Ch.72The Great Sinner (4)

It was a night of darkness across the archipelago.

Netionfis’s face was grim as he arrived at the Feita Manor. The excitement he had felt at glimpsing the key to immortality had already subsided.

Now that he was about to face Lorian, his steps faltered. The problem wasn’t with her, but with himself. Losing track of time while immersed in research had been a grave mistake.

He would have no excuse, even with ten mouths.

“Sigh.”

As he opened the door to the manor, the servants moved with practiced efficiency. Word had apparently spread while he was conversing at Aselln’s mansion.

“Welcome, Founding Noble. I am Eln, the head maid.”

“Did the previous head maid retire?”

“She passed away two years ago due to old age.”

“I see.”

He suddenly felt the weight of passing time. The previous head maid had served Lorian well. It seemed unreal that the woman he’d expected to care for the manor indefinitely was now gone.

His reminiscence was brief. Now Lorian’s door was right before him.

He swallowed hard and knocked.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

“Lorian?”

He was shocked before even opening the door. Lorian had spoken. She who had remained unresponsive no matter what he did…!

Netionfis forgot all propriety and flung the door open. The hinges screamed in protest, but he paid no heed.

Inside sat an elegant beauty with perfect posture.

Her once-envied beauty had weathered with the passing years.

Yet the essential beauty that defined her as a person still remained.

“Lorian, you can speak?”

“I’ve been able to speak since I was three.”

“That’s not what I meant…! No, never mind. I’m just glad, Lorian.”

“Yes. I’m happy to see you again, Nes.”

“That should be my line.”

Lorian smiled faintly and gave instructions to the head maid.

“Don’t let anyone into the room today.”

“I’ll see to it immediately.”

Having received her orders, the head maid quickly closed the door and withdrew. Now only Lorian and I remained in this private space.

She approached silently and embraced me tightly. Netionfis also wrapped his arms around her waist, returning the gentle embrace.

“Nes.”

“Yes, Lorian.”

“Do you remember the day you left?”

“I do.”

“I cried so much that day.”

“Lorian? But back then you were…”

“That’s right, I was empty inside. But you know, when night came, the confession you gave me spread warmly in my heart.”

Lorian gave a bitter smile filled with regret. Netionfis felt an inexplicable distance from her. Somehow, she seemed to have become a person from another world entirely.

“I regretted it. I hated myself for holding onto my sense of loss for so long that I had no hands left to stop you from leaving. It wasn’t just me who needed support. You must have suffered a lot because of me too.”

“Lorian…”

“When I finally tried to find you later, tracking you had become impossible. Even when I mobilized the family’s shadow agents and couldn’t find you… I cried. So much.”

Netionfis couldn’t bring himself to speak. He had no idea that Lorian would regain her senses so quickly.

If he had delayed just half a day more.

Or if he had prepared more leisurely.

He might have spent these 17 years with a recovered Lorian.

“Don’t make that face, Nes. This is the result of my selfishness in thinking I was the only one suffering. A lot of time has passed, but I’m happy to reunite with you like this.”

“I’m… I’m happy too… Lorian.”

Netionfis buried his face in Lorian’s neck. Her eyes narrowed, and the wrinkles on her forehead creased along with them.

“You look young, Nes.”

“I’m the same.”

“Perhaps you’ve grown tired of an unsightly woman like me now.”

“You’re still beautiful. More beautiful than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m glad.”

This time, Lorian buried her face against Netionfis’s chest. The familiar yet distant warmth spread pleasantly throughout his body.

After a moment of silence, Lorian spoke with difficulty.

“Nes.”

“I’m listening, Lorian.”

“Would you grant me a request?”

“Anything.”

“Thank you.”

But Lorian’s request was one that trampled on Netionfis’s resolve.

“I want to bear your child.”

“Lorian, that’s…!”

“I know it’s dangerous. There might not even be a possibility of pregnancy. But still… I…”

“Ugh…”

“Is it not possible?”

Netionfis’s heart pounded violently. Through his long research and clinical work in the Great Cavern, his medical skills had reached extraordinary heights.

Yet separate from this objective fact, the trauma etched in his heart reduced him to an infinitely small human being.

Seeing his prolonged silence, guilt shadowed Lorian’s dark eyes.

“…I’m sorry, Nes. It’s presumptuous of me to suggest sharing a bed with this aged body.”

“That’s not it, Lorian! I told you. To me, you’re more beautiful than anyone.”

“You don’t need to comfort me. It’s the truth.”

“Believe me, Lorian. I swear I’ve never had such thoughts for even a moment.”

Netionfis’s earnest confession. Lorian silently tightened her embrace.

“Nes. Remember when we learned etiquette long ago? I taught you that one’s heart is revealed through actions.”

“And I was taught to mold even my own heart as I pleased.”

“Yes. You remember well.”

Lorian’s hand caressed his cheek. Recognizing how different her touch felt from before made him melancholic. She held back tears as if growing old alone was a sin.

“If you love me in your heart, show it through your actions. But… even if… you’re disappointed in me, and your heart has drifted away… mold yourself to embrace me… even if just for one night…”

“…”

Thud, rumble.

Though he was merely standing on a flat, solid floor.

Though it was just a peaceful moonlit night without any sign of calamity.

The illusion of the world crumbling seized his consciousness.

Lorian was crying.

She wanted to have his child again—the same child that had nearly killed her. She wanted to leave proof of their love in this world, even at the risk of her life.

This alone pained his heart, but the needle piercing his heart was her true feelings.

