Archbishop Caplan’s only daughter fell pregnant on her study abroad, without a father for the child!
Caplan was speechless with shock upon hearing this thunderbolt-like news.
His daughter Tatiana had been beautiful and intelligent since childhood, carrying all of his hopes.
Although she lacked divine power to become a high priest, he believed she could at least secure an administrative position of influence. Hence, he had sent her to a university in Brittany at great expense.
She was still so young.
Instead of studying as she was supposed to,
She was involved in a romantic affair.
And now pregnant?
He suppressed his rage, holding his head in his hands, but his daughter returned, visibly pregnant and unapologetically proud.
“I never thought I would meet him again in my lifetime. To bear his child is like a dream come true, Father.”
Is this what you say to a father who sent his only daughter abroad and got betrayed!
Considering his social status and dignity, he wanted to disown her immediately, but seeing the happiness in Tatiana’s blue eyes, it was clear that no amount of fuss would make a difference.
‘…First, I have to find that damned man. Find and kill him!’
Caplan’s eyes blazed with rage towards the man who threw his daughter’s future into the gutter.
Until he heard the identity of the child’s father.
“Nathaniel, the prince…? Are you certain of this?”
The 3rd Prince had been missing for years, and everyone presumed him dead. Wasn’t he also thought to be infertile?
But Tatiana was adamant.
“I cannot mistake him. I have admired him since I was a child.”
“But wasn’t he at least three years younger than you? If it’s him, he would be only seventeen now…”
“…….”
Perhaps the real problem had been his daughter all along.
Stunned by the unexpected turn of events, Caplan soon had a change of thought.
At the moment, the capital was in a fierce underground struggle between the 1st Prince and Princess and the 2nd Prince. Princess Josephina’s influence was questionable, and there were rumors about Prince Brayden meeting with strange people.
Archbishop Caplan had been considering Prince Cameron, the 1st Prince, as the likely next Holy Emperor. But what if the 3rd Prince entered this equation?
If he could form a new power base around himself and elevate him to the Holy Emperor.
And his daughter was carrying the 3rd Prince’s child.
Caplan, a cleric with unusual political acumen and ambition, began to put his plans into motion. He discreetly started tracking down the 3rd Prince and quietly expanded his influence.
Then, on the day Tatiana gave birth to a healthy boy named Logan,
Caplan realized, surrounded by a bright aura of blessings, that his grandson was born with an extraordinarily strong divine power.
The boy showed remarkable talent and intelligence as he grew.
His innate dignity and cleverness.
His grandson was destined to be the crown prince!
Caplan watched Logan with fondness, his eyes gleaming with undeniable ambition.
What he didn’t realize was what thoughts were running through his grandson’s small head.
‘…Why was I given another life? What is the meaning of this life?’
An age when other children would still be nursing, the neat and pretty-faced child was pondering these deep questions while spooning baby food on his own.
* * *
Logan was somewhat aware of his past life from the moment he was born.
It was only the physical limitations of a newborn that impeded him; he would eat, attempt to ponder a bit, and then be overcome by sleepiness, leading to a cycle of eating and sleeping.
He began to seriously contemplate his existence once he was able to control his body to some extent.
Realizing he had been reincarnated as a Delcrossan, he was initially in shock. It was disconcerting enough to be given a new life, but why in Delcross of all places?
Moreover, his new body was equally bewildering.
He had been called a rare genius in his time as Gale, but this new body was almost perfectly optimized for cultivating aura, with an exceptionally high affinity for it. So much so that even as a baby, simply eating and sleeping accumulated aura.
Secretly meditating away from his mother and the servants, Logan wondered:
His mother, Tatiana, and his maternal grandfather, Archbishop Caplan, seemed to have average aura affinity. That meant he likely inherited it from his father’s side, but who exactly was his biological father?
The question was soon answered.
Before Logan turned four, tumultuous news spread through the capital: a new Holy Emperor had ascended in Delcross.
Then, his mother and grandfather took him by the hand and led him somewhere.
“Where are we going, Mother?”
To Logan’s query, his mother, Tatiana, responded with a captivating smile.
“My proud son Logan, we are finally going to meet Him.”
Him?
“Nathaniel Klein. The new Holy Emperor of Delcross, and your father, Logan.”
The child’s face paled.
His father was the Holy Emperor of Delcross?
Logan wanted to deny this reality, but the majestic and ornate building they arrived at was undoubtedly the imperial palace. Standing before the Emperor, Logan was so shocked he felt his soul might leave his body.
In the grand hall of the enormous palace, a young man with a refined face sitting on the throne, gazing down at Logan and his group, was shockingly a familiar figure.
‘…Bart!’
Though taller and more mature than the boy in his memories, it was impossible for Logan not to recognize that unforgettable young man.
– The founding principle of Delcross is to realize the Kingdom of God on Earth through His proxy. They cannot accept anything other than the governance by a single Holy Emperor.
The calm boy who had explained the situation in Delcross to Gale in a matter-of-fact tone.
– Sending cardinals to manage the internal affairs of other countries is also based on the principle of ‘complete governance by God’s proxy.’ Therefore, the moment they recognize a republican government, the empire would lose its foundation for intervention and its very purpose.
The one who had unhesitatingly labeled Delcross as the cause of all the tragedies in his homeland Ortona and an impediment to the continent’s progress.
– If a true republican government is to flourish in this land, Delcross must inevitably fall first.
Now, that boy sat as the new Holy Emperor of Delcross, confidently presiding over numerous high priests and paladins.
Confusion, betrayal, and sorrow.
A whirlwind of negative emotions swept through Logan’s small mind in an instant.
