亚洲欧美中文日韩Aⅴ

[The 13th Day of the Month of Helios.

After much effort, I, along with my two brothers and our escorting knight, had gathered in my palace to chat.

My 6th brother who was still as stern as ever and my 7th brother who was still so sweet.

Only after talking for a long time did I suddenly remember what I had picked up last night.

While taking a walk outside, I had picked up a strange pendant. I had been wondering what it was so I showed it to my brothers.]

‘A pendant… Did it mean the pendant I picked up with the lord?’

The pendant had been neatly placed atop the narrow table. I glanced at it from a slight distance away before looking out towards the window.

Just as the diary had foretold, Dane, Fleon and Lord Ray all gathered in my study this afternoon.

I scanned the three people one by one.

‘They’re really here.’

I did not hate this sight at all. However, since this was a situation the diary had already foretold, I was getting annoyed for no reason.

For the first time in a while, I was not going to work. So, I wore a tunic that was more comfortable than what I usually wore with a thin laced shawl. I had been chastised a few times before for being immodestly dressed while Rebecca was around. But since she would not be around here for a while, I was thinking of staying more comfortable.

If there was anything motivating me, it would be that the dress I had worn two months ago was a little tight for me.

‘It’s either because I’ve grown taller or become fatter.’

I wished I could grow taller. If I had to gain weight, I was hoping it would fill up my flat chest.

‘But thankfully, thanks to the Empire’s preference for tall and slim bodies, I am not that sad about my chest.’

“Lord Ray.”

Lord Ray turned his head towards me. I gestured to him. With the pendant at the end of my fingers.

“Do you know what this is?”

He seemed to have figured out what I was holding.

“Is that what you picked up yesterday?”

“Yes.”

I nodded slowly. From some point, Fleon who was slowly raising his teacup to his lips and Dane who was scrutinising his scrolls were also looking this way.

“It’s known as the [Seed of Chaos].”

Dane was the one who answered.

“What’s that?”

I tilted my head before looking at Dane.

“Do you know the Templars of Chaos?”

“Yeah. The templars who’ve been rebelling for a long time now.”

“Correct. It is used as a symbol to represent the Templars of Chaos and is unique to them. It’s like a [Belt] for the Templars of Alcohol and [Treasure] for the Templars of the Sword.” (1)

It was just a hunch but it felt like Dane knew what happened yesterday.

Did I casually pick it up? Where did I find it? He should have asked me those questions first but instead of that, he explained what it was calmly. It did not feel natural.

“I heard from Ray. You saw the assassins? Weren’t you scared?”

When I shifted my gaze to turn towards Lord Ray, he was looking back at me shamelessly as if he was wondering why I was staring at him in the first place.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

So he told him everything that happened.

“I was just surprised that someone tattled.”

“It wasn’t on purpose.”

Lord Ray shifted his gaze.

In fact, there were people going missing every day and I heard that the Administrative Office Dane was working in was getting very busy.

That was why I was wondering why he was here. There must be a reason.

“Can you hand it over for a moment?”

Dane rolled his scroll up before approaching and taking the pendant from me. He placed it on his palm before moving it around and examining the strange shapes one by one.

“This is a thorn tree and this is a daffodil. This is a purple moon and this is a butterfly. These are all symbols of the Temple of Death.”

“Why the Temple of Death?”

“Their head is the Templar of Death.”

The Temple of Death had disappeared a long time ago.

“If you drop some blood at this part, it becomes a purple butterfly. That’s why the Templars of Chaos sew purple butterflies into their clothes. Butterflies are animals that travel back and forth from this world and the other one while the moon is the place in which their God of Death had been exiled to.”

And all this time, my eyes were on Dane’s palm.

“The thorn tree is a symbol of how their pain will never go away until their God returns. It also represents the punishment they want Jupiter and the templars of the said god to receive since he was the one who imprisoned their own god.”

The strange symbols engraved on the pendant began to take meaning after the end of each of Dane’s explanations. At the end of his description, the pendant began to paint a meaningful picture.

“The Templars of Chaos were an existence that began to rise due to the Temple of Death. Then, some templars who were already unhappy with the Imperial family began to join before becoming what they were today. Though, they’re still using symbols of death.”

‘He’s like a docent.’

If a museum existed with Dane in it, they would be earning enormous amounts of money even if there was no funding.

“You know very well that I don’t pay attention in theology classes.”

“Books are the cradle of all knowledge.”

If he said it like that, it made me look like a lazy student.

“I feel like a fool in front of you, Dane.”

“You shouldn’t.”

Dane clasped my hand before smiling.

“I’ll tell you everything you don’t know, alright?”

“Everything?”

“Everything. That’s the reason why I’m learning.”

‘Well, wasn’t that sweet?”

No, it felt like Dane’s words have special powers behind them.

