You Two Will Give Birth To Me In The Future

‘⋯⋯I’m sleepy since I close my eyes.’

It happened to be nap time. There was nothing I could do in the Pope’s arms anyway. As soon as I was about to fall asleep, I felt a strange gaze from somewhere. I opened my eyes and looked around. Then, I suddenly found something and was surprised.

Red eyes were looking at me over the Pope’s arm.

Standing there was a little boy. He was too small to be a child, but his feet stood stable on the floor so older than a baby. His face exposed under his fine black hair was quite delicate and kept neat, but he didn’t look pretty. It was because his expression was serious as if he was a middle-age-man, who has gone through all sorts of hardships.

‘Black hair and red eyes⋯⋯.’

All of them were rare traits in the temple. It is said that witches have black hair and red eyes. Especially in the future, people born with black hair would dye all their hair to hide their natural hair color.

‘But who is he?’

In this era, the age difference between me and him wouldn’t be that big. Besides, he had such a striking appearance, it was strange that he didn’t know his appearance stood out. Is he a child of a lower priest? A white shirt and pants on his small body look quite luxurious⋯⋯.

Even though I was hesitant to raise my head, I was surprised by his straight gaze at me and bowed my head again. The child was looking so intently at me, so even if I lifted my head a little, our eyes met.

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

I felt like a target in front of a sniper. Why are you doing that? I was restless and looked back at the adults. The holy knights with sharp eyesight and sensitive senses, and my dad must have noticed the child’s existence, but no one cared. It seemed to everyone that this child was very familiar and normal.

“⋯⋯ Ueu.”

But why are you doing that to me only?

At this point, I was full of courage. No matter how afraid I am to make eye contact with people, I can’t lose to a stranger. I gathered courage and stared at him with my eyes wide open.

“⋯⋯!”

Then, his eyes shook as if embarrassed. I smiled softly, feeling a subtle sense of triumph.

“Oh, John.”

At that time, the Pope, who belatedly discovered the child, looked back and held me in his arms. Thanks to this, our sharply opposed staring contest also ended.

“You must be curious about the saint because there are no peers of your age in the temple.”

I blinked while hugging the Pope.

We’re peers?

“Fortunately, you seemed to have gotten better.”

(TL/N: This is Eve’s dad talking)

“Yes, I was so anxious about losing my only grandchild.”

‘The pope’s grandchild?’

I didn’t know the previous pope had a grandchild. I heard that he had no descendent left behind⋯⋯ When I heard about him, where did it hurt?

“Did he get baptized?”

“I postponed it because of his bad condition. He’s going to get it today, he’ll be two years old next month.”

‘⋯⋯Two years old?’

Wait, he’s two years old? Does that mean I had a staring contest with a 2-year-old?

‘Evenna, it’s pretty pathetic after the coming-of-age ceremony ⋯⋯.’

I froze for a moment and struggled to raise my head and look back at the little two-year-old.

And like an adult, he sent me a kind and warm smile.

“Hehehe.”

“⋯⋯.”

The red eyes staring at me frowned.

Throughout the conversation between the adults, the boy looked at me with a grumpy face. His persistent gaze was a little concerning, but I muttered “two-year-old” in my mind like a spell.

＊ ＊ ＊

I think I fell asleep with one last thought, ‘It’s nap time and I can’t even sleep because I’m worried about the little boy.’

When I woke up, the time had passed, and the Pope was handing me over to my nanny.

“Huueum⋯⋯.”

I yawned in my nanny’s arms and looked around. Not only the father and the knights but also the Pope were preparing to go somewhere with his pastoral staff. I thought I was going home now, but my nanny whispered in a slightly excited voice,

“Baby, we will go to the baptism together right now.”

I blinked blankly. What do you mean baptism? This sudden?

The adults left through the door and silently crossed the hallway, and began to go down the central stairs of Daishinjeon Hall. By the time I went down to the basement through the hall on the first floor, I realized who the main character of this baptism was.

In the arms of the Pope, John was dressed in a pure white ceremonial robe. The pope said he’ll turn two next month, so he’ll have to hurry before you lose your stigma permanently.

“Wow⋯⋯.”

Upon reaching the basement, my nanny quietly admired it and I looked around with curious eyes.

The basement of Daeshinjeon, the place where ceremonies were held, is especially dark. The high ceilings and the wavy columns were all glistening, like a divine light. The priests’ attire was all white, and John’s black hair, buried in the pope’s arms, stood out.

There were only five places on the continent where infants could be baptized. It is not an easy place to go because the queue is always long, but on a day like today, where the Daishinjeon Hall is closed, the pope’s grandson could easily get baptized.

“You benefit greatly from your bloodline, John.’

