KFBRV Ch 142
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
Zion was also not the flawless figure he had always shown.
[Zion] "Find a way. Pope."
His overbearing voice remained the same, but his appearance... looked precarious, as if he might collapse at any moment.
Of course, even describing him as precarious was only possible thanks to his handsome face. Had it not been for that face, he would have merely looked like a beggar.
Moreover, Viktor was howling like a beast in front of the coffin.
The Pope felt dizzy.
Just open one set of double doors of the chapel over there, and outside, it's full of believers here to attend the funeral mass!
To the imperial citizens, Transcendents were like spiritual pillars. If such beasts of God showed completely ruined appearances...
The faith of the imperial citizens would be crushed by fear, and the authority of the Papal Court would fall to the ground.
God. Give me the strength to adequately soothe those monsters. Just enough to get through the funeral mass safely is fine.
The Pope prayed desperately, but such a thing didn't happen because the monster bastards didn't care about the mourners at all.
The Pope regretted it. Rather than seeing this kind of sight, he should have begged God to "kill your old and frail servant."
Up until they entered the chapel, all the guests wore sorrowful expressions of mourning.
To think the Empire's only Purifier would die so vainly.
As if they had forgotten all the times they were swept up by rumors and criticized her as a villainess, every single one of them shed tears.
However, once the mass began, not a single mourner cried. No, they didn't have the luxury to cry, because just enduring the shocking sight before their eyes pushed them to their limits.
The bizarre scene of deranged Transcendents affectionately stroking a corpse, begging a corpse for affection.
[Zion] "Odette. We were wrong, so please open your eyes."
They were the spear of the Empire and the shield of humanity.
The citizens had never even imagined they would crumble so miserably like that.
Among them, the most grotesque was the appearance of the Crown Prince.
[Johan] "Odette, please wake up. Hmm?"
Devastated eyes, red and swollen eye areas and nose, fragile sobs.
[Johan] "Why am I late every time? Only you were precious, nothing else matters besides you..."
It was Johan who had always shown only a strong appearance since awakening as a Transcendent at age 4. The long-standing spiritual pillar of the imperial citizens.
From a young age, he had attended countless funeral masses. Facing any tragedy, he always stood at the very front with a resolute expression, carrying out the duty of covering the coffin with the national flag and bestowing medals.
A symbol of the Empire, absolute justice, everything related to noble honor.
[Johan] "Just open your eyes. I'll give you this Empire or whatever else."
To see such a man sobbing, kissing the hands of a corpse meticulously, having lost his reason.
To the imperial citizens, it wasn't an unfamiliar sight; it was a shock akin to a massive mountain collapsing.
In the midst of this, there was no way the funeral mass could proceed properly.
Eventually, the Pope concluded the funeral mass clumsily, and the mourners hurriedly left the chapel. As if doing so would allow them to escape the terrible sight.
Everyone who left regretted it desperately.
Had they known the aftermath of Odette's disappearance would be this anxious and painful, they wouldn't have mocked or ridiculed her.
In the chapel from which even the Pope had departed, only the coffin and three Transcendents remained.
Because Karl, who had been holding Odette the entire way to the chapel, abruptly left for the cliff as soon as he arrived, as if realizing something.
In Karl's eyes, looking down at her for the last time, there was no longer despair, but only resolute obsession. A kind of mad certainty that he could reclaim what was his.
When the ability Karl had been pouring out disappeared, time finally began to flow for Odette's corpse as well.
Zion's eyes, looking down at the slowly decomposing corpse, were tinged with complex emotions.
You shone as if you would never die until you finished your revenge.
Zion recalled the teal eyes that had faced him.
Eyes that captivated one's gaze instantly. The pride, sense of purpose, and overflowing vitality were contained within them.
Then, even her corpse before his eyes felt like an illusion.
No matter how much you hate me, there's no way you died. You're someone who would have survived to the end, even if just for revenge.
Once again, he returned to the thought he had already repeated several times.
However, no matter how much he concluded 'that can't be', what lay before his eyes was ultimately Odette's corpse.
It was that moment. Viktor, looking at the corpse beginning to decompose, opened his mouth with a cracked voice.
[Viktor] "It's strange. This corpse... is it really her?"
At those words, Zion lifted his head.
[Viktor] "Now that time has started to flow, I see something strange. Damn it. Why didn't I feel it earlier? Doesn't it feel like an imitation... deliberately made by someone?"
[Zion] "Colonel König. You seem very exhausted, too. You might want to deny the fact that she died, but—"
[Viktor] "Damn it. Your Highness, even if it sounds like nonsense, it's true. Look closely! The locket necklace is also somehow different from when she had it!"
