What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 369

#369

If You Hold Me Like Back Then (1)

“…Prince?”

Cristel immediately dashed towards the temple entrance.

‘Thwack!’ Gripping the handle and ramming her body against it, the massive door groaned as if about to be torn apart. ‘Creak, creeak!’

But it didn’t hurt at all.

She was the Archbishop, capable of shattering this mere door beyond repair.

The only reason she hadn’t done so until now was because of Carme and Duchess Diop.

A firmly resolved fist cleaved through the air.

-Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Prince Yeser!”

“Yes, Cristel! It’s me!”

Flinch! It wasn’t a hallucination. She hadn’t misheard.

This was definitely the voice she had longed for over the past six months.

The sound was muffled by the thick door, but she could clearly recognize it.

The man was knocking on the door from the other side, looking for her. He was so frantic he was beside himself.

Gain cautiously readjusted her whip with trembling hands and stepped back a couple of paces.

-Crack!

She would destroy it.

“Step back, Prince!”

“Cristel?”

“The door is locked! I’m going to smash it!”

“Do you believe what you’re hearing right now?”

Just then, Etha, who was sitting on the platform, asked secretly.

Only then did Cristel remember the priest and turned around sharply.

Her piercingly blue eyes were mysterious.

She was still stroking Marguerite Diop, whom she held in her arms.

The hostage’s face, now impossible to tell if she was dead or alive, was eerie.

The priest’s expression, which seemed desperate, was even more chilling. A sharp retort burst out.

“Don’t play tricks. You’re less convincing than him.”

“Everyone in the pew has turned into flowers, and you’re still trusting your senses?”

‘This village is fake.’ She whispered in an angelic voice.

‘Cristel! Sir Johan is…!’ At the same time, she heard the Prince shouting something.

Gain smirked at Etha.

“You don’t know anything. That’s why you’re spouting such nonsense.”

“…”

“Or are you doing it even though you know?”

Gain tilted her head, gauging the angle. Etha simply fluttered her eyelashes.

“There’s no way a paladin wouldn’t recognize her mate’s aura.”

-Thwaaaaaang!

The entrance exploded with a tremendous roar.

‘Patatter!’ Thick wooden fragments flew everywhere, and simple decorations and hinges bounced around with a pinging sound.

‘Thud!’ Gain shot towards the platform like a bullet.

The floor she stepped on groaned, deeply gouged. Pink hair scattered like foam.

Etha trembled as she watched Cristel approach in an instant. ‘Swish!’

“Give her back!”

Snatching Marguerite roughly, hugging her, rolling with the force of the recoil, then gritting her teeth and leaping.

It was to get as far away from the priest as possible.

She had to flee anywhere to avoid being affected by the oracle. ‘Thump!’

-Crash! Shatter!

“Ugh!”

The pew couldn’t withstand the force of the two and crumbled like rags.

Gain groaned, tumbling across the floor, clutching Marguerite.

Of course, she wasn’t seriously injured, but her hand scraped by splinters and her forehead slammed was stinging and numb.

Even in the midst of that, she felt relieved to feel the Duchess’s breath. She’s alive…

“Cristel! Are you alright?”

Gain’s eyes snapped open.

It was an unfamiliar touch, but she couldn’t mistake the cautious warmth of the hand that grabbed her shoulder.

Her gaze drew through the air in slow motion.

She had the illusion that wonderful music was flowing from somewhere.

Beneath the ceiling with the downward arrow pattern, the symbol of the main god, a young man she had never seen before was observing her.

Fine brown hair, violet eyes trembling with worry. Smooth skin and slightly parted lips.

An expression so familiar, even though she swore she had never met him before.

Even the way he moved his eyebrows resembled him.

“Are you in a lot of pain?”

No, it was him.

“I’ll open a healing circle right aw―”

Wham! Gain shot up like lightning and hugged him.

She groped with both hands, embracing him deeply, afraid she might lose him.

‘Gasp, cough! Cough, cough!’ Only then did she catch her breath, coughing like an idiot.

A sense of liberation, as if she had finally found her sea, washed over her like a wave.

It was truly a feeling of her entire soul being refreshed.

It was as if the star, which had been burning hotly every day, was finally entrusting itself to the lake of the moon and taking a breather.

Gain inhaled and exhaled reality with wide eyes.

The surprised person stiffened, but only for a moment.

A hand, bigger and warmer than hers, wrapped around her back. A familiar voice flowed into her ear.

