Chapter 73
‘Cardinal Senfran….’
Hiding a cardinal among the attendants?
Could it be that Ruhel is involved in this as well?
I felt my nerves sharpen without meaning to, but… fine. I could still understand it up to this point.
There were plenty of suspicious circumstances surrounding me, and most importantly—I had successfully grown an ancient plant.
‘Of course, the Emperor would want to see it with his own eyes.’
Whether I truly possessed divine power or not.
For that reason alone, it was possible he had hidden a cardinal among the attendants.
The real problem, however, was the whispers I heard from Marin and Modway afterward.
[Oh my~! All the attendants waiting here are hiding blades~?]
[They’re all tense! These aren’t ordinary attendants!]
Blades?
The moment I heard that, I instinctively smiled.
It was to hide the whirl of thoughts running through my mind.
‘Not only a cardinal, but he even brought soldiers?’
And secretly, without telling me.
Once I realized that, I quickly grasped the Emperor’s true intention.
‘If he discovers that I have divine power, he plans to arrest me immediately.’
And that wasn’t simply because I was illegitimate.
If my birth alone had been the issue, he wouldn’t have gone this far to prepare for an arrest.
‘What the Emperor obsesses over is not me as a person, but my appearance.’
No one in this world despised seeing this face tarnished or harmed more than him.
Hadn’t he refused to let my mother stop adorning herself, even when her spirit had broken down completely?
‘There’s no way someone like him would treat me roughly, at least not physically.’
Keeping me dressed up and locked away in the palace would be far easier for him.
After all, the Emperor had never shown the slightest attachment to his own child.
And yet, he was preparing to arrest me.
‘Does that mean he’s already convinced that I’m a child of God?’
But based on what?
Such rashness was unlike him.
‘Of course, if I weren’t his daughter, he might suspect who my real father was.’
But that alone wasn’t enough proof that I was a divine child.
Divine power could be inherited through blood, yes—but being born as a child of God was a completely different matter.
‘According to Hist, not once has a child of God ever been born in succession through bloodlines.’
So if I couldn’t escape suspicion of being divine, I had thought it would be safer to emphasize instead that I was illegitimate.
That way, I might at least divert attention.
But now…
‘Did he discover irrefutable proof that I’m a child of God?’
Something about spirits, perhaps? Or some other piece of information I don’t know yet…?
Or maybe…
‘Perhaps the Emperor is just especially sensitive when it comes to anything related to the divine.’
Whatever the reason, I needed to get past this crisis first.
The silence dragged on longer than expected, and the Emperor’s eyes began to gleam strangely.
“Neroli, is something troubling you?”
As if determined not to miss even the smallest slip.
I met that gaze with a bright, carefree smile.
“Oh, no! I was just wondering what kind of seed is planted in this pot~. Could it be that red flower~!”
“If you raise it, you’ll see for yourself.”
“Hehe, yes! I’m really looking forward to it! Ah, didn’t you ask how I managed to grow it?”
I clapped my hands together.
“Growing ancient plants is much simpler than you’d think! Even Your Majesty could do it!”
“What?”
Still wearing my innocent mask, I gathered mana at my fingertip—razor-sharp, just as Hist once had.
The Emperor, watching me closely, scowled deeply.
“Neroli, do not do anything dangerous.”
“Of course not! There’s nothing dangerous about this~!”
Saying that, I slashed my arm with the sharpened mana.
Ssst—.
I hesitated not at all. My arm split open with a chilling sound.
Blood trickled down in heavy drops, staining my pale skin.
“Good heavens!”
“Your Highness Neroli!”
I heard the frantic cries of the head attendant and Hidia behind the Emperor.
‘Naturally.’
There was more blood than expected, enough to soak the soil in the pot.
The bright red drops stood out starkly against my white arm.
“What madness is this—!”
The Emperor’s furious bellow shook the air.
It was rare for him to let his emotions show so violently.
Even though he suspected me of being divine, he still couldn’t tolerate seeing me wounded before his eyes.
“Cardinal Senfran! Quickly—heal the Princess!”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty!”
