Chapter 3 · To the Royal Palace (2)

“…I am just a man. Lord Lux merely lends me His power.”

Paeon answered, avoiding my gaze.

“No, you’re definitely an angel. A knight punishes bad people for me. And just now, you made all my hurts go away with a zing.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

He furrowed his brow to explain, then paused for a moment.

“The reason those people are paying for their crimes is thanks to the princess’s resourcefulness. But how did you use magic? That should be impossible at the princess’s age.”

“I found that stone in the forest. It was sparkly and pretty. Whenever those people got mad at me, I held it tight, and strangely, the scenes got captured in the stone. I guess Asha found a magic stone.”

I had prepared an excuse, knowing he would ask this kind of question.

“Even if the image stone was found, you need to infuse it with mana to record. At that age, you shouldn’t have mana sensitivity yet… It seems you possess mana strong enough to operate it unconsciously.”

Of course I do. Princess Beatrice was said to be an outstanding royal mage. Thanks to that, I inherited an incredible reserve of mana within my body (mana, for short). Yet without properly learning even defensive magic, let alone offensive magic, I met death every time.

Ah, just thinking about it makes me so frustrated I could go mad. Born as the daughter of the continent’s strongest holy knight and a royal mage, and yet I died over and over like a sunfish!

“…You truly are her daughter.”

He murmured, barely audible.

Her daughter? Don’t act like you’re talking about some third party! I’m your daughter!

He really was the type to make a vein throb on my forehead with every word, but I decided to hold it in, and hold it in again. Chewing over my goal.

I flashed a bright smile and played innocent.

“Asha, can you use magic?”

“After learning court etiquette and simple foundational knowledge, you will be tested for mana sensitivity, and then you may request a royal mage as your instructor.”

“I want to study fast. Asha likes reading books. I’ll learn lots and lots and become super smart. I read in a book that if you’re smart, people don’t treat you carelessly.”

This was true. I loved reading more than anything. In the royal palace, where I had not a single proper person to talk to, my only friends were the books in the library.

Thinking about having to relearn things from the very basics was frustrating, but I would pretend to be a genius and race through the material like mad. There was more than one or two things to learn. If I wanted to achieve my goal…

But suddenly, sleep poured over me like crazy. My mind could think like an adult’s, but my body was unmistakably a child’s, and with the tension easing and the divine power having warmed my body, fatigue must have rushed in.

“Princess! …Princess?”

His voice grew more and more distant, and I ended up drifting off to sleep in his arms.

◇ ◆ ◇

“This is outrageous, Father!”

In the audience chamber of the Santra Royal Palace.

A girl of about twelve with rich auburn curls and noble-looking green eyes was shouting at the king before her.

Her name was Stella Michel Entimos. The Third Princess of Santra, and Anastasia’s aunt.

“To accept a bastard child whose father isn’t even known as a princess?! The entire continent will laugh at us!”

“It’s not exactly pleasant for me either.”

The king, who looked benevolent thanks to his white hair and white mustache but whose teal eyes alone were piercing, rested his chin on his hand on the throne and sighed as if displeased.

“Our sister deceived us all perfectly. We thought she was fighting monsters at the border! She pretended to be doing it for the country, and then she went and rolled around with some man who knows where he crawled out from, secretly had a child, and…!”

“Even if no one is listening, I would prefer you not use vulgar language, Stella.”

A woman with the same deep auburn hair, but unlike Stella, sleek and glossy straight hair, spoke in a calm voice. Aquila Erika Entimos, the Second Princess of Santra.

“We are royalty, after all.”

“Quila! Aren’t you angry too?! We might lose our right to the throne to a four-year-old brat out of nowhere!”

“It was never mine to begin with, so I’m not angry. I’m merely concerned about Santra’s future.”

She fixed her sharp eyes on her father.

“Do you truly not know who the child’s father is?”

“The will only stated that he was a mercenary from Kalisa whom she met in the border region. Finding him with only that much information is close to impossible.”

“Ha! Kalisa! She protected Kalisa so fiercely, and in the end, she went and fell for someone from there—a commoner, no less! And then she got herself killed at the hands of the King of Kalisa. I suppose that’s just like Tris.”

“Stella!”

Aquila gestured for her to stop.

“Your Majesty, this matter must be decided very carefully. The very foundations of Santra could be shaken.”

She continued in a calm but resolute voice.

“If that child is acknowledged as a princess, under absolute primogeniture, she would also inherit the right of succession. That would mean the birth of Santra’s first bastard-born monarch in history.”

“Absolutely not! Let’s pretend this never happened, right now. We’ll silence everyone who knows about this, and just leave that child to live in that backwater village!”

Stella cried out, pale with fright.

“As for that matter,”

Just then, a young man in white priestly robes entered the audience chamber and spoke. With light brown hair and a monocle over one eye, he had a gentle, kindly-looking impression.

“I believe you should judge based on the oracle delivered yesterday.”

“High Priest Belus…!”

“I greet the sky of Santra.”

High Priest Belus bowed to the king.

“An oracle? There hasn’t been a single oracle in over a hundred years.”

“An oracle has come down: ‘Red jewels of Santra, the one who arrives today is the one who will bring light to Santra.’”

“What?!”

Both women cried out in shock at the same time.

“Is that true? Is it really referring to that child? Could there have been some error…?”

