Children of the Holy Emperor

Chapter 1: Children of the Holy Emperor

[The 17th Holy Emperor of Delcross, Nathaniel Klein, Nate.]

Apart from the founding Holy Emperor, he was a ruler with an unprecedented level of power.

With a tremendous divine power befitting of a representative of the gods, he was the unofficial youngest Sword Master and the strongest swordsman on the continent.

Under his rule, Delcross was enjoying the pinnacle of stability and prosperity, and the relationship with the neighboring vassal states had never been more friendly. He was fit to be evaluated as a once-in-a-century emperor.

However, he was more famous by another epithet: the [Unprecedented Playboy Holy Emperor].

At the young age of 21 when he ascended the throne, he already had three wives, one lover, and five children.

Now, after ruling for over 12 years, he has over seven children that are officially known. The number of his hidden illegitimate children is unknown to all.

For generations, the Holy Emperors of Delcross, thanks to their image as [God’s Representative], they did not have many children.

The only exception was the founding Holy Emperor, who was known to have over 15 children, but considering that he, referred to as the demigod, ruled for over 300 years, the number is not unbelievable.

Such were the circumstances, and thus this young and competent emperor couldn’t stop the playboy image from sticking to him.

All of this was the result of the immaturity of his younger days. Humbly accepting this responsibility, Holy Emperor Nate decided to properly take care of his children as far as his power reached.

Therefore, he ordered his chief chamberlain to keep a close eye on the children’s conditions, and he worked hard to spend one-on-one time with his children, putting off his busy office hours.

However, despite his efforts, parenting was never an easy task, as growing children rarely obey their parents’ wishes.

Children occasionally engaged in behaviors that their parents simply couldn’t understand.

Let’s take his eldest child, the 1st Prince Owen, as an example.

He was a boy who was discovered when he was already grown, and initially, he seemed very pleased to meet his father after so much hardship.

However, one day he suddenly started speaking nonsense, claiming that he could see some strange documents in thin air.

“Father, I aim to become stronger with the power of this status window.”

Then he set off for the southern front line.

He was a son who was brought into the fold late, and there were many things he wanted to do for him, but alas, he was an unfathomable son who did not care for his father’s feelings at all.

The second, 1st Princess Amelia, was not much different.

She was a pitiful daughter who lost her birth mother, who was an illegitimate child of a commoner, and later discovered that she was a princess and sought her father.

Despite hiding her sorrow beneath a bright smile, she was a lovable girl who rattled on about her interests to her still awkward father.

This daughter of his, who was once like a rosebud, also started behaving oddly at some point.

One day, she woke up crying as if she had a nightmare, her appetite decreased, and she became noticeably depressed.

When he asked the reason for her sudden change during a snack time, she suddenly burst into tears and blurted out something shocking.

“Your Majesty, Father, I… have returned from death to the past!”

Nate was taken aback by her sudden story.

Her subsequent outpouring of grievances, when summarized, went like this:

Leonard, the rosy-cheeked second prince of Rohan, had lured her into a marriage. However, this was not out of love, but a plot to solidify his own kingship by borrowing the power of the Holy Emperor. After forcibly proceeding with the marriage, he openly took many concubines and habitually abused Amelia, the queen. And not much later, he ultimately abandoned her alone in a tower.

“He wished to see me die in front of you, Father, after cruelly killing me…”

“…”

“Oh! Despite your initial opposition, Father, your foolish daughter ruined everything!”

As she broke down into tears, he simply stared blankly at her.

He married you, abandoned you, and killed you?

But, my daughter, aren’t you alive and well right in front of me?

“So, I will have my revenge. I will pursue him to the end of hell. I will shatter all of his hopes and completely ruin him. I won’t forgive anything that stands in my way!”

“…”

Sensing the hint of madness flickering in his daughter’s tear-filled eyes, Nate involuntarily drew a breath.

His beloved daughter, who he had always cherished and believed to be a delicate bud, had suddenly turned into a rose bristling with thorns.

At this point, Nate had no choice but to admit that he had been underestimating the task of parenting.

Do all parents on the continent raise their children amidst such torment, or is it only his own children who are peculiarly strange? The young Holy Emperor held his throbbing head in his hands.

‘Is every parent on this continent raising their child in such agony, or are his own children exceptionally strange?’ The young emperor clutched his throbbing head.

But this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Among Nate’s odd children, the one who ate away at his heart the most was his fourth child and third prince, Morres.

Prince Morres, the offspring of the extremely hysterical Queen Elizabeth, was an ordinary child apart from his uncontrollable mischievousness in his younger days.

Regrettably, he had no standout traits compared to his siblings, and he was a child who could not meet his mother’s expectations.

As a result, Morres had to suffer a rather harsh early education under the Queen who was struggling to make her son the Crown Prince.

In his childhood, he seemed to be following his mother’s wishes decently enough.

But at some point, he began to commit mischief on the palace servants, and when he reached puberty, he turned into an uncontrollable hooligan.

Neither the Queen’s hysterical scoldings nor tearful pleas had any effect.

Nate, too, had no solution, and he could only quietly wait for his son to come to his senses, but disregarding his parents’ worries, the prince’s hooliganism only intensified with each passing day.

Thus, it seemed that the child would forever remain an unprecedented disgrace to the imperial family.

The change came unexpectedly. He suddenly caught a high fever, almost died, and then woke up as a completely different person.

He stopped his mischief and focused solely on basic training in the training ground every day, losing weight to the point of being unrecognizable and his swordsmanship, which had always been stagnant, began to improve rapidly.

His formerly ordinary disposition had now become fairly sharp.

While his son’s changes were undoubtedly desirable, Nate felt an eerie sensation in his heart.

Perhaps it would have been better to have an honest conversation with Morres long ago. However, since the child seemed a little unstable, Nate could only continue to tread lightly as he always had.

And the result of his hesitant approach was an irretrievable storm.

Boom!

Suddenly, with a sound like a mountain collapsing from outside, the palace shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

The cardinals and ministers who had just finished their morning meeting and were moving about were in a state of chaos and rushed out into the imperial palace courtyard.

What they saw was a huge black lump carelessly thrown on one side of the courtyard.

A large wing with hardly any skin left, a majestic body with rotting flesh hanging off, and the black magic energy emanating from the entire body.

“A real dragon……”

“What… what in the world……”

Why would the demon race, known to be wreaking havoc in the eastern region, suddenly fall into the middle of the imperial palace?

While the stunned cardinals were stammering at the unexpected event, the imperial guards and the order of Knights rushed in and surrounded the dragon.

The beast, was still twitching intermittently as if it had not completely expired due to the shock of the crash.

However, they couldn’t approach carelessly because of the fierce magical energy emanating from it. Just then,

“Ah, I didn’t mean to cause a commotion… please, carry on with your tasks.”

A boy dressed in light armor appeared next to the dragon’s head, speaking these absurd words. Light golden hair with a gray tint, ferocious eyes, and a cheeky expression.

“Prince Morres?”

“Your Highness, what exactly has happened here?”

Despite Knight Commander Baltazar’s trembling question, the voice of the boy known as Mores was absolutely cheerful.

“The exorcists from the punitive force said that, unlike other demon species, this one doesn’t get fully resummoned even if it’s slain. Its body is left behind. So to purify it, it apparently needs to be transported to the imperial road where Father is, right?”

“…….”

“But if we were to capture it all the way in the east and transport it, it seemed like our soldiers and the villages would get contaminated with magical energy all along the way, so…”

In short, he was saying that to minimize the secondary damage that could occur while moving the demon species’ corpse, he drove the demon here and dropped it right in the imperial palace, where the emperor resides.

“What an insane….”

A high priest unwittingly blurted out a blasphemous phrase, but no one objected to it.

Everyone had the same thought running through their heads at that moment.

That worthless, pig-like prince had evolved into an unpredictable lunatic!

—Kieeeeeek!

The dragon, using its last bit of strength, roared in an attempt to shake off the prince.

As a response, dark magical energy surged stronger and spread out, making the knights who had surrounded the demon flinch and step back.

However, Morres, who was right in the middle of that dreadful magical energy, drew the sword from his waist with a nonchalant expression.

Soon, a dark aura began to emanate thickly from his sword, Nutcracker.

A noticeable energy was accumulating on the sword blade.

Considering the young age of the prince, it was an impressive level, but the nature of that blood-red aura was overwhelmingly ominous.

Definitely not the aura a prince of the Holy Empire should have.

“I’m going to take down this creature now. Be careful of the magic.”

With his calm voice,

Pshhh.

The prince’s sword pierced the dragon’s heart, which had turned black with magic.

Soon, cracks formed in the dragon’s heart along with a cracking noise, and from there, dark magic began to explode and pour out.

Hwaaak!

In an instant, both the dragon and the prince disappeared, wrapped in a cloud of black smoke.

“Ahhaaak!”

“Your Highness Morres!”

“Your Highness!”

The magic, seemingly about to cover the entire palace courtyard, was blocked by a transparent, silver barrier before reaching the knights who were surrounding it.

The Holy Emperor had set up a massive holy barrier around the dragon in that short period of time.

Sshhh.

The barrier, filled with magic, looked like a black dome. But the magic was purified where it met the emperor’s holy barrier and began to blur, and over time, it started to become transparent.

Soon, only clear air and a whitened skeletal frame of a giant creature were left inside the barrier.

“Wha- where’s the prince?”

Ordinary people would rot away from just touching the magic of the undead demon species.

A young prince without a hint of holy power should not have been able to withstand it, especially being at the epicenter of a magical explosion.

Despite everyone’s concerns, fortunately, Prince Morres was safe. After the barrier disappeared, the boy, who had been cloaked in his own aura, slowly walked toward the emperor.

His nonchalant demeanor made it seem like the magic wasn’t a threat at all. The twisted and blood-red aura was emanating from the prince.

If a stranger saw this, they might have been confused as to who between the prince and the dragon was the spawn of the demon.

“…Your Majesty, I might be out of place, but are you saying that that power of the prince is truly not from a demon?”

Archbishop Benitus, who was standing next to the emperor, asked in a trembling voice.

How dare he suggest that the prince of the Holy Empire was a demon? Normally, he could be charged with blasphemy or treason. The frail old man must have been half shocked, unable to comprehend this.

Nate, who had been quietly watching this incredible series of events, eventually raised a hand to cover his face and let out a soft sigh.

Yes, Morres.

The child who was merely a reckless fool had now become the eye of a new storm, bringing a massive wind of karma to Delcross.

Chapter 2: Became the Third Prince of the Royal Family (1)

Morres Klein, the third prince of the Holy Empire Delcross.

The laughingstock under the heavens.

The unparalleled disgrace of the Imperial Family.

This idiotic prince, in stark contrast to his father, who was recognized as the most powerful emperor in history, was a worthless son who inherited neither his sword skills nor a speck of his holy power.

Most of all, his fiery temperament and vulgar speech, which were nothing like the calm demeanor of the emperor, were too excessive to simply be dismissed as youthful impetuosity.

It wasn’t unreasonable for some bishops and high priests to whisper that perhaps Prince Morres might not be the Holy Emperor’s biological son.

However, an opportunity for change came to Prince Morres, who seemed forever doomed to idiocy.

One day, he suddenly fell ill with a severe fever. He suffered through three days and nights of near-death experiences, but when he regained consciousness, he had become an entirely different person.

“People really can change after a near-death experience,” everyone thought, dismissing it lightly. But the truth was, the prince had a deep secret he couldn’t easily reveal to others about his sudden transformation.

That’s because the one who opened his eyes in the dying body of Morres was a man named Lee Seongjin, a human from Earth.

* * *

From an early age, Lee Seongjin was a boy with a peculiar persistence.

From infancy, he was stubborn about seeing things through to the end, causing his parents, despite him being their only child, to experience an exceptionally challenging upbringing.

“Who on earth did he inherit that stubbornness from?”

His mother would tear up looking at her son who was still stubbornly suckling on his pacifier past the age of four, worried about potential dental issues.

Fortunately, his baby teeth grew out evenly and nicely.

Just when they thought his interest in pacifiers had decreased now that he was in kindergarten, he started insisting on not going home after school.

No amount of persuasion, whether it was promising snacks at home or watching Pororo1, worked.

The kindergarten teachers, suspecting child abuse at home due to his refusal to return, could only return the mother’s awkward smile.

In the end, the routine continued with either the mom or dad carrying the child, touring the playground until he fell asleep, and then returning home late at night.

With Seongjin entering elementary school and maturing a bit, his parents were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. They thought that at least now he was at an age where he could communicate.

That was until one day he returned home with a classmate’s crayons, resulting in a call from his homeroom teacher the next day.

It was a brief period of peace.

“He broke my crayons. So, I toomkis instead.”

“Seongjin-ah2. Hyung-cheol already apologized. It’s wrong to forcibly take your friend’s things.”

The child’s eyes sharpened.

“So, you’re saying if I say sorry, that’s it? What about my crayons?”

“We can buy more crayons.”

“Why should you buy me crayons when it was Hyung-cheol’s fault? The person who caused the accident should take responsibility.”

Stunned by her son’s retort, the mother lost her words. From the child’s perspective, he wasn’t wrong.

After some hesitation, the mother finally said, “Seongjin-ah, friendship with friends is priceless compared to the cost of crayons. When a friend apologizes, accept it first. If you still feel wronged, let’s discuss what to do next, okay?”

