Chapter 119:
‘It helped, but……’
Because some horses were killed in the battle, Leonis was riding in a carriage rather than his own. Celia’s heart would have been uneasy, even if just for a moment, in the face of a great crisis, so Leonis planned to soothe her by holding her in his arms.
That hairball isn’t going to comfort Celia.
“Madam! C-Can I pet it too?”
“Krung.”
The Divine Beast, who was cuddling on Celia’s lap, had Celia and Miline’s full attention. Mirine’s interest was good, but Celia’s was different.
‘It’s annoying.’
Leonis crossed his arms and glared at the Divine Beast. Leonis was seated across from Celia since the Divine Beast would not allow him to sit next to her. Miline was next to Celia.
It used to morph into a gigantic tiger and fight, but now it is transformed into a cat. It was a scene that would match like Celia playing with the Divine Beast, even if she played with a puppy.
Leonis wanted to pick up the beast and toss it out of the carriage when he saw it flirtatiously rubbing its face on Celia’s palms and tummy.
If that didn’t work, he planned to hand it over to Miline and ask her to take another carriage.
It was something he couldn’t do because he didn’t have another carriage.
―……You are such a cheeky bastard! Can’t you take that sinister gaze away from the saintess!
The three people in the carriage jumped wide at the young voice that resonated in their heads. While Celia and Leonis looked at the Divine Beast, Miline checked her ears to see if there was anything wrong.
“I heard a sound in my head, did The Divine Beats say that?”
― Right!
With a proud expression, the Divine Beast stated. Leonis was astounded by how it had pretended to be a silent cat.
“You can talk, but were you pretending?”
―Who’s pretending! I just didn’t say anything because I didn’t have to!
“……You are noisy, so why don’t you get off that lap now?” She is my woman.”
– Stupid bastard! You have no right to call a saintess your woman!
The Divine Beast feigned spreading his small wings and flying up. Then, as if to warn, it pointed with its paw at Leonis and said.
―I was listening to what you were doing to the saintess even while I was in an egg state!
Celia’s face flushed bright crimson all the way to the top of her head in an instant. Leonis also gave the Divine Beast a disapproving look.
―Stop torturing the saintess! Isn’t there some sort of limit? Every night with a ridiculous excuse…….
“Aaaghhh!”
Unable to resist her shame, Celia hurriedly rushed to the divine beast and covered its mouth. It was useless to cover its mouth because it was a ringing sound in her head, but the Divine Beast, noticing Celia’s panic, stopped it.
“I’m not sure who the insidious is. You dare to overhear all of that…….”
The Divine Beast flinched in Celia’s arms at Leonis’s bloody voice.
―Hey, who’s listening! who’s eavesdropping! Didn’t you do something shameless next to me that only you knew about!
“Po-Popo! Leon, Let’s stop talking about that!”
Celia, whose shame was already over the limit, seemed to be steaming out of her head. Seeing Celia’s bright red expression, Miline was quietly averting her eyes, as if she knew it.
―Sheesh, you should know you were saved because of the saintess.
“I don’t know who to say.”
The two terrifyingly glinting eyes were poised to seize the day and face each other one day. Celia sighed and buried her face in the short yet soft back hair of the divine beast. The Divine Beast’s breath tickled, yet she was laughing as if she was in a happy mood.
‘Wait. Come to think of it…… .’
If she had to say that the divine beast had become gigantic, it would have been about the size of a full-grown tiger, but when Leonis remembered that he was a male, sparks flew out of her eyes.
“Huh?”
Celia, who had suddenly been deprived of the divine beast by Leonis, raised her head. The Divine Beast struggled as if it was offended by Leonis’ touch.
― How rude of you! Let me go, you bastard!
“The man is smiling on someone else’s girl’s lap.”
“Me! I’ll hold you!”
Miline stepped out with her eyes sparkling. The Divine Beast pouted.
―I am a saintess’…… Hee!
The Divine Beast’s voice became quiet at Leonis’s deadly stare. It was a god who rolled its eyes and looked elsewhere, but Leonis’ gaze was cold.
― What, What……Gi-Giving opportunities to believers…… Ahh!
Leonis handed the Divine Beast to Miline, almost throwing it away as soon as the words ran out. Then he approached Celia and picked her up.
“Le-Leon!”
