Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 436



Only Noblemtl

436. The Immortal Secretary (9)

That day, the brief conversation with Katrina had a great impact on Martha.

‘What a fool I am! I’m afraid of hurting your feelings, so I have the absurd idea of ​​abandoning my mission! What a meaningless worry!’

It’s obvious which will hurt the child more: staying by his side even if it’s a little awkward, or going far away to a place he can’t see.

Even without that, the high priests’ gazes toward Mores had been growing increasingly fierce recently. So, at times like these, Marsain had to be a strong dam that could block the waves by Mores’ side. Just as Katrina had steadfastly maintained her position even after making the terrible mistake of giving poison to the Holy Emperor.

Of course, he didn’t dare to expect to become someone like Katrina. He just wanted to be a little bit of a help to Mores when he needed him. That was all Marsain hoped for.

‘To do that, I have to become stronger than I am now!’

Taking advantage of the leisure time from his escort missions, Masain stepped up his training.

To calm my wavering mind and not let my mind be distracted by miscellaneous thoughts any longer –

And as his powers become stronger, he hopes to find some peace of mind in the face of the curses of the demon species.

‘Of course, it’s still difficult to completely hide the fear of the Red Curse. But at least when a crisis occurs, it would be good to prepare in advance so that you can reflexively help the decline!’

So I started practicing jumping jacks from time to time. If I were to think of the most common crisis situation that Mores would face, it would be a fall, and nothing else comes to mind.

“… Marsain, what useless things are you doing again?”

As I was practicing throwing and catching a bag of training sand in the air, Francis, who was passing by, clicked his tongue and asked.

He was a classmate of Marsain’s at the Academy, and since he had recently joined the Knights of Saint Aurelion, they were seeing each other frequently at the palace.

“Even at the academy, you only did the most foolish and ineffective training, and now you’re doing some ridiculous training on your own?”

“I’m practicing the boo-woong.”

Although he received a rather rude scolding, Marsain responded without paying attention. Francis had been acting like that for a long time. Even when Marsain had a legitimate claim to the throne, he was incredibly arrogant.

“It just so happens that the training sandbag weighs exactly the same as Mores’s weight. So I’m going to practice falling until I can move my body reflexively without thinking.”

“…what?”

Francis’ eyes widened in surprise at the absurd answer. Then he snorted loudly.

“Wait a minute. I don’t know what that buwoong is, but what’s the point of getting used to the weight of the sandbag? Prince Mores will continue to grow in the future anyway, right? It won’t be long before his weight doubles.”

“Is that so?”

The shocked Marsain looked back at Francis. His eyes, which had been shaking aimlessly, soon hardened with the light of intense realization.

“I see!”

At that time, Francis thought that Martha would realize his foolishness and immediately stop training.

But the next day, he returned to the guard training grounds again, and this time he found Masain throwing and catching two sandbags at the same time.

“… This kid, isn’t he really an idiot?”

As time passed, fortunately, the curse that had invaded Mores’ body began to weaken little by little.

The bright red strings had now turned into a faint light. The number of times the letters appeared on the skin’s surface also began to decrease significantly.

The reason was unknown. Either the curse’s effectiveness had worn off and disappeared, or the curse had weakened over time.

Anyway, Marsain felt secretly relieved.

‘If things continue like this, we can expect the curse to be completely lifted soon.’

But at the same time, unpleasant changes began to appear in Mores’s behavior.

For example, at some point Mores stopped wearing his red cloak.

“Your Majesty, where did you put Rex today?”

When the puzzled Marsain asked Mores cautiously,

“Huh? Rex? What’s that?”

“… … !”

A very innocent retort comes back.

When he met the child’s pure, innocent eyes, Martha was shocked and speechless.

‘… What is this? Could it be that the curse is causing my memories of decline to gradually disappear?’

Of course, I couldn’t be sure if it was really because of a curse.

Until now, the unique actions and words that Mores has shown have felt like they were based on a child’s unique dreams or imagination rather than reality.

Perhaps, as time went by, the child began to gradually distinguish between dreams and reality.

Anyway, Martha felt a strange sense of loneliness and picked up the old tapestry that had been thrown into the corner of the room and put it in his quarters.

But the problem wasn’t just the memories that were fading away. As time went by, Mores’s expression also became increasingly gloomy.

The child who used to greet the morning with a bright smile every day, at some point developed the habit of staring blankly out the window with a blank expression on his face.

Even when he met Logan or Marsain, he didn’t seem as happy as before. Sometimes he seemed to avoid them, and it was common to see him hiding in a remote place and sobbing alone!

“Brother. I think that Mother Lizabeth is being too harsh on Mores. Shouldn’t we speak to Mother Abama and have Mores’ classes eliminated right now?”

By this time, Logan was also noticeably anxious.

However, although he constantly hovered around Mores and tried to persuade him, he did not rashly try to interfere with their relationship by borrowing the power of a third party. This was because he fully understood that all of these things were ultimately based on Mores’ own will.

Now, the child was desperately struggling to keep the attention of Empress Elizabeth that he had finally regained.

“… … .”

Marsain also knew this fact well, so he was equally helpless.

So whenever the sight became too painful, he would sometimes take out the old tapestry he had carefully kept and look at it to steel his resolve in his heart.

‘The Empress’s tyranny is only the beginning. As long as the devil’s curse is with you, things will become more and more difficult for Your Majesty to handle in the future. However, no matter what happens, I will stay by Your Majesty’s side and protect him until the end.’

