What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 732

Magna Carta (5)

‘Hanan.’

A gentle voice caressed her ear.

Somewhere, the scent of early May lingered.

‘Hanan Lumayian. A strong and beautiful name.’

-······Can you not be silent?

The last king of a fallen nation shook her head, wandering aimlessly.

Her memories, scattered like sand, never to return, drizzled over her head.

Soon, her eyes, covered in lavish makeup, crumpled in anguish.

Was this the cunning trick of some wretched fool? Heaven, or hell?

The answer was near.

Surely, he who had forsaken her had fallen into the devil’s cauldron, so this must be a deceitful ploy from a filthy hell.

A large, red soul-form swept through the ruins, its long tail trailing like mist.

At last, the king’s lips trembled.

-······Traitor. Betrayer. Rebel.

The one who led the great nation of Unio to ruin.

-I will tear you filthy bastards all to pieces.

-Kwarururu! Kwagwagwagang!

At Hanan’s mere glance, the already half-destroyed temple of the lord’s castle screamed and collapsed from its pillars.

Then, someone spoke to her in a troubled voice.

A very young and clear tone.

‘Um, you know. Thanks for helping me today.’

-With what.

‘With what?’

‘Earlier, that… for punishing the kids who were bullying me. I saw you from behind.’

‘Why watch secretly like a fool?’

‘······.’

‘Next time, come out and watch proudly. You’ve done nothing wrong.’

-······Keuk······.

The king’s soul staggered greatly and stopped in its place.

Though over a thousand years had passed since she ceased to breathe, she felt strangely breathless and dizzy.

This was not the rampage of a holy knight, nor the belated frenzy of one betrayed.

The ruins of the lord’s castle, filling her vision, bled out red like her last bloodstain.

The boy continued to speak to her.

‘My name is Mateus Roseharder. What’s your name?’

Why?

-How dare you. Can you not shut your mouth?

‘Hanan Lumayian.’

‘······Hanan. Hanan.’

‘Don’t you know who I am?’

The four-year-old princess from beyond shattered memories asked with an arrogant expression.

Then, the boy, round as a bear, rolled the name around in his mouth before smiling shyly.

His swollen cheeks were bruised blue. It was a day when rain fell in the desert.

‘I know.’

‘······.’

‘We’ve been studying together here, of course, I know.’

‘······.’

‘Hanan Lumayian. A strong and beautiful name.’

-Kukung!

-Heok······!

The king’s pupils trembled as if about to shatter.

Her pupils, dilated to the extreme, opened a pitch-black maw as if trying to draw out the darkness of the unconscious.

Hanan stopped in place, clutching her forehead and turban tightly.

The ornate accessories shook wildly, like her precarious sanity.

‘Kwagagang! Kugugugung······!’ Each time Hanan flailed her other hand to avoid collapsing, thorny vines filled with poison spewed out from all directions.

She gritted her teeth and glared ahead.

‘His Holiness is dining.’

‘Hanan, are you busy?’

But the phantom did not stop. Why on earth?

‘By any chance… are you close to Marquis Yuri Venetian?’

‘That’s a strange question. The Marquis and I maintain a proper distance. He is a good advisor.’

······Did such a memory exist? When did this shatter into gold dust?

Why does the rose leave its fragrance even where the flower has fallen?

‘What do you expect the relationship between a young king and an old chancellor to be?’

‘······Just.’

The young man in violet plain clothes smiled awkwardly.

His gentle sandalwood-colored eyes blinked, unsure of what to do.

For some reason, he looked terrified.

‘Don’t, don’t trust him too much. You can’t know what politicians are thinking.’

‘What?’

‘There’s a rumor that the Marquis is funding a suspicious organization… Well, that’s the rumor. I don’t have any proof, though.’

Why didn’t I realize it that day?

‘That’s a common saying in political circles. Who’s aligned with whom. Who’s secretly sponsoring whom.’

-Shut that mouth!

-Kugugung······!

This was torture.

Whatever its true nature, these shards of gold dust were nothing short of torture for the current Hanan Lumayian.

‘You’re a really clumsy advisor, Els. Come back when you have plausible evidence.’

‘Hahaha, okay. I understand.’

‘I’m getting hungry. Let’s go to the temple.’

‘Good heavens. Are you going to dine at the Vatican again?’

-I commanded you to shut that mouth!

-Kwagagang―!

Though she had long lost the ability to taste, a bitter, bloody taste lingered in her mouth.

The king’s jaw muscles, strained with force, trembled as if about to burst.

Hanan unconsciously stretched out her arms, groping the air.

She was reaching for her scythe and whip. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to control the Aether [the classical element thought to fill the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere].

The gap in time was dizzyingly wide.

‘Hanan! We must meet again!’

In the next illusion, a man in a carriage shouted until his throat was hoarse.

The ancient king could not even be sure whether this was her recollection or a wish.

Perhaps it was their last meeting.

‘I’ll go before it’s too late! I promise!’

‘······!’

Then, the king’s mouth opened wide, and a silent scream erupted.

‘Haaaak······!’ Hanan tore wildly at her chest, where her heart once beat, and screamed.

She no longer remembered what she had answered that day, whether she had given him an answer.

The king, armed from head to toe, sent the Pope away like that.

-Hwareureureuk!