“I’m sorry. I was too late.”

“Cough! Cough, cough!”

There were so many things she wanted to say, so much that it felt like the vessel would overflow.

But when she actually met him, she couldn’t remember anything.

She was dumbfounded, wondering if she had always been this stupid.

The Prince patted her gently. The adorable lesser pandas also clung to her.

-Squeak.

“I’m sorry for making you wait so long.”

“…Cough.”

Gain buried her hot eyes in his shoulder.

She bit her lip to barely hold back the surge of emotion inside.

She was ashamed of herself for not being able to make even a simple joke, so she kept her mouth shut.

She was over thirty, acting like a child.

“I will never go anywhere alone again. I will stay healthy and be with you. I promise.”

Nod, nod. She chuckled at the pinky finger pressing against her back.

“So, will you show me your face? Let me check where you’re hurt.”

“Ha…”

I’m so embarrassed. She hugged his neck and sighed so deeply that the ground seemed to sink―

-Oof.

While she was resting, something very presumptuous pushed her body away forcefully.

Gain instinctively glared and checked to the side.

She was already annoyed by the faint spark that she belatedly sensed.

A boy in a sack-like uniform, wrapped in an orange ceremonial robe, was kicking her in the side while being held in the Prince’s arms.

His feverish orange eyes were blazing at her. Of course, you!

“Saydi, don’t do that to your sister.”

“You little―”

“There’s something more urgent right now, Cristel.”

The Prince hurriedly cut her off.

The ‘little’ was already in the sentence, so was there any point?

“Sir Johan!”

-Crash!

At the same time, something shattered noisily from over there.

Gain quickly released her partner’s neck and looked around.

The teacher, who had wrecked the temple entrance, was standing tall in the center of the altar, and Sir Elizabeth and Marquis Francois, who had stormed one of the side doors, were shaking their heads solemnly.

That meant there was nothing there. She was secretly glad that everyone had come to find them.

But the Prince asked worriedly.

“Where is Yuliter?”

Huh? ‘Yuliter’? What Yuliter?

“He just disappeared, Marquis. All that’s left is a moon halo flower.”

Sir Johan Haynes said quietly, looking down at his feet.

The divine beasts also ran over and wagged their tails sideways. Gain frowned deeply.

Wait. Did the teacher also know that the Crown Prince was turning into a child? I don’t think he did?

No, huh? So, that woman from before was actually a flower in disguise? Then where is the real body?

…Huh?!

“Moon halo flower? Don’t tell me all of this is moon halo grass? The one that’s paired with sun halo grass?”

Cristel asked quickly, pointing to the floor.

She saw the scattered flowers here and there among the shattered pews.

The pollen scattered on the floor shimmered faintly.

Around that time, Sir Elizabeth began to stride towards the opposite side door.

The Prince nodded, holding up the Crown Prince (if you’re awake, walk on your own four feet).

“Yes. The two of you are trapped in a different timeline that appeared in Mankrans Village. At least, that’s my guess.”

“What does that mean?”

“So,”

-Thwaaaang!

Eek! The Captain of the Royal Guard, who had smashed the door with his sword, surveyed the hallway.

The Prince swallowed hard.

Oh, now that I see it, he was already thin. Is his personal color warm spring? The cardigan is cute.

Did he come straight from home?

“Your nose is pretty.”

“Yes? Me?”

He looked at her in shock, then barely managed to say, ‘Thank you,’ with a reddened face.

She could feel the Crown Prince glaring at her as if to kill her, but she pretended not to notice and accepted the aetherna [a magical energy source].

The priest grabbed her elbow and continued the explanation calmly.

“Currently, Mankrans Village is heavily destroyed. According to the testimonies of the residents hiding in the canyon, the population has drastically decreased since the war era. It completely collapsed in the last ten years. But this place is completely different. On the way here, I saw that most of the buildings were intact. It contains Mankrans from much further in the past.”

“Then… then the reason they made the residents out of flowers was to deceive us. Because no one lives here anymore.”

Gain deduced with a grimace. The Prince immediately affirmed.

“That’s probably it. The problem is that this place used to be the territory of Yuliter Statian, the very person who started the war era in the past. She was also the one who stole Saydi’s aether, they say. But when we found the child, what was at the scene was,”

“Also a flower?”

