012 Little Guest (2)
“I······. I’m being tortured He is a priest.”
Looking at his bewildered eyes, somehow it seemed that he had to give a sincere answer.
It’s never been on a kid.
“You’re doing things you weren’t even told to do.”
Then the boy replied sternly. I reacted slowly, startled by the unfamiliar attitude.
In what neighborhood is it polite to slap at an adult you see for the first time?
No, no. Now that’s not the problem.
‘If you need anything or in an emergency, please pull the rope on the left.’
I reached out to my left, remembering Sir Elizabeth’s words.
“If you’re not feeling well, I’ll call Taeui. Wait a minute…”
– Wave!
– Scream!
Goosebumps ran from my head to my toes.
Instinctively, I pulled myself out and slowly turned my head to see a blade that barely escaped my cheek and flew away.
A sharp-edged dagger cut off the end of the string on the left and was hung on the confessional wall.
The shards of alcohol were scattered on the floor. My face quickly turned towards the boy.
There was a hole in the wooden spear pierced by the knife.
“Ugh······.”
“Hell work.”
I guess I just wanted to say don’t beg.
However, the boy’s sentence was not finished and was scattered.
There was the sound of something collapsing.
“Wait, I’m leaving now. Don’t call anyone else.”
I picked up the liquor that had fallen to the floor while I was distracted and tucked it into my round sleeve.
When I opened the confessional door and came out, the knight who had been pushing through the front door of the temple from afar greeted me.
“Prince, we are about to bring in the next confessor.”
“Wait. I want to see what this compartment looks like.”
barely said anything.
Perhaps it meant that I wanted a break, the knight remained silent again, then closed the door and left.
This should have earned you at least 10 minutes.
“I’ll go in. Don’t do anything.”
After quietly thinking outside the confessional, I quickly opened the door to the next room.
The little boy lying on the floor immediately caught my eye.
I got down on my knees and approached him, carefully checking the child’s condition.
Don’t forget to close the door before then.
“Child, you are sweating.”
“ね・・・・・・・.”
I knew it well that it wasn’t smart to worry about an unidentified boy who didn’t know where or how he got in.
It’s been a few days since I almost died by these young blue-eyed guys, but it’s impossible to be vigilant about the other person being a child.
But, nonetheless.
“Aren’t you feverish?”
As long as the sanctuary is open anyway, it won’t do any harm to me.
“Don’t touch it.”
The boy nodded sharply and slapped my arm.
The little boy’s orange eyes were as clear as burning. I’d be about seven years old now.
The boy was much younger than Canael or any of his servants.
Wearing a large black robe like a duvet, it was like a small beast pushing me away while trembling.
“How did you get here? how are you going to go My brother will help you.”
“brother?”
You bastard, you just laughed. Even while I was feeling anxious, my medication went up.
“Yes, my uncle will help you. If you stay here, things will get worse.”
The floor is hard and cold. I added
I raised my arms to the side of my head so the boy could check my movements, and slowly extended my arms.
The child did not move otherwise this time and looked straight at me.
“…you don’t know anything.”
“I heard it. Will you keep it a secret from others?”
I smiled bitterly and placed my hand on the child’s forehead. It was also hot like a fireball.
“Did you think you should bring a first aid kit?”
Confession is about meeting a lot of people, but I never thought that there would be patients among them.
I wanted to ask Benjamin for something as simple as an antipyretic or digestive.
“To hide what you saw today.”
“What?”
A young but firm voice broke my thoughts. Chin, the boy grabbed my wrist.
For a moment, I felt my feet go numb.
“uh······?”
My eyes fluttered in front of me. The world was spinning and my vision was distorted.
I could see my circles, which had been lit like indirect lighting, slowly fade.
“What are you doing…”
No answer came back.
The boy’s jet-black hair and orange eyes spread black and red.
Soon after, the sanctuary completely disappeared, and my consciousness darkened.
*
When people feel like they’re going through something they’ve been through again, they describe it as feeling a déjà vu.
“Hello, Prince. It’s already the second time I’ve seen it like this.”
So what do you do when you feel like you’re going through the same thing for the third time?
Seja-Vu?
“But this time, I woke up after a day. It seems that his divine power has grown.”
Cardinal Aurelie Boutier smiled softly, giving her a curious look.
I stared blankly at her, then suddenly came to my senses and got up.
Familiar furniture and colorful wallpaper filled the clock. It was my room, it was my bedroom.
“I see you, my majestic Cardinal.”
“Yeah, nice to meet you.”
“Did I fall in the temple?”
“It is my negligence. I’m sorry, Prince.”
A familiar voice was heard from the other side.
To the left of the bed was Sir Elizabeth with a dark face and Canael turned white.
“No, it’s not Sir Elizabeth’s fault. Canael, I’m fine.”
I laughed hard.
Please, I want to do this last experience where the place where I lie down and the place where I wake up are different.
Even all three times it wasn’t what I wanted.
“I lost consciousness due to depletion of ether. It seems like you listened to the confession really hard.”
“Are you running out of ether?”
I turned my head to the right side of the bed again. The cardinal began to explain softly.
“If the ether is leaving the body faster than the rate at which it is generated naturally, the impact of depletion will come.”
“·················ogue.”
“You can think of it as the opposite of the etheric runaway we experienced last time. It means that the rate of ether formation is too high, and the body is shocked.”
After she finished speaking, she slowly picked up the teacup and brought it to her lips.
When I just woke up, my head was spinning to sort things out.
