Side Story 1. John's Position
John never longed for anything.
He was not born with a lot of greed, and he had no need to be greedy as the Crown Prince.
The rarest things, the most precious things, were in his grasp before he could desire them. Everything that a human being could desire was laid out naturally at his feet at the moment of his birth.
Moreover, John was beautiful and even awakened as a transcendent being at the age of two. All the rules and order of the world were kind to John, as if they existed for his sake.
One can follow goodness without thinking about what 'goodness' is. One can follow chivalry without wondering why 'chivalry' is necessary.
Since there is no lack, there is no need to be cowardly; since there is no fear, there is no need to be cautious.
A simple and perfect life that was neither hot nor cold, but maintained a lukewarm temperature.
His mission was one: to offer himself to the Purifier, born as a transcendent being in perfect form, without a single flaw or blemish.
To follow the categorical imperative to be blindly loyal to the Purifier, as has been the case in fairy tales, in the Bible, and throughout human history.
So... He never even imagined a first meeting like this.
"Oh my... Your Highness the Crown Prince. My daughter seems nervous. Haha. This is my daughter Odette. This time, she has awakened as an S-class Purifier."
The girl, who was half-hiding behind the Count who was speaking cheerfully, was trembling slightly with her head bowed.
"Because of that artificial smell... my head hurts."
The Purifier was very different from what the priests preached. It was like a magical moment of ecstasy. What ecstasy? It was hardship itself.
The smell of a cheap, melted shrine wafted through the audience room, and the lace dress reflecting the chandelier lights stung John's eyes.
Even for John, who was usually generous to others, everything about this woman was bothersome, and even her talent for being joyful and jumping around was indifferent.
'Didn't you say you were 15? How can a 15-year-old be that small?'
The most annoying thing of all was the girl's physique. Her shoulders were too small and thin to be carrying the mission of a purifier.
It was so small that she seemed to be buried in the dress rather than wearing it. Her knuckles were white as she desperately clutched the dress's loud lace as if it were a rope.
"Come out from behind me, Odette, so I can pay my respects to His Highness."
The girl who had been hiding with her shoulders crossed the whole time due to the Count's affectionate caress barely managed to stand next to the Count.
It was only a step closer, but the headache caused by the stench became more intense. John's power now gave him goosebumps as if he was rejecting the girl.
'I feel like my head is going to burst.'
Maybe that's why the moment when the girl raised her head felt like an eternity.
The moment his eyes met with that child's.
Thud.
The sound of something falling reached his ears.
Thud, thud, thud.
A color like the warm sea of summer, or a color like cold emerald.
His ears grew hot, and his throat felt stuffy. Only when his chest began to tighten and feel stuffy did John realize that the sound he was hearing was his own heartbeat.
Thud, thud, thud.
It was a completely different sound from the bells of joy that the priest had said would be heard the moment he met the Purifier. It was the sound of his world falling apart.
His lukewarm world, which he had thought was perfect and always maintained a suitable temperature without any desire or loneliness, was falling apart.
“Odette”
John blurted out the child's name without realizing it.
His body felt unfamiliar, as if he had forgotten how to breathe or even blink.
'What should I do?"
It felt more like a curse than a spell. Otherwise, he wouldn't be this stupid. How could everything be so hot and miserable that he can't stand it?
His throat was ticklish. If he just relaxed a little, the corners of his mouth would loosen up and squirm. A stupid laugh was about to escape John's lips.
This child is the Purifier, or John is the Transcendent. It is natural for Transcendents to worship the Purifier. Such facts had long since disappeared from John's mind.
The artificial scent was still terrible, and the ability was still indifferent. Nothing had changed, but only John felt like he was floundering.
The little girl in front of him seemed like a ruler. She shook up John's life completely.
It was the Emperor's voice that woke him up at that moment.
"Your Highness, you must be polite to the ladies."
Ah.
John extended his hand toward Odette's hand.
Because he had to pull Odette's hand and kiss it. It was something he did dozens of times a day out of courtesy, but John's hand was shaking like a fool.
If she held the lace of the dress like that, her delicate fingertips would probably hurt, he thought, and that was the moment when he carefully held her small, white hands that looked like they could break easily.
"Ah, Father, I can't do it!"
Odette was startled and roughly shook off John's hand.
