Chapter 4

The Stone Killer was thus divided and lost over thousands of years, passed down through the bloodline of the Fleur Maiden. Originally one, the Stone Killer became three, then nine, and continued to increase in number over the years.

The power of the Stone Killer accurately located the two divine relics and bound them to the Fleur Maiden. It remained in the desired form within the Fleur Maiden’s body until they bore a daughter, who would inherit it.

The Lion Stone exhibited the power to grant its owner eternal life. As it was originally light, the life that possessed it never aged or became ugly. Thus, the Fleur Maiden who obtained it was praised as the Priestess of Light, the ‘Priestess of the Lion.’

The Red Eye Stone captivated men. Women were not attracted to the bloody jewel. Originally stained with blood, it lured only those who knew the joy of slaughter into battle. The visions it showed men were of glory and victory.

The great will of God! For a brief time, the two divine relics became the glory of humanity and seemed to belong eternally to the Fleur Maiden. However, God only saw the goodness of the life He had saved, overlooking their desire-filled true nature.

The Lion Stone and the Red Eye Stone, only two shining jewels. However, the number of Fleur Maidens to control them exceeded a hundred across the continent.

The Fleur Maidens became intoxicated with the power granted by God. Their pure intent to uphold God’s will paled in comparison to the glory of obtaining the divine relics.

Before long, the maidens became handmaidens serving another god named power. Mistaking the Stone Killer, which sparkled on their bodies, for the divine relics, they believed themselves to be divine relics.

Is it not only natural that we are worshiped?

Humans, who blossomed from Mother Earth, are both beautiful and ugly. Life needed to eat and wear, and at the lowest depths of their desires lay jealousy and the urge to dominate.

Once humans learned of the power of the Stone Killer and the divine relics, they envied, quarreled, and wanted to kill each other. Pangaea was engulfed in war, and what was once one split into four countries.

God was angry at the corruption of humans.

[I was deceived by the cheap tears of the Fleur Maiden, by her sorrowful voice!]

The Lion Stone lost its power, and the Fleur Maiden who first found and owned the Lion Stone grew old and sick. The Red Eye Stone no longer shone either. The nation that possessed it was defeated and became a principality of another country.

God hid the two divine relics among countless grains of sand-like humans and did not reveal how they would manifest. He concealed the evidence of His love for the Fleur Maiden.

However, human desire blinded them.

When a human chosen as a divine relic manifested, an outstanding Stone Killer would find them and lead the Fleur Maiden, and the maidens would gather to hunt them.

Once the heart of the deceased cooled, it returned to its jewel form. Like beasts, they greedily dug out the hearts to possess them, fighting each other to claim them. They even killed sisters who took possession first to snatch them away. Their eyes, intoxicated by desire, no longer saw the angry God. 

* * *

Among the four countries on the continent of Pangaea, only one calls itself an Empire: the Ingénes Empire. Though currently struggling in the war against Lucus, which possesses the Red Eye Stone, it holds the largest territory and mineral resources on the continent.

And that’s not all. It governs the Duchy of Fargone, one of the four countries, collecting enormous tributes from fertile Fargone to further strengthen its power, making it the country closest to the dream of uniting the continent.

In such Ingénes, there was a family more revered by the people than the Imperial Family,

The Thousand-Year Chancellor Family! Herbon above the Emperor.

It is the Herbon Earl family that inherits the chancellorship of Ingénes. How their ancestor captivated the Emperor of Ingénes is unknown. However, they are the founding contributors of Ingénes and have written the history of the Empire.

Countless outstanding individuals were produced as wartime strategists and peacetime chancellors. The truly amazing thing is… even though countless incompetent members were born in the Imperial Family of Henrique, not a single incompetent person was ever born in Herbon.

Among the Herbons who took on the chancellorship, not one was a fool. It can be seen as a blessing bestowed by God upon Ingénes. It is only natural that the people respect the chancellor Herbon more than the Emperor.

Traditionally, those who become Emperors of Ingénes ignored the affection the people had for the Herbon family. The power and utility of the Herbon family were too precious and daunting to cast aside with mere jealousy.

