Elaine bowed and bowed as if her head was touching the ground.
John, who was looking at that with satisfaction, praised Elaine, saying that she was the saint with the highest academic achievement in the temple and that she was a role model for others.
Thanks to this, Elaine left the room in a good mood and only exhaled loudly once she was out of sight of the Holy Knights and Imperial Knights guarding the front of the room.
“I was shaking and thought I was going to die.”
[The human who came to her senses even after being offered as a sacrifice to me can only die at that level uh. Well done anyway.]
“Why do you want to meet the Marquise of Habron?”
[Because that guy’s mother might also have magical powers. That guy’s magical power is strangely familiar.]
“Is that important?”
[Yeah. It’s important to me. There is something I really want to find out.]
It was Rabes who pushed Elaine, who was trying to refuse the gift, to say, ‘Say you want to meet that guy’s mother.’
This is because, before entering John’s room, Rabes, who momentarily hid Elaine and his own energy from the wavelength of strange magic circling beyond the door, and when he saw Abel, he felt even stranger.
‘That’s strange. This magic wave feels somehow familiar.…’
The last time Rabes had felt human magic was five hundred years ago, from the humans around Lancers.
If Abel’s magic was familiar, it had to be connected to someone from those five hundred years ago.
‘He’s most likely descended from a witch or wizard who was around Lancer. If I dig up that guy, I might be able to learn more about Lancers.’
‘Why did you betray me, what kind of life did you live after sealing me, did you ever regret your betrayal, and how did you die…?’
‘He may be a damn guy to me, but he must have been a hero to humans, so he probably ate well and lived well until he died, right?’
While he was sealed, he pondered over such thoughts several times and became angry, but in fact, he did not want Lancer to die painfully.
Rabes just hoped that Lancer regretted betraying him and that Lancer sometimes felt sad about his absence.
And if anyone knew anything about Lancers’ later years, he really wanted to hear it.
But Elaine asked with a worried face.
“Just as Rabes can feel the magical power of others, isn’t it also possible for humans with magical power to feel Rabes? I wonder if Prince Abel invited me because he sensed something strange about me.…”
[I completely suppressed our energy earlier, so even if he was a powerful wizard, he wouldn’t have noticed.]
“Then that’s a relief.”
Rabes snorted again as if it’s nothing to worry abouts, and only then did Elaine feel a little relieved.
[Don’t worry, just pretend to be innocent in front of him. There is no reason for the emperor’s mistress or that prince to keep you there for long.]
“Well, that’s right. Thanks to Rabes, I can now take a look around the imperial palace.”
[Why thanks to me? You were the one who suggested blessing a holy object or something.]
“It was only because of you that I had to suggest it.”
[…You don’t blame me, do you?]
“No way!”
Elaine smiled at Rabes, pretending to be innocent.
* * *
Meanwhile, Malek, who returned after safely ‘locking up’ Abel’s body in the prince’s palace, brought up Elaine’s story to Sasha.
“I met Elaine Newt at the temple.”
“The child that Count Newt’s half-sister gave birth to?”
“Yeah. It was different from what I heard. They say she was timid and gloomy….”
“So?”
“In reality, There’s something oddly precocious about her.”
Malek grinned as he remembered Elaine, who never wavered in front of him.
“And she’s actually quite pretty.”
“Usually illegitimate children are pretty. Their mothers must have been quite beautiful if a nobleman touched them.”
“Well, that woman named Mariel was also a great beauty, right? She is the daughter of a beauty, so there is a high probability that she will grow up to be a beauty.”
“why? Did you cover her?”
“That remains to be seen, but I have a feeling that the rumors might be true.”
“Rumor?”
Sasha’s eyes widened at the mention of ‘rumors’.
“Just as Count Newt coveted his half-sister, there is a rumor that Count Newt’s son, L’Arch, would covet his cousin.”
It wasn’t clear who started the rumor, but seeing Elaine today, he knew it wasn’t far-fetched.
‘I thought it wasn’t nonsense.’
When it was decided that Count Newt would be a useful ally for Sasha, Malek, who played Abel, had several separate tea times with his successor, L’Arch.