"No! No! This is not it!"
Odette's voice was like a scream. It didn't sound like it came from a woman who had been crouching all along.
"I'm scared. This is not something I can do!"
Odette grabbed her father's collar as if begging for help. The fear in her eyes was clear.
“Odette...”
Odette's face was even paler than before. She was panting as if she was suffering from extreme fear.
When John tried to call Odette to calm her down, she became even more frightened.
"Mom. I can't do it. I can't do it. Father, please. Please, save me..."
As John stood beside Odette to support her, a window on one side of the audience room showed John and Odette side by side.
"Oh..."
John could only stand still and sigh.
Because he realized what she was afraid of.
Even though he was still a boy, his body was overwhelmingly large, incomparable to Odette's. His uniform was tailored to fit his body, designed to inspire awe, and he carried a sharp sword at his waist.
John's appearance was like that of a giant monster as he stood next to the little girl.
What made John look even more terrifying was the expression on his face as he looked at Odette.
The eyes sparkled with anticipation and desire as if they would devour her at any moment. The obsession and possessiveness that seemed like they would never let her go were projected on the walls to a disgusting degree.
'Odette, take care of yourself."
The Count reprimanded her harshly with a firm voice, but Odette trembled all over and shed large tears.
"Aren't you scared? Am I the only one who's scared of the Transcendents?"
"Oh, even if you say so yourself!"
"Father, this is not it. I don't like this. This is a horrible monster or something that you support."
John clenched his fists at the precise expression of the horrible monster, the mirror reflecting the truth.
The Count hastily covered Odette's mouth, but John could easily guess what she was saying.
'The most horrible monster or deed John will do to me.'
He couldn't argue. That's exactly what he wanted to do. Just as the monster in the fairy tale covets the Princess, so too did John covet Odette.
He has no recollection of the Count's expression at that time.
Because he was helpless at the sight of her crying, hr just stared blankly at Odette.
At that moment, John realized for the first time that the fairy tales, the Bible, and the history of mankind had only told him how much the Purifier loved him.
The fact that no one questioned whether the Purifier desired that worship or love.
His love for her is violence. His desire is disaster. Even though he realizes this, he can't stop loving her. She is still beautiful and lovable to him...
After meeting Odette, John experienced the extremes of adolescence. He suffered from an endless pendulum swing between longing and guilt.
What is right and good, why the firstborn must be good, why chivalry is necessary, and how to keep desire from becoming violence.
He couldn't stop thinking painfully. The moment he stopped, it felt like his greed had swallowed up and destroyed the small, fragile Odette.
The lukewarm life of John is shattered, and only John, withering away as he pursues Odette with a burning desire, remains.
It felt like he was running across a hot desert. Like a stupid man who couldn't stop walking, chasing a mirage that would never be caught.
There were times when he wanted to stop loving if he could.
But not now. Because he knew that John's suffering was nothing compared to the life of Odette, who had been lost.
John played the video sphere in his hand again.
It was a video clip from the Count's safe that he had his aide steal. It contained the image of Odette being excommunicated.
It was reported that the Count, having found out that the video game had disappeared, had been going wild and had turned the mansion upside down, but it was none of John's business.
"I'll do better, Father."
The small hands that were diligently mopping the floor were smaller than when he first met her, if he remembered it.
"I was wrong. Don't throw me away. Father, Father!"
A child who stops mopping and buries her face in her dirty hands and cries like a common person.
A little girl was crying, and John, with red eyes, carefully stroked Odette in the video with his fingertips.
“Odette”
He knows now. Back then. It wasn't him that 15-year-old Odette called a 'monster'.
Those words were directed at Count Albrecht, who had no intention of purifying him but was only planning to use the room.
That was the one word that made John muster up all his courage to confront his long-time subordinate who had been absolute.
So Odette, my hot pain...
Because he doesn't mind breaking it countless times, because he doesn't mind destroying himself with even greater pain.
'Please, wherever you are, just live healthily.'
If Odette could be happy, John would be happy to live the rest of his life in misery in return. John, who had been stroking the crystal ball with his fingertips for a long time, called the palace servant. He had a few orders to give.
***
Several edicts were issued in the name of John. The nobles who heard these edicts thought at the same time, 'The Crown Prince of Barceha has really gone mad.'
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