The child seemed dissatisfied but reluctantly nodded.

“But, the broken crayons were a 24-pack. Why did you take Hyung-cheol’s 56-pack crayons?”

“That’s for my mental distress. Of course, I should get something better, right?”

She couldn’t tell if her son was shrewd or just intelligent.

After a unique childhood, Seongjin became quiet as a middle schooler, as if he was a different person.

His parents were cautiously watching to see if their somewhat different son was adjusting to school life.

But his uniform and textbooks were always neat, and there was no sign of bullying.

He’s finally grown up.

Seongjin’s parents were overjoyed.

In reality, while it seemed peaceful on the surface, Seongjin’s school life was a mess, but his parents were none the wiser.

While the son failed to acquire the easygoing sociability his parents wished for, he did gain the cunning to conceal incidents and accidents from his homeroom teacher and parents.

For instance, he was unlucky enough to be targeted by a school bully, but after persistently attacking one of them for three months, the bullies ended up trembling and declared a truce.

Or, he stalked a student council member who picked a fight with him for a week, causing the member to develop social anxiety and paranoid delusions, leading to long-term absence from school.

His school life was a colorful journey that straddled somewhere between justice and crime.

Although not an outstanding student, he was somewhat diligent and, at the end of his school life, Seongjin entered a reasonable four-year university in Seoul.

He dated moderately, served in the military after becoming a sophomore, and found employment at a decent small-to-medium-sized business after graduation.

– That Mr. Lee, there’s something cheap about him.

– Really? Isn’t he diligent and good at his work?

He did receive suspicious glances from some older superiors, but externally, Seongjin performed the role of a diligent company worker flawlessly.

Job proposals started trickling in, and he began flirting with a female coworker.

If nothing unusual had happened, he probably would have led a normal life, getting married and living uneventfully.

***

August 2035.

The Gehenna Gate Incident.

As the Stargates, which connected to the demon world of Gehenna, suddenly appeared all over the world without warning, armies of thousands, tens of thousands of monsters began to rush out.

Cities and facilities were destroyed in the blink of an eye, and the world fell into a temporary state of anarchy in just a few days.

After a hard struggle, humanity, focusing on a few militaries that managed to establish defensive lines, began to counterattack, but the scale of human casualties in just a few days reached astronomical numbers.

With most of its major cities destroyed, human civilization greatly regressed as well.

Seongjin, who was on a business trip and was lucky enough to take refuge in a bomb shelter within the defensive line, survived. However, he lost everything, including his family and his life’s base.

In front of this massive tragedy of humanity, Seongjin did not cry. He just calmly contemplated who he should repay this debt to, while watching the endless stream of monsters pouring out of the gates.

Monsters kept coming no matter how many were killed, but this stubborn man never gave up once he targeted something.

Seongjin became a Hunter. He became a professional monster hunter.

After killing a monster, if one touched its corpse, a strange energy-like thing was sucked into one’s body, which the hunters called the monster’s aura.

People who absorbed this became capable of exhibiting abilities beyond human limits. As if absorbing part of the monster’s power.

Sometimes it was simple physical strength, sometimes it was a reinforcement-type ability to create a tough outer skin, and sometimes it manifested as superpowers like telekinesis.

The more monster aura the hunters absorbed, the stronger they became, and soon, superhumans began to emerge who could single-handedly kill thousands of monsters.

Humanity, which had been pushed to the brink, began to slowly push back the front line, and a lengthy war of attrition continued for decades.

The demon world, which ambitiously invaded Earth, ironically faced destruction along with Earth several decades later.

As hunters became stronger, the monsters killing humans also became stronger. The front line, maintaining a steady balance of power, forced both sides to exhaust an unbearable amount of life force.

When the final superhuman squad of humanity stood before the Demon King, who had been hiding deep within the heart of the demon world, the Demon King greeted them with a grim face and sighed.

“So it has come to this. What have we been doing for decades? I feel ashamed.”

Of course, they didn’t care about the Demon King’s disappointment. There was virtually nothing left on both sides to catch their breath and stop this war of attrition.

Total annihilation of one side.

That was the only thing left between the demon world and humanity.

Regardless of his resigned attitude, the Demon King’s resistance was tenacious to the end.

The superhuman squad and the Demon King fought tirelessly for three days and nights, and by the time the third night fell, only the upper part of the Demon King’s head was barely intact, and there was only one human being left alive among the superhuman squad members.

That was the unyielding man, Seongjin, who never gives up until the end.

He strained to lift his now barely moving fist towards the demon king’s head. The demon king, with only his head remaining, spoke in a bored tone.

“This stubborn one. I thought you were the least interesting of all, but I never thought I would die at your hands.”

So, what’s your point?

Seongjin sneered as he threw a punch.

Crash!

A crack appeared on the only remaining horn of the demon king, which was dark as obsidian.

“…Huh?”

Crash!

The next punch sent the demon king’s nose crashing down, but it still lacked the strength to crush his head in a single blow.

Seongjin caught his breath and clenched his trembling fist again.

“Hey! Wait! Just a moment!”

The demon king, whose double nose was bleeding, was startled, but Seongjin just clenched his mouth shut and threw another punch.

Crash!

“Argh! Hey, this is a bit……”

Crash!

“…Wait a moment, you brat!”

No more fists were thrown.

Of course, it wasn’t because he heeded the Demon King’s words, but rather he took a moment to recover his strength, which was no longer being exerted in his fists.

Surprisingly, in the meantime, the flattened nose of the demon king began to gradually rise again. Although the speed was significantly slower than before, a demon king of this otherworld has the ability to regenerate his body, even with only a head left.

An ominous feeling swept over both the demon king and Seongjin that the final blow was going to take longer than they thought.

“Stop with your pitiful punching. You’re not putting any strength into it! Look, human, you can’t kill me like this. How about we have a temporary truce, get ourselves together, and fight again?”

That was nonsense.

If two fully recovered opponents fight, it’s blatantly clear who will be at a disadvantage.

As Seongjin tremblingly lifted his arm again, the demon king spoke in a desperate voice.

“No, let’s just stop fighting altogether! I’ll leave Earth and Gehenna forever. I won’t show up again, okay?”

“……”

“I get to save my life, and you get to keep both Earth and the demon world. Think about the potential of the two merged worlds! You might be able to match the power of a demon king!”

“……”

“If you kill me as I am, the masterless Gehenna will perish, and Earth, having lost its pillar, will gradually be sucked into the gate. Both worlds will end! What does that mean to you?”

Seongjin finally responded to the demon king.

“What’s important to me isn’t this world. Whether you’re done for or not, that’s all that matters.”

Since the result will not change anyway, he didn’t need any silly persuasion.

The demon king watched with a pale face as Seongjin slowly clenched his fist.

Just how many more punches will it take to be done with him?

“Hey, hey! Can’t you at least let me die by myself? I’m losing strength because of the auto-regeneration. Just give me a moment, and I can burn my soul with Gehenna’s flame. I’ll disappear all by myself so you won’t have to bother!”

“……”

“And… I’ll also close the gate. Even if the demon world vanishes, Earth won’t be affected!”

That proposal seemed rather attractive. Lee Seongjin nodded.

“Alright. I’ll think about it after killing you first.”

“How can we converse if I’m dead… More than that, you won’t be able to kill me like that! No, why am I even trying to reason with someone like you!”

The Demon King screamed.

How long had the neverending punches gone on for? As Seongjin was taking a breather, he started to hear sobbing sounds.

“This… This damn brat… I truly didn’t want to resort to this……”

Suddenly, a crimson flame ignited from thin air, engulfing the Demon King’s head. Even amid the persistent regeneration, the Demon King’s skin started to warp in the burning red flames.

“This is……”

Gehenna’s flame.

The deep corrosion of the demon world that obliterates the very existence of objects.

The constant regeneration of the Demon King’s flesh and even his soul could indeed be extinguished. It appeared the rumors were true.

And that means…

“So you couldn’t kill yourself because you lacked power, all of it was your trickery.”

As Lee Seongjin smirked and lifted his fist again, the Demon King flinched and shouted out loud, “…What! Why! What! What’s the difference! I was trying to disappear into another dimension as if I were dead, so what!”

Despite his teary eyes, there was a strange pride in his demeanor. Even Lee Seongjin was momentarily lost for words at this attitude.

“But now everything is wrong. Sob! Yes. I’m dying as you wish. But I won’t go alone.”

The flame that was burning the Demon King slowly grew and transferred to Seongjin’s body. With a surge of intense heat, his body was also swallowed by the crimson flames in an instant.

“Burn along with the noble soul of this Demon King as fuel! I will definitely annihilate you! I’ll burn your soul to ashes!”

In the flames, his flesh warped and his bones were exposed, yet the Demon King smiled, seemingly delighted. It appeared he was deeply resentful for being hit for so long.

“What, this……”

“Hahahaha! How does it feel! The pain of your soul burning! Uhuhahahahaha!”

Even as his own soul was burning.

Listening to the Demon King’s laughter, which sounded more like sobbing, Lee Seongjin examined his burning body.

Indeed, his body, which had become strong by absorbing demonic energy for decades and was not harmed by ordinary physical forces, was now melting away futilely.

Despite the body becoming insensitive to pain due to multiple enhancements, the process of dermis burning and muscle fibers getting exposed was extremely painful.

He had fought countless battles on the brink of death, but this time, Lee Seongjin could feel that he was surely dying.

However, one way or another.

The instigator of the demon world invasion, the target of his lifelong enmity, was finally defeated.

“Uhahaha! Hahahaha……”

The Demon King, who was laughing insanely, abruptly closed his mouth as he saw Lee Seongjin, covered in flames, mile. An involuntary chill ran down his spine.

“So, I guess this is the end for me too.”

With his muscles, now nothing more than skeletal remnants, slowly moving, he lifts his fist engulfed in flames.

“So let’s take one last hit.”

“What!? You bastard… even at this point……”

“Consider it compensation for psychological damage.”

Kwaaaang!

“Aaaaaargh!”

The piercing scream soon faded.

After confirming that the Demon King’s face had crumbled and turned to ash, Seongjin closed his eyes.

In the darkening consciousness, it seemed like he heard a sound of something shattering in his mind.

That was the last memory of Hunter Lee Seongjin.

Chapter 3: Became the Third Prince of the Royal Family (2)

It was supposed to be the end.

- - -

‘What the hell is happening…’

Why would I, who was certain I had burnt even my soul, be lying on a bed, chewing on porridge someone else is feeding me?

[Ha ha ha! This is hilarious! Are you a baby? What are you going to do with this bib?]

‘…It’s a napkin, you idiot.’

Why is this damn demon king, who had solemnly sworn to burn his own soul, making a racket in my head?

The clock winded back a day. As a wet towel caressed his forehead, he opened his eyes to see a mature woman in extravagant clothes, tears welling up as she looked at him.

“Morres! My baby! Can you recognize your mother?”

“Oh, Prince! You have finally regained consciousness!”

Caught amidst the commotion, Seongjin blinked in confusion.

A grand, ornate room. The attentive care of people who seemed to be servants.

At first, he thought he might be in the afterlife. Realizing that the situation was abnormal happened when a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

[Hey, quit standing around dumbfounded and wake up! Are you still half asleep?]

This absurd voice, could it be?

‘…The demon king?’

[Ah, you recognize me! You weren’t opening your eyes so I thought your soul was completely damaged. You know how intense Gehenna’s flames are, right?]

Why is this bastard?

Are you telling me we didn’t finish it all off?

[Woah, woah. Calm down, get your bearings. Your soul is still settling in, you know. This body you just got into, if you mess up, you could get bounced right back out, got it?]

What the hell is he babbling about? If Gehenna’s flames weren’t enough, if my punch wasn’t enough, I’m more than ready to finish him off for good.

Seongjin, gritting his teeth as he tried to get up, found his body surprisingly sluggish and heavy. He collapsed back down. Not only because people around him were holding him back in surprise, but his body was also oddly languid and heavy.

It’s hard to breathe. My arms and legs are too heavy.

“Morres! What’s wrong? My child, are you in pain?”

“Prince! Please calm down…”

Let go! The Demon King is still alive! We need to kill that bastard…

[Hey, your blood pressure is skyrocketing, you know? If you keep this up, you’ll die just as soon as you’ve been revived. Now, take some deep breaths, okay? Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.]

What the hell is this demon king talking about! And what are these people doing, holding me down!

Let me go! Let go!

“Cough!”

Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his back, and his vision started to spin.

“Morres!”

“Your Highness!”

As the desperate cries of the people faded away, darkness claimed his sight. When Seongjin came to, he was still in the same place, surrounded by the same people. And the goddamn voice of the demon king was still echoing from somewhere.

[Wow, I thought you were just prone to bad tempers, but it seems your anger really is out of control.]

‘You, bastard…’

Grinding his teeth furiously, Seongjin heard the demon king quickly backtrack.

[Ah, sorry, sorry. I won’t make any more annoying comments, okay? Let’s just talk, let’s talk. That’s good, right?]

‘What? This bastard?’

Their conversation was still somewhat tentative. But surprisingly, Seongjin, who had been raging so furiously he seemed likely to die from anger, quickly calmed down within half a day.

Because he found out that the demon king’s physical body had been completely destroyed, and only a fragment of his soul remained like a leftover.

