Zenis was dragged back to the Mist Kingdom.
Kneeling in the square, Zenis was beaten by the king's soldiers throughout the night.
But no matter how much he was whipped and beaten, he did not let go of the child in his arms. He knew the moment he let go, the child would die.
"This, despicable bastard..."
"He's not handing over the child? What should we do?"
"Lock him up in the prison for now. His Majesty will interrogate him personally tomorrow."
So, Zenis was locked up in a solitary cell.
Though it was a solitary cell, he was not alone. The child was still in his arms.
"..."
Zenis looked down at the child with haggard eyes. The young child gasped for breath with difficulty.
The child hadn't had a drop of water, let alone breastmilk, since birth. The child's breathing was weak, as if it might stop at any moment.
"..."
If the child dies here.
Then he could leave the Mist Kingdom without any trouble, and there might not be any significant discord between the Empire and the Mist Kingdom.
After all, wasn't he only guilty of assisting the princess's childbirth?
If by some chance the child survives, who would cherish him?
Just one more unfortunate life thrown away by irresponsible parents would be added to the world.
As the breaths from the little child's nose became fainter, Zenis felt a sense of relief without realizing it.
Yes, better leave now.
Before tasting the fullness of the world's pain, before realizing what suffering is, peacefully...
"...?"
That was when.
Something blurry passed through the bars. Zenis looked up at the window above him in wonder.
It was a dark night, and there was not a single light around, so where was the light coming from?
"...Ah."
There it was - moonlight.
The sky of this dreadful country, usually obscured by thick clouds, was slightly parted, and through that gap, a stream of moonlight poured in.
The light brushed the child's face, revealing his innocent, unknowing face.
It was a fleeting moment. But it was enough time for Zenis to etch the child's image onto his retina.
"...Ugh."
Zenis didn't know.
Why his eyes suddenly became hot.
"Ugh..."
Why, at the sight of a child dying who had nothing to do with him, his heart was constricting.
Zenis didn't understand. He couldn't comprehend. But without realizing it, he whispered.
"Don't die."
Holding the child, Zenis recited more earnestly than all the prayers he had ever said in his life.
"Don't die..."
Fortunately, a drizzle began to fall.
Zenis collected the rainwater falling through the bars in his hands, warmed it, and let it flow into the child's mouth.
The child eagerly sucked on Zenis's finger as if it were his mother's breast.
"That's right. Good, good... please hold on..."
In the narrow cell, shielding the baby from the rain with his back, trying to preserve the baby's body heat.
"Let's live."
Zenis whispered desperately.
"Let's live together..."
***
The long night passed.
The child was still breathing, and Zenis was dragged out of the cell to the audience chamber.
"Priest Zenis!"
There stood the king of the Mist Kingdom, who had not met Zenis once in the past three years.
The king, chuckling while stroking his mustache, welcomed Zenis with open arms.
"What a great discourtesy my men have committed against a diplomat from the Everblack Empire. I shall apologize on their behalf."
"..."
"Now that only good things are to fill the space between our two nations, my youngest daughter has caused such foolish trouble, troubling even Priest Zenis."
The king gestured towards the silent Zenis.
"Come now, let's not make a simple path difficult. Priest Zenis."
"..."
"Hand over that little one to me. The child born of my daughter, thus the ownership belongs to me, doesn't it?"
Standing with an expressionless, Inquisitor-like cold face, Zenis slowly bowed his head to look at the child in his arms.
This was his last chance.
To live a life as before.
"...This child is indeed Princess Cloudy's child."
And then,
Zenis decided to give up that path.
"At the same time, he is also my child."
"...What?"
To the king, who frowned, Zenis declared.
"This child was born out of love between me and Princess Cloudy."
"..."
"Over the past three years, we grew close and eventually developed feelings for each other, resulting in this child's birth. He is my son."
The king's mouth curled into a sneer of disbelief.
"What are you saying, Priest Zenis? Do I look like a fool to you?"
"..."
"That child is a cursed result of my foolish youngest daughter and a fur-covered slave rolling in the hay. Just because I reign in this cloud-covered, remote corner of the kingdom doesn't mean I can't recognize a beastkin hybrid."
The child, wrapped in Zenis's blood-stained shirt, had patches of fur characteristic of beastkin.
Pointing angrily at the child, the king yelled.
"A young pair of fools given over to base desires, both dead! Just another common orphan!"
"..."
"Are you willing to take on this disgrace yourself? As a priest, to engage in such improper relations with a princess in the city you came to proselytize, are you really willing to admit to that?"
"Yes."
Zenis nodded. The king's mouth fell open 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's Church."
"..."
"This child has the right to be a citizen of the Empire. If Your Majesty intends to kill him, it would be as if the Mist Kingdom is trying to kill a citizen of the Empire, leading to serious diplomatic discord."
The king, gaping at Zenis as if looking at an exotic animal, slowly asked.
"Did my daughter bestow some great favor upon you?"
"No."
"Or perhaps, you owed something to that fur-covered slave she dallied with?"
"I've hardly had a proper conversation with him."
"Then why do you insist on protecting that child so?"
Zenis slowly bowed his head to look at the child in his arms, and then replied slowly.
"...You wouldn't understand even if I explained."
The king waved his hand in disgust.
