"OMG!"
I let out a ragged breath. I was bewildered by the afterimage that suddenly washed over my mind like a tidal wave.
I can't believe the memories of someone I met for the first time today are coming back to me so vividly.
As I blinked blankly, wondering if I was dreaming, I heard the Crown Prince's voice full of confusion.
“This is definitely that child’s past, but why is this...”
“Past? Did Declan see something like that?”
“Then you too?”
Our gazes, which had been entangled in surprise, suddenly turned to one place.
There was the Marquis, staring at the boy with an expressionless face, unlike ours.
It seemed that the situation a little while ago was the Marquis' doing.
'Wow, it seems like you really are a son of the goddess since you don't just read other people's pasts, you share them too.'
Seeing him exercise his powers so nonchalantly, an indescribable sense of awe pierced my heart.
It was at that moment that I was looking at the Marquis with trembling eyes that I couldn't control.
“What, what is this? Why am I suddenly having memories of the past on my own...”
The boy, who was holding his head with trembling hands and unable to contain his confusion, looked at us.
The way he was slowly stepping back and its sharp eyes looked like a young animal wary of a stranger.
“You guys... who are you? How do you know those names?”
Maybe he felt it instinctively.
That we are not ordinary human beings, and that we covet his salvation.
And the fact that we are people who will rob him at any cost.
'Ha, that's awkward.'
The boy's past life that the Marquis showed us was truly hell.
A life where you have to fill your stomach with only a bowl of soup and a loaf of bread, and you have to work tirelessly to make pottery to protect your younger siblings while being unfairly beaten for all sorts of reasons.
Even later, because of a slump, he was unable to do that and was barely surviving with Chihara's help, so it was quite a shame to take that away from him.
I felt like I wanted to just give that holy relic away.
But the current royalty situation was too bad to give up out of personal feelings, so I decided to try to appease the boy for the time being.
“There’s no need to be scared. You may be surprised to see someone like this so suddenly, but we are not suspicious people...”
“Aren’t you suspicious people? Using this kind of power?”
Before I could even finish speaking, a rebuttal came flying in.
The boy was still staring at us with almost alert eyes.
“You were the ones who just messed with my memories, right? Tell me straight! What are your real identities? Are you even human?”
Those eyes, mixed with fear, looked exactly like Marca's when we first met.
I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding before the boy's resistance grew any further, so I gently grabbed the Crown Prince's collar.
“Declan, I guess...”
The Crown Prince nodded, understanding what I meant, and took something out of his bosom. It was a gold plate with the imperial emblem engraved in relief.
“This is...”
Reese's eyes shook violently.
Even though he was a young boy who had been locked in a workshop and only made pottery, he could not help but know the royal family's patterns.
“Then surely..."
“Yes, I am Declan Garnazzo, Crown Prince of Catalonia. This is Saintess Shayne Veloce.”
The Crown Prince's introduction stopped there, perhaps because he felt there was no need to reveal the Marquis's identity.
Fortunately, the boy didn't seem to have the presence of mind to figure out the identity of the remaining person.
“Wow, that’s ridiculous. Why are such great people here, why are you here...”
“Um, can we come in for a bit? This doesn’t seem like a very suitable place to have a conversation.”
Reese's mouth hardened at my words. Although he had figured out our identities, he seemed a little reluctant to let us in, knowing that we knew his secret.
But he nodded weakly, thinking that he couldn't stop us now that he knew our identity.
We were guided into the workshop by Reese. A boy who had hurriedly swept the dusty table offered us a seat.
“Well, it’s shabby, but please sit comfortably.”
“It’s shabby, but thank you.”
“What, what would you like to drink? I’ll bring you something to drink. Now, just wait a minute!”
“No, I’m done drinking.”
I quickly stopped the boy.
If you keep bringing tea with such trembling hands, you'll end up covered in sin before you even get to us.
“Would you like to sit down a bit? We don’t have much time, so we want to get to the point quickly.”
“No, yes.”
Reese sat down at one end of the table as if obeying our orders.
It was heartbreaking to see him holding onto his hands tightly to calm them down as they trembled uncontrollably.
“Then, please tell me now. Why did you come to me? Could it be that you wanted to take Chihara from me...”
“I wish it weren’t so, but it is. We came to find Chihara.”
Naturally, Reese's eyes were filled with despair. I felt sorry for that sight, but I had no choice but to open my mouth.
“I understand your situation, but we really need your help. We will give you as much compensation as you want, so please...”
“Oh, no!”
A scream-like voice came out of Reese's mouth.
“Oh, you must know that you saw my memory a little while ago. I can’t do without you, Chihara. If I do, I’ll never be able to make pottery again!”
“Yeah, I know. So the reward is...”
“Compensation is of no use! No matter how much money you give me, it will disappear in an instant due to my father’s drinking and gambling debts! Then I will have to pick up the potter’s wheel again, and if I can’t make pottery like my father demands...”
Reese squeezed his eyes shut.
