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“To think that what I have been looking for all this time was just under my nose…”
Warm, orange-amber liquid poured into the cup in front of Yuder, the young man, with near black eyes and similar dark hair, sat in complete silence.
“I must say, I am a little disappointed, not in you of course. In fact, I think you hid it rather well.”
With a small thud, Kishiar placed the kettle down, a soft smile adorned his lips as he motioned towards the cup, an identical one in his hand.
“Take it, it’s one of my favourites. Quite refreshing.”
Hesitantly, Yuder gently picked up the ceramic cup, heat seeped through the thick fabric of his glove and made contact with his skin. Yuder glanced at his drink, his reflection visible on the rippling surface.
“Did you already know?”
Kishiar questioned as he gulped down a sip of tea, until Yuder, who was sitting in a rather stiff position, Kishiar was completely relaxed, worry free as he continued to question Yuder.
The assistant scrutinised Kishiar’s face, trying to find any sign of deception and anger, yet contrary to his expectations, the blonde’s face was free of any such emotions.
After a few seconds, Yuder could only nod affirmatively.
“I did.”
“Then I assume it has been a while since you manifested the mark?”
At the new question, Yuder found his unoccupied hand making its way towards the back of his neck unconsciously, touching the clothed area that hid the brand-like mark.
Truthfully, it had only been a few months since Yuder manifested his powers as the divine saint, but he had known about it long before. Perhaps he even wished that, in this life, that wretched label of being a saint does not appear.
Alas, it indeed manifested around the same time as in his last life. Thankfully, he was able to hide it.
Even though he could hide it for only a few months, he hadn’t even decided what he would do in case others found out that he was the saint.
“It has been a while.”
“And you didn’t tell anyone about it?”
Kishiar mused, coming up with one question after another.
“No.”
“I see…”
Kishiar shifted a little, placing the half filled cup on the table as he briefly glanced towards Yuder’s untouched one before he once again sat upright, a sympathetic smile on his face.
“It must have been confusing, to have a mark appear on your body out of nowhere.”
Although Kishiar offered sympathy, the red eyes didn’t seem like they truly meant them. After all, Yuder was quite sure that Kishiar knew more than he was letting on, maybe he already knew about the mark and only now decided to speak about it, catching Yuder off guard.
“How much do you know about saints, Yuder?”
Saints, in the Orr empire, appear irregularly and are thought to be ‘holy beings’, a special existence set apart to preach about the religion of the sun god. Since the establishment of the Orr empire, there have been a total of eleven saints.
The saints, regardless of original status, once manifest the divine mark, will be taken to the central temple and honoured with the title of ‘Divine Saint’. In his last life, Yuder too was instantly taken to the temple when he manifested the mark during the cavalry entrance test.
The saints are treated with almost the same honour as the emperor, even after death, people remember them fondly.
Of course, it was not the same for Yuder, who died dishonourably and did not even receive a funeral.
“You know the basics.”
Kishiar commented, a soft spark in his eyes that made Yuder instantly sharpen his senses. Yuder was more or less familiar with this kind of curious look.
The cavalry commander let out a soft sigh, Finding a place for breach, Yuder decided to ask his own set of questions.
“You said you have been looking, does it mean you already knew that a saint would appear?”
Kishiar mentioned that he didn’t expect the saint to be this close to him, from his amused tone, it almost felt like He had been looking for the saint for quite some time.
It didn’t make sense to Yuder. As far as he knew, there was no way to tell when a saint would appear, they could only wait until someone with a mark showed themselves. That's why he thought he would be fine as long as no one saw his mark.
“I did,The Peletta knights have been searching for the saint for almost two years now.”
Yuder blinked in surprise, he hadn’t expected that the search would be going on for two years, at best, he thought a few months.
The realisation that, even if he didn’t get caught the same time around, it was just about time before they found him fell on him blatantly.
‘...There was no escape after all.’
“Are you surprised?”
