“⋯⋯.”

“⋯⋯.”

Dad hugged and stared at me. A heavy silence passed between us. Under his long eyelashes, there was awkwardness in his beautiful blue-gray eyes.

My bachelor dad seemed unaccustomed to handling kids. It was certainly like a dream-like experience with my dad, but it wasn’t. Should I show off my talent so that I don’t seem like an enemy? I was thinking about what I could do in this body, but my dad opened his mouth.

“What do ⋯⋯ babies like to do?”

Linda’s eyes widened at dad’s awkward question.

“Babies don’t like me⋯ so I don’t know how to deal with such a young baby.”

Linda smiled a little at his awkward words.

“Talk to the baby.”

“Talk?”

“Yes, even if they don’t understand, talking to a baby a lot is good for their communication and language development. Children who hear a variety of words quickly learn how to talk.”

“I see.”

“I’m not good at speaking⋯⋯.” 

Dad muttered in a serious voice. 

My eyes lit up. No matter what my father said, I was confident that the world would have fun listening to it. At the corner of my dazzling eyes, dad opened his mouth.

“I have been visiting the temple for the past few days. I have reported your arrival to the Vatican.”

My arrival to the temple?

When I first heard this, I was a little nervous. There were no good memories of the Temple. Because in the future, the relationship between the temple and I got worse from this point.

“Priests are born with attributes.”

Dad continued to talk. A soft voice rang in my ears pleasantly.

“There are two main types of attributes: destruction and healing. It is effective to use the power that fits your natural attributes. For example, Holy Knights born with the property of destruction need a lot more divinity just to heal paper wounds than breaking stone walls. On the other hand, priests can heal easily, but they are not good at fighting. Therefore, it is very important to follow your natural attribute, this principle is when your stigmata are first formed⋯⋯.”

But my father suddenly started reciting the Introduction of Divinity.

‘She said it would be nice for me to hear a variety of words, but giving a baby a lesson?’

Without noticing that my eyes were looking around, dad continued to talk about the principles of divinity.

As I looked around, confused, Linda pressed her lips with her hands and held back her laughter. I smiled sadly.

‘You were actually serious when you said you didn’t know how to handle a baby⋯⋯.’

“Everyone was surprised and delighted to hear that you used the power to heal.”

Then, my dad said softly and swept my cheek. It was a very careful touch.

“This is a promising sign to the empire.”

The way he looked at me was full of friendly energy.

There was a reason why my dad said that. Unlike excellent holy knights, there were few excellent healers. Since ancient times, the appearance of a saint with the power of healing has been regarded as a symbol of peace.

That fact pierced my conscience.

‘Empire. Promising.’

They weren’t strange words.

Although the priests had the same attributes, the amount of their natural divinity was different.  Most of this divinity depends on their hereditary, but there was a rule that a child couldn’t have more divinity than the parent, so the divinity gets weaker with each passing generation.  According to the myth, the first emperor was a child of God, and his blood got thinner and weaker.

However, sometimes the child exceeds the power of their parents. For example, people like Saint Sophia and dad. In the temple, it was called “God’s hereditary”.

Through God’s children, strong divinity was again reproduced, and because the number of high-ranking priests was barely maintained, the Empire’s people praised me like crazy when I was born.

(TL/N: Talking about when she was born before the time leap.)

‘The most honorable person in the world, the sun of the empire.’

But my status ended the day I exercised both powers. It’s because of my powers, I didn’t have any attributes.

As my dad said, there are two main attributes of priests, but there are some cases where people are born with no attributes. In that case, those people can handle both powers but at the same level, they can’t be good at either. Considering that those who are born with one attribute must devote themselves to training for the rest of their life to be active, a priest with no attribute is of no use in actual combat.

From promising mixed blood of a saint and a witch to a non-attribute, all I could say was that I did everything.

“You will definitely be a good healer.”

Despite the criticism that he was beautiful but cold, dad said that to me with a warm smile. Knowing that it was a smile for a saint, who was born with amazing healing powers, my conscience was deeply pierced.

‘Ho, I may not be a good healing priest⋯⋯.’

Having acquired the power of healing at the age of 6 with a sweet dream of using it to heal my dad, I couldn’t cure a single cold until I was 16.

I clenched my fist with a tattered heart.

‘I grew up as a witch rather than a priest, I will be filial.’

Wouldn’t a witch be filial? The idea of filial piety differs from house to house. I will try to bring dad, the Pope, back to life with magic, not divinity.

I feel a little bit heresy⋯ I didn’t give in and opened my eyes.

“Au, Adada.”

‘For the sake of the family’s well-being, I will work hard to light a fire in me, dad.’

It doesn’t seem like my intentions came through to my dad, but he continued to tell me a lot of stories after that.

My dad tried to protect me as my guardian, but the temple won’t permit that. If a saint doesn’t have a parent, there is a rule that the temple will protect him or her. So my dad looked a little troubled.

“Eong, aae, ibuu.”

‘Your highness is my biological dad.’

I whispered something like that, but my father didn’t seem to understand. It’s hard to say even if I can talk. My dad is my dad, but I haven’t been born yet.

