Children of the Holy Emperor
chapter-117

After some back and forth, the two finally reached a dramatic resolution.

Seongjin’s formal attire was adjusted to a somewhat somber color. Amelia had not given up on that ‘Black Demon of Delcross’ concept after all.

However, in Amelia’s case—due to Madame Justine’s vehement opposition, arguing that a completely black dress would be too pitiful—a bold red fabric was chosen.

Regardless, it was certain that what Madame described as this year’s trend was about thirty million years removed from their choice.

“I am… I am the top designer of Delcross…. I absolutely must not be branded as outdated! Think! There is no concept I can’t match, no design I can’t bring to life. I will definitely make it work……!”

Madame, usually dragging his words in a teasing manner, was now absent of such tone, frantically scribbling in his design book with heavy eyes. Meanwhile, Amelia, with a satisfied expression, was sipping her warm tea beside him.

Amelia-noona, you’re strong!

In many ways.

“The initial design was pretty good too, wasn’t it, Sister?”

Seongjin pushed a cookie towards her as he spoke.

In fact, to Seongjin, who was a layman in design, Amelia in the initially fitted dress looked as lovely as a white blossom blooming.

Then, Amelia responded with a smile that felt somewhat bitter.

“Yes. He said the same thing. On the day I wore that dress, he told me I looked like a single rose wet with dawn’s dew. Back then, I firmly believed it was sincere.”

Her eyes darkened, as if recalling a distant past.

“…It’s hard to explain, but, Morres. This birthday celebration is very important to me. That’s why it has to be different from that time. I don’t want to be the same as I was back then, doing something I would regret over and over again.”

“……”

Occasionally, Amelia was like this. Worrying about things that hadn’t even happened yet, speaking as if regretting a mistake from long ago.

Wondering if it might stir up a deep, unhealed wound, Seongjin found it hard to casually ask her about it.

“…This outfit will turn out well too. It will surely suit you, Sister.”

“Yes, I trust Madame Justine’s judgment. Anyway, I think it will take me a bit longer, would you go ahead?”

“No, I’ll wait. I’ll just take a look downstairs for a moment.”

Leaving Amelia and the escort knight behind, Seongjin left the special room.

[Why? Is something wrong?]

The Demon King, puzzled, asked Seongjin, who moved decisively as if he had a specific goal in mind.

‘Uh, there’s someone downstairs who’s bothering me.’

His statement about taking a look around wasn’t just a casual remark. He had been feeling an irritating presence from downstairs for a while now, making him restless.

It was the presence of a rather strong aura user.

The aura activation was quite useful. It hadn’t yet reached the level of a high-ranking knight, but its wild momentum was such that even the high-ranking knights of the imperial palace might have to yield.

But this wasn’t a training ground or battlefield. To so openly exude a challenge, what exactly is he doing? Is this a call to fight?

As the saying goes, the heavier the ear of rice, the lower it bows, and the higher the level of cultivation, the more cautiously one tends to conceal their momentum.

Yet, in this imperial city dominated by strong aura users, the audacity of someone flaunting their presence so unabashedly was astounding. What kind of confidence did this person have?

Surely he must have sensed me or the escort knights, yet he behaves like this, is he picking a fight with me? Is that it?

[…Hey, why are you smiling like that? It’s making me uneasy……]

‘What am I doing?’

[……]

Why is this guy trembling?

As he followed the presence for a while, he heard a woman’s voice shaking with fear.

“…I don’t understand why you’re doing this to me all of a sudden. What exactly are you asking me to say?”

A man’s voice, cold enough to chill the bones, followed.

“I’m here to get a definite answer about your promise to keep silent.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb! You must have received some kind of hint from the young prince, right?”

At the end of the deserted corridor, a young man and woman faced each other.

The woman, pale with fear, was pressed against the wall, while a robust young man, emanating a strong aura, was aggressively pressing her.

“It would be wise not to test my patience, Miss Scarcepino.”

Seongjin was momentarily taken aback.

Is that guy harassing a regular person? Someone who’s not an aura user would be completely intimidated without even understanding why.

Look at that, she’s almost crying.

‘Should I just leave it be?’

[Don’t get involved. It’s a matter between a man and a woman, right? Despite appearances, it could be a simple matter of jealousy.]

‘…Huh?’

Sometimes, I feel the Demon King’s sense of common knowledge is surprisingly close to that of humans.

‘Even if it is a scene of jealousy, it seems like it could turn into a crime scene any moment, doesn’t it?’

However, there was no need for Seongjin to ponder whether to intervene.

Suddenly, the young man turned around with a murderous look and growled at Seongjin.

“Stop sneaking around like a rat and get lost!”

Ssssh.

A momentary surge of intangible killing intent from the man.

It was so violently aggressive that a lesser aura user might have frozen like a mouse before a snake, or even wet themselves.

Seongjin slightly stepped forward, adjusting his stance while curling the corner of his mouth.

‘…Look at this guy?’

Still, seeing the young man in person, Seongjin somewhat understood his confidence.

The guy was quite young for his level of cultivation.

Moreover, the strength emanating from this young man far exceeded mere aura activation.

He belonged to what’s commonly called a genius. The kind who does twice the work with the same amount of aura as others.

“Squire… no, maybe a low-ranking knight. Not bad.”

The young man, surprisingly, opened his mouth as Seongjin reacted calmly, contrary to his expectations.

Turning away from the woman, he stepped forward, placing his hand on the sword at his waist, and continued.

“I commend your courage for not running away. But you’re no match for me. Take the good advice and leave this place before you get in over your head.”

No, but that seemed unlikely. The woman’s eyes widened like lanterns, as if she recognized Seongjin.

