Of course, it wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about going to the desert. My original wish was to go to the neutral region to meet Elise. However, that was blocked because of the realistic reason for it being dangerous.

“Mm……”

– Cree?

I sat at the table and groaned, making the red pandas rolling around the furnace roll forward and stand up one after another. Tithé had knocked out in the cradle a long time ago. Crack, crackle…… The furnace was letting out the sounds of warmth as the end of winter neared. The sun had already gone to sleep and it was night time. Benjamin and Ganael, who were wearing comfortable clothes, were sitting on the other side of the resting room relaxing.

I chuckled and looked down at my notebook. A trot trot here and a trot trot there. Percy was busily trotting around the scattered extra edition and scrap paper.

“We cannot retreat no matter what this time.”

– Pii!

The little bird chirped back at my determined voice.

The third attempt at my life had been in December. It was now February. I chose not to leave the Imperial Palace for a while to not cause any chaos for the Empire’s state of affairs and safety. I thought it would be good to lay low until the citizens of Riester became busy with welcoming the spring. That was why I had accepted it when my teacher said that she could not let me go. I even convinced myself that it should be okay sending a letter through Sand.

However…

“This, seriously. This seems like my only chance to see the paten in person,” I made eye contact with the chimney bird and whispered. The divine item breathed quietly and looked at me. “When else would I see it up close like this? Normally, only the Pope can touch it.”

– Piiiii

The Paten of Wishes. That had been a headache the entire time I had transmigrated into QNW. The first interaction I had with it was when the news of the theft of the divine item had reached the Empire. That was the first time I met Vice Captain Élisabeth. She had come to find me under orders from her superiors and had asked where and what I was doing around the time the paten went missing.

It was true that Prince Jesse had passed through the Temple of Boundaries around that time, so it wasn’t a baseless interrogation. However, there was no proof that he had stolen it. The security in the temple was extremely tight and there had been no witnesses.

‘Did you steal the Divine item from the Temple of Boundaries?’

‘No, your Eminence.’

A confession with Cardinal Boutier had conclusively proven my innocence. With that, the incident was left cold without much to go on. No charges.

The second was the information Isabelle gave me at the Spring Ball.

‘The high-ranking priests of the Holy Kingdom seem to believe that the divine item just ‘fulfilled its duty’ rather than ‘disappeared’.’

‘Someone made a wish there and the divine item is permanently damaged rather than gone.’

That was the first clue I had received about my transmigration. I was certain that the prince who died in the original had returned to the beginning of the novel and woken up.

The fact that I could release a large amount of ether. The original novel’s main macguffin, the ‘Blessing of the Blue Sea’ was used up in the beginning. Christelle suddenly gaining superpowers. All of these twists to the story had started with the paten. As a result, I came to a conclusion.

‘Someone made a wish there to save ‘me,’ and I ended up possessing this body as a result.’

In that case, the power that I awoke to was probably from absorbing the Paten of Wishes. That was confirmed to be true not long after that.

– The item within your plate is something that was controlled by the regent of the Almighty God. I do not know anything about that.

‘Nikky,’ the guide within the Ark of the Wind Deity, had pointed at my heart and said that.

The paten had clearly shown its greatness a few days after that. The divine item’s abilities were not just releasing a large amount of highest-grade ether and making the people around me have nice dreams. This guy was capable of doing something much scarier and amazing.

‘Well, it makes sense since it was able to pull me in from outside of the novel.’

‘Ugh……. Gasp.’

‘Jesse. Louder.’

‘G, get lost……!’

The dreadful experience that I never wanted to experience again… The scary feeling of the whole world pushing me away. It had been difficult to breathe, as if I was stuck in a vacuum, and I still had the memories of feeling like my entire body was going to break.

– Baaaaaaaang!

A golden ray of light exploding from my body, and…

‘Baarf. Cough cough! Cough! Barf……’

Everything was red when I came back to my senses.

– Booboboboooooooooom.

The sky was shaking as if it would break at any moment, and there was a distant ink-colored ‘gate.’ And……

‘That’s our veranda.’

The place where my brother and Eunseo were waiting for me. The place with the traces of my mother and father.

‘Our house’.

I thought until that point and suppressed my emotions. Percy plopped down in front of me. My voice became even quieter.

“You saw it too. I was gushing out blood and it was quite chaotic.”

– Piiiiiiiiiing

“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t get myself to challenge that again. I feel like I might really die this time. It’s like…… I forced that gate open at that time. Even if it is possible with the power of the paten, it was forced at that time. I don’t think I was supposed to do it at that time.” I quietly mumbled.

