A Blend of Romance and Fantasy - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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24.
The next day, I received word from Leonard and went straight to his quarters.
I hadn’t been waiting long on the sofa when he appeared with Ignis.
“Seems like he’s calmed down?”
“I thought I’d die trying to calm him all night.”
I noticed the shadows beneath his eyes had deepened. I was curious how he’d managed it.
“So how did Ignis manage to humanize himself?”
“I have no idea!”
“He has no idea.”
Leonard sank onto the sofa and pressed his temples.
“If I had to guess, when transferring the contract, the summoning magic with the dragon was deemed too dangerous, so either far stronger magical power or holy power must have intervened.”
“That makes sense. This Royal Palace is protected by Brother’s or Aurora’s barriers.”
“There’s evidence on his neck. Ignis, show them.”
“No.”
When Ignis refused, Leonard lifted him up and spun him around to sit facing us.
On his pale, delicate nape were written characters in pink.
“Stop! Don’t touch my body!!”
“Isn’t this a holy incantation?”
“I said don’t touch me!”
At Ignis’s tantrum, Leonard set him back down in his original position.
I spoke while watching the fuming Ignis carefully.
“That’s right. This is a power called 【Elisia’s Prayer】 that Saint Biankista received from Elisia about two hundred years ago.”
There are many types of holy power.
Holy Knights primarily wield offensive and defensive holy power.
Priestess Attendants primarily wield healing and protective holy power.
Priests primarily wield blessing and barrier holy power.
However, unlike magic, holy power doesn’t have completely distinct attributes; instead, they’re organically connected.
In other words, Holy Knights, Priestess Attendants, and Priests can all use multiple types of holy power and even blend them together.
Also, unlike magic, holy power techniques don’t have fixed names.
However, occasionally there are techniques with established names, and these are historically powers personally bestowed by God upon noble beings such as the Pope or Saints.
One of them is 【Elisia’s Prayer】, a ‘binding’ technique.
“So you’re saying holy power activated because of the holy barrier?”
“Since the holy incantation is pink, it’s likely Brother’s holy power, but Brother can’t use 【Elisia’s Prayer】. That’s a technique passed down through the Saints. But Aurora’s holy power is golden…”
I was at a loss.
“I should probably go ask Aurora.”
* * *
“No doubt about it. This is holy power.”
When I brought Ignis to Aurora, she said the same thing.
“But would you mind explaining what happened first?”
Aurora looked between Leonard and me with an expression mixing suspicion and anticipation.
The young Ignis wedged between them didn’t seem particularly important to him.
“Ignis was my summoned creature. However, I wanted to ensure the Princess’s safety, so I attempted to transfer Ignis as her summoned creature, but something went wrong and this situation arose.”
“Really, Charlotte?”
“Y-yes.”
Since we had already aligned our stories, I nodded awkwardly.
Of course, Ignis said nothing, his expression sullen.
“By the way, Aurora, this sacred formula is written in pink, isn’t it? The Sincester Royal Family’s sacred power glows pink. So could it be Brother’s power?”
“No. Actually, I suspect your sacred power might have awakened.”
“Mine!? That’s impossible.”
“Why is it impossible? There are actually quite a few cases where sacred power awakens late.”
If that were possible, wouldn’t it have manifested long ago?
When I destroyed the original story, my life was in danger countless times, yet Elisia never granted me sacred power.
But contrary to my thoughts, Aurora seemed almost certain.
“Charlotte, let’s run a test.”
“U-um…”
I looked at the Luminous Stone that Aurora had the Priestesses bring.
A Luminous Stone was a mineral that glowed brightly when it sensed sacred energy.
If someone with sacred power touched it, the Luminous Stone would emit light.
Aurora offered it lightly, but I was reluctant to touch the Luminous Stone.
It was because of an old memory carved into my body.
-Why don’t I have sacred power!? Am I not of the sacred race!? Am I not the Princess of Sincester!!