The thought of returning to that hellish past seemed to fill the boy's heart with fear.
I calmly appeased Reese.
“Don’t worry, Reese. We’ll take care of your father’s problem.”
“...The Saintess?”
“Yes, I will give you a separate house and put a restraining order on your father. I will also notify local security. We will tell them not to let him come near your family. Then you two will be safe.”
"That..."
Hope appeared in Reese's eyes, once filled with despair. The dream of being free from his abuser, of not having to be beaten or starved anymore.
But that hope and dream soon scattered and disappeared.
“That, that won’t work. I can’t hand it over to you, Chihara.”
“Why? Is it because you think I won’t keep my promise? Or do you still feel bad about imposing sanctions as a father?”
Reese, who had been chewing his lips at my words, shook his head.
“No, that’s not it. I don’t think the Saintess would lie. And father... if I could, I would do more than just sanctions.”
“But why...”
“But how long will that promise last?”
"What?"
“How long can you keep that promise, Saintess?”
“What is that, of course..."
“I will protect you as long as you are safe. You may say that now. But promises are meant to fade with time. How long will the busy Saintess remember this promise?”
“...Reese.”
“Even if the Saintess doesn’t forget, what about the local security forces? What if they forget and miss a day of patrol and my father comes barging in on that day? Then, me, my family..."
Reese's body, which had been calm for a moment, began to tremble again.
The boy, who had been biting his lips and looking down as if trying to hold back tears, met my eyes again.
“I’m sorry. My fear of my father is too great to rely on anyone’s promise. So I will never hand you over. Never!”
I was speechless for a moment.
The boy's words were not wrong. People's promises and memories tend to fade with time, and the burden the boy had to bear was too great to rely solely on those for salvation.
'What should I do?'
As I was tapping the table with my index finger, lost in thought, the Crown Prince, who had been listening to our conversation from the side, opened his mouth.
"Then."
The moment he was about to come up with a solution.
Stop.
A stern voice cut off the Crown prince's words and echoed through the air.
We turned our heads to look for the uninvited guest who showed up without notice.
“Ah, suddenly in front of me...”
Reese's body, which had been standing upright with tension, suddenly collapsed.
“Reese!”
It was at that moment that I surprised, was about to run to Reese in a hurry.
“Don’t bother the child anymore.”
The voice came again, this time not through the air but directly piercing through my eardrums.
I turned my head again towards where the sound was coming from, and soon I finally saw it.
A white stone placed in a corner of the workshop began to emit a dazzling light and transform into the shape of a human being.
I let out a ragged breath. I was bewildered by the afterimage that suddenly washed over my mind like a tidal wave.
I can't believe the memories of someone I met for the first time today are coming back to me so vividly.
As I blinked blankly, wondering if I was dreaming, I heard the Crown Prince's voice full of confusion.
“This is definitely that child’s past, but why is this...”
“Past? Did Declan see something like that?”
“Then you too?”
Our gazes, which had been entangled in surprise, suddenly turned to one place.
There was the Marquis, staring at the boy with an expressionless face, unlike ours.
It seemed that the situation a little while ago was the Marquis' doing.
'Wow, it seems like you really are a son of the goddess since you don't just read other people's pasts, you share them too.'
Seeing him exercise his powers so nonchalantly, an indescribable sense of awe pierced my heart.
It was at that moment that I was looking at the Marquis with trembling eyes that I couldn't control.
“What, what is this? Why am I suddenly having memories of the past on my own...”
The boy, who was holding his head with trembling hands and unable to contain his confusion, looked at us.
The way he was slowly stepping back and its sharp eyes looked like a young animal wary of a stranger.
“You guys... who are you? How do you know those names?”
Maybe he felt it instinctively.
That we are not ordinary human beings, and that we covet his salvation.
And the fact that we are people who will rob him at any cost.
'Ha, that's awkward.'
The boy's past life that the Marquis showed us was truly hell.
A life where you have to fill your stomach with only a bowl of soup and a loaf of bread, and you have to work tirelessly to make pottery to protect your younger siblings while being unfairly beaten for all sorts of reasons.
Even later, because of a slump, he was unable to do that and was barely surviving with Chihara's help, so it was quite a shame to take that away from him.
I felt like I wanted to just give that holy relic away.
But the current royalty situation was too bad to give up out of personal feelings, so I decided to try to appease the boy for the time being.
“There’s no need to be scared. You may be surprised to see someone like this so suddenly, but we are not suspicious people...”
“Aren’t you suspicious people? Using this kind of power?”
Before I could even finish speaking, a rebuttal came flying in.
The boy was still staring at us with almost alert eyes.
“You were the ones who just messed with my memories, right? Tell me straight! What are your real identities? Are you even human?”
Those eyes, mixed with fear, looked exactly like Marca's when we first met.
I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding before the boy's resistance grew any further, so I gently grabbed the Crown Prince's collar.
“Declan, I guess...”
The Crown Prince nodded, understanding what I meant, and took something out of his bosom. It was a gold plate with the imperial emblem engraved in relief.
