CHAPTER 75…………………………….
Yurahel’s Grand Design
Following the lead of the border defense captain, Mick and I went to meet the woman they had reportedly found in the forest.
She was staying temporarily at a farmhouse in a small village under the jurisdiction of the border guard. The house looked ordinary from the outside, but once inside, I was quietly overwhelmed by the atmosphere that filled the space.
The woman, who appeared to be in her early forties, had her long hair neatly tied back. Her gaze was infinitely calm and deep. It felt as though her presence alone radiated a quiet, reverent energy that stilled the air around her.
She examined Mick with sharp, cautious eyes.
“Who are you?”
“This is His Majesty Mickrock, King of Pritan, and Her Majesty the Queen,” the captain answered for us.
A flash of fear crossed her eyes. The people of Malta, the province bordering our kingdom, were the ones who most feared and revered my husband, known to them as the blood demon from hell.
“Why did you cross the border?” Mick asked.
“Three children under my care went missing a month ago,” she replied. “I thought they had lost their way in the forest while playing… I must have crossed the border while searching for them.”
“Was this the first time children have disappeared?”
“Actually, two children from the neighboring village’s orphanage went missing before that. But…”
She hesitated, as if debating whether to continue.
“Speak,” Mick commanded firmly.
At his order, the woman spoke cautiously.
“Both in my village and the next, people said they saw a knight in armor taking the children away. If those knights were from Pritan, please, return the children to us.”
So she hadn’t crossed the border by accident after all. Her eyes told me she truly believed Pritan soldiers had kidnapped the children.
“It wasn’t Pritan knights,” Mick said. “Children have gone missing on this side as well.”
“Oh, no…”
Her face crumpled with despair—the last fragile hope that she might find the children here had vanished.
“When did you open your orphanage?” I asked.
“Three years ago. I returned to my hometown after being away for a long time.”
“Do you perhaps have a niece who married a Pritan noble?”
Her eyes widened. “H-how did you know that?”
I could no longer contain my curiosity.
“Are you Lady Foyna, the priestess who retired from the Grand Temple of Haren?”
* * *
While Lea and Mickrock were meeting Foyna, William took Millie for a walk through the woods near the border outpost.
According to plan, the two royal couples—Mickrock and Lea, William and Millie—were to leave for the Haren Empire at dawn tomorrow. But the current situation at the border was turning strange.
William suspected he might have to stay behind. If that were the case, his time with Millie was running short.
As they walked hand in hand, William suddenly reached up, grabbed a snow-laden pine branch, and let it snap back. The branch shook violently, and a flurry of snow showered down over Millie’s head.
“Ahh! That’s cold!”
Millie ducked and clutched her head, throwing herself into William’s arms.
Her reaction was so adorable that William couldn’t help but grin like a fool. Even though he had caused it, he pulled her close, shielding her from the falling snow.
As their bodies pressed together, warmth seeped through the layers of their clothes. The smile faded from William’s face.
On impulse, he caught Millie’s lips with his own. The kiss deepened and lingered. When he finally drew back, he gazed at her flushed face.
Warm white breath escaped from between her slightly parted lips. He brushed a light kiss on them again, then gently smoothed her tousled bangs.
“When I come back from Haren, I have something to show you,” he said.
“What is it?”
“I found us a house near Pritan Castle. Our house.”
“What?”
Millie blinked in confusion.
“I bought it myself—without my parents’ help. So I want you to decorate it however you like.”
“My taste?”
“Of course. It’ll be our home. Without you, I wouldn’t want to live there at all.”
“But I’m neither elegant nor refined…”
William laughed loudly. “That’s perfect. Neither am I!”
Seeing his bright, genuine smile moved Millie deeply. She threw her arms around him.
“All right. When you return from Haren, let’s go see it together. I’ll make it both humble and noble!”
Her words made him laugh again, but then his laughter faded as reality set in.
“Millie… I might not be able to go with you on this journey,” he said quietly.
“What? Really?”
Her lips puckered in disappointment, and William took advantage of the moment to steal another kiss.
No matter how many times he kissed her, it never felt like enough.
“Even if I can’t leave with you, I’ll follow soon. Until then, don’t leave the Queen’s side for even a moment.”
“Yes, Sir William. You be careful too.”
He looked down at her, hesitated, then spoke shyly.
“Um, Millie… could you call me something else?”
“Something else?” she repeated, blinking up at him. His neck flushed red.
