63 episodes
18 The Night of Exorcism (1)
“ Zion.”
After the government meeting was over, a voice calling out his name was heard in Xion’s ear as he was leaving the meeting room.
As Shion turned to the side where the voice came from, Iveline Agnes walking towards this side caught her eye.
“ Could you give me some time?”
She opens her mouth to Shion in a slightly softer tone than when conducting a meeting.
Shion nodded his head.
“ Then let’s talk while we walk.”
Evelyn followed Zion’s side and started walking.
Dozens of companion knights followed her while keeping some distance from her.
After the meeting was over, the nobles who were sneaking towards Zion flinched and stopped walking.
Probably, Evelyn would be a burden.
How long did they walk without talking to each other after that?
After leaving the People’s Palace, the people around him became less and less.
“ I heard the news that you have subjugated the welcome army and have been officially awarded the title of successor. That was great.”
Evelyn slowly opened her mouth.
“ Honestly, I really didn’t think Zion would solve one of the plagues. No, before that, I thought I wouldn’t even be able to pass the succession ceremony. But it seems that my judgment of you was wrong.”
With those words, she turned her head and looked at Zion.
Her eyes were filled with many emotions such as surprise, boldness, and worry.
In particular, Evelyn had been told everything through the 5th Squadron of the Gray Lions, who were present at the time when the phantom army appeared, so the surprise was even greater.
It was known that Shion subdue the phantom forces with the help of the Ashen Lions, but she knew all too well that this was not the case.
‘ Is it true that His Majesty Zion didn’t learn any strength until recently?’
‘ Then… … I’ve never seen such a monster in my life.’
It was the words of Charon, the 5th division commander of the Ashen Lions, who returned to the imperial castle, to Evelyn herself.
In her heart, she wanted to ask Shion directly about the incident, but Evelyn did not.
Now, Shion was also a competitor to the succession to the throne, and she wouldn’t do anything to reveal her powers to her who is nothing more than a static.
“ I didn’t mean to say that… … What do you want to say?”
Shion asked Evelyn like that.
It was the recognition of Evelyn, one of the most powerful people in the present era and a strong candidate for the next emperor, but there was no joy in him in Sion’s eyes.
It’s just a drowsy light as usual.
As if to organize his thoughts, he slowly closed his eyes once, then opened his mouth again.
“ Why did you make such a proposal at the meeting a while ago?”
“ Are you talking about pulling the screening ceremony to a week later?”
“ Yes. You must know that you basically need your own power to hold the royal family inspection ceremony.”
It had to be an armed group like the Knights Templar, not a normal force.
“ Sion, as far as I know, you do not have any power except for the few knights who guard the Chimseonggung. But why did you pull the screening ceremony?”
Evelyn remembered.
The appearance of 4th Prince Utekan and 3rd Prince Enoch who agreed as soon as Sion made the proposal a while ago.
Those with a lot of power under their control would have been more than happy with the proposal.
Perhaps one of them would have spoken first if Zion had not spoken.
So she did not understand Zion’s remarks any more.
“ That’s how you can pull it off.”
“ What? what the hell… … .”
Yvelin’s eyes were stained with doubt at Shion’s words.
However, Shion did not respond to Evelyn’s words.
Because it’s not the time to talk yet.
“… … You’re just saying things that you don’t know for a long time. If you need knights to take to the screening ceremony, I can support you.”
“ No, I don’t need it.”
Shion gently shook her head.
Obviously her suggestion wasn’t bad, but there was really no need.
Because this screening ceremony will not be held anyway.
Shion, who turned his head toward Evelyn with him, opened his mouth with a calm voice.
“I have one more thing to tell you.”
* * *
Cheongseonggung Palace is one of the five palaces that surround Baekseonggung Palace.
“ What are you thinking this time?”
The 5th Princess Diena, the owner of such a palace, muttered as she walked around in her study.
5 days.
Five days have already passed since the Agnes State Council meeting ended.
However, there was no movement from Zion’s side.
And that fact was making her even more concerned.
“ I don’t understand why they made such an offer at the National Assembly… … .”
Rather, if other imperial families such as Utekan or Ivelin wanted to hold the screening ceremony, I would have easily understood.
The fact that Zion, who had no power, had said those words, could not be understood at all.
In addition, if it had been pulled like that, it would not have been more convincing to be stuck in the Chimseonggung Palace and doing nothing even if the day was busy and recruiting forces.
“ Are you really going to do it alone during the screening ceremony?”
unknown thing.
It was time to deepen the doubts in her eyes.
“ My Majesty, Diena, you have a guest.”
A servant’s voice came from outside the door.
“ Guests? Who are you?”
“ This is Prince Zion Agnes, His Majesty.”
“… … !”
Diana’s eyes widened momentarily.
“ Tell me to come in.”
Contrary to her surprised heart, Diena, who calmly spoke to the servant, sat down on a chair and crossed her legs with a relaxed expression.
There was no need to let him know that he had just been thinking about him as he walked back and forth between the library with a frown on his face.
soon after
click.
Slowly, the door of the study opened and Sion appeared.
Just like the one I saw at the government meeting a few days ago, it’s drowsy, yet giving me a creepy look.
Diena still didn’t understand how a person’s mood could change so much.
“ If you’re going to give me something to drink, I’ll have coffee. No sugar.”
As soon as she sat down, Diena looked at Shion who said that with an absurd expression.
