Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 372



Only Noblemtl

372. The Return of the Prodigal Son (7)

Yeah, that’s what Mores was like originally.

A person who doesn’t even listen to what others say, and is good at ripping people off as soon as he opens his mouth.

As Owen tried to suppress his anger, which had been building up for a long time, the boy waved one hand feebly.

“Edith.”

Then, as if she had been waiting, Mores’s personal maid, who had been standing nearby, hands Owen a small package.

When I opened it with curiosity, I found a small brooch and a wooden figurine of an adult inside.

“…What is this?”

What a mess, getting something from that guy Mores.

As I was taking out the bald old man who was smiling brightly and examining him closely, the boy gave a short reply.

“souvenir.”

“Souvenir? What souvenir?”

“It’s not something that has any special meaning. I was wondering if it was really necessary, but I feel uneasy about leaving you out.”

After giving a rough explanation like that, Mores soon fell into bed and closed his eyes as if he was tired.

“I’ve given you everything you need, so go now. Don’t bother me for no reason.”

“What? Inma! You’re annoying the person who came to see you… …!”

“You don’t have time to be like this, do you? You should probably start preparing properly. You’re not planning on going to the imperial banquet in that state, are you?”

“Huh? What’s wrong with your appearance now?”

As Owen rubbed his armor with a bewildered expression, Mores furrowed his brow and scolded him.

“Are you asking because you don’t know? You have a head like a chicken with all its feathers plucked out.”

“Ssamdak… what did you say?”

As he opened his mouth dumbly at the unprecedentedly harsh evaluation, Mores continued to criticize him with a blank expression.

“And what about the attire? If you don’t have the means to dress formally, shouldn’t you at least give others the impression that you’re neat and tidy?”

“no…….”

“You’re saying you even had a ceremony to improve yourself after looking like that? The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it becomes.”

Take a cue from Logan. No matter how rough he gets on the battlefield, he still maintains his crisp, freshly ironed uniform.

Do you understand? From now on, you too should stop wandering around the house and start realizing that you are the first prince of the Holy Empire!

One after another, I heard nagging words that I never expected to hear from Mores.

Mores, who had been rambling on like a senior knight who was trying to discipline a young squire, sighed softly with a slightly tired expression.

“Anyway, let’s do something about those unsightly chicken feathers. And while you’re at it, trim that messy hair neatly too.”

“Chicken feathers… … .”

Wow, isn’t that a bit harsh?

These are the feathers of a freshwater cormorant. They are a symbol of a strong warrior! Can’t you feel that the luster is on a different level from chicken feathers?

But Owen had no time to properly correct the unfair evaluation, because an eerie glare flashed from the boy’s eyes as he glared at him fiercely.

“What a shame. If I had just a little more energy, I would have plucked out all those ugly chicken feathers.”

“… … !”

He was clearly a dying man, but his murderous mutterings had a strangely powerful feel to them.

As Owen flinched in surprise, Mores’s personal maid approached him with a smile.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I will pull them all out for you.”

“Yes, Edith. Tell the palace staff to give that guy a proper shine before dinner.”

“All right.”

Thud!

“Well then, Your Majesty Owen, please excuse me for a moment.”

The strength of the handmaid’s arm that was pulling Owen was extraordinary. He looked a little embarrassed and asked Mores.

“Mores. What is this? Your maid seems to be a high-level aura user.”

“Yeah, right.”

Then the boy blinks his eyes as if he is a little sleepy, and answers in a crawling voice. For some reason, he holds out his small palm in front of him.

“So, look at this and listen to me carefully like you have been doing so far. Don’t… bother resisting.”

Look at my hands? Why?

I couldn’t understand English at all.

“But why isn’t this woman in the Knights Templar, but instead working as a handmaiden, something she doesn’t fit into?”

“Well… there’s no one in the Knights Templar… to throw a plate at Edith… .”

…plate?

“What on earth does that mean… … ?”

But there was no more response from Mores. The boy slowly lowered his arms and then closed his eyes as if falling asleep.

At first glance, it didn’t seem like a normal sleep. Her breathing was extremely unstable, and her complexion was rapidly becoming more and more unusual.

Owen was at a loss as to what to do in this sudden turn of events, when Martha approached the boy, carefully touched his forehead, and spoke.

“… My fever is rising again.”

Although his attitude was calm, as if he had experienced this situation often, the knight could not hide his worried expression.

Owen, too, was feeling the gravity of the situation vividly. Even though he was just near the bed, he could already sense the intense heat radiating from Mores.

It was a strong heat that seemed like it would burn a small boy in an instant.

‘What is this?’

What the hell is going on with Mores right now? Is it possible for the human body to naturally generate such high temperatures?

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. Perhaps His Majesty will arrive soon.”

“Your father?”

But as soon as he finished speaking, the door to the treatment room opened wide and Seonghwang rushed in!

It was incomprehensible how someone who had been in the conference room just a moment ago knew and came running so quickly.

“Mores!”

Hwaaak-

As a miraculously powerful divine power poured down from above his head, the boy’s breathing gradually began to become more even.

The aura that had been wildly raging around my body calmed down, and the heat that seemed like it would burst into flames quickly subsided.

‘Father is truly amazing!’

Now that Owen had reached a certain level, he could roughly sense what the Holy Spirit was doing.

