Chapter 126
“Count.”
“If you save the First Prince’s life, I will renounce his right to succession to the throne. Furthermore, I will support the Third Prince. No, I will pledge my loyalty to the Third Prince.”
A loyalty pledge from Count Latrang, the Margrave of the southern border. It was quite a tempting proposal. If the lord with the strongest military power and most fertile territory among the empire’s four cardinal directions pledged loyalty, the Third Prince’s path would become much easier and more secure.
But even so, Alice was more important to him. Saving the First Prince was… too dangerous. Not only would Alice suffer in the process, but she might also be exposed to the many eyes and ears in the Imperial Palace.
He should refuse outright. Yet Kylus hesitated. Because he felt the Count’s desperation, who had staked everything.
The Count truly hadn’t come to threaten him. Knowing that Kylus might kill him, he had still come to plead earnestly, risking his life. Begging him to save the First Prince.
“Please, I implore you, Duke.” As if sensing Kylus’s hesitation, the Count pleaded again in a heavy voice. Kylus answered with a deep sigh.
“…I’ll think about it.” A temporary deferral. It was an uncharacteristically emotional choice for him, but somehow, recalling Alice’s constant consideration for others’ feelings, he couldn’t coldly dismiss the Count. Perhaps, loving her, he was unconsciously becoming more like Alice.
“Thank you. I’ll await your answer.” Count Latrang, with a visibly brightened face, gave his regards and promptly left the office.
“The First Prince…”
Left alone in his office, Kylus decided he should first discuss the First Prince with Alice. Since he wasn’t the one who used holy power, whether to save the First Prince or not was ultimately Alice’s decision. Of course, knowing her, she would likely immediately agree to save the First Prince.
As Kylus furrowed his brow at the sudden obstacle that was Count Latrang, there came another knock at his office door.
“Your Grace. The butler of your household urgently requests to see you.”
“Show him in.”
Kylus’s eyes sharpened at the urgently arriving butler. The butler, entering the office, delivered anxious news that further set Kylus’s nerves on edge. “Your Grace. The Duchess has gone to the temple after receiving an urgent message from High Priest Prion.”
The sacred sanctuary of Lord Helios. A place where only solemn prayers should be heard, yet for some reason, harsh breathing that didn’t quite match the sanctity of the space echoed through the sanctuary.
“Huff, gasp… hah…” More precisely, from the floor in front of the deity’s massive statue.
“Hah, ugh… hah… I, can’t, do any more… I’ll die at this rate…” Words mixed with rough breathing that sounded somewhat peculiar. Someone who didn’t know better might misinterpret it as an indecent situation.
However, Alice, who uttered those words, couldn’t think of anything of the sort. She truly felt like her heart would burst and she would die.
Of course, it wasn’t because of any suggestive act that others might imagine. She had collapsed on the sanctuary floor due to the deity’s endless demands to “Try again!”
Indeed, since the moment the deity had demanded that she build her faith and pray again, Alice had performed fifteen more prayers. And when the deity shouted for a sixteenth “Again!”, she had finally sprawled out on the floor. In a state that screamed she couldn’t go on anymore.
“Tsk.” The sound of clicking tongue came from above Alice’s head. When she looked up, her eyes met directly with the deity looking down at her.
After Alice’s fifteen life-threatening prayers, the deity had grown to the size of a 6 or 7-year-old child. Silvery hair like starlight brushing his chin and amethyst eyes like violet jewels. His beautiful face, like an intricately crafted statue, filled Alice’s vision.
When he had been only the size of a finger, she couldn’t properly appreciate the deity’s beauty, but as his body grew larger, he exuded a presence that declared, “I am the sun god!”
The one peculiar thing was that the sun god had silver hair instead of golden, but hair color hardly mattered on such a picture-perfect face. What difference did silver or gold make? His dazzling appearance resembled the blinding sun perfectly.
Had he been in the form of an adult man, she might have unconsciously knelt before his beauty. It was only because he had the appearance of a child that she could maintain her composure. Of course, his exquisite features combined with chubby cheeks made his current form fatally cute as well. Like a baby angel, one might say.
Alice, completely exhausted, momentarily thought an actual baby angel had descended, but a weighty voice brought her back to reality.
“Collapsing already. No good. Get up.” It was a firmness that didn’t match his angelic face—like a slave trader addressing a slave. But even slaves need to be alive to turn the wheel.
“Already?! I’ve prayed fifteen times! I’m not some ghost who died from failing to pray. Even cult members wouldn’t pray as much as I have!” Alice shook her head vigorously while still lying down.
