What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 23

“Let’s sit down and talk.”

I led the Duchess to the flower and vine staircase Demi had created.

It might not be very clean since I had walked down it, but there wasn’t a suitable place to sit on the balcony right away.

Fortunately, the Duchess wasn’t someone who cared about such things.

I left the Prince to do as he pleased.

“Um, hmm. The last confession was… 2 months ago.”

The Duchess cleared her throat and began to speak. I quietly nodded and deployed the circle.

[Now, reveal your remaining sins.]

My voice echoed through the night air. I could feel a faint amount of Ether [a magical energy] leaving my body.

The sanctuary drew geometric patterns, encircling the three people and one divine beast.

The Duchess seemed lost in the golden radiance for a moment.

Demi sensed the Ether and came down from my shoulder to sit on my lap.

I quietly waited for the Duchess to begin her confession.

I planned to gather as much information as possible and return to Juliet’s Palace.

“Simon, my husband… loved our daughter dearly. As did I.”

Her eyes recalled a moment from the past.

I thought I saw a faint smile on her lips as she remembered Christel.

“On the day I married and became a member of the Sarnese Lord’s family, I realized that child… resembled me more than I thought. Although we shared no blood, Christel and I had similarities: quiet, very shy, and awkward at expressing ourselves…”

I nodded.

I had heard that the ‘real’ Christel, before the possession, was such a person.

“Living as the Duchess in that vast Lord’s castle was lonely. Simon was a good husband, but he was a very busy man. I knew that when I married him, but it was still hard… But having that child made it bearable.”

The Duchess smiled brightly.

She quickly wiped away a single tear with her handkerchief.

As she began to talk about her daughter, a bit of life returned to her pale face.

“Christel was eight years old then, and I was twenty-two.”

I barely managed to suppress my reflexive frown.

I knew that sixteen was considered an adult here, but as a Korean, I still thought it was too young.

I couldn’t even imagine the burden she felt, becoming a Duchess at the age of twenty-three in Korean age.

“Every moment with that child was happy. We didn’t go out of the Lord’s castle often, and we were criticized for it… But the moments when we went on picnics together, held small concerts, and cooked together… They were all so wonderful, it felt like receiving a gift. I thought I received Christel as a wedding gift.”

The Duchess wiped away her tears.

Ganael had said he heard two rumors about her.

Among them was the gossip that she was a ‘typical stepmother.’

But that expression was something that could only be shown by someone who genuinely cherished and loved someone.

Unless the Duchess had academy-level acting skills.

“Weren’t you going to confess?”

Just then, a cold, low voice pierced my ears.

The Prince, with his legs crossed and leaning against the railing, was looking at me and the Duchess with cold eyes.

“I don’t enjoy melodramas.”

[Your Highness.]

“Your Highness, I’m fine. His Highness’s words are correct.”

I was about to snap back at the Prince for interrupting someone else’s confession, but the Duchess stopped me.

“I was too verbose. The… incident started after Christel collapsed.”

She continued haltingly.

“His Imperial Majesty, with his boundless grace, sent a royal physician… And my husband summoned every famous doctor in the Empire to care for Christel for three years. But since there was no sign of the underlying disease, no one could wake her up. One doctor said, ‘Perhaps she might have to… remain asleep forever…’”

“So you used the Blessing of the Azure Sea?”

Prince Cedrick asked sharply.

The thought that he had thrown away all manners and that he knew the Sarnese relic had disappeared came to my mind at the same time.

“That is, because medicine, magic, and the healing powers of the priests couldn’t cure her… I thought for the first time a while ago that I should make a wish at the ‘Temple of the Boundary.’”

[Are you saying you stole the relic of the Boundary?] I asked, surprised, and she shook her head.

“I remembered the legend that if you made a ‘Blood Wish’ on the relic in the Temple of the Boundary, the main god would grant it. When I suggested that I go there once, my husband… obtained a lot of monster blood. He said he wouldn’t stop monster subjugation until he saved our daughter.”

Any parent would have done the same.

The desperation to believe in old passages from the Bible, with a feeling of doubt and a glimmer of hope.

The moment when the backtalk that they were crazy and the shallow sympathy of others became irrelevant.

“But just before my husband and I were about to depart for the temple, news of the theft came. The relic had disappeared, and no one would be able to approach the place for the time being. I…”

The Duchess’s words became damp with tears.

Demi whimpered softly, as if feeling sorry for her. I gently stroked the back of the little one.

“I was endlessly despairing, frustrated before even trying… The next day, my husband brought it up first. Wouldn’t it be better to let her go now…?”

Cedrick Prince let out a soft sigh.

If I interpreted it correctly, the Duke of Sarnese was suggesting euthanasia for his daughter.

“I asked for just one day to think… And stayed by the child’s side all day. Then I thought of the Blessing of the Azure Sea. If I couldn’t go to the Temple of the Boundary, I would borrow the family relic… With the feeling that it was really the last time…”

My eyes widened. The Prince frowned.

“Then,”

[You wished on the Blessing of the Azure Sea?]

“My husband doesn’t know, Your Highness. It was my decision.”

She added hastily.

“I secretly replaced the sapphire I received as a wedding gift with the relic. I was only going to put it next to the child and pray. It was just for a moment. But…”

Her eyes shook violently.