Of course, I had no real proof. That was just a feeling I had. Otherwise, the rejection I felt wouldn’t have been so severe.

Demy seemed to believe that I could overcome the side effects if I became the master of the paten, but Pope was not something I could become just because I wanted to do so. Only a selection by the Almighty God could choose a new Pope.

I did consider how things may change if I grew stronger and became a Cardinal, but that, just like the TOEIC exam, was not something I could achieve in a month. Nobody knew whether it would take me five years or even thirty years to grow that much stronger.

Basically, it was not a goal that could be achieved by effort alone.

“But still……”

– Piiiii

Percy and I lowered our heads down at the same time to look at the notebook.

. The Paten of Wishes.

– Located in a secret room within the underground maze of the Temple of Boundaries.

– Only religious figures of the Vatican at the Cardinal level or higher may come close to it.

– Has not been shown to the public for 2,000 years.

– Only the Pope can handle it.

This opportunity was a once in a lifetime chance that overcame all these difficult conditions. With the tension between the two nations getting worse, Vicarius Generalis Ronald Rupert had offered up a meeting. Whether that would turn into a meaningful one or not was something nobody knew. What was important to me was his request to make a vow of peace in front of the Paten of Wishes.

I wanted to see the paten up close at least once. I didn’t even dream of being able to go home as soon as I see it. I was just a supporting character, I couldn’t expect a development where an amazing item like that chose me once again. It’s just that…

Even a small hint is fine. I’ll take the tiniest of hints. I’ll write and remember whatever it is, so as long as I could look at it…

“I plan on asking her Majesty tomorrow.”

– Pipi?

“She’s very busy right now. It is highly likely that she will send the Imperial Crown Prince in her place. Then I can ride his coattails as well. It should be safe if I move in a caravan with my friends.”

– Piiiiiiiiii-

“It’s killing two birds with one stone. I can meet Elise as well.”

– Piiiipo!

“Why do you sound like a thug? You don’t trust big bro?” I petted his head with my index finger and chuckled. The divine item flapped his small wings and opened his yellow beak to complain. After thinking hard about it, it was my mistake. I started to sweat bullets.

‘Did I really just say killing two birds with one stone to a bird?!’

– Piruuuuuuuuuu!

“Sorry. Big bro was in the wrong. This human was bad.”

At that moment…

– Knock knock.

“Your highness. Little Gerrit has arrived.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Pierre informed me of a guest’s arrival. I shoved my notebook into my left gown pocket and placed the still angrily jumping Percy into my right pocket as I stood up. He was biting me but it was just ticklish and did not hurt.

Benjamin and Ganael were calmly knitting or organizing a manuscript. A small boy soon appeared on the other side of the door.

“Come on in, Gerrit. Oh, you brought your pillow with you.”

“Hehe.” The child smiled and bowed toward me.

There was a simple reason as to why Gerrit came to Juliette Palace in his pajamas. I told him he could come sleep over whenever he wanted, and the boy did not hesitate before choosing today. Our wonderful best friend received Gerrit’s robe from him while Ganael left to warm up some milk for Gerrit. Pierre ruffled the boy’s snow-like hair and left.

Gerrit’s hair was originally around the length of his neck, but I returned to the palace to find that it now looked the same as mine. Apparently he went to get a haircut with Sand.

I confirmed that he was wearing multiple layers for the cold and we held hands as we walked to the bedroom. I was happy that matching his stride allowed us to chat longer. There was a luxurious carpet on the hallway for Tithé who crawled around, and the sleepy red pandas slowly followed us on it. We had gotten rid of all easily breakable and scratchable decorations a long time ago.

‘It’s the same for any house raising little troublemakers.’

“Did your dad bring you to the door?”

Nod nod.

“I see. Wasn’t it cold outside?”

Shake shake. I guess children really are warmer than adults.

“Did you take your medicine properly?”

“Mmhmm……”

Gerrit sometimes responded with sounds like this as well.

“What a good boy. You sound like you’ve been busy.” I smiled brightly and shook the child’s hand. “What do you think about uncle reading you a book before we go to sleep?”

“Hehe.” A present-like bright smile was his response. He was a good young scholar who liked to read.

Once we got to the room, I picked Gerrit up and laid him down on the bed. I don’t know why he was so happy, but he kept chuckling. I put the blanket up to his chest and we each drank a glass of warm honey milk that Ganael brought for us. Benjamin was nice enough to turn off all of the lights except the magic light by our heads. While Percy trotted over to his own bed, Gerrit wrote down what he did today and showed it to me.