But the Masai people at that time had no idea.

No matter how much I tried to calm my mind by myself, in the face of an unexpected change, any firm determination or vows would be meaningless.

Fate sometimes abruptly throws man into an unbearable reality and enjoys watching as his will and even the very roots of his beliefs are shaken to their core.

“… … !”

No matter what evil schemes the Devil’s servants may commit, I will not leave the side of Lesser Mores and will protect him until the end.

That was the only premise that Masain had believed in without question for a long time.

But that day.

The day a powerful storm blew in and I was coincidentally stranded at Grand Duke Asein’s residence.

Marsain was faced with an unrealistic sight he had never imagined even in his dreams, and in an instant, he completely lost his mental balance.

‘What is that?’

At that moment, Mores was clearly standing before his eyes. No, the ‘thing’ that had been Mores until just now was standing there.

But even if you look at it clearly, it is not easy to understand what ‘that’ is. Reason and emotion clash violently, and the boundaries between reality and fantasy are intricately intertwined.

The two hands holding Misra began to tremble uncontrollably.

“lowering…….”

The voice that flowed out like a groan did not reach the person singing and dispersed empty into the air.

Ah, what have I been doing all this time? What and who have I been trying to protect?

[Ahahaha!]

In his confused ears, a bright laughter that felt unusually familiar came. No, rather than hearing it, it was a strange sensation as if the sound was directly striking his head.

And in that dark backlight, there were silver eyes that shone unusually brightly.

[It’s okay. Nothing will change no matter what I do now. Brother, you’re nothing to me.]

* * *

“That day, I… so easily gave up my faith in you!”

Martha fell to his knees and confessed his wrongdoings in a frenzied manner.

“It’s all my fault! If only I had stayed by your side until the end that day! I could have definitely prevented something like that from happening to you… … .”

Seongjin, who had been quietly listening to the rambling confession, met Owen’s eyes, who was also greatly embarrassed.

‘Hey, what is Sir Marsain talking about now? Do you know anything?’

‘No? I don’t know. I’ve never heard of it before.’

‘okay?’

hmm.

Seongjin was a little embarrassed. Masain had been apologizing for something nonsense since a while ago, but the problem was that he had no idea what it was.

‘So what on earth did Kyung do to me? I don’t remember anything anyway!’

It was a bit odd to tell him to calm down and explain step by step. After all, Sir Marsain seemed to have completely lost his mind right now.

Masain, who never loses his composure even when Sungjin causes trouble, showed an unusual appearance.

“I tried to overcome it for so long, but it was no use! I, oh my… I was a pathetic coward, just like I always was!”

Meanwhile, Marsain was so absorbed in the fear he had suppressed and ignored for so long that he didn’t even realize what he was saying.

I regret what happened that day. I still regret it terribly.

But even so, Martha was not sure that she would make the same choice again if faced with the same situation.

-Look at this. It’s a dream, isn’t it? Brother Marsain is still by my side.

And that old fear of repeating the same mistake became a vivid reality and mercilessly attacked him as he stood before the same ‘Mores’ who remembered the events of that day.

‘It was all in vain! After all this time, after all this effort, I had not overcome anything!’

If I remain by Degrad’s side in this state, I will end up ruining everything just like before.

So then, what should I do now… … .

“Kukukuk… … .”

At that moment, Giacomo Milo, who was watching from the side, let out a dark laugh.

“I saw it.”

“…what?”

At Owen’s question, Giacomo Milo smiled somewhat mischievously.

“Perhaps this is not the first time for that young man! Didn’t you just see the sight of the Master coming into this world? That is truly the greatest mystery the world has ever hidden!”

“…mystery?”

“That’s right! I’m sure he was greatly shocked by that! How could a normal human mind possibly handle the feeling of awe that comes with such infinite possibilities! Hehehe!”

Giacomo Milo’s words might be seen as having some credibility, given that the person who uttered them was already halfway through the experience.

But his nonsense couldn’t continue any longer, because Sungjin glared at him with a very murderous look in his eyes.

“No, I mean… well, that’s what I mean… … .”

After saying those words, Giacomo closed his mouth like a clam.

“Ugh… … .”

Seongjin sighed softly and approached Masain. I don’t know what the problem is, but I can’t leave that guy like that forever.

“Sir Marsain.”

A voice that rings strangely calm.

Owen looked back at Sungjin absentmindedly and was a little flustered. Sungjin’s face, looking down at Masain, seemed cold.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Your Majesty, I… … .”

“Calm down, Brother Marsain.”

Ouch!

At the unexpected call of name, Masain flinched and raised his head. Towards him, Seongjin twisted the corners of his mouth and showed a strange smile.

“It’s okay. Even if you try to be careful now, nothing will change.”

“… … !”

“I think Sir Marsain is making a big mistake. The influence he has is not as great as you might think compared to his self-consciousness. Do you understand? In the end, Sir Marsain is nothing to me.”

Martha’s eyes shook greatly.

At first glance, it might sound harsh. But what was strange was that Masain’s eyes, who had been listening to the voice, were slowly coming back into focus.

“I don’t know what you regret so much and why you blame me for it, but I don’t think Kyung would have changed anything back then. So you couldn’t have messed something up. I can guarantee you that the mistake Kyung made to me wasn’t as bad as you thought.”

“subsidence…….”

Marsain asked in a trembling voice.

“Is that really so, Your Majesty?”

“okay.”

Seongjin nodded without any hesitation.

Yeah, it’s true. At least from what I remember right now.