Kishiar called out, bringing Yuder out of his thoughts. Focusing on the fair face, Yuder wouldn’t help but think about how much more Kishiar la Orr knew compared to him, even though Yuder had spent eleven long years living inside the temple, diligently fulfilling his role as the saint.
Indeed, in the end, he had simply been foolish.
With a little force, Yuder placed down his untouched cup of tea, eyes narrowed as they glared at Kishiar’s red ones.
“How did you know that a saint was going to appear, Comm…No, Duke of Peletta?”
The gentle facade fell from Kishiar’s face almost immediately. Right now, they weren't conversing as a commander and his assistant, they were talking as a member of the imperial family and as a divine saint. This wasn’t as simple as talking about paperwork over a light meal, the outcome of this conversation would determine Yuder’s next move in this new game.
“While the saint technically is a public figure, quite a lot about them is hidden from the public.”
Kishiar began after a period of silence. The former spark completely gone, now replaced by something Yuder didn’t have time to observe.
“Things like the saint's weakness, the limit of their divine power, sometimes even their true background.”
The saint’s weakness, monsters, the limit to what others thought to be limitless, the greed of nobles who wished to claim the holy being as their own. It was all things Yuder had learned after many trials and errors.
“There is something more that only the imperial family, the dukes, and the temple knows about.”
Kishiar took a short breath before continuing.
“Did you know that only a few have owned the divine sword in the history of the Orr empire? And that only the imperial bloodline can do so?”
“...Yes?”
“In reality, when someone becomes the owner of the divine sword, another person emerges as the saint around the same time, and vice versa.”
Dumbfounded, Yuder stared at Kishiar, this was something he had never once heard about.
Both saints and owners of the divine swords were rare in history, but he didn’t expect them to be related to each other.
“How come…such information can be hidden?”
“Isn’t it obvious? There are a lot of people who want to find the saint and gain recognition.”
Though Kishiar didn't openly say it, it wasn’t difficult to understand the meaning behind his words. Even if a saint wasn’t from their bloodline, if someone could find and bring the saint to the temple, they would earn praise for ‘finding’ the saint. In Yuder’s last life, although for only a brief period of time, such praise was given to Kishiar la Orr, due to the fact that Yuder was there to take part in the cavalry examination.
“There are more unwritten rules relating to the saint. Did you know that the fact that the saint has to live in the temple isn’t a law but more of a tradition which prevails stronger than any other written law?”
Yuder nodded lightly, he had been told countless times that the saint must not leave the central temple, with no reasons given, Yuder often resorted to sneaking out using his awakened abilities.
“The first saint was born into the imperial family, the temple, afraid that the Emperor’s power would grow too much, brought up the argument that a holy being like the saint should stay close to the sun god. Back then, the majority of people had an enormous faith in the temple, so the Emperor had to cave in to their demands. Later on, even though only a few saints were born into the imperial family, this tradition still continued.”
A huffed laughter escaped Kishiar's lips, a mocking gaze in his eyes.
“The Dukes also joined it, though they said it was for the saint’s safety, it was quite obvious they didn’t want the imperial family to have both the divine sword owner as well as the saint on their side.”
The dukes joined hands with the temple to keep the imperial family’s power in check, that was basically what Kishiar meant to say.
For a second, Kishiar wore a bitter expression, one close to self-mockery, before it was replaced by his usual easy-going facade.
“Enough about history, Let’s talk about the current situation, yes?”
The blonde man proposed as he placed his fully emptied cup of tea in front of Yuder’s now gone cold cup.
Yuder stared at Kishiar in vigilance, waiting for him to continue. But whatever Kishiar was thinking, there was one thing Yuder had to make clear.
“I do not wish to leave the cavalry.”
Yuder conveyed in a stern tone, catching Kishiar by surprise. Golden eyelashes fluttered as the older man blinked, slightly taken aback. Yuder didn’t care about Kishiar’s reaction. There wasn’t a better place than the cavalry, and if he wanted to stop all the atrocities that occurred in his first life, he had to make sure Kishiar la Orr did not die.
