I Will Disappear, Grand Duke

While Fernan left, Julia was moved to a quiet room on the lowest floor of the temple.

 Matheus placed a barrier of holy power around it, preventing unauthorized people from entering.

 “… Julia.”

 Seeing Julia lying neatly on the bed, Cedric’s eyes widened.

 Julia looked like she was just sleeping, and it seemed that she had already turned into a cool corpse.

 He expected this would happen someday, but when he saw her lying there, his heart seemed to be more broken than he thought.

Sighing heavily, Cedric slowly reached out and touched the back of her hand. Her hand, without a movement, was cold without a single warmth.

 “The Grand Duke has left to find a way to save you.”

 Cedric muttered quietly. Perhaps she was listening, thinking so, he kept talking to her.

"I let him know why you became like this."

 “….”

"It's his fault that you've become like this…I wanted you to know.”

 Cedric recalled the day Fernan left, revealing a complex face.

 In fact, he knew that the reason he had told the Grand Duke was a mixture of personal feelings.  And the expression on the Grand Duke’s face at that time hadn't disappeared from his mind for several days.

 ‘At least, he should know why Julia has become like this, shouldn't he?'

 That day Cedric threw thorny words at the back of the Grand Duke who was leaving the temple.

 The gaze of the Grand Duke who stopped his hastily walking and looked back at him was already sufficiently damaged.  Nevertheless, Cedric put another dagger in him.

 “The day Julia first ran away from you. She wouldn't have been like this if she didn’t jump off the cliff and used her powers.”

“… What do you mean?”

The other day, the Grand Duke had tried to kill Cedric, but he didn’t reveal any more trivial killing intent this time. That was probably because he couldn't afford it.

 “It means that the more she uses her power, the more her body will be destroyed.”

 ‘‘…”

 “If you had let her go from the beginning, she wouldn't have used her powers.”

 As he engraved Cedric's words one by one, Fernan’s face was stained with despair that he couldn't even notice.

Because he probably didn't know that he was the indirect cause of Julia's becoming this way.

 Cedric didn't stop and put the wedge in.

 “Before that, do you know, Grand Duke? The reason why Julia threw herself down the cliff.”

 Even though he had already given him enough despair, Cedric threw another arrow.

 “At the time, Julia didn’t know how to protect myself with her power.”

 The only application of her power was to cover her presence or to move a short distance in an instant.

 In other words, she wouldn't have thought she would survive after she fell off the cliff.

“So, Julia decided that she'd rather die than go back to the Grand Duke.”

 When Fernan looked up at Cedric’s cold words, Cedric could clearly see the process in which the Grand Duke’s face collapsed at once.

 As a priest who should have his kindness, it was the first time he had pushed anyone so hard.

 He didn't know that the Grand Duke would fall so easily with just a single word.  But it wasn't actually Cedric who brought down the overwhelming man. In the end, it was Julia.

 After recollecting, Cedric let out a long sigh.  And he looked at Yulia again with his complicated eyes.

 “At least for now…  He’s the one you need the most, and I shouldn't have said that.”

 Wealth, power and fame, even the army. The Grand Duke was looking for a way to save Julia using everything he had.

 He (Cedric) couldn’t do anything. It was self-evident that the Grand Duke could do more for Julia than Cedric could do for her.

 Cedric, raised his lips bitterly, continued.

 “…  And, Julia.”

 “… .”

 “Actually, in your face not long ago, I could tell the complex feelings you had for him.”

 At one time, Cedric was proud that he was the only one who could be Julia’s important person. When she was with him, Julia always looked comfortable, and she often had a smile on her face.  However, his  thoughts were shattered when they encountered the Grand Duke not long ago on a passenger ship.

 “I’m sorry, Cedric. I'm fine, so you don't have to help me anymore….”

 That time he couldn’t take his steps even though Julia told him to leave over and over again.

 Not long after, Cedric turned around and found Julia's first expression.

 Blue eyes that fluttered while looking up at the Grand Duke holding her.

 Hatred and resentment.  And it clearly existed somewhere…affection.

 Julia, she still loved him.

That was when Cedric realized that there was an inaccessible line between him (Cedric) and Julia. 

 The fact that the Grand Duke occupied a larger part in her than expected.

 “If he comes up with a way to save you…”

 Cedric paused and hesitated, then spoke slowly.

 “Are you going to go back to him?”

 Cedric gently grabbed her hand.

 He wanted to stay with Julia for a long time, even as a friend.

 But when he noticed Julia’s feelings for the Grand Duke, he felt a slight regret.

 ‘Should I have confessed my feelings to you at least once? Even if you’re not going back to him.’

 Cedric bit his lips and let go of Julia’s hand.

 “…  Wake me up safely, Julia.”

 Now was not the time to think about his feelings.

 Cedric lowered his eyes and prayed that God would be with the Grand Duke who had gone a long way.

 ***

 A month has passed since Fernan left the empire.

 There were four representatives of God. They each stayed at the temples representing the four continents, and they served the role of providing oracles and protecting the whole country.

 Fernan, who was riding the horse, recalled what he heard from Matheus.

 “Even so, they won't stay near the temple.  Rather, it's more likely that they’ll be hiding in places that are completely unexpected.”

 A place where no one dares to expect a divine priest to stay.

 It was probably the poorest, least noticeable, small place.

 Fernan divided the district into three areas and assigned the knights.

 There was still an absurd lack of clues, but there was no room for despair.  For now, he just has to focus on the search.

 So, it was right to erase the voice that was constantly filling up his head.

 “It means that the more Julia uses her holy power, the more her body will be destroyed.”

 Still, at the voice that came to mind again, Fernan finally bit his pale lips.

“So, Julia decided that it would be better for her to die than to return to the Grand Duke.”

 In the end, the hand holding the reins gained strength. Fernan bit his lips harshly.

 ‘So, what happened to Julia..  It was my fault.  She wouldn't have gotten to this point if I had let her go free from the start.  If I didn’t drive her to the edge of the cliff, she would have been living well.’

 Fernan was confirmed once again that he was Julia’s unhappiness and hellish until the end.

 Yes, till the end…

 “Ha…."

 From the month before Fernan left the empire, he felt a constant urge to strangle himself.  He felt like putting the knife in Julia's hand and telling her to stab him several times.

 “… d*mn it."

 There was a sense of humiliation in the voice that recited profanity. 

 Now was not the time to be eroded by this personal feeling. It was not too late to suffer and be punished after saving Julia.  Fernan struggled to erase all his thoughts.

 Meanwhile, he finally reached the junction.

 "Your Highness, we have finished our search of the eastern village."

 The knight who returned from searching the East hurriedly reported.

 "After checking the residents one by one, we even looked at the structure of the village, but didn't see anything unusual."

  "Okay, well done."

 Fernan nodded and beckoned him to move to the next section.  The knights soon moved to another place.

 The characteristics of the high priests heard from Matheus was not only that they would stay in the most invisible place.

 They have mysterious powers enough to be called God's representatives, so there was definitely a possibility that they could secretly use that power to take care of someone.

 For example, self-proclaiming the role of a member of the slums.  So, if he inquires deeply, he will be able to find someone with something unusual. If they have the power close to God, it will be more difficult to go unnoticed no matter where they are or what they do.