Misplaced Intentions

A butterfly effect? No, that couldn’t be it. How much could I have possibly twisted the story for the priestesses of the Great Forest to start moving already? It must simply be that the Great Forest and the Empire had begun exchanging envoys long before Chase’s identity was ever revealed.

Chase just hadn’t known about it, so it was never described in the original text.

‘Even the way his identity was revealed back then was purely accidental.’

In the novel, Chase had wanted to see the festival through the window and go out; during that outing, he happened to run into the priestesses by chance. That led to the mention of Dahlia, and upon realizing Chase was her son, they denounced and insulted him in public, exposing the truth. Therefore, as long as I didn’t allow such a chance encounter to happen, there should be no problem.

“Are you alright, Crown Prince?”

When I fell into silent thought, the Empress looked at me with a worried face. I reassured her that it was nothing and left the Empress’s Palace.

The relationship between the Great Forest and the Empire was not particularly good. It wasn’t just limited to the Empire; the Great Forest maintained a lukewarm, distant relationship with most nations.

The reason was that the object of their faith and devotion was not a God. They worshipped Dragons.

There were two mythologies in this world. One was the myth of the descendants of God—the Imperial history that was updated every year—and the other was the Creation Myth.

In the beginning, a nameless being opened his eyes in a void. Feeling lonely and hollow, he began to fill the void. First with darkness, then with light; from the darkness, evil was born, and from the light, good.

Every time he filled the void with something, a new entity was born from it. When he filled it with Knowledge, Dragons were born.

These three were born at nearly the same time and possessed equal power. While not omnipotent like God, they were transcendents closer to humans than anyone else, as they always manifested as guardians of the Middle Realm.

The reason the first Emperor couldn’t swallow the entire continent was due to the interference of the Dragons. They desired that the Middle Realm tilt toward neither good nor evil.

Since the priestesses served such Dragons, they didn’t particularly fond of “Good” (God)—though they preferred it over “Evil” (Demons).

Back at the Crown Prince’s Palace, I remained lost in thought. Why on earth were the priestesses coming to the Empire now?

‘It’s annoying that there are things I don’t know.’

Of course, since the novel revolved around Chase, it wouldn’t have been possible to write about things he wasn’t aware of.

I stood up with a frustrated sigh. Feeling the need for a walk, I headed out to the rear garden and strolled around.

It was nearly time for bed, so the sky was dark, yet light leaked from Chase’s room. Curious about what he was doing, I approached and peeked through the window. He was reading a book.

‘Why is he studying history so diligently?’

Does he intend to become a historian? I wondered what he was aiming for.

As I studied his face, I noticed his complexion didn’t look great. The dark circles under his eyes were deep, making him look exhausted. Come to think of it, his eyes seemed a bit bloodshot when I saw him earlier today as well.

Even while looking through the book, Chase acted somewhat restlessly—clutching his head or biting his nails.

I raised my hand and tapped slowly on the glass window. At the sound, Chase stopped reading and looked around. Upon seeing me, his face went deathly pale.

“Your… Your Highness.”

“Were you reading?”

“Yes…….”

His reaction was far too suspicious for someone simply caught reading. He was fidgeting and looking away like a child caught doing something bad.

Perhaps sensing suspicion in my gaze, Chase’s complexion continued to worsen.

“Chase.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Is something troubling you?”

At my question, Chase snapped his head up, unable to hide his heart. His eyes trembled with a mix of confusion and shame. He definitely seemed to have something on his mind.

“If there is, tell me. I will listen.”

Chase couldn’t easily open his mouth. If it were a worry easily shared, his face wouldn’t have looked so haggard. I waited for him to speak, but Chase’s lips showed no sign of opening.

“It’s alright. If it’s hard to talk about, it can’t be helped. Tell me later, if you ever feel like unburdening yourself.”

I decided to back off, thinking that if I kept waiting while he found it difficult to speak, he would feel coerced. As I stepped away from the window, Chase finally looked up.

“Your Highness.”

I paused and looked at him. He bit his lip slightly and then looked at me with a look of determination.

“What is the reason… that you are so kind to me?”

I couldn’t answer easily. It was because I was someone capable of pity, because I loved this world, and because I knew him—the one who was the saddest and loneliest in this world.