And that can only happen if Kishiar does not hand him over to the temple.
“You don’t? Even though being officially recognised as the saint will bring you more than honour and wealth anything the cavalry could?”
“Honour and wealth don’t matter.”
In the world Yuder experienced, honour and wealth did not stop the strange cracks from appearing.
“The cavalry isn’t the most stable place- I will even say it's dangerous.”
“Nothing here is dangerous to me.”
Yuder Ail, was perhaps the strongest awakened here, the cavalry was of no threat to him.
Kishiar didn’t ask any more questions, he simply observed the young man in front of him. Dark violet eyes that swirled with countless emotions didn’t break contact with Kishiar’s red ones. Yuder looked at him completely fearlessly, unafraid that he could perhaps anger Kishiar.
These eyes, so brave, so clear, were the reason Yuder Ail had first caught his attention.
Kishiar finally relaxes his face muscles, a laugh ladened with amusement escapes his lips.
“Very well, if that’s what you want.”
Kishiar nodded and almost instantly, Yuder left a weight being lifted from his body.
“Thank you…”
“But it will be dangerous.”
Unsure of what Kishiar meant, Yuder titled his head slightly. As long as others didn’t know that he was the saint, it should be alright.
“The temple might not know about your existence for now, however when it is announced that I’m the owner of the divine sword, they will surely start looking for you.”
Kishiar began explaining, head tilted slightly backwards as a few strands of hair shifted out of their place.
“At some point, they will likely start to suspect that I already found the saint. I suspect… no, I’m sure they will make a fuss about it.”
“That doesn’t mean they will find out I’m the saint.”
“The temple is not as powerful as it once was, but they still possess enough power to be on guard against.”
Yuder fell quiet as he thought about it. Indeed, the temple still had considerable connections with the nobles, and also the dukes. Now that Apeto had taken a fall, they probably are trying to turn over the tides and salvage their reputation.
In a situation like this, finding the saint would definitely restore their reputation.
“Then… We can only delay them finding out.”
“Yes, it’s only possible to delay it.”
“...”
For the sake of pushing back the ducal families and strengthening the imperial and cavalry power, Kishiar had decided to reveal his identity as the owner of the divine sword. They couldn’t postpone it for too long.
“There is a way though…A little complicated but a way nonetheless.”
Kishiar smiled broadly, Something inside Yuder’s insides churned
“No matter how much power the temple has, even with the ducal families’ help, the imperial family still holds a stronger grip on the common people.”
The temple, where they worship god, the imperial family, thought to be the descendants of said god. It was clear who held more of people’s faith. However-
“What does that have to do with this?”
“Well, I have a proposal for you.”
The ruby-like eyes narrowed as Kishiar leaned slightly forward. Instinctively, Yuder felt like he would not like whatever plan Kishiar had in his mind.
“With the addition of second genders, union between those of the same primary genders has become much more tolerable in people’s eyes. Not to mention, I will be pushing for some additional law changes soon too.”
“...”
“Of course, until the laws pass, an engagement would be sufficient.”
“What do you think, Yuder Ail?”
“Please don’t joke around.”
“I’m not, la Orr would suit you, more than Ail.”
Yuder stared at Kishiar’s face, completely baffled. But even after a few seconds, there was no change in Kishiar’s expression, little by little, Yuder felt colour drain from his face.
“I’m sorry but have you finally lost it?”
“I’m completely serious.”
For a second, Yuder felt like he was infinitely close to doing or saying something disrespectful to Kishiar. Had Nathan Zuckerman known what Yuder was thinking, he would undoubtedly have pulled out his sword.
“Yuder Ail.”
Like a war horn waiting to announce the arrival of a war, Kishiar parted his lips to say the most eccentric thing Yuder had heard in both of their lives combined.
“Marry me.”
Ah,
This man was driving him crazy.