“Your Eminence, what do you mean……”

Sir Johann, who always maintained his calm, asked in a shaky voice. I stood up in shock.

I heard Empress Frédérique gasping and saw Christelle’s jaw drop in shock.

“My little prince, come over here.”

Cardinal Boutier withdrew her Divine Oracle and calmly called me over.

I slowly walked over so that I wouldn’t scare Gerrit and saw that the little kid lying on the couch was smiling at me.

I felt relieved that he didn’t seem to be in pain since coming to Riester.

However, I was still confused about what she meant by there being ether in his body.

Sir Johann seemed to be hearing this for the first time as well.

“What is going on, your Eminence?”

I quietly asked as I stood next to my teacher.

She pointed at her healing circle and looked at me.

“Look over there. Can you recognize the background of the design?”

I focused on the area she was pointing out.

There were layers of extremely complicated designs that created a sophisticated pattern.

However, my teacher advised using the same method to learn every new circle.

‘Find the simplest image that creates the background of the circle. Then you will be able to easily tell what condition the circle is focused on.’

“……The soul. This is a basic circle that looks into the form of a plate.”

I responded. She nodded her head and looked at the child’s father.

“That’s right. But if you look over here, the reaction is very weak. There is no issue with the plate itself, but…… it is extremely thin.”

“Is that problematic, your Eminence?”

Sir Johann held Gerrit’s hand as he asked.

His extremely desperate voice made me feel terrible.

My teacher’s eyebrows drooped as if it was a pity.

“It would not have been an issue if Gerrit was born as a normal person. However, there is a tiny amount of ether in his plate.”

“……”

“I think he would have also not been in pain if he had the powers of a priest. Pure ether is static and does not put much burden on a person’s plate. However……”

“It must be attributed ether.”

Sir Johann sounded as if he was in pain as he buried his forehead in Gerrit’s palm.

He must have looked extremely pitiful as Christelle walked over and rubbed his back.

She then turned her head and asked.

“Then does that mean that Gerrit is a Holy Knight? However…… We were not able to sense anything. I believe that Sir Johann and his Royal Highness would say the same thing.”

That was right.

Holy Knights could sense the ether of other religious figures; they could even use that to tell a person’s condition or emotions if the other person did not actively hide it.

Yet none of the three Holy Knights in the Empire managed to detect Gerrit’s ether.

I quickly figured out the situation and answered.

“It is because the ether has never come out of Gerrit’s soul. It should be the result of his instincts protecting him because his plate, which is weaker than average, could break at any moment. It kept the ether confined inside instead of letting it go in and out.”

“Wait a minute, your highness… Attributed ether actively tries to come out of the body……”

Christelle’s voice trailed off. “That must be why he has always been sick.” She mumbled.

The Cardinal looked down with a look of sorrow on her face.

Attributed ether always tries to come out of the body, but Gerrit’s weak plate had been using all of its strength to prevent that until now.

The flow of ether itself would have burdened his plate, so it chose to seal it at the source for his survival.

That lonely fight was causing the pain in his soul.

It naturally led to delayed growth and weak physique.

‘It must have been so hard on him.’

“Then…… There is no way to heal him.”

Sir Johann looked crushed.

He looked as if he was crying despite there being no tears.

There was no way to heal a plate that a person was born with; there was also no way to remove ether from inside the body.

This was your typical incurable illness.

The Cardinal chose to remain silent instead of putting him in more pain with an answer.

I plopped down in front of the couch and made eye contact with Gerrit.

The child, who had eaten a lot of delicious things today, made sure to take his medicine, and had fun running around the garden with Chestnut, now looked sleepy.

I smiled and patted the child’s chest.

‘Yeah, now I remember. Kids this age don’t really know if it’s about them or someone else when the adults talk about serious things around them.’

“You noticed that uncle’s ether had an issue even without me telling you. That’s why you shared your medicinal tea with me.”

Nod nod. His small head slowly moved. ‘He’s such a good boy.’

“Thank you. I’m going to get better really fast thanks to you. Our Gerrit is so smart.”

I whispered to him. He looked so cute smiling back.

“I’ll wake you up before dinner time. You can take a short nap. You’ve been working so hard until now.”

