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“Where is His Majesty?”
Hearing Lewarren’s dignified question, a man who looked like a priest approached. Lewarren and I bowed our heads and did not raise our heads. When the priests of death were recognized as apostles by the god of death, their eyes turned red.
But Lilith’s eyes were purple, and Lewarren’s eyes were black. No matter how hateful our hair color was, it wouldn’t pose a problem. But we’d definitely get caught if the color of our eyes were to be discovered.
Fortunately, they were priests of death, so they liked the dark very much.
As long as they didn’t come very close, we wouldn’t get caught in this darkness.
In addition, the priest of death’s uniform included a hat, unlike that of other priests. Other priests wore hats occasionally to protect their faces from the rain, but the priests of death’s hats really looked like they were made to cover their eyes.
Maybe it’s true that they struggle in the light, as the rumors say.
“Why are you wearing a priest’s uniform?”
“…….”
“Looking at your divine power, I think you should wear different clothes.”
I looked at Lewarren. He looked okay. Rather, it was me who got anxious. I knew that I was just possessing this body anyway, and that I had to leave this body soon. But I don’t want Lilith’s body to get damaged after borrowing it.
Just as Kylian was my favorite character, I also liked Lilith, the female lead. Above all Lilith was like a family to me. I didn’t want Lilith to experience any bad things. I would rather take it if something were to go wrong.
“Oh, are you that Leviathan?”
The priest with a low but youthful voice asked Lewarren.
“…….”
“Hmm… It looks like you’re only saying what you want to say, just as the High Priest said.”
It was strange that there were other such people besides Lewarren, so I turned to Lewarren. That habit was one of Lewarren’s very bad habits. After he became the High Priest, he started not speaking at all for days if he didn’t feel like saying anything. Of course, he wouldn’t do that to me or Lilith, but to his subordinates, and he was often that grumpy. I knew just how much Zisis suffered because of this habit.
“It will take some time until His Majesty comes back. You came through the secret passage, right? Take these to the prayer room.”
I couldn’t see what ‘these’ were. It was because it was dark beyond the priest’s finger pointing at it, so it was difficult to see. Lewarren nodded, and the priest turned away.
My heart raced at this tense situation, enough to scare me to death.
Come to think of it, if the clothes we were wearing were priest’s clothes, what was that person wearing earlier?
Seeing that it looked a bit more luxurious, he might not be an ordinary priest.
“Once we do as we’re told, let’s observe the situation and come back.”
“…Is that necessary?”
“It is, Leviathan.”
Lewarren flinched. Seeing his uncharacteristically conspicuous reaction, maybe he knew who Leviathan was. Then, as I got closer to what the unknown priest had previously pointed at, I could finally see. They were women in luxurious clothes. They had something like a strange hood on their head, so I couldn’t see their faces, but they seemed to be sinners. Otherwise, there would be no way their wrists would be tied like that.
I asked, just in case, why they were bringing sinners to the emperor’s bedroom? Perhaps…
“Did Kylian get a mistress?”
Without realizing it, those words came out.
“It would be nice if he had a mistress.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you meet him, you will know.”
“…….”
Above all, there was not just one woman who was to be taken. There was a rope tied around their waist, and one after another, they were tied in rows like they’re fish strung up in a line. There were about ten people. When I looked closely, the hood on their faces seemed to be enchanted. It was clear that these people would not be able to hear any conversations with the ‘silence’ spell on it.
“Let’s take them.”
“Yes.”
Lewarren grabbed the wrist of the woman in front and stood her up. Then the woman began to tremble and cry.
“Hicc… hicc…”
When she got up, the other women with ropes tied around their waist also began to sob.
“H-Help… hiiic…”
“Help me… ”
“Uaahh…!”
I looked at Lewarren, not knowing what’s happening. But his eyes were different from mine. He looked like someone who knew what’s going on right now.
“Lewarren.”
“Let’s go for now.”
“…Yes.”
I didn’t know what he was thinking. They want us to help them?
I watched from behind as Lewarren led them. It was still dark even when we left the room, and I wondered if it was because of priests of death’s taste. If that’s the case, why did they have a chandelier?
And what I realized as I followed them from behind was that they all wore the same clothes. I wonder where I’ve seen those clothes.
It certainly wasn’t the attire of a maid or a handmaid. Their outfits looked like something a noble lady would wear, but why were they all wearing the same design?
It was obvious that they were scared as they squirmed. However, their condition did not look bad, and their physique was strangely good. Upon closer inspection, there were no signs of abuse.
“Leviathan. Do you know the way?”
Because of the many watchful eyes, I deliberately called Lewarren a Leviathan.