Despite such problems, my dad spent time with me until dinner. I was happy to have a long conversation with my dad after a long time. All I could say was ‘Ukya,’ ‘Kkya,’ and ‘Ababa’.

I should practice my pronunciation hard so that we can talk about it properly as soon as possible.

After my dad left, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep.

Afterward, servants came again, but I gave up on practicing my powers and just slept well. Until midnight.

It has been 7 days since I performed the time leap. I had something to do today. This was because my aunt will soon return from vacation. It would be a big deal if my aunt, who returned from resting, accidentally discovers my spellbook under the bed.

‘I have to retrieve the spellbook today.’

When I opened my eyes for the third time, my room was dark. I slowly turned my head to the side. My nanny, Linda, was sleeping on a bed a short distance away. 

Breathing. 

As I listened, I heard a faint sound of breathing in the quiet room.

I have analyzed the lifestyles of the Sun Palace’s servants. The only time I could avoid people’s eyes was during some of my nap times and my nanny’s sleep time. My nanny, Linda, goes to bed around midnight and wakes up around 8. No one has entered the room while Linda was asleep in the past few days.

‘Now.’

In other words, now was the opportunity to go out.

As I practiced during the day, I moved my magic core’s magic slowly. This time, not to the back of my right hand, but my whole body.

Just like before, I gathered black magic into my hand and made it support my body. Then, my body lying on the bed floated up.

‘Oh, oh.’

When I completely escaped from the fence that had imprisoned me, my body was left in the air. I squinted nervously at Linda’s bed, who was asleep. If Linda opens her eyes now, she will see me floating in the air. But luckily, there was no sign of her waking up.

A hand made of magic slowly lowered me to the floor. I sighed silently.

‘The first step was a success.’

Then, the second is⋯⋯.

I looked around with sharp eyes. And then again, my body shuddered with magic.

Up until my dad passed away, the Imperial palace was my playground.

The Holy Empire’s Imperial Castle was connected to each building like an organ pipe. Inside the large walls, was an outer castle where servants lived and an inner castle where the Imperial family lived, and there was a large garden in the middle. When you enter the castle, it is an open space, but from the outside, it looks like a fortress. Its organic composition was complex and unique, and many first-timers were lost.

But to me, the Imperial palace’s structure was as familiar as the palm of my hand. And in the Imperial palace, there was a secret passage that was passed down only to the Emperor and the prince.

800 years ago, when the secret passage was built, it was an era when holy relics called gifts left by God were overflowing.

Historians deduce that the first emperor, who founded the Yehad, was severely paranoid and controlling. He was very worried that his children or his subjects would try to kill him or the Crown Prince. The Priests generously used the holy relics to save His Majesty, the Holy Emperor, and his precious bloodline.

‘As a result, this passageway was born⋯⋯’

As I recollected, I poured out the divinity I had accumulated over the years, little by little, just under the wall leading to the hallway. As soon as I drew the Emperor’s pattern passed down from my dad using my divinity, the floor was pushed away.

Gasp.

Startled by the sound, I glanced behind me, but Linda’s bed was still. I slowly moved my body down the floor with magic while watching carefully. When I entered the entrance and instilled my divinity once more, the floor closed.

“Whoo.”

The secret passage, which recognized the divinity of their owner, lit up the way with a golden light.

I looked into the passageway with little startled eyes.

‘Beautiful.’

In the future, most of the passages were destroyed due to the extensive expansion that my uncle had done forcibly. So, the remaining part was too narrow for a single person to pass properly, and it was messed up with dust and ashes.

But now it was comfortable like long ago, when I first set foot in this passage.

When I saw the holy relics emitting light one by one on the wall of the passage, my heart pounded.

This secret passage was connected to almost everywhere in the Imperial Palace to save the emperor at any time and no matter what happens. When I first came here as a child, I was so excited that I walked around all day.

‘Of all the visitors of this passage, our Evenna is probably the youngest.’

Dad showed me the passage and said so. Normally, even the eldest son of the emperor could visit this space only before or after the succession ceremony if his safety was not endangered. It was so that there wouldn’t be a disaster if someone other than the emperor took control of the Imperial Palace.

Thinking about it now, it was my dad’s certain promise that brought me here. He promised not to crown another successor other than myself.

My body is younger now than it was then. I am probably the only person who has broken the record twice as the youngest person in the passage. 

That’s huge.

“Kkya.”

What’s even more amazing is that the current emperor is uncomfortable and he hasn’t chosen a successor yet. Then, I am the only person who can use this passage⋯ now.

My secret passage.

The golden relics that brightly illuminate the passage seem to recognize me despite the change in periods. Even when everyone turned away from me, I was comforted by this passage, which was the only way to welcome me. It was as if I was the emperor, and the holy relics on the wall were whispering in my ear.

“Relax.”

That was the impression I got here.

I sat down on the floor, gathering magic in my hands and feet. I could see black magic gently wrapping them. I clenched my teeth and pressed my hand to the floor with all my might.

“Ah!”

‘Magic⋯⋯ Stand!’

With a loud cheering sound, my body stood tall.

I clenched my fists and focused. The dispersed magic blew away only after I balanced myself.

“Uhhhh.”

I looked at the feet supporting my body with amazement.

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