Each time, Count Newt led the way to answers about Elaine with clever questions, but L’Arch had never really brought up the topic of Elaine.
He’d always assumed it was because it was shameful, but today he could think in other directions.
‘What if it was something he wanted to monopolize?’
In that case, it was an incredibly fun experience to see the distorted face of L’Arch Newt, who always had a poker face.
Anyway, the fun had to be put on hold for now. Because there are other important things.
“Well, putting that matter aside, I called that girl named Elaine to the prince’s palace. We might be able to find out the whereabouts of the dragon magic stone that disappeared from the Newt family.”
‘I didn’t have high expectations, but I hoped that Elaine would be at least a small clue.’
“What if the child doesn’t have a dragon magic stone?”
“As soon as that child entered the school, the Newt family’s dragon magic stone energy disappeared. Do you think coincidences like this are common? The Dragon Magic Stone and Elaine are definitely related.”
“What if she keeps quiet until the end about the whereabouts of the dragon magic stone?”
“You have interesting worries, Sasha. Would you like to bet with me that she won’t open her mouth despite the torture that twists every joint in her body?”
Malek’s smile was extremely playful, but Sasha couldn’t help but laugh along because she knew he was serious.
Although he seemed like a charmingly handsome man, he was actually a dragon who could kill a human with a simple flick of his hand, and if Sasha betrayed him, it would be Sasha who would have every joint in her body twisted.
“Well, then I guess I should get ready to meet Miss Elaine Newt.”
“Sure. Oh! Abel’s rebellion has been getting worse these days, so please tighten the guard so that he cannot meet other humans except when I am controlling him.”
“Security at the prince’s palace is always thorough. Rest assured.”
Sasha brushed off Abel’s story more lightly than the story about Elaine and got up.
* * *
After the imperial family’s ceremony of blessing the holy relics was over, the temple’s priests and saints were next in line.
Not all of them, of course. No matter how many times the people of the temple performed the blessing ceremony, there were no donations.
“All priests will attend, and then priests who have been praised by the high priest at least once will receive the ceremony. The next ones are those with excellent grades.”
[So how long do we have to wait?]
“If you are a high priest, you will quickly get rid of the temple people’s blessing rituals that do not make money.”
[That’s really good news.]
For some reason, Rabes’s heart, which normally did not get excited, was pounding.
‘I’m just trying to confirm whether or not it’s Lancer’s remains! Why am I so nervous?’
Rabes was also embarrassed by his condition and beat himself up for no reason.
‘But to come face to face with the remains of someone you’d thought about feverishly for five hundred years was exciting, whether you hated them or loved them.’
And just as Elaine expected, just ten days later, a ceremony to bless the holy relics of saints with excellent grades was held.
The saints with excellent grades, three of whom were selected by the number of saints enrolled, headed to the hall where the urn was placed with their hearts pounding.
“Wow…… I see with my own eyes the great holy relic of the temple!”
“This is the first time any of us nobles have seen it, except for the high priest and priests. My mother was so proud, she even spread the word to distant relatives.”
The saints could not hide their excitement as they whispered among themselves.
It was already a holy relic that everyone wanted to see as soon as possible thanks to extensive publicity, so becoming the subject of a holy relic blessing before it was released to the public meant that it had something to brag about in social circles.
However, Elaine, who was standing at the back of the entrance procession and following along, was more nervous than excited.
‘It seems like Rabes has high expectations, but what if the urn is fake? No, even if it’s real, it’s still a problem…’
Despite telling each other several times that there was a high probability that it was a fake, Rabes was restlessly waiting for this day.
He was like a child waiting for St. Nicholas Day.
Since Rabes had never shown such emotional turmoil, Elaine was anxious as if something would happen today.
‘If it’s real, it looks like Rabes will try to steal the urn, and if it’s fake,…Well, at that time I couldn’t even imagine what would happen.’
‘I’ll have to try hard to stop it.’
Elaine glanced at Rabes, who was already tilting his head while sitting on her shoulder, and sighed softly.
* * *
I think Chapter 72 and 71 are the same.