Chapter 91
Chapter 91. When God Asks Me of My Sins
Emperor Imperon II’s eyes, nose, and mouth bore no resemblance to Empress Magnolia. While his father Abraltan’s features were distinct, it was astonishing how different he looked from his mother.
As Vinea’s thoughts chained together, they eventually reached a secret hypothesis.
Her quivering lips closed tightly. Her blue eyes recalled a woman who looked exactly like Emperor Imperon.
Ansha. The mole under her eyes was in the same place as under Emperor Imperon’s eyes, Abraltan’s son.
Could this be mere coincidence?
Vinea’s gaze swept across the other portraits she had passed.
Among the long line of paintings, there was one common feature they all shared.
‘Gray eyes and hair.’
Abraltan’s light silver hair and Ansha’s black hair, his nearly black dark brown eyes and her silver eyes – when combined, they resulted in exactly this color.
Yes, the color that all Tessibanian emperors were born with. Even Tetar was born with this color.
Despite numerous empresses with various hair and eye colors becoming their partners, how could they inherit just this one characteristic so consistently?
Even the platinum blonde characteristic of the Veshnu royal family sometimes showed different shades and colors depending on the era. Not like this, with features continuing so eerily identical.
Vinea hesitantly took one step back, then another. The chilling gaze from Abraltan’s portrait at the innermost part seemed to warn her not to dig any deeper into the secrets of the Tessibanian royal family.
Turning her back on Abraltan’s portrait, Vinea reached the door of the exhibition hall. As she placed her hand on the cold door, her tangled thoughts began to sort themselves out.
“Remember, Vinea de Tessibania. Among the legends surrounding Abraltan, there must be a story related to Ansha…”
Vinea closed her eyes and slowly retraced the myth of Abraltan, the founding emperor.
Abraltan, who lost his parents at a young age, volunteered for the army led by the tyrant Salbare of the Orbanteon royal family to survive. During his time as a boy soldier, he was fortunate enough to catch the king’s eye.
One day, after becoming the king’s knight, he was severely injured and abandoned by the king under the pretext of resting.
What saved him, no longer a knight, was a fairy who had descended to earth to care for humans on behalf of God. With the help of this mysterious fairy, he staged a rebellion and personally executed King Salbare, whom he had once served.
Finally, on the day of Tessibania’s founding, a brilliant pillar of light poured down from the sky onto the imperial palace, bestowing God’s blessing upon him – this was the founding myth of Tessibania.
A common and ordinary story, as founding histories often are, mixing truth and fantasy.
Amidst this, Vinea uttered a word that somehow stuck in her mind.
“Fairy…”
The fairy who helped Abraltan – historians say it’s merely a device to emphasize that Abraltan was blessed by God, but if that were the case, the pillar of light that poured down from the sky on the day the empire was founded was being treated as an established fact.
Many paintings depicting that scene still remained. One was even hanging in the corridor in front of the main palace’s banquet hall.
As the facts recorded in history all described the same form, one could guess that a massive pillar of light really did pour down on the imperial palace at that time.
Then what about the ‘fairy’ who helped Abraltan? Where is the line between truth and fiction?
In the founding day parade, it was tradition for unmarried noble ladies to imitate fairies by carrying armfuls of lily-of-the-valley flowers.
Could there be no meaning to a tradition that has been passed down from the founding until now?
Lily-of-the-valley, silver. The same color as Abraltan’s hair, but isn’t there one more person with similar characteristics?
His mistress Ansha, with her bright silver eyes.
“The village where Ansha’s grave was located is at the western end of the empire. Coincidentally, the village where Abraltan started his journey alone after being abandoned by the king is also in the west… Am I making an absurd assumption?”
The fairy who supposedly helped Abraltan was probably a human. If it hadn’t been recorded as such, she was likely a woman of ordinary status who dared not be recorded alongside the founding emperor.
Moreover, with the founding, Abraltan married Magnolia, a noblewoman of the Orbanteon royal family, to gain power to stabilize the unstable political situation.
On the day he proclaimed the founding and married Magnolia, they say a dazzling white pillar of light poured down from the sky onto the imperial palace.
“Pillar of light, God’s miracle…”
Vinea’s lips moved with a hardened face.
“Sefitiana.”
Ah, why did she only make this connection now?
A chilling shiver ran down her spine.
How could a peasant girl who grew up in the countryside all her life not fall for a handsome knight with a noble mission whom she met by chance?
Judging by the myth that the fairy helped Abraltan stop the tyrant, Ansha probably accompanied him on his journey for a long time. She might have given him a lot of help, and perhaps even shared her heart with him. She must have dreamed of a happy future with him after overthrowing the tyrant.
Until Abraltan betrayed her and married another woman.
