Chapter 248

“But.......”

A moment later, a long sigh escaped Emperor Debrica.

“Still no word from him?”

Emperor Debrica’s expression darkened slightly. Seeing that, Crown Prince Aseraian and Princess Nailia’s gazes also grew heavy.

He had not said exactly whom he was asking about, but the two understood immediately.

“No, nothing yet.”

Another long sigh escaped Emperor Debrica. More than a month had passed, yet there was still no word whatsoever from Prince Alex.

“I... Never mind.”

Emperor Debrica started to say something, then gently shook his head, another long sigh slipping from his lips.

“.......”

...There he goes again.

Princess Nailia let out a small sigh inwardly as well. There had always been something strange about the way her father treated Brother Alex.

Even when he seemed to have something to say, he held it back, and he could barely even look Alex properly in the eye. It was almost as though he found dealing with his own son extremely difficult.

‘And Brother is the same.’

She could clearly tell that Prince Alex also tried to avoid meeting Emperor Debrica whenever possible.

‘Why?’

Ever since she was little, Princess Nailia had watched the two of them and wondered about the reason, but she had never been able to ask them properly.

Both of them radiated such a heavy atmosphere whenever the subject arose that they would not tolerate even the slightest mention of it.

“The meeting will begin soon.”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

As she watched Emperor Debrica rise from his seat for the upcoming Imperial meeting, a long sigh escaped Princess Nailia as well.

He never showed it openly, but it was obvious that he cared about Prince Alex... So what in the world had happened between the two of them?

When she saw Prince Alex this time, she really ought to ask him properly.

But to do that, she first had to find him.......

‘Brother Alex, where in the world are you?’

***

“What in the world is the Temple doing?!”

“The dead are running rampant out there! And yet the Temple hasn’t come up with a single countermeasure!”

“And the Holy Spring as well. How could a High Priest possibly....... Tsk!”

Once again, the Temple was the one taking a thorough beating at today’s Imperial meeting.

Its standing had already fallen because of the fake saintess incident, and then the Holy Spring had been contaminated on top of that.

People had been appalled to learn that the culprit was not some ordinary priest, but a High Priest.

Even worse, public outrage still raged over the fact that an illegal ritual had been openly conducted inside the Temple itself, of all places.

Even so, when the dead began attacking, people had held on to a sliver of hope.

Since these were beings who had awakened in defiance of the will of the gods, surely the Temple would come up with some kind of solution.

But those expectations had been brutally shattered.

When people saw that holy water and divine power had little effect on the dead, their faith in the Temple came crashing down all over again.

“.......”

In the end, the Temple representatives attending the Imperial meeting could barely utter a word under the nobles’ relentless criticism.

“Yes, it truly is unfortunate. It would have been wonderful if holy water had actually worked.”

There was only one person who spoke to the nobles with a pleasant smile on his face.

Ceres’s disciple, Enoch... no, Ersi.

As a candidate for the next High Priest, he was also attending this Imperial meeting.

“However.”

Ersi slowly swept his gaze over the nobles.

“I’m curious what all of you were doing while we were out there facing the dead with holy water in our hands.”

“.......”

With that single remark, the nobles who had been shouting loudly enough to shake the meeting hall instantly snapped their mouths shut.

“I heard a rumor that corpses crawled out of the graveyard of a certain noble family that refused to let them be burned. And apparently, the noble who owned that land was the very first person to flee the territory. Oh, surely not. They couldn’t possibly have done that. It must have been a baseless rumor.”

Still smiling, Ersi spoke while several nobles hurriedly cleared their throats and avoided his gaze.

“Even mere priests went running around with holy water trying to save people. Surely those who are supposed to protect their citizens couldn’t possibly have behaved like that. Isn’t that right?”

“Ahem.”

Awkward coughs erupted from all around the room once again.

After all, hardly any nobles had actually stepped forward to fight when news of the attacks by the dead spread.

They had merely gathered all their forces and devoted themselves entirely to protecting their own families.

‘Seriously, why would you pick a fight with him?’

Watching from one side, Ceres clicked her tongue inwardly again and again.

That guy might look gentle on the outside, but he had been through every kind of hardship imaginable at her side.

It was hardly just once or twice that he had attended Imperial meetings in her place when she was too busy.

In other words, he had dealt with slippery nobles so many times that he was already sick to death of them.

“Now, now. That’s enough.”

In an attempt to mediate between the nobles and the Temple, Emperor Debrica continued in as cheerful a voice as he could manage.

“What matters now is minimizing the damage and focusing on recovery. At least we can be thankful that the dead are being dealt with quickly.”

Emperor Debrica turned toward Herion, the head ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) of House Ellesia, who was sitting in a corner, and gave her a warm smile.

“I hear the head of House Ellesia has contributed greatly. The Fire Spirit King has been a tremendous help.”

“Ah, n-no. I only did what I should have done.”

At Emperor Debrica’s sudden praise, Herion hurriedly bowed her head.

“It wasn’t me, but Lady Ceres. She personally asked Lord Jubelios to help.......”

To be more precise, perhaps it had been closer to a threat?

‘Try earning your keep.’

[E-Earning my keep? What do you mean? I don’t even eat......!]

‘Go burn those things. Stop wasting your energy nagging the youngsters and go make yourself useful.’

[When have I ever nagged them that much......!]

‘Go work.’

[.......]

‘Now.’

From that day onward, Jubelios had gone out every night to burn the dead.

All while being subjected to Ceres’s murderous glare, which seemed to say he had better get to work before she plucked out every last strand of his useless red fur.

‘Why say something so unnecessary?’

Ceres silently clicked her tongue again.

Herion could have simply taken the credit and left it at that. Why did she have to go and say something so unnecessary?

Emperor Debrica was looking at Ceres with a pleased expression, nodding repeatedly, and for some reason his gaze made her uncomfortable. Ceres subtly turned her head away.

Click.

Just then, the doors to the meeting hall opened, and someone slowly walked inside.

Ceres casually turned her gaze in that direction, only for her brow to furrow slightly.

“I apologize for being so late.”

Veilks was standing there.

There was nothing strange about his appearance.

He had recently formally inherited the title of Marquis from the deceased Marquis Merial, so it was only natural for him to attend the Imperial meeting.

“Come in.”

Emperor Debrica welcomed Veilks warmly.

Veilks gave him a thick smile and bowed politely.

“Take a seat over here.”

Emperor Debrica gestured toward an empty seat.

Veilks glanced at it, his smile deepening slightly, then strode forward.

“......?”

But instead of heading toward the designated seat, he approached Emperor Debrica.

Everyone present looked at him in confusion at his sudden behavior.

“Your Majesty, there is something important I need to tell you.”

“Me?”

Step by step, Veilks approached Emperor Debrica, then bent at the waist and brought his face close to the Emperor’s.

Everyone present frowned at the sight.

It was an extraordinarily discourteous thing to do.

“What I wanted to tell you is.......”

Despite the displeased gazes directed at him, Veilks did not care in the slightest.

Instead, he lowered his voice even further and leaned closer, speaking as though whispering into the Emperor’s ear.

His lips curved into a deep smile.

Thrust!

“......!”

At that moment, something plunged into Emperor Debrica’s abdomen!

His eyes flew wide from the tremendous pain, and his gaze dropped downward.

And there he saw it.

Veilks’s hand buried deep inside his abdomen.