Chapter 70
“The Holy See has a lot of information about the Child of God. Much more than I know. So it’ll be a great help to the princess.”
How could I refuse such sincere advice?
I could only nod.
“Set up an appointment.”
‘Honestly, I don’t feel like meeting a stranger…’
But we’re the ones lacking information.
And there was the promise from before, too.
Hyst’s smile widened at my permission.
“Good thinking! Wait just a moment!”
He rummaged through his pocket dimension storage excitedly, saying he’d contact them right away.
It looked like he kept a magical device linked to the Pope.
I fell into thought for a moment.
‘And maybe… the Pope already knows.’
Not only about the Child of God, but also why the Emperor sealed Dimodi.
Is the Emperor truly wary of the Child of God?
If so,
‘What is the reason?’
As if reading my thoughts, Dimodi slowly came closer and curled up in my arms.
[My memories are fuzzy, I’m sorry….]
“No, Dimodi. It’s not your fault.”
As the spirits had said, Dimodi had lost most memories regarding his previous owner and biological father.
He’d almost completely forgotten the circumstances of the sealing as well.
I had no intention of blaming him, so I hurried to soothe Dimodi, but his bean-black eyes were already glistening.
‘Oh no…’
Petting his head awkwardly, a good idea suddenly popped into my mind.
“Dimodi, there’s something only you can do besides that.”
[Only me…?]
“Yes. I grew a red flower that seems to be an ancient plant, but I don’t know exactly what it is.”
[Flower…!]
“Could you go and check what it is?”
Dimodi answered in a fairly bright voice.
[Yes…! I know all plants, every one of them!]
[Then come with me~ I’ll show you what the flower is~.]
Marin slipped in and, taking Dimodi, flew toward the greenhouse.
Watching them, I let out a small sigh of relief. Hyst, however, sounded troubled.
“Hmm, we might need to postpone the trip to the Holy See.”
“Did something happen?”
“I left a message, but I realized he’s in a prayer period right now.”
Come to think of it, I’d heard that once a year the Pope withdraws to pray to the goddess Dalia with no meetings at all.
The timing must have overlapped.
“Bad timing.”
“Wait a little, Your Highness. It usually doesn’t last more than a month, so you’ll be able to meet him soon.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t go doing anything dangerous out of impatience, alright?”
Honestly, in my current condition, I felt like anything I did might be dangerous. Still, Hyst was right that there was no need to rush into an adventure.
I nodded, and after a short hesitation he asked.
“If you want, should I ask another cardinal at the Holy See to send all their records about the Child of God?”
“Another cardinal…?”
“He’s the cardinal with the greatest holy power among them—the highest-ranking after the Pope. He’d send you whatever records you want.”
“Really?”
“He’s trustworthy.”
I didn’t bother answering that. I wanted the number of people who knew I was the Child of God to be as small as possible.
‘The Pope might be unavoidable, but anyone else makes me uneasy.’
I tapped the table with my index finger and looked at Hyst.
“While we’re on the subject, I want to check—who exactly have you told that I’m the Child of God?”
“Only the Pope, Your Highness.”
“You didn’t tell the cardinal you just mentioned?”
“Nope. Didn’t I say I tried my best to please the princess?”
He puffed his chest out.
“I was careful about secrecy because I knew you’d be sensitive about your identity!”
“Well done.”
“Hmph!”
Only the Pope knew… I made a quick decision and told the proud Hyst.
“Thanks for the offer, but hold off for now. We have time to wait until we meet the Pope.”
“Got it! …Ahem, still, that old lady—the Pope—has been waiting for the Child of God a long time.”
Hyst mumbled as if disappointed.
But what did that have to do with me?
I wasn’t planning to become the next Pope, so it would just be a burden.
When I glared at him, Hyst quickly shook his head and added,
“Don’t worry! I never let it slip to anyone except the Pope!”
“Right from the start… no, nevermind.”
“Why?”
“Never mind.”
The only person I could really trust to keep such a foolish ban I’d put on myself was you.
I swallowed the sentence down my throat.
