The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 103

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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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Chapter 103
Angel exhaled deeply, then nodded and accepted the Address Book that Hebeneia offered.
“Your wishes are always the same, little one.”
“What’s wrong with my wishes?”
“Is there another?”
Rather than answer, Angel posed a different question.
“Given your nature, I doubt you’d want just this one thing.”
Angel frowned, her tone tinged with exasperation.
Hebeneia, who had been standing in a daze, soon broke into a grin.
“I can ask for more?”
“Don’t play innocent. You forced that advance on me in the first place—the only way to clear it faster is to grant you more wishes.”
“Hehe, actually, I’ve got plenty prepared!”
“Two more. That’s all.”
“Oh, how perfect! I had exactly two more things I wanted to ask for!”
Hebeneia proceeded to explain her remaining wishes.
Angel listened with a reluctant expression, then nodded.
“The first wish I’ll complete within days. The second, I can do as soon as this conversation ends….”
Angel glanced sideways at Hebeneia.
“And the last wish?”
“After the second one is finished.”
“Understood.”
As Angel closed her eyes, the cloth wrapping her beautiful form swirled like a whirlwind, rising high into the sky.
Angel vanished with the cloth, but her rasping voice reached Hebeneia’s ears with perfect clarity.
“You’ve done well.”
* * *
Angel descended upon the Deste Estate once more.
This time, in the midst of a mass funeral for the victims of the Undead—a ceremony presided over by High Priestess Ecclesia herself.
Angel, wearing a sorrowful smile, radiated warm light, and soon soft, round orbs of luminescence rose into the air.
Thirty-five lights.
Those who witnessed the miracle were left speechless with awe.
“……The great Divine One.”
High Priestess Ecclesia, dressed in black vestments, spoke in a hushed voice.
“Is guiding the souls of the wronged and innocent to Heaven.”
The Sacred Shrine became a sea of tears once more.
Yet something had changed. Into their endless sorrow, a thread of solace had taken root.
“……You certainly took your time in the restroom.”
Verity, who had been attending the funeral, cast a sidelong glance.
“So that’s what you were doing.”
“Well, you know.”
Hebeneia, who had excused herself saying she needed the restroom, had since returned to her seat.
Hebeneia’s eyes met Verity’s, and she shrugged her shoulders.
“Kill two birds with one stone?”
“Please don’t use such crude expressions.”
Verity grumbled that it was more vulgar than a drunken man, but then she offered praise.
“You did well.”
“I didn’t do anything special.”
……
“I received help, so of course I had to repay the debt.”
……
Verity regarded Hebeneia in silence for a moment.
‘Humans are strange creatures.’
The guilty feel no remorse toward their victims; instead, they blame them. Why were you there in the first place? Why did you make me a criminal? they ask.
Meanwhile, those who console the victim are often people unrelated to the incident.
They are not sages or saints. They are merely ordinary people possessing a certain degree of empathy and altruism.
‘It is simply a matter of whether one exercises it or not.’
The demon, who had lived for countless ages, understood this well.
‘Altruism. The concepts called cooperation, consideration, and self-sacrifice.’
These were the bare minimum conditions that allowed finite creatures to flourish for so long.
‘Therefore, you who disregard such things will never defeat the young lady.’
For though our young mistress indulges her desires, in the end she always relinquishes her own wishes for the sake of all.
“……What was that?”
Hebeneia glanced sideways at the sudden weight of attention, her brow furrowing.
Verity was grinning at her, grin spreading wider.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m impressed.”
“If you’re impressed, show it with money.”
“Ugh, that obsession with gold.”
“Hmph. Complain all you like, but you’re the one throwing coins around.”
Hebeneia closed her eyes as if dismissing the remark, focusing instead on honoring the spirits of the dead.
‘Whether they’re a thoughtless twenty-five or unnaturally mature at seven.’
The Demon, who had been watching her with tender eyes, soon closed his own.
* * *
Several days after the funeral.
A strange rumor began to spread through the Deste Estate, still shrouded in grief.
“They appeared in dreams and said goodbye to everyone.”
“The ones who’d become Undead?”
“Goodness, the Divine must truly be watching over us!”
The dead had all been dressed in dignified, beautiful garments.
They had earnestly urged their families, lovers, and friends not to grieve so deeply, not to abandon happiness and joy in their lives.
The people’s hearts shattered.
“They were all so good…….”
“Heaven is indifferent. Why only the virtuous…….”
“No.”
Someone spoke.
“It wasn’t heaven that killed them. It was people.”
Thirty-five innocent souls had perished.
The Archangel who appeared at the funeral had soothed the grief of those left behind, but could not quell their rage.
In fact, it only kindled the flames higher.
“That new Viscount Deste has disappeared.”
“He’s been arrested, they say.”
“His study was full of horrible books. Demon Summoning, Undead Creation…….”
“The Holy Knights tore up every floorboard and found a massive Summoning Circle drawn in blood underneath…….”
“They found human bone fragments in the crematory too. I’d wager it’s that old apothecary merchant—haven’t we seen him since he was dragged away back then…….”
The anger flowed in one direction.
“It’s the Emperor’s fault.”
The traces left by all the incidents that had unfolded carved out channels, and the rage simply followed those currents.
