Chapter 72 Part 4: The End. My Light, My Soul

A month had passed.

It was a busy time.

At the end of it awaited an already foreseen event.

Caron declared himself Emperor.

He was also the sole heir.

There was no Emperor, no Empress.

The victor had already been decided after a brief succession struggle.

Caron had legitimate justification, status, and public opinion on his side.

The flow was naturally created.

The Archducal procession extended all the way to the capital.

The gates of the capital city, Delphinad, opened wide for them.

Roar- Cheers. Confetti fluttering in the streets.

The Imperial Guard lined up, and many nobles bowed their heads.

To the people, Caron was the one who had saved the saint.

And the ruler who would newly lead the empire in place of the incompetent First Prince.

There was no one left.

No one to stop Caron’s enthronement.

The splendid palace banquet hall.

Decorated with abundant flowers.

The court orchestra played, and the priests of the church sang.

In a gathering of all the nobles.

In the presence of two cardinals and the Pope.

Caron declared to everyone.

“As of today, I will newly lead the empire…”

There would be no more wars.

He would break the chains of discrimination and oppression and create a nation where everyone could live together.

His words continued after that.

The new Emperor was young.

He was the Archduke of Elchen. The Second Prince of the neglected Imperial Family.

One who had fought countless wars and ended a long civil war.

The one who had won the battle for the throne.

His cool demeanor matched his atmosphere.

The Emperor, Cayron Winslet, exuded an aura of invincibility.

He was the antithesis of the establishment, almost self-made, and he would not tolerate any challenges.

Powerful martial prowess and military strength. His loyal vassals.

Above all, the beautiful woman beside him.

The saint was with him.

The saint, Rosa Anencia, was a woman with a gentle aura.

Soft silver hair that curled to her waist. A fragile and gentle smile.

The eyes that looked at the Emperor were full of affection that she couldn’t hide.

The new head of the Imperial Palace, Hamel, proclaimed loudly.

“Long live His Imperial Majesty!”

“Long live!”

“Long live!”

The nobles shouted long live, and after that, there was a long applause.

Thus, Caron’s coronation ceremony was held.

It was the coronation of the second Emperor of the Winslet Empire, Cayron Winslet.

It had been four months since Rosa became pregnant.

Now, surprisingly, her belly was slightly showing.

They say that first-time mothers start showing around this time.

When Rosa said that.

[I want to go to the capital too.]

[No.]

Naturally, Caron refused in one fell swoop.

But Rosa wouldn’t budge.

At least not this time.

“…You always leave me behind.”

She was honestly, helplessly upset.

And so.

Sometimes, Rosa was cunning.

It was after she became pregnant.

Suddenly, Rosa realized something.

Just as she was very weak to Caron, Caron was the same to her.

Caron acted as if his every move depended on her slightest action.

In truth, it wasn’t intentional.

One day, tears just came to her eyes.

When Caron was leaving for work.

She was simply upset, and tears came to her eyes.

Caron was extremely flustered.

“…Rosa?”

Rosa was upset because he was too busy.

She was upset because they had little time together.

Of course, shedding tears wasn’t her intention.

She thought it must be because of the mood swings that come with pregnancy.

But Caron was truly restless.

He froze in place as if nailed to the spot, then finally approached her.

He gently embraced her and whispered comfortingly.

“What’s wrong, Rosa.”

‘Don’t go. Stay with me.’

That was her childish inner thought.

Rosa didn’t know why she was like this.

But she clung tightly to Caron.

Then she felt reassured.

Sigh-

After a deep sigh, Caron finally came back to bed.

“Lately…”

Rosa was dependent on him.

Strong enough to withstand a crisis alone.

Yet she didn’t want to be apart from him.

But he didn’t say it out loud, and he embraced Rosa.

Of course, Rosa knew inwardly.

It was childish behavior.

‘But since Caron is embracing me like this…?’

She thought it wouldn’t be so bad to continue like this.

That day, Caron didn’t go to work.

Instead, he went to the greenhouse with Rosa and watched her chatter excitedly.

Fortunately, by some miracle, the glass greenhouse was unharmed.

“I’ll plant bergamot here.”

Bergamot was Rosa’s favorite tea.

The tea she had drunk when she first came to Elchen.

“If I plant it in the fall, it will sprout in the spring.”

“Yes. I look forward to it.”

Caron quietly approached her from behind.

He gently embraced her.

His large hands rested on Rosa’s belly.

Then Rosa’s face flushed.