The child closed his eyes without any complaints.

Christelle put a blanket on Gerrit while David threw some more firewood into the fireplace.

The Imperial Crown Prince approached at some point and commented.

“……So then the sun halo weed must help with the pain of his soul.”

“Yeah. It either helps the plate or the ether. Or maybe both.”

“Even after using the medicine for a long period of time, the pain will return if he stops using it. I guess it cannot leave a lasting effect.”

I quietly commented. Christelle’s eyes sparkled.

“If there are no side effects, what if we feed him as much sun halo weed as possible? Couldn’t that potentially lessen the burden on him? We will help.”

Sir Johann looked at her. The main character continued on without any hesitation.

“We can’t just have him drink a ton of medicinal tea. Sun halo weed pudding, sun halo weed cake, sun halo weed with Parmentier de Canard.”

‘Maybe even some sun halo weed kimchi.’ She mumbled in a serious voice.

We couldn’t help but chuckle quietly. Of course, I was the only one who understood that last part.

“Werner Venetiaan truly is a motherfucking bastard.”

The Empress, who had silently been listening, suddenly commented. Everybody turned toward the Empress who was leaning against the window.

Her red eyes were full of rage and loathing.

“There is no way that a senior member of the royal family does not know about this divine illness. Even if you say that people don’t know because they are busy surviving, it is different for the upper echelon.”

“……”

“How could someone who calls himself a parent do that?”

The Empress said that and then stopped.

It felt as if her holy sword, Durandal, slightly shook for an instant as well.

Sir Johann gently rubbed the back of his son’s hand and broke the silence.

He looked much calmer than earlier.

“If it is as her Eminence mentioned, then children like Gerrit who suffer from the divine illness cannot become Holy Knights. They are basically born with a disability in their soul, and there is not even enough medicine to lessen the pain for everyone.”

“……”

“As a result, the Venetiaan Royal family probably considered them to be unnecessary existences. A child of a noble suffering from the same illness could grow up without issues because they would be able to procure the sun halo weed, but that was probably it.”

I had no idea what to say to that. I was astonished.

Even if there was a lack of supply of the medicinal herb, because these sick children could not grow up as useful members of society……

They are still people. How could they ignore their citizens despite knowing about the illness?

I could hear Christelle swearing under her breath. The Empress motioned to the Chief of Staff with her gaze.

“Laura, summon the Chambre des pairs again within the week. We need to figure out if there are similar patients in the Empire. Inform the librarian of the Empress Palace to look for related records in the library. Inform her that she can call the Imperial doctor if necessary as well. We will also need some manpower to decipher the ancient texts as well.”

“As you command, your Majesty.”

Laura bowed perfectly before withdrawing.

While that was going on, Sir Michel had asked Benjamin and Ganael to help him brew a large pot of warm sun halo weed medicinal tea.

I quietly organized my thoughts before looking up at crown prince Cédric.

I could see his firm and chiseled chin.

“……”

‘I remember this guy struggled with severe ether depletion since he was young as well.

Since his condition is still not that good and he can’t prevent himself from turning into a child……

Maybe he is suffering from the same thing as Gerrit? Then is it possible for him to be helped as well?’

“Please check my soul now, your Eminence. I want to help.”

I looked toward my teacher and asked.

The Cardinal looked a bit shocked before warmly smiling at me.

*

The situation ended up growing significantly.

The Empress did not return to her palace even once the sun set, making all of the reports arrive at Juliette Palace instead.

Staff came over to help from Romero Palace as well and the reception room turned into a form of an open-concept business center…… The inside resembled a play area.

Percy, the divine beasts, and Chestnuts were playing in the real play area, but either way…

“Would you like some more?”

The attendants were walking around the area with gold platters of Pan bagnat and starfruit juice.

We decided to have a simple dinner as well to fulfill the Imperial Decree of learning more about this.

I raised my hand and counted in my mind.

Sand just got here so two more for him, Christelle and the crown prince should each eat at least one more, Sir Johann has been through a lot today so he should eat some more, and I should eat some more too.

“Please bring another six pan bagnats. As for the juice, only fill the empty glasses.”

