Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 728

728. Rembrary on Stage

Rembrary’s voice resonated like the gentle chime of a small bell, stirring the soul.

His beautiful tone, perfectly synchronized with the piano performance and never faltering, filled the listeners with both admiration and comfort.

Moreover, Rembrary’s appearance while singing was so dazzling that it instantly captivated everyone’s attention.

Thus, Rembrary’s effortless singing seemed as if an angel of Redrin [a deity in this world] was serenading them.

“Wings. We have to give him wings!”

The lay priest in charge of costumes urgently said to the priest next to him.

“If we send him out with wings, everyone will go wild!”

Another priest shook his head in admiration. The voice was captivating, the song was enchanting, and even the atmosphere was sublime, but…

In that priest’s view, the prince’s most outstanding quality was his unwavering composure, even in this high-pressure situation.

Even someone with extraordinary talent tends to get nervous on stage.

However, perhaps because this prince grew up in an environment where performing before others was second nature, he didn’t even blink in this situation.

Heather, the person in charge, was so overjoyed that she decided to make the food in the cafeteria saltier for the next month [a sign of her extreme happiness, as she’s willing to endure something unpleasant].

But the most surprised person in this situation was the music priest who had taught Rembrary the solo part.

‘No, he wasn’t this good during practice?’

The music priest was utterly bewildered when Rembrary, who was only at the level of ‘Wow, he’s good!’ just a few hours ago, suddenly transformed into ‘Oh my god, an angel!’

And the more people marveled, the more pleased Redrin became as he watched all this.

[My child is good at singing too.]

The real angels watching this were utterly dumbfounded.

[Redrin-nim is showering light on that child’s voice, so of course.]

[I showered light, but I didn’t fix the pitch.]

[When a voice receives light, it sounds good even if the pitch is all wrong.]

[But not to that extent.]

Redrin firmly denied his trickery and kept tearing off clouds and scattering them towards the human realm.

However, there were those who could not rejoice even while listening to this beautiful song.

‘Why is that prince so popular?’

Niran, unable to mask his frustration, retreated to the back and bit his lip.

The prince’s singing voice was certainly outstanding. But what Niran wanted was not for the prince to captivate people’s hearts with his excellent singing skills.

It was for the prince to believe that people hated him, so he would delve deeper and deeper into the temple. So that he wouldn’t want to live outside the temple at all.

So that he wouldn’t expect others to believe him no matter what he said.

‘Damn it. What should I do? If there’s no result, I have to return half the money in six months.’

He even signed a contract to return the remaining half if there were no results even after a year.

Niran became increasingly anxious as the priests fell under the prince’s spell.

* * *

After the group practice, the priests dispersed again to supervise the children they had left to study on their own.

In that lull, the priests who received money gathered in a deserted open space, arriving via different routes.

Once they were alone, the brown-haired priest said urgently.

“This won’t do. Prince Rembrary is too talented. This will backfire. Let’s just gather our opinions and give Heather-nim various reasons why it would be better to remove the prince.”

The red-haired priest agreed.

However, the black-haired priest firmly opposed.

“That won’t do. Most of the priests have already witnessed the prince’s singing skills. And didn’t you see Heather-nim’s expression? She looked very pleased.

But if we, who insisted on putting the prince on stage, suddenly change our minds as a group, how will that look? They’ll suspect something’s up.”

“Then what if only some of us step forward?”

“Do you think they’ll listen to a few dissenting opinions?”

The priests who took the money kept giving opinions, opposing, and then opposing again.

Niran didn’t step forward and quietly listened to their conversation. He had spearheaded the effort to make Rembrary a soloist, and this was the result.

So this time, he decided to keep his mouth shut and observe the situation.

However, when no viable solution emerged, Niran ended up stepping forward again.

“What about this? When Prince Rembrary comes on stage, we hire hecklers to shout out the prince’s true identity before he sings.

We completely shatter his confidence. Then, no matter how brave the prince is, he won’t be able to perform to his full potential.”

“But he seemed very brave earlier…”

“The priests were all quietly preparing to listen. But if they start heckling and causing a commotion just as he’s about to sing, even a grown adult wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

Perhaps because they had already failed to come up with a proper solution, the priests who took the money were not very confident in Niran.

But when no other good idea surfaced, they eventually decided to follow Niran’s suggestion again.

* * *

From then until the festival day, Rembrary was constantly being called here and there, having his measurements taken, trying on fabrics, and having decorations attached to his hair and shoulders.

The priest in charge of singing was greatly shocked during the group practice and suddenly became passionate, constantly calling Rembrary to practice singing.

Thanks to that, Rembrary’s singing skills continued to improve, but he became increasingly annoyed.

