Chapter 11 – The Child of God (Part 10)

“Thanks to you, Marquis, I was able to stay warm. Thank you.”

The clear voice that pierced his thoughts made Knox turn his attention away from the clasped hands and accept the cloak handed to him, giving it to the waiting servant beside him.

“I’m glad it was warm.”

He spoke gruffly, paused for a moment, and then added.

“In the North, everyone has a coat to keep warm. Ahem… It would be good to prepare one for the Lady as well.”

He cleared his throat again, perhaps feeling awkward, and signaled to the servant with his eyes. Understanding the meaning, the servant quietly moved.

“No, it’s okay. We said we’d go back to the capital anyway when the three returned. Thank you for thinking of me.”

But as soon as the servant took a step, Ria waved her hand and declined, causing the servant to stop awkwardly. Not expecting a refusal, the servant felt a cold sweat as he looked back at Knox, momentarily doubting his eyes.

“…I see.”

The sight of Knox looking somewhat dejected was unfamiliar. Especially since he had been as cold as the northern weather, as if his emotions had vanished after the incident eight years ago!

But upon reflection, it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible. As soon as he saw the Lady off in the morning and came back inside, he had ordered a custom-made fur cloak for her… He must feel like his gift was rejected before he could even give it.

Of course, due to the lack of time, it wasn’t yet properly completed, so he couldn’t present it immediately, but he would have wanted to show the design he had pushed the designer to complete in less than a day.

“I see…”

The servant, who had skillfully straightened his posture, silently offered words of encouragement to his master, who was mumbling to himself with a gaze full of regret.

Meanwhile, Ria, unaware of Knox’s feelings or the servant’s sympathetic gaze, took out the pouch she had brought with her. The two hands, which had been intricately intertwined between fingers, easily separated, leaving Kahin feeling disappointed, but Ria didn’t have the energy to worry about that.

The topic of the story she was about to tell was not a light one.

“Actually, I came to see you, Marquis, not just to thank you for the cloak, but because there’s something I want to give you.”

“To me?”

“Yes. …It might make you very angry, or it could make you sad. But I think you should know.”

Ria paused, fidgeting with her hands, and added cautiously.

“It’s about someone you miss dearly.”

Even though it wasn’t a long sentence, Knox froze. It was impossible not to understand whom she was referring to. Even Letban and the servant realized it. Besides, there weren’t many people to whom the word ‘longing’ could be attached for him.

The perceptive servant quickly exited the room. Just because he understood the meaning didn’t mean he had the right to stay there.

Once the servant left, there was a period of silence. Ria didn’t know how to start, so she licked her lips nervously, while Knox and Letban remained frozen.

Finally, after composing her thoughts, Ria began to speak. The story began from the moment she entered the mirror in the shrine.

However, Ria didn’t know that Knox was aware of the children of the god, so she only mentioned that a guide within the mirror led her, excluding any details about meeting the previous child of the god or related content.

“In that space, strangely, every step I took caused spheres to rise from the ground. And the spheres showed certain situations. After watching several, I realized that all those situations had occurred in the abandoned shrine, more precisely in the secret space we discovered.”

She mentioned that she stopped at one particular sphere, feeling a familiar yet unfamiliar sensation from the man and woman it showed, and looked closely. Then.

“…I recognized it from the photograph inside the small pendant they were holding dearly.”

“…”

“I realized they were the parents of the Young Marquis.”

Knox couldn’t hold out any longer and closed his eyes tightly. The veins stood out on his hand, gripping the front of the sofa armrest. Having already heard from Letban about the secret space, it wasn’t difficult to deduce what would follow. In fact, it was too easy.

Seeing his distress, Ria hesitated about whether to stop speaking but decided to continue. Not finishing properly after starting would only cause him more anguish. She hadn’t brought it up to make him suffer. Quite the opposite.

Ria handed the pouch she had to Knox.

Knox, holding the slightly worn, old pouch with trembling hands, took several deep breaths before slowly pulling the string that tied the opening. However, upon seeing the contents, he had to close his eyes again. Otherwise, he felt he wouldn’t be able to stop the surge of emotions from bursting forth.

Inside the pouch, which wasn’t too big nor too small, were the pendant Ria mentioned and a small letter.

Even as his breathing grew ragged, Knox picked up the pendant. But he couldn’t bring himself to open it. The same went for the crumpled letter.

He was scared and afraid. He lacked the courage to face a greater truth he hadn’t uncovered. He questioned whether he had the right to confirm these, having failed to protect his beloved daughter and son-in-law.

Ria looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

In fact, she didn’t know what was inside the pouch either. She had been curious about the man and woman shown in the sphere from the moment she first hesitated, thinking about who they might be. When she thought they might be the Young Marquis’s parents and asked the previous child of the god, she was given the pouch to pass on.

The grudge that had watched everything from that place for a long time knew quite a lot about them. Why they were there, what had happened to them, and so on.

She said that recalling those times still made her feel suffocated. Because, in her eyes, which had undergone countless experiments at the shrine, the sweet-talking lies were very clear.

‘I wanted to tell them so many times. Not to be deceived by such lies. That they were being used.’

Ria remembered her resentment. She also recalled the situation when she handed the pouch to her. All she could do was ensure that these didn’t fall into the hands of the shrine, even if she was just a grudge. She was fortunate that, as a child of the god, she still had a faint power left, enough to move her to the High Priest’s room.

“Could you tell me more… in detail?”

Knox’s voice brought Ria out of her thoughts. Although he still hadn’t opened the pendant or letter, it seemed his reason had returned. Or perhaps he thought he must hear it.

Ria, still concerned about him, cautiously began with words of comfort.

“Yes. But… I hope you won’t blame yourself. Neither you, Marquis, nor the Young Marquis.”

There was no response from Knox or Letban. They couldn’t promise not to do so at this moment.

Ria didn’t wait for an answer and began to relay what she intended to say.

The story wasn’t very long. Even though Ria deliberately lengthened it with softened words for their sake, it wasn’t. What they experienced was a continuous repetition of experiments conducted in a similar manner each time.

“They said it started as a regular check-up. Not in that place, but in the shrine of the Empire, during times when many people would come and go. But after meeting a certain number of times, they took them deeper inside. That was the place we went.”

The temple acted cautiously so as not to arouse suspicion, gradually leading them into the dark place. 

“They whispered every time, ‘To achieve what you desire, we found a method in an ancient laboratory. We need your help a lot. It might hurt a little, and it could be strenuous, but that’s a sign it’s working, so don’t worry.'”

The two were desperate enough to believe such sweet words. After the death of the previous Holy One, the exchange of blessings with the North was cut off, so they couldn’t receive blessings, and even the doctors shook their heads. They couldn’t afford to lose the opportunity they had barely found.

So, even when their bodies felt like they were burning, even when the pain was suffocating, they endured. They held each other’s hands and repeated that they should endure a little longer. The fact that they didn’t feel pain once they left the temple also played a part in their patience.