Spring in My Grasp - Chapter 65

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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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(65) The High Priest’s Obsession

“I’m not going anywhere.”
Rowan spoke with quiet certainty.
“And if I do go, I’ll go with you.”
At those words, Alexis turned sharply and grasped Rowan’s shoulders.
“Really?”
He asked like a child seeking reassurance.
“You’ll truly go anywhere with me?”
“Yes, of course.”
Rowan smiled as she spoke.
“As long as the three of us—you, Leonius, and I—are together, that’s all that matters.”
Strikingly handsome, capable of providing for her, and tender-hearted to boot. Where else could one find such a husband? Alexis never directed his anger at her. Rather, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.
“Besides, I have no one else to rely on but you. Please don’t worry needlessly.”
At Rowan’s words, Alexis’s eyes darkened for a moment.
‘A lie.’
Alexis suppressed the sorrow welling up within him and pulled Rowan into his embrace.
‘When you were planning to flee from me.’
Part of him wanted to find the escape funds Lea was keeping for Rowan and burn them to ash.
But he kept even the knowledge of those funds secret from her, afraid that if she discovered he knew, she would panic and distance herself from him further. He couldn’t bring himself to ask her about Lucien either, terrified she might confess that she had loved him with genuine affection. In this way, Alexis had become a complete coward when it came to Rowan.
Yet his fears proved unfounded, for the King made no further mention of Rowan afterward. Having spent some time watching for the King’s mood, Alexis refocused on his duties and enjoyed peaceful moments with Rowan.
***
“You’re here again?”
I sighed before anything else. At the entrance to the Glass Garden. The familiar white vestments, the familiar face.
“Indeed.”
The High Priest nodded as if it were nothing. Yes. These days, the High Priest had become part of my peaceful routine.
“I was passing by.”
The High Priest cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Passing by to where, exactly?”
For a moment, the High Priest’s words faltered.
“Well, that is…”
“This isn’t on the way to anywhere.”
I cut him off decisively.
“You’re coming here on purpose.”
“….”
A brief silence. Then the High Priest, his expression unchanged, opened his mouth.
“You’re right.”
He admitted it readily. Lea bowed her head behind him, her shoulders trembling. She was barely containing laughter that threatened to burst forth uncontrollably. Eloze squeezed her eyes shut. She was witnessing the High Priest’s authority crumble in real time.
“Sigh…”
I pressed my hand to my forehead.
“High Priest.”
“Yes.”
“Haven’t you been coming far too often lately?”
At this rate, it was practically the same as commuting to work. The High Priest’s visits to Valerian Castle had become so frequent that rumors had already spread beyond containment.
“There are necessary matters to attend to.”
The High Priest said.
“What matters?”
I asked.
“You come periodically with the other Holy Knights to verify Leonius’s divine power anyway.”
“That’s true.”
The High Priest couldn’t assert himself before me.
“And I heard you don’t even need to come personally to verify it.”
“Who told you that?”
For the first time, the High Priest said something other than yes.
“Alexis.”
“….”
“He said the Holy Knights can come periodically to verify and leave, so there’s no need for you to go out of your way like this.”
“That’s nonsense.”
The High Priest’s voice turned stern for the first time.
“Verifying the divine power bestowed by the Divine cannot be a trivial matter. It’s only right that I confirm it with my own eyes from beginning to end.”
“But you haven’t gone personally to check on the other divine power wielders.”
“….”
The High Priest found himself at a loss for words.
“So you just came to see him, then.”
“….”
Rowan was right. The High Priest had nothing to say.
“In all my days, I never thought I’d see you fawning over a child like this.”
“Fawning?”
“Obsessing.”
Lea eventually turned away and covered her mouth. Eloze remained motionless, her head bowed.
“The word ‘fawning’ is—”
The High Priest spoke quietly.
“Inappropriate.”
“Then what should I call it?”
“….”
“Observation.”
“That’s the same thing.”
Another silence. Rowan waved her hand dismissively.
“Never mind. Come in.”
The High Priest nodded quietly. The moment he stepped inside, his gaze grew restless.
