Spring in My Grasp - Chapter 59

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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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(59) God’s Messenger

The air in the room froze. The silence was so profound that one could almost hear Rowan’s breath catch.
“It is not merely a possibility.”
The High Priest continued.
“Alexis, your child is… already awakened.”
His tone remained measured, yet the weight of his words was undeniable. Alexis’s eyes sharpened. He could not discern whether this was cause for joy.
“It is rare for divine power to manifest at such a tender age.”
His gaze turned toward Alexis.
“The possibility that your child may equal you—or perhaps exceed you—cannot be dismissed.”
“….”
Alexis said nothing. Yet his hands had grown rigid. His eyes remained fixed upon the cradle, as though he were confronting something entirely unfamiliar. Rowan, seized by shock, drew a slow breath and carefully approached the cradle. Her blue eyes trembled as she gazed down at the baby.
“My… child?”
Her voice was barely a whisper. The High Priest nodded.
“The Kingdom has been blessed once more.”
The words carried congratulations, yet they also proclaimed an inescapable destiny. A heavy sigh escaped Rowan’s lips. She had wanted nothing more than an ordinary life—what was this? She cried out silently within herself.
‘Nothing about this is ordinary!’
Rowan’s expression hardened as she glared at Alexis.
‘This is all because of that man!’
Alexis flinched at the intensity of Rowan’s glare. At that moment, the baby in the cradle stirred ever so slightly. Within that delicate breath, a faint luminescence flickered—visible even to Rowan’s eyes.
‘Sigh.’
There was nothing to be done, Rowan thought.
‘I’ll simply raise him as ordinarily as possible.’
Yet even this fell beyond her control. The High Priest returned to the King and formally proclaimed their child as one bearing divine power, declaring Alexis’s son to be of Holy Knight caliber. In other words, the announcement that Alexis’s son possessed divine power scarcely inferior to his own.
Never in history had a newborn been proclaimed of Holy Knight standing. The King immediately relieved Alexis and Rowan of their greatest concern by bestowing upon their child the name Leonius. To receive a name from the King himself was an extraordinary honor. Yet Alexis and Rowan were displeased. All the time they had spent agonizing over the choice felt wasted. But the matter did not end there. The Temple demanded the child.
“This is unavoidable.”
The High Priest declared.
“Born with such formidable divine power, yet far too young to wield it properly! The Temple must provide special care and instruction—you must understand this necessity.”
Rowan, clutching the baby, shook her head through tears streaming down her face. Alexis stepped before her and confronted the High Priest directly.
“If you dare attempt to seize my child from my wife, I will not stand idle.”
“How dare you!”
The High Priest’s face flushed crimson. Behind him, the Temple Knights stood ready. Alexis met them with unwavering resolve.
“No, please….”
Rowan wept from behind, clutching Leonius tightly. Her son, bearing the violet-blue eyes so like Alexis’s own, blinked up at her.
“He is my child. I will raise him.”
The High Priest sighed at her words.
“The King has already consented. There is no choice in the matter.”
He continued speaking.
“The Temple will oversee his care, but I will allow you to meet with Leonius as you wish, Marchioness Hartwood. I understand this may be difficult for someone of your humble nature to comprehend, but that child… may possess even greater divine power than Alexis. He is an asset to the Kingdom and a blessing. Those who receive such extraordinary blessings cannot ordinarily live normal lives.”
“I refuse!”
Rowan cried out vehemently.
“What does it matter if he’s an extraordinary blessing or a Kingdom asset? Leonius is a child born from the love between Alexis and me. So we will raise him with that love. If he grows up and doesn’t wish to use his divine power, it doesn’t matter if he never uses it his entire life.”
“Marchioness Hartwood!”
Her words were utterly unacceptable to the High Priest, who had devoted his entire life to serving God.
“Are you denying God?”
Unable to contain himself, the High Priest finally commanded the Knights behind him.
“Bring the child.”
Then Alexis stepped forward before them.
“If you lay a hand on my wife, I will kill you all.”
The Temple Knights, who had witnessed Alexis’s divine power firsthand, hesitated for a moment. And Alexis had led them through countless subjugations. They did not wish to face him, yet the High Priest’s command took precedence.
“Alexis!”
Rowan cried out in worry. Perhaps the child sensed his mother’s anxiety. As Leonius blinked and gazed at Rowan, a strange energy emanated from the boy. His small body trembled and became impossibly light, as though made of feathers.
Startled, Rowan looked down at Leonius, and his body began to glow brilliantly. An enormous torrent of light poured forth from him. As the Temple Knights recoiled in shock, Leonius slipped from Rowan’s grasp and rose into the air.
“Leonius!”
As Rowan tried to catch Leonius again, the boy turned his head to face those standing before Alexis. And he looked directly at the High Priest. The High Priest’s mouth fell open as he met the child’s innocent gaze. Then a streak of azure light burst forth from Leonius’s body toward the High Priest.
“Ugh!”
As though struck by an arrow made of wind, the High Priest’s body was thrown backward. The azure light surged forward, attacking the High Priest, then lingered before the Temple Knights as though it contained a soul. They could not believe what they had witnessed, and even Alexis’s eyes widened in shock. The Temple Knights, seeing Leonius radiating that azure light, were utterly awestruck. Then, one by one, they knelt.
“A messenger of God!”
As one cried out, they all knelt in unison and bowed their heads. Such overwhelming divine power—surely this was a messenger sent directly by God. The High Priest, sprawled on the ground, gazed up at the baby Leonius hovering above him with fearful eyes. Then he too bowed his head. Having devoted his entire life to the Temple, how could he not pay reverence to one possessed of such divine power?
Leonius had chosen to remain at his mother’s side. As the High Priest bowed, Leonius finally nestled back into Rowan’s arms and fell asleep, exhausted. As the child settled against her, Rowan trembled and held him tightly. Then she squeezed her eyes shut.
‘He’s absolutely not ordinary!’
Any hope of raising the child normally had crumbled to dust.
***
In the face of Leonius’s powerful rejection, the High Priest and the Knights had no choice but to return empty-handed. After Madame Elrose brought the child to his room, Rowan treated Alexis coldly for the first time. Alexis paced anxiously around her.
“I won’t let anything like this happen again.”
But Rowan, lost in thought, rested her arm on the windowsill and said nothing. Deeply frightened, Alexis could not leave her side.
“I’ll speak to the King.”
Alexis continued to hover around Rowan, saying various things, but to her preoccupied mind, it all felt tedious. Yet as he continued to linger about her, the weary Rowan finally turned to face him.
As Rowan’s blue eyes quietly regarded him, Alexis swallowed hard. Come to think of it, this was the first time Rowan had ever treated him this way. His heart pounded.
“Alexis.”
Rowan’s voice rang out calmly.
“Could you give me some time alone? I need to think.”
He would have preferred if she had raged or shown irritation—then he could simply hold her and apologize frantically. But now, with Rowan like this, there was no opening for him to slip through. He had a fierce nature by disposition, but his heart was too weak toward Rowan to treat her that way. She held his leash.
“I understand….”
Alexis answered in a subdued voice. Then he shuffled out of the room without energy. Leaning against the door, he thought about obliterating the entire Temple. Though they had retreated in shameful defeat, they had made Rowan’s heart toward him turn cold. That was devastatingly fatal to him.

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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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