Ch.275Isaac’s Imagination (3)

Life in the Helium Palace was almost identical to last winter vacation. The only difference was that Marie and Adelia had been added to the group.

Occasionally, Marie would express curiosity about life in Helium and go outside together, but most of the time they stayed within the palace.

When I was working, Marie would be considerate enough not to disturb me and instead explore various parts of Helium with Cecilly. Thanks to this, I had more time to myself.

Well, that doesn’t mean I was always alone. My reliable personal maid, Adelia, was always by my side.

Adelia wore a normal maid uniform rather than the one she wore during night service. However, her skirt was still short, and she wore a garter belt that added to her sexiness.

Whenever I see her, I feel that the maid uniform really suits Adelia.

It’s partly because of her height and good figure, but considering her usually reliable image, you can imagine what kind of impression it gives.

A dependable knight guard outside, a devoted maid inside. Adelia is a woman who perfectly embodies this contrasting charm.

But that doesn’t mean she could break my concentration. Except during break times, I continued writing without even glancing at her.

Adelia also had the mindset of being diligent in her work, so she just stood quietly without doing anything else.

“Young master. Your posture is incorrect.”

“Ah. Thank you.”

Of course, occasionally she would correct my posture or give me a massage. She never forgot to provide appropriate support.

Having been writing alone until now, I had some habits I wasn’t aware of. Adelia corrected these in detail.

The same goes for massages. No matter how good a chair is, sitting for long periods or having an incorrect posture can strain your muscles.

While my concentration and stamina are exceptionally good, Adelia noticed my bad habits.

“I’ve told you many times. Keep your back straight and both arms on the desk. And…”

But why are habits called habits? They’re called habits because they can’t be fixed in one go.

So Adelia would bombard me with nagging whenever I habitually did something wrong.

I don’t feel bad about hearing similar things when training with her. Rather, I can happily accept it as evidence that she cares about me.

“Noona.”

“Focus is good, but… What?”

“When it’s just the two of us, can you speak informally to me?”

However, perhaps due to her personality of strictly following rules, or because that’s how she was trained as a maid, she uses formal speech even when we’re alone.

When others are around, it’s unavoidable to maintain my authority and because there are people listening, but when we’re alone like now, it’s unnecessary.

Anyway, no one would come except acquaintances, and I had already announced that Adelia was my woman.

In that sense, I gently asked, but Adelia was adamant.

“No. It’s work hours.”

“Do you know what it means to be inflexible?”

“I do. But public and private matters should be separated…”

Adelia stopped mid-sentence and looked at my face. I just stared at her face without saying anything.

Then Adelia’s face seemed to turn slightly red, and after clearing her throat, she quietly spoke.

“…Fine. If that’s what you want.”

“Hmm?”

Why is she suddenly changing her mind? I was momentarily puzzled, but since it was a good response for me, I let it slide.

Honestly, we were on a noona-dongsaeng relationship before, and now we’ve even been intimate, so using formal speech during work hours feels awkward.

It’s like we’ve grown close only to become distant again. As I always feel, words seem to have various powers.

“Issac. Writing the Biography of Xenon is important, but your health should be your top priority. If you continue with these bad habits, you’ll definitely have problems later.”

Of course, speaking informally doesn’t mean the nagging stops. With the boundary established during work hours now removed, she fired off her concerns rapidly.

Following her nagging, I stretched once every hour to loosen up my body.

As everyone knows, once you fall into concentration, it’s very difficult to break out of it.

Basically, I have strong endurance, but perhaps due to my divine power, I couldn’t even feel that my body was tired.

“Regular hydration is also essential. I noticed your skin was dry. Have you not been drinking water?”

“I don’t particularly feel thirsty.”

“Feeling thirsty is already a signal that your body is severely lacking water. Just drinking water regularly would solve half of your health issues.”

As expected of someone with a background as an instructor and assistant. Adelia takes care of my health meticulously when it comes to ‘physical’ matters.

Besides this, she would peel fruits and feed them to me, or bring various health foods. She took care of me with utmost devotion.

