009 Imperial Palace Ilta Instructor (1)
“Wow, what kind of city is the Imperial Palace?”
“ha ha ha.”
At my words, Canael laughed.
The day I regained consciousness after fainting, Canael came to see me with a swollen face and burst into tears again.
Betrayed by the twins they used to be friends with, and even me barely surviving the risk of death, how surprised the little one must have been.
Compared to that time, the complexion has improved a lot in two days.
– Tackle, cackle
I leaned over to the wagon’s shaking and looked out the window.
Today was the first day outside the Juliet Palace and gardens to explore other parts of the Imperial Palace.
“It’s 10:40. I’m glad I was able to make it on time.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Mon, Wed, Fri 11am. It was the interview time that Cardinal Aurelie Butier said.
To be honest, I didn’t think she made the time for me.
What would a prince who came as a hostage say that the most respected cleric in the Empire would be absent three times a week?
With that in mind, I spoke briefly during breakfast, and Benjamin and Canael were so shocked that they were so shocked.
‘What did you just say?’
‘Mon, Wed, Fri 11 am. At that time, he came to me and asked me to ask anything comfortably…’
‘Bengjamin-nim, I’ll bring you the conquest!’
‘Canael, call Romero’s servants too! They tell me that they need a carriage.’
‘yes!’
Surprised by that momentum, I said, ‘If I go today, it’s good for me. I had a lot of questions to ask.’ When he answered, Benjamin…
‘It’s not a good thing to go, but you have to go. Prince Jesse.’
and cursed with his eyes. That was a little while ago, around 9 o’clock.
In my mind, I wanted to take another day off.
I know it is urgent to extract information from the cardinal, but after experiencing a life crisis, I wanted to clear my head even for a moment.
If you look at the main characters of web novels, after solving one major incident, they calmly drink cider even if another incident occurs, but I had no idea how strong their mental power was.
Well, no. That’s because they’re the main characters, and I’m a supporting actor at best, so it’s only natural that I’m a bit weak.
I consoled myself by saying that I was doing my best.
“Good morning, Prince Jesse. Welcome to the Imperial Palace.”
“hello.”
After thinking for a while, I climbed the stairs to the Imperial Palace.
A servant who appeared to be in a fairly high position was waiting for us at the entrance.
It was then that I realized that the cardinal’s words were not a karate ticket.
“I understand that this is the first time for the Imperial Palace. I will take you directly to the office of Cardinal Boutier.”
“thank you.”
I quietly followed the servant, and Benjamin and Canael followed me.
The official name of the Imperial Palace is ‘Snar Palace’, but few people call it that way, and most people just call it ‘Emperor Palace’.
When I heard about it from Benjamin, I thought it was, but when I saw it, I realized why.
So, there was no other modifier to express this overwhelming scale or splendor of the Imperial Palace.
The ceiling height seemed to be over 30 meters high, and everything was huge, including the pillars, the portraits on the walls, and the decorations.
The smooth marble floor ran through every nook and cranny, gleaming with no dust.
If Juliet Palace was a business hotel, the Imperial Palace would be a 7-star hotel that costs 40 million won per night, or something like that.
“This is it.”
As I was walking up the hallway to the second floor, the servants working in the Imperial Palace saw me and quietly greeted me and passed by.
Most of them looked into my eyes for a particularly long time. The purple iris was a strange shape.
“Your Majesty, Prince Jesse Penetian has arrived.”
“Come in.”
When the servant knocked in front of the large mahogany door, a friendly voice answered immediately.
Benjamin took a step back, saying, ‘We’ll wait outside.’
“Have a good time, Prince!”
Canael clenched his fists and whispered.
*
Good time, good.
“Huh, no, wait!”
“It moves too slow. You have to hold on to the etheric flow in your body.”
“Wow!”
– Kwadang!
It was already the fourth.
“eww······.”
I rolled my body half a turn to the floor and got up.
The cardinal’s grand circle, the ‘sanctuary’, was pushing me to visit, so I didn’t even have a place to stand.
Wasn’t this interview time? When did you get to practice without protective gear?
“I have time to think about something else.”
“Come on, you were wrong!”
my mind was blown
I quickly kicked my foot towards the center of the room as she snapped and reduced the size of the sanctuary.
It was the place where the down arrow crest, the symbol of the Protestant Church, was embedded in a large size.
“done!”
And quickly opened the sanctuary.
It was strange to be able to summon Won by will, even without praying or intending to be an oracle.
Compared to the cardinal’s sanctuary, which boasts luxurious patterns, it was comparable to a kindergartener’s graffiti, but it was unfolded nonetheless.
“Then watch over.”
“uh? Your Majesty, this is a foul…!”
Preserving her sanctuary, she strode to where I stood and attempted to crash into my little circle.
– Charleuk!
Like sparks from welding, golden embers danced loudly in the gap between the two sanctuaries.
“Wait!”
“Hold on.”
“ね・・・・・・・.”
It was like a headache, but it felt more like pressure than pain.
It felt like a huge invisible energy was pressing my head tightly and pressing ‘Go away, back off’.
Even though the cardinal didn’t put a finger on me, I was experiencing the heel slipping.
“Can you feel the divine flow?”