-Charlotte, calm down.
-I can’t calm down! What would the Brother with the most sacred power in Sincester know? You took it all from me!
The childhood memories of Charlotte that had flooded my mind immediately after possessing this body were honestly still a trauma I carried.
As I hesitated to touch it, Aurora, who knew all of my past, lowered the hand holding the Luminous Stone.
“Charlotte, do you want to stop?”
“…No.”
I was nineteen now—I couldn’t let childhood trauma defeat me.
I took a deep breath and received the Luminous Stone from Aurora.
‘Don’t expect anything. I’ve been tested countless times since childhood for sacred power, but there was never any.’
But this time was different.
The moment I touched it, the Luminous Stone began to glow in a brilliant pink.
It was exactly the same color as Erdan’s.
“Charlotte!”
Aurora beamed with joy, and the Priestesses made a loud fuss of excitement.
But rather than joy, I felt utterly dumbfounded.
I’d been tested nearly a hundred times, and every time the result was negative—there was no way sacred power could suddenly manifest overnight.
“Is this a dream?”
Startled, my grip weakened.
Just as the Luminous Stone I was holding began to slip, Leonard quickly caught it and placed it back in my hand.
The man’s palm covering the back of my hand felt warm.
When I turned my gaze, he was smiling—his eyes bewildered yet his lips curved in a faint smile, creating an oddly contradictory expression.
“I’m not sure what’s happening, but should I be congratulating you?”
“For now, could you?”
Mirroring his smile, I straightened my posture with his support.
“I have no idea what’s going on, truly.”
“Let’s confirm what we’re seeing first.”
Aurora seized my hand with lightning speed and held the back of it beneath the chandelier’s glow.
“Oh my?”
“What is it?”
“Charlotte, the mark on your hand doesn’t seem to be the Sincester emblem.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you were Sincester royalty, you should have a lioness mark on the back of your hand. But what’s appeared on yours is a strange flower.”
“…!”
Leonard’s gaze wavered upon seeing the mark on my hand.
I wondered what could possibly be wrong, but there was reason enough for his reaction.
‘This is Blake’s national flower!’
And that was unmistakably the holy power that the Priest in the original 【Fallen Moonlight】 would manifest.
Leonard’s eyes and mine collided in the empty air between us.
Leonard slowly shook his head, and I hastily hid the back of my hand while passing the luminous stone to the Priestess Attendant.
“Regardless of what it is, wouldn’t it be better to discuss the manifestation of holy power with my Brother and Ignis?”
“That’s true, but….”
“Besides, the pink color proves it’s Sincester’s holy power! Holy power color is hereditary, after all.”
The problem was that the mark differed from my Brother’s.
The mark on one’s hand represents the meaning behind the deity’s bestowal of that holy power.
The Sincester royal family’s emblem was a lioness, symbolizing the command to rule the nation with wisdom and strength like a lioness.
But mine was Blake’s national flower….
As I stood bewildered, Leonard stepped forward.
“In any case, to summarize, it appears Charlotte is the one who humanized Ignis.”
“Yes. When the contract transferred, a holy ritual automatically inscribed itself to prevent the summoned creature from harming its summoner.”
“Then there’s no harm to Charlotte, so there’s no problem. Now I understand.”
At Leonard’s words, Ignis’s face fell.
“Understand what! Give me back my magnificent dragon form, you humans!”
“Ignis, the holy ritual placed on you has nothing to do with form change. You temporarily transformed into human form due to restrictions during the contract transfer. You just need to use magic again to transform back into a dragon.”
Ignis, turning pale blue, thrashed about desperately.
“I don’t know how! I was never taught!”
“A dragon who doesn’t know how to use magic?”
As Aurora questioned incredulously, Leonard spoke.
“This one is an orphan. Normally, dragons learn magic from their parents or other dragons, but he never had that opportunity.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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