He was at a loss as to how to deal with a guy who was nothing but a voice, and getting angry seemed to be a waste of effort.

So he quenched his rage and listened quietly to the demon king’s explanation.

The final battle had completely incinerated not only the demon king but also Seongjin’s own body in the flames of Gehenna. For some reason, however, Seongjin’s soul remained largely unscathed, and the fire had quietly died down.

Perhaps, the demon king suggested in his neutral tone, his soul survived due to the unexpectedly rapid evolution of the flames.

[While my noble soul was mostly burnt away, I have no idea why you remained unscathed.]

“…….”

[Anyway, that’s how I ended up losing nearly all of my power and vigor. All that’s left now is perhaps a vestige of my original personality.]

The point is, he could never return to the mighty demon king he once was.

“Then you should have just disappeared somewhere long ago, why bother talking and rambling inside another’s head?”

At Seongjin’s dismissive response, the demon king sighed.

[That’s not such a simple matter. Do you think I haven’t tried? But I can’t escape. Every time I try to distance myself from you even a little bit, I suffer unbearable pain, thanks to the holy energy around me. It’s a terrifying pain that crushes the core itself. If time continues to pass, won’t even the remaining fragments of my soul disappear completely?]

“Looks like we have a conclusion. Just vanish cleanly. It’s simple.”

[You brat! Would you do the same if you were in my shoes, huh?]

Of course, Seongjin wanted to eradicate even the smallest trace of that remaining soul.

But how could he kill something that doesn’t have a physical form in the first place? There was no way he could summon Gehenna’s flames right now.

Seongjin had a tendency to charge without looking around when he had a goal, but he was not a man to stubbornly stick to the impossible.

Once he accepted the situation, he found the annoying entity surprisingly useful. After all, the former demon king did know a lot.

The demon king, who had regained consciousness a day earlier than Seongjin, had already collected a fair amount of information about this new world and Seongjin’s situation.

Using an efficient method of directly touching other people’s souls and glimpsing their memories, or so he claimed.

Thanks to this, while Seongjin was lying in bed receiving the devoted care of the people, he began to quickly grasp his current situation based on the babbling of the demon king.

According to the demon king, this place was a completely different dimensional world, far removed from Earth or the demon world.

[We’re extremely lucky. We had a high chance of being scattered beyond the void, but strangely enough, we’ve ended up in a main world]

Main world?

[It’s a higher dimension. It’s at least a couple of levels above the imaginary worlds1, like Sigurd-34 Earth or Gehenna.]

‘Imaginary worlds? What is Sigurd-34 Earth?’

The demon king clicked his tongue.

[Wah, such a primitive Earthling class. You don’t even know the name of your own dimension. You don’t even have a concept of dimensions, do you? You should have figured this out before rushing in to die. Oh…these ignorant fools.]

He regretted not wiping out the demon king’s head completely. At least he would’ve been able to slap him around before the demon king could annoy him.

Feeling some eerie energy, the soul of the demon king began to shudder.

But to sense his spirit so directly, it’s a little disgusting.

[You’re harsh. You’re a really ruthless guy. Even though we’ve become soul companions now…….]

‘…Shut up!’

Anyway, this place belonging to a higher dimension is the Holy Empire of Delcross.

A powerful empire with many kingdoms and grand duchies under the rule of the Holy Emperor, who receives the protection of the gods from generation to generation.

The current Holy Emperor is the 17th, and the man would be this body’s biological father.

In other words, he Lee Seongjin was now a prince. No wonder people were extraordinarily polite.

[Your name now is Morres Klein. The third prince and the fourth child of the Holy Emperor, who turns 15 this year……]

‘A child?’

[He’s a very famous troublemaker.]

His mother, the first queen, Elizabeth Asein, is the daughter of the highly respected Archduke Asein, and among the women of the palace, she is the queen with the most distinguished lineage.

She had an unbeatable confidence even in front of the Holy Emperor and Empress, believing without a doubt that her son, who had inherited the noblest blood among the royal children, would be the crown prince to succeed the Holy Emperor.

And that expectation soon morphed into an excessive educational fervor and emotional attachment.

Fortunately, Prince Morres tried to live up to his mother’s expectations when he was young.

He may not have been exceptionally gifted compared to his other brothers, but he at least diligently learned the demeanor of a prince.

However, from around the age of seven, he began to frequently lose his temper for no reason and gradually became lawless.

He ranted and raved at the maids and servants, often resorting to unprovoked violence. When he was bored, he would break things by throwing dishes and items around, and he continually tortured and stressed his escort knights.

During lessons, he would insult and mock his teachers, and after being scolded by the queen a few times, he stopped attending lessons altogether.

The demon king recounted the scandalous history of the troublesome prince as if he was looking at Seongjin’s own shame.

‘But how can you have such detailed information in just one day? Can I trust this?’

[Oh! These are the pieces of information I’ve obtained by directly contacting the souls of the people around us. They are high-quality information that you alone couldn’t gather even if you were reborn. Be grateful.]

‘…….’

After that, the prince’s daily life plummeted downhill.

His once impeccable manners disappeared, and he began to find even the slightest physical activity bothersome.

Eventually, he gave up even his swordsmanship classes which he had somewhat enjoyed, lying in bed all day loafing around and incessantly snacking.

People couldn’t understand why he had suddenly changed. They could only speculate that the young prince, who had so far obediently followed his ambitious queen mother, might have been unknowingly suffering from severe stress.

Over the years, the once noble prince became an ignorant, ill-tempered swine, rolling around due to his severe obesity.

[Then, he suddenly collapsed.]

The incident happened three days ago.

Morres, who had eaten well and gone to bed the night before, suddenly suffered from a mysterious high fever from dawn, and by the afternoon, he had completely lost consciousness. There were no signs of poisoning, and the symptoms were unfamiliar for any disease.

The skilled royal physicians rushed to help the prince, but he remained unconscious.

The emperor postponed national affairs and visited the sickroom, while the queen mother kept vigil over the sickbed in tears all night.

And four days after the fever began, not Morres, but Seongjin, woke up in this body.

‘So where did the real soul of Morres go?’

That was what Seongjin was most curious about. Unintentionally, he had become a spirit possessing someone else’s body, and even for him, who had no spiritual knowledge, this was not normal.

If they unlawfully possessed a healthy person’s body, it would be a big problem if the original owner were harmed.

However, the reaction of the demon king was not so enlightened.

[Hmm? When I woke up, there were no other souls in this body besides us. Maybe he died from the fever?]

So he’s saying they conveniently entered the body of someone who had just died from illness.

‘So what happens if we leave here?’

[Why? Leave? Since it’s a soulless body, there’s a high chance it will just die, right?]

‘…Is there a way to get out?’

The demon king’s response was ruthless.

[Why not? Just die, that’s it.]

‘……’

Seongjin looked terrified.

Certainly, being unexpectedly resurrected wasn’t a bad feeling.

Even when he was about to face death with the demon king, he knew he couldn’t escape annihilation, and he was intoxicated with the sense of achievement of having destroyed the demon world—even though there were some residual garbage that hadn’t completely burnt—it felt enough.

But when he actually woke up, the past life filled with patience, suffering, and deprivation came to him in a different way.

The life of constantly wearing himself down in order to fight, to eliminate the underworld.

Seongjin’s past life was far from what one could call happy.

What about now? Could he really live a new life in another’s body?

Is it okay to consider this miraculous coincidence a compensation for his past unhappy life?

As Seongjin was lost in thought, the demon, who had no way of understanding his complex feelings, was teasing him from the side.

[“Anyway, what if you’re a pig? You’ve become the son of the highest person in the country? Wow, congratulations. You’ve hit the jackpot in life, you.”]

Yeah, this was also a problem too.

Seongjin swallowed his saliva, looking at his massive body sprawled on the bed.

The bulging belly that blocked his view despite being in a lying position, and the thick arms and legs bloated with fat that couldn’t even fully fold at the joints.

He was short of breath and felt tired just from squirming for a moment; this wasn’t just the aftereffect of a simple fever.

To think he had to occupy such a worthless body. Seongjin sighed, recalling his previous body covered with powerful muscles.

‘Is this really a good thing….’

This is what had happened in the past day.

And now, Seongjin, lying on a luxurious bed, reluctantly eats the porridge fed by Queen Elizabeth, as if he were a baby bird, with a napkin neatly placed on his neck.

“Now, Morres, say ah- one more time.”

He was embarrassingly close to death, but at the sight of the affectionate queen, Seongjin reluctantly opened his mouth again.

The demon’s almost breathless laughter echoed in his head.

[“Hahahaha! I’m going crazy! I’m going to die! Are you trying to make me die laughing! Hahahaha!”]

That son of a gun, I will definitely get rid of him someday.

Seongjin swallowed the porridge roughly and then stopped the queen who was about to scoop the next bite.

“Um… Mother (eomoni)? My stomach is full now. You must be tired, I think you can stop feeding me.”

“Morres…….”

The queen gazed at her son with a sorrowful expression for a moment, then lowered her head and wiped her tears with the end of her extravagant lace sleeve.

“That’s right, I suddenly realize that your memory is not intact. You’ve never called me mother (eomoni) before.”

“Uh, um…….”

Awkward as hell!

He had vaguely brushed it off, saying that his memory before the illness was hazy, to avoid any unwarranted suspicions. But every time he talked to the queen, Seongjin was nervous that he might be discovered as not being Morres.

Even now, Seongjin didn’t know how to respond and was hesitating, but the demon who had glimpsed memories from the queen’s soul gave him a hint.

[It seems like you usually called her ‘Royal Mother’?]

I know, but so what.

Since he couldn’t say ‘Royal Mother’, Seongjin ended up having no choice but to respond like this.

“…I’m sorry.”

“What do you have to be sorry about? Your fever was so terrible. Even with the emperor himself administering treatment, the fever did not subside, so as a mother, I was worried that something terrible had happened.”

The queen delicately adjusted her sleeve and carefully held Morres’ hand.

“Just you waking up healthy is more than enough to make me happy.”

When her gentle, warm hand touched him, Seongjin had to work hard not to harden his expression. He felt horribly guilty for having to pretend to be her son, when he was not.

Her real son was already dead, his soul gone, and she couldn’t even mourn him because she didn’t know the truth.

But then again, he couldn’t tell her that he was another soul inhabiting Morres’ body.

There was no chance she’d believe him, and even if she did, it would be problematic.

What if she immediately exorcises him? And if his soul really gets chased out of the body?

He didn’t particularly regret his spare life, but he also didn’t want to commit suicide in such a grand manner.

“But it seems there’s a silver lining to you being sick. My child is sitting quietly with me like this, when was the last time?”

“Hahaha….”

This crazy Morres. How did you live that your mother could be happy about such trivial things?

Seongjin could only awkwardly smile.

Chapter 4: Pearl Palace (1)

The body, which began to show signs of recovery once, quickly improved. The food was also changed from porridge to regular food, and the range of behavior began to increase.

In the meantime, Seongjin spent time doing various exercises in his room in his spare time.

He wanted to run outside right away and do high-intensity aerobic exercise, but he decided that it was impossible with his physical strength, which fell to the floor while lying down due to illness.

‘In addition, if I move too hard right now, it seems like my joints will fly……’

Look at the trembling knees just by doing national gymnastics once.

Standing exercise is also burdensome, but if he run with this heavy weight, the cartilage won’t just wear out.

Is there no swimming pool anywhere? He wanted to train with the feeling of rehab.

As he was clumsily struggling with his arms and legs, leaning part of his weight on the bed so as not to strain his body as much as possible, the demon king comforted him and spoke nonsense.

[Well, it’s better than the first time though, right? It seems that the outline of the face is revealed a little.]

When he looked in the mirror, a huge blond boy approaches him with a sullen expression.

He had grayish blonde hair, and his slightly fierce eyes reminded him very much of Queen Lizabeth.

Although he is overweight, he seems to have grown quite well for a 15-year-old, but since he is not familiar with the average height of the people here, it is only a guess.

‘I don’t know of any change. Isn’t it just a little swelling?’

[Shouldn’t we inspire motivation with a positive mind first? Maybe not? If you keep working hard, will you become a handsome man from a pig? Now, fighting!]

I want to just destroy him. Seongjin shook his head and started his bare-handed exercises again.

* * *

The detached palace where Seongjin is currently staying is a pretty ivory building called ‘Pearl Palace’.

From the outside, it was just a subtle and neat shape, but if you look around, it was a beautiful villa filled with luxurious and colorful decorations.

It is said that the First Queen built it specially for Morres, so it probably wasn’t a normal effort.

It is equipped with all facilities for the prince’s education and social activities, including small but luxurious bedrooms, a private study, a private gymnasium, a private greenhouse, and a private banquet hall. The gymnasium and the library were planned to be visited by Seongjin sooner or later.

However, as a result of observing for several days while building basic physical strength, Sungjin found out that this Pearl Palace is a place where things go a little strangely.

First, none of the humans who reside or visit the Pearl Palace have divine power.

It was a really strange thing. The entire imperial palace is filled with divine energy, but the source of that energy is not visible.

‘I’m sure the area is overflowing with divine power to the point that the Demon King can’t get out of this body without permission……’

However, in reality, Seongjin had never met anyone with divine power after entering this body.

Morres’ body is no exception. The current Holy King, Nathaniel himself, was an unprecedented holder of enormous divine power, but unfortunately, Morres, the son of the most ambitious First Queen, was not born with even a handful of divine power.