“Yes, your highness. I will bring over ten of them.”

My teacher watched my conversation with the attendant and chuckled.

I became anxious and sat up straight.

Her clear healing circle was slowly revolving with me at the center.

“Your Eminence, was the flow broken because I talked?”

“No, that’s not it. The flow of your ether gets very strong when you eat something delicious, my little prince.”

‘……Is that a good thing? I guess it is good.’ I nodded my head and took a big bite of the pan bagnat.

The crunchiness of the whole wheat bread, the savory tuna and tomato, boiled egg, and olives mixed together.

Chef Laurence’s vinaigrette sauce was, as always, the perfect mixture.

The celery and peppers exquisitely maintained the balance, giving just the right amount of refreshing and clean taste.

This truly was amazing. ‘I heard that she made them in a rush but they are still perfect.’

The world needed a webnovel with Chef Laurence as the main character.

“I’ve never experienced something like this before.”

“Right?! I don’t think I will ever get to experience something like this again.”

Sand and Christelle commented while seated on the couch eating sandwiches.

The priest who urgently rushed over after being summoned, cried after hearing the whole story.

He mentioned how Gerrit always seemed as happy as a puppy chasing a butterfly whenever he opened his Holy Domain.

He seemed to have gotten close to his little servitor while looking after him and teaching him.

Gerrit, who was seated next to his dad on the other side, stopped drinking his juice and peeked toward the window.

I subconsciously followed the child’s gaze.

The Empress, who had taken her jacket off and relaxed her cravat, was plopped down on an armchair looking through documents.

She looked serious but this was my first time seeing her dressed so relaxed.

“Isn’t she cool?”

I whispered. Gerrit nodded his head.

“Her Majesty is even more dazzling when she smiles.”

The child’s eyes started sparkling.

I debated whether to tell him the story of the day I became a Marquis when the crown prince bastard, who was seated at the head of the table, glared at me.

‘Now what?’

“I think he’s glaring at you because he is worried you will become his stepfather, your highness.”

“Cough! Cough cough! Cough!”

‘What?! Hey!’ I flailed from the pain of hearing something so unbelievable and the double pain of coughing at the same time.

I buried my mouth in my sleeve and started coughing. I noticed that Christelle and the crown prince were viciously glaring at each other.

While that was going on, the MC’s joke seemed to be to my teacher’s liking, as the woman who had been seriously observing my soul suddenly looked completely red.

‘Damn it……’

“Aurélie? What happened?”

The Empress asked in from the other side. The Cardinal instantly covered up the look on her face and adjusted her monocle.

‘Wow, as expected of an adult.’

“It’s nothing. My little prince’s ether was reacting so vividly.”

“What nonsense.”

“Anyway, I’m happy. It is slow but his power is definitely being generated in his heart. He was the same as a regular person while he was unconscious.”

She looked at me and explained. I awkwardly rubbed the area over my heart as I smiled.

The Paten of Wishes in my heart seemed to have recovered after the cooldown time and was working again.

The time seemed to have ended quickly thanks to the sun halo weed.

“My little prince, will you drink some of the medicinal tea right now? Let’s use the circle to accurately assess the changes.”

“Yes, your Eminence.”

The Cardinal’s attendant, Natalie, handed me the cup at that time.

I put the sandwich down on the plate and received it.

It was at that moment.

– Knock knock.

“Your Majesty, Your Eminence.”

Vice Captain Élisabeth urgently entered the room.

Everybody looked at her because she looked quite serious.

Laura was quite sharp and had everybody bringing food leave the room for now.

The Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard looked around the room. The Empress motioned with her chin.

“It’s fine if they hear. Speak.”

“This is urgent news we received from Aightz Village, one of the Imperial family’s territories.”

She cleared her throat.

“Some skeletons have been discovered while mining the holy stones. The report says that there seem to be dozens of them. The remains do not seem to have been recently buried; based on the jewelry that was found with the remains……”

Her grey eyes slightly shook. The tension made me tightly clench the cup.

“They are believed to be the remains of priests from the Holy Kingdom who passed on the Empire’s lands.”

—
Translator’s Comments

Dead bodies?!

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