“Where is he?”
“Wow.”
Rowan laughed in disbelief.
“Not even a greeting anymore?”
“My greetings.”
A belated courtesy. Rowan made a face and pointed in one direction with her hand.
“He’s over there.”
Leonius lay upon a blanket in the sunlight, his small hands grasping at the air as though trying to catch something. Brilliant sunlight rested upon that face, so strikingly like Alexis’s own.
“….”
The High Priest stopped before Leonius, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
“He looks cheerful today as well.”
He murmured to himself.
“Excellent.”
“What’s excellent?”
“Why do you come here every day just to talk to yourself?”
Rowan asked.
“I’m genuinely curious. What exactly is so excellent?”
“….”
“If you’re going to visit this often, couldn’t you at least give proper answers?”
The High Priest did not respond. He had already closed his eyes and was concentrating.
After a long moment, he slowly bowed in a gesture of reverence toward Leonius, then took a seat.
“He grows ever more stable.”
“What do you mean?”
“The flow of holy power.”
“Ah.”
I nodded in understanding, then turned to look at Leonius as I spoke.
“I suppose it’s because he’s eating and sleeping well.”
Leonius had been eating normally now. Nearly everything I cultivated in the Vegetable Garden found its way into his mouth. At my words, the High Priest paused briefly, then slowly lifted his head.
“That may well be.”
This space was indeed profoundly peaceful, suffused with a wonderful energy. While the Glass Garden wasn’t as grand as the sprawling gardens of other noblemen’s mansions, nowhere else possessed such a stable and gentle aura. As the High Priest gazed around the Glass Garden, I spoke to him.
“Would you like to hold him?”
“I would.”
His answer came remarkably fast.
“Wow, thank you for that razor-sharp response.”
“….”
The High Priest was already extending his arms. His expression remained stern, yet his hands reached toward me almost pleadingly. I let out a soft laugh and handed the child to him.
“….”
The High Priest held Leonius, and fell completely silent. His eyes trembled as though encountering something extraordinary. I had seen eyes like that before—in my previous life, in the faces of fans gathered at concert halls.
“He is still so small.”
“That is what babies are.”
“He is remarkably warm.”
“That is also what babies are.”
“Light is gathering.”
“You said that was holy power.”
“….”
The High Priest said nothing more. Leonius reached out his hand and grasped the High Priest’s robe with a soft sound.
“He has grasped me.”
The High Priest spoke quietly.
“Yes, he has.”
My voice was flat, while the High Priest’s trembled with emotion. Lea bolted from the room, unable to contain her laughter any longer. Only the patient Eloze managed to remain standing in place.
“This holds meaning.”
The High Priest lifted his head and looked at me. I shook my head.
“He simply grabbed it.”
“….”
Then a voice came from behind.
“This is amusing.”
It was Alexis.
“….”
The High Priest’s eyes hardened ever so slightly. He was aware that Alexis disapproved of his visits.
“You have been coming quite frequently these days.”
Alexis approached us.
“It seems you punch the clock here more often than at the Temple.”
“Verification is necessary.”
“This frequently?”
“….”
The High Priest remained evasive. He gazed down at Leonius once more, cradling his son as though he were a precious treasure. Alexis watched with unmistakable displeasure.
“You didn’t know?”
Rowan spoke casually at that moment.
“The High Priest is a fan of Leonius.”
The High Priest bristled at her words.
“A fan, you say.”
“Then what would you call it?”
“An observer.”
“That’s what a fan is.”
Alexis laughed aloud.
“To think the High Priest himself is a fan of our son—what an honor for our house.”
“….”
For the first time, the High Priest found himself at a loss for words.
***
Those peaceful days flowed past like water. Though there were occasional campaigns that drew Alexis away from the castle, he made every effort to spend his remaining time with Rowan and our son.
Thanks to Alexis’s unexpectedly domestic nature, my childcare became far more manageable. Leonius grew steadily, blossoming into a plump and adorable child. Though I raised him with Eloze’s assistance, the boy followed me with particular devotion.

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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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