“Yes. It is theoretically impossible for a priest to steal a paladin’s aether. It seems that this place does not follow the order of the place where we lived. It is fundamentally different from His Majesty Hanan’s tomb. So, they put illusions on the flowers to create people, steal their power through them, and then run away… They can come up with another plan.”

“And behind it all is the dead Yuliter? ‘The infamous villain’?”

No wonder she was so incredibly pretty.

“That’s right. According to Saydi, she wants to meet someone, but there must be restrictions. Time too―”

That’s when it happened.

“Ugh!”

A chilling stimulus was transmitted from not far away. Gain hurriedly covered her mouth.

It wasn’t a hostile aura towards her or her friends, but that made it even more chilling.

Thief, robbery, violence… Scary and terrible words pierced and brushed through her mind in the form of instinct.

She was on the verge of feeling nauseous. It wasn’t her business, but she could intuitively tell.

A certain paladin is having their aether stolen by someone. Perhaps even the vessel entirely!

“You should go to the priest’s office. There’s a paladin in danger.”

Teacher Johan immediately looked this way and said.

The little Crown Prince was leaning his forehead on the Prince’s—no, he’s not a Prince anymore—shoulder, sweating cold sweat, and his face was much paler and his breathing was more labored than before.

Of course, this anomaly was not something only she felt.

The priest, after examining the paladins’ expressions, checked Duchess Diop one last time and jumped up.

“Sir Johan, please protect the Duchess here. Her pulse is normal and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her vessel, but Yuliter might come again. His oracle or magic… You’re the only one who can’t be affected by such things. I’ll go to the priest’s office with the others.”

“…Understood.”

He surprisingly agreed readily.

Gain thought this was her chance to leave the kid behind too, but he lit the pew on fire (“You shouldn’t use aether when you’re sick, Saydi!”) so she had no choice but to accompany them.

Soon, Marquis Francois took the lead and Sir Elizabeth took the rear.

The five people and three divine beasts half-ran down the hallway.

Moon halo grass and pollen were scattered like luminous paint along the path.

A sense of foreboding loomed.

*

Step, step, step… We moved diligently.

I wanted to just run, but we had to be careful because we didn’t know where Yuliter’s clone would appear.

Fortunately, the temple itself was small, so the passage wasn’t long.

“The person being attacked right now is probably Carme.”

“Yes?”

I flinched and turned to look at Cristel. She ruffled her bangs and frowned.

“You know, the human trafficker who tried to steal the Prince in the desert last time. That person fell here with us. I sent her to bed because she said she was going to sleep, but I should have just kept her by my side.”

“Goodness. I thought she had escaped or died in the chaos.”

“Is that true?”

Sir Elizabeth and I were equally shocked.

Gain-ssi, wearing a dazzling crown on her head (it suits her so well!), nodded.

“A child named Yulrus went with her, and looking at the state of the residents earlier, that child must have been a flower too. He even gave me a clue with pollen.”

“I see.”

I narrowed my brows and muttered.

A child moving according to Yuliter’s will gave a hint? Why did he do that?

This place is highly likely a virtual space created by her, so is there any reason to teach a trapped person about it?

-Tick, tock, tick…

“By the way, Prince. What is your name?”

“Yes, yes?”

I was startled and looked to the side. Her watery eyes were sparkling.

“I still don’t know. I wanted to hear it directly, so I didn’t ask anyone. I know it’s a question that doesn’t fit the atmosphere, though.”

“No, it’s okay. I can tell you anytime.”

I shook my head and smiled brightly. Anything for Gain-ssi.

I can tell her anything. That’s why I came back.

“Jeong Yeser.”

But the answer popped out from under my chin. I widened my eyes and looked down.

The boy was threatening the other person, making his tiny neck vibrate. His pronunciation is good, aren’t you sleeping!

“That’s another name for the Marquis.”

“I didn’t ask you, kid.”

Gain-ssi snapped back with a smile.

‘That’s right. It’s Jeong Yeser. Please take care of me.’ I quickly added the words, and the atmosphere softened a little.

She rolled my name in her mouth several times.

The two syllables were the same as when I was acting as the Prince, but I felt strangely shy.

“Yeser. Jeong Yeser. Pretty. What Jeong clan are you from?”

-Thwaaaang!

Ugh, Lord! We shuddered greatly and turned to face the front.

Francois, unable to open the tightly locked priest’s office door, had finally broken the entrance with his mace.

What was visible beyond the fallen door was…

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

“Welco…”

A ‘group’ of Yuliters filling the room.

I stood rooted to the spot like a stake.