t worry. I’ll leave the room to Sir Marsain soon, so you can talk to Mores slowly again.”

“… … !”

Dasha froze in place without saying a word.

Oh, yeah. I thought it was strange when you suddenly took Masain out for a night walk.

“Logan. Did you know Dasha was here and avoid her on purpose?”

Dasha came looking for him not long after he left, so it must have been him.

Then Logan answered, seeming embarrassed.

“Hmm. Well, it seems like your informant has been waiting outside for too long… … .”

In the end, it means that he knew all of Dasha’s movements from beginning to end.

“omg!”

Dasha staggered, deeply wounded.

It was the moment when the [faith] of the Monkey Watchtower’s most elite informant was shattered in real time.