What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 755

The Vessel of the Divine Nation (2)

Lynn stretched out her chubby little hand.

The child’s eyes, gradually turning a clear pink, sparkled.

“Unnie, kiss.”

“Oh, what kiss are you talking about?”

Even as she said that, Gain received Lynn’s kiss on her temple, and she, in turn, pressed her cheeks against the baby’s, making kissing sounds.

Isabelle then greeted her in the same way. Gain smiled brightly and slung her luggage over her shoulder.

Beneath the robe, enchanted with a disguise spell by Marquis Francois D’Huem, the Divine Nation-style clothing borrowed from the Raso estate was neat and tidy.

Isabelle gave her daughter’s attire a final touch, forcing a smile.

Behind her, two carriages, ready for departure, stood side by side.

“When will I see you again if we part like this?”

“Oh, we’ll see each other soon. They say the war will be over soon, you know. You heard it too.”

“Still…”

“Both Mom and I have our own tasks. Time will fly by if we focus on these. Don’t worry too much; we just need to take good care of ourselves.”

“…That’s right. My daughter is right.”

She had a slightly choked-up expression, but she didn’t easily shed tears.

The rag doll, walking with a pat-pat sound, tapped the Avatar’s calf as if to encourage her.

Lynn kept smoothing Isabelle’s stray hairs and looking back at her sister.

Gain lightly tapped the baby’s nose and joked.

“Unnie [older sister], Lynn is entrusted with the storage of the Ice Silkworm. It’s a precious divine artifact, so you have to protect it well with Mom, okay? Got it?”

“Ung.”

“And protect Mom too? Listen to His Majesty Hana, eat well, and sleep well?”

“Ung.”

“Uh-huh. You’re not here to play. Your voice is too soft.”

“Uuung!”

The baby answered loudly and burst into laughter.

Gain stroked Lynn’s hair and briefly turned to look at her friends.

The beautiful Lady Yesuh, with her robe hood pulled down, was waiting for her over there.

The Crown Prince was, for some reason, feeding Doria water, and Johan and Dioph were talking with serious faces.

It’s really time to say goodbye now.

Perhaps the next time I see Mom again, this tiresome fight will be over.

Like a momentary lie, all of it. Leaving only the countless dead nameless.

“…Gain.”

“Yes?”

Gain was about to turn away after a final eye contact when Isabelle called her.

The black eyes, resembling obsidian, were filled with her grown-up daughter.

“The day after tomorrow is Christel’s birthday.”

“…Ah.”

Her mouth fell open. March 18th. She had completely forgotten.

It was wartime, and lately, the situation had been so relentless that there was no time to think about anyone’s birthday or anniversary.

Before she could say anything, Isabelle added calmly.

“So, when the war is over…”

“Yes.”

“I want to hold a funeral for that child. Formally.”

“…Are you serious?”

For a moment, her mind went blank.

Gain really couldn’t think of anything to say, so she just gaped for a few seconds.

No, I mean, that’s…

Yes?

“Are you really okay with that? Still, maybe, just maybe…”

“Us continuing to hold onto her in our hearts like this.”

“…”

Us. Mom clearly said ‘us.’

As Gain closed her mouth tightly, Lynn also quietly made her lips into a straight line.

“Maybe… we’re disturbing her peace. She was sick for a long time, you know.”

“…”

“I’m still forgetting Simon, and I really hate and resent him, but I’m not denying everything he left me. For example…”

“…”

“He said, let’s let her run around as much as she wants now that she’s been sick for three years. Let’s not just show her crying faces… Let’s make her smile brightly. That’s what he said back then. The day before Mom offered prayers.”

“…”

She looks at Gain with eyes as soft as feathers and as hard as steel.

She stood there blankly, facing Isabelle.

Her mind was complicated and disturbed, making it difficult to speak.

But compared to herself, who was a complete stranger to ‘Christel,’ Mom’s heart must be incredibly big and heavy.

Not to mention, to the dead Simon de Sarnes…

She was his own daughter.

I can’t say he was a good father even if my mouth is torn, but anyway, that traitor was once a person who cherished his child.

Enough to spill the blood of countless magical beasts to save her, cross dangerous deserts and seas, and give everything.

“I’m not trying to decide this on my own. I know your guilt is great.”

“…Yes?”

“Look at this. You hate drying your hair, but you always keep the length similar, and you hardly wear dresses, but you don’t throw away a single one. You haven’t even changed a single piece of bedding to your liking. There are countless other things besides…”

Isabelle stroked her daughter’s cheek and gave a beautiful smile.

Gain couldn’t be sure what her expression was like.

No, to be exact, she couldn’t even imagine what Mom’s heart was like right now.

The pain it took to bring up that story, how harsh the long suffering and tears must have been…

“Thank you, my daughter. Thank you for genuinely thinking of my daughter.”

“…”

“Now go. Let’s talk again later.”

“Mom.”

“Hurry, Duke Sneider will come chasing after you.”

“Yes, yes.”

She couldn’t even give a formal answer like ‘I’ll think about it,’ but Isabelle seemed to feel a little lighter just by bringing up the story.

As she joked and pushed her back, Gain nodded vaguely and took and released her mother’s hand.

She sincerely wished Sant, who was waiting by the carriage door, good luck, and bowed deeply to His Majesty Hana.

She repeatedly told the Raso estate’s coachman and horses to take care of her.

Finally, Lynn mumbled.

“Unnie [older sister], be careful in the royal capital.”

“Of course. Then I’ll see you again after the war! Stay healthy!”

