Chapter 71
71
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"Th-Then, what changes?"
Yan answered leisurely.
"Of course, things will change. There's no one in this Royal Palace with as much Divinity as you. Just spending the night by your side is enough to replenish the Divinity needed for daytime activities..."
Could you not say it in such a suggestive way?
I abruptly turned and opened the door, but Yan quickly flew over and landed on my shoulder.
"It's not like I find you unbearably cute or anything. Though, you are a bit adorable sometimes."
Yes, how could you be otherwise.
'He probably just thinks of me as a free healing potion...!'
I slapped my shoulder with one hand, and Yan fluttered to the other shoulder.
"And you shouldn't use violence against insignificant beings."
Yes, how very insignificant you are.
I sighed deeply, and Gabriella returned.
"Yan, where have you been all day?"
Who knows, Gabriella.
He just says what he wants and only thinks about using me as a healing potion...!
* * *
"Your Highness, shall I call the Royal physician to prepare a fatigue recovery tonic?"
Rosa had been dazed all day after returning from the prayer room.
Dakota, unaware of the situation, asked with concern, and Rosa chuckled and retorted.
"Should a Princess with Healing Power be seeking a fatigue recovery tonic?"
"Ah..."
Dakota's face flushed slightly, seemingly embarrassed by his mistake.
"To think that such great power resides in our young Your Highness. I still can't believe it, so I made a mistake."
After hearing those words, Rosa fell silent again.
Of course, while no particular words came out, a storm was raging in her mind.
"Your Highness will receive Foresight."
Joey's voice echoed loudly and softly.
'Could it be true?'
Rosa wondered.
But even if those words were false, they would be the sweetest promise on this earth.
"What basis do you have for saying that? Foresight? You'd have to go back hundreds of years to find a King with such an ability."
Even though Rosa said that much, the boy insisted.
"I'm just saying what I see. I see the Foresight residing in Your Highness. It is the power of the great God Terra."
Then, he repeatedly insisted to Rosa.
"No one knows Terra's abilities better than I do, coming from the Temple of Terra. No matter how much Your Highness denies it, I see it clearly."
Terra, the God of Earth.
One of the five gods of the continent, but not the most important god in Ruelle.
In the first place, Ruelle only has two Temples.
'The Temple of Ea, the God of Water, and the Temple of Shamash, the Sun God.'
The Temple of Terra is only found on the island nation of Ikan in this vast continent, and even that is said to be under reconstruction after being destroyed by an earthquake.
Unable to even protect his own Temple...
'The God of Earth will give me Foresight? Why?'
Even in her young mind, Rosa found it very strange.
But the problem was that Joey's voice kept echoing in her ears, making it impossible to completely ignore.
"Will you trust me one more time?"
The boy who had raised her expectations so much that she thought the Divination would be hers.
'He took everything he gave and should be kicked out of the Royal Palace immediately...'
But the sprout he had nurtured and his strange yellow eyes remained in her mind, constantly creating lingering feelings.
"I will somehow create a place for Your Highness."
Perhaps it was only that child who would say such things.
* * *
Yan had been clinging to me since the evening before, and then left early in the morning, saying he had something to do.
"I might be late. Maybe it will take a few days."
I still had the memory of the day Yan returned injured, and I was afraid, but Yan flew away so bravely, even with his small body.
'No. He'll go somewhere I can't see and turn into a big, strong adult.'
I tried to dismiss my worries about Yan as futile and went to see my mother.
The audience chamber was crowded even though it was early in the morning.
That was because my birthday banquet was still four days away.
"My daughter, you've arrived?"
As I hugged my mother, hearing her unchanging greeting, unexpected applause erupted around me.
"You saw her going to pray during the banquet yesterday, right? How can she be so composed at such a young age?"
"She endured alone in the Temple until evening on the day of the Divination, didn't she?"
It seemed to be mixed up with Rosa's story.