Well, it was a very fortunate thing for Seongjin and the Demon King. If Morres’ body had held even a little divine power, the Demon King would have disappeared as soon as he entered this body.

‘… What a waste. I could have sent it completely.’

[This bastard! Do you think you bastard will be fine alone? You are the evil spirit that entered the prince’s body at will! If you were to be discovered by the priest, wouldn’t you be exorcised right away?]

That might be a bit difficult.

Anyway, the Holy Empire Delcross has a strong theocratic system, and its influence extends to the entire continent. In other words, it means that it is a place where people with divine power gather from all over the continent.

However, there are only ordinary people without divine power in the Pearl Palace. Could this be a coincidence?

Not seeing that common healer, it was really strange considering that the precious prince had been brought back to life.

The demon king carefully guessed the reason.

[Maybe it’s because the original Mores doesn’t have divine power?]

‘What does that matter?’

[Think about his reputation. Even though he’s the son of the Holy Emperor, it is said that he has zero divine power. With that personality, he would have overlooked other people using divine power. I think he just went out of his way because of his inferiority complex?]

It’s plausible, but is that all?

[Hey, that’s why, let’s go here. Isn’t it good for us? Those with divine power are particularly sensitive to magic and evil spirits. How good is it without worrying about getting caught?]

Uh, wait a minute.

‘But isn’t Morres’s father doing well? How can the priests avoid their father if they are stuck in a separate palace? In the same palace?’

[… Is the final boss your father?]

Seongjin sighed as he felt the demon king tremble.

I don’t know either. Be it what it is.

Second, the servants of the Pearl Palace were somehow strange.

Pearl Palace is managed by a small number of servants. Excluding the minimum number of guards, the number of people residing in the palace compared to the size of the palace was few and far between.

One dedicated lady-in-waiting, two maids, a resident housekeeper, a chef, and a low-level administrative official.

Even Queen Lizabeth, who occasionally visits Seongjin, is accompanied by attendants, escort knights, and nearly 20 people.

Moreover, even these very few servants were unusual.

First of all, as an example, there would be Edith, the one and only lady-in-waiting.

She was a young lady with short bobbed hair and a graceful face, and she walked around the palace with a blunt expression unsuitable for an imperial court lady.

Every time she go to Seongjin’s room alone, he thought at first that she had a lot of trouble at a young age in a poor working environment.

Even though it is a town without labor laws, shouldn’t there be a minimum number of shift workers?

But this woman was no ordinary person.

Even if Seongjin makes a small gesture, she flies into the room, or she picks up and carries an enormous amount of food by herself.

What a surprise she was when she lifted Mores’ huge body with her slender arms, saying that she would change the sweaty sheets while he was lying down. She initially suspected it was an assassin posing as her handmaid.

Hunter’s intuition, forged by decades of battles with demons, said:

Maybe this woman is on par with quite a few knights.

He thought people here were just like that, but that wasn’t the case. Even just looking at the First Queen, she is just a weak lady who grew up finely, and the same goes for her ladies-in-waiting who follow her when she goes on a journey. Although they were skilled housekeepers, they were all just women with extremely normal bodies.

Why is it that only Morres’ dedicated handmaid is so special?

“Edith, how is Edith so strong?”

Well, if you’re curious, you can ask yourself.

Edith, who opened the curtains to ventilate the room, quickly bowed her head and answered Seongjin’s question.

“Yes, Your Highness. That’s because I’m an Aura user.”

Perhaps because the queen had such a strong influence, she maintained a relatively polite attitude even in front of the prince, who had a dirty reputation.

It can be said that it is a professional attitude that knows how to exclude emotions when working.

[She just said, ‘What is this Pig Prince doing to annoy people in the morning?’ in her thoughts.]

Of course, it was meaningless to the person next to the demon king who was talkative and liked to tell stories.

Seongjin, embarrassed for nothing, cleared his throat.

“Hmm, Aura user?”

“Yes, Your Highness. ‘Aura’ is said to be the power that is the basis of life that spreads evenly throughout the world. Those who consciously collect and use them on their bodies are called ‘Auro users’.”

In response to Seongjin’s basic question, perhaps thanks to the excuse that her memory was not perfect, Edith gave an explanation without any doubt.

“As long as you enter Aura Initiation and be recognized as a proper Aura user, you will be eligible to take the Imperial Palace Knights entrance exam.”

“Uh, you mean that, Edith too?”

“Yes, I also entered the imperial palace at first as a squire aspiring to join the Royal Guard.”

“Squire? So, an apprentice knight?”

Seongjin’s doubt deepened.

Why is a sane aspiring knight doing this in the Pearl Palace?

“That is……”

Edith glanced at Seongjin and cautiously continued.

“That… Your Highness, in the past, treated servants a little harshly……”

In short, as Morres’ depravity escalated, injuries and complaints from employees continued.

The First Queen tried hard to crack down on the mouth, but it was impossible to cover it up quietly as people were getting hurt every day.

And the news reached the Holy Emperor’s ears.

– Can’t control it? Then the prince should hire someone he can’t carelessly hurt.

On the way, the Holy Emperor arranged many servants of the Pearl Palace to other palaces, and recruited a few high-wage servants.

A high salary was offered to those who are relatively skilled in handling the internal auras, and those with skills higher than squire.

At first, people thought there would be no applicants. No matter how high the salary is, it is difficult to be a maid or servant to the innocent aspirants who have come to the capital with a swollen dream of becoming a decent imperial knight.

However, the Holy Emperor said without a sign of great concern.

– There must be at least one.

As expected, there were exceptions everywhere.

Edith, who decided to come without any connection at just the right time and stick around anywhere with just one skill as a user, entered the Royal Capital around that time.

“I took the entrance exam, but it’s a little difficult to roll from the ground in the Knights.”

“…….”

Thus, the strongest handmaiden was born, who could catch a dish thrown with quick wits, fly away easily when a weapon was wielded, and smear fish bones with a knife containing Aura.

The more he listened to her explanation, the more Seongjin became confused.

‘Where did this go wrong?’

[Well……]

It was expected of Morres, who was corrupt enough to the extent that a servant could only survive if they can master Aura, but he also thought that the Holy Emperor who came up with the idea of replacing everyone and hiring Aura users was not a sane person either.

Of course, the strangest person seems to be Edith, who was caught up in it and is acting as an exclusive maid.

“… But Your Highness.”

Suddenly, Edith looked up at Seongjin and tilted her head.

“Are you all right now?”

“What?”

“Before, if you heard even the slightest talk about the Aura, you would get very angry……”

“Angry?”

“You used to throw things all over the place.”

“……”

The more I got to know Morres, the more he was an asshole. Why throw things over nothing? Are you a kid?

Seongjin opened his mouth, but he had nothing else to say.

“… Sorry.”

Edith’s eyes widened at his answer. She looked a little surprised, probably not expecting to hear an apology.

Soon she smiled and shook her head.

“It’s okay, Your Highness. It was also quite fun to catch the flying dishes.”

“……”

Seongjin looked at Edith, who was quietly lowering her head, with a pitiful eye and said to the demon king.

‘She must be a little strange too.’

[I know.]

By the way, it means to come.

Sungjin thought deeply.

Seeing that Aura, Divine Power, and concepts that appear only in fantasy novels actually exist, Lee Seongjin realized once again that this is a different world.

Of course, Seongjin’s world where the demonic gate was open and the war with monsters was also fantasy-like, but at least at that time it was a clear and tangible battle of power.

At that time, hunters became physically stronger even by absorbing the spirit of monsters, and the occasionally born supernatural powers only exercised physical power through psychokinesis.

The same goes for demons. Occasionally, there were those who generated high heat with incendiary materials or those with corrosive poison, but it was only a small fraction, and most of them were just ignorantly smashing them with force.

So, until the demon king tried to burn the soul with ‘the Flames of Gehenna’, Seongjin could not even imagine that such invisible forces could exist.

[That’s because Sigurd District 34 was that much of a lower dimension. The fact that you are unfamiliar with such powers is proof that it was a low-level world where magic and divine power were not allowed.]

‘It’s kind of bad to say it’s low-level. Why are you skipping Gehenna? You said it’s the same sub-dimension.’

[Do you think that all flames are the same? Gehenna is a little different! At the critical moment when we are about to take a big leap, you guys get in the way……]

‘What?’

When Seongjin’s eyes became fierce, the demon king quickly turned around.

[Ahem. In any case, such low-level flame worlds usually have limited spiritual abilities or powers related to the mind. It seems that the concept itself is connected from the Main World, but there is no way to actually demonstrate its power.]

‘…….’

[So please don’t treat Pandemonium Gehena as the same level as a lesser dimension like Sigurd District 34. Because that place was on the verge of transforming into a Regular World.]

Seongjin blinked his eyes.

What is a Regular World?

[This bastard makes a blank face again. Wow, you ignorant Earthling. Dimension, huh? Big, huh? It is classified into the Main Phase, the Regular Phase, and the Flame Phase, huh? Don’t you know that?]

‘Why is this bastard fighting again? Whether you classify the dimension into three or four, is that an important issue in the current situation?’

When Seongjin gets angry, the demon king’s voice creeps in.

[It doesn’t matter… It may not seem like……]

‘Let’s get back to the point. So, how can I use Aura?’

If he didn’t know, Seong-jin felt a strong interest when he learned about the possibility of a new power.

Originally a successful hunter who used to fly around, he was about to die of frustration to be confined to such a dull body.

It seems that there are no monsters in this world, so if he can’t regain the power of a hunter, how about becoming an Aura user as the next best thing?

[I don’t know that either. Because our world is different from here. To explain it with your perception of the earth, there is a difference between hydroelectric power generation and thermal power generation, no, nuclear power generation. That the way the world works is completely different.]

There are things that even the Demon King, who pretended to be proud as if he didn’t know anything in this world, doesn’t know.

At his words, the demon king snorted.

[Hmph! What do you know about that? This body is the demon king and the ruler of one dimension. It’s strong enough even without that!]

The guy who got beaten up by Seongjin was the strongest.

‘Then, what about Morres in the past? Was he a user?’

He thinks it’s already wrong to say that divine power has to be innate, but if it’s Aura, maybe it can be acquired through learning?

He didn’t feel any special feeling that is presumed to be an Aura on this body, but it’s not a very rare ability because it’s a power that can handle not only escort knights but also even a handmaid skillfully.

However, Morres’ garbage power far exceeded Seongjin’s expectations. The demon king seemed to contact Edith’s soul for a moment and find out about this and that, and then he sighed.

[Hmm, it seems that the difference in achievement is extreme depending on talent. There are people who can’t even feel the Aura properly no matter how much they train, and there are talented people who use Aura as if they were breathing since they were young. It’s a pity, but Morres seems to have been the former.]

What did the First Queen believe in and think of making this guy the crown prince?

Seongjin sighed.

‘… Should I do some physical training for now?’

[Cheer up. Life is inherently unfair. For our existence, fighting!]

‘Shut up!’

Prev Title Next

T/N:

I love that little remark about Nate. Seongjin is crazy, but the emperor himself is also unhinged in his own way. Like Father like son.

Chapter 5: Pearl Palace (2)

Around the time Seongjin was getting used to the new life little by little while doing physical training in the corner of the room, rumors began to circulate in the imperial palace that the prince had become a little strange.

It was because in the past, Pearl Palace, which had never been quiet due to the sound of swearing in a loud voice and the sound of breaking objects, was as calm as a windless water surface for several days.

At first, even those who thought that he had no energy to act evil after he was ill, gradually began to notice the change in the prince.

“I heard he doesn’t complain about the food at all? In the past, it was rather rare that the table was not spilled.”

“In the past, he made a fuss from time to time asking for snacks, but these days he doesn’t even look for snacks at all. The amount of food was also greatly reduced.”

The commotion happened gradually.

Until now, the servants, who had been careful with their mouths as much as possible because of the Queen, who opened her eyes and kept their mouths shut, started pounding cubes here and there to avoid being watched as their peaceful daily life continued.

“Why is he so meek? I’m rather anxious that something might explode.”

“They said his memories isn’t complete yet? People don’t change easily. When he recovers, he will soon act like he used to.”

“well. They say that people themselves have changed. He had such a high fever, so maybe his head got a little weird after all?”

“Shh! You’re out of your mind, what if someone hears it……”

And all such rumors were being reported to the chief chamberlain through the eyes and ears densely spread within the imperial palace.

“… What a strange thing.”

After hearing the reports from the attendants, Chief Chamberlain Louis rested his chin on his head and thought.

“It is said that it is not uncommon for a person to have such a complete personality change after suffering from a high fever or trauma.”

Even as the attendant added, Louis shook his head in silence.

Prince Morres’ change was certainly surprising and welcome.

However, the chief chamberlain was rather concerned about the Holy Emperor’s attitude towards him rather than the prince’s change.

He has been by his side every single day since the young Holy Emperor ascended the throne. So, he was well aware of how diligently the Holy Emperor put his heart and soul into managing the Pearl Palace without any variable.

Employees were directly nominated, and visitors were strictly limited. The resident driver who manages the accounting books separately and is in charge of security was also selected by directly reviewing the application documents.

That’s why, in spite of Prince Morres’ sudden change, it was rather strange that he had been quietly watching without any comment until now.

