Chapter 131
Translator: Lunarise
Editor: Larkspur
“Lune….”
“Come here. I love you.”
Lustian hugged Viola tight. She buried her nose in his chest and inhaled deeply to take in his scent. She could feel what he was feeling. She could feel that he loved her more than she had thought.
She interlinked her hands with his. The rings of the same color were glittering, and the sight of that was so beautiful that she choked up.
What must I do for him?
♛
At the same time, the Great Temple was in shambles. The Great Magician and the High Priest faced each other with a serious expression.
“This is the first time that His Highness was injured in a battle with the Orcs. What are the numbers looking like?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“Fif-fifty thousand?”
The High Priest’s hands were shaking. The Orcs led 50,000 and swooped in on the border. Since the most number of Orcs ever seen attacked, even the Blood Army was falling behind. Thankfully, Lustian, Ivan, and Paul joined in and defeated them. However, during the battle, the emperor was the target of their attacks.
“Sigh… At this rate, His Highness might pass away before the seeds of the imperial family even run dry….”
“God doesn’t intend to give us more time. By the way, what is becoming of the empress? Since she passed through God’s barrier, it’s only right for her to go through another test, isn’t it?”
“It’s already set in stone that His Highness will not act accordingly.”
“Tch….”
When Lustian became the emperor, the first thing he did was make Viola the empress. He toppled over the national law that was followed for 200 years and eventually got what he want.
The temple had had its sight on Viola after she passed through the barrier. In particular, since the Great Magician had been by the emperor’s side, he believed Viola would be the next candidate after Guinev for God’s Companion.
“According to the dying wishes of the late emperor, we must find God’s Companion during this generation. It’s become very urgent. If you continue refusing to do your duties… we’ll have to take other measures.”
“By other measures, do you mean—”
“I have someone to introduce to you.”
Just then, a woman stepped out from behind the curtain. She was the wife of the Grand Duke. The Great Magician’s eyes went wide. Anne took out a handkerchief in front of both of them. That was the copy. She used a magic spell to make a copy with the same shape as Ivan’s handkerchief.
“This is—”
“This is a handkerchief that has now turned to gold. I believe that both of you will have a better idea of what this means.”
“Huh!!”
The two men got up. All this time, it was thought that Lustian only had relations with Viola. For that reason, the golden handkerchief showed that Lustian and Viola had a child together.
“This meets… the requirements for God’s Companion!”
Anne’s shoulders were also shaking. As expected, Viola was God’s Companion.
“So then… We need to hold a ceremony to send her off to God once again, but His Highness isn’t one to let her go so easily.”
“You’re correct. He wouldn’t send the empress, who he loves, off to God. So I’d like to make a proposal to both of you.”
Anne looked arrogantly at both of them and bit her lip.
“You must make her go to God on her own. You have to get the empress to recognize her own identity. Is it not a symbol of true love to jump into the pits of fire, knowing full well the dangers it encompasses? Ho ho.”
♛
She was wracked with worry the whole day. Truth be told, she was in a state of shock. All Viola could think of was never knowing when he might be killed during the battle. For a long time, her dreams and anxieties overlapped. Thinking of how the one buried underneath the Blood Army’s flag would be no one other than Lustian drove her mad. She couldn’t stand by and watch this happen. If she didn’t do something, she knew she would feel like an idiot for letting it happen.
Yesterday she had heard that Paul also joined the war. She went down that path in order to send him off.
“Tell me what happened when the emperor was injured.”
“He just- he suddenly fell to the ground, clutching his chest.”
“What? Is that true?”
Viola was scared out of her wits. Could it be that he had an attack during the war yesterday?
She had her doubts since Lustian, with his skills, wasn’t the type to be surrounded so easily by enemies.She had believed she would be useful for quelling his illness but… something was amiss. Since she had maintained a relationship with him in order to prevent his illness from worsening, he didn’t have attacks. It had only been a day since they weren’t together, so it was fishy that he was suddenly having attacks.
“Paul, I’ll ask you this. During the war, make sure you aren’t away from him.”
“I intend to. To protect him is to protect you too.”
“Thank you. If it were up to me, I would gladly fight with him….”
“Lustian also knows that. He won’t be taken down so easily, so don’t worry.”
This comforted her, but she was still not fully relieved. She nibbled on her fingernails.
“This inevitably means that to solve this, we must find God’s Companion as soon as possible.”
“…I suppose.”
Just then, Lustian came back from his treatment. She didn’t blame him for scrunching up his face a little upon seeing the two together. Paul left the room after greeting Lustian.
“I’ll have to see it again. Take it off please.”
“You take it off.”
He smirked while standing in front of Viola and telling her to take his clothes off. It was like he was playing a prank even while knowing he had been treated. Viola lifted his shirt and stared at his skin. When she used her palms to caress his scars, he took low breaths.
“Isn’t it odd that I’m turned on as soon as you touch me?”
“Does it not hurt?”
“It does.”
“It doesn’t seem like the scars will relent. I’m sad for even just the scar on your face, so I hate it even more that you have scars all over your body too.”
“For a knight, scars are an honor.”