– Clack, clack……

“My goodness. I get to experience all sorts of things in life.”

Frédérique grumbled.

As usual, only Aurélie had joined her on the largest and most luxurious carriage in the Imperial family.

It had already been a few hours since that phenomenal urgent news had come from Juliette Palace.

She wanted to order Prince Jesse to come to the Empress Palace at once to figure out what was going on, but unfortunately, she was a ruler.

It took time to even take care of the urgent things first and push back the less urgent issues. The Cardinal smiled brightly from the other side.

“That’s what makes life so entertaining. I’m sure Cédric will be very happy.”

“It looks like you are even happier about it.”

The Empress’s red eyes sparkled with discontent. Aurélie did not retort.

The fact that her one and only student regained his ether made the Cardinal extremely relieved and happy.

She cared a lot about her precious godson, but she also had affection for the Prince and a desire to see him grow to become a Cardinal.

This was a win for everyone.

“How long has it been since the Empress went out to Juliette?”

“I have been talking about that this whole time.”

Aurélie saw the upset Frédérique and laughed out loud.

It was because the two of them were headed toward that cold palace to check the prince’s condition.

This had never happened since after the Warring Era.

The reason that the prince could not follow proper etiquette and come to the Empress Palace was clear. The master of Romero, the Imperial Crown Prince, had restricted him from exiting his palace.

The Empress could not believe her heir’s tyranny.

“Since when has Sadie been so obsessed with the things in his hand?”

“I’m not so sure that it is in his hands yet.”

“Don’t say such terrible things, Adam. He’s already ordering his mother to come and go.”

The carriage slowed down at that moment. They could see the sun setting over Juliette Palace outside the window.

The divine beast babies and the water deer were playing in the pretty and cutely decorated garden.

The prince and the attendants seemed to be struggling to calm the animals down.

The divine item that had turned into a chimney bird was nonchalantly sitting on the crown prince’s palanquin.

They could even see the white-haired child dangling around the prince’s waist. Anybody would be able to tell that this was that mercenary punk’s son.

She couldn’t help but sigh.

“They’ve created a little paradise in the Imperial Palace.”

“Yeah, isn’t it nice?”

The Empress peeked at her soulmate. The carriage then completely stopped.

Chief of Staff Laura, staff of the Empress Palace, and guests exited the carriage behind them.

The prince’s purple eyes looked completely frozen in the distance.

He was out to greet the Empress, but he seemed to have gotten anxious after seeing the number of people who had shown up.

The corners of Frédérique’s lips curled up mischievously.

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to get some air.”

The Empress stepped down as soon as the carriage door clicked open.

The group with the crown prince in the front politely showed their respects.

Frédérique escorted Aurélie before leisurely approaching the prince with the Cardinal on her side.

The divine beasts looked up at the Empress and tilted their heads.

‘Tithé, she is the eldest senior.’ My urgently whispering voice sounded quite funny.

“I came because I heard that a great event has happened to you.”

“Thank you very much, your Majesty. I should have come to you, but please forgive me for not traveling to the Empress Palace.”

The prince bowed his head. His blonde hair sparkled like a jewel from the autumn sunlight.

“That was not your fault.”

The Empress said that and then looked at her son.

He had his usual stoic look on his face but, as his mother, she could see her son’s slightly shaking pupils.

‘You really are running rampant.’

“If you’re done, go to the bedroom and get ready. I am here to bestow upon you some Imperial benevolence.”

“Excuse me?”

The prince raised his head in shock.

The words ‘Imperial benevolence’ had made his cheeks flushed.

Just as Frédérique was about to laugh, the Cardinal used swift movements to pinch the Empress’s arm.

“Ah.”

“It’s just a terrible joke, my little prince. Shall we go check your condition?”

Her eyes then benevolently curled up. The Empress could only grumble internally.

*

I quietly sat to one side of the living room and cooperated. I could see people no matter which direction I looked.

My Juliette family members were busily running around with refreshments, tables, and chairs.

I had never seen the largest room in Juliette Palace being so busy.

“Sun halo weed is a plant with basically no poisonous traits. It definitely is not a typical situation.”

“Yes, that definitely does seem to be the answer. The prince had been unable to use his ether for close to twenty days, but having used the medicinal tea for three days……”

“Your Eminence, Prince Jesse’s respiration and pulse are all normal.”