The reason for the change must have been due to the unexpected fever, but would it be too much of a doubt if he considered that this was also under the control of his master?

“It’s time for Prince Morres’s audience.”

He guessed he should visit the prince in person before that and take a closer look.

Touching his smooth-shaven chin, the chief chamberlain made that decision.

* * *

“Did you have a good night?”

“Yeah, roughly.”

If there is a person Seongjin sees most often after Edith, it would be the resident doctor at Pearl Palace.

This elderly councilor by the name of Ninnias was too sloppy to be seen as a member of the imperial palace.

Every time he opens his mouth, the smell of alcohol vibrates, and his nose is red, which makes him feel like an alcoholic.

Such shabby inspiration was a regular checkup, and he examined the Seongjin twice a day, morning and evening, but he couldn’t trust anything he did.

Presbyopia or less sobering, he looked at Seongjin’s complexion with dim eyes and nodded, but it is doubtful that he was seeing something properly.

He felt his pulse with his hand, which also had severe tremor, but his trembling fingers couldn’t even properly touch it.

“Great. That’s good.”

What’s good? Is this person a trustworthy doctor?

When Seongjin, taken aback, looked back at Edith, who was standing next to her, she sighed and replied.

“Ninnias is actually the one who mainly looks after the permanent knights of the Pearl Palace. There was originally a separate doctor for Your Highness, but……”

According to Edith, until recently, several well-to-do members of the Imperial Palace were on duty as Morres’ personal physician.

They were said to be fairly well-known members of the ‘Lyora School’, which is the most recognized in the imperial capital.

However, when the prince collapsed from a fever and was unable to receive proper treatment, all of them fell out of favor with the Holy Emperor and were demoted to lower positions.

He must be touring the slums and seeing plague patients now.

What, then shouldn’t we send a new primary care physician soon? Why are you treating the prince who came back to life like this?

“Kukukuku.”

Doctor Ninnias, who had been quietly listening to Edith’s story, suddenly let out a low laugh.

“Isn’t that what really suits them? Because the Lyora Order always bullshit about them fighting the plague on the front lines.”

At the sudden cynical words of the doctor, Sungjin and Edith eyes widened and they looked at him.

As if he had accidentally said something, the doctor was more startled than they were, and quickly tried to fix it.

“Oh, of course I respect the teachings of the Lyora School, the only tradition recognized by the Crusade of Delcross! How are I!”

[He speaks well of things he doesn’t like.]

The demon king quickly added in Seongjin’s head.

[The old man is now thinking ‘It’s been bad, you Lyora quacks…’.]

Well, even if he didn’t tell me, he couldn’t help but notice that talking about respect was bullshit when he saw the expression on the doctor’s shit-eating face.

It seems to be antipathy towards the school itself rather than something personal.

Naturally, Seongjin had no choice but to ask the following question.

“Well then, Doctor Ninnias. Where is your school?”

The doctor stared at Seongjin for a moment with blank eyes.

It seemed out of focus like never before, but Seongjin got the feeling that the old man was seeing him properly for the first time.

After a moment of silence, Doctor Ninnias shook his head slowly.

“I’m sorry to inform you, my lord. I am a foolish pharmacist who learned by picking things up here and there.”

“…….”

“I was lucky enough to catch His Majesty’s eyes and get a solid job in my old age, but I never really belonged to a school.”

[It is a lie.]

This time, too, Seongjin was able to grasp the true intention of the doctor before the demon king tipped him off. He was an old man with an honest expression.

“Anyway, I don’t think you need to do regular check-ups every day from now on, Your Highness. You have fully recovered from your fever.”

The doctor hurriedly collected the examination tools and stood up from his seat.

“From now on, focus only on recovering your physical strength by eating a lot and exercising freely. And……”

“And?”

“Compared to normal people, it seems that the activation of the Aura in the body is a little weak, so I think that recovery will be faster if you put in effort at least in practicing Aura.”

He had only recently started examining Morres, and it was clear that the old man did not know much about the idiot Third Prince.

If it had been Morres’s original doctors, they would never have said the last word.

As soon as the words to come came out of the old man’s mouth, Edith looked back at Seongjin with twinkling eyes.

“……?”

Girl, were you expecting me to throw something?

Seongjin looked at her blindly, and she immediately grumbled with a sullen face.

“My only pleasure……”

Edith, you’re not a disk-chasing dog, so why are you looking for the pleasure of life in such a place?

Anyway, even if it wasn’t recommended by the doctor, Seongjin was also thinking about starting outdoor exercise in earnest while managing his diet.

“Edith. Could you tell the kitchen to ask for less spice on the food from now on? Ask for plenty of salad without sauce. I don’t mind eating food I don’t touch.”

I’m not in the mood to give you a low-salt, low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet, so I thought I’d have to pick and eat.

How much knowledge do people here have about nutritional components? As far as I can see, it seems to be somewhere between the Middle Ages and modern times.

Edith was unable to hide her puzzled expression at the unexpectedly unfamiliar order, but Seongjin slowly turned her shoulders and added a comment.

“Oh, and I want to go to the gymnasium, can you guide me?”

* * *

The gymnasium in the Pearl Palace was originally a place made for Morres’ private swordsmanship lessons.

Of course, it wasn’t used for a while after he struck his swordsmanship early, but it was kept clean even after that by the administrative officials who kept an eye on the queen.

As a result, at some point, the escort knights residing in the Pearl Palace had been transformed into a comfortable place for individual training instead of a distant Knights training ground.

But now all the knights stopped training and gathered in the corner of the gymnasium and stood with their eyes open. It was because the Pig Third Prince, who suddenly appeared, was taking over the not-so-wide gymnasium.

The prince was neither walking nor running, but circling the entire gymnasium at a moderate speed.

‘What the fuck is that crazy guy suddenly getting wind of?’

The eyes of the knights who were watching the prince who was leading the gigantic body were not very kind.

Unlike the ladies-in-waiting, who had a strong military discipline, they were knights with relatively weak influence from the queen.

It’s not uncommon for them to treat the prince rudely. Even now, some knights openly cast contempt.

However, to Seongjin, who had already set the goal of training his stamina and acquiring Aura, and started rushing forward, the unpleasant reactions of the knights were not a consideration at all. He whimpered and turned around a few times, and without even looking at the knights, he entered the Pearl Palace empty-handed, wiping his sweat with his sleeve.

What the hell just happened? The knights belatedly looked at each other bewildered.

It was a situation where he would have gone crazy at them for not bowing properly, but that fool just quietly exercised and disappeared completely?

The knights blinked their eyes for a moment, but soon resumed their personal training and thought.

‘There are all sorts of strange things in life……’

Everyone thought it was just a whim.

But the next day, and the day after that. The knights appeared at the same time and saw Morres walking around the gymnasium.

“Ugh! Heuk! Keugh! Huh!”

[Hey hey, you’re out of breath. How many laps has it been that you’re already dying?]

‘Wow, such poor stamina……’

Seongjin frowned while panting unsightly.

Originally, he planned to lightly train for a few days to build enough muscle to support his skeleton, and then start aerobic exercise in earnest when he lost some weight……

‘No, I’m already doing aerobic exercise with all my might?’

He’d only walked a few laps around the gym, but his lungs felt like they were about to explode and his heart was beating like crazy. His whole body was drenched in sweat as if it had been rained on.

At this rate, when do you build stamina and when do you learn aura? Slowly, annoyance rose.

The knights whispering in the corner with a disapproving expression were annoying for nothing, and the sweat dripping down his hair wet his eyes and stung them.

He was rubbing his eyes nervously when a dry towel suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

He accepted it without hesitation and looked up to see an old gentleman looking at Seongjin with a smile on his face.

‘Who……?’

The old man was standing with several attendants. Looking at his white hair, he doesn’t seem to be young, but his waist is straight and he’s wearing a neat outfit with not a single button disturbed.

When Seongjin’s eyes met, the old man took a step back, raised his right hand to his chest, and bowed his head respectfully.

“I greet the prince.”

It is an old-fashioned gesture as if it were painted. The attendants following him also bowed their backs.

Seongjin didn’t know how to react and was staring blankly at him, but the old man put on a slightly puzzled expression.

“This… I heard that your memories went missing after the fever, but I didn’t pay a visit. I apologize. Your Highness.”

He never loses his extremely polite attitude toward the young prince. He was a person with a respectful attitude.

Seongjin admired inwardly and picked up a towel to wipe away the sweat.

Seeing that, the old man smiled again, then lightly lowered his head and said,

“My name is Louis Feltre, Chief Chamberlain of the Imperial Palace. I am assisting His Majesty’s side.”

“……!”

Suddenly, someone like the right hand of the final boss appeared.

Seongjin’s mouth hardened for an instant, but the old man, unaware of it, continued with a bright voice as he handed over a sweaty towel.

“It’s been a while since you woke up from the hospital, and you’re already doing this intense physical training.”

“Well, just for exercise……”

“Since the young prince is so valiant, wouldn’t the knights of the Pearl Palace follow suit and become more diligent? Indeed, it is the joy of the Holy Imperial Family, and it cannot be anything but the blessing of Delcross.”

Seongjin looked around with an absurd face.

No, old man. Look at the atmosphere when giving flattery. Look at those knights over there. Don’t you think they’re going to fire lasers right now?

The Demon King clicked his tongue.

[Wow, this guy, is he serious? Is this a bean pod from the other world?]

It’s not like it’s not true, but the chief chamberlain has a happy face as if he were looking at his wonderful grandson.

Seongjin averted his gaze and cleared his throat.

“… uh, hm. Louis. So what’s going on here……?”

Seongjin, who was not used to treating an elderly man as a servant, blurted out his words clumsily, but the chief chamberlain didn’t seem to care.

“After the prince passed out from the fever, His Majesty the Holy Emperor was greatly worried. Didn’t he put off state affairs and inspected the Pearl Palace himself, and afterwards, refusing the healing priests and displaying his enormous holy power, he finally cured the terrible fever?”

“That… I heard of it.”

He didn’t know, but let’s say that for now.

“Fortunately, the prince got out of bed in good health, but His Majesty was not easily relieved and ordered to take a closer look at your condition before the audience.”

“Uh… That’s really something to be thankful for.”

“The prince is still recovering his health, so if you wish, He will personally go to the Pearl Palace during this refreshment time.”

Huh? Yes? Are you going?

Recognizing Seongjin’s bewildered expression, Louis quickly added an explanation.

“Oh, you seem to have forgotten about the regular audience. Since ancient times, His Majesty the Holy Emperor has had a regular refreshment time with the princes and princesses at least once a week.”

“……!”

Does the king of a country have all the time for that?

This is unpleasant news for Seongjin, who wants to avoid encountering the Holy Emperor as much as possible.

“As you know, His Majesty’s attention to his children is very special, and the audience has not been delayed until now unless there is a major event in the empire or an unavoidable schedule change. In the case of Prince Morres, however……”

However?

“There were many cases where appointments were canceled on the day of the audience. For some reason, it was not uncommon for you to send a message saying that you suddenly felt unwell right before the audience……”

“……”

“As a result, recently, it has often been the case that His Majesty the Holy Emperor asked the prince’s intention in advance and personally delivered him to the Pearl Palace. He told me to ask the child if he would do the same this time.”

Morres you crazy bastard! You say you broke your appointment with the Holy Emperor frequently? Is this bastard insane?

Seongjin felt a cold sweat flow.

Chapter 6: Audience with the Holy Emperor (1)

Suddenly, a person called the Chief Chamberlain came and said that sooner or later, a meeting with the final boss awaits.

Not only that, it turns out that this world’s asshole used to habitually beat the final boss fearlessly.

Seongjin was stunned for a moment.

“… Your Highness?”

“Uh… Um, yes. No! I……”

He was so flustered that my pupils trembled violently and his words kept twisting.

The desperation that he should not lose more points from the human who might be the final boss made Seongjin spit out a plausible sentence.

“This time, I will visit in person… Thank you for your consideration… That’s my reply, so please pass it on.”

You can’t tell someone like the Holy Emperor to come and go.

He wished he could know a bit more about how Morres originally spoke and whether this was appropriate for etiquette. Strangely, the Demon King, who was usually busy chattering in his head without rest, is now still silent.

Fortunately, Seongjin’s answer seemed to please the chamberlain.

“Since the prince is so dignified, how satisfied must His Majesty be? I will do my best so that God1 will not neglect the audience! Then, I will soon send someone to the Pearl Palace to give you a message, so please take care.”

Louis showed his courtesy again with a dignified gesture and left the gymnasium with a calm face.

However, Seongjin’s keen eye, trained in a long battle, did not miss the cheekbones of the head chamberlain flinching and trying to rise.

‘What the hell did I do that he liked so much……’

The more he thought it through, the more he realized how stupid Morres was before.

Seongjin, who briefly caught sight of the chief chamberlain’s party walking away with light steps, sighed lightly and turned around.

Because of the unexpected meeting, the break was longer than expected.

Seongjin made up his mind and started walking around the gymnasium again. He had to at least go around a few more laps than yesterday before he could be confident that he was making progress.

Of course, he was out of breath before he had even walked half a lap, putting his firm resolve to shame.

The knights, who had gathered in groups of twos and threes in the corner of the gymnasium, watching the chief chamberlain, did not hide their uncomfortable expression when the prince, who they had expected to return soon, started his run again.

