What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 179

Sub Male Lead’s Hiatus-179

#179 Interpretation (5)

“…In the Blanquer Duchy?”

“There’s no news yet. But,”

“Yes. The same situation is likely to occur.”

Emperor Frederick was silent for a long time after saying that.

The Crown Prince and Lord Johann seemed to know the context, but some, including Christel and I, were puzzled.

Why the Blanquer Duchy all of a sudden? The remains of a priest from the Divine Kingdom?

My head was spinning, and I felt a chill.

Judging from the conversation between Lady Elisabeth and the Emperor, it seemed that sacred stone mining was also taking place in the Duchy.

How did such work happen there……

“Ah.”

I flinched and looked at the teacup in my hand.

The pale mauve moonflower herbal tea was peaceful on its own. The Emperor spoke to me casually.

“The distribution of moonflower and sacred stones roughly coincides. If you dig in the ground where the herb grows, minerals come out. The reserves are also considerable.”

“So you checked the moonflower habitat on the border. The Duchy is the largest border area.”

She nodded at my words.

It seemed that sacred stones were now being produced in Riester in earnest.

However, her blood-red eyes were as dark as they could be.

“Moonflower has medicinal properties that help the Etherna vessel [a person’s capacity for magic or spiritual energy], and sacred stones come out from the underground where it grows, and if you dig deeper… the remains of a priest are found.”

The reception room became as cold as midwinter. I swallowed hard.

I reflexively put down the teacup.

All sorts of chilling imaginations and hypotheses flashed through my mind.

No, at this point, it was as good as a foregone conclusion.

The priest’s corpse created sacred stones over a long period of time and bloomed sacred herbs.

While no one could readily open their mouths, an unexpected person raised their hand.

The Emperor gestured as if to tell him to speak.

“Um. The Divine Kingdom buries bodies after the funeral, but I heard that the Empire cremates them. But the remains you found…”

It was Sant. As the young man asked hesitantly, the vice-captain of the Imperial Guard looked as if he understood the question.

“In fact, most of the Divine Kingdom soldiers who died in the Empire were cremated and scattered in the ‘Sea of Silence’ [a designated area for scattering ashes]. When the Imperial Army couldn’t do it, the people stepped in to burn them. So the bones excavated this time are exceptional.”

“Maybe it’s a body that was abandoned while the Imperial Army was retreating or the people were evacuating. If remains are found on the border, there will be more than in Aitz Village. The final battle was fierce.”

Lord Johann added to Lady Elisabeth’s explanation.

The servants, led by Benjamin and Ganael, were greatly agitated.

This time, Christel raised her hand. The Emperor once again allowed her to speak.

“If the priest’s body sprouts herbs, why does the moonflower transplanted to the Imperial Palace grow so well? There’s nothing under the palace.”

“That’s what we need to look into from now on.”

It was Lord Michel Mutte who gave the answer.

He patted the young count’s shoulder a couple of times and continued.

“I have a few guesses, but we must first clearly understand the efficacy of the plant to make sense of it. It seems that the cooperation of Princess Aurelia… and Prince Yesser is needed.”

All eyes in the room were on me.

I was embarrassed and the moonflower felt eerie, so I lowered my eyes.

The surface of the calm tea was chilling just to look at.

Is this the Wonhyo Great Master’s skull water effect? [referencing a Buddhist legend where a monk achieves enlightenment after drinking water from a skull, realizing that perception shapes reality]

“…I’ll do my best.”

I barely managed to speak.

To be honest, I even felt disgusted, and I was reluctant to drink the tea again, but I didn’t know if this could help someone.

There were Herrit and the Crown Prince right in front of me, and I didn’t know how many unknown patients there were in the Empire.

My ‘vessel,’ which had just begun to recover, was currently the best subject for experimentation.

So I just had to grit my teeth and bear it a few times.

There was a child who had to consume moonflower for the rest of his life knowing everything, so it was not the time to whine.

When I raised my head with a determined face, Cardinal Boutier across from me gave me an encouraging smile.

Before I knew it, the night was deep. It was the first time Juliet Palace was so busy so late!

