Chapter 195. Michael’s big picture 2021.12.14.
I’ve heard this voice before. I still remember that time clearly. It was a few days after the second birthday banquet. There was a time when Michael deliberately tricked me into putting the processed essence of the Genesis Tree on the bed in order to unlock my potential divine power. I heard it when I inadvertently contacted the essence.
[Give me…]
That was the end. I wondered what he was asking for, but no more voices came out. I hadn’t heard that voice since then, so I completely forgot about it. But this time it was different. The voice that hadn’t been clear was heard clearly this time. That request to kill yourself.
‘It was to kill me. I’m not asking for anything…!’
As well as the satisfaction of finally knowing what the blurry voice had been saying, doubts came to me. This is Abelardo, the country of God, so if you hear a voice, it must be the voice of God. I watched other people’s reactions.
“The flash of light is clearly God’s reaction!”
“Ooh yellium!”
“Even God bless the birth of God’s Seed!”
They talked only about the flash of light that flashed before their eyes. It seemed I was the only one who heard a voice calling for death. In the midst of the fuss, I slightly frowned.
‘Damn God. What do you want from me?’
There were so many things to do. When you are born, an oracle is issued out of nowhere, and you are forced to save the world by saying that you are the seed of God. The most absurd of all were the words he left directly to me.
‘How am I supposed to kill God?’
I wanted to argue with my heart, but there was no voice after the words ‘kill me’. As I was contemplating whether I should tell the excited priests that I had heard a voice, my eyes met Michael’s. Michael shook his head.
‘Did Michael hear it too?’
For now, according to his opinion, I decided to keep quiet.
***
I was worried about Aidan’s condition, so I tried to return to Ermano right after the announcement, but I was unexpectedly stuck. For some reason, a priest stuck right next to me and started chatting. He was a priest who always stood by Michael with a haggard face.
‘It looks like he’s deliberately wasting time.’
I felt sorry for the still-young priest desperately trying to hold me back, and the effort was imaginary, so I silently listened to it.
“This place in Abelardo is such a peaceful place! There are many beautiful places around the temple, so why not take a look? I will guide you, Your Majesty.”
“Did you say Iku?”
“yes. I’m official priest Ikui! I am the exclusive priest of His Holiness the God King.”
Michael’s exclusive priest, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“Somehow…”
“Ah…”
We sighed together. I felt a great sense of kinship with one person. Enrique and I took a walk in the Garden of the Gods, which is said to be open to believers under the guidance of Ikui. Perhaps because it is a blessed land, the flowers were certainly fresh and the fruit was vividly young. Before long, Ikui, who entered the room, introduced several places in a quiet voice.
“This is a prayer room. It is also open to believers, so I pray every day.”
Actually, I wasn’t interested in Abelardo’s prayer room.
“Ikui. I have a question…”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Please feel free to ask any questions.”
“What must I do to meet God?”
“yes…?”
Ikui just blinked his innocent eyes like a deer.
“Will it be difficult?”
“If you pray hard, maybe… will descend.”
“pray? You curse every day, but won’t you please?”
“Ahaha. That’s sacrilege of poetry…”
Ikui, who had been scratching the back of his head with an awkward smile, smiled brightly as he looked behind Enrique and me.
“Elder Clement!”
It was a bright voice, as if I had met a savior, so I had to ponder for a moment whether I had bullied Ikui.
“Yelium. You are here, Your Majesty. How are you too, Prince Javier?”
“Nice to meet you, Elder Clement.”
Enrique responded to Clement’s greeting with that friendly smile.
“It’s been a while since we talked like this, Elder Clement.”
“Heh heh heh…. Do you remember meeting this old man? Isn’t His Majesty very young?”
“of course. At that time, you did all sorts of tricks to bring joy to Jim. Jim’s head is a little flying.”
People are surprised every time that I remember stories from my childhood, so I decided to just go with the clever setting.
“haha. you’re right. Even then, His Majesty was very extraordinary. He is truly intelligent.”
“Ha ha ha…”
Rather, when Elder Clement acknowledged it as if it were natural, the embarrassment fell on me. I quickly changed the topic.
“So why did you find Jim?”
