Became a tyrant of defense games - Episode 540
◈ 540. [Side Story] Hannibal (3)
Zenith was brought back to the Fog Kingdom..
Zenith, kneeling in the square, was beaten all night by the king's soldiers..
However, no matter how much he was beaten and whipped, he did not let go of the child in his arms. Because the moment she let go, he knew the child would die..
“This damn bastard…….”
“You're not giving up the child? What should I do??”
“Just put him in jail. The king will personally interrogate you tomorrow..”
So, Janice was locked up in solitary confinement in prison..
It was a solitary room, but I was not alone. Because he still had a child in his arms..
“…….”
Janice looked down at the child with wide eyes. The young child let out a labored breath..
Since I was born, I have not been able to drink a sip of water, let alone get wet. Her child's breathing was weak and seemed as if he would quit at any moment..
“…….”
It would be better if this child died here..
In that case, you may be able to escape the Fog Kingdom without much trouble, and there may not be a major discord between the Empire and the Fog Kingdom..
If you think about it, didn't you just help the princess give birth?.
Even if this child survives, who will be happy about it??
There will only be more unfortunate lives thrown away by irresponsible parents in the world..
As the breath coming out of the bloody child's nose became lighter, Zenith unconsciously felt relieved..
Yeah, better leave now..
Before experiencing the pain that fills the world, before realizing what pain is, peacefully.…….
“……?”
It was then.
Something blurry passed between the iron bars. Janice looked curiously at the window above his head..
It's a dark night, and there isn't a single light around, so where does the light come from??
“……ah.”
There - the moonlight.
The sky of this terrible country, always shrouded in dark clouds, was slightly cracked, and a ray of moonlight was streaming through the gap..
The light passed by the child's face, revealing the child's transparent face that knew nothing..
It was a moment. It was only a moment, but it was enough time to engrave the child's image on Janice's retina..
“……Ugh.”
Janice didn't know.
Why do my eyes suddenly get hot?.
“Ugh…….”
Why is it heartbreaking to see a child dying, someone who has nothing to do with you?.
Janice didn't know. He couldn't understand. But he whispered without realizing it.
“do not die.”
Hugging her child, Janice repeated more earnestly than all the prayers she had said in her life combined..
“do not die…….”
Luckily, it started to rain..
Janice collected the rainwater that fell through the iron bars in her hands, warmed it up, and poured it into the child's mouth..
The child eagerly sucked Janice's finger as if it were its mother's milk..
“okay. Not nice, not nice... … . please hold on…….”
In a small cell, catching the rain on my back, trying to maintain the child's body temperature..
“Let's live.”
Janice whispered desperately..
“Let's live together…….”
***
A long night has passed.
The child was still breathing, and Janice was taken out of the cell and brought into the throne room..
“Zenith Priest!”
There was the King of the Fog Kingdom, who had not met Zenith even once in the past three years..
The king, smiling and wiggling his mustache, welcomed Zenith with open arms..
“My subordinates have committed a great disrespect to the diplomat of the Everblack Empire. Let me apologize on your behalf..”
“…….”
“Now, only good things will happen between our two countries, but my youngest daughter has done something foolish and brought trouble to Priest Zenith..”
The king gestured to Zenith, who remained silent..
“Come on, let’s not make the easy path difficult for no reason. Zenith Priest.”
“…….”
“Come on, give me that lump of blood. Since the child was born to my daughter, the ownership is also not mine.?”
Zenith, who was standing with an expressionless, cold face befitting an Inquisitor, slowly lowered her head and looked at the child in her arms..
It was the last chance.
You can live the same life as before.
“……This child is Princess Cloudy's child..”
and,
Janice decided to give up on that path..
“At the same time, he is also my child..”
“……what?”
Zenith declared to the frowning king..
“This is the child I gave birth to through love with Princess Cloudy..”
“…….”
“Over the past three years, we've been hanging out together and our love blossomed, and this child was born as a result. This is my son.”
A sneer appeared on the king's lips as if it was absurd..
“Why are you doing this, Priest Zenith? Make me look like a fool?”
“…….”
“That child is the cursed result of a fling between my stupid youngest daughter and my furry slave. Just because I reign as king in this dark cloudy remote area doesn't mean my eyesight is so bad that I can't recognize mixed race people..”
The child, who had covered Zenith's blood-stained top like a cotton cloth, had hair growing all over his body, which was characteristic of the beast people..
The king shouted, pointing at the child..
“The young parents gave themselves over to their foolish lust and both fell asleep! I'm just a common orphan found everywhere.!”
“…….”
“Are you going to put yourself in a bad name just to save an orphan like that? Even though he was a priest, he would say so himself that he did such an inappropriate thing as having an affair with a princess in the city where he came to preach.?”
“That's right.”
Janice nodded. The king's mouth opened slightly..
“This child is not only a child of the Mist Kingdom, but also the son of an Everblack diplomat and a priest of the Goddess Church..”
“…….”
“This child has the qualifications to be a citizen of the empire. If Your Majesty tries to kill this child, it means that the Mist Kingdom is trying to kill the people of the Empire, and this will cause a serious diplomatic turmoil..”
The king, who had been observing Zenith with his mouth open for a while as if examining a strange animal, asked slowly..
“Has my daughter done you a great favor??”
“no.”
“Either that, or I owe it to that furry slave my daughter used to run around with.?”
“We've never even had a decent conversation..”
“Then why on earth do you want to protect that child like that??”
Zenith slowly lowered her head and looked down at the child in her arms. And he answered slowly.