Moreover, he couldn’t rest even during breaks. The costume priest designed the outfits, but,

The children had to make the wings themselves out of thick, stiff fabric to wear on stage, so they were extremely busy.

Because of this, Rembrary didn’t notice his peers constantly glancing at him with curiosity.

After such hectic days. Finally, the day of the festival arrived.

On the morning of the festival, Rembrary was busy from morning, dressing up as an angel with his peers under Rishuer’s guidance.

Moreover, he had to do the final practice, and he had to eat the breakfast that had been suiting him well lately.

After all the preparations were finished. The children followed Rishuer down to the territory where the festival was being held.

Rembrary didn’t think much of the festival stories at first.

But when he got off the carriage and heard the fireworks exploding everywhere and the loud music coming from all directions, his eyes immediately widened.

The other children were in the same state.

“Kids. Not that way. Gather over here. Rembrary, don’t just stand there blankly. Kentry, we’ll all go to the bathroom together later.

Ridal, don’t try to lead the way if you don’t know the way!”

Because of this, Rishuer was half-soulless as soon as he arrived at the festival venue, desperately trying to keep hold of the children who were trying to scatter.

As a result of his efforts, Rembrary and the children were finally able to reach the preparation area behind the stage.

Rishuer finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Wow, angels.”

“Oh, how cute!”

The other performers waiting behind the stage complimented the children, saying they were cute, which made Rishuer even more relieved.

On the other hand, Kentry, who considered himself a very mature child, blushed and hid behind his subordinates.

Then Kentry was horrified to see Rembrary smiling calmly and waving to the performers.

“Rembrary. Don’t wave.”

Fortunately, Rishuer, whose face was as red as Kentry’s, quickly lowered Rembrary’s hand.

“Why?”

“Usually, we don’t wave…”

* * *

While the apprentice priests were having a hectic waiting time. A stage staff member approached Rishuer and asked.

“Are you Priest Rishuer from the Florandia Temple?”

“Yes, yes.”

“You’ll be on stage in 15 minutes. Do you see the person holding the vermilion ball over there?”

“Yes, yes.”

“When that person goes up, wait right behind those stairs. When that person finishes performing and comes down, the staff member behind the curtain will signal you.

Then line up and enter the stage to perform, and come out the way you came in. Do you have any questions?”

“No.”

The staff member seemed very busy and went to the other side right away.

Rishuer gathered the children and repeated what the staff member had told him five times.

Still, some of the children didn’t seem to understand well, so Rishuer quickly swapped the positions of the children who understood the flow well with the children who didn’t.

“Just look at the person in front of you and follow. Got it?”

Waiting busily like that, time passed particularly quickly.

The person with the vermilion ball had already gone up, and Rembrary was pushed by Rishuer to climb the stairs with the other children and stand behind the curtain.

Waiting there, they could hear applause from the audience.

Then a person behind the curtain peeked his face over the curtain and gestured to Rishuer to let the children in.

The children lined up and went out onto the stage as Rishuer had taught them.

The priests in charge of playing the instruments waited in the lower seats, and when the children lined up and took their positions, they began to play.

When the song started, people smiled as they watched the angelic children singing in chorus.

Then, when the solo part finally approached, Rembrary, who was in the second row, stepped forward slightly.

“Waaaaah!”

As soon as Rembrary came out, people who had been smiling contentedly were surprised and began to buzz with excitement.

The piano accompaniment was briefly drowned out by the noise, but when the staff member gestured, people quickly quieted down.

Rembrary wanted to wave to the people, but he held back and focused on the piano song. He had to catch the timing to start singing.

But then, someone’s shout erupted from among the people.

“That prince!”

It was a shout that clashed jarringly with the beautiful piano melody.

Rembrary reflexively looked in that direction at the sound. Almost at the same time, Rembrary spotted a familiar face there.

The silver hair he had seen on the roof of the palace was gagging someone.

‘That person? Why is he here?’

While wondering, the silver hair pointed to the piano with his hand. It was a gesture that he should pay attention to the song.

Rembrary understood and focused on the piano sound.

After that, someone shouted similarly a few more times, “That prince!” or “That fire!” or “The dragon!”, but Rembrary didn’t waver.

However, unlike Rembrary, as this phenomenon continued, people were no longer waiting for the soloist’s song but began to whisper and look around.

No matter how well you sing, it’s useless if the audience doesn’t want to listen.

But now people were so distracted by the words that popped out sporadically here and there that they had no interest in the song at all.

The problem was that Rishuer himself was also bothered by the words that popped out from time to time.

‘The ominous prince who appeared riding a black dragon. It seems like someone is trying to reveal Rembrary’s story?

Who the hell is it? Besides, it’s not just one or two people. Is it on purpose that the words are cut off when they try to shout?’

At that time. The accompaniment ended and the part where Rembrary would sing began.