‘His Royal Highness gave me another allowance. There were so many gold things!’

‘That little punk. I’m worried he’s going to mess up this kid’s sense of money.’

“Did you give it to your dad to hold? Shouldn’t your dad hold onto it until you become an adult?”

‘Dame Christelle said I can’t do that. She said I won’t be able to get it back later. She also said something about there being no interest and no guarantee for the principal either. I don’t know what any of that means.’

……Apparently both members of that couple had their issues. I barely caught myself from getting angry and fixed the child’s hair.

“Uncle believes in you, Gerrit. I’m sure you will save it and put the money to good use.”

“Heheheng.” The child smiled with embarrassment and flailed his cute little hands.

“Lord David told me to buy the vassal state’s currency with it. He said it will go up a lot in the future. Where can I buy that? What does he mean by it will go up a lot?’

‘Oh dear Almighty God.’ I almost blacked out from shock.

I put down the book that I was going to read to him, < Do you like the Holy Knight...... > and discussed a proper financial lifestyle with the child. Investing was not bad, but I thought that a ten year old like Gerrit should first learn about the concept and role of money. I talked for a while and then turned my head……

“Aigoo, he’s fallen asleep.”

“……”

The child had gone off to lalaland. At his feet were the three red panda musketeers curled up into balls. I carefully pulled the pen and paper from Gerrit’s hands, laid him down properly and pulled the blanket up to his neck. Finally, I turned the lights off and laid down as Demy got up and curled up by my chest. I was quickly surrounded by little balls of heat.

I suddenly got teary for no reason. ‘Maybe it is because it is night time.’

“……If big bro ever ends up going back, I promise to tell you all first,” I whispered to the ceiling. I did not have the confidence to say it to the children’s faces.

“I’ll tell you everything. I won’t hide a thing.”

There was naturally no response. This was the first time I realized I was such a cowardly bastard. I could say difficult things without any issues because nobody was listening.

“I’ll make sure to say goodbye to everybody without missing anybody before I leave. I’ll apologize as well. I have to apologize for tricking all of you.”

Even if I could not be forgiven, I had to confess to the terrible sin I had committed against all of them. If I got the chance to do so, that is. If I face the paten in person and that ends up being helpful to me… If it allows me to head home at some point…

I quietly looked to the side. Gerrit and Demy’s small tummies were moving up and down in the darkness. Their quiet breathing echoed in the bedroom. The smile that I barely managed to form quickly disappeared.

‘This is so weird. The room is more full than ever but I feel like I’m on a deserted island all by myself.’

“……Good night.”

‘Maybe spring is coming.’

*

The Saturday feast proceeded as usual. Duke Florian Mendy and young lady Bérénice Mendy as well…… They attended as planned. However, we had been mistaken. It was not a meeting to discuss crown prince Cédric’s marriage!

– Clack, clack……

“Any guarantee that the Vicarius Generalis is not on the Holy Kingdom’s side?”

“No. However, his actions until now are close to neutral. I feel like he’s putting in effort.”

“Hmph. What do you think, Imperial Instructor?”

There were the quiet sounds of silverwear moving and the serious tones of the adults filled the banquet hall.

Empress Frédérique, as an extremely efficient person… 1. While eating 2. And drinking alcohol 3. Was discussing the Empire’s affairs 4. And seemed to have decided that there was no need to cancel this feast if she could do all of that while seeing her son and his little chums. That was why she had called Duke Mendy, one of her close Pair de Riester, as planned.

I slowly peeked at the adults while drinking my milkshake. The wild sweetsop inside it made it sweet and refreshing.

‘When should I ask her? ‘Please send your son to the desert. I will go with him.’’

“……”

I was thinking about that when I made eye contact with young lady Bérénice. I saw her yesterday, so it was just one day. I smiled and the young lady instantly turned as red as strawberry jam.

Sir Johann, who happened to be seated next to me, answered her Majesty’s question and turned his gaze. He naturally made eye contact with Bérénice.

“Ahh.” The young lady became quite flustered before lowering her head and grabbing her napkin instead of her utensils. She was holding it so tightly that her finger tips were going white.

‘What is going on? Did something happen with Sir Johann……’

“I guess I should go.”

‘Excuse me?’

I quickly turned my head toward the head seat.

The Empress’s eyes that resembled wine were scarily shining. All thoughts instantly evaporated. This truly was a forced development. ‘I heard wrong, right?’

“Aurelie, prepare yourself. It’s been a while since we’ve been in the desert.”

—
Translator’s Comments

Things are not going as he planned.

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