Starting with him, black flames ignited on the fragments of the past.

‘Chiiiik······.’ Beyond the edges melting away in black, the priest continued to shout.

The monarch realized that he had been crying that day.

Too late.

‘Lord God! My king, please be careful! Trust no one but Duke Lazar!’

From where to where did things go wrong. What did she not know, and what did she know.

‘No matter what happens, I’ll stop it!’

‘Your Holiness! It’s dangerous to lean out like that!’

‘I’ll stop it! Don’t worry!’

‘······Hmph. That guy’s a scaredy-cat, but he’s got a loud voice.’

No, did she even know anything properly. The next moment―

-Kwadang!

‘Your Majesty! Hanan Your Majesty, urgent news!’

‘Marquis Yuri Venetian has sent a letter of ultimatum. But it has the seal of His Holiness Mateus on it······!’

‘What?’

The royal palace turned into chaos. The king, pale with fright, snatched the letter.

Soon, a familiar handwriting filled her vision.

‘The Great Charter of Judgment’.

Hmchit! At the same time, her time was mercilessly chased back to reality.

-Heok, how dare you······!

-Kwakwakwakwa!

Suddenly, at the title of the document that flashed through her mind, the king flailed both hands as if convulsing.

Her eyes, returning to today without warning, were once again just ruins.

The sky, stained with a thousand years of wrath, cast its shadow, and around the cardinal were only the traces of rotten plants and remaining buildings like ruins.

Hanan haltingly repeated the contents she had just read.

Her lingering soul was doing so, even if she truly did not want to.

‘I, Pope Mateus Els Roseharder, betrayed Hanan Yusuf Lumayian, the King of the Great Unio, and remained alone in the Temple of the Boundary to preserve my cheap life.’

‘Therefore, I dedicate my vessel and my whole body to save her descendants.’

And in an instant, Hanan’s pupils went blank. A low tone flowed out like a dirge.

-······No one wanted such a price.

‘There was a minority faction in Unio that sought to usurp the divinity of the Lord God and conducted impure research, and their base could not be found no matter what I did for a long time. Therefore, their existence was only conveyed in words, like a mirage without substance, and the king and nobles knew this, but they only regarded their namelessness as insignificant. I also learned who was behind them only after too much time had passed.’

‘It was Chancellor Yuri Venetian.’

-Why didn’t you tell me······?

The king asked in a hollow voice.

Of course, there was no answer.

‘But Venetian was as cunning as a viper and as shrewd as a jackal, leaving no trace under the shadows. I could not find a way to accuse the chancellor of a nation with only suspicion, and as Pope and friend of the king, I had to consider what repercussions such an act would bring. The Marquis had a thousand retainers, and tens of thousands of innocent people in his vast territory.’

‘Before long, he realized that I knew his secret.’

-Haa, how······. Why······.

‘The seasoned Marquis Venetian coiled around and began to strangle me. Everything happened in an instant.’

‘My mother and family were taken hostage in the Rose Garden. I couldn’t tell Hanan.’

-Why couldn’t you trust me! Why!

-Jjaenggeurang! Kwagwagwagwa······!

“Your Majesty······!”

‘I will never forget the moment when Yuri Venetian looked me straight in the eye and said this.’

-What were you lacking! What did you lack that you were only being taken advantage of by him!

-Kwaaang······! Papapat!

-Els!

“Your Majesty! Please······!”

‘Respected Holiness, I intend to build a divine nation on this land. What kind of nation is a divine nation? It’s simple. It is a nation where anyone who is qualified can become a god.’

‘In this way, the Pope will become the Chancellor of the future divine nation.’

‘The old god will die, and a new god will be born. In my territory.’

-What were you thinking, being so foolish! Come before me this instant and confess!

“Your Majesty! Hanan Your Majesty!”

‘I had to devise a way to save my friend while keeping my family alive and, at the same time, thwarting his plot. I had to.’

‘Even if it meant deceiving the king and being cursed by her forever.’

No!

-Aaaaaaak······!

[Your Majesty! Please calm down, I implore you!]

-Taang!

Followed by the clear weeping of a staff hitting the floor―

-Paaaaaaat!

-Kut!

‘Swaaaaa······!’ Several huge golden pillars rose before Hanan’s eyes.

It was part of the temple, taller than her huge body and thicker than her large turban.

As soon as the vast foundation stone spread out at her feet, the king was startled and stepped back.

At the same time, beautiful rose vines climbed the temple roof with terrifying momentum.

Her already large eyes widened like lanterns. It was exactly the same without an inch of error.

The colonnade where she first spoke to the boy, exactly the same place······.

[Your Majesty! It’s me, Yesuh!]

-Kkiaaa!

-Ha······!

Finally, her breath burst out.

In the place where she had been looking down for a long time, the child holding the roots of the temple was standing.

The messengers of the Lord God were circling around the young child’s feet, looking up at her with worried eyes.

The Aether, which had been running wild like a wild horse, calmed down as if it were a lie.

-Haa······. Ha······.

[Your Majesty? Are you alright?]

At the same time, from behind the exalted vessel, someone walked out, step by step.

Hanan looked at him for a very long time.

“Ha, Hanan Your Majesty! I’ve come too. My father sent people all the way here······!”

-······.

The descendant of Mateus Roseharder. It was Sant.