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Chapter 66
Soon after, the wagon arrived in front of the temple. Elisha entered the temple with Richard. At the same time, a passing priest recognized Elisha and approached her with a warm smile.
“Glad to see you again, Duchess.”
“Hello, Priest Silica.”
“But the person next to you is…”
“Ah. Duke, please say hi.”
At those words, the priest recognized Richard and greeted him with a tense expression that was different from when he was dealing with Elisha.
“Welcome, Duke.”
“Nice to meet you.”
The two greeted each other lightly. When the two had finished greeting each other, Elisha asked.
“Do you happen to know where Leon is?”
“That child is probably in the east chapel.”
“What about His Holiness?”
“The Holy Father is guiding a service in the western chapel.”
At that moment, as soon as the priest had finished speaking, a small shadow ran towards Elisha. Richard reflexively grabbed the small figure.
It was a young boy with chubby cheeks, blonde hair, and red eyes that sparkled like the blazing sun. Elisha smiled brightly when she found the child.
“Leon?”
“Noona!”
Richard looked at the child with puzzled eyes. Elisha clearly said that the child was similar in appearance to Christian. But the child in front of him was blonde.
Richard asked Elisha.
“Didn’t you say they were the same?”
“Ah… this is a wig. He has to wear it to avoid suspicion, the Holy Father said that he was a distant relative of his.”
Elisha whispered to Richard and grabbed Leon’s little hand.
“Leon, how have you been? You didn’t make any trouble, did you?
“Nngh!”
Elisha held out the package that Richard had been holding, to Leon, who nodded vigorously. It was the bread and cookies she had packed for him.
Seeing this, Leon smiled with a bright face as if he had everything in the world. Elisha, who was looking at Leon with a smile, told the priest.
“Then I’ll go to the west chapel, priest.”
“Do you want me to guide you?”
“No, I’ve memorized the geography of the temple by now. I know that you are busy, so don’t worry.”
Priest Silica said goodbye to the two and disappeared. Elisha, who was going to the west chapel, looked back at Richard who was following her.
“Richard, you should go to the lounge with Leon.”
“…Am I not going with you?”
“You came because you wanted to meet Leon, right? I have something to talk about with the Holy Father.”
Originally, he followed Elisha with that excuse. In the end, Richard had no choice but to watch Elisha from afar as she headed towards the western chapel. At that moment, he felt something pulling the hem of his pants.
It was Leon.
“Leon will take you to the room.”
Richard stared at the child in front of him in surprise. Usually, four or five-year-old children would instinctively fear and avoid Richard when they saw him. So it was strange that this brat in front of him talked without fear.
He thought that it would be quicker to ask other people for directions, but Richard followed Leon obediently. However, it was quite frustrating to match the stride of a child walking with such short legs.
Richard eventually lifted up the child. The child, on the other hand, who was preoccupied with finding the way, finally asked Richard.
“Mister is Noona’s friend?”
At those words, Richard frowned.
‘You call Elisha Noona.’
However, he, who was about the same age as Christian, the child’s father, had the title of ‘mister.’ But the part that bothered him the most was that he was referred to as Elisha’s ‘friend.’
Richard corrected his relationship with Elisha.
“No. We’re a couple.”
“What’s a couple?”
“It means two people who are married.”
“So, Noona married mister?”
“That’s right. Elisha married me.”
“Leon will also marry Noona.”
Oh my, the little thing has good eyes too…
[tl-n: meaning he also knows Elisha’s gorgeous.]
Richard paused, astonished.
“Elisha married me, so she can’t marry you. Marriage is only for two people.”
Leon’s eyelids fluttered at his words in confusion. Then, tears welled up in his big eyes.
“No! She can do it with Leon too! Mister is a meanie!!”
Eventually, Leon burst into tears. Richard frowned again at the sound of the kid crying loudly in his ears.
‘After all, kids are noisy.’