She must be someone familiar with Morres, though he didn’t know who she was.

“Why don’t you ease up a bit? What are you doing, harassing someone who’s not even an aura user?”

“…You’d better understand your place and pick the right battles, kid.”

The young man took another step forward, increasing his intimidating presence.

The woman behind him seemed to want to say something, her face pale, barely opening her mouth, but she seemed completely overwhelmed by the man’s aura, unable to speak properly.

“Hmm…”

I’m not fond of this kind of warning, but I suppose I should at least say it as a matter of courtesy.

“A warning for you. If you knew who I am, you wouldn’t be acting like this.”

At that, the young man let out a scoff of ridicule.

“How laughable. That’s my line.”

Even considering that he didn’t recognize Morres’ face, his confidence suggested he must be from some significant noble house.

“I never expected there to be someone in the imperial city who wouldn’t recognize me. Are you a foreigner?”

“…And here I was wondering what kind of confidence you had. Turns out you’re just another delusional celebrity wannabe.”

“Delu… what?”

“You’re not right in the head.”

“…I don’t give warnings twice. I don’t want to waste my energy on a kid, so take the friendly advice and leave!”

Though he spoke thus, the young man, Orden, was quite flustered internally.

Externally, he seemed to be merely staring down his opponent, but inside, Orden’s aura was constantly weaving and unwinding, shifting repeatedly.

From the 5th form, 8th pattern to the 7th form, 2nd pattern, then back to the 5th form, 5th pattern, and to the 8th form, 8th pattern…

Of course, he had no intention of drawing his sword right away; he merely intended to crush the arrogant youth with his presence alone.

‘…It’s not reaching him!’

No matter how intensely he exerted his aura, and meticulously he observed, he couldn’t find an opening.

It was incomprehensible. The aura activation he felt from the boy was clearly at best that of a low-ranking knight.

The absolute difference in aura between a low-ranking knight and a high-ranking knight is more than the gap between a child and an adult.

And yet…

The boy was countering Orden’s pressure effortlessly and responding appropriately. Even experienced knights within the Siegmund domain couldn’t handle Orden’s intensity so flexibly.

Moreover, what was most peculiar was…

‘The gap is different…!’

Orden realized that the truly dangerous zone felt different from the boy’s sword range.

The boy’s most confident range wasn’t actually the range of his sword.

‘Who is this boy? Where did such a person suddenly come from?’

Orden, sweating coldly, quietly gripped the handle of his sword.

On the other hand, despite appearing relaxed on the outside, Seongjin was also internally searching for a way to resolve this uncomfortable situation.

‘I still lack enough aura!’

The fact that he couldn’t easily overpower such an obvious opponent was a blow to the pride of Hunter Lee Seongjin.

He had thought that he had built up his aura quite rapidly until now, but perhaps it was still too soon to confront those who had undergone years of rigorous training.

Already, he began to feel minor pains throughout his body just from responding to the man’s intensity. It meant he was overexerting his aura usage.

To face someone near the level of a high-ranking knight, Seongjin simply didn’t have enough absolute aura quantity.

-The only solution to this problem might be one. Just become incredibly strong so that such exertions aren’t necessary.

At the time, he thought Logan’s words lacked sincerity, but in the end, Logan was right.

If the other party were to attack outright, Seongjin could have managed somehow, but this kind of battle of intensity was gradually becoming disadvantageous for him, requiring increasingly strenuous effort.

‘…Damn it!’

As he adjusted his aura to match the changing intensity of the opponent, gathering aura in both arms and left leg, now his shoulders and knee joints started to creak. Seongjin became anxious.

‘Will I end up getting a severe scolding from His Majesty again today?’

Swish!

Just then, as Seongjin forcefully gathered aura and momentarily experienced aura depletion, he felt a small ripple, as if lightly drenching the area around his chest.

‘This is…!’

The aura filling Seongjin’s pathway.

Previously, when a storm of aura was caused in the imperial palace’s rear garden, His Majesty had drawn in a tremendous amount of aura. Interestingly, this aura maintained a water-like property, filling the pathway completely. It remained distinct, not mixing with the surrounding aura or the aura Seongjin was moving, maintaining its own unique characteristics.

However, this was still aura.

Until now, Seongjin had left it untouched, considering His Majesty’s words.

‘Maybe, just maybe…’

As Seongjin introspectively focused his will, a gentle wave rippled on the surface of the aura, and small droplets splashed up. And then,

Smoothly.

The droplets quickly dissolved into Seongjin’s body, which was in a state of aura depletion.

‘It’s possible!’

If Seongjin so decided, he could melt these water-like auras into his own! It was as if he had an extra tank of aura to draw upon whenever needed.

-Remember, if you pull water from the canal, things on the opposite side get drawn in as well.

His Majesty had warned him so.

But,

‘If it really comes down to it…’

Staring down the young man, who showed no signs of relenting, Seongjin steeled his resolve.

“Young Master Siegmund.”

Suddenly, a chilling voice came from the other side.

Seongjin and the young man, who had been completely focused on each other, flinched in surprise and simultaneously turned their heads toward the direction of the sound.

“……!”

“…Sister Amelia?”

There stood someone completely unexpected.

Amelia, without any escort knight, had appeared at the end of the corridor. She surveyed the standoff for a moment before slowly beginning to walk towards them.

Click-clack.

In the quiet hallway, the only sound was that of her heels striking the floor, and the sharp aura emanating from her felt piercingly close.

“Cease your threatening posture towards my brother immediately, Young Master. Otherwise…”

Amelia stared directly at the young man, issuing a warning.

“I’ll personally demonstrate how an aura-infused dress pin can become a lethal weapon.”

Her voice was not just cold, but seemed to carry an icy chill.