Descendants
Greta affectionately stroked Fabian’s curly hair.
“Admit it. That I am the only one who protects you and also admit that you can never live without me.”
“Princess….”
“Don’t forget why you chose me.”
Fabian raised his head.
Although the green eyes twinkling with sadness looked very pitiful, Greta did not feel any guilt.
‘Why should I do that? It’s true that Riella left him. If he had stayed with that stupid woman, He would have been dead a long time ago. I’m the one who saved him.’
Greta took out a small bottle that she had kept deep in her pocket.
Then, she opened the bottle, filled her mouth with the potion inside, and then bowed her head and kissed Fabian. Fabian obediently moved his hand over her neck, following Greta’s gesture of stroking his chin.
A long drop of blue liquid flowed between the lips of the two people.
Fabian’s eyes, after gulping down all the medicine Greta gave him, were even more unfocused than before.
“ah. It’s inevitable that it contains narcotic ingredients. Other people are in trouble because they can’t even get this! If you don’t like it, just walk away!”
“okay. I’ll buy whatever you have, so give me the medicine.”
“Tsk tsk. You must be in a hurry too. By the way, how old is that person?”
“Twenty-four.”
“Eh? It was twenty-four, not fourteen? How did he survive to that age without dying? I’ve never seen anyone over 20 before.”
“You talk a lot. So are you going to sell it or not?”
“Double.”
“what?”
“It’s a big guy, so I should get double the price. If you don’t like it, It’s okay. People are lining up to buy even this.”
There are many people who sell illegal medicine, but the seller Greta met was the worst of them all.
‘This medicine was even less effective and more toxic than the one I had previously obtained. Still, there was no other solution.’
The princess’s identity couldn’t be revealed in a situation where she was involved in smuggling, and if it weren’t for that medicine, Fabian would have died immediately.
‘Even that is now the last medicine…’
Greta clutched the empty bottle in her pocket.
Fabian must have felt more intoxicated by now and collapsed onto the bed.
“Riella…”
Even while his consciousness was blurred, Fabian was muttering Riella’s name.
Greta bit her lip.
‘Even if you die, Riella won’t come.’
Even though she showed it clearly, Fabian was still looking for that woman.
Greta held back her anger and caressed Fabian’s cheek.
“They say there is a place near the imperial castle where you can get medicine. A much more effective medicine. So hold on, Fabian.”
Tears welled up in Fabian’s eyes.
Greta pretended not to see it and continued to brainwash him.
“Just wait, because I will save you somehow. You’ll get revenge on Riella for foolishly letting go of you. Also, please raise our kingdom and show it off before the emperor. Okay?”
* * *
‘Perhaps I was mistaken.’
Herhan thought that locking himself up with Riella in the lake palace bedroom was a very ambitious and great plan, but he realized later that he had underestimated the most important part.
“You must not hug Miss Riella again until her fatigue level is completely reduced. Otherwise, this time it might not just end in a simple faint.”
It was Jess’ warning.
He said he understood, and Riella’s life was at stake. He dismissed it as if he could hold back his lust, so he confidently went into the bedroom and locked the door from the inside.
‘it’s driving me crazy.’
When he saw Riella in front of him with her eyes wide open, talking and moving, he realized that things were not going as planned.
“your majesty! It’s your turn.”
“ah. okay…”
“What? If Your Majesty puts the Bishop there… Wow! What do you think, I won again!”
Riella, on the other hand, was immersed in chess without even realizing Herhan’s burning feelings.
When Riella was young, the only game she could play was bingo, which she played with sticks on the dirt floor.
Chess, which required expensive pieces and boards, was a luxury she could not even dream of.
But to be able to play something like that with Herhan and no one else.
“I’m having so much fun!”
“Really? Do you enjoy this?”
“Aes! Aren’t you having fun, Your Majesty?”
“No…ah yes. I have fun too. If you’re having fun, I’m having fun too…”
Riella stopped smiling brightly and looked at Herhan’s complexion, which looked somewhat tired.
‘Is he upset because he keeps losing to me? Or does he have other important things to do?’
As her thoughts reached that point, she began to feel sorry for Herhan.
No matter how much he declared a vacation, the position of emperor would not be such an easy position.
“Your majesty. I must have been thinking too much of myself.”
“What?”
“You’re being too hard on yourself, aren’t you? You’re taking time out of your busy schedule to take care of me. You’re not the kind of emperor who would play chess with me. I’m sorry, I just like to play with you….”
“Well, it’s true that I’m overdoing it.”
They were doing it in a different way.
Whether she knew what Herhan was thinking or not, Riella threw her chess pieces, which she had always treated like jewelry, into a box and scrambled to her feet. Then she went to her bed, lay down, and pulled the covers over her.
