Chapter 152

One Who Burns Eternity (2)

Ilina Crowley was still having nightmares. Even if she had overcome her trauma and could now control fire, that didn’t mean what once hurt no longer did.

The wound hadn’t healed; the scar would remain in her heart forever. She had merely learned to endure the pain.

She still dreamed of her parents burning away their lives.

Herself shivering in the cold. Her hesitant parents. The two of them finally nodding and telling her to light the flame.

And the two of them burning to death.

Herself losing consciousness. Castian Crowley’s worried face.

“Haah……”

Ilina Crowley opened her eyes irritably at the sound waking her.

She saw Lost’s face.

“Seeing your face first thing when I open my eyes makes me feel better.”

“I’ve never received such an evaluation before, this is quite an honor.”

“I could bestow even greater honors.”

“A priest with too much greed won’t end well. I’ll politely decline in advance.”

“Hahah.”

He’s quick-witted. But she didn’t entirely dislike that.

In front of her, a princess, others would bow their heads, but there was no real respect or reverence behind it.

They acted that way simply because she was a princess.

They didn’t see her as special.

‘Now that I think about it, I’m getting annoyed. What do I have to be inferior about?’

When she was still carrying her trauma, she quite liked that aspect of him.

His gentle demeanor and the way he drew the line as a priest.

But when she finally uncovered what was inside, she found an incredibly cunning snake.

She didn’t dislike that either.

After all, everything he did was to save her.

At first, she merely had a good first impression, then developed feelings through their interactions, before finally parting ways.

But when she faced him again, any lingering resentment vanished as if it had never existed, leaving only a burning fever.

“Hey, why do you keep putting up walls? The more I think about it, the stranger it seems. How am I inferior in any way?”

“Your chest is smaller than mine.”

“Ahem, Línea. Don’t provoke her.”

“I’m just stating a clear reason… Ow!”

Línea, who had cut in from the side, shrank back after getting a knuckle tap on the head from Lost. Ilina Crowley glared at Línea before heaving a deep sigh.

Lost, finding it awkward but clearly wanting to draw a line, answered with a somewhat serious face.

“Logically speaking, isn’t it strange to accept someone else when you’re already dating someone?”

“No, this is ridiculous. Aren’t you a priest of the Pantheon Temple?”

But Lost is a priest of the Pantheon Temple. Priests of the Pantheon Temple are publicly regarded as nobles.

Nobles often take multiple wives, if only to address succession issues.

Of course, Lost isn’t in a position where he needs to worry about successors.

But still…..

“And you’re a Jupiter worshipper, right?”

“I merely ‘also’ believe in Jupiter.”

Jupiter is famously known as a womanizer among the gods. Since he has a history of touching many women for the sake of successors, those who worship Jupiter are considered people who have multiple loves.

They’re unscrupulous people trying to excuse their own moral failings through the form of worship.

Of course, even aside from that, Jupiter is a celestial god.

His powers are mighty, so many within the Pantheon Temple worship him.

“But during our duel, I noticed you used that more than anything else? At that point, aren’t you a fervent worshipper?”

“I’m not… Huh?”

Lost, feeling something undeniable within himself, was momentarily speechless.

“I’m not.”

“……”

Though he quickly denied it, Línea’s eyes already held a frightening light. Lost couldn’t help but regret thinking too deeply about it.

‘Me, a fervent worshipper of Jupiter? No, that’s absurd.’

Lost was startled not because he was a fervent worshipper, but because he had been unconsciously using that power a lot. Perhaps it was because the Saintess of Heaven was a worshipper of Jupiter.

Of course, she didn’t worship just Jupiter, but all gods related to the heavens.

So it wasn’t strange that Lost, influenced by her, would worship Jupiter.

What was strange was that the depth of worship he had acquired from following her was deeper than he’d realized. As if the god had chosen the person.

Since Lost had been using Jupiter’s power as his main force even before becoming an apostle, he could be sensitive to Ilina Crowley’s joke.

“Oh, thinking about it more, does that mean there might be a small opening for me?”

“……I didn’t think that.”

“Still, keep it in mind. Opportunities to marry a princess don’t come often.”

“Let’s stop this conversation. It’s time to depart, Princess Ilina.”

“Am I letting you off the hook?”

“Let’s say that’s the case.”

Ilina Crowley burst into laughter and got up.

After rising and preparing herself, Ilina Crowley immediately looked toward Línea and gave a sly smile.

“Hah! Did I win this round?”

She had drawn out a possibility from Lost.

For the first time, she had landed a counter against Línea, who had been beating her like a punching bag until now.

*     *      *

After enduring Línea’s gaze and completing our preparations, we left the hut and set out on our journey.

“Isn’t it too early though? The sun hasn’t even risen yet. It seems like it’ll be another two hours before sunrise?”

“I decided to leave early because there might be some variables.”

Ilina Crowley is in a good mood.

In contrast, Línea isn’t.

There’s a strange balance where if one side becomes unhappy, the other becomes happy.

For Línea, there might be a sense of insecurity since she and I aren’t fully in a relationship yet. It probably feels like someone cutting in between.

But what about Ilina Crowley?

She’s being incredibly clingy, as she said herself. From feelings that started simply from liking my face to where we are now, it’s understandable why Línea wouldn’t be pleased.