-Make sure to take good care of your partner. Don’t let go of their hand and lose them in the streets.

“Loyalty, I will keep that in mind!”

-To think such a tomboy would become a cardinal. It seems nothing has changed from the Unio era.

Hana clicked his tongue and muttered. It was clear praise.

Gain saluted with a smiling face.

The 33rd Cavalry Division was, once again, split apart.

*

By the time we crossed the Memphis Mountains and reached the outskirts of the royal capital, it was already dark.

-Clatter, clatter, clatter…

“…”

-Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop…

“…”

There was still nothing that could be called a village, but we had definitely left the mountainous area.

Sir Johan, who skillfully guided us, was now enjoying a leisurely night stroll with the attitude of a local.

The rest of the group, except for him, passed along the flat dirt road, keeping a close watch on all sides.

Since there were no magical lights installed like in the cities of the Empire, we had to rely solely on the evening moon for light.

Of course, in the Divine Nation, mana is openly despised, so even if they had the technology, they wouldn’t install magical facilities here.

-Kkia?

“Yeah, we’re going into the royal capital now. There might be a border nearby.”

-Kkiooo

Demi, who had regained some energy in the meantime, seemed excited.

I smiled slightly, handing the child a cherry tomato.

The Divine Beast received it with its left foot.

“So, to summarize a few things that are confusing right now…”

At that moment, Gain, who was walking next to me, counted on her fingers.

“Sorry. As you know, I’m a bit scatterbrained. It’s better to organize these things neatly before going in.”

“That’s a good idea. It will be helpful to everyone.”

“As expected of our Lady. So, first, it’s true that Werner received Bozena’s help. He already used that alias when he turned the northern part of the Divine Nation upside down, and he left a lot of strange traces while driving around with a blue cart. In other words, whether it’s the Three Sisters of Probability or the Three Frog Brothers, they’re openly supporting Werner. We already know this much. Now, that bastard seems to have headed to the royal capital ahead of us, and the reason is that he suddenly went crazy and wants to take revenge on King Christaener Venetian…”

“Martier Zeelstra may be tracking him.”

Gibreel Dioph pointed out from the rear. His steed, Fondue, nodded in agreement.

Gain gestured vaguely and folded her second finger.

“Second. This really bothers me, but we still don’t know why Pope Irene Sneider smuggled that document to the Sneider family, do we?”

“Ah, that’s the part you were wondering about.”

That was a question I deeply sympathized with as well. My head nodded involuntarily.

Pope Irene was a figure praised as the Holy Emperor, and I learned that the neutral zone during her reign enjoyed great prosperity and peace.

But suddenly, she was pointed out as the person who smuggled ‘The Pope’s Document’ directly recorded by Mateusz Roseharder.

‘Irene! Ung! That person took it. Sent that.’

‘Sea urchin. From the Holy Ark, Irene took it out.’

…Lynn, who didn’t have many memories of her past life, was so sure.

I have a strong feeling. It’s not a lie.

“She may not have been as good as recorded in history.”

“…”

“Humans are multifaceted.”

Cedric, who was walking ahead, turned to look at us.

The tangerine-colored eyes, wet with twilight, seemed reddish-brown at first glance.

I fell into silence for a while. Indeed, there was some truth to his words.

While pretending to care for and love the desert minorities more than anyone else on the outside, she actually smuggled out top-secret documents so that the people of her family could know the secrets of the Venetian royal family…

“…No, but it’s still strange.”

I muttered.

I don’t understand. If she was trying to plot the killing of a god, why didn’t she do it herself?

Was it because it was too big of an operation? Did she need the help of her family?

Even so, leaking the document is too dangerous. It would have been much safer to keep it in the Holy Ark.

“I’ll take you this way.”

Around that time, Sir Johan, who had been quietly riding his horse, changed direction.

Having wandered around the country since he was young as a mercenary, he said he knew the geography of the royal capital like the back of his hand.

We followed the cardinal through a narrow path surrounded by old fences.

Unlike Memphis, where the weather was bad and the mountains were rugged, the royal capital had a mild year-round temperature, so there were plenty of small flowering trees and spring plants growing.

I hunched my shoulders as much as possible, following behind, worried that my hair would get caught on the low-hanging branches.

Has it been about twenty minutes?

“We’re here. I almost got lost because it’s been so long.”

‘Please wait here for a moment.’ Sir Johan, who got off Esprit’s saddle, turned to look at us and gave a picture-perfect smile.

However, I was the only one who smiled back, and Gain and Dioph frowned at the same time and rubbed their arms vigorously. Why?

“I think it was around here…”

Soon, the cardinal began to measure the space between the dirt floor and the trees.

He counted numbers in his mouth and looked closely at the surface of the trees in the dark.

The Divine Beasts watched Sir Johan with interest.

I couldn’t resist my curiosity and fidgeted, so Cedric stretched out an arm to stop me and sighed.

“No, I’m not a five-year-old…”

“It looks like he buried something in the ground.”

“Oh, isn’t someone going to come out of there?”

“That’s plausible.”

“What’s plausible? Don’t both of you say such things.”

While I was scolding Dioph and Gain, Sir Johan was scraping away a certain point on the surface with the wind, as Cedric said.

Before long, something that looked like the lid of a wooden box appeared above the ground.

-Squeaaaaak…

Gulp.

“…Surely it’s not a person.”

“Your voice is the loudest, Lady.”

I gripped the hand holding the reins tightly.

The door of the box opened, and what finally appeared before our eyes was…

“…Crazy, how much is all that?”

“Heok.”

Hundreds, thousands of gold coins shining brightly!