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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Proodium Temple
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On a bright weekend morning, we boarded a carriage early and arrived at Proodium, the largest temple in the North.
I only realized upon arrival that Proodium was the place the Grand Duchess had wanted to visit. With a somewhat moved expression, I looked around.
'I never thought the day would come when I'd see this place with my own two eyes and stand here on my own two feet.'
My heart pounded with excitement at this unexpected pilgrimage to a holy site.
And how could it not? This was the very place where Mabel and Akid shared their sweet, fluffy moments.
Akid, isolated in the dead lands, had been rescued by Mabel and brought here.
I felt like the scenes I'd only read about in the novel were unfolding right before my eyes. If I got the chance, I wanted to tour every location from the story.
"This way."
The priest guided us deep into the temple.
Judging by the "No Outsiders Allowed" sign, the Grand Duchess must have made substantial donations to this temple.
Noticing Akid's unhappy expression, I whispered softly to him.
"What's wrong?"
As I suddenly drew close, Akid flinched for a moment before giving a faint smile and lightly shaking his head.
He clearly looked uncomfortable. Just as I was wondering why...
'Ah, it's because it's a temple.'
I belatedly recalled from the novel that Akid particularly disliked temples and let out a soft sigh.
In the original story, he'd been extremely wary of Mabel simply because she was a priestess.
His bristled-cat reactions had been so cute—no, so heartbreaking.
'He's hated them since he was little.'
The novel never explained what caused his dislike of temples.
That was typical—sub-male leads' backstories were always kept brief, only as much as the plot required.
Do you know what's the saddest part of fangirling? When the available info is so limited.
As a sub-male lead, Akid didn't have much backstory. Most of it was summed up in short blurbs, forcing fans to dig endlessly.
Even scraping every scrap of info—known or not—and equipping full delusion lenses, there were limits.
To the point where no one even knew how he'd lived as a child.
'Come to think of it, he was really uncomfortable at that temple near the Pael River last time too.'
He might have hated temples even before coming to the Grand Duke's castle.
Yet he'd still gone to the Pael River for my sake. Thinking about it made me a little touched.
In the end, the answers lay in Akid's past thirteen years.
But since he never mentioned his history, I couldn't satisfy my curiosity right then.
So, what could I do now?
"Akid-nim."
"Yes?"
"Hold my hand, please."
At my bold request, Akid blinked before taking my hand.
When I firmly interlocked our fingers, I could see his earlobes flush pink.
'Ahh, this is why I live as my fave's wife.'
I was pretending to comfort Akid while indulging my own selfish desires.
"Loena."
The Grand Duchess called me then. As I went to her side, a middle-aged man I assumed was a high priest greeted me.
His face was too fierce for a priest. With shorter hair, he could've passed for someone from the underworld.
As I tensed up warily, he gave a friendly smile—of course, oblivious to how it only made him look fiercer.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Pablo, the Second Seed of Zapharsia. I handle relief and aid efforts."
"Hello. I'm Loena Hadellus."
I greeted him politely and sized him up.
'Second Seed means he's a cardinal.'
The Zapharsia Church was the state religion of the Haint Empire.
They upheld the legacy of Haint's ancestor, the dark dragon Zapharsia. Mabel had grown up in an orphanage under this temple's auspices.
I was flustered that the man before me held such a high position, higher than I'd expected. Inwardly, I apologized for thinking he looked shady.
He kept flashing that intimidating smile as he bent down to meet my eye level.
"Did you hear the reason for your visit on the way here?"
"No."
"To put it simply, we're about to determine when the Young Grand Duchess's Awakening Period will begin."
"My Awakening Period?"
"Yes. You're familiar with the Awakening Period that every imperial citizen experiences, right? We're just checking when yours will start."
Pablo explained quite kindly, despite his fierce face. As I listened quietly, he continued.
"Proodium houses an artifact created by Lord Zapharsia himself during his lifetime. It's far more accurate than the one in the capital, so nobles come from afar on purpose."