Stella fidgeted and opened her mouth.

“What does ‘light’ mean? It might not necessarily mean the throne.”

Aquila pointed out coolly as well, but she could not hide her agitation.

“Oracles have always been somewhat ambiguous.”

Belus answered with a gentle smile.

“But now that the oracle has been delivered, that person has become a ‘child of God.’ Which means…”

The king took up the words with a hardened face.

“Even if we cannot acknowledge her as royalty, we can no longer cast her out of the royal family.”

◇ ◆ ◇

Thanks to that grand oracle—‘the one who will bring light to Santra’—I received the royal family’s protection for a time, but it was only for show. Princess Aquila managed the royal household’s affairs, and she gave me only the bare minimum support to sustain my living.

The maid assigned to me came to work sporadically and quit after half a year, and the other maids avoided me for fear of Aquila’s watchful eye. I had to eat whatever scraps I was given and do menial tasks like laundry and cleaning myself.

That much was nothing compared to living in the forest cabin, but what was painful was the contempt and cold treatment. To live as a ‘nonexistent being’ in such a vast palace, among so many people, was truly lonely, sad, and miserable.

‘That oracle must have been complete bullshit.’

Far from bringing light to Santra, my life had never once seen the light either. I was now at the point of doubting whether God truly existed, and if He did, whether that god might actually be a demon.

“Princess, we have arrived at the capital. You must be tired from the long carriage ride, but His Majesty the King is waiting for you, so I will escort you straight to the royal palace.”

At Paeon’s words, I looked out the window and saw the capital’s scenery already spread before me. It had been so long since I had seen it that I felt a momentary wave of emotion. I had rarely been outside the royal palace, but I loved the capital’s scenery. Colorful buildings with red roofs stood in dense rows, and beyond them, the majestic royal palace with its golden roof was visible.

“Angel, I have a favor to ask.”

I spoke while gazing quietly out the carriage window.

“…Why do you keep calling me that… Hah… No, never mind. What is the favor?”

“I want to stop by the temple and say a prayer of thanks to Lord Lux before we go. Because He sent me an angel.”

“That is…”

He seemed troubled and hesitated, but it would also be hard for him to flatly refuse. He was, after all, the ‘true apostle of Lord Lux.’

“Understood. I will take you to the Great Temple first.”

He said after a moment’s thought.

“Thank you!”

Good, everything’s going according to plan. I couldn’t just go straight to the royal palace, after all.

A short while later, the carriage rattled and stopped. He lifted me up to help me out of the carriage. Having been inside the warm carriage, when the door opened, the cold winter air outside came rushing in with a whoosh.

“It’s cold…”

When I shivered, he flinched and stopped just as he was about to set me down on the ground.

“You can put me down… Asha is heavy.”

The gazes of the several knights standing outside the carriage shot toward him. They were reproachful looks, as if to say, ‘Surely even the commander wouldn’t call such a small child heavy?’

He must have felt the stinging gazes too, because he lifted me up and wrapped me in his robe.

“I should have brought something like a cloak… but we left in such a hurry that I couldn’t even bring an attendant. I apologize.”

“It’s okay. Angel’s body is warm.”

“Angel…?”

A black-haired knight stared at me, startled.

“I didn’t just mishear that, did I?”

“An…gel…”

“The commander is an angel…”

Some were gaping in disbelief, while others were twitching their lips, holding back laughter.

‘Just what is this man’s image within the Holy Knight Order…?’

When he glared at the knights, they quickly turned their heads and pretended to be busy with something else.

“We will stop by the Great Temple first. Send word to His Majesty to ask for his understanding.”

The knight who received the order ran off toward the royal palace, and after walking for a while, we arrived at a pure white building that looked exceedingly sacred. Paeon passed through the main gate and headed straight for the ‘Hall of Prayer.’

The entire way there, everyone—man or woman, old or young—came out and peeked at us from behind pillars. I could hear them whispering, too.

Paeon set me down at the entrance of the grand Hall of Prayer and asked.

“…Shall I step aside?”

When I nodded in small bobs, he went outside.

“I will wait in front of the door.”

Alone, I walked to the center of the Hall of Prayer.

The ceiling was filled with colorful frescoes, and numerous statues encircled the dome-shaped hall. Beneath the white marble path leading to the central altar was an open space with a fountain gushing emerald holy water, and a massive waterway caught the flow. Surrounded by the refreshing sound of water and a bluish mist, it created a mysterious atmosphere.

I reached the altar and dropped to my knees. Then, fumbling, I clasped my hands together and began to pray.

‘God, I’ve finally learned who my real father is. He’s someone You cherished and loved.’

I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted in my heart.

‘So is that why I’m being punished in his stead?! Because he betrayed You?’

I poured out all the anger I had accumulated.

‘I’ve been burned at the stake… I’ve frozen to death… I’ve been beaten to death… I’ve been mauled to death by beasts. I think I’ve been punished enough by now.’

Repeating painful deaths at such a young age, I had slowly lost the will to live. In one life, I had even killed myself. But it was no use. It seemed God had no intention of ending this punishment until I clawed my way out of this hell on my own.

‘I’ll consider this the last one.’

I gathered my hands with all my strength and approached the edge of the marble path.

‘Please, just this once.’

I squeezed my eyes shut.

‘Let me survive.’

Splash!

And I leaped into the emerald waterway.