After passing through the arched door guarded by the holy knights, a central baptistery appeared. The first thing you can see was a statue of the Holy God, which symbolizes the Tehera Orthodox Church. Thanks to the delicate craftsmanship and overwhelming size, it was as if the truly gigantic god, Tehera, greeted us, holding a snow-like holy sword with his wavy long hair. I inadvertently avoided my gaze and dug into my nanny’s arms.

“That’s the holy relic ‘Nova’.”

The Pop said. 

As I turned my head to the voice, I could see a hole in the middle of the floor like a huge bath. The Pope put down John and tapped the hole with his pastoral staff.

‘That was good⋯⋯.’

A pure white pastoral staff with a snowflake relic gathered divinity and help manage it well, even when I was the Pope, I used it well. As the Pope gathered more divinity, the pastoral staff soon began to glow white.

As my curious nanny took a few steps closer, she was able to see what was happening in the hole.

‘Wow⋯⋯.’

The space that I thought was a hole was a very huge holy relic.

The holy relic of baptism, ‘Nova’, was embedded like a rock on the basement floor of the Great Hall.

The largest relic on the continent.

‘I’d say the diameter is 12 m.’

I looked at Nova with curious eyes. The achromatic stone began to glow white with overflowing divinity.

The Pope turned to my father as he gathered divinity through the pastoral staff. Then, my father came and handed me the ranch and repeated the same thing for a while.

The infusion of divinity at the time of baptism had the meaning of consecration. After infusing Nova with the most luxurious divinity, the Pope pushed John’s back.

“Come on, go in.”

“⋯⋯.”

“Don’t be afraid. The Holy God will bless you.”

The Pope said in a kind voice. Then, John suddenly turned to me.

“⋯⋯!”

I avoided my eyes reflexively. And when I looked back a little later, John had his back turned away from me and was going down to the Nova.

With his legs in shabby clothing, the white light soon rose like water and swallowed to the end of the top of his head.

It looked very weird.

Is it because John’s hair is dark? It seemed that the stigma would not appear on the child. I fixed my gaze on the dazzlingly twinkling light in an anxious feeling. The light condensed into smaller and smaller pieces, and in an instant, it took on a golden geometric pattern.

‘That’s ⋯⋯.’

Ten dashed lines were connected diagonally. The pattern of light gradually diminished and disappeared on the child’s forehead as if smushed.

“Oh oh.”

People looked at John with a look of wonder. The pope strode over to the dimmed relic and pulled out a bunch of white cloth from his pocket. When he untied the white cloth, dried flowers came out of it. Without touching the flower, the Pope held out a white cloth to John. As John held the flower in his hand, it shone white and became moist as if it had water.

‘Aurio.’

The flowers that grow only near the temple, Aurio, were used to distinguish priests because they absorbed divinity and gained vitality. The Pope smiled brightly and hugged John.

“Congratulations on becoming a priest, John.”

When the Pope stopped hugging John with a smile, Dad and the other priests also joined in congratulating him one by one.

However, John, the main character, had an unwavering face even after such a mysterious ceremony. The excited Pope thanked them on his behalf.

I looked at John, who was calm at the moment, and then turned to the Holy relic.

The holy relic, which had been humming as if it was difficult to withstand the amount of divinity in it, returned to a colorless stone and became quiet.

＊ ＊ ＊

In the middle of the night, as always, I stood in front of the entrance to enter the secret passage.

Looking at the appearance of a normal wall, I gathered my divinity and drew the emperor’s emblem. Then, as usual, the wall slides out, revealing the entrance to the passage.

Suddenly, I remembered my dad’s voice.

‘This emblem must not be shared with anyone.’

I first set foot on this passage when I was very young. It was before my father died, so I was only three or four years old?

So I didn’t notice, but it seemed a little strange. The fact that the door opens when you gather divinity and make a specific pattern. The emperor and his successors are the only ones who know this, so it is a secret that only grandfather and I know in this era.

I thought about it as I entered the entrance with my magic floating around my body.

‘Why does the entrance open when I make a pattern with divinity?’

No, let’s go back a bit more fundamentally. Why do you create patterns with divinity? No one had done this.

Unlike magic, divinity was originally invisible. When it was very strongly condensed, only traces of it could be seen shining like a light. So, when creating a pattern with divinity, I had to use divinity as if pouring a great amount.

I remembered John being wrapped in light. It was my first time seeing someone being baptized, so the scene was deeply embedded in my mind. As I was immersed in thought, my hand, which had been flipping through my mother’s spellbook, as usual, stopped abruptly in the vicinity.

A phrase I’ve read over and over again caught my eyes.

[The ink of the giant squid living in the North Sea has properties of concentrated magic.]

For a moment, my shoulders shuddered.

“Ah?”

Wait, maybe this is ⋯⋯.

Did I just find out how to use magic spells without sepia, the magic ink?

‘And maybe even the way Sophia used to baptize people!’