But soon a happy smile adorned her lips.

After several such incidents.

Rosa realized a woman’s weapon.

Caron was weak to her tears.

Of course, she was genuinely upset too.

Half-intentionally, she blinked.

Then tears naturally welled up in her eyes.

Pretending to be sad. Lowering her head.

“…Sigh.”

Caron let out a deep sigh.

Eventually, through that process, Rosa accompanied him to the capital.

‘Of course, Caron’s coronation is also a factor…’

Yes. This was also one of her goals.

A dignified and young Emperor.

He would wield powerful imperial authority.

She would make it so.

Rosa still remembered.

A winter night with heavy snow.

The boy who lay bleeding.

That boy had grown, and now he had become such a fine young man.

Her precious childhood friend. Lover. And partner.

Caron would become Emperor.

The prince who had been shunned by everyone.

With a trembling heart, Rosa smiled brightly.

Caron held her hand tightly.

It was the moment when happiness finally came within reach.

After the coronation ceremony.

Rosa and Caron immediately met with Pope Semel.

In fact, the purpose of Rosa’s visit to the capital.

‘So…’

In the end.

How did it happen?

The flow had changed from the original.

She didn’t care about that anymore.

But still, there must be a reason why the oracle was given to her.

Why she became a saint.

Usually, after an oracle, there is a divine miracle.

“For example, as it was with Your Holiness. An inexplicable miracle.”

Who was Pope Semel?

He was also a saint, the protagonist of an oracle, and the one who had saved the continent from a plague.

“The healing power I possessed did purify the plague.”

At those words, Rosa asked again.

“How did that power come about?”

“One day, it was just there.”

The Pope, who seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, opened his mouth.

“So. Lady Rosa’s words are, the miracle did not appear.”

A miracle. A mysterious power.

Rosa nodded.

In the original, Freya revives the dead Caron.

That was the miracle, and it was a mystery that could never be achieved without the will of the oracle.

Then what had she, Rosa Anencia, done?

Rosa had not revived Caron from death, nor had she obtained a mysterious power like Pope Semel.

In the moment of crisis.

All she could do was.

“Pray. I prayed earnestly.”

Between a boy and a young man.

White hair. White eyes. And a white priestly robe.

Not weathered by the passage of time, but rather a pure white atmosphere.

As if he had completely left the secular world, as if he had transcended everything.

Such was the mysterious atmosphere of the Pope.

“Hmm…”

But the faint smile he wore.

It conveyed countless experiences and emotions at the same time.

“After Lady Rosa prayed. What happened?”

There was no need to ponder.

Rosa’s gaze turned to Caron.

“That is the miracle.”

It was the Pope’s immediate assertion.

“A miracle doesn’t have to be mysterious or grand.”

A simple coincidence. A precious connection.

“It can lead to a miracle.”

The Pope already knew.

What Cardinal Lazaro had told him.

“Ultimately, an oracle is given because God intends it to be so.”

“What do you mean by that…”

“What has changed the most from the memory Lady Rosa knows?”

Hand in hand, Rosa and Caron.

The two looked at each other.

After much thought, Rosa answered the Pope.

“Our relationship… And. The time we met, I suppose.”

That was where the answer lay.

“Lazaro has already said…”

Cardinal Lazaro had said.

Sometimes what you know may not be the truth, and it could be God’s way of showing a premonition.

“And the most effective premonition is to show a completely different situation.”

Ultimately, the interpretation of the oracle was simple.

Rosa saving Caron.

“But how…”

How had she saved Caron?

Pondering deeply, Rosa retraced the Pope’s words.

‘Showing a completely different situation, he said?’

What was the purpose of that?

There was no need to worry.

To make things go as God intended.

The warmth she felt in her hand.

Suddenly, Rosa realized.

The illusion she had. The different situation that God had shown her.

Perhaps it was really the knowledge of the original story.

No, it was certain.

‘In that case…’

What was the result of that knowledge of the original story for the two of them?

Their first meeting.

It must have been.

The two naturally became friends. Because Rosa didn’t know the truth.

What she had considered important at that time.

Yes. That was also the knowledge of the original story.

Avoid the Second Prince, Cayron.

That illusion had, ironically, led her to keep meeting Caron.

Rosa didn’t participate in the social circles, and instead, she frequently met with Caron.

She was bored at that time, but she felt she shouldn’t go out into society.

So she thought of meeting Caron every month.