“This is...”
Reese's eyes shook violently.
Even though he was a young boy who had been locked in a workshop and only made pottery, he could not help but know the royal family's patterns.
“Then surely..."
“Yes, I am Declan Garnazzo, Crown Prince of Catalonia. This is Saintess Shayne Veloce.”
The Crown Prince's introduction stopped there, perhaps because he felt there was no need to reveal the Marquis's identity.
Fortunately, the boy didn't seem to have the presence of mind to figure out the identity of the remaining person.
“Wow, that’s ridiculous. Why are such great people here, why are you here...”
“Um, can we come in for a bit? This doesn’t seem like a very suitable place to have a conversation.”
Reese's mouth hardened at my words. Although he had figured out our identities, he seemed a little reluctant to let us in, knowing that we knew his secret.
But he nodded weakly, thinking that he couldn't stop us now that he knew our identity.
We were guided into the workshop by Reese. A boy who had hurriedly swept the dusty table offered us a seat.
“Well, it’s shabby, but please sit comfortably.”
“It’s shabby, but thank you.”
“What, what would you like to drink? I’ll bring you something to drink. Now, just wait a minute!”
“No, I’m done drinking.”
I quickly stopped the boy.
If you keep bringing tea with such trembling hands, you'll end up covered in sin before you even get to us.
“Would you like to sit down a bit? We don’t have much time, so we want to get to the point quickly.”
“No, yes.”
Reese sat down at one end of the table as if obeying our orders.
It was heartbreaking to see him holding onto his hands tightly to calm them down as they trembled uncontrollably.
“Then, please tell me now. Why did you come to me? Could it be that you wanted to take Chihara from me...”
“I wish it weren’t so, but it is. We came to find Chihara.”
Naturally, Reese's eyes were filled with despair. I felt sorry for that sight, but I had no choice but to open my mouth.
“I understand your situation, but we really need your help. We will give you as much compensation as you want, so please...”
“Oh, no!”
A scream-like voice came out of Reese's mouth.
“Oh, you must know that you saw my memory a little while ago. I can’t do without you, Chihara. If I do, I’ll never be able to make pottery again!”
“Yeah, I know. So the reward is...”
“Compensation is of no use! No matter how much money you give me, it will disappear in an instant due to my father’s drinking and gambling debts! Then I will have to pick up the potter’s wheel again, and if I can’t make pottery like my father demands...”
Reese squeezed his eyes shut.
The thought of returning to that hellish past seemed to fill the boy's heart with fear.
I calmly appeased Reese.
“Don’t worry, Reese. We’ll take care of your father’s problem.”
“...The Saintess?”
“Yes, I will give you a separate house and put a restraining order on your father. I will also notify local security. We will tell them not to let him come near your family. Then you two will be safe.”
"That..."
Hope appeared in Reese's eyes, once filled with despair. The dream of being free from his abuser, of not having to be beaten or starved anymore.
But that hope and dream soon scattered and disappeared.
“That, that won’t work. I can’t hand it over to you, Chihara.”
“Why? Is it because you think I won’t keep my promise? Or do you still feel bad about imposing sanctions as a father?”
Reese, who had been chewing his lips at my words, shook his head.
“No, that’s not it. I don’t think the Saintess would lie. And father... if I could, I would do more than just sanctions.”
“But why...”
“But how long will that promise last?”
"What?"
“How long can you keep that promise, Saintess?”
“What is that, of course..."
“I will protect you as long as you are safe. You may say that now. But promises are meant to fade with time. How long will the busy Saintess remember this promise?”
“...Reese.”
“Even if the Saintess doesn’t forget, what about the local security forces? What if they forget and miss a day of patrol and my father comes barging in on that day? Then, me, my family..."
Reese's body, which had been calm for a moment, began to tremble again.
The boy, who had been biting his lips and looking down as if trying to hold back tears, met my eyes again.
“I’m sorry. My fear of my father is too great to rely on anyone’s promise. So I will never hand you over. Never!”
I was speechless for a moment.
The boy's words were not wrong. People's promises and memories tend to fade with time, and the burden the boy had to bear was too great to rely solely on those for salvation.
'What should I do?'
As I was tapping the table with my index finger, lost in thought, the Crown Prince, who had been listening to our conversation from the side, opened his mouth.
"Then."
The moment he was about to come up with a solution.
Stop.
A stern voice cut off the Crown prince's words and echoed through the air.
We turned our heads to look for the uninvited guest who showed up without notice.
“Ah, suddenly in front of me...”
Reese's body, which had been standing upright with tension, suddenly collapsed.
“Reese!”
It was at that moment that I surprised, was about to run to Reese in a hurry.
“Don’t bother the child anymore.”
The voice came again, this time not through the air but directly piercing through my eardrums.
I turned my head again towards where the sound was coming from, and soon I finally saw it.
A white stone placed in a corner of the workshop began to emit a dazzling light and transform into the shape of a human being.
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