“His Holiness is looking for you.”
Before leaving for Ermano, I had to meet Michael once. Because we had to talk about the voice of God we heard at the announcement ceremony earlier. As I was heading to the sanctuary of the temple where Michael was waiting, I grabbed the hem of Enrique’s clothes. Enrique smiled lightly and looked down at me.
“Enrique. Have you contacted Aidan?”
“Ah yes.”
For an instant, Enrique’s expression blurred. That sign was quickly erased, but it was only after seeing the face that had been fleeting.
‘Why do you look so disappointed…?’
However, to ask again, Enrique quickly opened his mouth with a face that was not different from usual, so he missed the opportunity to ask a question. Enrique reported in a low voice.
“I couldn’t reach Count Aserad, so I contacted the inn. But then a giant horned cat… showed up and asked me to tell him it was okay.”
“Giant horned cat…”
It was a title that would have run amok if the sheep had heard it. Enrique’s report followed.
“The inn staff say they have never seen Count Aserad come out of the room.”
“You must be very sick. You better go back soon.”
Even if it wasn’t, the nervous heart became more urgent. Even when I went out early in the morning, I seemed okay, but I pretended to be okay. I hurriedly moved to the temple sanctuary where Michael was waiting, but Enrique called me.
“your majesty.”
“huh?”
“Does Your Majesty have any doubts about Count Aserad?”
“what do you mean?”
Enrique hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“Isn’t the count’s black energy related to Devlin?”
“That’s…”
I didn’t know what to say. He had never properly explained Aidan to Enrique, so he might have thought of it as a connection with Devlin. Having seen Aidan’s past with my own eyes, I knew best that he was innocent. Although I can’t prove it. However, neither Aidan nor I knew the source of the black energy, so we couldn’t defend it.
“What does Enrique think of Aidan?”
“It’s better to keep your distance…”
Enrique, who had been silent before he could finish, opened his mouth again.
“no. Please forget about it.”
He covered his face with one hand and avoided my gaze.
“I’m jealous that His Majesty is worried about Earl Aserad… No, please forget this too.”
I blinked both eyes.
‘jealousy…?’
Their eyes met briefly, but Enrique averted his eyes in amazement and even took a few steps back. I was also taken aback by Enrique’s reaction. In the midst of an awkward atmosphere, Enrique changed the topic.
“His Holiness will be waiting for you, Your Majesty.”
“Uh huh. I have to go.”
As I walked back to the sanctuary, my mind was filled with questions.
‘Is Enrique jealous of Aidan? Because I’m worried about Aidan?’
As I pondered whether I had favored Aidan, I arrived at the sanctuary before I knew it. . . . The sanctuary in the middle of the day was calm and peaceful even though there was a big commotion the night before. When I reached the entrance of the ventricle after passing through the winding spring of God, I saw Michael waiting for me. Michael was leaning against the door of the ventricle. The door was left open by Elder Sue. Just as it takes two yelliums to open it, it takes one yellium to close it, so I had no choice but to leave it open. Looking at Michael’s face reminded me of last night’s defeat and made me sick to my stomach.
‘are you okay. It’s not a big deal right now. I have some essences that I didn’t send to Abelardo just in case, and I have the cores…’
Even if I tried to think positively, I felt annoyed at the thought that what I had collected so far had gone into Veron’s hands. As soon as he stood in front of Michael, he said to Enrique as if ordering.
“Please leave your seat.”
Then, without a word, he first moved into the ventricle.
“I’ll talk with Michael and come back, Enrique.”
“I will be waiting for you here.”
With Enrique still unable to make eye contact with me, I followed Michael into the chamber. The place where his steps stopped was right in front of the altar where the essence of the Genesis Tree was piled up.
“Why are you here? I don’t even have integers anymore-”
“Mabel.”
“…huh?”
Michael, who had been calling me by nickname all the time, called me by name.
“Did you hear the voice of God at the announcement ceremony earlier?”
I nodded my head in a confident tone.
“Did you hear Michael?”
“no. Just guessing.”
“They said, ‘Kill me.’”
“…kill me?”
Michael’s expression hardened. Looking at his serious face, I asked cautiously.