“Blue light poured out of the relic and poured onto my daughter. At that time, I really thought the main god had granted my wish. It was a miraculous event. I hugged Christel, who had woken up, and rejoiced… But the Blessing of the Azure Sea was nowhere to be seen. And…”

I quickly sorted out the situation.

The Blessing of the Azure Sea, which was supposed to be used as a wedding gift for the Prince and Christel, probably ‘Toegyeong’s’ [a famous Korean philosopher] MacGuffin [a plot device], disappeared in the early stages.

Because the Duchess wished for her daughter to be saved.

It was like an old Disney movie, but from the writer’s point of view, Christel was a protagonist who had to wake up.

They had to gain plausibility even by bending the handle a little.

“My daughter didn’t recognize me.”

[Hmm.]

It was a natural result. She is Christel, but not ‘Christel.’

But it would never have been natural for the Duchess.

“At first, I just thought it was because she hadn’t fully recovered. My daughter, who had no memory or knew less… My husband said the awakened child had become ‘more mature,’ but I don’t think so.”

The Duchess’s lips trembled.

From what I heard, Christel, who had just been possessed, seemed to have had difficulty adapting in the early stages.

Well, it was a novel to me, but for her, it was like suddenly falling into another world.

“Perhaps, because I made an excessive wish on the relic… As a sin for not understanding the will of the main god and being greedy, Christel was cursed?”

“Is that a sincere question?”

It was Cedrick Prince who spoke before me.

“The curse of the main god is never light. If you are thinking of using the word curse as a shield to lighten your burden…”

[Your Highness, just a moment.]

I stopped him. The Prince looked displeased, but he didn’t open his mouth again.

[Madam, why do you think so? As you said, it could be that the Princess is showing signs of confusion because she has been sick for a long time.]

“No, my daughter… has gained a terrifying ability. She controls water; she controls water with her fingertips. In front of me, a large water droplet moved according to her will.”

Finally, this story is coming out. My eyes met the Prince’s.

I could see various emotions quickly rising and falling above his orange eyes.

“I told her first that I committed a great sin to save you, so I should have been punished, but it went to you… Then Christel said something like that.”

She smiled a little hollowly.

“She said, ‘Why is this a curse when someone who was as good as dead has come back to life? Stop crying.’ If the sin is that she swallowed the relic that had to go to the Imperial Family, she would pay the price directly to the Imperial Family…”

It was a dignified and bold line, just like the protagonist Eunseo liked so much.

However, tears poured from the Duchess’s eyes. She buried her face in her handkerchief.

“Please forgive me, Your Highness. My greed has hurt many people, not only Christel and my husband but also His Highness the Prince… I heard that His Highness needed that gift, but I…”

The Prince’s face was expressionless.

I didn’t know if he thought it was already over or if he was hiding his anger.

I repeated the words I had just heard two or three times in my mind to not forget them.

Then I took a deep breath.

[May the merciful main god forgive the lies the Duchess has confessed to me.]

The balcony was silent. The sanctuary showed no reaction.

Only then did I smile.

[Everything you have said so far is true. Thank you.]

The Duchess’s mouth opened in a circle. The Prince made a sound of ‘Ha’ as if he was dumbfounded.

Detecting lies through confession. It was something I learned from Cardinal Boutier.

If she had lied, the sanctuary would have caused an Ether reaction and washed away the Duchess’s sins, but everything she said was true.

[I’m sorry, but I had to prepare for the possibility that you might lie.]

I gave a bitter smile.

[And I… I don’t think you have committed a sin. You had no intention of destroying the relic, and you were just praying for your daughter. It’s a bit concerning that you couldn’t tell your husband, but that’s something the two of you will work out.]

The Duchess squeezed her handkerchief tightly.

Just as the damp cloth was about to become useless, the Prince silently handed her his handkerchief.

I was quite surprised, but I didn’t show it and continued the confession.

[I also disagree with the opinion that Princess Christel has been cursed. The power of water is the power of the main god and a sacred blessing. Paladins are said to be born only in the Holy Kingdom… But there may be acquired cases, and the main god may be capricious.]

Then, the Duchess finally smiled slightly. I could feel the Prince staring at me.

[Please convey the story you told me to His Imperial Majesty and His Eminence the Cardinal. And be sure to talk to your husband and Princess Christel. This is my penance.]

The sanctuary slowly lost its light.

[Don’t worry about your daughter. She’ll be fine.]

The Duchess bowed deeply at my last oracle.

She seemed about to cry again, muttering words of gratitude, so I quickly changed the subject.

I happened to have a question.

“But Madam, how did Princess Christel… say she would pay the price to the Imperial Family?”

I said those words while watching the Prince’s reaction.

Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed like a breakup, but I was curious if Christel still intended to marry him.

Romance that starts with handing herself over instead of the relic, is that something like that?

“It’s exactly as Your Highness said earlier.”

The corners of the Duchess’s lips lifted with difficulty.

“She said she would become the first proud Paladin of the Empire and repay the debt to the Imperial Family. Then wouldn’t her mother’s heart be a little lighter…?”

Wait a minute, writer. I think you turned the handle too much…