Actually, it's the Empress and Mother who are strange. Even knights, soldiers, and palace servants all treat me with underlying fear.
I'm now boldly selling my divine status so they're merely groveling, but inside they must think of me as a monster. A monster whose head fell off and was reattached.
It doesn't matter. Unlike before, I have nothing I want to protect here now.
"You really worry too much. In that time, worrying about your unseen future would be far more productive."
When I responded indifferently, Lilia's expression stiffened. Whether she did or not, I shrugged and spoke casually.
"The holiness of the resurrected one is proven by the oracle. If one denies the oracle proclaimed by the High Priest himself, that would be evidence of 'rampant evil.'"
Of course, I've ignored and mocked countless oracles during this time, but no one here knows that fact, so it doesn't matter.
Honestly, who cares about the oracle's content. What's before them right now is me, and no matter what anyone says, I am the 'resurrected one.'
"Even monsters recognize the holiness of the resurrected one and submit, don't they? If anyone suspects the resurrected one is a monster, that would mean their intelligence is worse than a headless durahan, right?"
With my lips slightly curved upward, I smiled at Lilia with my eyes.
"I'm worried you might receive such treatment. So don't go showing off such foolish imagination anywhere."
Lilia was at a loss for words. It seemed she finally realized that speaking further would bring no benefit.
As I was openly mocking her, the greenhouse door opened and a maid entered quietly.
"Her Majesty the Empress, His Highness the First Prince has arrived."
Behind the maid, Heinrich's neatly dressed figure could be seen. At Heinrich's sudden appearance, the noblewomen glanced at him with subtle interest.
"I came to escort you thinking tea time had ended. I appear to be a bit early."
Just in time. I was looking for an excuse to get up.
I quickly turned to look at the Empress.
"How could I let His Highness the Prince's consideration go to waste? If you permit, I'll rise a bit early. My condition seems to be worsening."
"It can't be helped. Go ahead and rest. We're in the same imperial palace, so we'll see each other again."
The Empress nodded readily and gave permission.
Ah, finally over.
* * *
When I came out of the greenhouse with Heinrich's escort, I finally felt like I could breathe.
"I wonder if I'm too late."
"I didn't even know you'd come."
At my light response, Heinrich let out a low laugh. I could feel the guards and attendants following at a distance glancing this way.
With all this snow, for him to do this, it seems the Emperor ordered him to appear close to me.
"You really don't need to do this kind of duty."
"Looking after your convenience is the only duty I've been assigned in the imperial palace."
"Rather than fussing over me in small ways, entering as my partner at the banquet would leave a much stronger impression."
Heinrich hadn't attended a single proper banquet for several years.
In that situation, if he appears chosen as the partner of the banquet's protagonist, he would naturally receive all the nobles' attention.
Being chosen as the resurrected one's partner would appear as if he has God's support on his back.
As long as I don't lose my reputation as God's resurrected one, Heinrich will inevitably be on people's lips again. Of course, I have no intention of losing that reputation.
"……Being asked to be your partner by you might not be this joyless."
I, who had been calculating Heinrich's political gain without much thought, looked at him with a startled face.
He looked somewhat bitter, but soon changed the topic casually as if conscious of surrounding eyes.
"Ah, and I properly carried out the request you made to me earlier."
Request?
I was about to ask what that was when I recalled the request I had made to him upon arriving here.
I had brought it up half-doubting, but did news really reach Zenon?
"Is that so?"
"He returned to the Magic Tower, apparently. He seems to have returned to his daily routine on his own, so you probably don't need to worry."
"Ah…."
The smile that had unconsciously formed at my lips faded somewhat. I never imagined he would have returned to the Magic Tower.
Of course, with my sudden disappearance, the deal with him was effectively cancelled. But I thought he'd be looking for traces of me at the monastery.
Because Zenon is….
"Wait!"
The thread of thought that had been continuing dully was suddenly cut.
"Wait a moment!"
At the urgent voice from behind, I stopped walking. Lilia was chasing after us hurriedly without even bringing a single servant.
Whether she didn't feel the puzzled gazes of the surrounding palace servants or not, as soon as she stopped in front of me, she raised her voice without preamble.
"Why are you lying?"
"What?"
"You said there's an evil energy! You said there's evil energy in the imperial palace!"
No, if you announce it so loudly in front of palace servants, it's good for me. Does she really have no sense?
It's common sense even a child knows that one shouldn't speak carelessly in the imperial palace.
"How would you know whether that's a lie or not?"
