The Abandoned Empress

He had white hair as well as transparent and soft eyes.

They were the characteristics of the high priest. When I heard about him, I thought he might look very bizarre. But when I faced his eyes directly, I felt they were very beautiful and mystical.

His mysterious voice that seemed not to belong to this world rang through the air.

“May the blessings of life be bestowed on you! This is Tertius, the third root of Vita, our God.”

“I’m honored to see you first, Your Eminence.”

A thousand years ago, when magic existed, it was said that the divine power was so strong that anyone could use the divine power as long as they reached the status of the Great Priest.

However, at present, the only priest who could demonstrate divine power was the Great Priest priest of the god Vita. There were only six Great Priests throughout the whole continent. They had divine power from birth according to God’s will, and their birth is known to everyone by God’s prophecy.

The high priest of Vita is determined at birth, unlike other high priests, and he is especially marked by white hair like snow and transparent and soft eyes. Great Priest’ divine power is highly efficient in treating injuries, internal wounds as well as addiction by maximizing the target’s vitality, but it’s not effective for those who have already exhausted their vitality. Also, they are not interested in wealth or honor, even though they are at the top of the denomination. These kinds of characteristics are visible in their names. Instead of their proper names, they are called in order of their birth such as Primus, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus and Sextus. When one of them dies, their names change according to the order of their birth.

They don’t stay in any particular place for long and keep moving to serve God’s will.

Therefore, no matter how high the nobles are in rank, it was not always possible for them to receive his treatment. In the temple, it is said that it is the will of Vita, the father of life, who is in control of all things whether the person lives or not after receiving treatment.

In addition, because of the emperor’s wariness of the Great Priests who tried to get involved in politics, they hardly came to the empire. The temple made huge profits by taking advantage of the high priests’ sacred power. Unless it was very urgent, there were few high-ranking nobles who wanted to use their sacred power at the risk of the emperor’s wrath.

Nevertheless, the reason that the Great Priest came to my house was because the imperial family called for his help due to the emperor’s deteriorating health. Fortunately, my father, who had already known the Great Priest was staying at the temple, formally made the request to the temple for his help.

“Oh, you are the child of God’s prophecy, right? May God bless you.”

“…Thank you, Your Eminence.”

Bowing to me slightly, the Great Priest smiled faintly. His transparent and soft eyes were shining.

Child of God’s prophecy? I have no choice but to be called like that until Jiun appears.

But now that I know that the title is not mine, I felt a bit uncomfortable about it. So, I just smiled awkwardly.

“The scent of flowers that bloom in the land of Vita, the God of life, will embrace you, so may the Father of life take away your pain, and the love of life be given to you.”

‘… What kind of prayer is that?’

White light came out of the young man’s hands. At the same time, the scent of flowers wafted through the air. When I opened my eyes wide at the divine power that I saw for the first time, he, with a bright smile in his light green eyes, put his hand emitting white light on my left arm. At that moment, the wound that was cut deeply healed and new skin came out.

“You Eminence, it’s that man, not me, who needs your treatment.”

“Well, you are the child of God’s prophecy, so you are the priority.”

“But…”

His hand touched the wounds on my body here and there before landing on my side. He leaned forward deeply, and whispered, with his face close to my ears, “I’m doing it because I want to. So, please don’t resist, Pioneer.”

His whispering voice. I stiffened at the message of his mysterious voice.

Pioneer.

It was my middle name I received as God’s prophecy, which helped the emperor give me the right to succeed as the empress. It was the name that made it impossible for me to break off my engagement to the crown prince. The emperor ordered no one to mention the name for fear that it could sow a seed of conflict.

Pioneer, namely the pioneer of fate.

I didn’t know that I would hear the name again, as I had forgotten for some time.

I barely moved my stiff tongue and replied in a small voice, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“‘You are the one who receives my attention but rejects your fate. The way you go is your destiny, and what you want will be your way. Your name is the one who pioneers destiny, Aristia Pioneer la Monique. Don’t you know your name? You, the child of God’s prophecy!”

“Uh, how do you know… ”

“I am a Great Priest as well as the man who has received the token of God.”

Straightening up slowly, he smiled faintly.

‘I see.’

I was so embarrassed a moment ago that he couldn’t make a judgement. Come to think of it, he was in a position to obtain God’s prophecy. Besides, if he received God’s token already, it’s natural that he knew my middle name because he must have heard God’s voice ringing in his head.

The prophecy of God Vita was a little different from that of other gods. If the Great Priests with the token of God prayed earnestly for His will, they would hear the voice of God answering them. If they receive God’s prophecy, they usually heard the same thing at the same time.

After I came back as a ten-year-old girl, I visited the temple to find an answer to the situation.

At that time God gave me that ‘name’ as His prophecy. As he said that he was the one who had the token of God, the high priest was one of those who received Gods’ prophecy. Then it would be rather strange that he didn’t know the name Pioneer.

But just knowing the name is different from calling it. Why did the emperor suddenly order everybody to stop mentioning it now? At that time, the emperor even put pressure on the temple to cooperate in this matter.

When I looked at him suspiciously, the high priest’s smile was reflected in his transparent eyes. The scent of flowers tickling the tip of my nose became more and more intense.

“I’m done treating you, Lady Monique.”

“… Thank you, Your Eminence.”

He wrapped up by touching my palm which was torn while I was wielding the sword, then disengaged himself from me with a smile.

Turned around, he quickly approached Carsein and winked lightly.

A servant who came up quickly untied the bandage around Carsein’s shoulder.

Even though it was bandaged up a little while ago, the bandage was profusely stained with blood, which broke my heart. But for me, he wouldn’t have been wounded like that.

Had the fever just started? Or did he feel relaxed when he knew the high priest was in the room? He looked fine a while ago, but he now had a fever. He looked at the high priest with blurred eyes and greeted him.

“… Nice to meet you, Your Eminence. My name Carsein de Lars.” Only

“May God’s blessing be bestowed on you.”

His voice was quite cold now. When he examined the condition of his shoulder, there was a white light on his palm. I nervously watched the high priest treating him.

‘I hope he can be cured well.’

It took some time for the high priest to treat him. As if he was a bit exhausted, he said, raising his body, “You hurt your bones and muscles. Although I treated the wounds with divine power, you will have to do rehab exercises for some time.”

“I see. Thank you.”

‘Doing rehab exercises?’

Although I was surprised, Carsein nodded as if he was okay. He looked a lot more lively than before, but I couldn’t afford to rejoice at it. Does he mean that he can’t fully be healed even after he treats the wounds with divine power?

“Your Eminence, you just mentioned rehab exercises. Does it mean he can’t be cured completely?”