Chapter 147
The golden door did not open easily.
It didn’t budge at all until Cheshire had struck it about ten times with the axe, only then showing slight changes.
The curving patterns began to move slowly.
As the branches wriggled and grew, the brilliantly blooming gem flowers gradually fell.
Petals dropped, and the increasingly lush branches extended with a momentum to fill the entire golden door.
When the patterns covered the door completely, leaving no blank space.
The golden door began to open slowly to the left and right.
Intense light poured through the widening gap.
Cheshire squinted her eyes.
“Ugh…”
Meanwhile, the rabbit doll, which had been quietly keeping its mouth shut beside her, was in utter chaos.
Jumping up and down so its long ears flapped, the doll grabbed Cheshire’s clothes and climbed up.
Settling firmly on her head, the rabbit doll extended its stubby feet forward.
“He who breaks the egg must endure the pain.”
“Fear change, and you gain nothing!”
What is it saying…
It was thoroughly enjoying its solitary philosopher play.
Cheshire felt the urge to yank the rabbit doll off her head but held back for now.
‘It seems somewhat useful.’
She needed to get home quickly.
Naturally, she was worried about the men of the Basilian family, but Hata, left alone, concerned her the most.
Hata, in puppy form, couldn’t come to the square.
He wouldn’t have seen the scene of Cheshire disappearing.
No one would explain the details to a puppy, so he must be shocked and worried all by himself.
Cheshire closed her eyes tightly and walked into the light.
Whoosh, her vision turned completely white.
At the same time, Cheshire took a deep breath.
It was due to the strange sensation surging through her body.
An indescribable tingling feeling rushed in, making her shudder involuntarily.
And finally, when the light faded.
Before Cheshire stood a massive tree towering high.
It resembled the pattern engraved on the golden door.
The tree was blooming with all kinds of flowers in full splendor.
Vines wrapped around the trunk and stems, blooming, and flower branches sprouted as well.
Countless flowers hung from the vines dangling below the branches.
Roses and dandelions, peonies and violets…
She was gazing at the sight of every color and type of flower blooming on a single tree.
With a pop, a pink blossom burst from Cheshire’s chest.
The flower, enveloped in sparkling light, flew toward the tree like a meteor shower.
The moment Cheshire’s flower touched the tree.
She knew instinctively.
The fact that she had been ‘registered’ in the fairy kingdom.
Now, Cheshire could freely come and go to the fairy kingdom through the illusion realm.
The massive golden door would no longer block her way.
The sense of belonging felt unfamiliar, so she was rubbing her chest where the flower had emerged with her palm.
Rumble…
A low, heavy vibration echoed everywhere.
The ground shook entirely, nearly causing Cheshire to stumble and fall.
The rabbit doll clung tightly to her head, holding on.
Enormous flower buds rose from various spots.
The flowers, far larger than an adult man, were sizes that couldn’t exist naturally.
In an instant, Cheshire was surrounded by dozens, hundreds of flower buds.
Though they towered over child Cheshire, they didn’t feel threatening.
Sparkling light burst from the closed buds.
Then, one by one, they slowly began to unfurl their petals.
Between the opening petals, women with astonishingly beautiful appearances appeared.
Wearing dresses adorned with flowers and leaves over fluttering thin fabric, they slid down on the petals.
Amid the vibrating floral fragrance and the gazes upon her, Cheshire stood in a somewhat dazed mood.
Meeting so many fairies at once, all in a rush, felt a bit overwhelming.
‘For now… I should greet them?’
Should she say she was the fairy Lichesia, or Cheshire Basilian?
While hesitating and pondering briefly, the foremost fairy smiled softly.
With a joyful and happy smile, she knelt on the ground.
Starting with that, like a wave, the fairies knelt one after another.
No one kept their gaze above Cheshire’s.
All looked up at her.
The rabbit doll on her head spread its arms wide and bellowed.
“The queen’s return!”
The Supreme Sun Emperor of the Palen Empire was the most exalted being under the heavens.
Only the Holy King of the Holy Empire was considered his equal.
However, the Holy Empire’s power was ultimately subordinate under the name of God.
It was incomparable to the authority of the Supreme Sun Emperor, who ruled over humans.
In the current era, the Palen Empire prospered overwhelmingly more than any other nation.
Thus, the emperor of the Palen Empire was a position utterly deserving of the title Sun.
Hence, the Supreme Sun Emperor wielded power that could fell even flying birds…
“Heuk, keuk, keheuk…”
But now, he was crawling on the floor with a wretched face.
Dressed in his long, ornate imperial robes, he crawled like a dog, panting.
Desperately wriggling forward, before the emperor sat a man on the sofa with his legs crossed.
Arms folded, looking down at the emperor with boredom, the man fiddled with a silver pocket watch in his hand.
He idly toyed with the watch, only snapping his fingers when he saw the emperor finally retch on the floor.
“Heuk…”
The emperor, pale as a ghost, hurriedly gasped for air.
With a face as if barely escaping a horrific nightmare, he bowed his head before the man.
“Count, Count…!”
The emperor rubbed his palms together, pleading.
“Please, say something at least. What, what did I do wrong? I wrote the petition as you wanted, and, and did everything you ordered…”
He looked desperate and servile, as if about to kiss the man’s sleek boot tip.
Looking down at that pitiful sight, the man smirked.
At the man’s laugh, the emperor despaired even more.
“He, Hebaton’s prince, I couldn’t do anything about! That was the cardinal’s…, Aaak!”
He hastily spat excuses, but pain struck immediately.
Feeling agony as if his body was being crushed, the emperor finally vomited.
He shouldn’t have touched that man back then.
If only he could go back to that distant past, the day he ordered an investigation into Count Basilian…
But no matter how much he regretted and wished to turn back time, the past couldn’t be changed.
The emperor had long become a puppet manipulated at Kierne Basilian’s whim.
Snap, with the finger snap sound, the pain lifted.
The emperor steadied his trembling body and urgently racked his brain.
The illusions and pains he had just endured.
They were truly horrific, but Kierne could inflict far worse at any time.
The emperor anxiously swallowed dryly, striving to appease Kierne’s mood.
“I know you lost your adopted child, no, your youngest daughter. Shall I mobilize full force for a search? From now, by imperial decree, search the entire continent.”
“Haha.”
Kierne let out a short laugh at the emperor’s words.
It seemed amused at a glance, but his coldly frozen red eyes weren’t smiling at all.
“If I could find her with such nonsense, I would have long ago.”
A month had passed since the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly ended.
The adopted child of the Basilian family, who vanished with the Fairy Queen’s crown, was still missing.
Despite the Basilian family’s exhaustive efforts, not even a small trace could be found, as if her existence had been erased.
To Kierne’s icy gaze, the emperor begged while crying.
“Then, what should I do? Please tell me.”
“Hmm.”
Kierne narrowed his eyes slenderly.
“What would lift my mood…”
He lightly tapped his toe.
Then, with his sleek shoe tip, he poked under the emperor’s chin and smiled.
“Shall we go to war with the Holy Empire?”
