Chapter 92: National Secret
by rosalie“Your Highness?”
“Get away quickly. I’ll be fine.”
I hurriedly moved away from his shadow and stood up, stepping over the fallen statues. Lucas was still sweating profusely while bearing the giant bear statue on his back. The veins and muscles on his arms bulged as he supported the statue.
“W-what should we do?”
“This much is nothing if I transform to my larger form. However…”
Lucas swallowed the rest of his words. He seemed worried whether the exhibition hall could withstand it if he grew large like Eaglin. His upper body gradually bent forward, unable to bear the weight. It looked like he might collapse at any moment.
“Lucas!”
I called out his name without thinking. At that moment, his round eyes with dark circles underneath suddenly lit up and he smiled brightly.
“You just called my name, right?”
“Is that important r-right now? You’ll be crushed to death if you stay there!”
“After you called my name, I can’t die such a pathetic death here! Heave-ho!”
Lucas gritted his teeth and gradually lifted his upper body. The bear statue that was slowly being raised made a cracking sound before tumbling to the floor.
With a loud crash, the bear statue’s head separated from its body and rolled across the floor. An enormous cloud of dust and stone particles rose into the air.
“Cough, cough.”
“Duchess, are you al-alright?”
“Yes, how about you, Your Highness?”
“I think I’m bleeding?”
It was true. When Lucas removed his hand from the back of his head, it was covered in blood.
“Your Highness!”
“I’m fine.”
This time, blood trickled down from Lucas’s forehead.
“You’re not fine at all! Wasn’t the warning letter fake?”
“That part was true.”
“Then why was there an explosion in the storage room?”
“I don’t know.”
Can’t help it. He’s losing too much blood!
As Lucas’s face grew paler and his dark circles darkened, I tried to remove his dust-covered cardigan and reached out to heal him.
“…Ah.”
Lucas stiffened and stared at me. No, more precisely, he was staring behind me.
“What’s wrong?”
Feeling something strange, I tried to glance behind me.
“So the Saintess was here too?”
Along with an unfamiliar man’s voice, I felt something cold against my back. The man behind me seemed to be holding a blade to my back. Chills ran down my spine.
Lucas asked the man behind me with a frightening expression.
“Did you deceive me? While serving as my spy for years?”
“Prince, you were the one who was deceived.”
“Why? Thomas, I don’t understand!”
At Lucas’s questioning, Thomas gritted his teeth.
“Isn’t it natural to follow the money when spying? And what would you royals know? About how we feel, having to dig in the earth like beasts because we can’t afford expensive holy power!”
“I’m sorry. I tried my best to save you all…”
Lucas couldn’t finish his words and lowered his head.
“Enough! Why don’t you just die now? It would have been better for everyone if you had just died quietly in the storage room.”
Thomas’s sharp, long nails glinted beside my eyes. What I thought was a blade turned out to be his nails.
As long as I was held captive like this, Lucas couldn’t do anything. I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted.
“Thomas? Please listen to me!”
“Saintess, please stay quiet, okay?”
“Ugh.”
I could feel the pressure of his nails increasing against my back.
“They’ll pay a high price for you in Bailance.”
Bailance? Where is that?
“You’re going to take her to the Anti-Moirai faction?”
“Where else would I take her? Hehehe.”
Thomas twisted my arm behind my back and pulled.
“Urgh.”
This person is trying to leave right now!
Thomas pulled out a dagger from his clothes with his other hand and aimed to throw it at Lucas. His hand was precisely targeting Lucas’s heart.
What should I do?
[Remember the obelisk.]
“What?”
This wasn’t a divine message. Someone was speaking in my mind.
“What is it?”
I met Thomas’s eyes as he glared down at me menacingly. The black-haired man smelled of earth.
[This is my limit! Hurry!]
Ah.
“The Saintess is… a vessel for Goddess Maha’s holy power… Absorption is… possible.”
The words written on the obelisk unconsciously spilled from my mouth.
I clenched my fist as I spoke those words. Thomas staggered back in surprise.
“Huh?”
Golden light began streaming out of Thomas’s body and flowing into mine.
“Aaargh, what’s happening?”
Lucas’s pale expression as he watched from across told me everything about the situation.
The man who had been threatening me from behind began shrinking. Now free, I turned to look.
“A mole?”
A black mole was struggling, pressed flat against the floor. Finally, everything made sense. All of Thomas’s holy power had been absorbed into my body.
“Looks like he can’t dig through because the floor is solid rock.”
Lucas, who had somehow approached me, grabbed the struggling mole by the scruff of its neck.
“Whew. This… this is amazing. Just like the obelisk said, that is possible!”
“You’re the best. That was awesome!”
Lucas flashed a bright smile and gave me a thumbs up. Really, it’s impossible to hate him.