Without realizing it, she became accustomed to it. She came to cherish the boy named Caron.

Conversely, Caron was the same.

He confessed to Rosa that he had already liked her around that time.

Eventually, going around in circles, the knowledge of the original story, that very illusion.

It was the reason why the two continued to meet.

At this point, there was already a thunderous realization.

‘Could it be…’

What happened after that?

Slowly, very slowly. At some point, she was smitten.

When exactly was it?

She felt an unusual emotion towards Caron.

But her memories from her past life refused to acknowledge it deep down.

In the end, constantly denying that feeling, denying herself, Rosa ran away from Caron.

Even though she acknowledged her feelings to some extent. Because she thought it would soon disappear.

Because she had no confidence that the two of them could truly be together.

She ran away from Caron.

‘The biggest justification for that was…’

That too was the knowledge of the original story.

Freya had to save Caron.

But what was the result?

Rosa finally admitted it.

Her changed feelings, and the feelings Caron had for her.

Ironically, that conflict advanced their relationship.

Finally, the two gave themselves to each other and were able to have each other completely.

“Ultimately, a premonition, or an illusion, is simple.”

Just then, the Pope spoke.

“A situation that never happened. But by showing it, God has guided you.”

Ultimately, the knowledge of the original story that Rosa possessed.

It was meaningless in this world.

“He has guided you, Lady Rosa, to His will. Think about it. What has changed the most in that illusion? What is it, really?”

There was only one thing that came to mind.

The knowledge that Rosa had, that illusion that didn’t happen.

It connected her and Caron’s fate.

And the intertwined fate. Perhaps because of that, there was one being that had changed dramatically.

‘…Caron.’

It was him.

He had grown stronger much faster than in the original story Rosa knew.

Conquering seven castles, becoming the Archduke of Elchen, and finally winning the battle for the throne.

He had accelerated the timeline by several years.

Rosa, lost in deep thought.

Caron looked at her.

‘Rosa did want to come, but…’

For him, he didn’t need another miracle.

Because he already had a miracle by his side.

He had been saved by Rosa.

Their trivial first meeting, but this long-lasting relationship.

The driving force that moved him.

No matter how great the crisis, no matter how difficult the moment.

Caron endured because of Rosa’s existence, and it was the same even now.

‘If there is such a thing as a miracle…’

It is surely the existence of each other.

“Since you have already obtained a miracle, there is no need for another to appear.”

Caron conveyed his feelings to Rosa.

He placed her hand on his heart.

“My light, my soul. You are already my miracle.”

Caron’s hot breath was exhaled. His beating heart could be felt.

Rosa was at a loss for words.

But soon, there was a realization.

‘Yes. That’s right.’

It didn’t have to be grand.

The two were already miracles to each other. There was no need to look far.

Her eyes gradually reddened. Something hot welled up from her chest.

“Rosa.”

Again.

Caron began to panic.

But this time it wasn’t an act.

Rosa finally burst into tears.

Tears of happiness, of course.

Afterwards, the two returned to Arnad.

The new Emperor, Caron.

But he didn’t immediately enter the Imperial Palace.

The many pending issues were handled in Arnad for the time being.

His father-in-law, Count Anencia.

He willingly took on the task.

The Count was promoted to Archduke.

He was none other than the father of the Empress.

The reason for leaving the capital to him was because a preparation period was needed.

“If it were up to me, I’d want to move the capital to Arnad… but it’s not that simple.”

That was Caron’s current concern.

Moreover, the forces that followed him.

Bariang, Ruslanche.

Such families were in Elchen.

But realistically, it was uncertain whether they would come near the capital.

“If you think about it from their perspective, they’re leaving behind decades of foundation.”

Rosa’s words were not wrong at all.

Caron possessed formidable martial prowess. And a military force to match.

But the capital was not his base.

It would take some time to adapt.

‘Besides…’

Above all, the biggest reason.

Rosa was still pregnant.

“Adapting to a new environment can cause unnecessary stress.”

Such was Caron’s consideration.

Caron, saying that, looked rather tired for some reason.

‘He’s bound to be fatigued.’

The past month.

He had been too busy.

‘Is there a place where he can rest a little?’

Preferably a quiet and secluded place.

Lost in thought, Rosa spoke to Caron.

“Caron.”

“Hmm?”

“I have a place I want to go.”

Caron’s expression was one of puzzlement at her words.

Rosa had a place she missed after a long time.

“Do you want to go? To Eckshire.”

To the place where it all began.