Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 763

◈ 763. Rembrary Runs Away From Home

Duke Laderun was unaware that his young son was hiding under his round decorative table.

Thanks to the red rug covering the table, the child’s presence was thoroughly concealed, but the rug couldn’t block out the sounds.

The child could hear every word spoken outside.

Jiremy, the Duke of Laderun’s son, hugged his knees and trembled.

He couldn’t figure out who his father was talking to.

Demanding the estate and the house. The person threatening his father was a complete robber.

“To, to demand the estate! What did I do to deserve this! And who are you! The black magician I dealt with was someone else!”

At the mention of a black magician, Jiremy’s eyes widened. His father had dealings with a black magician?

Black magicians were dangerous. One shouldn’t even know their names.

If it were revealed that he associated with them, terrifying inquisitors would come and drag the entire family away for torture.

It didn’t matter which god one believed in. Priests hated black magicians.

Father. What have you done? Jiremy bit his lip.

“I’m not asking you to hand over the ownership of the estate. I’m just asking for some space for us to hide and live there. Just treat us like guests staying there. It’s not difficult, is it?”

“No way! If it gets out that I’m hiding you, we’re in big trouble!”

“Didn’t you think about that when you borrowed power?”

The black magician’s voice was full of mockery.

“I never borrowed power from you!”

The Duke shouted in an aggrieved voice.

“That’s true.”

The black magician readily admitted.

“But if it weren’t for me, your dealings with the black magician would have been exposed this time. Thanks to my intervention, it wasn’t exposed, human.”

As the black magician chuckled, Jiremy involuntarily got goosebumps on his arms.

“You’d better grant my request. Otherwise, people will find out we’re close. You don’t want that, do you, friend?”

“That’s absurd! No one will believe it!”

“Well. They might not believe we’re friends. But they’ll believe you paid a huge sum to attack a young prince. I have proof.”

Jiremy remained crouched for a long time after everyone had left. He couldn’t muster any strength in his legs.

Only after a long while did the child crawl out from under the table.

“Hello.”

But a voice calling him came from right above his head.

Jiremy screamed and looked up.

A pink-haired man was looking down at him with his hands behind his back.

Jiremy tried to scream.

“Shh.”

However, as the man drew in the air with his hand, no sound came out of his mouth.

The air seemed to be sucking up his voice.

Jiremy hurriedly crawled back under the table.

The man didn’t chase after him but tapped playfully on the table.

“Are you going to stay there? I’ll be staying here as a guest from now on, kid. Shouldn’t we introduce ourselves?”

The voice from above sounded gentle, making it even more eerie.

Jiremy hugged his legs and trembled again.

After a while, the voice and the tapping on the table disappeared. Still, Jiremy couldn’t come out and remained inside.

“Young master? Are you here?”

Only when the head maid’s voice was heard did Jiremy quickly crawl out from under the table.

“Young master!”

The head maid’s eyes widened as she rushed over.

“Goodness. Were you crying?”

She wiped the child’s face with her clean apron.

Jiremy stood there sobbing and then pleaded in a small voice.

“Marie. Marie. Please help me.”

“What’s wrong? Should I tell the madam or master?”

Jiremy shook his head and clung to the head maid’s apron.

“I want to go to the temple where Rembrary is. Without telling Father.”

“Rembrary… you mean Prince, your friend?”

Jiremy nodded.

His father’s alliance with the black magician was all because of him.

Everything had become so twisted because he was afraid of being found out that he had watched Rembrary being kidnapped and did nothing.

So, he had to ask Rembrary for forgiveness and set things right.

* * *

Rembrary tried several times to go to the place where he had promised to meet the pink-haired tourist.

However, surveillance had become stricter due to the incident where the entire temple’s bells had rung.

All the children had to move and act together under the supervision of adults.

Even during break times, everyone had to gather in one place.

In this situation, there was no way Rembrary could separate himself from the other children and go to the stairs in the corner of the playground alone.

“It’s so stifling, Rishuer.”

Unable to bear it any longer, Rembrary complained to Rishuer during a meal.

“I know.”

Rishuer replied in an even more exhausted voice.

The children only needed to stick together, but Rishuer had to work twice or three times as hard to keep them in line.

Rishuer felt sorry for Rembrary, who was eating his meal listlessly, and comforted him.

“Don’t worry. Once the situation improves, you’ll be able to rest again.”

Rembrary couldn’t believe Rishuer’s words. There was no strength in Rishuer’s voice at all.

