TAPGB - Chapter 114
The Abandoned Prince's Ghost Bride
"I am glad that His Majesty the Emperor is helping us. We almost got into big trouble."
"..."
"Your Majesty, you know that I have to thank him this time, right?"
"Noisy."
Although he didn't confirm it, James suppressed a smile when he saw that Lucian didn't specifically deny it.
Eventually, they arrived at the place they originally wanted to go. That was the secret room where they had held a secret meeting the other day.
Javier and Sebastian, whom Lucian had contacted in advance, were there.
There was no time, so they only exchanged brief greetings and moved on to the main topic.
"As you asked me last time, I have been looking into the mansion. It was in the 25th year of the Imperial Calendar that temples began to enter the mansion in earnest. However, it appears that sacrifices were not made at that time."
"So you're saying they did something else?"
"It is my guess, but since the Emperor does not leave the mansion, it appears that the temple people came and went from the mansion. Caligo, the first pope, was always next to the first Emperor."
"Also, I discovered this, Your Majesty."
What Sebastian handed over was a drawing.
"What is this?"
"It is an underground passage connecting the basement of the mansion and each temple."
Lucian opened his eyes and looked at the drawing again.
"I went to the mansion through a hidden passage in the Great Hall dungeon. I remember walking to the mansion for almost 30 minutes. As you can see from the drawing, it was completed in 2026. It is presumed that they went in and out of the mansion to dig this underground passage."
The drawings they brought were divided into several paths, like a maze.
This means that the mansion can be accessed through an underground passage from other places, just as it was possible to get to the mansion from the Great Hall.
Lucian, who had been staring at it, looked back at James.
"James, do you have a map of the capital?"
"I will come find it for you."
While James was gone, Javier continued speaking.
"Please also look at this."
This time, Javier took out a notebook from his pocket.
"This is a directory that records who made sacrifices to the temple."
He opened the note, saying he brought it with difficulty.
"The first sacrifice was made on July 12. 27. 34 women were sacrificed. The next one was July 15. 1937. They sacrificed 28 men."
From then on, offerings were made without fail every 10 years, every July of the -7-year cycle. Each time, the number of people sacrificed, their gender, age, and race were all different.
"Fortunately, around the year 100, the number of sacrifices decreased. Usually around 5 people. It consists of one death row inmate and trainee priests."
Javier, remembering his past, paused for a moment.
"Hmm! Anyway. Sacrifices have indeed been offered continuously for nearly 300 years, from the year 27 until now. However, there is a gap in between..."
"Gap?"
"Yes. I wrote it down separately. Please look at this."
Javier showed Lucian the note he had written in advance.
97. 137. 187, 207, 217, 277.
There were a total of 6 times.
"I don't know why, but it only says that elite priests were dispatched at this time."
"Elite priest?"
"You can easily think of it as an army of warlocks. They are murderous weapons that sacrifice their lives when the Pope orders them to carry out their mission."
"In reality, there is no significant difference from ordinary people. So it's hard to tell them apart."
"The only thing that sets them apart is that elite priests have a symbol engraved somewhere on their bodies. So, please, Your Majesty, be careful if you see anyone with this symbol drawn on them."
The symbol Javier spoke of was the Möbius strip ♾️, which contained the doctrine of the temple.
Reflecting on the two people's attention, Lucian looked at the note again.
'It looks like they lived in the mansion.'
Suddenly, he thought of Leah who had gone to the mansion.
There are a total of 5 people she mentioned, but she said she was looking for them from the time she wrote the diary, so having one more person is not that big of a problem.
"Besides, they said they all disappeared overnight."
It makes perfect sense if the elite priests Javier spoke of broke into the mansion through the basement, kidnapped them, and sacrificed them.
"And I don't know if it's related."
Sebastian said hesitantly.
"Witch hunts were rampant in the early to mid 20th year of the imperial calendar."
"Witch hunt?"
"Yes, a witch hunt has been ordered throughout the Empire. The temple mainly took the lead in capturing witches. And it's a shame... We still often hear news that a witch has been caught."
"In fact, there are records of the old faction capturing witches and absorbing their power. I think the reason I was wary of Leah before was because of the relationship between witches and warlocks. Today, it is the warlocks who have wiped out the witches."
"Hmm..."
After hearing their story, Lucian felt very uncomfortable.
"When did you say the temple began to enter and exit the mansion in earnest?"
"It's 25 years."
"25 years... The first Emperor passed away in 26."
And according to what Ruber said the other day, the first Emperor massacred many people in his mansion before he died. If they killed a lot of people for no reason. It would have been to offer sacrifices, but seeing as It is not recorded in the temple...
"It may have been witches who were massacred, not ordinary people."
"Yes?"
"Let's think. Now, all the circumstances show that the temple and the first Emperor joined forces to seal Leah. I don't know exactly when or why it was sealed, but something went wrong in the middle. To solve this problem, they captured a witch like Leah. But in the end, they couldn't resolve it, so the first Emperor was angry to the end of his head."
"Ah! It could be!"
"Javier, did you find out what exactly the sacrifices were made for at the temple?"
"Yes! It is said that this is to maintain the seal. But this is a little different from keeping the seal from breaking."