Some showed their annoyance and went out of the gymnasium, while others sat down and pretended to mend their equipment, occasionally sending disrespectful glances at Seongjin.

Up until now, Seongjin hadn’t cared a bit about being cocky or not, but he was starting to get annoyed with the constant hostility.

Even if it’s annoying, I think it’s necessary to take care of the knights once in a while.

“Huk, huk.”

How long did he go around the gymnasium like that?

Seongjin, who had been gasping out of breath and staggering, took a few more steps staggeringly before collapsing on the floor.

“Cough! Cough! Keuk, heuk, heuk! Heuk!”

His vision went yellow.

Wow, he felt like dying.

He didn’t think it was this hard when he fought monsters while sleeping on the front line in Paju for a week.

As he was gasping for breath, a small voice quietly spoke to him as if it was crawling in.

[… Hey. So, are you meeting in the end? the Holy Emperor.]

‘… Huh?’

At first, he couldn’t understand it well because his head was in a daze due to lack of oxygen. Come to think of it, wasn’t this guy strangely quiet from before?

‘I think I’ll have to? What were you doing anyway? Did you get some information from the chamberlain? It was so quiet that I thought you had finally disappeared.’

It was definitely the timing to get angry, but the demon king strangely didn’t react.

[I did find out. I did……]

The demon king replied with a strangely downcast voice.

[The chief chamberlain was a guy with resistance to detecting souls. It’s not easy, so I had to focus.]

Sungjin tilted his head.

‘Detection resistance? You never said anything like that until now. Could the chief chamberlain be a priest?’

[Are you crazy? Making contact with a divine spirit? I’d rather try suicide again.]

According to the demon king’s explanation, detecting a soul is similar to talking to a sleeping person.

When not in a crisis or stressful situation, the soul is usually defenseless, as if it were half asleep.

If you send out what you want to ask there in the form of a thought wave, related memories sporadically emerge from the unconscious.

There was a limit to this seemingly convenient ability, but the demon king could not read the memories directly from Seongjin’s soul. He didn’t even know the exact reason.

[Such a lax and simple guy is secretly difficult.]

‘What, punk?’

So, souls with strong mental power or divine power could not be touched.

In the case of a human with strong mental power, similar to a soul in a state of extreme tension, resistance to thought waves is high.

And souls with divine power will completely disappear the demon king’s soul the moment he tried to contact it.

[In that sense, the chief chamberlain has a very strong ego defense. A person who is strict and has strong self-control. Such a person does not easily recall the memories he wants, and his mental barrier is so hard that it is not easy to break through it without damaging his soul.]

Even so, the demon king tried to get as much information as possible. Sooner or later, he would have to be dragged in front of the most powerful priest on the continent and wait for his disposition.

Will the Holy Emperor be able to recognize the remnants of another world and the demon world possessing his son’s body?

‘So, did you find out anything?’

[Unfortunately, there was no information that would be helpful right away. That old man is, first of all, a very fine-grained person in the imperial palace. He was bigger than I thought. The information he had was so vast that I couldn’t focus on what I wanted to find out.]

Well, at first glance, it seemed to be relevant.

[So, I tried to get a rough idea of the Holy Emperor, right? But, how should I say this, his perception is very biased… That’s why I don’t trust it very much.]

‘Can’t trust it? The information of the chief chamberlain who serves the Holy Emperor right by his side?’

At Seongjin’s question, the demon king’s soul is slightly agitated. Perhaps, if there is a substance, it will feel like sighing.

[First of all, the loyalty the chief chamberlain has to the imperial family is real. To put it bluntly, he’s so friendly even to Morres, who is being criticized for being a scumbag. On top of that, his faith in the Holy Emperor is so firm, well… To put it nicely, it’s loyalty, but in a bad way it could be called fanaticism.]

‘Is it enough to be called fanaticism?’

[Yes, he thinks the Holy Emperor is almost omnipotent, okay? Is this reliable information?]

Sungjin blinked his eyes.

Omnipotent?

[I don’t think he’s clearly aware of it either. He’s just content with himself that he’s giving his loyalty to such a good holy emperor. But at least in his subconscious mind, the Holy Emperor is by no means a mere human being. He firmly believes that he is the greatest successor of all times and the undoubted representative of the Main God.]

‘……’

[But you know what’s really funny? He really doesn’t have much faith in God. He’s not very interested in religion itself.]

What’s with that. He doesn’t believe in God, but believes in God’s representative?

[That’s why it’s funny. Isn’t that a complete contradiction? But that picky guy doesn’t know that! How far can the respect, admiration, and trust in a human go to the extreme?]

Sungjin stood up without a word. Suddenly, his breathing calmly subsides.

In the gentle breeze that blows, his heated body quickly cooled, and goosebumps appeared.

‘… I don’t think this is simply a matter of strong or weak divine power.’

God’s representative.

Since Seongjin was close to an atheist in the first place, he didn’t think that there would be an omnipotent person who actually represented God.

Just that the chief chamberlain subconsciously believed that the Holy Emperor might have something special.

For example, what if the Holy Emperor had the same ability as the demon king’s ‘soul detection’? Wouldn’t the people around him think of him as omnipotent?

Whatever it is, one thing is certain.

‘We, it seems likely that we will be caught. Is there any solution?’

[Maybe? Can’t we just break the promise like Morres did?]

‘That’s a stopgap. Previously, Morres didn’t even show his face, so he went all the way to the Pearl Palace himself. What will you do if they come here again?’

[What if we escape the imperial palace?]

‘I don’t know if I have time to prepare, how can I do that with this low-quality stamina? Besides, with this body, I’d be noticed wherever I go.’

[… We’re doomed.]

Is that all you have to say?

Sensing the demon king’s soul trembling in his head, Seongjin struggled to suppress the rising anxiety.

* * *

The main palace sent an attendant to announce the time for refreshments even before evening. Needless to say, the Pearl Palace turned upside down.

How long has it been since that fat prince went on an official outing!

Upon hearing this news, Queen Lizabeth led a large number of ladies-in-waiting from the Ruby Palace and attacked from the early morning of the day. Soon, the entire Pearl Palace went bustling under the direction of the queen.

Seongjin, who had planned to spend the entire morning at the gymnasium because it was an afternoon appointment, was caught by the ladies-in-waiting with solemn expressions before he even left the room.

“… Huh?”

With a bewildered face, he was taken to the bathhouse and was purified. That too, embarrassingly, in front of the lady-in-waiting!

As he struggled and protested, Edith poured perfume on his head with a determined face.

“Calm down, Your Highness. Shall we finish quickly and have a snack?”

Are you bathing a cat right now?

He stared at her in disbelief, and she tilted her head.

“Hmm, it worked fine before.”

“……”

Previously, he was wondering how she dealt with the temper of Morres, who is was a scumbag, by herself, but turns out he was treated like an animal that couldn’t communicate at all.

“Get out. I can take a bath myself!”

“While you were sick, I always took care of this and that, so why are you ashamed?”

This woman said it now.

As Seongjin showed no sign of backing down, Edith’s expression suddenly darkened.

“Come on, Your Highness. Please kindly cooperate. Do you know how much the Queen will pester me if there is even the slightest setback in preparation?”

As the queen’s visits increased recently, it seemed that this steel-mental maid was under stress without realizing it.

“Why do the maids of Ruby Palace bother to come to Pearl Palace? It’s not even the their’s palace.”

Like saying ‘Things that’s less than a handfull. Fufu,’ Edith laughs with an eerie expression. It was twice as scary because the user was doing that.

He quickly took a bath and came out, pressed by her sultry spirit, and this time, the queen’s ladies-in-waiting were lined up in a row, holding very professional-looking beauty tools.

Soon he got his hair trimmed, his nails trimmed, his eyebrows trimmed, and a fuss breaks out.

“Ah, look at this beautiful hair that looks just like the queen!”

“Oh, you have lost a lot of weight. The contours of his face have become so defined!”

Don’t lie, these guys.

‘It’s just a simple audience? What is this all about!’

Pulled this way and pinched that way, there is no mess like this.

Seongjin, tattered as if he had come through a storm, managed to breathe a sigh, but that was not the end.

A procession of maids with both hands full of clothes and accessories stretched from the end of the room to the outside of the hallway.

Seongjin’s face went pale.

‘Hey, how can I do this? How long do I have to do this!’

However, the demon king, who would normally have laughed at Sungjin like crazy, was in a strange state.

[Fufu. That one near the end, the color should be fine. Of course. Fufufufu.]

‘……’

Fortunately, Queen Lizabeth’s taste was quite noble.

For a while, he was worried about the clothes with lots of frills coming and going, but the finally finished look was quite good from the perspective of a modern person, Seongjin.

The dark blue uniform embroidered with silver thread was neat at first glance, but if you look closely, you can see how much money, craftsmanship, and time have been spent on it.

As if it were not completely empty words to say that he had lost weight or something, the clothes were still quite plentiful, and the ladies-in-waiting were busy mending them for a while.

Of course, no matter how dressed up, it was a beautifully packaged pig.

Seongjin secretly sighed, but even so, his appearance was not so satisfactory in the eyes of the queen.

“Oh, Morres. How can you look so great!”

Not to be outdone by this, the soulless praises of the ladies-in-waiting continued.

“You are extremely devoted!”

“Isn’t it because of the dark clothes that the prince’s gorgeous hair stands out even more?”

“How about cuffs and brooches? How could it match the prince’s jewel-like gray eyes!”

“Ah, it’s a beauty that makes you fall in love at first sight!”

Hey, you’ve gone too far.

* * *

The main palace sent a carriage on time. He said he would prepare without a hitch, but the chief chamberlain was more meticulous than he thought.

As he climbed into the carriage, attended by Edith, two escort knights rode behind them.

‘The imperial carriage is so splendid. It’s definitely a different ride than a car, isn’t it?’

[Oh, goodness. Are you a child? Aren’t you a guy old enough to know that this is a carriage to the nether world?]2

‘Shut up.’

However, shortly after leaving the Pearl Palace, the demon king trembled and called Seongjin.

[Hey, I don’t have a good feeling.]

Seongjin, who had been spread out comfortably, straightened his posture with tight tension.

‘What? Why?’

[Look outside, fool.]

‘……?’

[Isn’t the main palace still far away? But the surroundings are already full of ominous light.]

When I lifted the curtains and looked out the window, I saw a vast panoramic view of the imperial garden.

On the vast green lawn, where the boundaries are not even visible, the imperial palace road stretches wide enough for three wagons to run side by side. At the end of the road, you can see the magnificent and beautiful main palace shining white.

And countless people were filling the large garden in front of the main palace.

Knights wary of their surroundings, aristocrats in groups of twos or threes, clerks hurriedly walking back and forth carrying piles of papers.

And a huge number of priests dressed in shining white uniforms.

‘Wow, this is a little……’

People in white clothes were visible beyond half of the crowd.

From plain robes to extremely splendid robes embroidered with gold thread, the crests of the main gods in the form of the sun and sword are always engraved on the white clothes.

It dawned on me that this place was the den of priests.

[Ah, I misunderstood! I thought it would be okay if I hid well in my body, but I was wrong. It stings my soul like being pricked with a needle just by being close to those with divine power!]

‘……’

Seongjin, who was nervous about the demon king’s fuss, swallowed without even realizing it.

It seemed that many clergymen would recognize Seongjin any moment and rush at them, shouting that it was an evil spirit that had taken over the prince’s body.

[We should have just run away when we had the chance……]

At the same time as the wretched Demon King lamented, the carriage stopped.

He arrived at the main palace entrance, the residence of the Holy Emperor.

------

T/N:

Finally meeting the Daddy in the o3o

1 The word here is 신 and it means god, but given the context I suspect that it’s also a way for a person of his status to refer to himself? Not that he thinks himself as god, no, but more like something along the lines of ‘this servant’. So the sentence might go something like “This servant will do his best to make sure the audience is not neglected”. But hey I’m not the expert in the Korean language so I might be wrong.

2 Meaning they’re convinced they’re gonna die as soon as the Holy Emperor sees them and find that they’ve replaced his son’s soul lol.

Chapter 7: Audience with the Holy Emperor (2)

Stepping carefully on the rocking steps and getting off the carriage, a group of knights dressed in fancy uniforms greeted Seongjin.

“We greet Prince Morres!”

“We greet the Third Prince!”

The knights raised their swords in unison and thumped them on the ground with their sheaths, then lowered their heads in a moderate motion. It was a well-rounded courtesy that could not be compared to the resident knights of the Pearl Palace.

Seongjin’s mouth opened involuntarily.

Oh, that was kinda cool.

Looking at the knights with their heads down blankly, one of them, who appeared to be the leader, approached Seongjin and smiled softly.

“I congratulate you on your belated recovery. Your Highness the Prince! From here on, our imperial guards will serve you.”

He was handsome man with his dark blonde hair.

His well-trained, sturdy body was quite intimidating, but the small, round eyes made his overall impression strangely mild.

“……”

Not knowing how to react, Seongjin stared blankly at him, and the man’s smile faded.

However, as if he had been warned beforehand, he immediately calmed down his expression, put his right arm on his chest, and bowed his head politely.

“My name is Marthain Klanos, a member of the Imperial Guard, and the leader of the 2nd Knights, my lord. It’s really nice to see you back in good health.”

Ah, it seems that this person was originally familiar with Morres.

Well, what can he do? Seongjin smiled shyly, and Marthain smiled softly at him again, and then he turned around and started walking in the lead.

