“High Priest?”

Coming face to face with the person I’d been waiting for so desperately, I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

As I approached him, he looked down at me with his usual dry demeanor.

“Who are you to talk? Where have you been? Do you know how much His Majesty has been looking for you?”

Millean silently creased his brow and stepped back.

“Why are you acting so uncomfortable?”

“You have something to give me too.”

“……?”

“What’s with that expression? You told me to wait patiently for your letter. You said you’d give it to me when His Majesty arrived. I’ve been waiting all this time.”

“Did I say such a thing?”

Wow, are you denying it?

I stood there with my mouth hanging open, both bewildered and annoyed, when he nodded once and simply walked past me.

What is he doing?

“High Priest?”

I ran quickly to catch up with Millean.

“We still have things to discuss.”

“I’m rather busy.”

“But we have issues that need resolving.”

“We? I don’t have any.”

This guy, really.

My anger flared, but I swallowed it down. I’m the one who needs something here.

If I provoke him and he completely shuts down, I’ll be the only one to lose.

I grabbed his clothes to prevent him from escaping.

“High Priest, you clearly said before that you’d tell me when His Majesty returned.”

“……”

“You have something to tell me, don’t you?”

“……”

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to come?”

The more I spoke, the faster he seemed to walk, but that must be my imagination.

“High Priest? High Priest Hartmann? Are you listening to me?”

Just then, Millean stopped abruptly and turned to look at me.

“I never said I would tell you anything when His Majesty arrived.”

Millean coldly pulled his clothes from my grasp.

“No, you definitely—”

“I merely told you to wait because His Majesty wasn’t here.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“It’s different.”

I see, so you don’t want to talk to me.

Oh wait, I just had a good idea.

‘If I bring this up… I might be able to ask about myself.’

But I’m not sure if this is the right approach.

I don’t know how much I can trust this eccentric man.

Still, I believed he wasn’t the same kind as Foil.

“I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”

“What else could you possibly have?”

“It’s a critical matter that concerns the fate of Ostrin.”

Millean’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

Though Millean might appear on the surface to be just a yellow-bellied wanderer who likes to roam around, he was a high priest with outstanding holy power, trusted by Ainberg.

Moreover, he wasn’t politically entangled and didn’t lean toward any faction.

“A matter concerning the nation’s fate?”

As expected.

Millean showed interest in my words for the first time.

I looked around once and moved closer to Millean.

“The Empire is in danger.”

“……”

“So discussing it here isn’t really—”

“Then let’s do it another time.”

Ha, really.

“…I’ll just say it here.”

When I sighed as if giving up, he smiled for the first time. Though it was closer to a sneer.

“There are people targeting His Majesty.”

How about that? Do you feel like talking to me now?

But Millean responded in an unconcerned voice.

“I know.”

“…You know?”

Ah, right. He thinks I’m talking about Ainberg being attacked. But this is much more serious than that.

The current situation isn’t that simple.

As I let out a long sigh, Millean took a step closer to me.

Just when I thought I detected a flash of killing intent on his face, which I’d always considered emotionless.

“Do you think that person is only targeting His Majesty?”

I couldn’t respond to his unexpected words.

As I stood frozen, his low voice seeped in again.

“So please wait. On the day you become noticeable, even the body you need to return to might disappear.”

“……”

With his chilling and unkind voice, I couldn’t tell if he was an ally or an enemy.

That was all.

After that, it felt as if my thoughts had stopped.

When I finally calmed down, his words gradually came back to me.

‘Even the body you need to return to might disappear.’

This means…

As I suspected, Millean knew everything.

Then does that mean someone is targeting the Empress, that is, Sienna?

‘It must be the one who attacked Ainberg.’

I swallowed dryly and thought of Foil smiling with those seemingly kind eyes.

The excessive number of troops stationed at the Empress’s quarters and the strict atmosphere.

That meant Ainberg also knew everything.

‘So has he been doing all this to protect the Empress?’

But it was strange.

As I thought I was getting closer to the truth, I felt calm rather than anxious.

“High Priest.”

A moment ago, the thought of possibly dying had frightened me, but now that the fear had evaporated, what remained was courage.

“I don’t mind if my body disappears.”

“……”

Millean furrowed his brow slightly.

He might think I’m lying when I say I’m fine, but I truly was.

“I’m not afraid of dying.”

Because dying would be better than living like this, blind to everything around me.

“I don’t care if I vanish like foam, or if I lose everything.”

In this state where nothing was clear, I didn’t have the confidence to pull myself together and move forward.

“I just want to know the truth.”

“……”

“You know everything, don’t you? Why I’m like this, and how I can return—you know that too, right?”

He stared at me intently.

I still couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I no longer felt the chilling killing intent from before.

I needed to convince him before his gaze changed.

“You also know His Majesty’s true feelings, don’t you?”

“……”

“I want to know. Now… I think I need to know.”

After maintaining silence for a while, he muttered in a disinterested voice.

“Sometimes not knowing can be medicine.”

“I’ve had enough medicine to last a lifetime.”

“You probably haven’t had the right medicine.”

“Then let me take the right medicine this time.”

I spoke with desperation.

“Once you decide, you can’t go back.”

“There’s no way to turn back time anyway, is there?”

When I retorted, Millean wrinkled his face as if annoyed.

“How come you never back down?”

“I’ve hated losing since birth.”

When I shrugged my shoulders, he laughed for the first time.

Then he sighed deeply and turned his head to the opposite direction.

“Always restless, never knowing how to wait, no patience whatsoever.”

“…Isn’t it rude to criticize someone right to their face?”

Millean remained silent for a moment.

I was about to urge him again but closed my mouth.

Somehow, it felt like a moment when I should stay quiet.

How much time passed? Finally, Millean, who had been in this strange standoff, opened his mouth.

“I’ve seen enough human regret to be sick of it.”

He talks like he’s not human himself.

“Secrets have value only when they remain buried as secrets.”

“……”

“The moment they flow to you, their meaning will fade.”

“That’s not true.”

I couldn’t agree with that statement.

“It depends on the heart of the person who keeps it.”

“Are you contradicting me now?”

“You’re not always right, are you, High Priest?”

He stared at me and said:

“Why didn’t you act like this fighting chicken from the beginning?”

“W-what? Fighting chicken?”

As I opened my eyes wide in disbelief, he let out a light sigh.

“Fine, very well.”

“What’s fine… you mean you’ll tell me?”

When I clasped my hands together in surprise, Millean wrinkled his brow again and said:

“In return, promise not to cry and get emotional. I absolutely detest watching such displays.”

How did someone with not even a speck of love for humanity receive God’s blessing?

“Absolutely. I won’t get emotional at all.”

Then Millean turned around sharply and lazily spat out one sentence.

“Follow me before I change my mind.”

❀❀❀

The place I followed Millean to was the temple.

When the tightly closed doors opened, the subtle scent of wood wafted from all directions.

Walking along the long corridor, I glanced at the portraits of saintesses and high priests hanging on both sides.

In the solemn and reverent atmosphere, I could barely breathe properly as I followed him.

After quite some time, we finally reached a dead end.

‘Is he… going to talk here?’

But when he placed his hand on the wall, it slowly pushed back, revealing a completely new space.

‘Wow, what is this?’

Where on earth is he taking me?

After that, we descended a spiral staircase for quite some time.

Just when I was beginning to wonder if he was planning to assassinate me rather than reveal the truth, Millean stopped walking.

“You said you’d be fine with dying after knowing the truth, right?”