Chapter 71
At that moment, Reina picked up an item from the stall and said :
“Still, since we’ve come this far, I want to buy one.”
Even if it was an object without any blessings, it seemed like she could at least infuse it with her wishes.
What she picked up had [Happiness] written on it. Just as she was about to pay for it, she suddenly thrust it toward Kaiden.
“You’re not giving this to me, are you?”
Kaiden wore a surprised expression. He had assumed she was buying it to keep for herself.
Then Reina said:
“I wanted to give it to you from the beginning…”
“…”
“Is a fake one not good enough, after all?”
Reina, with an uncertain look on her face, tried to pull the pouch back.
He quickly grabbed her hand that was holding the pouch.
“Who gives something and then takes it back?”
“Huh?”
“It’s mine, right?”
Kaiden said seriously, still holding Reina’s hand.
It just so happened that what he grabbed was her hand.
Reina was confused whether the ‘mine’ he was referring to was the pouch or herself.
‘Why am I acting like this?’
Her heart started pounding wildly again. She felt a bit flustered by how she kept freezing up in front of him.
“R-Right. It’s yours.”
As Reina averted her gaze and replied, Kaiden grinned broadly.
“Yeah. It’s mine.”
* * *
There were several doors along the path leading into the Grand Temple.
The holy knight guided the two of them through a door not used by the general public.
Unlike the bustling entrance during the holy day, the interior had a rather serene atmosphere.
As they crossed the corridor, ornate ceiling paintings welcomed them.
Reina felt an involuntary sense of reverence and tightly gripped Kaiden’s hand.
“You can wait here.”
The holy knight led them to a quiet reception room.
One side of the room, which resembled a personal prayer chamber, was densely filled with scriptures.
Before coming to the Holy Kingdom, Kaiden had researched and told her about someone named ‘Isadal.’
He was a direct disciple of the Pope and one of the twelve cardinals.
From what she heard, he had only recently become a cardinal and wasn’t well-known yet.
Timing-wise, it seemed he had been appointed around the time he started helping Arteon.
It was strange. In her previous life before regression, she had never once heard of a cardinal named Isadal.
Meanwhile, Kaiden stared intently at Reina’s tense face.
She usually had an impassive expression that worried him, but she tended to react sensitively when it came to her brother.
It was only natural, since he was her only blood relative. If something happened to Aiden, Kaiden wouldn’t be much different from Reina.
To reassure her, he firmly held her hand.
“Kaiden?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely find your brother for you.”
It was said lightly, but she knew it wasn’t just empty words.
He was a man who always kept his promises.
Having a reliable ally on her side had the effect of filling her heart to the brim.
“…Thank you.”
Reina smiled softly, as if she had never been tense at all.
With him by her side, she had a vague feeling that she could meet Jeffrey again.
A short while later, the person they had been waiting for entered the reception room.
Contrary to her expectations, Isadal was an extremely young man.
Typically, cardinals were appointed in their forties or fifties, but he looked no older than his twenties.
“We meet at last.”
Isadal spoke dryly as he took his seat.
His golden blond hair resembled the scorching summer sun, as if the sunlight itself had been melted down.
Even more dazzling were his golden eyes, which shimmered with a lustrous glow, like molten gold poured into them.
Despite his youthful appearance, the aura he exuded was distinctly different from that of any ordinary priest.
“Are you His Eminence Isadal?”
“Just call me Isadal.”
“But…”
“After all, I only chose that position out of necessity. I am merely Isadal, and nothing more than His servant.”
At his devout response, Reina nodded awkwardly.
Then he sat down across from them.
In that moment, she felt the air around them change. Reina, who had been using Ritsi’s power, was startled.
It was because a barrier was forming around the sofa where they sat, created by powerful waves of divine energy.
Having never seen a priest with such immense divine power before, Reina instinctively tensed up.
It felt just like when she had first met Kaiden.
If Kaiden’s aura was a surging passion, Isadal’s was like a coldly condensed glacier.
The energy seemed so frigid that touching it might freeze her, making Reina flinch involuntarily.
At that moment, Isadal spoke to Reina.
“It seems you don’t just sense it—you can see it.”
His words indicated he had noticed her using Ritsi’s power.
When Reina showed no particular reaction, Isadal didn’t press further. It was as if he already knew everything.
Wherever his cold gaze landed, it felt like she was being thoroughly dissected.
Reina managed to open her mouth at last.
“I’ve heard you’ve been helping Arteon search for Jeffrey. Might I know the reason?”
Even to her direct question, Isadal merely stared at the two of them with an impassive face.
She hadn’t expected a warm welcome, but she was taken aback by how utterly bland his response was.
Reina waited only for Isadal’s lips to part.
A moment later, Isadal spoke.
“Do you wish to become the emperor?”
The abrupt question left Reina with a bewildered expression.
“…Pardon?”
She had come to ask about Jeffrey, and suddenly he was inquiring if she wanted to be the emperor.
She had wanted to kill the emperor before, but she had never desired to become one herself.
With this ominous opening, even Kaiden grew wary as Isadal asked softly,
“Was my question difficult?”
Reina assumed he was testing her.
Honestly, if not for Arteon’s words, she wouldn’t have come to the Holy Kingdom at all.
She had no choice but to respond defensively.
“No, I have no intention of becoming the emperor.”
“Why not?”
“Why? Obviously…”
“You possess ample qualifications for the throne. Unlike before, I thought your choice of the dragon indicated you had resolved yourself to that extent. Was I wrong?”
His words were delivered dryly, yet their content was hard to grasp all at once.
‘What does he mean by a choice different from before?’
It sounded exactly as if he knew about her life before the regression.
That couldn’t be possible.
No one else but her could know about that.
Reina suddenly found the man before her suspicious.
To begin with, he was a figure who had never even been mentioned in the past.
How had someone with such divine power managed to conceal his identity back then?
With a hardened face, Reina said,
“Answer my question first. Why were you searching for Jeffrey? And since when did you know he was connected to the imperial family? What were you planning to do once you found him?”
At the rapid-fire questions, Isadal furrowed his brow.
It seemed he found it troublesome to answer so many at once.
“I intended to protect him once I found him.”
“So why would you…”
“There was a revelation. I sought to protect you and your family in accordance with His command. By the time preparations were complete, you had already become the dragon’s wife.”
Isadal glanced at Kaiden. Kaiden appeared to understand that the “dragon” referred to himself.
As if it didn’t matter to him, he pressed on with his original question.
“Now, answer my question. Do you wish to become the emperor?”
She couldn’t fathom why he was so fixated on that question. Reina frowned and said,
“…I just wanted to be free.”