Viktor, reaching his hand toward Odette's neck, grasped the locket necklace and snapped the chain.
Then he held the necklace up toward Zion and Johan.
It was the item Zion had given her. So she could summon him if she faced a crisis of death.
Although when he handed it to her, Zion himself never imagined he would become that 'crisis of death'.
[Viktor] "As expected, the most important thing is missing. Originally, I felt something faint like God's power... similar to when I use my ability here."
He spoke with a voice that had become firm.
[Viktor] "Odette might be alive."
His two eyes began to fill with certainty and joy.
Johan also didn't seem to listen to those words lightly. As if he had a clue somewhere.
Right. Right! There's no way she would die like this without even finishing her revenge.
In Zion's mind, the assumption 'she might be alive' quickly turned into the certainty 'she is alive'.
[Johan] "In that case, I will scour the entire Empire and—"
As if he would stake his everything on that single ray of hope, Johan wiped his tears and was about to issue an order with a resolute expression.
It was then that Zion grabbed his arm.
[Zion] "You must not. Your Highness."
A cracked voice, a trembling arm.
Zion himself didn't know. Whether the reason his arm trembled was due to extreme fear or due to extreme joy.
[Zion] "If she, if she is alive... she must come to us on her own two feet. We must not go looking for her first."
It sounded detestable even to his own ears. Unlike the content of his words, his voice was thick with a filthy desire to find her right now.
[Zion] "We must wait as quietly as possible so she can come on her own two feet."
At those words, it wasn't Johan, but Viktor who answered him roughly.
[Viktor] "Right. Of course. You bastard, don't even think of looking for her, even if you die. Because you almost killed her. I am the one who can find her."
[Zion] "Viktor. If you dare move, I will smash you right into the floor."
[Viktor] "Your Excellency, just stay here like the frightened dog you are. Because I need to confirm with my two eyes that she is alive."
Saying so, Viktor immediately kicked off from the chapel and left. As if to stop him, Johan also followed out of the chapel.
The moment Zion raised his body to assist Johan, he ended up discovering his own reflection in the chapel's glass window.
A terribly shabby appearance that forced him to freeze.
If she is alive... and if by any chance she returns, couldn't she see my ghastly state?
If possible, he wished she would pity him, that she would see him ruined after losing her and forgive him a little.
I should at least feel like a man. I shouldn't be in this pathetic state.
It was when he groaned and roughly ruffled his hair.
An unfamiliar scent of roses wafted into the chapel.
[Charlotte] "Excuse me, is this the place where Lady Odette's funeral mass is being held?"
When he quickly turned his head, a girl with pink hair stood at the entrance of the chapel.
[Charlotte] "I came because I also want to attend the funeral mass."
His pupils dilated. Because in that moment, he noticed a certain fact.
[Odette] "In 6 months, my purification will not be needed."
That Odette had anticipated the appearance of 'that thing' from the beginning.
And the fact that the reason she left 3 months earlier than the 6 months stated during the deal, the reason she left without even finishing her revenge, was related to the early appearance of 'that thing'.
Hope bloomed in his devastated eyes. No, precisely speaking, a madness pretending to be hope.
Because the existence of that pink hair added to the certainty that Odette was alive.
For the first time, Zion thought it was fortunate that his ability was a dog. Because he was confident in waiting blindly.
He would gladly wait until Odette returned for her revenge.
However, he didn't predict at all that Odette would not return for 2 years.
That even if the other Transcendents, tired of waiting, searched fiercely, they would not find a single trace of her.
Zion wanted to find her more than anyone else, but he endured it with superhuman patience.
However, his fundamental temperament had not changed. There was no way he, inherently accustomed to control and violence, would do this obediently.
It was merely a desperate struggle not to incur her hatred when she returned.
Odette will definitely return.
Perhaps she will return.
Maybe she won't return.
Or perhaps she really is dead.
Zion, who was reading documents about the Count's estate as usual, covered his face with his palms. Those palms became wet with tears.
The second year of being tortured by hope. He was now driven to his limit.
Preoccupied with Odette's return, he hadn't slept properly for a single moment in 2 years.
Please, Odette. I'm right here waiting only for you to come.
Do you not even hate me anymore? Do you not even resent me? Then what is the meaning of this waiting?
His obsession with her ripened pathologically the more it was suppressed.
To the extent of thinking about her everywhere, and seeing her illusion everywhere.
But an illusion was only an illusion.
Odette bestowed no charity whatsoever upon his desperation.
End of Part 1.
To be continued in Part 2.
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