Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Chapter 57
“Well, Your Majesty…”
Declan’s eyebrows furrowed as he knew what I was going to say.
“It’s your illness, too.”
“Hey, do you know what I’m going to say?”
“You can’t protect everyone.”
Even though I tried to convince him with a subtle note, he went straight to the core.
“I know.”
“You said you would protect me. Then, why do you keep paying attention to other things?” Saying so, Declan put down his pen and gazed straight at me.
“I still felt sorry for her. Perhaps, it’s because I’ve been through death.”
I couldn’t forget the way she begged for help… Was it because my look overlaid on that figure…?
His face hardened at the mention of death.
“Hoo, I’ll see her soon.”
Mason, who had been waiting quietly at the side, breathed a sigh of relief. He seemed very, very worried.
I looked at him and he smiled.
Eventually, Mason bowed his head quickly and went outside.
I sat across from Stella with a small table between them in the parlor. After not seeing her for a few days, she became emaciated and felt like she would break if touched.
“Did you say you want to meet me?”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Stella bowed deeply to her waist.
“Speak.”
She flinched at the resolute tone and shrugged her shoulders before taking a few deep breaths and then lifted her head. She clasped her hands tightly.
“…Please, save me.”
“Did you not hear it? You will return to your homeland.”
“I will die if I go back there.”
“That again.”
She looked into his eyes and struggled to speak her words, “The Crown Prince will hold me accountable for this and kill me.”
A weak voice trembled slightly.
“Is that all you have to say?”
Stella, who had quietly lowered her head, abruptly got up from her seat and knelt down on her knees.
“Please, let me stay here.”
“Your father wanted everyone in the delegation. You’re useless, and they have no reason to bear the diplomatic burden because of you.”
“I’ll do whatever Your Majesty asks. Being a maid is fine.”
Stella fell flat on the floor and begged.
“To use the Princess as a maid. Your father won’t stay still.”
“I am a princess only in my name, and I am an illegitimate child, so I am in a position no different from that of a maid in the royal palace.”
When Declan didn’t show a reaction, she flapped her lips a few times before closing her eyes tight.
“Do, do you know why the Great Temple follows King Ielro’s words?”
It was a topic related to the Perseum, which Mazvin had said was related to the Great Temple. Declan was also thinking the same thing, so he straightened his posture.
“Are you saying that the King has a weakness?”
“We have what they want rather than a weakness.”
“I have already promised to receive unconditional cooperation from the Great Temple.”
“This… this is nothing compared to an oath. You’ll get the pope’s obedience.”
He stared at Stella with questionable eyes.
Until now, her request was the same. She asked him to stay here, like someone who wanted to get away from Ielro.
“What does the Great Temple wants?”
“If you let me stay here, I will tell you.”
At her words, he snorted as if it was ridiculous.
“What do you believe in? Were we able to trust each other like that?”
Stella’s eyes fluttered to and fro as Declan leaned leisurely on the sofa and crossed his legs.
‘…What information does she have?’
I was stunned for a moment at the unexpected development of the great battle with her. Stella, who had been wiggling her clasped hands for a long time, opened her mouth again.
“…The shrine has been focused on finding Perseum for a long time.”
Perseum…!
Me and Declan gazed at each other at the same time.
“Isn’t it a place out of myths?”
“No, no. It’s a place that actually exists.”
…It was not fiction?
When Mazvin showed me the Perseum, I thought it was just a symbolic meaning.
“Your Majesty, if Tour Majesty allows me to stay here, I can tell you in detail.”
It was an unusually strong tone of voice. Declan didn’t object anymore, whether it was surprising or not.
“In the temple, they studied to find out the location of Perseum for many years, and I found out that it was the Kingdom of Ielro.”
Mazvin obviously told me to go to Ielro to find Perseum.
‘It wasn’t non-sense…’
An unknown expectation arose from the depths of my heart.
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“There were no such records in the temple.”
Stella made a surprised face as if she didn’t know about the temple records.
“There is only one thing about the Perseum in the secret archives of the Great Temple.”
“How do you know that?”
“That, I can’t tell you now…”
Muttering so, she then fiddled with her own necklace. Seeing that, Declan opened his mouth again, “Well… first of all, just tell me what the Great Temple wants. Then, I’ll believe what you say.”
“The King has a relic that could be a clue to the location of the Perseum.”
Stella bit her mouth with a firm face as if she couldn’t tell any more. Seeing that, Declan tapped the sofa with his finger.
“Your Majesty, her words don’t sound like a lie. Mazvin also pointed to Iero.”
“It was.”
“Yes?”
Stella asked, thinking that he was talking to her.
“I didn’t say it to you.”
She hurriedly dropped her head in response to the cold reply.
Declan patted the sofa with his fingers and spoke lowly to himself.
“There is no God.”
Hasn’t he heard that Perseum was real now?
“Your Majesty, please save me.”
Now, there was nothing more to worry about. I saw clues related to the path that Mazvin had suggested, so I couldn’t help but follow it.
“If you wish.”
I thought he’d say something more. However, Declan replied right away as if the fact that I wanted was enough.
“Princess, I will let you stay here.”
“Ah.”
Stella sighed blankly.
“For now, stay in prison until the delegation returns.”
He called Noah and told him to take Stella back.
“Thank you, thank you very much.”
She thanked Declan over and over again while being captured by the knights.
“If you break the promise, then you will die at my hands.”
Despite the sharp threats, only thanks returned. Moments later, Mason came in as soon as she left as he was still waiting outside the door.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“You don’t have to. It’s not because of you.”
“Yes?”
Asking that, Mason looked a little perplexed.
“Because of Erica.”
“Ah, yes.”
Mason, who answered with a bewildered answer, smiled softly.
“I’m going to change the list of compensation I will request from Ielro.”
“Is there anything else you want?”
“The King has a precious treasure to rule over the pope.”
“Are they willing to offer a relic of such value…?”
Mason made a slight impression that his head was already hurting from Declan’s words.
“Wouldn’t it be interesting to check how much the heir’s life is worth?”
Though his reaction swiftly changed to a mischievous smile and then returned to the position of a loyal servant.
“He tried to assassinate Your Majesty, so he must pay the price.”
It meant to put pressure on it.
Back in prison, Stella sat on the floor and touched her necklace. The necklace, which had been hot a while ago, was cold again.
“Are we finally going to see each other?”
A faint voice quickly dispersed through the air.
“Never forget who you are, why are you and I here?”
God’s will…
That was what her mother said. Meeting the King, spending one night with him, and her being born were all because of God’s will.
Her mother entered the palace ahead of her death.
“Never let anyone take this from you. You should always have it with you.”
A necklace that was a keepsake of her mother.
Several times her half-sibling princess tried to take this necklace away, though Stella persisted until the end and they eventually gave up.
‘…How tenaciously tortured I was.’
There were more than once or twice when life in the Royal Palace was so difficult that she wanted to run away immediately.
Still, she couldn’t.
Even though the Emperor of the Empire was too scary, she had no choice but to cling to him.
‘Because I have to live.’
She could not die because of her mother’s will and her family’s mission.
“Mother, I think I have found it…”
Her heart pounded at the thought that there was not much time left to achieve it.
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