Awkwardly pulling away from my mother, it was my father's turn.
"My beautiful daughter."
My father said that and lifted me up, twirling me in the air.
'Yan imitated that well.'
I thought, dumbfounded, thinking of Yan, and my father said in a proud voice.
"The rumors of the Divination have already spread, and the Temple of Shamash contacted us quickly."
"The Temple of Shamash?"
My father nodded with a happy face.
"The High priest said that the youngest Temple Page of the Temple of Shamash is so outstanding. He's practically guaranteed the position of High priest in the future."
Why is he suddenly talking about Temple Pages?
As I tilted my head slightly, the answer came.
"He said that he will soon send that Temple Page to help with your Divinity training."
My mother smiled contentedly beside me.
"When I first received Divinity, I had a friend who helped me like that. She was a Temple Page at the time, but now she is an Ea Priest."
A Priest is coming from the Temple of Shamash?
'This never happened before...'
Joey Terajev had only clung to Rosa under the guise of helping with the manifestation of Divinity.
'Then, even if my Divinity manifests first, Joey will remain Rosa's friend?'
Something felt a bit suspicious, but because Yan disliked Joey so much, I had never even seen him up close.
'It's okay. If Joey has to help me now, Rosa will hate it too, and the Shamash Priest, who is said to be so excellent, will naturally be better than Joey, who was a Temple Page.'
I shook off my thoughts about Joey and smiled brightly.
"I'm really looking forward to it, since the Priest is coming to help me."
* * *
In the morning, Hestia and her brother came with a whopping twenty kinds of cookies.
'They said they were heartbroken by the story that I had suffered all day without eating on the day of the Divination.'
But when we sat down and ate cookies while talking about the Shamash Priest, Gray quickly became serious.
"The Shamash Priest is coming?"
"Yeah, Mom said that Temple Pages usually come to help when training the use of Divinity. It seems like the Temple of Shamash is taking extra care this time."
Gray unexpectedly asked again.
"But wasn't the Child of Blessing from Ikan who came the year before last also from the Temple? I thought he was helping Your Highness."
I was slightly surprised that Gray was also aware of Joey's existence and answered.
"That's right, but..."
Come to think of it, how would Gray react to the fact that we were twins?
'Well, Gray in the previous life almost only met Rosa, and this time he has hardly seen Rosa at all.'
Still, Gray is much younger than he was then...
'He probably won't be as shocked as he was then, right?'
The horrified look in Gray's eyes when he saw me back then is hard to forget.
While I was lost in thought, Gray asked again.
"Does he not have Divinity?"
Well...
The Divinity of Priests usually increases through training, so Temple Pages usually have little to no Divinity.
'But Joey helped Rosa in the previous life, so he probably has some.'
I thought so, but shrugged at Gray.
"Actually, I don't really know. I haven't heard much about that."
But Gray asked with an astonished expression.
"You always go to the prayer room with him. Doesn't he tell you that much about himself?"
Ah...
Just because Gray doesn't meet Rosa doesn't mean he only hears news about the Royal Palace from me.
'I have to be careful...'
Since Rosa is always with Joey, the palace staff will naturally assume that I am close to him.
The Marquess must have heard the rumors among the palace staff and passed them on to Gray.
"Ah, that's... He must have been hurt by the Temple of Terra's situation, so it's a bit difficult to ask..."
I made it up as I went along, but Gray's expression softened instantly.
"Your Highness is so kind as expected."
But Victory suddenly interjected.
"Don't be jealous, Brother. Father said that such an attitude is not appropriate for a vassal."
Jealous of what?
As I looked at them questioningly, Gray's face suddenly turned bright red.
'What is it?'
I never thought that Hestia's porcelain-white complexion would turn so red.
I must have been staring at Gray without realizing it.
Victory glared at her brother with a pitiful look and said.
"Brother usually pretends to be kind, but he only hates that poor Joey."