Vinea placed her hand on her flat stomach and quickly turned around. Far away were the portraits of two people who had deceived the world and kept a secret long ago.
Abraltan, who chose power over love. The second emperor who closely resembled both him and Ansha. Ansha, who took her own life in the village where Abraltan began his journey, not in the imperial palace. Sefitiana, who lost her light.
Dizzying assumptions, or truths, swirled in Vinea’s mind before finally falling into place like pieces of a puzzle.
“Ansha, what wish did you make?”
What thoughts went through her mind as she watched the man she loved betray her and marry another woman?
What wish did she make to Sefitiana – she who couldn’t even have her name properly recorded in the glorious founding of the empire, who for some reason had to leave the imperial family, leaving her child behind?
The closer she got to the answer, the more unresolved questions continued to pile up.
But one thing was certain. The child in her womb, the bloodline continued from Abraltan and Ansha, must have a deep connection with Sefitiana.
Vinea looked at Abraltan and Magnolia in the portrait, then opened the door of the exhibition hall and walked out.
If the action taken by the priest to verify the authenticity of Sefitiana in the memory recorded in the artifact was to determine whether God’s power had touched it or not, wouldn’t it also resolve her questions?
There was only one place she needed to go to confirm this.
* * *
The bright light of the magic circle disappeared. Vinea, who had closed her eyes, opened them and tightly wrapped the cloak around her shoulders.
Berdo Makkan, the captain of the Dawn Knight Order, saluted her.
“I behold the glory of the empire. Berdo Makkan, captain of the Dawn Knight Order, greets Her Majesty the Empress.”
“I said I just needed one horse to ride, yet you insisted on coming out to greet me.”
“It was a difficult order from the beginning. The teleportation magic circle installed at the knight’s quarters was activated, yet you wanted to go alone in secret?”
“Do the other knights know about this as well?”
“You need not worry. Today, all members of the knight order are scheduled to stay in their quarters and not come out. No one should have seen the magic circle activate or Your Majesty arrive.”
Vinea nodded.
Despite the empress’s sudden visit, he showed no sign of confusion or discomfort, instead displaying a welcoming expression on his stern face.
“Have you been well?”
“To be honest, I can’t say I have. You’re a nobleman, so you must know about the recent rumors surrounding me.”
Berdo lowered his gaze with a dark expression.
He was aware of the recent speculations surrounding Her Majesty the Empress. Several nobles had already asked him to sign a petition to weaken the Empress’s influence.
Although he had rejected them all, he had heard that a considerable number of high-ranking nobles were already keeping the Empress in check.
“If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.”
“What if I try to use some wicked scheme on you?”
“How can you joke like that when you know what Your Majesty means to our knight order? We’re not so foolish as to slander our benefactor.”
“Aren’t there rumors that even the epidemic in Haksya village was my own plot?”
“The bodies buried behind the village were from before Your Majesty even came to Tessibania. Anyone with a bit of sense would know it’s nonsense, those stupid fools…”
Berdo gritted his teeth and sighed deeply as he guided Vinea inside the knight’s quarters.
“Is His Majesty’s condition alright?”
Among the rumors surrounding Vinea, there was an extremely malicious one suggesting that she had killed the emperor and hidden his body. Despite knowing this, Berdo casually brought up the topic.
This implied that he did not doubt Vinea’s public statement that “the emperor is in isolation due to an unknown epidemic.”
Vinea pondered for a moment before answering.
“I’m just desperately hoping he’ll wake up soon.”
“I see…”
The two arrived in front of the stable. A white horse that he had prepared as soon as he received Vinea’s message was tied to a tree.
“It’s small and fast. Well-trained too.”
Vinea stroked the bridge of the horse’s nose as it lowered its head slightly.
“I’ll be back within half a day.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I accompany you?”
“I’m going to the temple, not to a battlefield.”
“There are rumors that the temple has joined hands with the nobles who are trying to keep Your Majesty in check. It could be dangerous.”
“Surely they wouldn’t go as far as to kill me in a situation where nothing has been properly revealed.”
“Your Majesty.”
Despite Berdo’s repeated dissuasion, Vinea shook her head and untied the rope from the post. The freed horse shook its head.
Vinea lightly mounted the horse and gripped the reins. Berdo looked up at her with a frown.
“May I ask why you’re visiting the temple so urgently?”
The blue eyes looking down at him from atop the horse turned towards the sky. Even though the bright sunlight shining through the white clouds should have made her squint, Vinea calmly gazed at the sky.
“They say they’re judging me on behalf of God…”
As her blue eyes lowered again, a cold anger flashed across them.
“Shouldn’t I check if I’ve truly incurred God’s wrath?”
“…Please return safely. I’ll be waiting here.”
Vinea nodded in response and moved her arm widely. As the reins shook, the horse reared up on its front legs.
