Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 182

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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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Side Story Part 3, Episode 4
Even the couple preparing to close up the small, cozy tavern felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
“…? Edi, something feels off about this. That person who passed by earlier—it didn’t seem like Raulus, did it?”
“No, it didn’t. What brings him down to the mortal realm…?”
“Since we’re out anyway, should we stop by the Temple? It’s been weeks since we’ve seen Diego Schmart.”
Yerenika stepped out of the tavern without much thought, but suddenly froze as a prickling sensation of magical energy brushed against her skin.
“Huh? Why is she here…?”
“She? Who?”
Auredhian Belgot asked eagerly, though he didn’t need to wait for her answer. In the distance, just as a figure turned the corner into an alley, he caught sight of reddish-brown hair. Soleia? The same question flashed through both their minds simultaneously.
“Is today one of the days Soleia is permitted to leave the Temple…?”
“I don’t recall any such report coming through…”
They exchanged a few more words as they made their way toward Ugel Square, but the moment they witnessed a certain sight, they fell silent as if bound by an unspoken agreement. The uniforms of the Knights meticulously searching through Ugel Square and its surrounding alleys were unmistakable. The knight’s armor trimmed with deep crimson silk was the distinctive garb of the Belgot Imperial Knights.
It didn’t take long for their bewilderment to transform into alarm. Soleia had left the Temple without permission, and the Knights were searching the square for her! Yerenika let out an exasperated growl.
“Soleia, I thought she’d finally settled down, but here we go again…!”
It was a misunderstanding that would have left the other party indignant and wronged, had she heard it.
* * *
“This is strange… I could have sworn they went down this alley.”
The architects of this entire chaotic pursuit stood with bewildered expressions, staring up at the dead-end alley before them. They had managed to dash through the entertainment district in one breath, but somewhere along the way, they had lost their bearings.
In truth, it was an inevitable outcome. The children had no way of knowing that the alleys north of Ugel Square, where restaurants and taverns clustered together, twisted like a spider’s web. Decarve Belgot, gazing up at the tall stone wall, gently ran his hand over a brick at his eye level.
“…Should we try climbing up? It looks much lower than the Castle Walls of the Imperial Palace.”
“Did you forget what Mother said—that if you climb one more wall, you won’t be allowed to play with Unie anymore?”
“Right…”
“Since we’ve searched through all these alleys and haven’t found him, maybe he’s already returned to the Imperial Palace.”
Aizena Belgot offered a fairly reasonable hypothesis. Given that the three siblings had only examined less than one-fiftieth of the alleys with their short legs, it was a hypothesis of dubious credibility, but Decarve nodded seriously.
“Today’s adventure ends here!”
“Stop being so dramatic, big brother.”
“Where do you even pick up such language? No matter how I think about it, Jena, you’re sometimes a bit too much for your older brother. Don’t you think so, Unie?”
Unie, who had been babbling continuously while clinging to Decarve’s back, fell silent this time. He glanced at his youngest sibling wondering if she had fallen asleep, but Unie’s eyes were wide open and alert, darting curiously around their surroundings.
“What is it, Unie?”
“Lari. Lai. Lairi wa.”
Unie paused for a moment, uncertain which pronunciation of the name she had just called was correct. Soon, her tiny gloved hand fluttered toward the opening of the alley.
“Lari!”
As if that butterfly-wing-small gesture were a summoning incantation, something massive burst around the corner of the alley. A towering mass of silver fur leaped over the children’s heads, casting a shadow across all three of their faces.
[Caught you, little stones!]
Three pairs of identical eyes blinked in unison as they looked up. And three identical exclamations erupted.
“It’s Lari!”
All three siblings had witnessed Raulus’s manifestation at least once before. A divine presence far purer than that of their mother and father gently lifted the children into the air.
“Your Highnesses, Your Highness!”
Diego Schmart, who had barely clung to Raulus’s back, tumbled down to the ground.
“Good heavens, with all this snow falling! To think you’ve wandered this far without an escort…!”
Diego Schmart rushed over in great haste, frantically examining Decarve and Aizena from head to toe, while Raulus snatched up Unie from Decarve’s back and lifted her high.
[The little blood drop has grown this much again. Well, human children do grow incredibly fast.]
Raulus had only seen Unie on the day she was born. Though she wouldn’t remember him from when she was a newborn, Unie beamed with delight, grasping a handful of his silver fur and tugging at it.
“Lari.”
Short pink wispy hair poked out from between the fluffy ear coverings. Her beaming smile resembled someone unmistakably. Raulus stretched out on the snowy ground, placed Unie on his paws, and began rocking her gently back and forth.
[This little brat.]
“Not a brat.”
[Oh my, now you can talk too?]
“Uni can talk.”
