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Chapter 10
「If you bear the Emperor’s child, you will be able to restore your family.」
“?!”
Their homeland was the Kingdom of Aventador, a country ruled by a king. So to fifteen-year-old Roabellin, the existence of an emperor did not feel very real.
“An emperor?”
Still dazed, Estina answered slowly.
“An emperor… would be the one who rules an empire. There’s only one empire on this continent. Prahenfeldt.”
“Ah, I see. So it means the child of the Emperor of the Prahenfeldt Empire, not Aventador.”
Roabellin mulled over the bewildering oracle for a moment, then asked:
“…What kind of person is the current emperor, Aunt?”
Estina recalled the rumors she had heard recently.
“Hmm, he should be eighteen this year. In Prahenfeldt, unlike Aventador, eighteen is considered adulthood. I heard that as soon as he came of age, he deposed his half-brother, who had been acting as regent, and took the throne himself.”
“Deposed him… that already sounds terrifying.”
In Aventador, he would still be considered a minor at that age, yet he had fought his own brother and seized the throne. Rather than admiration, fear came first to Roabellin’s mind.
“Then what does this oracle mean? If I bear the Emperor’s child, will the Emperor help us rebuild our family? Does that mean… I have to become his concubine?”
Estina frowned slightly.
“You’re a daughter of a queen’s house. There’s no way the oracle means you should become a concubine. But it’s also impossible for you to become empress, since you practically have no family left—and the empress is a political position. It seems to mean exactly what it says: simply that you must bear the Emperor’s child.”
“Then… does it mean I should have the Emperor’s child and raise them as a child of Hertness, and that child will restore the family?”
“Judging from the wording, that seems the closest interpretation. Oracles from the god Dominador tend to be direct rather than symbolic.”
Looking at the thoughtful Roabellin, Estina added,
“Since it’s an oracle, we shouldn’t take it lightly. But you’re only fifteen. It doesn’t apply yet, so let’s set it aside for now. When you become an adult, we’ll think about it properly again.”
And so, five full years passed.
Today was Roabellin’s twentieth birthday—the day she came of age.
“Jeff, hurry and set the table! The soup’s boiling. Ferron! Bring these dishes over!”
“Got it! I’m coming, Lisa!”
The servants—only three of them, really—prepared a special breakfast in their own way, and Estina went to Roabellin’s room to wake the birthday girl.
Knock, knock, knock—
She knocked, but there was no answer from inside.
‘Still asleep?’
She knocked several more times, but there was still no response.
“Well, I guess I have no choice. Roa, I’m coming in~”
Estina spoke loudly as she slowly opened the door.
What greeted her was an empty bed in a room that was modest but neatly kept—more like a common girl’s room than a noble lady’s.
‘Huh? She’s not in bed…?’
Roabellin was nowhere to be found. Then Estina noticed a letter on the desk. She walked over and picked it up. Written on it were the words: To Aunt, from Roabellin.
“What is this?”
Frowning at the unexpected situation, Estina opened the letter. As she read, her eyes gradually widened.
「By the time you read this, Aunt, I will already have left this country.
I’m going to do what the oracle said when I was fifteen—bear the Emperor’s child. Through that child, I will continue the Hertness bloodline and restore our family.
I’ll be as careful as I can, and once I have the child, I’ll come straight back.」
At the shocking contents, Estina’s hand holding the letter trembled.
‘What? She really left to have the Emperor’s child?!’
For eight years, they had lived in fear that assassins sent by the king might come to kill them at any time. She had thought they would have to live in hiding like that forever.
Biting her lower lip anxiously, Estina continued reading.
「I know you’ll be very worried. I just came of age, and I’m leaving to have a child first. But we can never form a stable family with anyone. You know that. If the Aventador royal family ever finds us, the person we’re with—and their family and relatives too—will all be slaughtered.
If the two of us die someday, Hertness will truly be finished forever. That’s why I’ve long thought I needed to have a child as soon as possible. Now that I’m an adult, I can’t wait any longer.」
For the two of them, who had lost everything without even knowing why, restoring their family and taking revenge on those who had destroyed it had become their life’s purpose.
Even after eight years, they still dreamed repeatedly of the scene where their family’s bodies burned.
They still did not know the truth—why it happened, who ordered it, and who carried it out.
‘Until we know the whole truth… we won’t be able to die in peace. Roa must feel the same…’
Estina was worried about her niece, who still felt so young to her, rushing off to continue the bloodline. But even if Estina herself bore a child, she was only a collateral relative.