In truth, if we’re talking about who liked me first, it would be Ilina Crowley… But regardless, the one with deeper emotional exchange with me is Línea, isn’t it?

So I don’t want to do things she dislikes.

The problem is Ilina Crowley, who keeps being clingy despite being rejected several times already.

Earlier, when I drew a clear line based on moral issues, she started clinging using the pretext that I’m a Jupiter worshipper.

Despite her casual attitude, her level of clinginess is frightening.

“Looking at the time, we should be arriving soon. Are you prepared?”

“Ah, could I ask you to maintain the barrier for a while? I’m worried I might get carried away by emotions and cause an accident if I do it.”

“Of course.”

By principle, since I cast the barrier yesterday, Ilina Crowley should be casting the protective shield today, but I understand her feelings.

She’s about to step foot in the place where her parents died. She’ll need mental preparation.

It’ll be painful even with preparation.

After Ilina Crowley lowered her shield and I filled in that space with my barrier, working in parallel…

We crossed a few more hills and finally reached our destination.

“……”

Ilina Crowley was speechless as she looked at the scenery.

And for good reason.

“What is this…?”

A trembling voice, shaking eyes.

Mana containing flames flows out from her body.

“Yes, I thought it might be like this.”

The place where Ilina Crowley lost her parents. As if time had stopped, flames were still flickering there.

*     *      *

I know about Ilina Crowley’s trauma.

Of course I do, since she told me directly.

When I first approached her, I was playing the role of a reliable priest, and in response, Ilina Crowley opened up about her painful past.

Thinking about it now, it seems like something clingy started forming between us from that point, but that’s irrelevant right now.

What I found strange was the process of how she was rescued by Castian Crowley after losing consciousness.

I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. It wasn’t something to be concerned about.

But isn’t it strange?

Isn’t it too coincidental?

“Why is this still……”

How long can a person last when using their body as kindling? Even if they regulated mana to maintain the fire as long as possible, it doesn’t make sense.

Regardless of the amount of mana one has, there’s a limit to what a human can endure. Regulation can only last for a moment.

Imagine punching a hole in an oil drum and lighting it on fire. Would the fire only burn around the hole? No, it would naturally consume the entire drum and its contents, leading to an explosion.

“Is it still burning?”

“……”

The flames couldn’t have lasted long.

They would have either gone out soon or spread to nearby kindling.

Either way, the chances of young Ilina Crowley surviving would have been low.

Then how do we explain the phenomenon before our eyes?

How long has the flame been burning, able to do so even in this cold?

Ilina Crowley must know.

She must know where the flame we’re seeing came from.

“This is impossible……”

The flame must contain the mana of both her and her mother.

The flame that consumed her parents and spread has been burning without extinguishing until now.

Yes, Castian Crowley didn’t find Ilina Crowley early due to luck.

This means no matter when she was discovered, she would have still been alive.

The flame that had already consumed the entire mansion.

The structure, collapsing and in ruins. Ilina Crowley would have been in the center of it all.

She would have been breathing, alive amidst the flames under the protection of Phoenicia.

Placed in the center, yet the flames didn’t consume her.

The scorching heat, the flesh-eating embers. For her, they were like a cradle.

“Princess Ilina. I think it would be best for you to calm down first.”

The flames consuming the hut dance in response to Ilina’s emotions.

As if they were alive.

*     *      *

Before my regression.

When Ilina Crowley stood with us on the frontlines and fought.

I wasn’t the only one who was perplexed by her flames that consumed opponents and burned them to their very core.

Her flames were relentless. They burned flesh and used magical energy, mana, and holy power as fuel to burn until the end.

Extinguishing those flames was nearly impossible by ordinary means.

Enemies condemned her flames as hellfire, while allies praised them as holy fire that eradicated evil.

Ilina Crowley simply regarded such a miracle as her distinctive trait.

She claimed it wasn’t the essence of magic she created, but merely the quality of mana added to her magic.

It was an extraordinary ability.

That’s why everyone kept their mouths shut.

About the fact that the nature of the flames produced by Ilina Crowley’s magic…

Resembled <One Who Burns Eternity> in some way.

We were deliberately ignoring it.

*     *      *

Ilina Crowley cleared the fire from the mansion. Just like when she was captured by the <Dreamer>.

With just a wave of her staff, the flames that seemed like they would burn forever vanished without a trace.

After extinguishing the flames.

Ilina Crowley entered the site of the mansion, which should have been little more than black, charred remains, and fell to her knees.

In the direction she was looking, there were two blackened, unrecognizable forms.

They were probably her parents.

Her parents’ bodies, which should have long turned to ash and scattered, had been burning until now.

By her flames. They were trapped in flames for many years, denied even the permission to turn to ash and scatter.

“Ah……”

And the two bodies that had endured that time crumbled and disappeared the moment Ilina Crowley’s fingertips touched them.

With a crumbling sound, they turned to ash and spread in all directions.

As if they had finally found peace.

“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”

Ilina Crowley let out a scream. She knew that the current devastation was her doing.

Even though they were already dead, the fact that her parents couldn’t scatter as ashes and had been burning until now was all…

“I…! I should have come earlier!”

Ilina Crowley.

It was due to her own magical power.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I, I… ugh, uhhh, hnghhh……”

She slowly collapsed under the weight of her guilt.