It was the consequence of his own deeds.
“If there’d been any proper judgment, nothing like that would’ve happened last spring. The entire kingdom suffered!”
“If Clavis had lived…….”
Once anger breaks free, it does not easily subside.
‘It won’t subside—rather, it will remain an eternal spark, burning on and on.’
Ecclesia the Holy Queen read through the public sentiment the Holy Knights had compiled and organized.
‘The Deste Estate has now slipped from the Imperial Court’s grasp.’
The geographical advantage of the border, and the greatest prize of all—the Magic Engineering Academy—made Deste a territory the Imperial Court had always coveted.
It would never be theirs now.
As Ecclesia turned the report, her weathered hands bore countless scars.
“Crown Prince.”
This was the Reception Room within the Sacred Shrine.
In this opulent space, unusual for such an austere sanctuary, the Holy Queen and Crown Prince Pereus sat facing each other.
“It seems best if our Holy Knights escort you to the train station. For your safety, of course…….”
“What becomes of Deste…….”
The Crown Prince, who had kept his head bowed in silence, finally spoke.
“What becomes of Deste now?”
“…….”
“Does it become your temple’s possession?”
“That will not happen.”
Ecclesia shook her head slowly.
“The administration of territories is not within the temple’s purview.”
“Then why deploy additional Holy Knights here? Surely you’re not trying to garrison military forces and seize control…….”
“A terrible tragedy has occurred—thirty-five innocent civilians were transformed into Undead.”
“Only thirty-five of them……!”
“Your Highness.”
Rashid, the knight commander who had been shadowing him the entire time, quickly stepped in to restrain the crown prince.
But the words had already left his lips.
“…….”
The Holy King, who had been watching the crown prince with complicated eyes, closed his eyes wearily and then opened them again.
“The curse of creating Undead is the most heinous form of sacrilege. It is precisely the sort of vile and shameless act that only heretics would commit.”
“…….”
“The Sacred Shrine alone will pass judgment on such sacrilege. This is the absolute authority granted to us alone, as stipulated in the imperial law.”
Especially in a case like this.
Far too many people had witnessed the Undead directly.
The Sacred Shrine intended to dispatch high-ranking clergy, including a Heresy Inquisitor, to the Deste Estate to ascertain the truth of the matter.
They would investigate the circumstances, identify those involved, and administer punishment.
“I must emphasize again: the administration of the territory is not within my authority. His Majesty the Emperor will likely appoint and dispatch a new lord.”
“…….”
“I simply hope that someone capable of consoling the wounds of this place will come.”
* * *
Bang!
The Reception Room door closed harshly.
“……Sigh.”
Left alone, the Holy King leaned back against the sofa’s armrest with a noticeably relaxed posture.
‘Such venom already, at such a young age…….’
The young crown prince was far more twisted than what the rumors suggested. And that twistedness would become a weapon, causing suffering and harm to countless things.
Clenched fists he could not hide.
The grinding sound of teeth being gnashed.
A small body trembling with barely contained rage.
“Only thirty-five, he said…….”
Deep lines formed across the Holy King’s brow.
‘With no sound adults around him, he’ll surely grow up just like that.’
He slowly adjusted his posture and turned his gaze back to the door.
He thought it had been firmly closed, but a narrow gap remained.
The Holy King found himself laughing before he could help it.
“Your brother used to play tricks like that when he was young too.”
“I wasn’t trying to play a trick, Your Highness.”
A small head poked suddenly through the gap in the door, wearing a pouty expression.
“I was eavesdropping.”
“Ha ha ha!”
“Please, don’t laugh? I haven’t yet recognized you as an ally…….”
The Holy King, who had drawn near without her noticing, knelt down on both knees.
Hebeneia’s eyes widened in surprise.
“My dear princess.”
“…….”
“You’re truly safe…….”
Hebeneia felt her chest tighten.
After Aidellos and the Duchess of Stria, she had now met a third person who genuinely worried for her safety.
Each time, joy would overflow until she felt she might become sick, yet she still could not grow accustomed to it.
Moreover, Hebeneia found the Holy King’s gesture of lowering himself to meet her gaze infinitely familiar.
It was not difficult to understand that this was because she had experienced it often in childhood—memories she could no longer recall.
“…….”
Hebeneia lowered her head deeply.
“Truth is, I have no memories from before coming to the place of exile.”
“You must have been greatly shocked as your circumstances changed so drastically.”
“And I tried to use you. I wanted to set you against the Imperial Court on behalf of myself and those in exile with me…….”
“Indeed, you are my granddaughter. You possess a most exceptional spirit.”
“Because of me, the Sacred Shrine could be put in danger. Or rather, it already has been. The Emperor won’t sit idle…….”
“That is not your fault.”
The Holy King’s demeanor shifted in an instant.
The warm expression that had been melting softly away blazed like a predator spotting its prey.
“The Sacred Shrine has always fought against sinister forces.”
A sharpness so acute it made hair stand on end flashed in his gaze, along with a strange brilliance in his eyes.
“Opposing the Imperial Court as it stands now is merely the duty incumbent upon me as a servant devoted to the divine. And so, our princess…….”
The Saint King spoke while cradling the small, delicate hands that Hebeneia held clasped before her.
“Do whatever you wish.”

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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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