As the child stood there, lost for words, his grandfather and mother seemed to think he was overwhelmed by the grandeur of the imperial palace.
“Come on, Logan. Why aren’t you greeting your father, the Holy Emperor?”
“…….”
“Ah, my apologies, Your Majesty. He is not usually like this…”
But there was no response from the Emperor either. Bart’s gray eyes were slightly widened, quietly meeting Logan’s gaze.
In his inexplicable silence, Archbishop Caplan and Tatiana’s faces began to harden. Then, the Holy Emperor slowly rose from his throne and approached them, still maintaining eye contact with Logan.
For a moment, a peculiar silver glow seemed to pass through his eyes.
He came up to Logan, knelt on one knee, and looked down at the child for a moment.
“…You must have had a hard journey getting here.”
Finally speaking, the Holy Emperor’s voice was low and subdued. He then smiled faintly at the child.
“Logan.”
This faint warmth felt incredibly tender, and Logan felt a sudden urge to cry.
* * *
Logan was brought into the Blue Rose Labyrinth.
Along with his half-brother Morres.
And as the shock of meeting the Holy Emperor for the first time subsided, the child fell into a new dilemma.
‘…How am I supposed to live now?’
He had become a prince of the enemy nation.
The culprit behind the fall of the republican government, the instigator of the civil war, and ultimately, the one who tore apart his homeland.
The first prince of that empire.
But again, his bad habit kicked in; he somewhat understood why Delcross manipulated continental politics to maintain its empire.
So, he didn’t think about destroying Delcross, or about seeking revenge by annihilating the Holy Emperor’s family in the name of ‘vengeance for his homeland.’
As time passed, Logan also came to understand Bart’s situation.
He had heard that Bart had been facing assassination threats from a young age and ended up wandering the continent alone. Then, in a tumultuous situation with the previous Emperor and his siblings dead and the capital being infiltrated by demonic beings, Bart hurriedly ascended to the throne to rectify the situation.
‘…Then, it can’t be helped.’
The child frowned deeply in contemplation.
Logan, who quickly understood everyone’s perspective, found himself unable to blame anyone.
He couldn’t seek revenge against Delcross or the imperial family.
But living as a proud prince in his second life was complicated by the deep entanglement of his previous life’s downfall and his own death.
‘What am I supposed to do…’
He groaned softly, clutching his head.
Fortunately, Logan’s worries didn’t last long due to the frequent troubles caused by someone in the Blue Rose Labyrinth.
“Waaaah!”
“Kyaaah! Prince Morres!”
“Call a doctor! No, bring a priest quickly!”
In the Blue Rose Labyrinth, Morres’s cries and the servants’ screams were incessant.
What’s the problem with this child?
If he’s going to cry out in pain anyway, why does he keep jumping from high places?
His accidents were so extravagant that Morres’s mother, the 1st Queen, fled to Asein, and the Holy Emperor had to move his office to the Blue Rose Labyrinth. Logan, who had been precocious even in his previous life as Gale, couldn’t understand Morres at all.
And then there was his half-brother, big and bumbling in everything he did.
“Uh, where the mind goes… the aura…”
“……”
“Over the vast void… thoughts… I mean…”
Ah, frustrating. Was his name Masain?
Why does everything this brother do seem so clumsy, causing more stress to the observer than to himself? And he also seemed somewhat dispirited, which was concerning.
Before he knew it, Logan found himself following Masain around, taking care of him as part of his daily routine.
This was a level of busyness Gale, who had been an only child in his past life, couldn’t have imagined.
In the midst of this chaos, Logan found himself sitting in a makeshift office in the Azure Rose Labyrinth, picking up walnuts with them. In front of them, the Holy Emperor, his father, was cracking walnuts with his beloved sword.
Was this man always like this?
“Dad (Appa-mama), spin me! Spin!”
Morres, tired of eating walnuts, stood in front of the Holy Emperor with his arms spread.
There was a moment of hesitation, perhaps worrying about spoiling the child, but the Emperor sighed and tossed the child up into the air.
Kyahaha!
Suddenly, Morres, enveloped in a gust of wind, floated gently down and fell into the Emperor’s arms.
Logan was always surprised to see this, as his sensitive senses could feel that the wind was a manifestation of fluctuating aura.
He had been amazed by his own affinity for aura when he first felt its flow in Logan’s body. But it was nothing compared to his father, the Holy Emperor.
Even on the battlefields of Ortona, he had felt an extraordinary mastery of aura, but now, it seemed as if the Holy Emperor’s body itself had become one with aura. How had he reached such a formidable level in just a few years?
“Dad! Spin! Spin again!”
Morres clamored, and the Holy Emperor lifted him into the air again. He seemed cold but was surprisingly weak to a child’s tantrums.
They repeated this action a few more times.
As Logan watched them blankly, the Holy Emperor suddenly turned to him.
“What about you, Logan?”
“…Yes?”
“Do you want to try it?”
Yes? For a moment, Logan didn’t understand and just blinked in confusion, but soon he found himself flying through the air along with Morres.
What?
Whoosh. A comforting aura of wind wrapped around his body, slowing down his fall, and then the Emperor lifted him up again with a swift movement.
As Logan slowly descended, this time Morres was soaring into the air. Kyrararuk!
Hmm, this is kind of fun…
No, but still!
Feeling guilty for even a moment of enjoyment, Logan suddenly caught sight of Masain’s face and gasped in surprise. The large-bodied Masain was looking at them with envious eyes.
“…….”
It was nothing short of a relief that the Holy Emperor hadn’t noticed that gaze.