He was now using both divine power and aura simultaneously, skillfully controlling Mores’ aura as if it were his own.

A mystical realm that Owen, as he is now, cannot reach even in his dreams.

“… … ?”

But why is that?

At some point, the Holy Emperor completely stopped using his aura and began to continuously pour out only divine power towards Mores, even though he could still feel a faint heat somewhere on his body.

Mores looked more relaxed than before, but his breath still carried traces of a fierce fever.

“…Why?”

Why on earth doesn’t Father just put that fever away completely?

Owen didn’t finish his question, but the Emperor understood what he was saying and answered it obediently.

“Because this heat is Mores’s true aura.”

“Mores’… are you coming?”

“Yes. The flames that have consumed his entire body have already become one with Mores, and he has become something that can no longer be distinguished from Pia.”

So, the heat cannot be completely driven out of the son’s body.

If you do something like that, not only will your child lose his or her aura completely and become a cripple, but if you’re not careful, he or she might even lose his or her life!

Owen’s face suddenly distorted as he realized the gravity of the situation.

“… Then, Father. What should Mores do now… … ?”

Thud.

Owen, who had forgotten the existence of the golden elixir he was holding in his hand, clenched his fist as if he was going to break it.

Then, the Holy Emperor stared blankly at Owen’s face for a moment, then slowly raised his hand and covered his head.

And then he started to gently stroke the head of his grandson, who was already grown to a similar height as his father, as if he were a child. Just like he always did when Owen couldn’t sleep because of nightmares.

“Don’t make that face, Owen. Today is a special day for you to return to the palace after so many years.”

But why is that?

The touch was no different than before, but what Owen felt was not comfort, but a hint of bitterness.

Things that cannot be resolved no matter how much you swallow them, and eventually remain as layers of lumps.

Perhaps, at this moment, the one who really needed comfort was Seonghwang himself.

“And in the end, all of this was something Mores chose for himself.”

* * *

I don’t know what was in my mind when I attended the imperial banquet.

Owen, who had been stripped of his feather decorations by Mores’s personal maid and led around by the palace servants and had been neatly groomed, looked like a neat nobleman for the first time in a while.

But Owen was so preoccupied with the problem of Mores that he didn’t even notice how his own appearance had changed.

Then, when he suddenly came to his senses, he was already moving the utensils around out of inertia, with food already in front of him.

‘By the way, the food is really delicious.’

A sumptuous table that seemed to have been prepared especially for him. As he was casually putting a piece of meat in his mouth, he heard bright laughter from nearby.

Gyarrrrr!

Even though they hadn’t seen each other in years, the twins still acted like children, and they kept laughing as if they found him funny.

“Owen, brother. Are you listening to what we’re saying? Where the hell have you been all this time?”

To Herna’s cheerful question, Gades answered politely instead of Owen.

“Brother Owen is probably worried about Mores. You two have been getting along very well lately, haven’t you?”

“…What are you talking about?”

Who’s close? Surely you’re not talking about him and Mores?

I’ve thought about it before, but sometimes the conversations between twins are hard to understand.

“But in the end, Brother Masain didn’t show up.”

“There’s nothing I can do. My brother worries too much.”

“Well, you never know when Mores might get a high fever.”

“Yeah. I can’t take my eyes off Mores.”

It was the same with Owen.

If he hadn’t been the main character of today’s banquet, he too would have been unable to leave the temporary treatment room for a moment due to anxiety.

“Prince Owen. You were said to have displayed the spirit of a great general at the triumphal procession, and now that I see you, I see that you are a handsome nobleman. While you are in the imperial capital, why not attend some social gatherings? I am sure the ladies of Delcross will be lining up to take you as their husband.”

It was not that he would be the princess, but that the ladies of Delcross would take him as their husband. Empress Tatiana never forgot to say a few harsh words that seemed like compliments.

“You are truly admirable, Prince Owen. You have performed your noble duty so well, and you are a good example to the other princes and princesses. You have suffered much in a foreign land, so please stay in the imperial capital for the time being and rest comfortably.”

As always, the pure melody of the Empress’s voice is heard.

But neither the attempts of Empress Tatiana to remove him from the throne nor the selfless compliments of the kind Empress Melody reached Owen’s ears at the moment.

Because only the listless Mores and the bitter Seonghwang’s face kept lingering in my mind.

The sight was so unsettling that for a moment I forgot that I had to find a newbie right away.

‘How did things turn out like this? There were so many things I wanted to do when I came to the Imperial City, but why is this guy who I thought was doing well now acting like this?’

It’s no longer a matter of whether or not to use the ultimate elixir.

‘Will this elixir be able to solve the inherent problems of a person’s aura?’

Yes, now the question was whether this alone could be the cure or not.

The potential danger that might come to Sisley and Seonghwangga, and the newbies waiting for him somewhere in the zodiac(?) were nothing compared to the suffering of his brother that he was seeing right now.

‘Hey, Status Window. I guess I should give this elixir to Mores!’

Owen repeated it in his head several times, but fortunately the status screen did not respond.

It was a surprising reaction, considering that he had been constantly harassing me by bringing up penalties whenever I did something that deviated from the quest.

But even if there was interference from Mr. Status Window, what good would that do? Owen had already made up his mind.

‘From today onwards, this is the new quest I must complete!’

Just wait and see!

I’m definitely going to feed this to that little punk!