“Isn’t it basic to have a map of the Imperial Palace in your head?”
“That’s right.”
Of course, I remembered the palace’s old interior map. I just stood there wondering if the place that had changed so drastically from the front of the castle gate did not even have an internal reconstruction.
He probably didn’t know because Lewarren had been in and out of the Imperial Palace quite a bit. Even if the other priests were killed, he was an exception, seeing the gatekeeper remembering Lewarren’s appearance.
It seems that Kylian left the place as it used to be.
“Here it is.”
Apparently, they had some internal reconstruction. Because it’s really different from what I know. I had a long time as the Young Duke, so I went to and from the Imperial Palace quite a lot. Above all, my family, Duke Percival, was a loyal servant of the imperial family on the outside.
Until that dog became a beast that would bite its owner’s neck.
“Seems like they have a lot of money.”
“You can see something like that in this situation.”
“It’s an occupational disease.”
That’s what I did as the Young Duke, so there’s no helping it. Increase the estate’s wealth, manage the fief, go in and out of the imperial palace, be loyal to the imperial family, and take care of what the imperial family has done.
There were many more things than that.
Creeeeak. It was dark inside when I opened the door. However, the moonlight was coming in from outside the large window, so it was less dark than the hallway.
“Huh…?”
There were already many people in the prayer room. Usually, a prayer room is a small room, but this one looked like a real prayer room. It was as big as the main hall of the Great Temple and had a high ceiling.
There were already several priests inside. And there were other women in the same clothes as the women we brought in.
I couldn’t figure out what the hell they were trying to do, so all I could do was stare blankly at them with Lewarren next to me. Women with their faces covered stood in a magic circle, so it seemed like they were trying to use magic.
“Leviathan.”
“Yes?”
“Come this way.”
“…Yes.”
Lewarren, who was next to me, pretended to be Leviathan and did what they told him. The priests stood back, then pushed the women into the magic circle and stood around it.
The priest of the god of death uses the power of the netherworld. It was clear that they were trying to use the energy of the women.
According to reports from my days as the Young Duke, they didn’t often kill everything all at once. However, they used the energy of the sacrifices, but the problem was that the energy contained vitality.
The priests of death were said to be mummified alive and sacrificed to the god at death. Then the god of death gave power to the person who’d conduct the sacrifice.
“Look carefully, Leviathan. From tomorrow on, you will have to lead.”
“…Yes.”
Will we be here until tomorrow? I’ll have to meet Kylian before tomorrow, to say I’m sorry, and hide somehow until my soul is released from this body possession.
Everyone stood in a circle and held hands. I didn’t know what it was, but I held hands too and stood around like they’re doing a folk song. After a while, the priest who took Lewarren began to memorize a spell.
“Я голоден. Дом самый лучший. Живи только сегодня. Мясо хорошее¹.”
After muttering strange words, there was a sound of a finger snapping.
“Huuk!”
“Ugh…!”
The women fell to the floor, fainting with a small flurry.
The problem is.
“What…?”
The floor seemed to rise too, and then I collapsed. I think I felt a shock in my shoulder with a thump, but it didn’t hurt that much.
“…s.”
“Uh….”
My body ached as if I had been hit again. In the past, when I first learned swordsmanship, I remembered the day I trained to improve my stamina. At that time, my body was painfully stinging for a few days, probably because I was moving while wearing sandbags.
It was just like that right now. Then my vision brightened, and I saw the back of my hand. My pretty hands!
“Huh…?”
“Anais!”
I couldn’t move my body. This time, I was able to move more than before, but the reason I couldn’t move my body wasn’t because of me. It was because someone was holding me so tightly.
It was too much to move my neck, so I stayed there, but my head helplessly looked down. As expected, the blue hair that I hate to see.
“This is too much!”
“Anais?”
“Ugh…! Who are you? Let me go!”
He then slowly released me and allowed me to sit properly. My mind was clear like my body that had not moved for a long time, but I was still in pain. My head continued to droop downwards, and the man holding me from the front looked somewhat uneasy.
By the way, if I collapsed like that, Lewarren would take care of Lilith’s body, right? It was clear that the side effect of possessing another body was more serious than I thought. I can suddenly faint.
Besides, this looked like yet another terrible dream.
“It’s me, Anais. It’s your husband.”
“HUH?”
My gaze was forcibly shifted as my chin was raised and made me stare at him. There, the eyes that contained golden rays like sunlight—my sun, who I’ve been so curious about.
While gently holding my cheek, Kylian gazed at me with a smile.
—
š The untranslated Russian chant was written exactly as it was in the raws.