Even though it’s not our mansion but the Helium Palace, which makes it difficult to request things, she somehow manages to prepare everything.

Thanks to her, I never had a chance to get bored, and since I took breaks every hour, my writing was never interrupted.

‘Let’s see… First, Gluttony is completely defeated by Jin…’

I chewed on an apple-like fruit that Adelia had put in my mouth while looking at the hologram. The hologram was, of course, formed from the typewriter.

The overall content of volume 21 is about Jin’s awakening and his complete control over his inner evil. And the story progresses with the awakened Jin completely defeating Gluttony.

Fortunately, Jin returns to his original self due to his love for Lilly, but Jin is a first-generation demon born between a devil and a human.

His reason returned due to the power of love, but his body became closer to a devil than a human. I’ll also add that his inner evil occasionally stirs.

This setting alone provides plausibility for Jin absorbing Diabolos’s soul and further becoming the final boss.

The dark mana possessed by devils, not demons, has a sticky quality like slime and adheres well. Using this characteristic, Jin absorbs Diabolos’s soul.

‘With this, Wrath, Lust, and Gluttony retire in order, and what remains is…’

The remaining Seven Deadly Sins are Pride, Envy, Sloth, and Greed.

Here, Sloth is the ‘vessel’ for containing Diabolos’s soul, and that vessel is created by the dwarf who is in charge of ‘Greed’.

The dwarf is a character that fits the cliché commonly known as a mad scientist. He creates Sloth out of greed to personally create a being that surpasses God.

But that’s content for the very end, and the character scheduled to appear after Gluttony is ‘Envy’.

Envy is Kayre’s top disciple and also Xenon’s senior, but he fell to become a devil through some incident.

I’ve roughly established how he falls, but the key is how to unfold it. Envy’s psychology was that complex.

‘He’s set as an illegitimate child of the kingdom, but…’

As soon as the setting of an illegitimate child came to mind, I glanced at Adelia. She tilted her head when I looked at her, making an expression asking if I had something to say.

Her sky-blue eyes were filled with affection and interest toward me.

‘Should I just revert to the original storyline?’

Actually, there are other settings related to Envy besides this one. There’s the setting I just mentioned about being an abandoned illegitimate child of the kingdom, and then there’s the common pathetic villain.

According to the original setting, Envy can be seen as a perfect antithesis to Xenon. They both received teachings from Kayre, but unlike Xenon, Envy viewed the world with a negative perspective.

Moreover, unlike the innately good Xenon, Envy is vain. Because of this, he only used Kayre’s teachings in bad ways, and eventually did something that a person should never do, turning to the devil’s side.

And without any self-reflection, he just envies, saying the world is against him, that kind of pathetic villain.

But after recent events and watching the movie at the exhibition, my heart has been wavering a bit.

Rather than a villain who was inherently pathetic, someone who truly fell because the world wouldn’t leave him alone. Adding the setting of an illegitimate child would make it perfect.

‘Then it’s a bit pitiful, but…’

I glanced at Adelia again. On the outside, she’s a beautiful noona, but inside, she’s a person with countless scars.

A year ago, she was abandoned by her family right in front of me, and even almost taken away from me because of Hyria’s petty pride.

Fortunately, Rina appropriately acted as a shield, but if I had been an ordinary nobleman instead of Xenon, I would have helplessly lost her.

And in the newly established Biography of Xenon, Envy will suffer all these tragedies.

Born as an illegitimate child of royalty, growing up in an unfortunate family environment, and even when he found a woman who could comfort his wounds, she too was taken away by his half-brother.

Unlike Xenon, who connected with Merry transcending species, he lost everything, truly a perfect antithesis.

‘Ugh…’

Just imagining it is terrible. Even I would resent the world if this happened to me. Or I might have taken my life long ago.

Due to this background, it’s a setting that fits the emotion of ‘envy’ very well and is also realistic.

Adelia almost suffered such a fate, so I can’t say it lacks realism.

If I go with this setting as is, I could deliver a big blow to the Kingdom of Teres, but then Hyria might become suspicious.

Especially since this part properly touches on Adelia’s trauma, it’s more than just uncomfortable.