According to Javier's explanation, it was like this.
A room for offering sacrifices and a magic circle was drawn on the door where Leah was imprisoned.
It was a form of converting the offering into a kind of energy and delivering it.
And it was just beyond the door that they were trying to channel their energy.
In other words, the act of offering sacrifices is not related to the sealing of Leah.
"Your Majesty, how did you say you broke Leah's seal?"
"I went into the room and unlocked the spell on the seal stone myself."
"Yes. That means that what is related to Leah's sealing is not the visitation, but the sealing stone."
Lucian, who hadn't even thought about that, was startled.
"If the temple was afraid that Leah's seal would be broken, they should have written the spell directly on the seal stone. But what was it like?"
"They drew the magic on the door, not the seal stone."
"Maybe the temple was unable to open the door where Leah was sealed. So why on earth did they sacrifice so many people as a sacrifice? If they're not afraid of the seal being broken, then why?"
"It seems like they were trying to save Leah."
"What?"
"This is something I learned while learning black magic, but if the soul leaves the body for too long, the person dies."
Lucian's heart sank.
"No matter how much you seal, you can't avoid death. Ultimately, the body and soul are separate. Moreover, Leah was sealed for about 300 years. It is impossible for the soul and body to remain separate for such a long period of time."
"Well, then... "
Sacrifice was made at the temple once every 10 years.
"Yes, they were trying to save Leah's life. The maximum period for which the soul and body can be separated is 10 years."
10 years. The period during which they offered sacrifices was '-7 years'. It was the same '-7 year' cycle when Leah's soul was disturbed.
'She was practically dying.'
As the body died, it would naturally have affected the soul, and the soul could be maintained again by injecting new energy through sacrifices at the temple.
Lucian suddenly remembered Leah, who had disappeared in the air when he visited the mansion for the first time in five years. If he hadn't gone to see her that day, no, if he had been just a little late, he would have lost Leah forever. Because three years ago, when the '-7 year' cycle came around, there were no sacrifices made at the temple.
He also prevented Javier from offering sacrifices by his own orders. He thought it would help Leah.
By shaking the temple from the inside out, he was able to fool the temple's eyes.
"Hey!"
"Your Majesty!"
Lucian took a deep breath. His heart could not calm down, and his hands were shaking.
"...I almost killed Leah."
Even if it wasn't his intention, even if he did it for her, the thought that he might have killed Leab because of his wrong choice made him feel like he was going crazy.
Lucian, whose eyes were wandering aimlessly, remembered something and lifted his head.
'Ah! She never went down to the basement when Leah was a ghost.'
It was like she was blocked by something, and she couldn't get close at all, but this couldn't have been...
"A body without a soul would be tasty food for other souls, so if the barrier had not been placed, another soul would definitely have taken up residence in Leah's body."
It was confusing to learn that the temple that Lucian thought was only harassing Leah was actually trying to save her.
No, beyond being confused, Lucian didn't know whether to be disgusted by this or feel fortunate that Leah was still alive.
But this much is clear.
'Leah will be distressed if she finds out the truth.'
Lucian automatically pictured Leah sobbing and losing her mind.
'This... Let's not talk about this.'
Only now did Lucian truly realize Leah's feelings.
'Was Lia's heart like this when she kept secrets from me?'
It's not about ostracizing him or ignoring him because he's young. It was only because she was worried about him and loved him.
"Have you calmed down?"
As Sebastian infused his divine power and Javier supported him, Lucian was able to regain his strength a little.
"Done. Let's keep what we talked about today to ourselves for now. Don't ever let Leah know."
"Yes, I will."
"Your Majesty, I have brought you the map you requested."
When he was clearing up the messy atmosphere. Just then, James came back. Lucian placed the map he brought with him and the underground plan side by side.
Then, each model imitated it with magic and levitated it into the air.
"Because this is the mansion and this is the main shrine...."
If you roughly match the sizes of the two...
"!"
Sebastian let out a startled sound when he saw the map spread out in the air.
"I knew it."
"I can't believe something like this was sleeping in the capital...!"
The underground caves dug by the temple were spread widely throughout the capital. Lucian.l, who was watching, marked the starting point of the underground plan on the map.
"We need to conduct a large-scale investigation. Sebastian, please use this drawing to check where each entrance is located and whether there are any additional underground passages."
"All right."
"And the reason I urgently called you two today is because I want to ask you something about the 16th Emperor."
Lucian doesn't know about Julius.
Even though he tried to investigate, his evaluation was better than expected, probably because he was a good actor.
"I heard that the 16th Emperor had a fairly close relationship with the temple. Is it true?"
"Yes, it's true. In fact, a warlock always stayed by the 16th Emperor's side, and when he was in good health, he often visited the great temple."
"What about you Sebastian?"
If Javier's words from the old school are true, then what about the new school?
Sebastian closed his eyes, remembering old times.
"Because we don't have a good relationship with the old faction, it was rare to see the 16th Emperor. To be more precise, it would be more correct to say that they treated us like we didn't exist."
Jullus only focused on the nine factions. He tried not to have any conversation or contact with the new faction. In short, he blatantly favored only the old faction.
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