The cardinal who had been hiding among the attendants stumbled forward.
I feigned surprise and tried to wave them off.
“Oh! Your Eminence was here all along…! B-but, I’m fine!”
“Fine? How dare you wound yourself without my permission! Are you truly—”
The Emperor, roaring with fury, suddenly froze mid-sentence.
The cardinal’s eyes, too, widened to the point of tearing.
I spoke in a sheepish tone.
“This kind of injury heals quickly, you see.”
At that, Cardinal Senfran muttered in shock.
“Impossible…”
His voice was loud enough that I couldn’t pretend not to hear it.
So I chuckled innocently.
“Hehe, is this your first time seeing it too, Your Eminence? You know it, don’t you—the healing of the Lorrenod bloodline!”
The Emperor whispered under his breath.
“Lor…renod…”
Slowly, his gaze lifted from my arm to meet my eyes.
“Neroli, you…?”
Meanwhile, my wound continued closing neatly, flawlessly—something no ordinary human could ever hope to imitate.
‘A miracle visible only to the Lorrenods.’
I smiled sweetly at him, as if to say, “What’s the problem?”
For several long seconds, silence filled the greenhouse.
The first to break it was, unexpectedly, Hidia.
“Your Highness!”
After bowing to the Emperor, she hurried to wipe the blood from my arm with her handkerchief.
Her expression was dazed, her voice unsteady.
“As expected, the healing of Lorrenod blood is incredible…! For such a wound to vanish so cleanly!”
“Oh, so it’s your first time seeing it too, Hidia? I’m always surprised myself! Not that I usually get hurt this badly~.”
“I see! But your dress is stained… and it was newly tailored for today…”
As she said this, Hidia kept glancing nervously at the Emperor.
I instantly understood the meaning behind her eyes.
‘She must have heard the palace rumors too.’
That I was illegitimate. And it must have unsettled her greatly.
‘Was the rope she grabbed onto actually rotten?’
Hidia was opportunistic, after all.
But now—look. Solid proof had shattered that rumor in an instant.
Of course, she herself must feel deeply relieved.
‘And curious how the Emperor will react.’
That was why she risked interrupting so brazenly.
Yet, obvious as her motives were, the Emperor didn’t even seem to notice.
He still looked stiff, unable to accept what he’d just witnessed.
So I teased him, glancing down at my bloodstained dress.
“It’s fine. His Majesty will buy me a new one~. Right, Your Majesty?”
Only then did he shift his gaze from my healed arm to the dress.
More precisely, to the blood smeared on the fabric.
At that moment, Dimodi appeared.
[Mission, complete! Right now, Master’s blood is completely drenched with dragon mana!]
I barely managed to hold back my laughter.
Yes—this was Dimodi’s way of helping me.
By absorbing the Emperor’s blood that had once sealed him!
‘I nearly fainted when Dimodi flung himself onto the Emperor’s spilled blood in the greenhouse.’
The other spirits had been horrified too.
Despite our protests, Dimodi had absorbed it with his entire body.
He’d suffered fevers for days afterward, but in the end, he gained a unique ability—the power to generate dragon mana.
[If it helps Master, I’ll do anything!]
My reliable, lovable new spirit.
The fact that he could wield dragon mana—my perfect opposite—was thanks to that long imprisonment.
‘He must have adapted after being constantly exposed to the Emperor’s blood.’
And being an earth spirit, capable of holding all things, made it possible.
‘Now, all my spirits have gained new abilities.’
Nesgal’s aura detection, Modway’s short-range teleport, Marin’s copying—
And now, Dimodi’s dragon mana creation.
With this, deceiving the Emperor had become child’s play.
[Master, did I do well?]
‘Of course, Dimodi. Thanks to you, everything is turning in our favor.’
So much so that I’d forgotten all about the uncertain method I’d planned to use before.
[Heh… heheh. Hehehe.]
Dimodi grinned happily at my praise.
Amusingly, even without hearing our conversation, the Emperor’s face suddenly contorted into a deep frown.