“Is ether depletion really that sudden?”
Her elegant brow furrowed slightly at my question.
It seemed a bit difficult.
“Until I collapsed, my etheric flow was intact. There were no abnormalities at all, but out of the blue…”
I blurted out my words. Black hair and orange eyes.
The face of a boy with clear features flashed through his mind like a lantern.
“When you found me, was no one around?”
“Yes, there was no confessor, so there was no one there.”
In response to Sir Elizabeth’s answer, she automatically shut her mouth.
The last words I heard stuck in my ears and did not fall out.
‘To hide what you saw today.’
Why did you give such a warning? Can I even run away? have you sinned?
I was too young for that.
Even if that were the case, it was strange for someone who had sinned and ran away to hide in the temple of the Imperial Palace.
Don’t you usually try to get as far away from the Imperial Palace as possible?
“Prince, shall I call Taeui?”
Canael paused and grabbed my arm.
He seemed worried when I suddenly became quiet.
“No, I’m fine because your Highness took good care of me. Just thinking about something else.”
I answered as brightly as possible.
When I looked at Canael’s young honey-colored eyes, I remembered the determined eyes of the little boy holding my wrist.
Suddenly, a hypothesis flashed in my mind.
“Your Majesty, can you extract ether from someone else’s body?”
“·················ogue.”
“As you know, I have no education in this area. I’m digging hard these days…”
“Is it possible.”
She answered my question in a low voice.
“Priests and paladins can exchange ether through physical contact. You can open circles to communicate, but the most effective way is to touch your skin.”
“······okay.”
I nodded my head slightly as if it was just a light curiosity.
But his insides began to turn intricately like a clockwork.
It was the child. instinctively knew.
The dizziness that suddenly struck me, and the dizzy feeling as if my body was falling underground.
It all happened when a daring little thief grabbed my wrist and stole the ether.
why? Did you need ether? I recalled the very unstable condition of the child.
Perhaps the fever and cold sweats were a symptom of ether depletion.
Then maybe that mourning…
“It is an old custom that was practiced only during the war era……. That’s rare these days. There is no reason to need large amounts of ether.”
It was Sir Elizabeth who interrupted my stream of consciousness. Looking back, her face was strange.
At first glance, it seemed that his anger was reflected in his gray eyes that shimmered in clutter.
I shook my head for once.
“Then, by any chance, except for me and His Majesty the Cardinals in the Imperial Palace……”
-smart
“Come in.”
Cardinal Bootier responded quickly to the knock.
My question, ‘Are there any other priests in the Imperial Palace except for the cardinals,’ was cut off at the waist.
“Prince, you are awake.”
Benjamin came in with the door open and saw me and was noticeably relieved.
I smiled and made eye contact.
“His Majesty, Prince Sedric, has presented you with precious tea leaves.”
From https://noblemtl.com
On a silver tray supported by Benjamin with both hands, a splendidly crafted wooden box was placed.
“What tea leaves?”
When I asked, he came closer and slowly opened the box.
There were piles of dried leaves inside, but it wasn’t bad that the pungent scent spreads softly.
“Sage tea is good for health. He said he couldn’t come to visit him, so he sent him instead.”
“okay? Thank you.”
I replied without a soul. what’s wrong with that guy
It seemed that Sir Elizabeth was muttering something beside her, but she couldn’t hear it.
The cardinal took a deep breath, as if tired.
*
Eventually, I came back to the temple.
“Are you really okay, Prince?”
“I have had enough rest for the day. Don’t worry too much.”
“Prince, here is the sign.”
I comforted Benjamin and handed over the items that Canael had prepared in advance.
There was a wooden plaque engraved with ‘You can confess’ on the front and ‘The priest is absent’ on the back, and I was lying in bed yesterday and submitted a production request.
Even the carpenters of the Imperial Palace must have received such an order for the first time.
“Then I will go in. It won’t be overwhelming.”
At my words, Benjamin finally relaxed his expression a little.
Then, after I collapsed from exhaustion of ether in the temple, Cardinal Boutier canceled all confessions I had planned.
She took the position that conducting the sacraments for three hours a day was not good for my etheric flow as well as for maintaining order in the imperial palace.
Having regained consciousness, I had nothing to dispute, so I accepted her opinion.
Those who were waiting after receiving the numbered ticket that day did not regret it, but said that they were worried that I might go wrong, and that they even snooped in front of the Juliet Palace until the next day.
So, without a set time, I declared that I would come and receive a confession when it was convenient for me.
Instead, we decided to prepare a sign so that anyone who visits the temple can recognize it.
Because it was a nice excuse not to go to the ball, I couldn’t give up confession itself.
“We’ll be in the priest’s room.”
Benjamin took Canael with him and withdrew.
At the back of the temple, there was a space used by the priest to prepare the sacraments or take a break, and it seemed to be waiting for me there.
I looked at the back of the two of them, and when they completely disappeared, I hung a sign on the doorknob of the confessional.
‘The priest is absent’
In this way, no confessor will come in.
I shut my mouth and tucked myself into the confessional.
I was determined to wait for that damn little boy all day.
If he doesn’t come, it can’t be helped, but his attitude at that time is…
He didn’t seem like a first-time visitor. It was also clear that there was a secret passage in and out.
Spreading the circle won’t hurt you, and avoiding contact won’t cause you to faint.
I don’t know what the kid is doing, but I couldn’t stand still and watch the guy who only came around Eunseo’s waist wandering around the Imperial Palace.