I knew that already. Zeronia had secretly visited here because her Awakening Period hadn't started even after reaching adulthood.
As an extraordinary protagonist, her immense power had delayed it.
Because of that, she'd been frail as a child and frequented temples for blessings.
She must have come here upon reaching adulthood, only for her Awakening Period to start right then, plunging her into crisis.
Naturally, Mabel had appeared at the critical moment to save her.
Come to think of it, the novel's structure had all the male leads gravitating toward Mabel.
Hearing it was to check my Awakening timing, I understood why the Grand Duchess had brought me here.
'To pinpoint the most dangerous time.'
Even if I later revealed myself as a spirit user, it would be better after the Awakening. Removing potential weaknesses was key.
Pablo led me to an egg-shaped capsule. As expected of a dragon's creation, its exterior was incredibly ornate.
Dragons loved shiny things; you could tell just from the artifact's design.
It was so dazzlingly magnificent, any thief would grab it first—if they could.
Following Pablo's instructions, I lay quietly inside and stared at the ceiling. The golden walls were inscribed with unknown ancient script.
The squiggly, unreadable letters repeated in patterns, so I stared at them for a good while.
They were probably the activation incantation for the artifact.
Then the letters began to sparkle and fill with color.
Ooh.
Somewhat excited, I lay still, waiting for the artifact to scan my body. And waited. For quite some time.
Pffft—
With a deflating sound, the artifact stopped working.
Thinking it was over, I started to sit up—only for Pablo to mutter with a troubled look.
"Why is this happening all of a sudden?"
He fumbled around, clearly something had gone wrong. Elena approached and asked.
"What happened?"
"Ah, it just stopped working. Excuse me, may we try once more?"
"Of course."
With Elena's permission, Pablo activated it again. But this time, it didn't even turn on.
I ended up stuck lying blankly in the capsule like an idiot.
For a moment, I wondered if the artifact was rejecting me because I was a transmigrated soul.
Pablo checked the back of the capsule and let out a hearty laugh.
"Oh dear, my apologies. It's out of fuel. Looks like I forgot to charge it."
What?!
All my serious theorizing left me utterly deflated.
'This priest seems a bit sloppy...'
He'd built up such needless tension that my heart had nearly shrunk in fear.
"How long does charging take?"
"At least half a day. It's such an ancient relic that it guzzles fuel."
Well, it was a dragon's heirloom, after all. Elena looked troubled as she asked.
"So it can't be done today?"
"I'm sorry. This is my fault for not checking beforehand."
As Pablo apologized profusely, Elena let out a deep sigh. Suddenly, we were facing another overnight stay.
While the Grand Duchess briefly coordinated her schedule with her secretary, Akid extended his hand to help me out of the capsule.
"Thank you."
"Looks like we'll have to stay here overnight."
"Yeah. You okay with that?"
"Okay?"
"Ah, you just seemed uncomfortable around temples. Or was that my imagination?"
At my uncertain mutter, Akid looked surprised. He asked in a slightly timid voice.
"Was it that obvious?"
"A little?"
"Truth is, when I lived on the streets, a priest tricked me, and I nearly died."
"What?!"
No, which bastard did this to our Akid...!
Shocked by this unknown fact, I trembled with rage.
I wanted to track the priest down right now, land an uppercut on his smug face, and put him in a headlock on the spot to vent.
Akid gave a faint smile and said.
"Looking back, it was probably delivering illegal drugs. I was luckily found by my father and survived, but the other kids... they might have died."
"There were others besides you?"
"Yes. Every street kid got an offer from that priest at some point. He didn't start with bad stuff. He drew us in gradually, without us realizing."
"What a monster."
Exploiting innocent children for evil deeds. As I listened intently, Akid continued.
"Sometimes I feel guilty. Is it really okay for just me to eat well and live well?"
"How is that your fault? It was that priest who made you do bad things. Any clues to track him down?"
I'll go punish him right now!
As I clenched my fist and declared it, Akid chuckled softly.
"Hmm. Just that he had a musical note tattooed on his wrist."
"A musical note?"