“Are we going to sleep?”
“Yes! Oh, no!”
Riella spoke cheerfully, but immediately blushed and corrected her words.
“I can sleep well alone. So, Your Majesty, you can stop worrying about me and just go.”
Herhan hadn’t expected to hear that from Riella.
‘I don’t know if she’s being polite or naive. She doesn’t know what others think.’
He felt both flattered and sorry for her.
It was almost the first time he’d spent time alone with her like this, and he wondered if he hadn’t realized how precious it was, and if he’d been frowning the whole time, thinking of something so sinister.
“I’m not going. “I will stay.”
“But you are busy…”
“I am not busy. No matter how busy I am, I have to read you a storybook until you fall asleep.”
Herhan said so and laid down next to Riella with his upper body bent.
“Then…Would you like to read this book?”
“What. Do you really want me to read a book?”
“I like your voice, Your Majesty. I hope your Majesty will read it.”
‘Reading a storybook until she falls asleep was a kind of metaphor.’
“Do you even know what this book is and you’re asking me to read it to you?”
“It’s just a book I’ve been reading for fun lately…. Is it something I shouldn’t read? Is it a forbidden book or something?”
‘A Study of the Myth of Enril and Ann’.
Herhan’s eyes were cold as they scanned the worn and peeling title.
The look in his eyes made Riella put the book away again. It might not be a forbidden book, but it was certainly responsible for ruining Herhan’s mood.
“This is a story about my cursed blood.”
However, rather than handing the book back to Riella, Herhan began to tell her the truth, as if he had made up his mind.
“This is not a fairy tale or a legend like you know. Enril is an ancient person who actually existed.”
“What? Enril was real?”
“Yes. It is said that Enril was so greedy that he dared to exceed the power of the gods. He committed many sins to get what he wanted, and as a result, he gained powers that no human can possess, but was punished close to death.”
Herhan’s voice was certainly soft, but not as sweet as Riella had expected. On the contrary, it was extremely bitter and painful.
“The gods’ curse on Enril was passed on to his sons’ sons. Each of Enril’s descendants possessed some special power, but most of them were unable to control that power and died painfully.”
“Then surely Your Majesty’s power is…or your curse is…”
“I guess it’s the karma of the sins my ancestors committed long ago.”
“Your Majesty is a descendant of Enril.”
Riella squeezed Herhan’s hand as he smiled self-deprecatingly.
What was just a fairy tale to her was actually a story about such a grand fate. And it was none other than Herhan who was living with that fate.
“It’s an old story, so old that people have forgotten it. But there are still more people like me in this world. Riella. Just as you said, another Enril who ‘flies in the sky and breathes fire’ is probably hiding somewhere.”
“I never dreamed that Enril really existed…. But why are they all hiding?”
“That….”
‘well. To explain that, we have to go through war history. Wouldn’t this night be enough for that?’
While Herhan hesitated to answer, Riella continued to ask questions.
‘It looks like her vicious passion for learning has kicked in again.’
Herhan burst into laughter looking at Riella like that.
“What about Ann? Was Ann also real?”
“Ann was Enril’s lover. She was the only one who could calm Enril from his greed.…”
Herhan stopped talking for a moment with a blank expression on his face.
Riella, who was immersed in the story, did not notice the change in Herhan and kept asking him all kinds of questions, urging him to answer.
“Then are Ann’s descendants still alive?”
When Riella asked that question, Herhan regained his lost focus and answered.
“No. Ann’s descendants are extinct.”
“What? Enril’s descendants are alive, so why? Why Ann—”
“This is the end of today’s study, Riella.”
Herhan wrapped his arms around Riella and hugged her, refusing to say any more.
* * *
Herhan took advantage of the opportunity when Riella, who was soundly asleep, was not yet awake and headed to Jess’s laboratory.
Even though the sky was still dark in the early morning, Jess’ lab was brightly lit.
In front of Jess and Asion, who were putting their heads together and thinking about their master’s condition, Herhan said something somewhat unexpected and absurd.
“What if there were living descendants of Ann?”
“yes? Descendants of Ann? Are you talking about a saint? She came to you in the middle of the night, and suddenly something happened.….”
While Asion was laughing awkwardly, Jess began to quickly calculate and put together many things in his head.
“What if the reason my body got better was because I was purified by a saint?”
“No way. How do you get purified? There is no one to clean it up.”
Asion waved his hand. Meanwhile, Jess suddenly got up and started frantically digging somewhere on his bookshelf. His complexion was pale and his fingertips were trembling.
“Why do you like that all of a sudden? You must have gone crazy all night.”
In front of Asion, who furrowed his brows while looking at Jess, Herhan put the final word in that ridiculous theory.
“What if Riella is a saint?”
* * *