“David, can I throw away these boxes?”

“No. Lord Michel will probably use them again later, so leave them as they are…”

“Chamberlain, should I tell them to take the military report to the Imperial Palace?”

Not only the reception room but also the corridors were bustling.

Ganael took Herrit to one of the empty guest rooms, and the troublemakers, who had been running around and driving the servants crazy, came to my side and fell asleep.

Some, including my teacher and I, washed up and changed into comfortable clothes.

Christel borrowed Lady Elisabeth’s duty uniform.

I told her that she could go back to the Duke’s residence and rest, but she didn’t seem to want to leave until she knew my condition and the efficacy of moonflower accurately.

I was also the protagonist’s partner, so I didn’t stop her any further.

“Hmm.”

It was an inappropriate feeling for the situation, but it felt like inviting friends to my house to play.

It was different from when we were together in Serenete Territory.

“Okay, shall we take just half a sip more for the last time?”

“Yes.”

I quickly woke up from my thoughts.

Then, following my teacher’s instructions, I emptied the herbal tea, which I didn’t know how many cups it was already.

Gulp, the scary and bitter liquid passed over my throat. Then…

-Saaa!

One side of her healing circle lit up brightly as if it had turned on a light.

It was the result of my soul reacting to the herbal medicine.

Two healing priests were busy writing it down on a large parchment and leaving it as a picture.

Originally, only I and Cardinal Boutier were resident priests in the Imperial Palace, but even they could not leave work because official records were needed.

Lord Michel was in charge of reviewing and adding comments in the middle.

Soon, my teacher, who examined their results…

“It’s done. The cause and effect have become clear.”

And then she released the circle. Finally, the light disappeared!

“Wow, it’s over…”

I was almost exhausted and collapsed on the floor. I could taste the bitterness even on the roof of my mouth.

I thought my stamina was pretty good, but perhaps because I had been tense for half a day, my body was completely drained.

Natalie hurriedly came over and cleared away the teacup, and Christel patted my arm, saying that I had worked too hard.

By the time Benjamin put nougat in my mouth, I ended up laughing.

Meanwhile, my teacher looked down at me with a benevolent face.

She didn’t look tired at all, even though she had poured out Ether for more than six hours.

“You’ve worked hard, my disciple. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“I just did as you told me. Thank you for your hard work.”

I replied. She gently stroked my hair and raised her eyes.

“Frederick, this side is finished. Would you mind coming over if you’re okay?”

Then I heard someone coming. I quickly got up.

The Emperor snorted at me and gestured roughly to tell me to sit down.

As she and Crown Prince Cedric took their seats on the sofa, the Cardinal looked around the room.

Oh? Even the Dhiem brothers are here.

“Your Highness.”

Francois and Herve Dhiem winked at me at the same time.

It’s good that you’re handsome, and I sympathize with your feelings of joy, but put that away…

“First of all, it has been confirmed that moonflower affects Ether, not the vessel. This is the conclusion of analyzing the vessels of the Prince and Johann under the same conditions.”

“…I see.”

The Emperor’s reaction was strangely slow.

However, no information could be read from her dignified expression. My teacher continued.

“Also, the way it works on holy knights and priests is completely different. The dynamic Ether of the holy knight has a calming effect, whereas the static Ether of the priest becomes very active when it meets moonflower.”

“So it helped Herrit. It’s amazing.”

The vice-captain of the Imperial Guard said in a surprised voice.

Thanks to the fact that the herbal medicine refined the properties of the special Ether that was trying to escape from the body, the child was able to avoid feeling the pain of the vessel shaking.

“And to the Prince as well.”

The Cardinal took over the words. I smiled ambiguously and added.

“Yes. I have confirmed that drinking moonflower speeds up the rate of Ether generation in the heart. Pure Ether gains more power. According to Lord Sarnese, the flow of my Ether has also become rapidly stronger. However, if time passes without taking it, everything returns to normal. There is no permanent effect.”

The Emperor had an interested look in her eyes.

In short, my guess that moonflower would reduce the cooldown of the Sacred Relic was roughly correct.

