Chapter 293

Translator: yun

It was a conversation between a 28-year old and an eight year old.

One was an adult residing in a child’s body while the other was a boy so intelligent he could easily understand the words of an adult.

“You know, Dane. You don’t know how to hate people.”

“What do you mean by hating people?”

“Your mother. The one who abuses you.”

Another gust of wind blew through them. It felt as though the wind was blowing in his chest as well.

“It’s alright even if you don’t understand.”

First and foremost, the adult woman felt pity for the boy who was forced to grow up young. Oblivious to the fact that her sympathy would water the sprout in the boy’s heart.

“You don’t have to love her.”

Not all geniuses were like that but most tend to stubbornly obsess over a singularity. And at that very moment, the only person he could see was her. For a boy as naive as him, the feelings he had for her were too deep to call it love.

He was just irresistibly pulled towards her.

“I’ll carry all of your misfortune for you.”

“Why would you take that burden?”

“Because I’ll be disappearing soon.”

The girl smiled subtly. For a moment, a sharp gust of wind blew in his chest again.

“Disappearing? Where?”

“I’ve already told you about how there’s another soul in my body, haven’t I? I’ve decided to fuse with a part of her. As a result, I will be losing my memories and she will be able to move onto another item.”

Ahn smiled again as if she said nothing wrong.

“She told me that this was enough. It’d be enough for me to fuse with just a small part of herself. What a foolish child.”

“But, you’ll be losing your memories, Ahn. No one knows if you’ll be losing all of your memories or just a part of it.”

“…..”

“Still, you can’t deny that you will change after losing your memories.”

Ahn turned her head towards him with a smile of which its sincerity he could not determine. Her gaze was as playful as ever but a shred of bitterness flashed across his eyes.

“If one day we meet again, I’d probably have something I cherish alongside me, alright? It might be the item she went into. She did say we would meet again.”

When he returned to his senses, Dane was holding Ahn’s hand.

But his chest felt empty. Was this what a half-beaten ship would feel facing an incoming storm and pirates at the same time? He was feeling a little scared. His heart was aching as if he had lost something.

“Don’t cry, Dane. It hurts my heart to see you cry.”

Ahn wiped the boy’s tears away.

“Your tears… smell like snow. Perhaps it’s because your eyes look a lot like camellias.”

With her short chubby arms, she gave him a tight embrace.

“There’s no winter here. But back where I was from, white snow would fall and camellias would bloom in winter. Whenever I look into your eyes, I get reminded of my hometown. That’s why I like them.”

With him in her embrace, Ahn whispered.

“Dane. It’s alright.”

“What is?”

“Everything will be alright. Could you relay this to the me who has forgotten you one day?”

A swaying flower. The girl who crumpled his entire night sky and smiled brighter than the spring sun.

“Everything will be alright.”

***

Dane asked Ahn to visit him once more before it ended. And Ahn kept her promise.

“Today’s my last day.”

Before they knew it, it was already spring. No, to Dane, it had never been spring. To him, only the days he saw her and the days he waited for her were spring.

“I have a favour to ask.”

As he felt tears running down his cheek again, Dane spoke.

He knew. It might have been due to his instincts as a genius but he knew if he were to meet her again, she wouldn’t remember him.

“Call me Lowell.”

Dane stared at Ahn as he spoke.

“That name is important to you, isn’t it?”

The girl flashed a smile like that of a white pear flower.

“If I remember you again, I’ll call you that then. Call my name then too.”

The girl turned her head slowly. Dane uttered her name. Just then, a strong gust of wind blew through the space between them as white flowers fluttered down. As if spring was showering upon them.

“What kind of person do you like?”

“Me? I like kind people.”

She laughed.

“Someone who is eternally kind to me.”

When she was exactly the kind person she was referring to.

***

Right after the flowers fell, Dane went to visit the girl again. But she couldn’t remember him.

“Hello. I am your brother.”

That was how Rosé became Ashley.

“”Brother?”

“Yeah. I’ve been waiting to meet you.”

Dane smiled as he watched the girl who had just returned from the western territories listlessly stuck in her garden.

“I look forward to getting to know you, Ashley. I want to become someone precious to you.”

My name is Lowell.

***

“No matter how I think about it, I don’t think that position suits you.”