Numerous priests, the Imperial doctor, their attendants and assistants, Sir Michel, who had rushed to the palace, and most importantly, Empress Frédérique and Cardinal Boutier.

There did not seem to be an end to the guests here.

Even Sir Johann had been called over by an Imperial Order.

Captain Hervé Duhem and Vice Captain Élisabeth were standing guard outside the palace.

Juliette Palace was currently the safest place in all of Riester.

– Aarf.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of people, aren’t there? It’s quite the show all of a sudden.”

I patted Tithé’s butt and calmed him down.

The little guy seemed quite upset that he was woken up from his nap.

It was around then that Sir Johann, who was holding Gerrit’s hand, started speaking. Everybody turned to look at him.

“Gerrit’s illness has no cause. At least that is what all of the doctors told me.”

Chief of Staff Laura quickly motioned for the unnecessary staff to leave.

Only a few people remained in the reception room.

We needed to accurately determine Gerrit’s illness in order to learn about the effects of the sun halo weed, which would make it easier to understand the effects it had on me.

This, if it went well, could end up being a medicinal herb that could help a lot of people.

“There are actually a good amount of children in the Holy Kingdom with similar symptoms as my son. The citizens of the Holy Kingdom call this the ‘divine illness.’ There are many children who pass away because they are unable to overcome the pain.”

The Empress stopped drinking her coffee and scowled.

“Is it an illness that only affects the young?”

Sir Johann gently covered Gerrit’s ears.

“……To be more accurate, it is extremely unlikely for them to survive until they are adults, your Majesty.”

“Tsk.”

The Empress clicked her tongue and observed Gerrit.

The little boy squirmed as if he didn’t know what to do.

I could tell that she was looking at Gerrit and thinking about the crown prince’s childhood.

“Anytime I hear things described as a divine illness I presume that it is related to a person’s plate or ether.”

“Yes, your Majesty. However, the authority of the priests is even higher in the Holy Kingdom than in the Empire. The commoners would never be able to take their children to a healing priest. The fact that using sun halo weed as a medicinal tea is helpful is known by everyone, but even that is extremely expensive and difficult to procure.”

My teacher’s face frowned after hearing Sir Johann’s answer. She asked in a sad voice.

“Then has your child not been able to be checked out by a healing priest either?”

“……”

The Holy Knight looked down.

The crown prince, who was seated to my right, looked uncomfortable.

“It should not have been that hard after seeking asylum in the Empire.”

“Sir Johann, there are healing priests in the Imperial Palace as well. They are all talented people.”

“……I couldn’t be so shameless.”

The Holy Knight looked at me and smiled bitterly. “My goodness,” Sir Michel gasped.

I was shocked after understanding the meaning behind Sir Johann’s words.

Basically, he felt so apologetic for tricking my friends and I and trying to hurt us that he did not ask for our help.

He probably thought that the Imperial Palace starting to grow sun halo weed and providing them to Gerrit free of charge was already extremely benevolent.

Sir Johann was the instructor of the crown prince and a Pair de Riester, with the official title of an Imperial Instructor.

He could have used that to get to know a high-ranking healing priest at any point……

My fists clenched on their own. I had been too insensitive.

I had been thinking that he would have seen a priest a long time ago. ‘I was so stupid.’

“Little kid, come over here.”

The Empress suddenly called out to the young boy.

The way she was shaking the little stuffed doll in her hand made it seem as if she was quite familiar with this.

The area around her seat was full of Gerrit’s things from the past three days.

“It’s okay.”

She continued to speak.

His ears were still covered, but the child read the lips of the extremely important person and looked up at his father.

Sir Johann let his son go.

Gerrit stiffly walked up to her and the Empress smiled before putting the pig doll in his hand.

“The child of a Holy Knight truly is brave. It is rare to find a child who is willing to make eye contact with me.”

The child shyly smiled. The Empress looked at me.

“Did you give all these toys to him?”

“Most of them were gifts my friends gave to Gerrit, Your Majesty. It was their way of thanking him for giving me their letters.”

“Sounds like them.”

She looked at the crown prince as she calmly spoke. She then looked toward Sir Johann.