Even if I hadn’t drunk the tea, the Ether would have returned someday, but it was certain that the herb quickly awakened the power that had been deeply asleep and could not even be felt.

It was a miraculous medicine with excellent efficacy as much as the background setting was terrible.

I shook my head, shuddering slightly.

“What happened to the moonflower growing in the Imperial Palace?”

“That is also the work of Ether, Your Majesty.”

Lord Michel answered the Emperor’s question.

Various magical tools and super-instruments were lined up on the table that had been hastily prepared in the center.

The moonflower, which the servants had dug up by the roots, was cut and split in various shapes.

It was all traces of experiments. I also poured some Ether there earlier.

“We compared the results after exposing Lord Sarnese’s water-attribute Ether and the Prince’s Ether to the roots of moonflower for the same amount of time.”

“And?”

“It was as expected. Moonflower feeds on the Ether residue from the priest’s bones, so it does not react to special Ether. Even if it is water attribute. However, the size of the leaves even changed on the side that received the Prince’s Ether.”

“Amazing.”

The Emperor muttered. Then she stared at me intently.

I rolled my eyes, feeling unnecessarily intimidated.

“It’s you again. Yesser Fenetian.”

“Yes?”

“Michel means that the moonflower in the Imperial Palace is growing with the help of your Ether. Aurelia is my contractor, so.”

Well, that was true.

Cardinal Boutier’s vessel became one with the Emperor’s vessel through the ‘Oath of the Twin Stars’ [a magical pact binding two individuals].

In other words, she could not communicate with anyone’s soul except her contractor.

She could not share Ether with others, and even the holy knight could not sense her power.

The Emperor was right.

The reason why the herb was growing in this place without sacred stones…

It was the influence of my Ether.

“If you think that the moonflower in the greenhouse has been withering recently, it is not strange to think that it is due to the Prince’s influence. It’s because the Prince couldn’t use Ether for a while.”

I was shocked by Lord Michel’s words.

Did even the innocent plants suffer because I collapsed?

“The responsibility is heavy.”

The Sword Master, who had silently approached in an instant, reached out and lifted my chin.

I helplessly met the Emperor’s gaze. Her cherry-colored eyes narrowed.

“The cultivation of that herb is under your jurisdiction for the time being. Think about what you want.”

“Your Majesty.”

Wait a minute!

“Do you think I would allow the herb to grow with the souls of the dead as its roots, whether it’s Aitz Village or the Duchy?”

“…”

“I don’t need the ore that craves blood either.”

I shut my mouth.

Frederick Riester was clearly not the kind of person who would want such a thing, and her Empire was a powerful country even without cruel weapons.

The Emperor smiled at me and gently released my face, giving an order.

“Exhume all the remains of the Divine Kingdom priests, cremate them, and treat them as war dead and let them flow into the Sea of Silence. If you leave it to the expert admiral, it will be fine. Tell Duke Blanquer as well.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“The mined sacred stones will be stored and monitored in Aitz, the Imperial estate. I have no intention of condoning embezzlement and abuse.”

“I will do so.”

“The moonflower harvested in this process will be transported to the Imperial Palace. The Prince will take care of it.”

Chamberlain Laura bowed and stepped back. Then the Emperor moved her finger and called the Dhiem brothers.

Seeing that the story about the exhibition portal was coming out, it seemed that a large-scale search for the remains of the Divine Kingdom army would be launched.

In one night, incredibly important decisions were being made.

I took the arm that Christel held out to me and got up from my seat.

Is the Imperial Palace always this eventful?

“Now you’re going to grow flowers too, Prince.”

She said teasingly, curving her beautiful eyes.

It’s good to say that I’m growing them, but I just have to faithfully live as a hostage in the Imperial Palace as I have been doing so far…

“The burden on my shoulders is heavy.”

I said sincerely. Lord Johann joked that he was counting on me.

I was letting out a burst of laughter when I suddenly met the Crown Prince’s eyes as he stood near the balcony.

I wondered when he had gone there.

Come to think of it, the Imperial family elders had been silent about the Crown Prince even while discussing the medicinal effects of moonflower.

Perhaps it was because his condition was top secret.