“yes······.”
couldn’t know
The ‘ether’ that dwells within me was wriggling around my heart as if against her powerful power.
It was different from when I stopped the assassin twins.
From https://noblemtl.com
On that day, far from sensing the presence of the ether, I surrendered myself to fate and rushed only to scream.
But now it was clear to me.
Something like a liquid or a gas, something pleasantly warm like an electric blanket.
“Catch that.”
“yes?”
I made eye contact with Cardinal Bootier.
With her purple hair dangling to one side and a fish-pointed bishop on her head, she was as laid-back as the day we first met.
“You’re imagining that you’re holding your throat and putting it under your control.”
“Well······.”
I swallowed my saliva, as the beige eyes were rounded and the words uttered were terrifying and harsh.
Still, you have to do what you’re told.
It seems like the cardinal is trying to teach me something right now.
True to her somewhat rough vocabulary, I crushed the ether.
“Right, so.”
To be precise, I imagined myself like that.
It was like thinking of a spear knife that slashes a flapping flounder.
Is this called image training?
“Okay, just hold on for ten seconds. one two······.”
As soon as the count started, her sanctuary pushed my sanctuary in earnest.
– Charleuk!
The golden sparks jumped violently.
The circle of my circle was in danger as if it were about to break.
“ね・・・・・・・.”
“Five, six….”
10 seconds was too long. I felt a cold sweat running down my forehead.
I tried to cycle the ether to my toes.
It looked like it would be able to support the body a bit.
– Cheek!
“Nine, ten.”
As soon as the count was finished, the two sanctuaries disappeared.
My sanctuary suddenly evaporated as if a fluorescent lamp was turned off, while the cardinal’s sanctuary gently disappeared as if it was seeping into the floor.
“Wait a minute, I’m going to lie down…”
I didn’t listen to her answer, and I lay flat on the Protestant symbol that occupied the center of the office.
“Whoa….”
“That is your ‘divine power’.”
I barely turned my head to look at Cardinal Bootier.
Cold dripped from his eyes when he told him to grab the ether, but now he has a nice face again.
“Not to mention the general public, many priests cannot distinguish the concepts of ‘ether’ and ‘divine power’. There are many who believe that the two are the same.”
“okay.”
Actually, so did I. Since I learned it by craming only with books, the basics are weak.
I was surprised that she understood my words, which had been mixing the two words randomly so far.
“If the ether is a blessing from God, then the divine power is the ability to control it. It is the power to control and command.”
His head nodded. I definitely understood it as soon as I got used to it.
“The total amount of ether contained in the soul, or ‘vessel,’ is determined from birth, but the divine power is not. As long as you focus on discipline and do not neglect your cycle, you will become steadily stronger.”
You have good teaching skills. I got up slowly, admiring myself.
As I took a deep breath, I could feel the ether, which had been shuddering, calming down little by little.
“Thank you for your kind words, my lord. By the way······.”
“Because I said I was going to clear your doubts.”
It was an answer that exactly expected my question, ‘Why are you teaching me this?’
She smiled and quickly returned to her chair and sat down.
Contrary to the mess around me, the large desk and piles of papers behind her remained intact.
“I said that the ether is innate, but I know your ether is an exception. I thought it was natural to be curious about the power of not knowing where or how it looked. Wasn’t it?”
“…No, you are right.”
I brushed off the wrinkled clothes and followed her gestures to sit on the sofa.
“No matter how much ether you possess, it is useless if you lack the power to rule. Conversely, even if the innate ether is small, a person with great divine power can do many things with fine adjustments.”
It was an explanation that popped into my head.
She paused for a moment, but this time she did her luck carefully.
“At the time of the hostage negotiations, the ambassadors of the new country said that you were just a bishop. He grew up without a proper priesthood education in the royal castle, so he wouldn’t pose a threat to anyone. So that’s how I and His Majesty knew.”
“·················ogue.”
“However, defending a priest-level priest and paladin alone, and sustaining my strength today without training.”
‘No matter how you look at it, you seem like a prosperous bishop-level priest,’ she said with a smile.
“Then do you see me as a threat?”
“If you want to see it as a threat, it will look like that.”
It was an ambiguous answer.
“But I think you can be of great help to the Lister family and to the future of the Empire.”
“Yes?”
Suddenly heavy words poured out, and I opened my eyes wide.
“Because I am a hostage, the way back to my country is sometimes long, but in fact, even in a new country… As long as things turn out like this, I don’t expect you to return.”
“That is, yes.”
I thought of Prince Jesse’s damn pedigree in my head.
In order to solidify the position of his beloved daughter, Crown Princess, Berner Guk-seo, who sent me as a hostage and even put in an assassin.
All he wants from me is death abroad.
“May I ask what you want from me?”
If the cardinal was trying to make some kind of trade in exchange for teaching, I thought of considering it.
It would be much safer this way than the emperor would perceive me as a threat to be a bishop-level priest.
From https://noblemtl.com
Of course, it would have to be something that Princess Kristel or Prince Sedric, the protagonists of ‘Toegye Gong’, were not involved.
“You are a smart kid.”
She looked straight into my eyes.
“I have a little child.”
“Are you kid?”
“Yeah, I want you to help him.”
It must have been an illusion, but somehow I felt that gaze desperately.