After finishing dinner, Rembrary went back to bed as soon as he washed up to quell his disappointment and covered himself with the blanket.

But inside the blanket, there was Rembrary’s gold-plated card. Not the Devil card or the Friendship card, but another card.

Rembrary turned on his halo and flipped the card over. It was the Loner card.

And at the bottom, in cursive writing, it said, ‘To my friend.’

Rembrary put the card in his pocket and went out from under the blanket.

The children seemed busy having a pillow fight.

Rembrary walked to the window and pressed his forehead against the cold glass. Had the pink hair been here?

But no matter how hard he looked, there were no tourists walking around outside.

Only a group of adult priests were walking by, talking with solemn expressions.

“What’s wrong?”

A tall blonde who came next to him asked.

“Nothing.”

Rembrary answered that way, but inside he was thinking something else.

* * *

That night.

Rembrary quietly got out of bed, tiptoed outside.

Surveillance was strict even at night, but they couldn’t significantly increase the number of people, so staff and lay priests couldn’t stand guard in front of every room to prevent the children from coming out.

Rembrary confirmed that there was no one in this hallway and ran out quickly.

Hiding behind a flower bed, he saw priests with lanterns going inside.

Rembrary carefully looked around and ran to the playground.

The ‘tourist’ had left the card. He must have come here again today.

Moreover, the tourist knew where Rembrary’s room was and where his bed was.

Maybe he was still here waiting for Rembrary.

But there was no one on the stairs. Only grains of sand were rolling around on the floor of the stairs where the card had been placed.

“Who’s there?”

A priest shouted, so Rembrary quickly ran back inside.

“What’s wrong?”

“No. I thought I saw a kid standing here.”

“Surely not. Would a kid be here alone? If they’re wandering around, they’d be near the dorms.”

“Right?”

The approaching lantern moved away, but instead of going straight to the dorms, Rembrary went around the back of the building.

He had been caught by another priest while moving in front of the dorms before and had been scolded, so this time he was moving along the back road.

It was dark and there was no one around, but Rembrary wasn’t scared at all to walk this path alone.

If it was too dark, he could turn on his halo. But then his location would be immediately exposed.

But when he heard people whispering, Rembrary had to hide again.

Huddled behind a large rock, he saw two priests on the second-floor balcony, leaning on the railing and talking.

“So, has the Lumena’s highest-ranking priest fully recovered?”

“Yes, he has. He’s walking around healthy without any aftereffects.”

“That’s a relief. We don’t know where the demons will strike. Still, a Lumena priest is on our side.”

‘He’s all better.’

Rembrary recalled the tall man who had been walking around with Lapsus.

He had a very painful-looking wound. How could he recover so quickly?

“But what about that inquisitor? Is he okay? If he rolled off a cliff in a carriage, his injuries must be severe…”

“His legs are completely broken, and he can’t move at all. Moreover, the doctor says his organs are also severely damaged.”

“That’s terrible.”

“His life isn’t in danger, but he won’t be able to come here in that condition.”

‘Inquisitor?’

Rembrary peeked out. A carriage accident?

Rembrary couldn’t understand what those priests were talking about at all.

“He only seems to like bribed priests. If that inquisitor had been called, we could have found out who took money and sold Redrin’s priests’ morals.”

“Rotten bastards.”

“That’s right.”

“It’s not just about liking bribed priests. In the first place, the reason that inquisitor had a carriage accident was because someone who bribed them deliberately caused the accident. If that accident hadn’t happened, the inquisitor would have already arrived.”

“That’s right.”

“Damn it. What kind of crazy noble is doing this to harass a child? If they were human, they wouldn’t do such a thing even if they were rolling in money.”

Rembrary blinked. His mind started racing.

‘Redrin. Is the child they’re talking about me?’

Rembrary asked Redrin, but inside he already thought so.

Among the children gathered here, he was the only one who had such persistent enemies in the secular world.

Besides, Heather had shown interest when Rembrary told her about the inquisitor.

Heather must have called the inquisitor again. It seemed like something had happened that prevented him from coming.

‘Redrin. It looks like the inquisitor got into a carriage accident on the way and got hurt.’

Even after the two priests went back inside the building, Rembrary was lost in thought.

After pondering for a long time, Rembrary got up and changed direction.

That direction wasn’t towards the dorms but towards the main gate.

Rembrary was thinking of going to find the inquisitor who had the carriage accident.

Lidal’s wounds hadn’t healed even after basking in Rembrary’s halo.