Still, she gestured to the servant and opened her mouth to Shion.
“ It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other like this, brother?”
“ Is that so?”
Shion scanned his memories.
In my memory, there was never a time when I was alone with Diena, so it was probably before Zion himself came into this body.
“ It doesn’t seem like we are greeting each other affectionately, so let’s get right to the point. What are you here for?”
After that, Diena, who looked into Shion’s eyes for a moment, asked Shion why she had come to this place.
I’m going to hit the third prince.”
A calm tone, as if going for a walk this evening.
Diana, who was speechless for a moment, asked again.
“… … I beg your pardon? You mean hitting the 3rd Prince? So what about the third prince, Enoch?”
“ Yes.”
Diena couldn’t understand what Zion was talking about now.
Even though Zion had given him a shot by killing Enoch’s right-hand man, Regan Ursula, recently, it was literally just one shot.
It is truly a part of Enoch’s numerous powers.
On the other hand, the only forces on the side of Zion were Zion and the red-eyed woman.
“ Your brother knows best that it doesn’t make sense, right?”
“ So, I’m trying to make it sound.”
“… … ?”
The eyes of the 5 princesses are dyed with doubts at Shion’s calm words.
In the meantime, Sion, taking a sip of the coffee brought by the servant, continued to speak slowly.
“ I borrow your strength. Until he strikes Enoch.”
“ Ha… … .”
From the mouth of Diena, who sighed as if it was absurd.
“ Kyahahahahaha!”
A big laugh erupted soon after.
After laughing for a while, she looked at Sion, who was still putting down her teacup while maintaining the stillness.
Contrary to her smiling face, Diena’s eyes became as cold as if they were about to freeze at any moment.
“ If it was a joke, it was funny. brother.”
“… … .”
“ If you are serious, tell me. Why do I have to lend my power to my little brother, who has no power, at the risk of having to wage an all-out war with one of the members of the royal family? What would I gain by lending power? and… … .”
In her eyes, the brightly shining stars begin to swirl.
“ Why did you think I was going to lend you my strength in the first place?”
One, two, three… … As the number increases, the stars of the Cheonseonghae add more light.
“ Sion, brother. In order to make such a proposal, the level of each other must match. Did you ever think that my brother and I were on the same level?”
Dedede!
At last, due to Diena’s natural sea, which is finally fully revealed, the surrounding air is rapidly crushed and the space begins to fluctuate.
A power worthy of Agnes’ direct blood relatives, who are called supernatural monsters.
Under the pressure that a normal person would faint just by standing in front of it.
“ I want to ask you something.”
Shion’s eyes looking at Diena’s eyes draw an arc.
A black star slowly reveals itself in Shion’s eyes.
“ Who decides that level?”
With him, the heterogeneous darkness that spreads through the space begins to swallow up all the light of the natural sea that fills the surroundings.
The pressure disappears as if it never existed in the first place.
“ What… … .”
5 There was a deep surprise in the eyes of the princess.
The power that far exceeded her expectations was also power, but what was more shocking to Diena were the black stars shining in Shion’s eyes.
A power that I have never seen or heard of in my entire life.
It wasn’t magic, it wasn’t martial arts, it wasn’t even natural.
It is similar to the natural sea, but something deeper and darker than that.
Diena felt an instinctive fear from the bright black stars in Shion’s eyes.
‘ I… … Are you afraid?’
At that moment, a story slowly began to surface in Diena’s mind.
A story related to the power used by the Eternal Emperor, the first emperor of the Agnes Empire, which she saw as she passed by in one of the secret places of the imperial castle long ago.
‘ Maybe… … .’
In addition to that, the extinct light sword that Sion used to kill the former leader of Icarus, Regan Ursula, was also passing through her mind.
“ You don’t have to go out on your own. You only need to lend me your spirit corps.”
Zion quietly mutters as if it would come of course.
Diana, who looked at Shion for a moment with shaky eyes, sighed a little and died.
“… … Let me ask you one more question. Why did you come to me?”
A question came out of her mouth immediately.
“ Because you hate Enoch the most.”
“ Just for that reason?”
“ And the basement of Jeokseonggung.”
“… … !”
“ Isn’t this enough?”
There was no need to list every other reason one by one.
Zion knew.
At this time, Diena Agnes was already thinking of hitting the third prince.
In fact, even in the chronicle, the 5th princess attacks Enoch who came out of the Imperial Palace during the royal family inspection ceremony, which will be held a month later if it is normal.
Of course, it wasn’t an all-out war that she personally launched, and even that failed.
Although the chronicle did not provide a definitive reason for Diena’s attack on Enoch, Zion assumed that the reason had something to do with the basement of the Jeokseonggung, where Enoch was staying.
“… … .”
At Shion’s words, Diana kept her mouth shut as if contemplating something for a moment.
‘ Clearly, Enoch is the most annoying. Lately, the act of crossing the line has also gotten worse, so I tried to repay it anyway. There… … .’
Her eyes begin to grow cold as she recalls the annihilation of one squadron of the Spirit Corps Ygracia, the information she had vaguely grasped in the basement of the Jeokseonggung, and many other things.
Looking at her so troubled, Shion leaned her teacup in a leisurely manner.
After all, the answer was decided.
For this purpose, I have sown small seeds in the past, so there will be no surprises.
soon after
“… … You must have already figured out how to hit it, right?”
Finally, from the mouth of the 5th Princess, a question indicating acceptance came out.