“My family and friends all call me Will…”
Millie smiled sweetly. “All right then. Take care, Will.”
The sound of his name from her lips made his heart pound wildly. Overcome with emotion, he pulled her close again and kissed her deeply.
In the quiet forest, only the rustling of wings and their quickened breaths broke the silence.
* * *
Foyna and I sat across from each other at a small table.
“I heard from Baroness White,” I began. “You once served as a priestess at the Grand Temple of Haren?”
“That’s correct.”
“She also said that the High Priestess you served under healed her sister. Do you remember that priestess’s name?”
Foyna didn’t answer right away. She studied my face for a long moment, as if peering straight into my soul.
“By any chance,” she finally asked, “are you the daughter of Lady Yurahel?”
At the sound of my mother’s name, the tears I had been holding back spilled over. She really did know my mother.
“H-how did you know?”
“Those mysterious violet eyes, that pure yet resolute gaze, your almost translucent skin—you are the very image of Lady Yurahel in her youth. How could I not recognize you?”
“Oh…”
I had sometimes stared into mirrors, trying to find traces of my mother in myself, but her face in my memory was only a faint blur of light. Hearing that someone who knew her saw the resemblance filled me with both joy and relief.
“Please,” I asked softly, “tell me about my mother. What kind of person was she?”
“Lady Yurahel possessed the greatest divine power in Haren’s history,” Foyna said. “To refine her gift to its fullest, she was raised under the constant supervision of the High Priest and the temple elders from childhood.”
I listened intently, afraid to even blink.
“She lived under strict constraints, far more than the rest of us, yet I never once heard her complain. She was a woman of beauty and immense strength.”
I tried to imagine my mother as the Grand Temple’s high priestess, but I couldn’t picture it. The thought made me ache inside.
Finally, I asked the question that had haunted me for years.
“How did she come to leave the temple?”
Once again, Foyna fell silent, fixing me with her piercing eyes.
“There was a secret order from the higher authorities,” she said slowly. “Unusually, Lady Yurahel refused to obey it. I believe the command came directly from the emperor.”
“I see…”
“She was gone from the temple for nearly a month. Two months after her return, she left the order altogether.”
“Why?” I asked, my heart pounding.
“…Because Lady Yurahel was with child. And the High Priestess of the Grand Temple must remain pure.”
Pain squeezed my chest, and I shut my eyes tightly. So my mother had been cast out—because of me.
“Ordinarily, a priestess who broke her vow of purity would be severely beaten and expelled half-dead,” Foyna continued softly. “But the High Priest spared her that punishment out of compassion.”
A sob tore from my throat. “If not for me…”
Mick silently pulled me into his arms as I wept like a child.
When I finally calmed, Foyna resumed.
“After her return to ordinary life, several of us tried to find her in secret, but we never succeeded. How have you lived all this time?”
Fighting back more tears, I recounted what I could remember.
“We lived in the slums of the capital, in a place called Collido, for eight years. Mother worked herself to the bone.”
“Oh…”
Foyna sighed deeply, pained by the confirmation of what she must have already suspected.
“Two days after she passed away, Marquis Uzkal came to me and said he was my father. Was that true?”
“Lady Yurahel never revealed the identity of your father. But it was not Marquis Uzkal—the emperor’s hound, as people called him.”
I had suspected as much, but hearing her state it so firmly still struck me hard. At the same time, it explained his coldness toward me all those years.
“Oh, heavens! I almost forgot something crucial!”
“Pardon?”
I looked up, startled, as Foyna let out a troubled sigh.
“Your Majesty… after your marriage, did you not begin to manifest healing power?”
“How did you know that?”
“Because Lady Yurahel foresaw this very meeting between us.”
“What?”
I stared at her in disbelief. Mick, equally puzzled, spoke up.
“Explain what you mean.”
“About a month before she left the temple,” Foyna said, “Lady Yurahel taught me how to channel healing energy in great detail. I found it strange, since my own ability was weak. When I asked her why, she told me she had seen the future.”
“The future?”
“Yes. She said, ‘I will seal my daughter’s healing power, but one day, after she marries, she will regain it and come to find you. When that time comes, teach her well.’”
Tears welled up in my eyes again.
“I thought she meant a future disciple,” Foyna said softly. “I never imagined it would be her own daughter.”
She reached across the table and gently took my hand.
“May I fulfill Lady Yurahel’s final wish?”
“Please,” I whispered, “teach me.”