Unie grinned and began plucking Raulus’s silver fur strand by strand. Unable to bear the tickling sensation, Raulus sneezed, and the small child tumbled backward. He chuckled and picked her up, settling her on his neck.
Raulus had a special reason for his affection toward Unie. He had never granted divine voice transmission to Decarve and Aizena until now. Even with their exceptional innate divinity, he had judged that such young children would struggle to hear the voice of a god.
But Unie was different. The moment Raulus saw the wrinkled newborn, he decided she would be his next summoner. His next summoner meant the human he would accompany on the surface in the form of a summoned beast.
Since the day Hades was buried beneath Remordi and his summoning bond with Yerenika was severed, Raulus had not formed such a summoning relationship for eleven years in human time. The first reason was that Udeta’s taboo—that humans could only set foot on the surface through summoning—had become void.
Moreover, aside from Yerenika, there was no human who desperately needed him enough to warrant him being their summoned beast. Decarve and Aizena were already monstrous divine ability users even without his aid.
But Unie was somewhat different. Unie resembled her mother greatly, not just in hair color, but most notably in her peculiar constitution. While her older siblings boasted the first and second greatest divinity in Belgot after the Emperor by inheriting thick paternal blood, Unie’s divinity was so faint that Raulus could barely sense it. Moreover, while she didn’t have the “mana incompatibility” disease that the old Yerenika once suffered from, she was born with a constitution quite vulnerable to mana.
Yet the reason Unie could possess such vast divinity that she was called a genius was singular: not only had Raulus bestowed his blessing directly, but he had also formed a temporary summoning contract with her. Raulus grumbled as he breathed pure, refreshing energy into the child’s body.
[In any case, that damned crumb has completely changed my habits.]
She was the bloodline of the human he had loved most in the past and would love most in the future, and she remarkably resembled her mother. Raulus had decided to become Unie’s summoned beast himself. Of course, that fact was a secret known only to Unie and Raulus. A secret unknown to his former summoner and the strongest human among his bloodline.
Raulus scratched the ground, stretched long, and rose to his feet. He gestured toward the little ones who were still being thoroughly inspected by Diego Schmart.
[Come now, children. Let’s head back. These two are on a rare date—how can we keep interrupting? I’ll take you back, so wash your feet, blow your nose, and get some sleep. Understood….]
“My?”
Raulus’s words were cut short by a soft exclamation from a woman. Diego Schmart, Raulus, and the three siblings turned their heads toward the alley’s entrance. A beautiful woman with a cold expression, her reddish-brown hair hanging in waves, stared directly at them.
“I knew my luck would keep running bad.”
“Soleia!”
Diego Schmart, who had already experienced his heart drop several times today, rose with a pale face.
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t go outside today? I’ve been asking you for years not to go out on your own!”
“It’s my choice. And you broke your promise first. I only came to get your permission.”
Cold black eyes glanced dismissively at Raulus.
“Though I didn’t expect ‘that’ to be here with you.”
At that insolent remark, Raulus tapped Diego Schmart’s shoulder.
[Hey, Raduer. That girl really hasn’t changed even after all these years. Are you sure you’ve reformed her properly?]
“…First, I should escort the Imperial Prince and Princesses back to the Imperial Palace. As for Soleia, I….”
This time it was Diego Schmart who couldn’t finish his sentence. The gentle air of the snow-covered alley suddenly grew sharp and trembled.
Ziiing—.
“Oh!”
“Ah!”
At the sharply surging wave of divinity, Decarve and Aizena’s faces brightened.
“Father!”
As the children cried out in unison, a keenly sharpened blade was pointed at Soleia’s throat. Soleia turned back without a hint of surprise. Brilliant crimson eyes blazed down at her.
Auredhian spoke with a menacing edge.
“Are you trying to cause another incident right before my eyes?”
“I haven’t caused any incident. I simply pursued someone who broke their promise, Your Majesty.”
“I distinctly remember telling you not to leave the Temple without Diego Schmart’s permission….”
“Huh?”
Auredhian’s words were cut short as a clear, melodious voice rang out through the alley. Pink hair shimmered at the mouth of the narrow passage.
“What? Why is everyone here?”
Almost simultaneously, Auredhian—whose anger had reached its peak for the first time in ages—sensed a familiar divine presence.
“Raulus?”
“What! Why is Lari here?”
[Ah, it’s been a while, little crumb.]
“Why are Deb and Jena there again? And Diego too?”
Yerenika, still struggling to grasp the situation, whirled around to face Soleia Elad.
“Don’t tell me you were targeting the children? You’re unbelievable, sister!”
Soleia Elad snorted dismissively.
“That’s not it. How many times do I have to say I was only pursuing that thing?”
Diego Schmart, suddenly reduced to “that thing,” nodded awkwardly.

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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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