I Will Disappear, Grand Duke

Grand Duke Caesar.  The man who was Julia's husband.

 It was a really random and unlikely idea.  But at this moment, Cedric thought that that man might have been here…  He was caught up in such a vain intuition.

 Was this intuition?  Or was it a revelation?

 Either way, if this lie-like premonition was correct, the missing people might be safe.

 “Priest, what are you going to do now?”

 Looking at the silent Cedric, the paladin asked carefully.

 Cedric pushed the despair that filled his heart to a corner for a moment.

 And he turned his head with a barely calm face.

 “I am going to the Formene Empire.  There is something I need to check there.”

 For now, he had to focus on that possibility.  At the slightest possibility that the Grand Duke might have taken Julia safely.

 Even if it was an absurd assumption, he had to hold onto the string of hope.

 Otherwise, he couldn't stand this situation. 

 ***

 And at the same time, Julia was sitting in front of her window, looking into space.

 It has been two months since she came here.

 The eyelids, which had no strength, soon fell slowly.

 She tried her best to recall her own absent memories so far, but she still hadn't figured out anything.

 On the contrary, her head felt like it was going to break. As if in her subconscious, she herself denied her memory.

 The point where her memory was cut off was probably just before she met Fernan.

 However, Fernan didn’t say anything about that time.

 It was as if he didn't care what she thought.

 Julia suddenly spread her palms.  A slight scar remained in the center.

 It seemed like it was caused by a sharp edge, but she couldn't remember when this also happened.

 While looking down at her hand for a while, she felt her head throbbing again.

 “….  Ah."

 She lowered her head as she was, and took a small breath.

 She kept getting headaches like this over and over again, and she couldn't keep up with her thoughts for a long time.

 Her hand on her window sill was trembling.

She stumbled her way to the bed and laid her exhausted body down.

 ‘It’s hurt… ‘

She had headaches like this before.  But after coming here, the same pain seemed to come more painfully.

Her forehead was covered in cold sweat.  The sound of shallow breathing echoed through the bedroom.  After moaning like that for a while, she suddenly lost her mind.

 Then again, faintly, someone touched her forehead. The hand, which was neither hot nor cold, with moderate warmth, stayed on her for a long time.

 Her head was still confused, but Julia left the hand to stay as it was. Then the back of the firm hand gently pressed against her cheek.

 It was a delicate touch that seemed to measure heat.  As she gently lifted her hazy eyelids, a figure of someone entered her vision.

 “… Cedric?”

 The hand that had been roaming her cheek stopped for a moment.

 “I am fine…."

 There was warmth in her faint muttering words.  What was now in her mind was a memory of one day.

 She remembered Cedric, who was by her side and nursed her all night the day she collapsed after the first bleeding.

 When no answer came back, Julia's eyes closed again.  As she quickly fell asleep again, the stiff hand slowly retreated.

 ‘…  Cedric.’

 Even though her voice was not clear, Fernan clearly understood her words.

 Suddenly, in the corner of his memory, a gloomy man's face was drawn.

 A young priest with green eyes.  The man who helped Julia escape and took her to the Holy Land to stay with him. Fernan’s face grew an unprecedented sullenness.

 There was warmth in Julia's voice, who called the person's name in her sleep.

It was a voice that he had never heard of since she came here.

 Fernan briefly recalled the day he headed to the Holy Land.  That day, the priest named Cedric was not in the monastery.

 If he's alive, he'd be looking for Julia by now.

 Fernan's gaze with a faint murderous intent stared out the window for a moment.

 And in the eyes that looked down again and looked at Julia, there was a strong focus instead.  He reached out and touched her disheveled, light hair again, stroking her cheeks with his fingers.

 Anyway, Julia was by his side. He would never let her go again.

 However… Julia wouldn't want that.

 She would want to go back to them. Again, back to that priest.. .

 Fernan's gaze faded like darkness. Contrary to the gentle touch that caressed her, cruel thoughts ran through his mind.

 ‘Should I kill him?'

 Does he have to kill each and every one of them one by one so that there was no more place for Julia to go back to, will Julia look at him again, even just once?

 Will she shine her warm eyes on him just once like before?

 ‘…no.  No way.'

 Fernan wildly self-helped, leaving the thoughts that flowed haphazardly.

 He already knew that no matter what he did, Julia's heart would not come to him.  Rather, if he killed Cedric, Julia would hate and resent him even more than she does now.

  He wiped his face with his big hand.  It felt like something hot was welling up in his chest.

 Killing the many emotions that came to mind, he stayed by the sleeping Julia’s side for a long time.  By the time he got out of her bedroom, it was dawn without a single light.

 ***

 It took a long time to cross from the Holy Land to the Empire.  Before heading to the Formene Empire, Cedric went through the Temple of Ilion.

It was because of the thought that if Julia had really come here, she would have sent communication to the temple. 

 So when he entered the temple, Matheus, who was just out of the garden, greeted him. Having sent a telegram ahead of time on his way, Matheus took Cedric to the priest's office without any other regards.

 “I haven’t received any other communication from Julia.”

 Cedric clasped his hands tightly as he looked at Matheus who was talking straight away.

 "But as you guessed, it seems that Julia is in the realm of the Grand Duke."

 "Really?"

 Cedric's gaze suddenly lit up.

 Matheus held out a letter from inside his pocket. Cedric checked the source of the letter and covered his mouth with a trembling hand.

 "…Gabrielle."

 Surprisingly, it was a letter from Gabrielle. Cedric, who hurriedly took out the content, carefully scanned the letter.

 To summarize, it was said that Gabrielle was currently staying with the children in the southern part of the Empire, the Richel estate.  She said the man who protected them from the Holy Land and brought them there, so that they could stay there for the time being.

 “Richel is a territory located in the southern part of the Empire.  Its owner is Grand Duke Caesar."

 “…  ”

 “It seems that he found Julia.”

 Cedric gently crumpled the letter. The battle in the monastery.  It was now clear that it was the Grand Duke’s work.

 Cedric slowly removed his gaze from the letter and answered.

 “…Yes, Julia is definitely with the Grand Duke.”

 Then there was nothing they could do now.

 Breaking into the realm of the Grand Duke and coming to rescue Julia was close to impossible right now.

 Seeing Cedric with his face distorted anxiously, Matheus reassured him in a calm tone.

 “Don’t worry. Given that Gabrielle and the children were protected separately, the Grand Duke will not harm Julia.”

 "…but Julia doesn't want to be there."

 It was Julia who risked her life to escape him.

 Just being by his side would be a great deal of trouble for her.

 “…  Julia was getting happier little by little."

 Evening of the festival, Cedric never forgot her face that smiled brightly at him.

 That day, she said she was definitely happy.

 “Cedric.”

 Matheus called for Cedric as if urging him.  He felt that Cedric’s feelings for Julia were unusual.

 A priest who worshipped and served the gods should never be caught up in personal emotions.

 As he knew, Cedric had been patient.  For a priest, the feeling of love was like a shackle.

 But Julia broke his shackles too easily.

 All the ordinary moments with her were always new to him.

 Julia was a person whom he could not help but be drawn to her.

 Matheus sighed faintly as he looked at Cedric, who lowered his head without answering.

 If emotions were something people could control themselves, no one would make a mistake.

 But some emotions came unexpectedly and made everything useless.

“Does Julia feel the same way as you?”

 "…no. She is not."

 That much was known for sure. Julia was kind to everyone and she shared the same heart with everyone.

 It was always Cedric alone who followed her with such a young gaze.