“Do you understand what that means?”
“at all. Not even one.”
What on earth is God arranging that even Michael can’t understand? The long silence was broken by Michael. He took a step closer to the altar and gave me a chin.
“I’ll think about it later, and follow me first.”
“Where?”
Scared to ask the question, Michael began drawing something complex with his finger on the stone floor beneath the altar. The light on the floor flashed and then disappeared repeatedly. It was to the point that I couldn’t even follow it with my eyes, let alone memorize how complex the picture was. After a while, Michael lifted his finger and the altar split in two with the sound of the floor shaking. Surprisingly, there were stairs leading to the basement.
“This is the true chamber. This place where dogs and cows can enter is just an entrance.”
Leaving me bewildered, Michael began to descend the stairs. I hurriedly followed him. Every time I went down, the torches that had been turned off lit up as if to greet guests. When I finally came down the stairs, Michael stepped aside and showed me inside.
“Because I didn’t stay still either.”
“This is…”
A huge amount of integers. Filling all the shelves in the dark space.
“These are the essences of the tree of creation that you gathered even before you were born. The oracle that predicted destruction had been going on since before I became the God King. By the way, only one of my messengers and I know this.”
The amount of Essences I’ve collected is quite large, but it’s embarrassing to compare them with the Essences here.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“To fool the enemy, fool the allies.”
Even if you cheated, you cheated too well. I was really disappointed to know that everything had been taken away by Veron.
“The essences on the altar are sacrificed for the sake of the great, so just forget about them. The goal was to make Emperor Devlin think he had seized Seung-gi.”
Michael twitched the corners of his mouth and gave a low laugh.
“That stupid bastard must be happy that he has taken all the power of the essence?”
“So you’re saying you planned this to catch a careless Veron in the back?”
“What is it? Give Yelium also into the hands of Emperor Devlin.”
“Why are you giving it to Veron?”
Instead of answering, Michael took out his yellium and held it out to me.
“Why are you giving me this again?”
“Give me.”
“ok?”
“When you were 2 years old, you told Clement to give you yellium, and you did all sorts of things.”
“Well….”
How dare you mention the embarrassing past of pretending to be a child and playing tricks on Elder Clement.
“It’s different from essence, so it can’t be absorbed or destroyed, so the Devlin Emperor should always carry it. Then, as long as you have this, you can always locate that bastard.”
“Since he has Yelium, wouldn’t Veron also be able to use the power to transcend space?”
“no. That bastard doesn’t have divine power, so I can’t use it. you’re a wizard you can write anything I’m going to need this ability to fight that bastard in the future.”
Michael smiled brightly as he placed the yellium in my hand.
“With this, I put a bell around the cat’s neck.”
I couldn’t help but admire the big picture of Michael using the traitor. Truly, he was the type of person who would get tired if left as an enemy. But one thing I just couldn’t get over. I seriously warned Michael.
“Veron is a cat. Apologize to the cat.”
“…”
Michael made a puzzled face.
***
I saw an unfamiliar ceiling through my blurry vision. Aidan, who did not understand the situation at the moment, recalled his situation only after a while.
‘I came to Abelardo.’
The moment Aidan moved from Ermano to Abelard with the power of Yelium, Aidan felt the pressure crushing him. It was to the point of being short of breath. A terrible sensation, as if the surrounding air was breaking through the body at will and dissolving it one by one. That feeling continued to this day. It was to the point where I doubted myself whether I would go crazy like this. The rising heat was unfamiliar. It was because he was more accustomed to the pain of tearing his limbs. Is it because of that? I had a dream I never had.
‘I met a certain woman…’
We had a conversation, but I couldn’t remember what I said. However, the feeling that the smiling woman’s face wasn’t too bad to see remained. Just as she was about to stand up, thinking nothing of it, her last words came to mind as if they were whispering in her ear.
“When this child is born, I will love you someday. It would be nice if it was a good-looking person like you.”
A smile as fresh as petals passed vividly in my ears.
“…”
Why? That voice and laughter didn’t feel so unfamiliar. As if it wasn’t just a dream, but a piece of memory that I really experienced.