Herbon has already been granted one-tenth of the territory of the Ingénes Empire by previous generations.

If it were a rugged mountainous region at the border or barren land left abandoned, the previous Emperors would be praised for their cleverness, but Herbon owns fertile granary lands surrounding Posys and even the best trading port in Ingénes, Bugatur.

Where does the military funding come from? All from Herbon. That is why those who became Emperors could not act recklessly.

However, the current Emperor of Ingénes, Joseph Henrique, deeply dislikes Chancellor Morgan Herbon. He shows it openly.

A close friend of Crown Prince Theodore Henrique, he was an outstanding talent even among the brilliant Herbons.

The strategies he proposed during wartime saved the Ingénes army multiple times, and he was remarkable in appearance too. He had a sleek and firm physique, devoid of the greasy belly or sagging cheeks that noblemen tend to acquire as they age.

He appeared just as he did when he kept young ladies of the social scene awake at night in his youth.

His thick brown hair had not faded at all, and his deep-set eyes that gave him an intellectual image grew even deeper past the age of forty.

Rumors about his lifelong love for a single woman only added to his charm. And the resolute, low voice that interrupted and ignored the Emperor’s nonsense!

Emperor Joseph knows that the concubine who found the Lion Stone and rejuvenated him, granting him eternal life, deeply longs for Chancellor Morgan Herbon.

Had this lovely woman been just an ordinary noble lady, he would have beaten her to make her see only him. But she was Evelyn Fleur Fischer, the most powerful Stone Killer on the continent and the ‘Priestess of the Lion’ who could control the Lion Stone. Even the Emperor found it difficult to treat her harshly.

Thus, whenever Evelyn and Morgan happened to meet at the Imperial Palace, Emperor Joseph would spend the whole night pleading with Evelyn, showering her with affection.

Feeling the increasingly hostile gaze of the Emperor and the more unbearable lingering look from Lady Evelyn, Morgan Herbon would leave the capital after the busy social season to retreat to Posys, the Herbon estate. The large library there was Morgan Herbon’s most cherished sanctuary.

Therefore, his beautiful twin children, Lady Jenna Fleur Herbon and Graham Herbon, born from his late wife Olivia Fleur Herbon, grew up more accustomed to the rural castle of Posys than the Red Hall mansion in the capital, Helibet. 

* * *

On the continent of Pangaea, being called ‘Lady’ was a tremendous privilege. While it did not signify a title like Duke or Marquis for men, for women who could not inherit titles, the designation of ‘Lady’ symbolized her status.

When attending a banquet and the steward loudly announced, “Lady so-and-so is entering,” many people would smile and prepare to bow. No matter how young, one could not interrupt her while she spoke.

Lady so-and-so was of a different rank than other women called Miss or Madame, even if they were of the same nobility. And on a “Lady’s” dance card, there were no names of second or third sons. They were considered the best and believed to have the right to choose only the best. What a splendid life.

There are only two ways for a woman among the many on the continent to be called ‘Lady.’

One: being the daughter of a legal wife within a ducal or comital house, or being formally adopted as such by the legal wife. In short, her father must be a Duke or Earl. If not, her mother must have been a Fleur Maiden. Naturally, she herself must also be a Fleur Maiden, that is, a Stone Killer.

If she did not meet either of these two conditions, she could never have the title ‘Lady’ before her name.

Yet, there was a young woman who satisfied both of these difficult conditions. Her name was Lady Jenna Fleur Herbon. She was born as a precious bloodline of the thousand-year chancellor family of Herbon in Ingénes and as a twin with her brother Graham Herbon.

Her mother was Olivia Fleur Belbard, the second daughter of the wealthy and famous Belbard family. As a Fleur Maiden and the eldest daughter of the chancellor family, there was no woman in Pangaea with a more perfect lineage than Jenna Herbon.

However, now there stood an anxious woman in front of the library at the Herbon estate in Posys. Her name was Magda de Belbard.