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Chapter : 32
Arthur IV came out to see Gregory VII off.
The pope greeted the emperor warmly and also exchanged greetings with Felix, who stood beside him.
Noticing that Kaiden was nowhere to be seen, Gregory VII bluntly asked Arthur IV,
“Is Prince Kaiden unwell?”
Even though he already knew that Kaiden’s eye color had changed in accordance with the prophecy.
At the pope’s question, the emperor ground his teeth inwardly and offered a lie.
“He is offering a fasting prayer to God in his private prayer chamber.”
During a fasting prayer, one was said to become ritually impure, so they met no one.
Not even the pope, called the representative of God, was an exception.
At that answer, Gregory VII did not press further.
“To be praying to God… When his prayers are finished, I would like to personally give him my blessing.”
Rather, he praised Kaiden as a devout believer and let the matter pass. The emperor played along.
“I’m at a loss for words that Your Holiness would praise my son. I will be sure to pass it on to him.”
“Yes, please do.”
As they spoke, the emperor and the pope’s entourage arrived at the banquet hall inside the imperial palace.
Inside, the banquet Arthur IV had prepared for the pope was already underway.
At the banquet, dancers from distant foreign lands, brought via the Silk Road, displayed their beauty as they danced.
Everyone in attendance watched them in rapt fascination.
Unlike the others, Gregory VII merely took a few sips of wine and did not move at all.
The emperor beside him asked casually,
“Do you not care for the dancers’ performance?”
At Arthur IV’s question, the pope smiled faintly and murmured,
“Not at all. I am deeply moved that you have gone to such lengths for me. However… you do know what it is that I desire, do you not?”
At that counterquestion, the emperor’s face stiffened in an instant.
He knew all too well what those words meant.
The death of Empress Aria—the thorn in the pope’s side.
Until now, every emperor aside from Arthur IV had received the temple’s approval before taking an empress.
But Arthur IV had taken an empress without even formally requesting approval from the Papal States.
And not just anyone—a commoner.
Even the daughter of a high-ranking noble would have been questionable; a common woman was unthinkable. When the pope learned belatedly of Arthur IV’s marriage, he was furious.
He even considered excommunication once more.
However, having already restored the imperial family from excommunication once before, making the same decision again was a burden even for the pope.
After all, the Aden Empire was one of the Papal States’ key allies.
So he changed his objective.
To assert his authority as pope—and to remove an eyesore at the same time.
“I hope that the alliance between Your Majesty and myself will endure for a long time.”
At those heartfelt words, Emperor Arthur looked back at him with a stiff expression. His pupils trembled slightly.
At that moment, the crown prince standing beside the emperor spoke up.
“Father, please say a few words for His Holiness the Pope.”
The emperor composed his expression, filled his goblet, and rose from his seat.
“To His Holiness the Pope, who bestows blessings upon this land!”
A face that wanted to strike back—but could not.
His father, Arthur III, had been the same.
The pope felt a strange sense of triumph well up inside him.
“His Majesty has strictly ordered that you are not to leave the room.”
“I understand. You may go.”
At Kaiden’s dismissal, the knight bowed silently and quickly disappeared. Kaiden tapped the desk lightly with his fingers, sinking into thought.
‘The pope has come?’
He had planned to visit his mother tonight.
The last time, she had told him to go back, but he knew well enough that she hadn’t meant it.
‘If it’s just for a moment, wouldn’t it be all right?’
The pope treated all people without discrimination—except sinners.
Naturally, he wouldn’t come anywhere near the prison, and if being discovered was a concern, Kaiden could simply disguise himself as a page.
‘The attendant might be punished, but…’
The attendant was the son of Count Rohas, with solid backing. If it came to that, he could always claim he had been threatened with death.
After all, Kaiden himself was the ominous beast spoken of in God’s prophecy.
Even if he were lucky enough to survive, in a country that believed in God, it would be difficult for him to live as a normal person. Every time he met others, he would be subjected to contempt and whispers.
Having heard about the history of the Aden Empire and God’s prophecy since childhood, Kaiden had even committed blasphemy in front of Felix—yet he was more tightly bound by the prophecy than anyone else.
At the mere age of ten, he had already placed sacrifice above any attachment to life.
After agonizing all day, Kaiden decided to meet the empress late at night.
This was truly the last chance.
The last chance to persuade his mother.
He quietly took a dagger with him.
A pitch-dark night, with only a crescent moon hanging in the sky.
Kaiden reached the prison faster than last time. He had memorized all the paths.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly moved toward the cell where his mother was held.
Then he stopped, hearing sobbing coming from somewhere.
Soon, he realized the source of the sound.
“Ugh…”
It was the very prison where his mother was confined.
Inside the open cell, his mother was holding an armful of flowers and crying.
Kaiden immediately knew who had given them to her.
His father.
His father had always given his mother lisianthus flowers.
Seeing his mother collapse after his father, Kaiden fidgeted with the dagger hidden in his clothes.
He had intended to threaten them with his own life if necessary and get the empress out of the prison.
But even while holding the flowers his father had given her and crying, his mother absolutely refused to leave the cell.
There was only one reason she would not come out.
‘To save me…’
To save me—the ominous beast from the prophecy.
Kaiden slipped the dagger back into his clothes.
In front of someone who was trying to save him, he realized painfully that saying he would die was not proper—was not right.
In the end, Kaiden had to turn back without seeing the empress.
Yet, ironically, his steps felt unbearably heavy.
He pulled his robe further down, hoping his face would not be revealed in the darkness.
If he were to see anyone’s face right now, he felt an urge to pour everything out.
Instead of returning directly to his room, he went to a secret place.
A kind of hidden hole that led outside the imperial palace.
Kaiden had a talent for finding such passages. The palace had existed since the day he was born, so he knew the locations of every exit hidden within its walls.
‘Should I just leave?’
If I am what’s needed as justification to kill Mother, then wouldn’t it be enough for the cause itself to disappear?
Then the pope and the nobles wouldn’t be able to kill her right away.
And after that, if Father were to protect her…
Even if I’m not by their side, Mother and Father—and my brother—could be happy.
‘If only I disappear…’
Kaiden stared blankly at the hole.
When he was even younger, he had once left the palace through this very passage with Felix.
The night sky he saw then had been more beautiful than anything else.
Because of that, he had wanted to become an explorer—someone who could see that night sky every single day.
Slaying monsters, exploring unknown lands.
If it was his fate to leave the palace anyway, if he were given another chance to fulfill his childhood dream—
Wouldn’t it be all right to go?
He slowly approached the hole.
Leaving was not difficult. It was a tight fit, but if he lay flat and crawled, he could escape the suffocating palace in just a few seconds.
Yet, for some reason, his legs—which had moved so well until now—refused to move.
As if he were under a paralysis spell.
A moment later, realizing why he was hesitating, Kaiden let out a sigh.
“Ha…”
Selfish as he was, he didn’t want to leave this palace.
This place, filled with precious memories from the moment he was born—this place where his beloved family lived—he didn’t want to leave it.
In the end, Kaiden burst into tears.
Forgetting how to suppress his emotions, forgetting how to cry silently, he wept loudly, like a child.