I had done my own research because I was fed up with how many times Castor talked about the [Templars of Chaos].

They were heretics who rejected everything Jupiter gave them. They were people who went against the roots of what made templars templars and rebelled against it.

‘They’re going against what made the Imperial family what they are.’

They were considered to be the Empire’s greatest enemy as their goal was to annihilate the entire Imperial family. Their intense hostility towards Jupiter had been a threat to the existence of this Empire once. But they had been purged long ago and were now ancient history.

Those people used the powers of the moon instead of the sun to support their God of Death. Because of this, it was said that their emitted a different light from that of the golden one that templars usually emitted.

Something came to mind.

“Dane, will eyes usually glow in gold whenever powers are used?”

“Usually, yes? Since gold is the colour of the Lord of the Gods.”

“That’s strange. I remember very clearly that the templar in the place I work has eyes that glow a ‘purple light’.”

“Well that’s-”

“Stop.”

Fleon, who had been silent so far, interrupted us.

“I’ll be giving a simple explanation, brother.”

I shifted my gaze before staring at Fleon who had a stiff expression on his face.

“Stop it. Anything more than that is taboo.”

Fleon spat out as if he was growling.

“You don’t think anyone is listening in on this?”

Dane and Fleon stared at each other.

“No. I didn’t think so.”

Both of them had serious expressions on their faces which I rarely seen from them. I stared at my first brother with a refreshing gaze before shrugging my shoulders.

“What. Am I the only one who doesn’t know anything?”

Dane shook off his head.

“It’s not like that. You’ll hear about everything in your Coming-of-Age Ceremony. Brother is just worried you’ll get disadvantaged if you hear about it too early.”

“Hmph. Who’s worried about who?”

Fleon snorted.

“I only stopped you in case anyone from the dictators or the inquisition office comes by.”

I could clearly hear his concern for me. Seeing such a warm scene in my study, I tapped on Dane’s hand.

“Alright. What’s wrong with waiting if I’m going to know anyway?”

There were channels other than Dane from which I can find out anyway.

But a part of me was worried.

“I’m a little flustered to know that the assassins after me are the Templars of Chaos.”

I mumbled as I stared at the table.

“I heard Ray took care of everything?”

“Yeah. He was amazing.”

“Ray’s an excellent knight.”

I agreed. Honestly, it was dark and I could not see most of it but if there had been a lot of assassins, anyone would agree.

“Yeah. I think so.”

My gaze shifted before making eye contact with the dark blue eyes.

We were having a wordless conversation. My lips mouthed the words.

‘Your lips are so loose, like seriously.’

His eyebrow twitched up when he saw me criticising him. He looked like he felt like I was being unfair.

‘You can’t do that, lord.’

He whipped his head around.

“I didn’t know you were getting into so much trouble every night, Lord. If I had known, I would’ve praised you.”

“You shouldn’t say things you don’t mean.”

“But I am? You’ve been strange since yesterday.”

“…..”

“You said your job was to protect me and frail people like Dane, right?”

“… Hold on. Who did you just call weak?”

“I did. And brother? Ah, there was Fleon too.”

“You’re sneakily excluding me, aren’t you? Why do you call him ‘brother’ and me by my name?”

“Alright alright. I heard my big brother is learning the sword. Well, that should be enough.”

“Are you being sarcastic now?”

I smiled before looking back to stare at Lord Ray and for a moment, the place his gaze landed on was not me.

“Who’re you calling frail…?”

For some reason, the knight looked a little upset before turning his head away.

***

After a week passed, I decided to visit Amor. I left the Administration Office a little earlier and headed for the Teret Palace. Today, Lord Ray was escorting Dane outside the palace.

‘They’ve been going out frequently lately.’

Hernan brought me to where the carriage was but the horses were not coming and going. With the Founding Festival just round the corner, Hernan seemed very busy since he always returned in such haste. I wondered if he could do that because I heard he was supposed to be guarding me but on days when he was not with me, blue-tailed birds were always following me. Perhaps that was why I did not feel as empty. Rather, it was better to spend time with the birds than with Hernan himself.

“Come here.”

Whistle.

The bird always smelled fragrant and pleasant. I could tell it smelled like Hernan.

He made me uncomfortable but I liked the scent so the bird was better for me.

“We’ve arrived.”

I could walk to the stele with my eyes closed now. After a while, I was in Amor’s palace. I walked down the hall before spotting the pure white door and opening it without knocking.

“Brother -eup.”

I crashed my nose into something hard before quickly raising my gaze.

“Oh my, are you alright?”

I realised my mistake when the blue toga filled my vision.

“… Princess?”

T/N:

(1): I use treasure here but the more literal meaning is like an artifact of some legend like that of the excalibur that is able to give the wielder more power. But using artifact here will overlap with the existing meaning in this novel so I shall be using ‘treasure’.