No matter how brazen I was, it felt a little embarrassing to say that while looking into his eyes.
Unaware of my feelings, Hyst beamed and nodded.
“I actually wanted to tell you—there’s another cardinal staying at the palace right now, did you know?”
“Uh-huh, Cardinal Senfran.”
The unfamiliar cardinal that Luhel had brought at the Emperor’s request to Gobad’s wedding.
He didn’t return immediately to the Holy See and remained as a guest at Luhel’s palace.
“You should be careful with him, Your Highness.”
“Is there something suspicious?”
“There’s no hard evidence, but my gut feeling is bad. The Holy See is also watching him.”
“Understood. I’ll keep it in mind.”
‘Cardinal Senfran… and Luhel.’
I thought of the two briefly, then shook my head. Now was not the time to focus on them.
At that moment Hyst sighed deeply and rose from his chair.
“Haah—then I’ll head to the grand duke’s house.”
“You’ve been here too long?”
He said that while looking up at the sky through the greenhouse window.
Before meeting Dimodi the sun hadn’t set, but already it was nearly midnight.
Hyst, who was looking at the sky with me, grinned.
“Well, the heir to the duchy will have taken care of anything urgent.”
His voice was light.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but give him a genuine piece of advice.
“You should hurry and invent anti-hair-loss magic.”
“…You’ll help me with that, won’t you, Your Highness?”
“Goodbye. I won’t see you off.”
“How heartless—”
He grumbled but seemed cheerful. Smiling, he snapped his fingers as if he’d remembered something.
A small glass vial on the table floated up and came toward me.
I took the bottle in my hand and Hyst explained.
“It’s the liquid that splattered everywhere when Dimodi’s seal was broken. I collected it separately while you were unconscious.”
I looked closely at the corked vial.
Hyst asked with a rather serious expression,
“Do you have any idea what it is? If not, should I investigate it from my side?”
“No, there’s no need.”
I fell my gaze away from the liquid, my eyes heavy.
“I already know.”
Hyst didn’t ask further and simply nodded.
“I’ll tell you when the Holy See contacts me.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t do anything reckless.”
“Do I look like you to you?”
Hyst laughed loudly, “Hahaha!” and an artificial breeze fluttered around us.
That was the signal he was leaving.
Taking advantage of the moment while he hesitated, I whispered quietly.
“Thank you very much for today. And… come back as soon as you can.”
I felt like I’d keep needing him.
As if he somehow heard my fading voice, Hyst’s eyes opened wide.
“Why say that now!”
Before he’d even finished speaking, he teleported away with a whoosh.
I smoothed my slightly mussed hair from the breeze and bowed my head slightly.
I’d said thanks many times, but for some reason today it felt especially embarrassing.
[Master! Your face is red!]
[Hmm, it looks good on you!]
[Hyst’s face is red too!]
[Ack! I don’t like looking!]
Those voices made me feel even more embarrassed, but I quickly regained my usual composure.
I couldn’t afford to waste a single second from now on.
My mind started working quickly.
‘The Emperor is avoiding me right now.’
If it had been the old Emperor, he would have summoned me the moment I arrived at the palace.
But he let Brindel’s meeting slide and even refused my visit this morning.
From that I was certain.
‘He can get by without me.’
That meant the new drug Hebaro used on the Emperor made from that red flower was showing improvement.
Given how things had gone, the Emperor probably wanted a definite result.
‘To see how long he can last without me.’
I turned my gaze to the shelf of prepared medicines.
The compartment with the most important drugs.
In the middle sat a brown potion bottle.
It was the medicine that would stop Brindel’s auditory hallucinations.
‘Something only I in this world could make…’
Though that was now in the past.
Before leaving for the grand duke’s house, I had shared the entire recipe with Hebaro.
‘I told him to use it if there was no improvement and life was at risk.’
It was the medicine that had stopped Lornod Brindel’s hallucinations.
So it likely could be effective against the Emperor’s madness as well.
If Hebaro was deceiving the Emperor for my sake, it was only right to give him this kind of insurance.