He seems to have guessed that he might not know the geography of the main palace at all. Thinking that it was fortunate that there was a person with quick judgment, Seongjin followed him.

However, as soon as he stepped into the high arched entrance, the Demon King made a sound of pain.

[Ew… Stuffy. It feels like my soul is being crushed flat!]

‘Why? Could those people be paladins too?’

[No. They seem to be regular knights… It’s not that, it just feels like this area is exceptionally full of holy power. The moment I leave this body, I feel like I’m going to be crushed to death… ugh……]

After that, the demon king completely shut his mouth. He called out several times, but the presence of the soul itself was extremely faint, and now it was difficult to even feel its presence.

He made up his mind to pretend he entered the boss dungeon, but he never thought that the demon king would be knocked out so quickly.

Concealing his anxiety, Seongjin slowly walked into the lobby of the main palace following the guides of the knights.

The office of the Holy Emperor was located at the end of the second floor of the main palace.

The wide hallway was relatively quiet, but occasionally people dressed in fancy clothes, who seemed to be high priests, would pass by the party.

Each time, Seongjin was nervous inside, but fortunately, they just stepped aside and greeted politely without any reaction.

‘It seems that priests don’t recognize that the soul has changed? Could it be that we were worried for nothing?’

Seongjin, a little relieved, called out, but there was still no answer from the demon king.

Couldn’t withstand the energy of the priests and perished?

The complete annihilation of the demon king was originally what he longed for. He is the main culprit who led Sungjin’s world to destruction, and the enemy who drove him to death by the Flames of Gehenna.

It’s just that until now, there’s no other way to use your hands, and the existence itself is so insignificant that he just left it alone……

However, when he thought that the demon king had really disappeared, Seongjin felt a strange sense of emptiness.

“Your Excellency Cardinal Benitus!”

The thoughts didn’t last long. It was because Marthain, who was walking ahead of him, suddenly stopped and lowered his head.

A thin old man stood in front of the party, poking his head over the shoulder of the lowered knight commander.

He was an eccentric old man with a long hooked nose and a drooping mouth.

Despite his small and diminutive body, the high priestly hat and the splendid robe embroidered with gold and silver made him look quite dignified compared to his size.

It’s a cardinal…… He must be a high-ranking nobleman, right?

The old man stood upright and looked at Morres’ party for a while, then slightly bowed his head toward the knight commander.

“You don’t have to be so polite to me. Sir Marthain.”

Contrary to his strict first impression, his tone was quite polite. Then, he nods his head towards Seongjin.

“Your Highness the Prince.”

“……?”

What? Something feels terribly wrong?

Saying hello to the escort knight first and later pretend to notice the prince? And with just a nod?

The old man’s attitude was strange even for him, who had no knowledge of Delcross’ culture.

Seongjin’s eyes narrowed. As if Marthain also noticed this, he restlessly looked at Seongjin.

“So, what’s going on in the main palace?”

It is not a question directed at the knight commander who always stands guard at the main palace, but the cardinal does not pay attention to Seongjin and asks Marthain.

Truly, the courtesy was an old man who ate cheap wraps. As he was trying to see how far it was going, Marthain, impatient, took a step forward and warned the cardinal in a low voice.

“Your Excellency Cardinal. You are in front of the His Highness the Prince. Please set an example.”

“Ahem!”

Cardinal Benitus, who made a sound that he couldn’t tell whether it was a cough or a snort, only then turned to Seongjin and met his eyes. It was an arrogant posture with hands behind the back and belly sticking out.

“Yes, I heard that you have been through quite a bit of trouble lately, but it is fortunate that you are still in good shape… Huh?”

Except for the old man talking, he narrows his eyes and looks Seongjin up and down.

Marthain’s face hardened at that clearly rude attitude, but the cardinal’s eyes suddenly widened.

“Huh? By the way, wait… No, prince?”

Then, all of a sudden, he started approaching me with a straight face.

Seongjin realized something was going wrong.

“How… What is this……”

With a slightly bewildered face as if he had discovered something strange, the old man suddenly stretched out his arm toward Seongjin.

Soon, a hand surrounded by strong white light approached my eyes like a rake. It was not an auspicious light even to Seongjin, who was unfamiliar with it.

‘Perhaps, this is the divine power……’

It’s the first time he’s seeing divine power after coming to this world. His heart was beating fast, and all sorts of thoughts ran through his head in that brief moment.

Did he recognize Seongjin’s soul? Or did he notice the Demon King who was with him? What will happen if he touched that divine power like this? Will he be expelled from the body?

If he wanted to live as the prince of the Holy Empire, this kind of thing will happen all the time in the future. At this point, it wouldn’t be bad to try the divine power as a test.

That’s right.

‘Let’s see, so you’re just putting your hand in to get it?’

Seongjin’s eyebrows crumpled involuntarily. He had no intention of arguing with the elderly in every detail, but still, isn’t it a little too much to try to touch the prince as he pleases?

Seongjin, who almost threw his hands away reflexively, tried to brace himself. Those bony fingers of the cardinal looked straight and brittle at the slightest mishandling, so fortunately, before he could commit elderly abuse, Marthain quickly blocked Seongjin’s way.

“Stop it, Sir Benitus!”

Stop. The old man, who stopped moving for a moment, looked at the knight commander with a puzzled expression.

“Do you know what Sir Marthain is doing now?”

It was clearly an attitude of blaming him, but the knight commander was adamant.

“No high-ranking clergy can approach the prince. The Cardinal is no exception to that.”

“Don’t you think that is strange at all?”

“This is His Majesty’s command. It is to protect the prince.”

For a moment, a cool air flowed between the two. The cardinal, who had glared at Marthain for a while with sad eyes, opened his mouth as if lamenting as soon as the knight commander showed no sign of backing down.

“Who the hell are you protecting from a priest who serves a god… … .”

The cardinal shook his head and took a step back.

“Sir Marthain has always been like that. Why are you so blind to his words?”

“……”

“Then see you again. Sir Marthain.”

Then he glared at Seongjin and shook his head sideways. It was more like a snort than a greeting.

“… Your Highness the Prince.”

Then, without seeing Seongjin’s reaction, he hurriedly passed the party.

Marthain was just staring at the back of the cardinal without saying anything, but the corners of his mouth twisted strangely, making an expression that he couldn’t tell if he was laughing or crying.

But only for a while. The Knight Commander, who immediately regained his polite smile, bowed his head toward Seongjin.

“We’re a bit delayed, Prince. Let’s hurry.”

The behavior of the two felt a little strange, but Seongjin soon turned off his nerves and followed Marthain obediently.

All right. He had a big job right in front of him, meeting with the Holy Emperor, so what does that have to do with it?

* * *

“Oh, Your Highness Morres! What a splendid figure you are! His Majesty the Holy Emperor will be greatly pleased!”

Upon arriving at the front of the office, Chief Chamberlain Louis, who has been waiting outside the door, approaches with open arms.

I was hesitant about the over-reaction, but Louis immediately flinched and quickly responded.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Your Highness. You are so compliant and dedicated that this servant forgot his manners for a moment.”

There was a corner where the gentle-looking nobleman was secretly out of his arms. Seongjin smiled bitterly and asked.

“Um… Louis? As you know, I can’t remember… isn’t it? Is there anything I should be careful about when I meet my father? I’m sorry for bothering you more.”

Louis’s face lit up. If the Demon King had read his thoughts, he would have said this.

‘You asked such a thoughtful question. That Sir Morres has become so dignified!’

Thanks to Morres, who faithfully laid his personality to the bottom, Seongjin can do whatever he want in moderation.

“I assumed that the prince would be confused about manners. Thankfully, His Majesty the Holy Emperor doesn’t care much about outward etiquette. All you have to do is call him ‘Your Majesty the Holy Emperor’, and it’s enough if you just show respect.”

the Holy Emperor doesn’t seem to have a very strict personality.

As he was feeling relieved inside, the chief chamberlain turned around and spoke to the door in a loud voice.

“Your Majesty, it is Prince Morres.”

Now, in the boss room position.

Creak.

As the door to the office slowly opened, Seongjin walked into the room, trying to calm his pounding heart.

‘In the worst case, I’ll just be kicked out of this body.’

After engraving that fact in his heart once again through his encounter with Cardinal Benitus, his initial anxiety was greatly diluted.

Then, the vacancy is filled with curiosity, and soon thoughts start popping up here and there.

What kind of existence is the Holy Emperor, who is called the God’s representative? When he tried to imagine it, he thought of the pope in the bread hat he saw on TV before Seongjin’s world was destroyed.

That person was a grandfather, but since the Holy Emperor has a son in his puberty, he must be younger than that, right? Could he be a lot like Morres?

Was he a strong person? Or is it the image of a typically weak priest?

At least it didn’t seem like he would be pushed back in terms of age. Now, he and the demon king are fighting and becoming childish together, but even so, Seongjin was over sixty when he died on Earth.

As he entered the room, half nervous and half excited, swallowing saliva, the first thing he noticed was the gorgeous refreshment set in the middle of the room.

he thought maybe it was considering Morres’ taste. This is because he had seen similar desserts often served in the Pearl Palace.

Beyond that, he could see a large desk with splendid reliefs.

Looking at the documents stacked high and the books scattered here and there, he feel that this is a space for official affairs.

And.

the Holy Emperor stood in front of a large window that opened toward the terrace.

“……!”

Seongjin opened his eyes wide involuntarily.

‘The Holy Emperor? Is that person?’

He was a well-groomed young man.

No matter how you look at his soft features and youthful face, he doesn’t look like a father to an adolescent son.

Short trimmed black hair, simple-looking everyday clothes, and a sleek-looking body made him look more like a well-trained swordsman than a priest.

A man called a priest even wears a long sword on his waist!

There is no tall hat of a cardinal, nor a bread hat like the one worn by the pope. Only the white and splendid robe draped over his shoulders like a cloak made it possible to guess that he was not an ordinary high priest.

If I had to look for a similarity with Morres, would it be the gray eyes that catch the light and shine with a mysterious silver light?

Those warm eyes were still staring at Seongjin.

Is that the father of this fat man?

“Ah… Father?”

Oops! He was told to call him His Majesty the Holy Emperor!

He was so flustered that he had spit out the name that was in his head.

The Holy Emperor tilted his head to the side. He might be puzzled, but there was no expression on his cold face, so he couldn’t guess what he was thinking.

“… Your Majesty the Holy Emperor.”

As he quickly corrected himself and lowered his head, the Holy Emperor opened his mouth. It’s a clean low pitched voice.

“Father is fine too, you certainly don’t have any memories of the past.”

“Yes. That is… It happened.”

Seongjin blurted out his words. Actually, the soul has changed, but since he’s in front of the Holy Emperor, it is strangely awkward to lie.

Fortunately, the Holy Emperor responded briefly as if he did not feel anything wrong with him.

“Okay.”

Then, with strides, he approaches Seongjin. The elongated robe swayed accordingly, emitting a soft light depending on the angle.

He was watching the movement inadvertently, and before he knew it, the Holy Emperor, who had come one step closer, stopped walking.

Up close, he was taller than I thought.

Blink. He didn’t know how to react, so he was looking up at him with his eyes wide open, but the Holy Emperor, who was looking down at Seongjin with an unknown expression, suddenly lifted his arm and stretched it toward his head.

It happened so fast, he couldn’t react.

Clench. His fists, which were spontaneously clenched, are damp with cold sweat.

Did he hear it too? Was he going to die like this? Seongjin closed his eyes, anticipating the end. He did.

Thump. The hand came up to the top of his head.

‘… What?’

Nothing happened.

[Hng?]

No, rather than nothing happened……

[Hnggg?]

That familiar, low-key voice echoed in my head.

‘… Demon King?’

The demon king’s presence, which was so faint that it was impossible to detect, suddenly grew rapidly, and at the moment, a sharp vibration was transmitted. It felt as if my soul was stretching.

[What? Wait a minute, huuuh?]

‘Are you alive? What happened?’

The demon king did not respond to Seongjin’s words. Perhaps he himself did not know. Because the surprise and confusion he felt came through unfiltered.

[Huh? What is this… Oh? Hiiiiieeek!]

The demon king’s soul suddenly made a strange sound as if it was startled by something, then fell back into silence.

But this time, Seongjin let out a sigh of relief because he could clearly feel his presence.

At the same time, one side of the head cools down.

‘What did the Holy Emperor do? Did he notice the existence of the Demon King?’

If he noticed, why didn’t he get rid of him? Rather……

But he couldn’t afford to think any longer. It was because the Holy Emperor, who lowered his hand from the top of his head before he knew it, commanded in a calm tone.

“Sit down.”

And the two dissimilar father and son sat face to face with the refreshment table in front of them.

-----

T/N:

Nothing much to say except that I love the emperor so much T_T He deserves a father of the century award.

Chapter 8: Audience with the Holy Emperor (3)

Seongjin sat down and stared at the Holy Emperor in silence for a while. It was an expression of his will to gauge his intentions as much as possible.

It was the most disrespectful look on his son’s face, but the Holy Emperor didn’t seem to care as he lifted the teacup in front of him.

His face as he looked into the tea without drinking was so indifferent that Seongjin immediately doubted whether the person in front of him had emotions.

The silence between the two was broken when the Holy Emperor set the teacup down on the table.

