CHAPTER 87………………………………………..
: The Secret of the Daesin Temple
I and Millie were imprisoned in the underground dungeon of the imperial palace by Emperor Harun. Millie’s body was bound to a dark prison pillar, and I too lay on the floor with my hands and feet tied.
Emperor Harun, who had brought me here, said he planned to send my divorce papers to Pritan. He also commanded that I serve the imperial palace for life, just like my mother, Yurahel, did at the temple. It was a ridiculous notion.
As Millie and I discussed our options, we suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice in what we thought was an empty place.
“Are you… really Yurahel’s daughter?”
“Ahhh!!!”
Millie screamed in fear at the sudden voice.
“Calm down, Millie!”
I forced myself to sit upright and stared intently in the direction of the voice. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I faintly made out the shape of a person in a corner.
I took careful steps toward the sound. There sat a man with long white hair and a tangled beard.
His gaunt chest revealed protruding ribs marked with whip scars, and his hands were raised, shackled above him.
“Who are you?”
The man lifted his head and looked at me. As I scrutinized his face, I was shocked—his eyes were completely ruined.
“How do you know my mother’s name?”
“I am Haris, the High Priest of the Daesin Temple of the Harun Empire.”
I felt my breath catch. How could a high priest, revered by the empire’s citizens, be imprisoned in such a state in the palace dungeon?
At that moment, I remembered what Lady Poina, the retired priestess and aunt of Baroness White, had said:
“There were secret orders from the higher-ups at the time, and unusually, Lady Yurahel refused them.”
“Judging by the High Priest’s opposition, I think it was likely an order directly from the emperor.”
“Lady Yurahel left the temple for almost a month, and two months after her return, she left the temple permanently.”
Urgently, I asked the High Priest about my mother’s affairs from twenty years ago.
“What were the secret orders given to my mother twenty years ago?”
“What? How do you know about that?”
“I recently met the retired priestess, Lady Poina.”
The High Priest’s face contorted, and he fell silent for a long moment.
“I heard that you opposed that order too. Then why did my mother leave the temple?”
He let out a deep sigh before finally speaking.
“Twenty years ago, the emperor was infatuated with a certain mistress. I heard that she demanded, somehow knowing, that he fetch a mystical fruit found only in the Geupa Forest.”
“Silverberry fruit!”
The High Priest flinched slightly at my knowledge but continued.
“The emperor ordered Yurahel to obtain that fruit. It was guarded fiercely by savage demons, so her foresight and divine power were needed.”
“I heard that my mother refused the order.”
“At the time, Yurahel claimed to have seen her own future.”
The High Priest blinked his sightless eyes, speaking with a look of deep regret.
After the emperor’s order reached the temple, High Priest Haris conferred with the temple priestess.
“The emperor has gone mad. Sending a priestess, painstakingly trained for years, into such danger for a mere mistress!”
“We have no choice. The emperor holds the secrets of the temple’s power.”
The priestess frowned in frustration.
The dangerous secret of the Daesin Temple was that successive High Priests and priestesses selected the child with the greatest divine power as the successor and used forbidden techniques to rapidly amplify their powers at the cost of many lives. If the Pope of the Holy Empire learned of this, it would be more than mere excommunication.
Yet, having come this far through the same method themselves, they could not abandon it. Unfortunately, all subsequent candidates for High Priest had died under this process. The only solace was that Yurahel, using this technique, had become the most powerful priestess in history.
Under normal circumstances, there was no way the temple would have sent Yurahel into such danger for a mistress. Yet, Emperor Harun pressured them, invoking the Holy Empire and the forbidden techniques.
“If the Silverberry is not brought within a month and my Helena is disappointed, I may send a secret letter to the Holy Empire next month. It’s time they know how the Daesin Temple raised its successors.”
Under the emperor’s threat, High Priest Haris could not refuse.
That night, Yurahel entered the meeting room in her pajamas, trembling from a vision she had just seen.
“Please… please don’t send me there.”
In a desperate, almost incoherent state, she spoke of her fear.
The priestess slowly embraced her.
“Yurahel, what did you see?”
“…A vast winter forest. Inside a cave, I picked a mystical fruit. Drums thumped, and spears and arrows flew from all directions. And…”
Suddenly, Yurahel blushed. She bit her trembling lips and looked at the priestess with fearful eyes.