“I really can’t do any more, so if you’re going to make me pray more, just kill me instead. Whether I die from my heart bursting during prayer or by Lord Helios’s hand, it’s all the same.”
“A cult?! You impious creature!” The deity stamped his small foot in anger, then pressed his forehead and let out a deep sigh.
“To think that I, the noble sun god, would manifest in such a diminutive form… It’s truly humiliating.” “…But you’re cute.” “Be quiet!”
When Alice murmured softly while watching the deity speak as if ashamed, he shouted fiercely. Of course, despite his sharp voice, his chubby-cheeked face wasn’t very intimidating.
The deity, looking at the completely prostrate Alice, seemed to realize even by his own standards that she couldn’t go on, and shook his head. “To think your faith is only this much even when squeezed dry. We have a long way to go.” “…”
Just as Alice’s mood started to shift at his tone, which sounded like a parent scolding a hopeless child, the deity stepped back and said: “I won’t make you pray anymore, so get up now. We have much to discuss.”
Much to discuss. Finally, the important main topic had arrived. Why she had come to this world. And the deity’s serious words that she couldn’t understand before.
Alice suppressed her desire to jump up and carefully asked while looking at the deity: “I’m too exhausted… would it be possible to listen while lying down…?”
Even as she spoke, Alice felt this was probably quite impious. Still, it wasn’t like she wanted to be like this. She truly didn’t have the strength to move a finger.
The deity looked at the embarrassed Alice with a sour expression, then snapped his fingers. Suddenly, a chair appeared in midair. Simultaneously, Alice’s body floated up and automatically settled into the chair.
Surprised by the sudden event, Alice blinked her large eyes, then looked at the deity with an unexpected expression of appreciation for the comfortable chair that eased her body. Despite scolding her like he wanted to devour her, calling her impious and damnable, he seemed to have shown consideration for her.
The deity climbed onto the platform in front of the statue where the Pope would address the priests, and faced Alice seated in her chair.
“What you’re most curious about is probably why you, who died, opened your eyes in this world.” “That’s right. I’m most curious about that. Why did you bring me to this world?”
Besides this, Alice had one more question. “And… I definitely saw this world in a book… How can a world from a book exist like this in reality?”
The deity exhaled a low “hmm” and answered: “The world you lived in. And this world here now. Both are real. Though a mere human like you cannot possibly see it, countless dimensions divided under enormous power form their own worlds.”
The deity continued methodically: “And occasionally, when two dimensions connect, stories from one world flow into the other. The book you saw was such a case.”
So it wasn’t just a simple novel? Alice’s eyes showed amazement, as if she had just learned a cosmic secret.
“But unlike the content of the book you read, this world did not meet such a peaceful ending.” After pausing briefly as if recalling the past, the deity opened his mouth with a dark expression.
“When I first created this world, something that didn’t appear in the book you read happened—a specter of chaos and darkness secretly seeped into this world.” “Then…”
“The specter bewitched people and used ancient magic circles to call more evil power into this world. With that, the power of the dark specter grew stronger. Eventually, many innocent people and animals began to die. There were truly many sacrifices.”
The deity, as if recalling that time, looked down with cold eyes and continued: “So I found the specters of darkness and chaos and sealed them beneath an ancient magic circle. And to ensure they could never escape again, I destroyed all the ancient magic circles. But that wasn’t the end.”
“If it wasn’t the end…” Alice cautiously let her words trail off.
“Whether fragments of the specter fell somewhere in this world when I sealed the darkness… the dark specter found a host, grew in power, and finally devoured the soul of its final host, breaking the seal.”
The deity’s face was distorted as he continued. “This happened just when the souls I had carefully nurtured had become the heroes of this world, and the Empire had found stability.”
The deity showed a fierce aura as if he would tear the specter of darkness to pieces if it were before him, then continued with a sigh: “But at that time, I had entered hibernation after witnessing the Empire’s peace, and as soon as I entered hibernation, the unsealed specter revived and destroyed this world.”
“Destruction…” Alice murmured the chilling word. Unlike the frozen Alice, the deity continued with a composed face:
“By the time I awakened belatedly from hibernation, all my children were dead and the continent was burning. It was a hell where human screams never ceased. So I had only one choice.”
He paused to regulate his breathing and continued: “To turn back time in this world. Killing the specter of darkness would not have saved the destroyed world, so it was something I shouldn’t have done, but I staked everything I had to reverse time.”