“Don’t like it? Didn’t you usually enjoy eating?”

“……”

What? Were you suspicious of this?

Seongjin thought about it and called him cautiously.

“… That, father?”

“Yes, Morres.”

In an instant, his pulse went blank. He was nervous about something, but the other person really seemed to have no idea.

‘Well, it’s a bit questionable, but you’re going to treat me like a son, right?’

For some reason, Seongjin felt like he was going to be what he was, so he picked up a cookie in front of him.

If he didn’t eat it, he thought he’d keep noticing, and it’s a pity since it’s already prepared.

Munch munch.

“……!”

It’s more delicious than he thought?

Does the body that lost fat after a few days of dieting want sugar, or is it similar to Morres’ original taste that Sungjin didn’t even know about.

Decades of living mainly on preserved food on a planet that was devastated by the invasion of monsters. The desserts that the royal chef put the soul into were enough to satisfy his desolate taste buds.

Seongjin admired and tasted various kinds of desserts. In the meantime, the Holy Emperor would look at Seongjin without saying anything and would sip tea from time to time.

Only then could Seongjin take some time to observe the Holy Emperor.

‘At first glance, he looks young and docile.’

Perhaps because of his strangely cool eyes, he doesn’t look young at all. In reality, he may not be that young. Edith once told him that aging slows down when an Aura user reaches a certain state.

If so, how strong is he? Even for Seongjin, who had a history of fighting for decades, the decision was not easy.

In the case of Edith and the resident knights of the Pearl Palace, if they could regain some of their physical strength, they were confident enough to try rubbing it without an aura. Needless to say, it is possible to crush if it is in the state of absorbing the magic beast’s spirit.

However, in the case of the Holy Emperor, it was ambiguous. He didn’t feel any strong momentum, but when he tried to find a gap, it was strangely awkward.

Above all, Seongjin’s intuition, forged in a long battle, continues to sound an alarm toward the Holy Emperor.

‘This must mean that he’s strong enough to be hard to measure, right?’

If possible, let’s not stretch out on this guy1. Seongjin made that decision.

After that, an awkward father-son conversation ensued.

“That’s right, how have you been?”

“What… I have been doing physical training, and I am thinking of losing some weight.”

“Good idea. I hear you are going to the gymnasium these days?”

“Yes. First of all, I try to start with light exercise and gradually increase the training time.”

“Exercising too much can actually be harmful.”

“I know. Once I get used to it, I can reduce the time instead of increasing the intensity. Then, wouldn’t it be possible to read some books in my spare time?”

“Books?”

The Holy Emperor’s eyes widened.

It was a meaningful change in expression that Seongjin, who doubted whether he was human because he had no expression, can read it for the first time.

Oho. This topic works. After all, there are no parents who would hate their children studying anywhere.

Seongjin felt a little more at ease and started chattering incoherently.

“Um… That’s why I’ve been so ignorant until now… No, haven’t I lived away from books?”

It’s true that the demon king said so, right? Fortunately, the Holy Emperor did not show any reaction.

“……”

“Then, when I came back to life, I think it made me think about life again. A philosophical topic pops into my head. Why do you live your life. What do you do with life. Things like that.”

“Philosophy.”

“Yes. And I’m also curious about religion. Death and the afterlife, God and the soul, I want to know some of these things.”

The Holy Emperor tilted his head.

“Are you interested in that? I think the first person who got kicked out was the theology teacher.”

No, didn’t Morres just skip all classes, regardless of subject?

“That’s why, Your Majesty the Holy Emperor, no, Father. I have a real question.”

“What are you curious about?”

“Yes. Do you believe your father has a soul? No, since you are the Holy Emperor, of course you’ll believe it…… It’s not like that, in my father’s eyes… Can you see the human soul?”

“……”

It was an impulsive question. It was because of his personality that he couldn’t hold back his curiosity at the moment when he was strangely convinced that the Holy Emperor would not harm him right away.

At the same time, it also penetrated the most fundamental suspicion.

What Seongjin had been worried about from the beginning, and what he still doubts about the Holy Emperor.

The Holy Emperor answered mildly.

“I can clearly see the soul in my eyes. Even if it is not, the priest who believes in the Lord naturally does not doubt the existence of the soul. As the prince of the Holy Empire, you shouldn’t have such doubts.”

“Then what does the soul look like?”

“It is the same as the person he was before he was born. Because the soul is affected by the body until the moment it dies.”

Seongjin swallowed his saliva. Then.

“Then, maybe… What does my soul look like?”

The Holy Emperor did not answer right away this time.

“… Why is that all of a sudden?”

“No, what. I have lived a dissolute life so far, I wonder if my soul has gained this much weight too……”

It was bullshit even thinking about it, but Seongjin decided to be confident.

The Holy Emperor looked at him blankly for a moment with unknown eyes, then said.

“To confirm that, you will have to see your soul come out of your body first. Did you want to die?”

“……”

No, this guy strikes people when they’re caught off guard.

He was wrong……

The audience time passed faster than expected.

Seongjin was never a good social person even in his previous life, but strangely, in front of the Holy Emperor, words leaked out as if his tongue was greased.

Maybe he was such a talkative person, he was surprised at himself even during the conversation.

It’s a quick adaptation compared to what he was nervous about considering the Holy Emperor as the final boss. Perhaps it was because of the relief that came from the disappearance of the threat to life he had been feeling all along.

“… So, while I was doing gymnastics on the floor, Edith suddenly came running in fright. She thought I flipped over and couldn’t get up.”

“Is that so?”

“I think I’ll throw everything I have in my hand, how do I know how to run if I’m holding on something while working out my arms?”

“That’s right.”

“By the way, the tea is really good. I’ve never drank it much, but it smells really good compared to the tea called Melbourne that Edith brew the other day. It really tasted like bile.”

“This tea is also Melbourne… … .”

“… Yes?”

The Holy Emperor was a better person to talk to than he thought, because he silently listened to Seongjin even when he talked about nonsensical things. Of course, he wasn’t a guy with a very good reaction.

Maybe that’s why, even though he was actually almost the age of Seongjin’s son, his father’s voice came out well and smoothly.

“So I want to learn Aura. But I’m not sure how to start.”

At the end, he also asked for this.

He seems to be the most powerful person in the country and a fairly strong Aura user, so if he can’t take advantage of this opportunity, he’s an idiot.

“That’s right, Aura……”

The Holy Emperor rested his chin on his head and was lost in thought.

“They said that training in swordsmanship or spearmanship should precede it. I heard that there are unique Aura practice methods tailored to that skill, and the more you master them, the more you can handle Auras freely.”

“Ah, there’s a separate method of seniority!”

“okay. The basics of learning Aura are seniority. Of course, it is said that the classification of seniority becomes meaningless after reaching a certain level. Because where the heart goes, the Aura naturally flows.”

“Then, first of all, while learning swordsmanship……”

What?

Seongjin nodded and suddenly became puzzled.

Isn’t this man an Aura user? Why are you talking so bluntly as if you heard it from someone else?

“I heard that Father is also a user. How did you learn it in the first place?”

At Seongjin’s question, the Holy Emperor rubbed the tip of his chin with his hand.

Um? Why do you look a bit embarrassed right now?

I keep watching, so I think I know a little bit about this expressionless man.

“That’s it, I don’t really remember how I got it. I moved habitually when using the sword, and later heard from my master that it was an Aura.”

“… Yes?”

Seongjin’s mouth fell open.

Wow, he heard that he had a talent for using Aura as if he was breathing since he was young, was basically what this person was saying.

“Come to think of it, even though you didn’t know how to study when you were young, it seemed like you enjoyed swordsmanship lessons quite a bit. But no matter how much you practiced, you couldn’t get a feel for the aura at all.”

“Oh, um……”

“Even when you try, there was no result, so in the end you have lost interest in swordsmanship.”

“I see……”

Suddenly, a flood of sympathy for that Morres floods in.

There was at least one thing he did with his heart, but he didn’t even have the talent for that, poor bastard.

Seongjin’s thoughts became complicated. It was because it was Morres’ body, so he thought that the way to go would be difficult if he was naturally insensitive to aura.

“Will it be too hard? I thought that if it was something I could learn through training, I could somehow learn it……”

Seonghwang shook his head.

“In the end, it is a matter of time and effort. Even those who take time to feel the aura at first, I have seen cases where the speed at which they are mastered it is extraordinary. Furthermore……”

He stopped talking, stared at Seongjin’s face for a moment, and then spat out unexpected words.

“… I don’t think it would be that difficult for you now.”

* * *

In the carriage returning to the Pearl Palace, Seongjin was spread out, leaning against a cushion in a proud mood.

Although he was a little tired, today’s audience was quite a success.

Chief Chamberlain Louis was in tears.

“It’s been several years since the two of you spent such a happy time……”

To make a decent grandfather so happy, this is a true example of respect for the elderly.

In addition, to Seongjin’s request to resume the swordsmanship class, the Holy Emperor replied as follows.

“Sooner or later, I will send a suitable person to the Pearl Palace.”

And one of the biggest achievements of all, is that he didn’t have to worry about being exorcised in the future! Hurray!

The carriage writhing violently as the body of a large body writhed here and there in joy.

“Prince! What’s going on! Are you okay?”

Hearing the coachman’s shout outside, Seongjin quickly straightened up and cleared his throat.

“Ahem, no problem! I slipped off the seat for a moment. Don’t mind it!”

[Good job. Are you a kid? I’m really ashamed to see others.]

And the demon king, who had been silent until now, finally opened his mouth. Seongjin responded happily.

‘That’s what I do when I’m alone. anyway are you okay? Why are you so quiet?’

[The impact on the soul is too great. I also needed time to recover.]

The feeling of trembling is vividly conveyed. It seemed like a really big deal.

[The main palace, it was truly a terrifying place filled with divine power. I thought I would die from being completely crushed. If the divine power hadn’t been cut off at that time, if it had been a little late, I would……]

Divine power blocked?

Seongjin also had some guesses. Just when the Holy Emperor put his hand on his head, he did something then.

[I don’t know what kind of trick he did, but now there’s a barrier around our souls.]

‘… Barrier?’

[It seems to have a property that completely blocks spiritual energy as well as divine power. Now, even if someone with divine power is nearby, it doesn’t sting like before. Only……]

The demon king hesitated a little, then continued with a downcast voice.

[It’s just that it’s impossible for my soul to interfere with other souls.]

Wait, that means……

[Yes, that’s right.]

A trembling wave like a sigh is transmitted.

[Soul detection is no longer possible. I just tried it against the coachman and escort knight, but it didn’t work at all.]

Does this guy’s only usefulness disappear like this? Now, he really has become the embers of the Demon Realm.

The demon king exclaimed in a fit of anger.

[But now it is possible to move away from this body to some extent? Can you stop treating me like trash?]

So you’ve gone from lie detector to short-range navigation?

‘Too bad……’

Seongjin corrected his posture and sat down, looking out the window. As the twilight slowly sets, the ivory walls of the Pearl Palace begin to appear in the distance.

It had only been a few days, but it was strange that the Pearl Palace felt as cozy as home.

‘For now, let’s take comfort in surviving. He was a better person than I thought, and both of us are safe.’

However, the Demon King thought differently.

[What? Good guy? You’re safe? Wow, you naive human being. If people are ignorant, their hair can become a field of flowers like this……]

Seongjin was at a loss for words as a black and thick feeling of fear suddenly surged from his trembling soul.

[Maybe you don’t know. You won’t know unless you touch it soul-to-soul.]

‘……?’

[That… That’s a monster. How could such a thing exist in this world?]

‘Hey, monster is a bit……’

[If not a monster? Do you really think someone that I, the great Demon King of Gehenna, cannot measure the limits of, is an ordinary human?]

To that extent?

Still, wasn’t that person relatively kind to them? He gives good advice and saves the demon king……

The demon king snorted.

[Hmph! Do you really think that monster doesn’t know who you are? But why would he let you live? What about the evil spirit that stole his son’s body?]

‘It’s a bit harsh to say it’s an evil spirit. Cursing others, huh? Just doing harrassment, or just do whatever you want! Isn’t that enough……?’

Huh? I’m an evil spirit.

Ignoring Seongjin, who suddenly gained enlightenment, the demon king began pouring out all the words he wanted to say.

[Let’s see if we’re gone. Isn’t Morres’s body going to die? So even if it annoys him, he’ll leave us alone for now! And hey, how would his find his real son’s soul? Perhaps the evil spirit that stole the body knows best? Because the clues are none other than us! Doesn’t that mean he’s going to stay by our side and keep an eye on us? Huh? Don’t you know that?]

‘Hey, calm down……’

Seongjin was not as comfortable with the Holy Emperor’s favor. But he thought, for a moment, that there was a real father-son bond.

Of course, he didn’t convey that thought to the demon king. He was in a rage, and now he’s crying.

[Scary. That guy, he’s so scary……]

While soothing the sobbing Demon King, Seongjin’s carriage entered the Pearl Palace.

Before he knew it, a twilight was settling around him.

And that evening, an administrative official who visited Seongjin with Edith announced that the visitor restrictions placed on the Pearl Palace had been partially lifted as of today.

-------

T/N:

1 양반 literally means nobleman, but with the way Seongjin talks (and how later someone scolded him for referring to the emperor like that) I think he meant it more as the slang for that guy/that man. So I’ll stick to that moving forward.