“Come here.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you for saving me.”
“!”
I gently pressed my lips to his bleeding forehead. Golden light spread across his forehead as the wound began to heal. Through the glow, I could see Lucas’s reddening cheeks.
“That’s my welcome back gift.”
This much should be okay, right, Xavier?
As I tried to support Lucas and leave the history museum, we found the entrance blocked by debris from a partially collapsed building.
“Yuria!”
A familiar voice called out to me from outside. Tears welled up instantly upon hearing his voice, and I reflexively called out his name.
“Xavier!”
“Stay right there! I’ll get you out soon!”
His voice sounds urgent. Now I could tell his state just from his voice alone.
‘You must have been so worried.’
“I’m sorry.”
Lucas muttered quietly beside me.
“For what?”
“This happened because of me.”
“No, it’s because of him.”
I nodded toward the black mole dangling from Lucas’s hand.
“So stand up straight. And don’t ever play pranks with fake warning letters again.”
“I understand. This is the last time.”
Wait, this wasn’t the first time? When I gave him a surprised look that seemed to ask ‘Really?’, he smiled awkwardly.
After several sounds of stones being moved and dragged, finally a hole large enough for one person to pass through appeared. Xavier’s face briefly showed through the gap. Seeing his face almost made me burst into tears.
‘I can’t make him worry.’
Xavier’s hand suddenly reached through the widened gap.
“Yuria, take my hand!”
“…Yes.”
Lucas gently pushed my back.
“Go first.”
“Your Highness.”
The look in his eyes when I turned back briefly resembled Xavier’s wistful gaze when he had sent me here.
As Xavier’s hand pulled me outside, the stronger light dazzled my vision. The familiar and welcome scent came from the firm embrace that held me.
“Xavier…”
“Yuria, are you okay? Huh?”
I barely managed to look at Xavier’s face through half-closed eyes.
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
He held my face to his chest and stroked it endlessly.
“Your Highness!”
“Are you alright! Ah, blood!”
Eaglin and Eli rushed over to greet Lucas as he emerged through the hole.
“I’m fine. This is just dried blood.”
“Your Highness, sob.”
“Eli, why are you crying? …I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Come here.”
They embraced each other, rejoicing in the prince’s safe return.
When I came to my senses, I saw that the corridor was half-destroyed with one corner of the building blown away. It was where the storage room had been.
The mole was put in a cage, and Lucas’s group said they would escort him when returning to Moirai. Thanks to Xavier’s preemptive measures, fortunately there were no casualties, and the incident was concluded with only the museum’s storage room being completely destroyed.
When we left the museum, the first thing that caught my eye was the museum director kneeling on the ground in a daze. Visitors gathered in small groups, looking up at the partially destroyed museum. The area was chaotic with firefighters trying to put out fires and reporters.
We quickly moved to a less crowded place before a bigger commotion could break out.
Lucas extended his hand to Xavier.
“Duke Xavier. I’m sorry for everything until now.”
As Xavier slowly took his hand, he asked.
“Your Highness, why are you suddenly being so formal?”
Lucas’s lips softened at the sight of Xavier’s raised eyebrows.
“I can’t part ways speaking informally.”
“Hmm.”
“Don’t be too surprised. I’m going back home since I’ve achieved my goal.”
“From my perspective, it sounds like you’re running away and leaving the aftermath to others.”
“What?”
Lucas, who had wanted to leave a good impression, was flustered before regaining his composure.
“Anyway, my presence here would be troublesome for you, Duke.”
“There’s no trouble. I know this wasn’t Your Highness’s fault.”
“But the Empire’s citizens won’t think that way.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
The two men’s hands separated. For a moment, Xavier’s expression became completely distorted.
“What is this?”
“Look at it alone.”
“What is it?”
When I asked Xavier curiously, Lucas extended his hand to me as well.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Farewell.”
“Hmm, suspicious.”
“It’s a national secret.”
I took his hand and shook it up and down while smiling brightly.
“I’m joking. Goodbye, Your Highness. Can I visit Moirai later?”
“No, I’ll be busy so don’t come for a while. Absolutely.”
“What?”
Lucas touched his forehead with his hand while smiling with his eyes.
“I’ll cherish it forever. Thank you for the welcome back gift.”
“Ah.”
“Let’s go, Eaglin, Eli.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Eaglin and Eli also formally bid us farewell before boarding the carriage with Lucas. They seemed to want to leave quietly considering public attention.
Xavier was still looking down at his palm, not hearing my conversation with Lucas.
“What’s wrong?”
When I tried to sneak a peek at Xavier’s palm, he quickly crumpled whatever it was into his pocket.
“Hmm, it’s a national secret.”
Xavier changed his expression and took my other hand. His hand was damp with cold sweat.