A reddish-purple toga gently wrapped around his thin tunic.

A long embellished straw rope was sewn into the ends of the toga. The rope was a symbol of Thetis, the God of Wisdom, who saved the Lord of the Gods who had fallen off the cliffs to hell a long time ago.

“Instead of you, someone more ordinary would suit that position more.”

Following the knot of wisdom which no one could untie, a face of a man clad in white could be found.

Julian Pollux Luché Kaltanias.

HIs hair, which had been neatly tied into a ponytail, hung down his shoulders and was of a brilliant gold like an ear of corn. A gentle and innocent smile–one that did not suit a man standing in the pinnacle of all power– could be seen hanging off the prince’s face

With his arms crossed, Julian gave a loose smile before hanging his head.

In spite of his gender, he lived up to his title of the ‘Most Beautiful in the Empire’.

“I do feel that the world judges people wrong at times. A beauty that would make even a goddess shed tears from witnessing. I wonder if there is someone else who suits that title as well.”

The eyes that had been staring out the window shifted before capturing the 2nd Prince.

“Don’t you think so too, Dane?”

Dane, who had been blinking slowly, immediately gave a light smile. Such an over-the-top compliment deserved polite denial.

“Have you been well, Your Highness?”

After lowering his head, Dane stood up straight. Strands of his hair cascaded upon his forehead, drawing a line across his face as the light shining from behind him only enhanced his elegance.

“Do you not have anything to say to me other than greetings? I haven’t seen you in a while and I want to hear more from you.”

Eyes of different colours met across the space. Perhaps Julian was not lying when he said that he just wanted to come see his brother.

‘So, this was how he wore the 5th Prince down after such a long time.’

The 2nd Prince had been approaching Fleon and him for a long time now. And using the same methods, he had brought the 5th Prince to his side.

There were people who doubted the 2nd Prince and thought it was all an act. But in Dane’s eyes, it seemed to be his true nature.

“This humble servant is honoured that Your Highness is showing interest in me.”

That was why, compared to the Crown Prince, he was enthusiastically praised.

“We should not discriminate based on birth. We also should not discriminate between templars and normal humans. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be too sad?”

The Empire which had lasted for millennia, the very one which had attained an unprecedented hegemony in the western continent had been split into two. The 2nd Administrative Office of the 2nd Prince. Solcianus Leta. It was also known as the Soleta Palace and it played an important role in checking the consul’s authority but its influence had become meaningless in this day and age.

The one responsible for checking Consul Obidios, the Head of the Administrative Office’s, powers, was his grandson, the 2nd Prince.

When it came to recruiting and bringing in talents, Julian did not discriminate against his foes. He would even embrace yesterday’s enemies. Those who had opposed his status this whole while became tongue-tied when they ended up following him. Even his flaws painted him in positive light.

The 2nd Prince might have numerous knights and Head Templars who sworn allegiance to him but he still had a fatal disadvantage.

He was an ordinary ‘human’ who could not become a templar.

To be born as a non-templar in a world where everything belonged to the divine was his flaw.

He was not respected because he was a non-templar. It remained the same no matter how hard his mother-in-law tried. But that was only a small portion of the story spread about the 2nd Prince.

“If you don’t use what you have here, where will you use them?”

The city of Broomtorzen where the Temple of Beasts was located had disappeared into large blazing flames a long time ago. The disappearance of the city into flames had shocked the Empire immensely.

And when it was soon revealed that the perpetrator behind the whole incident was the Mad Crown Prince, the capital was left shocked once more.

That was the turning point that divided the Crown Prince’s faction into two. Julian had taken care of all living victims of the fire and spared no expense to revitalise the land until they could return to their normal lives. That story had become sensationalised which led to the current state of politics.

“I will become the reigning emperor.”

He took a different approach to become successor. He brought the 5th Prince, who had the Power of the Lord, to his side and insisted on the separation of divinity and sovereignty, or in other words, the creation of a secular governance.

He would be a friendly, thoughtful, wise monarch who would put the people first. He had illustrious principles. Some gossiped about it all being a well-crafted act but there were many who supported him for his personality.

It was all thanks to one person he could manage his own administrative office and end up in the position he was today.

“People refer to Your Highness as the Saint of their future and the Crown prince as a tyrant.”