The fact that the woman he had loved his entire life doubted him.

The fact that she considered the possibility he might reject her for growing old and shabby compared to before.

Everything stemmed from Netionfis’s mistake.

He had made the woman he loved cry.

“Lorian…”

The foolish man lifted the woman weeping against his chest. Feeling her weight, noticeably more frail than before, he was struck with guilt as he gently laid her on the bed.

“Don’t laugh if I’m not good at this after so long.”

“How long has it been?”

“Since that time only you know.”

“…I see. Yes. Thank you, Nes.”

That night, he embraced her.

◇

The third emperor’s name was Asar Euglinas. His mother, Empress Yernia, had left a powerful impression on the empire, albeit briefly.

As Yernia’s son, Asar did not lack talent. However, he had to endure the unfavorable gazes of his biological father and ministers who had loved Yernia.

The four ducal families remained silent about Asar’s situation. Only Bartlant showed continuous interest, but even that didn’t last long.

This was due to frequent Chainlich Phenomena and the empire’s unstable political situation.

Later generations would record this period as “The Age of Great Chaos.”

“Announce that the Founding Noble has returned.”

At Netionfis’s remarkable first words, the guard exclaimed in alarm with a booming voice.

“The radiance of the First Emperor, the Founding Noble has returned!!!”

The audience chamber doors slowly opened. Finally, he would meet Yernia’s descendant.

He held some expectations about how this child might have grown.

What would the child of a generation that escaped Astel’s predicted fate of short life look like?

He stepped through the opened doors.

The child of this era he finally faced was the worst possible outcome.

“Hmm, so this is the Founding Noble? Certainly not ordinary, I’ll give him that.”

Those were the first words he heard in his audience with the third emperor.

“What is this…”

Netionfis unconsciously rubbed his clear eyes. The scene before him was so surreal that he wondered if he was dreaming.

Asar sat on the throne, resting his chin on his hand. A scantily clad courtesan fawned on his lap.

Greasy food was messily spread out, and ministers kept their heads bowed, standing far away with sealed lips.

Above all, those reddish-pink eyes disturbed him. Eyes filled with stubbornness and arrogance to a degree that felt familiar.

They were qualitatively different from Astel and Yernia’s intellectual blue eyes.

“What have you been doing all this time before gracing the imperial palace with your presence?”

“I had personal matters to attend to.”

“My! You misinterpret my words?”

“Please speak plainly.”

“What I mean is, with what face, what purpose do you return to the imperial palace now?”

His tone was like interrogating a criminal. This encounter shattered his expectations of finding traces of Yernia.

The emperor haughtily surveyed the room. He had the eyes of a zookeeper looking at a pitiful beast.

“I first faced assassination attempts at six. It wasn’t until I was seven that I finally realized how terribly I was treated in the palace. The ducal families were all mutes who wouldn’t open their mouths, and the Founding Noble who supposedly served my mother had never even seen me.”

Asar spoke as if sharing amusing stories at a tavern, though the content was a past too serious to laugh about.

“Thanks to that, I learned. That keeping my position ultimately depends on thorough domination, struggle, and definite power. So let me tell you in advance. I don’t care if you’re from the four ducal families or the Founding Noble. Just sit and enjoy your high position. Don’t try anything.”

His words and behavior were truly arrogant. After a long silence, Netionfis bowed.

“My presence seems to disturb Your Majesty’s mood. I shall withdraw.”

“Off you go then.”

Asar waved his hand dismissively. Netionfis turned around with a hardened expression and exited into the corridor.

Before the audience chamber door even closed, Asar mockingly sneered.

“Heh, so much for the Founding Noble. Nothing special at all. Don’t you all agree?”

No one joined in his sentiment. Most of them were elderly nobles who had experienced Netionfis’s generation. Asar hadn’t particularly expected a dramatic reaction from them anyway.

Quickly losing interest, Asar contentedly enjoyed the fruit fed to him by the courtesan.

‘No matter what, he’s so different from Yernia!? Since Yernia gave birth to him directly, he couldn’t have been switched at birth.’

At that moment, beyond Asar’s snickering laughter, a man and woman brushed past Netionfis.

The man wearing a cape with a sword at his side moved naturally. The serenity that didn’t match his well-trained physique created a sense of dissonance.

The woman walking alongside him was a maiden exuding virtuous goodness. Even her slightest gestures naturally drew people’s attention.

‘Finally seeing them.’

They were the hero and the saint.

Cavannil, the first protagonist of the game “Eldchain,” and the female protagonist Yashasmisha.

Netionfis, having never met them before, couldn’t possibly recognize them. Thus, the encounter between the hidden boss and the protagonist party passed unexpectedly uneventfully.

After the awkward audience with Asar, Netionfis spent some leisurely days. He remained idly in the archipelago for a while.

Ironically, it was a more peaceful time than the 17 years that had been his most dedicated period.

His desire and obsession for immortality hadn’t subsided. But unlike when he was immersed in research in the Great Cavern, his intensity seemed quite neutralized.

“Lord Netionfis!”

“Head maid? If it’s not an urgent report, later…”

Everyone experiences miraculous moments in life at least once. For instance, coincidences with extremely low probability. Like the birth of a life that shouldn’t have been born.

The head maid wore an extremely excited expression. She seemed to disregard Netionfis’s order.

She reported:

“The Duchess… the Duchess…! She is with child!”

Netionfis and Lorian Feita.

It was the fateful turning point that would determine the future of these two.