When I tilted my head and asked back, Lilia said with a distorted expression.
"According to my foresight…!"
She used to hide her foresight ability openly before, but now it seems she doesn't even think to do that.
Since she can't use foresight anymore, does she want to emphasize that she was capable even by bringing up the past?
"Ah, that foresight that doesn't work anymore?"
At my curt response, Lilia, who had been at a loss for words, soon shouted in a firm voice.
"The future I saw wasn't like that!"
"Then it must have changed."
When I refuted casually, Lilia's expression turned pale. When she always smiled gently, she was extremely unpleasant to look at, but now her face was quite a sight.
Leaving aside God and agents, I just disliked her. Lilia who took everything from me.
And on top of that, the bizarre way of thinking that shamelessly attributed all fault to me was despicable.
I recalled the brilliant smile Lilia occasionally showed and curved my lips upward as much as possible.
"Or maybe your foresight was wrong from the beginning."
Lilia, who had frozen stiff, could no longer stop me from turning away.
* * *
When we arrived at the detached palace, Annelie asked if he would like tea.
Heinrich answered that of course he would, and a tea table for the two was prepared next to the cage where the durahan was imprisoned.
The maids who prepared the tea while trembling fled as soon as they finished everything. Annelie was looking at their retreating figures with a sneer.
"Thanks to Bark, we can talk comfortably."
"You're often alone in front of the cage, I heard. Was this the reason?"
"Both at once."
Annelie, who was leisurely smelling the tea fragrance, suddenly raised her head. Coincidentally, a crow passed overhead crying long.
A few black feathers could be seen fluttering down from the crow's wing movements. Annelie, who was staring at the falling feathers, slowly moved her lips.
"Do you know Lilia well?"
"Personally? Not at all. I don't remember having a conversation longer than 5 minutes."
"Has she ever approached you either?"
"Well, when we occasionally met in the hallway, she would speak to me first. She's a rude woman. But why do you ask that?"
"When His Highness Heinrich was defeated by Maxel."
Heinrich, who was about to pick up his teacup without much thought, suddenly stopped his action. Annelie, who was quietly watching him, slowly continued.
"Why did you lose back then?"
"……There was a traitor inside. Confidential matters were leaked."
"Can you tell me more specifically?"
Heinrich rubbed the teacup surface with his fingertips and fell into thought. The contemplation wasn't long.
"……A major explosion occurred at the mine that was an unofficial source of funds, causing serious casualties. At that time, Maxel appeared and immediately handled the accident, gaining the people's favor. A few days later, even a trading ship I owned sank, causing irreparable damage."
In just a few days, Heinrich lost an enormous amount of funds, and it was overwhelming just to deal with the damage, while Maxel proudly won the people's favor.
Heinrich suffered fatal blows in succession from that incident.
The innocent casualties were also severe. However important the imperial throne may be, must there be so much blood? He felt such disillusionment.
Heinrich, who was recalling that time, unconsciously clenched his fist.
He was certain that incident was Maxel's doing, but at the time, no evidence could be found.
He couldn't figure out where the information had leaked from. Both the mine and the trading ship were managed under borrowed names.
If someone had leaked the true owner, Heinrich would have to suspect his closest aides.
In the end, he couldn't find the spy Maxel had planted, and in the meantime, several important secrets were leaked a few more times.
As that repeated, not only Heinrich but his subordinates as well came to distrust each other. Distrust accumulated, turned into discord, and when cracks formed, it rushed toward collapse.
"Decisively…… there was an incident where I lost my close aides."
It was a day with a bright moon. They had been gathering their resolve to counterattack against Maxel.
It was the day they were gathering for a secret meeting, but that day, Heinrich ended up being late for the appointment time.
"Deceived by false information, while I was away for a moment, they were raided. They were excellent talents despite being commoners, but all were eliminated."
It was an attack calculated to kill from the beginning. They died just for supporting Heinrich.
The aides in that place were not powerful nobles. They were talented people Heinrich had carefully selected after much deliberation, but who couldn't get opportunities due to the wall of status.
But what was the result?
Even the truth of their deaths wasn't fully revealed. Rather, Heinrich's choice to employ commoners was denounced as incompetent and useless.
"If I had been in that place, at least I could have somehow tracked them as a threat to kill a royal family member…"
"They must have separated only His Highness Heinrich to avoid that."
"That must be it."
Heinrich smiled bitterly as he lowered his gaze. If he returned to that day, would he not be deceived?
Honestly, he couldn't confidently say so. If he returned to that time and faced the same situation again.