Ch#123
'A child who awakens mana in a Holy Knight family is irreverent.'
It was a fact known to all who served the Church.
But even they overlooked one thing.
Where those irreverent children ended up going.
Edmund, Leonardo, and Alexander didn't know either.
Their one and only little brother.
Not until Theseos became one of those 'irreverent children.'
"Ugh, sob. Tesetan, it's okay. It'll be okay......"
Leonardo still remembered it now.
The sight of the Holy Knights dragging four-year-old Theseos away from his mother.
"Mother! Father—!!"
The young brother struggled desperately with his small body.
With each struggle, mana surged irregularly from the child's body.
The Holy Knights fitted a seal on Theseos without the slightest hesitation.
"Ah—!"
The child writhed and screamed.
But the knights merely watched the child with impassive faces.
Once Theseos collapsed from resisting, the Holy Knights slung the child over their shoulders like luggage.
"We'll see you after the 'purification' is complete."
With that, the door slammed shut.
In the silent mansion, his mother let out a scream-like wail.
Valentis held his collapsing wife, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white.
It was the day Theseos, born with mana in the noble Lumenen family,
was taken to the central continent under the Church's orders.
Theseos returned two months later.
Noticeably thinner than when he'd left the mansion.
"Mother, Father...... brothers......"
"Tesetan!"
Eleonora embraced the returned Theseos as if she might break.
"Tesetan, my baby, ugh......"
Theseos looked exhausted.
Whatever he'd gone through in the central continent had hollowed his eyes and sunken his cheeks.
But the child tried to reassure his family instead.
"I'm okay, Mother. They said the purification is all done now, I'm okay......"
No more mana flowed from the child's body.
The mana that had suddenly begun erupting irregularly before.
From the day he returned, Theseos took to his bed.
And he hardly got up.
A quiet, gloomy atmosphere permeated the mansion.
The air was frigid, and a deep shadow hung over his mother's face in the brothers' memories.
"How could I be fine......! My baby is hurting, crying in pain—how could I......!"
"Eleonora, please......!"
"It's because of us. If I weren't an unprecedented saintess who manifested holy power. If you weren't the Lumenen Duke, our Tesetan, our Tesetan......"
His mother was out of her mind.
Every time she saw Theseos in pain, she crumbled.
"Purification, they call it. Putting a horrific seal on such a young body, on this tiny heart that isn't even a handful......"
The brothers learned later.
What the Church had done by dragging Theseos to the central continent.
They had fitted a kind of divine seal on his body.
To prevent mana from erupting outward.
So it would only pile up layer upon layer inside the child.
Without caring in the least about the pain it caused the subject.
But fortunately, or so one might say?
Not long after, an unexpected miracle occurred.
"......Mother."
"Tesetan!"
Theseos, who had only been bedridden, began recovering his strength like a miracle.
The child gradually got out of bed and resumed daily life.
He smiled like before being taken to the central continent, played pranks on his brothers.
"Father, I want to do it too!"
At some point, he could even step back into Valentis's training grounds.
Eleonora stabilized greatly seeing Theseos seemingly healthy again.
No more stifled crying at night, no more skipping meals.
Edmund, Leonardo, and Alexander thought.
Finally, happiness had returned to the mansion.
From now on, everything would be fine.
They simply didn't know.
That Theseos's pain was still there.
That the intensity was only rising as the suppressed mana continued to accumulate.
That he was merely enduring it, the young Theseos.
......They truly had no idea.
* * *
"Wha-wha?"
Tie stood in the grand Lumenen mansion's central courtyard with her eyes round.
'Carriage uncle and lantern uncle?'
It was because the two men greeting her up close were familiar faces again.
The other side seemed surprised too.
"Ah......"
Alexander, who had treated Tie's knee in the carriage on arrival day, approached with a dazed face.
"Nice to meet you again. I'm Alexander Lumenen."
Tie swallowed hard.
'Lumenen?'
Here, they put surnames after the name.
Meaning the carriage uncle had the same surname as the Grand Commander.
And the Grand Commander had four sons, she'd heard,
"Grand Commander's son......?!"
Alexander curved his green eyes prettily in a smile.
"That's right. I'm the third son of the Lumenen ducal family."
Tie, whose mouth had fallen wide open, turned her head.
This time, she saw the rich lantern uncle standing to Alexander's left.
"Uncle too, Grand Commander's son?"
Edmund extended his hand to Tie.
"As you can see. Edmund Lumenen."
Tie hesitantly took Edmund's hand and shook it lightly.
At that moment, the butler standing behind the young masters guided them.
"Please come inside. The Grand Commander is waiting."
Tie looked back at her members before carefully stepping forward.
Basto, Veil, and the other members followed behind.
Passing through the luxurious corridor, they arrived at an enormous banquet hall.
The banquet table, big enough for at least two hundred people, was already laden with all sorts of food.
And at the head of that table.
"It's been a while, Sovereign King."
Valentis rose quietly from his seat.
Tie swallowed hard again at his heavy presence, felt anew.
In the meantime, the butler pulled out the chair closest to Valentis.
"This way."
Tie hesitated but shuffled over.
Then carefully climbed onto the chair.
A thick cushion had already been placed on the chair so Tie could meet eye level with the others.
"The rest of you, please sit here."
Basto and the members sat in a row to Tie's left.
Soon, the three Lumenen young masters sat across from them, and Valentis spoke.
"You've worked hard. No particular incidents on the way from the Weapon District here?"
Tie's eyes widened round.
'No particular incidents......!'
As the child hurriedly raised one hand to talk about Kaldbain-Ridge,
Basto gently took Tie's hand under the table.
Tie realized.
'Oh right.'
The Lumenen ducal family, including Valentis, didn't know Tie was a child.
Because she'd spilled her secret in the Weapon District and used the Sanctity of Oblivion to erase the Grand Commander's memory.
So for safety, it was best if Tie spoke as little as possible.
Sure enough, Basto spoke on her behalf.
"We stayed in a village called Kaldbain-Ridge for about a fortnight."
"A fortnight?"
"Yes. We got involved with rebels who had usurped the local lord's position."
"And yet you crossed the Boundary of the Old Gods without delay."
But Valentis gave a short reply before turning his gaze back to Tie.
"Sovereign King, you seem a bit taller than last time."
Tie's eyes went huge.
Taller!
The praise was so proud and happy for a child that her resolve to act like the Sovereign King melted away.
Tie unwittingly bounced in her seat.
"Really? Actually, Tie ate a ton of foo......"
"Ahem!"
At that moment, Veil coughed loudly.
Regaining her senses, Tie clamped her mouth shut again.
'Oh no!'
She'd slipped up again!
Ever since getting a base and tasting freedom, Tie kept forgetting she had to act like the Sovereign King.
Tie glanced at Valentis nervously and mumbled on incoherently.
"Ate. From eating so much, maybe a little fat on the top of my head......?"
But then.
Valentis set down the napkin he was holding on the table.
Then he calmly surveyed the banquet hall.
"If I don't address it now, similar situations will repeat, so I'll say it."
His gaze turned back to Tie.
"Sovereign King. The Sanctity of Oblivion didn't work on me."