“A stranger held me.”
The High Priest and priestess stiffened. Divine power, enhanced through forbidden techniques, vanishes instantly the moment their purity is lost. That was why they led lives of extreme abstinence.
“Haris, we must not send her there. Do everything to cancel the emperor’s order!”
Holding Yurahel tightly, the priestess implored the High Priest, who sank into deep thought.
“In the end, we failed to protect Yurahel,” the remorseful High Priest said in the palace dungeon.
“The emperor did not revoke the order.”
“From the start, he intended to suppress the temple’s power. Claiming it was for a mistress was just an excuse.”
My whole body trembled. Thinking of my mother, who had to go there despite knowing the danger, pained me.
“We prepared thoroughly to protect her, but it was in vain. Yurahel returned to the temple pregnant, ultimately losing all her divine power.”
“Ah…”
Although I had suspected it, realizing I was the cause of all my mother’s suffering filled me with unbearable guilt. Anger toward the temple also welled up. She didn’t go there willingly, and yet she was so recklessly sent away just because she was pregnant!
“Did they have no other choice but to expel her like that?”
The High Priest lowered his head, sensing my resentment.
“We tried to save her. We warned her it would be dangerous, but she refused. She said she wanted it herself.”
“Ah!!”
At that moment, I remembered the vision in the Geupa Forest cave. My mother, held tightly by a stranger, looked like a woman in love.
‘Our daughter has hair just like yours, so beautiful.’
In the vision, my mother smiled beautifully, choosing her fate by her own will.
“While we deliberated her fate, she disappeared, erasing all traces. We searched for eight years but couldn’t find her.”
“My mother died when I was eight.”
“I know. Only after her death could we find her. But the emperor acted first. By the time we arrived, you were already in the hands of Marquis Uzcal.”
A memory surged, and I could not hide my resentment.
“I lived under a false father for twelve years. You could have told me the truth in that time.”
“I’m sorry. After the next seal prayer, the priestess and I planned to take you to the Holy Empire, but the emperor sent you to Pritan instead.”
Dizziness hit me. Plans regarding me had been made and undone without my knowledge.
Suddenly, the sound of rushing footsteps and flickering torches heralded the arrival of two more prisoners beside our cell.
Their swollen faces showed signs of severe beating. Even in the torchlight, I recognized them: Robi and my master.
“I can’t understand it. How can the Daesin Temple of the Harun capital be so bleak? Julmon, is this really the Daesin Temple?”
“Yes, Princess, no doubt about it.”
At dawn, Shine and Julmon were astonished at the temple. Once more beloved than the palace itself, the building now looked like an abandoned fortress.
“Queen Lea’s biological mother came from the Daesin Temple?”
“Yes. I heard it directly from Marquis Uzcal. Since he admitted she isn’t Queen Lea’s father, we need to find someone at the temple who knew her mother.”
Deng~ deng~
The temple bell rang, awakening the day. A merchant approached with a cart full of supplies.
“Excuse me. We need to ask something.”
Julmon stopped him, and the merchant, initially indifferent, immediately became polite after receiving a coin.
“We are travelers. We came to offer and receive blessings. Who should we request?”
“Normally, the High Priest or the temple priestess would assist, but it’s difficult now.”
“Difficult? What happened?”
The merchant looked around and whispered.
“The High Priest has been away for months. The temple keeps quiet, but rumors spread—he was taken by the emperor.”
“And the priestess?”
Julmon slipped another coin to the merchant. Smiling slyly, he leaned in closer.
“She left for the Holy Empire to pray, but actually, she fled the emperor. The temple is crawling with his agents. Best to leave, sir.”
Julmon handed another coin, and they quickly entered the temple.
“What should we do now?”
“First, let’s go to the Stone Marquis house and discuss the next steps with the minor marquis.”
Shine and Julmon headed there, only to find it in chaos.
“Butler, what happened?”
“Oh, young lady! Palace knights took Master Robi and Lord Pallet. You’re the princess of the Malau Kingdom, right? Please intervene. They’ve been… close since morning.”
“Cough!”
Shine quickly checked Julmon’s expression, but his face revealed nothing.