“I respect your conscience. However, as a father, you are allowed to be more shameless and pathetic. As long as you are not committing such sins again, nobody with a child would be able to point their fingers at you.”

“……”

“I probably know best about how you feel.”

Her cherry-colored eyes heavily sank.

I finally remembered the common factor between the Empress and the Holy Knight.

A spouse who left the world early and their only child who had been in pain since their birth.

I turned my head and immediately made eye contact with a pair of eyes that resembled the sun.

“May I take a look?”

My teacher was the one who broke the silence.

She, who had been standing next to the Empress, took a step forward toward Gerrit.

The little boy was feeling shy but did not avoid her gentle hand.

Sir Johann very slowly knelt down on one knee and bowed toward the two seniors.

“……Please, I beg of you.”

The man’s voice was quiet and low. However, everybody in the room clearly heard his words.

*

The Empire’s one and only Cardinal. The Empress’s Religious Partner and the crown prince’s godmother. Someone who had rejected the title of Duchess twice.

The greatest healing priestess in all of Riester.

– Shaaaaaaaaaaaa……

Cardinal Boutier’s clear and blue healing circle gently wrapped around Gerrit, who was lying down on the couch.

Sir Johann was standing next to the child with a gentle face to calm him down.

The design on the circle was so complicated that it looked as if a person would never be able to memorize it. It was so splendid that my jaw dropped.

My teacher had not been trained as a healing priestess since she was young, but her healing powers were so skilled that she had developed her skills on her own.

Despite not starting on the path of a healing priestess until the middle of her twenties, it took less than ten years for her to rise to the top.

Someone called a once-in-a-generation type of genius truly was different.

The health of the Imperial family was checked first by her and the Imperial doctor to this day, and my teacher was always the first to check on me whenever I fainted as well.

“Just looking at this makes me understand. I can feel just how amazing her Eminence is.”

Christelle blankly stared at Cardinal Boutier’s healing circle and commented with amazement.

Yes, I finally met the main character of QNW once again!

Christelle was the first person outside the palace to hear about my recovery.

She departed as soon as people were allowed back into Juliette Palace and supposedly jumped off the carriage before it even stopped, but her body was still cold.

Her temperature was always low but it was even worse because she had been out in the cold autumn evening breeze.

I had never heard about Holy Knights catching a cold but I grabbed her a blanket and some warm rose tea.

She then smirked while looking at the crown prince. She seemed to be happy that we were all gathered together for the first time in a long while. I felt the same way.

“It looks like you haven’t completely recovered yet, your highness. The flow of your ether is weak.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, your highness. But it does feel like you are slowly getting stronger. I can feel it more clearly than when I first entered through those doors. Congratulations!”

Christelle chatted away with a brighter face than ever before.

The crown prince seemed to agree, as he didn’t say much about it.

I found it odd that he had not asked me for ether right away, but that punk must have recognized the weak flow as well.

‘Thanks for being considerate, but couldn’t you have told me about it?’

“Why does that balcony look like that?”

The Empress, who was holding her coffee cup and looking out the window, asked in annoyance.

She had noticed that one of the windows of Romero Palace was destroyed.

David lost his composure and started giving excuses in his master’s place.

‘What a difficult job……’

“I get the gist of it. I also understand that Marquis Sérénité is extremely popular.”

The Empress motioned toward a small table with her chin as she commented. I leaned over to take a look.

‘What was over there again?’

‘Gasp.’

“That is not the case, your Majesty.”

I urgently denied it.

What she had seen were letters from the Blanquer Duchy, with most of them being from the knights and soldiers of the territory.

Most of them were just thanking me for saving Duchess Cecil Blanquer and Knight Captain Jacques.

There were thank you letters from the Duchess and her husband as well.

“They were just formalities.”

“The Prince of the Holy Kingdom managed to win over the hearts of the fierce East. The people who live in the Duchy at the border of the two nations, at that.”

She commented in a mischievous tone.

I had an awkward look on my face when the Cardinal suddenly gasped.

We all looked toward the other side of the room.

[My goodness, Johann.]

My teacher’s beige-colored eyes looked extremely flustered.

Sir Johann became shocked as well and looked at her.

[There is ether in this child’s plate.]

—
Translator’s Comments

Priest Gerrit?

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