As the child started crying, he wondered what to do. Richard, who was looking at the crying child, suddenly remembered the fruit-flavored candy in his inner pocket, so he took it out, and gave it to the child.
It was a habit he gained since Elisha started having morning sickness.
“Stop crying and eat this. Do you like candy, kid?”
“Candy…?”
As expected, Leon showed interest in candy. But he couldn’t peel the wrapper off. Seeing that, Richard easily peeled the candy with his free hand.
Leon took the candy from Richard and put it in my mouth. The sweet grape flavor spread across his tongue.
“Yummy!”
The child smiled with his eyes still wet from his crying.
‘Pretty simple.’
Richard stared at Leon and muttered.
“When you grow up, another good person will appear.”
Of course, she won’t be as good as Elisha. After arriving at the lounge under Leon’s guidance, Richard put the child back down.
Leon then scrambled towards the fireplace. Richard, who initially looked at the child’s actions with indifferent eyes, was startled. A flame was popping up from the child’s hand.
Surprised by this, Richard hurried over and held the child once more.
“If you play with fire, you will be scolded by the Holy Father.”
“No! Leon wants to make Noona warm! Holy Father compliments Leon for being good~”
It was only then that Richard realized that Leon was trying to light a fire in the fireplace. The power of a family was innate, but those who didn’t know the limitations of their own power well enough often couldn’t control it.
When the first manifestation of the power happened, it was usually the adults in the family who knew how to handle it, and the child would grow up learning how to be able to control their own strength from others who had gained experience.
However, there were some other rare cases. It would be a situation where the child’s power would surface after they experienced a life-threatening situation or something similar to that and they would learn about their power on their own.
Richard discovered his powers while being pursued by the assassins Albert had sent to kill him.
Leon was also born as an illegitimate child and grew up unaware of his own strengths, so his power must have been manifested in a desperate moment.
As he thought that far, Elisha’s voice suddenly came to mind.
“When I saw him, I thought of you, so I couldn’t turn a blind eye to him.”
It was early summer, so the fireplace wasn’t needed, but he didn’t want to put out the small flame. A gentle wind gathered around Leon’s hands, who was eager to rekindle the fire. The wind helped the small sparks to stick well to the firewood.
Soon after, the firewood ignited. The child who saw it clapped and laughed.
“Mister look! Leon made fire!”
A faint smile passed over Richard’s face as he looked at the child.
When Elisha entered the west chapel, only Aiden remained, as if the service had just finished. He was standing alone in the center of the chapel, looking at the statue of the goddess.
Elisha quietly approached him.
As if noticing her presence, Aiden spoke.
“I want to take this opportunity to confess something to the Duchess.”
Elisha looked at him with a puzzled face. Aiden continued with a calm voice, as always.
“I worship God, but I don’t believe in God.”
Elisha was surprised. It was a natural sentence for an atheist, but it was not something that would usually come out of the mouth of the Holy Father, who worshiped God on behalf of all the peoples of the Empire.
“I’m just using God’s authority to protect only those I want to protect. I do realize that it is blasphemous.”
Since the day Julia died, he had abandoned god. His god was not the statue of a goddess in front of him, but his beloved wife. His definition was the words she left behind during her lifetime.
“How can I say that my selfishness is better than the Duchess’ favor?”
Aiden lowered his gaze at the statue and looked back at Elisha.
“I guess I wanted to find the innocence I had lost in Madam.”
He didn’t expect this innocence from anyone else. He had always immediately rejected any sincere favor and did not look back. But why did he expect such innocence from this woman?
The reason was unknown, but one thing was certain.
She had a power he didn’t have.
The power to protect people with a pure heart without losing her own light. That power moved his heart.
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“Can you help me? with the temple.”
Elisha blinked in surprise at Aiden’s words. Then she smiled broadly and nodded.
“If the Holy Father wishes for it, I’m willing.”
Elisha’s bright smile finally brought a genuine smile to Aiden’s lips.
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