In other words, only Roabellin, as a direct descendant, could leave behind a legitimate heir.
‘And the oracle to bear the Emperor’s child was given to Roa, not to me…’
Pressing her forehead, Estina read the rest.
「Thank you for protecting me and teaching me all this time. From now on, I’ll fight my own battle! I don’t know if it’ll take a month or a year, but don’t worry and wait for me. We’ll meet again soon! I love you, Aunt. Please tell Lisa, Ferron, and Jeff that I’m thankful and that I love them too.」
After finishing the letter, Estina’s hand fell limply.
“Um… Miss, Roa isn’t in her room? We searched everywhere else too, but she’s nowhere to be.”
The maid Lisa entered as she spoke, and upon seeing Estina’s face, she sensed something was wrong. Soon, the middle-aged servant Ferron and the young servant Jeff followed her in. They were the ones who had fled together on the day of the family’s destruction and had lived together for eight years—now practically family.
“…Here.”
With trembling fingers, Estina handed them the letter. As they read it, their faces too filled with shock.
“Miss Roa left? And to have the Emperor’s child?! My goodness!!!”
Estina raised a finger to her lips.
“Shh. We must never let this be known outside. You understand?”
They had guarded the secret of Roabellin and Estina’s identities for eight years, but just in case, Estina warned them again.
“Yes, of course. But why would Miss Roa…?”
“After what happened to the family, Roa suffered a huge shock both physically and mentally. I thought the wounds had faded with time… but seeing her act on the oracle the moment she became an adult means her sense of guilt and responsibility toward the family must have been overwhelming. For now, all we can do is pray and wait for her to return safely.”
Estina let out a deep sigh, and the servants clasped their hands together as if praying, their faces full of anxiety.
Roabellin stared blankly up at the tall building whose massive gate blocked her path.
She had used a teleportation magic gate at a magic tool shop to arrive in front of the Magic Tower.
She had left home with confident steps and come straight to the front gate of the tower…
‘To think I can’t even get past the Magic Tower’s door.’
The reason she came to the Magic Tower before going to the imperial palace was because she could barely use her divine power now.
As a direct descendant of a queen’s house, Roabellin had been born with divine power, and it had manifested when she was twelve. That power was how she had saved and healed Kaisertern from a black panther in the royal hunting grounds.
But after the sudden destruction of her family and several days of illness from the shock, she had lost the ability to use her divine power properly.
When she tried to circulate her power within her body, she felt her internal channels twisted and tangled. Forcing the power out always brought excruciating pain.
It seemed that because she had suffered such a great shock while still immature—before her power had fully settled—something inside her had gone wrong.
Her family had tried to find a way to restore her power.
“Miss, I heard a rumor that a powerful mage can straighten out twisted energy channels,” Lisa said whenever she went out shopping and gathered news.
Estina nodded thoughtfully when she heard this.
“A strong mage… yes, our divine power is similar in nature to magic, so that might work. But it would have to be one of the greatest mages on the continent.”
“Sigh… Given our situation, we can’t go around telling everyone and asking for help. I guess I’ll just look for more herbs that are good for a weakened body.”
But the twisted channels weren’t the only problem. The greater issue was psychological—Roabellin had developed a trauma toward magic.
Whenever Estina used her divine power, Roabellin couldn’t look at it properly; she would clutch her head and crouch down, trembling for a long time. The memory of the mages who had attacked the ducal estate haunted her.
With time, it gradually improved, but her fear and rejection of magic never fully disappeared.
“Roa, as your body grows, the divine power inside you will grow with it. It must be frustrating that you can’t even use a tenth of it.”
At Estina’s comfort, Roabellin answered with a composed smile.
“It’s more disappointing because I got to use it properly for a short time before. But I believe it’ll be fine. Someday, I’ll be able to use my power properly again. No matter what, I’ll restore it.”
Since she couldn’t fully use her divine power, Roabellin learned simple spells from Estina that required only a small amount of it.
“Disguise magic, basic defense magic, beginner healing magic… These seem to be all you can use with your current power.”
“Yes, Aunt. If I keep practicing, maybe the amount I can use will increase little by little!”
Besides that, Roabellin diligently learned how to make potions from Estina.
“This barely uses divine power at all, so there’s no reason not to learn it.”
Thanks to that, by the time she reached adulthood, Roabellin could make various kinds of potions—healing medicines for wounds and illnesses, poisons, antidotes, as well as aphrodisiacs and contraceptives.