"Do as you please. Take the bastard child found on my daughter's corpse and get out of here quickly. I'll send you off without any trouble."
"..."
"But you'll have to deal with the consequences yourself, Priest Zenis."
Pointing angrily at Zenis, the king spat out fiercely.
"If that child is indeed born of love between you and my daughter as you claim, then any 'diplomatic discord' would be on you and the Everblack Empire!"
***
Months later.
Everblack Empire. The Imperial Capital.
Central Church of the Goddess. Court of Punishment.
"Truly mad, Priest Zenis."
Upon returning to the capital, Zenis was immediately restrained and transported to the Central Church.
In the Court of Punishment of the Central Church, not only the high-ranking members of the church but also key officials from the Empire's Foreign Ministry stood with grim faces.
"Now you've given up not only your own life but also countless potential followers in the Mist Kingdom."
"..."
"Blinded by personal affection in front of you, you've overturned a greater cause! As a priest serving the Goddess's will, as the Goddess's shadow! You've done the one thing you should never have done."
Zenis calmly responded.
"I simply practiced the doctrine of not ignoring the plea for help that was right in front of me."
"You shouldn't have judged that on your own, wasn't that your position!"
The bishop, scolding Zenis, shook his head in disapproval.
"...Why do you want to spend the rest of your life in agony for a crime you didn't commit?"
Zenis was unflinching.
"Because I believe the person I believe in would have acted the same way I did if they were in my shoes."
"Truly arrogant."
The priests surrounding Zenis clicked their tongues in unison and sighed.
"You'll painfully realize that what you're doing is nothing more than self-satisfaction."
"That may be."
Zenis shrugged his shoulders.
"But even if it is self-satisfaction, saving that young life seems more valuable than my entire life spent just following orders to destroy something."
Bang!
The bishop slammed his fist on the table and shouted.
"One last time, Zenis! Where did you hide the child?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? After escaping the Mist Kingdom, it wasn't long before he caught a fever and died. I buried his body in the mountains."
"Zenis, to the very end...!"
"Just punish me."
Zenis calmly spread his arms.
"Please, punish this unfortunate lamb."
His comrades from the Holy Knight Division tightly closed their eyes.
Unfortunately, Rosetta was absent. Regretting the absence of his sister, Zenis muttered.
"For tarnishing the honor of my comrades, I deserve an appropriate punishment."
***
Before standing in the Punishment Tribunal.
Before entering the Imperial Capital, Zenis stopped by an orphanage on the outskirts of the city in the cover of night.
It was run by the former commander of the Holy Knight Division, the orphanage that had raised Rosetta and Zenis in their childhood.
"I will be hunted for life."
Zenis handed over the child he was carrying, and the old man silently took the child into his arms.
The commander who had taken in Rosetta and Zenis in those sandstorm-ridden wastelands during their youth was now the director of the orphanage.
The director glanced at Zenis with dissatisfaction. Zenis continued to speak slowly.
"The assassins from the Mist Kingdom, and the members of the Holy Knight Division who were my brothers, will all try to kill me. This child will be targeted just the same."
"So?"
"I want to leave this child here."
The director let out a scoff.
"The entire order, especially the Holy Knight Division you were a part of, will be desperately searching for this child, and you want to leave him in an orphanage run by someone from the Holy Knight Division?"
"It's darkest under the lamp."
"This bold, crazy bastard..."
After hearing the whole situation, the director could only shake his head in disbelief.
"Unbelievable, such a fool. No, it's my fault for raising you... sigh."
Even in front of the director's cursing, Zenis was smiling.
Finally feeling a bit relieved for leaving the child in the safest place he knew, with the most trustworthy person.
The director frowned deeply.
"What's there to be so relieved about, looking so satisfied? Do you think you've become a saint? You're just a fool who can't take care of himself."
"I know."
"Then get lost! Before the kid memorizes your face for no good reason."
Even as he took the director's scolding, Zenis took one last look at the child's face.
"You must grow up well, Hannibal."
Comfortably in the director's arms, Hannibal, who was always fussy in Zenis's arms, was now soundly asleep.
To the child he had protected, fed, bathed, and put to sleep as if he had truly become a father for just a few months, Zenis whispered.
"Let's meet again someday."
...
And 14 years passed.
***
"...The end?"
Zenis stopped talking, and after a moment.
When I cautiously asked, Zenis nodded.
"Yes, well... as you know the rest. Thanks to the internal political struggles within the church, I managed to save my life. I was relegated to the hinterlands, living a life of quiet service..."
"..."
"Sending whatever salary I received, after scraping and saving, to that orphanage. That's how I lived."
The men around him simultaneously pulled at their hair.
"Hold on, why is it all so suffocating like a sweet potato? Isn't there more? Is this really the end?"
"What about the king? The church's leadership? Didn't they receive some kind of divine punishment?"
"Give us some satisfaction, Lucas! Hurry...!"
"...What's satisfaction, my lord?"
Choking and pounding on Lucas's shoulder, I suddenly realized and shouted at Zenis.
"Wait a minute, then Hannibal isn't your son!"
Zenis replied with a grimace.
"...But he is also my son."
"There's a limit to being a noble fool!"
I pointed angrily at Zenis and yelled.
"You're just a complete pushover!"
To which Zenis just laughed.
"I know."
--TL Notes--
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