“……Even if I tell you, you won't understand.”
The king waved his hands as if he was bored..
“Do whatever you want. Please hold the illegitimate child you picked up from my daughter's corpse and take her to your hometown as soon as possible. I'll let you go quietly.”
“…….”
“But you'll have to take care of it yourself, Priest Zenith..”
The king spat fiercely, pointing at Zenith..
“If, as you said, this is the child that you and my daughter had through love, then the 'diplomatic turmoil' was caused by you and the Everblack Empire.!”
***
a few months later.
Everblack Empire. ecliptic.
The central denomination of the Goddess Church. punitive judge.
“You are truly crazy, Priest Zenith..”
As soon as she returned to the imperial capital, Zenith was captured and taken to the central church..
In the central church's punishment court, not only the high-ranking members of the church but also those who held important positions in the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs stood with scary faces..
“Now you have given up not only your own life, but also the countless prospective believers of the Fog Kingdom..”
“…….”
“I was so caught up in the personal feelings in front of me that I sacrificed a greater cause! As a priest who upholds the will of the goddess, as the shadow of the goddess! I did something I shouldn't have done..”
Zenith answered calmly..
“I just put into practice the doctrine of not ignoring the voice calling for help right in front of you..”
“Isn’t it your position that you shouldn’t judge that arbitrarily?!”
The bishop who was reprimanding Zenith shook his head..
“……Why do you want to spend the rest of your life in pain for a sin you didn't commit??”
Janice was feisty..
“I believe that the person I trust would act the same way if he were in the same situation as me..”
“You are truly arrogant..”
The priests surrounding Zenith clicked their tongues and sighed..
“You will realize the hard way that what you do is nothing more or less than self-satisfaction..”
“Maybe so.”
Janice shrugged her shoulders..
“But even if it was just for self-satisfaction, protecting that young life... … It seems like it would be worth more than my entire life of just destroying things as told from above..”
bang!
The bishop slammed his fist on the table and shouted..
“I have one last question for you, Janice! Where did you hide the child??”
“How many times should I tell you? After escaping from the Fog Kingdom, he developed a fever and died shortly thereafter. His body was buried in the mountains..”
“Janice, all the way.……!”
“You just have to punish me..”
Zenith spread her arms calmly and weakly..
“Please punish this unfortunate lamb..”
The companions of the Knights Templar closed their eyes tightly..
Unfortunately, Rosetta was absent. Zenith sighed as she sadly looked at her sister's empty seat..
“I will be punished appropriately for tarnishing the honor of my colleagues..”
***
Before standing in the punitive court.
Before entering the ecliptic, Zenith visited a suburban orphanage under cover of night..
It was run by the former leader of the Knights Templar, and was the orphanage that raised Rosetta and Zenith when they were children..
“I will be chased my whole life.”
Zenith handed over the child in her arms, and the old man silently accepted the child and held it..
The leader who took Rosetta and Zenith from that sandy wasteland when they were young was now the director of the orphanage..
The director glanced at Zenith with a dissatisfied face. Zenith continued speaking slowly..
“The assassins from the Fog Kingdom and the members of the Knights Templar who were my brothers will all try to kill me. This child will be targeted as well..”
“……so?”
“I want to leave this child here..”
The director let out a laugh..
“This child, whom everyone in the church, especially the Knights Templar you used to belong to, will look for with wide eyes, will be entrusted to the orphanage run by me, a member of the Knights Templar within the church.?”
“Because it's dark under the lamp..”
“Such a boldly crazy bastard…….”
After hearing the whole situation, the director just shook his head..
“It's ridiculous, you idiot. No, I raised him wrong... … Ugh.”
Zenith was smiling even in the face of the director’s insults..
I finally felt a little relieved when I left my child in the safest place I knew, with the person I trusted the most..
The director frowned..
“What is it that makes you look so happy? Are you deluding yourself into thinking you are some sort of saint? You're just a fool who couldn't figure out what to do and fell asleep alone..”
“I know.”
“If you find out, get out of here! Before the child remembers your face for no reason.”
Even while listening to the director's scolding, Zenith took one last look at the child's face..
“You need to grow up well, Hannibal..”
As if he was comfortable in the director's arms, Hannibal, who was always whining in Zenith's arms, was soon sound asleep..
Although it was only a few months, I protected, fed, washed, and put him to sleep as if I were his father. Janice whispered..
“Let's meet again someday.”
…….
And 14 years have passed.
***
“……end?”
Janice stops talking and after a while.
I asked cautiously, and Zenith nodded..
“Yeah, well… … The rest is roughly as you know. His life was saved thanks to a political fight within the church, and he was dispatched to remote areas as a member of the Baekuijong Army.…….”
“…….”
“As soon as I get paid, I cook, wash, and send it to that orphanage. Well, that's how I lived.”
The men around were pulling their hair out in unison..
“No, wait a minute, why is the story so breathtaking like a sweet potato? Is there anything else? It's really over like this?”
“What about the king? What about the leadership of the church? Well, I won't receive heavenly punishment or anything like that.?”
“Cider, give me some cider, Lucas! hurry……!”
“……What is cider, my lord??”
I was choking and hitting Lucas on the shoulder when I suddenly realized and shouted at Zenith..
“No wait, then Hannibal is not your son.!”
Zenith answered hesitantly..
“……But he's also my son.”
“There's a level of crazy fucking misogyny.!”
I shouted, pointing at Zenith..
“You're just an idiot!”
Then Zenith smiled..
“I know too.”
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