Leonis, who had returned to his seat opposite her, sat Celia on his lap and grinned happily. The Divine Beast was dumbfounded because it looked like a beast with a full stomach.
―What makes him a Holy Knight……
“Yes?”
“Huh?”
“What did you say?”
In turn, Miline, Celia, and Leonis looked at the Divine Beast. The divine being seated on Miline’s lap leisurely waggled his tail and said.
―You are not just the beginning of a new empire established by Nedesmer, the God of Heaven, but also a knight chosen by him. So you are a Holy Knight.
The Divine Beast said with the attitude of ‘Is a paladin something special?’ Celia had forgotten the shame of sitting on Leonis’ lap as Miline looked on.
‘It doesn’t suit me.’
Leonis seemed to be thinking the same thing. Even if it was because of the curse, he was the one who knew the amount of blood he had spilled.
“Are you serious?”
―The God of the Heaven is concerned about the expansion of the realm of chaos. That is why he decided to stop the destruction of this world.
She wondered if that was allowed by his wife, the goddess of chaos. She did not feel that her power itself was gone, although now she had received a new name and that she had become the Goddess of Harmony.
“Did the goddess allow it?”
―You say chaos is so overpowered in all universes that we don’t need it anymore?
“…….”
That’s similar to saying don’t come anymore because hell is full, she thought. While wagging his tail, the Divine Beast said.
―Besides, the goddess found the harmonious state more interesting!
“Why?”
―Because harmony is also a realm of chaos!
The Divine Beast lifted his head from Miline’s lap, looking into the eyes of the three humans who didn’t understand as if he would personally explain.
― Destruction and harmony are concepts created by looking at the world through human eyes. Did you look at the stars and make constellations? Imagine four pebbles.
Celia couldn’t stop thinking about the pebble as she watched the Divine Beast’s ears perk up. The Divine Beast, on the other hand, kept going.
―You guys keep throwing those pebbles. Randomly falling is chaos. However, assume that it dropped perfectly into the shape of a square after hundreds of billions of actions.
Four stones dropped on the ground by accident.
There, humans think of a square. It was human beings who imagined the constellations by gazing at the faraway starlight that embroidered the sky at will.
―You might call it harmonious, but the goddess would call it that. That is also referred to as chaos.
A rare and unusual type of chaos. Even harmony is only a realm of chaos.
However, since it was extremely rare for that realm to appear, the goddess became interested in the special chaos.
― The goddess does not wish for your destruction. Because you are a special chaos. That’s why the God of Heaven also gave you a chance.
The existence of Celia and Leonis was an opportunity to be sent to the continent.
✦ ✦ ✦
Sending to track down the Duke of Cardian was the best and strongest knight that Michael could send.
Leonis destroyed it totally by chopping off its limbs so it could never regenerate and scorching it with the thunderbolt of the divine beast.
All eighteen of them.
When Michael was informed of the traces, he clenched his teeth.
Michael was also curious about the identity of something shining outside the capital the night before. Strange rumours were already circulating in the capital and nearby villages.
There were rumours about Michael, but even more, rumors were circulating that could dispel him.
“…The God of Heaven sent down the Divine Beast to save the duke and his wife!”
“It means that the Divine Beast bowed his head at the feet of the two of them!”
“What does this mean? There is a story that the duke’s curse was also transferred to the traitor Michael!”
There was only one opponent that the Divine Beast bowed his head to. Only the emperor and the only enemy of the empire could receive such treatment from the Divine Beast.
‘The Divine Beast has appeared!’
There was no way the Divine Beast, who had disappeared several generations ago, would reappear now. Michael believed that it was just a rumour, but the rumour grew in size.
Prince Phil was killed by Michael, and there was no evidence that Prince Giel or Princess Amelia were alive, so the people of the empire seemed to be interested in the rumour.
None of them paid any attention to the safety of the Emperor, who was being held captive by the traitor Michael. It was only about Leonis, Duke of Cardian, who was said to have escaped the curse.
Even though it’s merely a fable from almost a century ago, children were growing up hearing stories about the divine beasts.
They strongly believe in it because its existence has been shown in history.
‘It’ll all be a ruse!’ It definitely looks like a magical illusion. To incite public sentiment with only that…’
It was a situation where the bear took advantage of the tricks, and someone else took the profits. It was he who killed three of the heirs to the throne and committed treason, but Michael couldn’t help but be enraged at the circumstances in which Leonis saw the only gain.