“…Noona.”

“Yes?”

“Um… Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

So I directly sought permission from Adelia, who would be the motif, or rather, the inspiration.

When I cautiously brought up the topic, Adelia erased her questioning expression and flinched slightly.

Then she frowned for a long time, lost in thought. I waited quietly until she opened her mouth.

After waiting for about 30 seconds, Adelia maintained her frown, glanced at me, and opened her mouth that had been heavily closed.

“I don’t mind?”

“I guess it’s not… What?”

“I said I don’t mind.”

Adelia easily agreed despite it being deeply related to her. I looked at her with a blank expression.

Perhaps finding my expression amusing, Adelia smiled slightly and slowly approached me.

*Swoosh*

“What’s wrong with putting it in the book? It’s not like such things will happen again. You’re not really going to Hyria, are you? Like putting foreshadowing or a hint in the book?”

“If that were the case, I’d rather bite my tongue and die.”

“Right. Right. If you go to Hyria, I’ll bite my tongue and die too.”

She embraced me and spoke with a voice full of affection. But the content within it is utterly chilling.

But regardless of the content, it’s undeniable that it properly stimulates Adelia’s trauma.

Moreover, with people taking the book’s content as scripture, the world won’t leave it alone.

Perhaps the view toward illegitimate children might worsen, or it might be the opposite. Perhaps criticism might arise toward the Kingdom of Teres, which became the motif.

It can enhance the character’s completeness, but it means we don’t know how it will turn out.

‘I’d like to ask Mora to see the future, but…’

With the divine power I’ve gained so far, I can predict the future. But the divine power consumed to predict the future is terrifying.

Even Kate, who received grace, received an ambiguous oracle to find me. Future prediction is difficult even for a Cardinal, and I’m just a special case.

Moreover, in a situation where I need to save that divine power for night activities. Just as a large breakwater is needed to block a large wave, Envy’s setting will bring a big storm and is difficult to predict.

If I push forward with this, the Kingdom of Teres, specifically Hyria, will likely discover my identity.

‘Honestly, I don’t care at all?’

So what? I have no interest in that side. The side I was interested in was Adelia.

I happily accepted Adelia’s permission and pulled her closer.

When I pulled her, Adelia said, “Oh,” but then hugged me tightly. A subtle atmosphere began to flow between us.

“There might be negative stories about illegitimate children. Are you still okay with that?”

While Adelia was flustered, I asked her for confirmation again. This needs to be asked two or three times to get a definite answer.

She, who had been dumbfounded, looked at me upon my question and smiled slightly. It was a smile that said I was hopeless.

Then she slowly moved her head forward, gave a light kiss on my lips, and answered with a confident smile.

“Have you ever thought about me being an illegitimate child while being with me?”

“Almost never?”

“I’ve never been aware that I’m an illegitimate child since being with you. I’m just your personal maid and Issac’s concubine.”

How does she always choose such beautiful words? As I’ve mentioned many times, Adelia is a woman worthy of love even if it weren’t for me.

But she couldn’t exude such charm because she was bound by the frame of being an illegitimate child. However, as the chains of oppression were released, she’s fully showing her inherent charm.

To this, I smiled gently and caressed her cheek.

“Noona.”

“Yes. Tell me.”

“I’d like to receive your service tonight, is that okay?”

At that question, Adelia opened her sky-blue eyes wide and then answered with blushing cheeks.

With a voice full of aegyo, shy yet wanting to be loved.

“…Yes.”

A more intricately woven story began to take shape.

*****

At that time, while Issac was enjoying a happy daily life in the Helium Palace.

“Hello. Excuse me, but are you Lord Gartz Balack?”

“Y-Yes, that’s my name, but why would the mother of my benefactor…”

“Actually, I want to find my son. As Issac’s mother, there are some things I need to confirm, so I summoned you. Could you take me to Helium where Issac is?”

“…”

Anna, who had found Gartz’s summoning paper in Issac’s room, finally summoned Gartz.

‘Why does this always happen to me…’

Gartz felt the greatest crisis of his life.