There was no way I could say such things. Even if I did, he wouldn’t understand. Therefore, I decided to put forward the most plausible answer among those I could give.

“Because you are my younger brother.”

At those words, Chase’s expression crumbled. His face looked terrified, then a glimmer of sadness or resignation flickered through, appearing and vanishing simultaneously with various other emotions.

I had expected him to nod or say, “So that was the reason,” so I couldn’t help but be a bit bewildered by the expression he wore.

It was my first time seeing him show such a violent shift in emotion. I froze, unable even to ask if he was alright, and soon Chase regained his composure.

“I see. I understand.”

“Are… are you okay?”

I asked belatedly after snapping out of it, but Chase said nothing. He simply stood there with his usual expression. Was it my imagination that his face looked dark? He stood there looking at me with an unreadable face, no longer showing any emotional agitation.

“……May a sinner like me be greedy?”

“For what?”

“For anything.”

I felt a sense of strangeness in his words, but I didn’t think too deeply on it. Wouldn’t it be a good thing if he became ambitious? Greed is, after all, a driving force that makes a person move.

‘Wait, could it be?’

Could those words be referring to Seimus? I thought they were getting along well; had they already become kindred spirits? Certainly, if he, a commoner, desired the son of a Count—and the heir, at that—it would be something to worry about.

I felt a wave of satisfaction seeing the bond I had fostered beginning to sprout. Is this how a “successful fan” feels? Fearing I might look too excited, I gave a faint smile and nodded.

“What does your being a sinner have to do with having desires? Besides, it isn’t even a sin you actually committed.”

“……Is that so.”

Chase smiled bitterly at my words. After all, fruit is only sweet after a period of hardship. The bitterness Chase felt now would eventually return as a strong bond, so I couldn’t help but be happy.

I told him to hang in there and left. After talking with Chase, the frustration that had been weighing on my heart seemed to lift.

“Ah.”

Should I have told him the news about the priestesses coming? But I soon shook my head. It seemed better not to mention the priestesses at all.

‘He must still miss Concubine Dahlia.’

If he were to take an interest in the fact that people from her hometown had arrived, a difficult situation might arise. If Chase said he wanted to meet them, I would have no choice but to say no without being able to explain the reason properly. Chase would follow because it was an order, even if he didn’t understand, but if resentment started to build like that, a bigger misunderstanding might occur later that couldn’t be undone.

‘I’ll just leave out the part about the priestesses and make sure he doesn’t leave the Crown Prince’s Palace during the Holy Festival.’

With that resolution, I clambered onto my bed. Now that the heavy weight on my heart was gone, I felt like I would sleep well.

The next day, while everyone was gathered in the drawing room resting, someone knocked on the door.

“Your Highness.”

“Yes.”

“The priests have arrived.”

“The priests?”

Ah, have they arrived because of the upcoming Holy Festival? I told them they may enter. At my word, priests dressed in white robes entered the drawing room one by one.

“We greet His Highness, the Crown Prince.”

“Welcome. Have you come because of the Holy Festival?”

“Yes, that is correct. Since you must have grown, we thought you should try on the new vestments.”

I nodded. The clothing I was to wear for the Holy Festival was a tunic-style garment that reached the knees, with cloth draped over the shoulders like a shawl and a belt—roughly similar to clothing from the Roman era.

At any rate, since it was that kind of outfit, I stood up and draped the vestments the priest handed me over the thin clothes I was wearing.

“It’s a bit long. We’ll just need to trim the hem slightly.”

The priests checked every single accessory worn with the outfit to ensure they weren’t too tight or too loose, and they gathered back only the items that had no issues.

There were cases where things that fit last year had become too small, so a few things to be altered cropped up. I wondered if it wasn’t a hassle for the Temple to have to let out and take in clothes every year.

‘I never used to give things like this a thought before.’

Since I used to think it was just something they had to do…….

In any case, only after the checks related to me were finished did the priests look at the people with me. Chase avoided their gaze by looking down, while Seimus looked a bit flustered, not knowing why they were looking at him. Only Ethan held his chin up confidently. The priests examined everyone one by one and then spoke to me.