Chapter 33
Elysia placed her finger on the eyes of the sculpture. She could see the drops of blood dripping and seeping in slowly.
“How did you know this?”
“I heard from an Old Man.”
When she saw the door had no response, anxiety rushed into her.
As she frowned on whether she should have asked Cassian to do so instead, he pushed the door with his hand. Maybe the door didn’t open by itself, but had to be pushed?
Contrary to the fear that was building inside her heart, nothing happened while she got inside.
The inside was a combination of the prayer room and the altar of the temple. Unknown letters were densely engraved on the wall.
‘Is it magical?’
It didn’t seem like simple letters.
Striding towards the center, Elysia could see an old book on the altar.
“...I’m just here to see this?”
The book didn’t even contain ancient languages, just the legends in the country’s language. It was all about black magic. Unlike her, whose gaze was on the book, Cassian seemed to be looking for something, as he was constantly glancing around.
“What are you doing?”
“I heard that there is a relic here.”
He came here with her for a reason.
Elysia leaned over her body on a statue next to her with a grim look. It was the same beast as the one carved on the door.
“No matter how you look at it, it’s obviously a cat.”
With her hand, she stroked the face of the statue. Its eyes were raised up, giving a ferocious impression.
She tapped the head of the statue idly and waited for Cassian to turn around.
His face contained a surprised expression, gazing at her.
“Come this way...”
“Why?”
Suddenly, Cassian hurriedly pulled Elysia.
At the same time, there was a loud roar. There was a black cat in the place where she was standing. The floor on which the big cat was standing got dented, but not enough to shatter.
“I didn’t do anything... oh, no way.”
A large, unknown thing continued to rush towards them, and the floor was dented at every step.
“Let’s go out.”
“You’re just going to leave like that?”
Elysia began to get annoyed.
As they kept avoiding it, she seemed to realize who the cat was aiming for.
Cassian was standing as if blocking her, but she moved past him and went in front. It was also rather bothersome that the divine power doesn’t work here, so they couldn’t even communicate with each other. Since it was only aiming at her, Elysia felt worse.
The cat looked scary because it had the shape of a beast, but it wasn’t magical. It just looked strong.
“What are you doing...!”
Instead of avoiding the oncoming cat, Elysia rushed in.
An attempt to snatch her neck failed, they got entangled and rolled on the floor.
“...?”
The big cat rolled its body over Elysia’s body.
Cassian exhaled his breath and unfastened the button on her shirt to release the cat. The purple eyes glowed sharply and stared at Elysia.
“Please. Give me a heads up beforehand, and move.”
“Uh... I’m sorry. Stop getting mad. But this isn’t the devil, is it?”
It didn’t seem like an illusion magic.
“The devil? What are you talking about.”
“It’s the same as the one on the door.”
“You’re wrong.”
According to Cassian’s explanation, the cat’s eye color is the same as the devil’s, so it is sometimes called ‘the devil’s eye.’ Though it was not a demon, but a guardian who sensed black magic.
Elysia frowned her eyebrows, glancing at the purple eyes.
‘Ah, it’s heavy.’
As she frowned and pushed the cat down, its strength was no joke. The more the cat pushed, the more hurt she was.
“There’s room for something much bigger than you. Get out of the way.”
“Kyaang.”
“What Kyaang? Why don’t you help me? It’s very heavy.”
Hearing her words, Cassian grabbed the cat’s neck.
She was confused about whether he was holding it or the cat was standing because it was the size of his height. Though it seemed that Cassian was holding the cat, judging from its drooping shape.
“It doesn’t look like we could just run away like this.”
***
As they were taken to the temple while being surrounded by paladins.
Cassian sighed. “I think it’s following you.”
“I can see it, too.”
The cat did not fall from her.
From a distance, she saw Amon running and panting. Elysia’s eyebrows wriggled. Seeing Amon here meant that her father would soon know about the situation as well.
“Nyaang.”
When the cat rubbed its face once on her leg, Elysia’s body wobbled. Cassian continued to support and hugged her, though the cat would just run up and went berserk so he had to put her back down.
Thanks to that, if she were staggering while walking, he would repeatedly support her.
A vein sprung up on her forehead.
“I’m sorry. Getting stabbed in the side.”
“It’s okay. I’m used to it.”
There was no day to be quiet around Elysia. Cassian glared at the cat as he supported her staggering body.
“Lady Elysia! What is this?”
“...Haha, Amon. That’s...”
Because she couldn’t possibly say that she had been hiding because she wanted to see some ancient spellbooks, so Elysia just smiled awkwardly.
Even after entering the temple, the place they had walked towards for a while was like a large conference room. There were round tables and chairs.
At the top of the conference room, Arbel, the High Priest, sat waiting for them.
The High Priest was a middle-aged man with a kind impression. She had seen it only once at a banquet held at the temple.
“Hoho. Duke and Lady, nice to meet you.”
“Long time no see.”
Cassian seemed to have already known the High Priest.
The Paladins went out, and Cassian and Elysia sat down. She thought Amon was going to be with her, but he followed the paladins.
The problem was that the guardian cat was causing a fuss, wanting to sit on her legs. The cat that broke one of the chairs, made Elysia sit up on the round table with tears on her face.
“I can just stand.”
“No, don’t mind it.”
The High Priest laughed as she couldn’t keep standing and kept on stumbling. The table was filled as the cat lay with its face on Elysia’s legs. It looked like a cat for sure now.
“Can I ask for a detailed explanation of what happened?”
“I just stroked the statue, and it turned out like this.”
The High Priest wasn’t interested in how they got in. To be honest, he was wondering how the cat came out.
“In fact, I knew for the first time today that an existence called a tomb guardian exists. It used to be just a legend.”
“Isn’t it in the records of the temple?”
“No. There is a record, but rather, humans cannot control tomb guardians.”
A quiet silence circled at the words of the High Priest.
Elysia bit her mouth. It was because she is not a human, and Cassian, on the other hand, could not open his mouth because he knew that she was not ordinary.
She laughed awkwardly. “Haha, that’s... weird.”
“I heard the situation of the Lady from Amon. He said that the divine power does not work on you.”
Cassian raised his eyebrows at this newly learned fact.
Even so, he opened his mouth with a fierce manner toward the High Priest.
“High Priest. I don’t think it’s something that you can just put out of your mouth like that. I don’t think your mouth should be so light anywhere else.”
“There’s no way I would. Since the two of you are getting married, I was able to just said it comfortably.”
Cassian was threatening the High Priest by raising his voice at him, even though he was the one who had sneaked into the temple himself.
Elysia opened her mouth after a while.
“What is the connection between my lack of divine power and the tomb guardian?”
“It seems to be returning alive from the threshold of death, at least that’s my thoughts.”
‘It’s not related at all, right? Just say you don’t know if you don’t...’
Elysia narrowed her eyes at the High Priest. Cassian also seemed to have the same idea.
As he listened to the High Priest’s words a bit more, he decided to say the amount of money for the temple. Contrary to his light tone, the content was the amount that would be more than enough to build five or six temples.
“Then, we’re leaving.”
He gave a promise so they could get out of there quickly. Elysia clicked her tongue and opened her mouth to the feeling of the weight, as she tried to raise her body.
“What about this one?”
“You have to leave it behind.” He replied without any hesitation.
“Kyaaang!”
The cat, who was quietly closing its eyes, cried fiercely toward Cassian, like it could understand his words.
Elysia frowned at the weight of the cat.
“You can take it with you. However, if you know anything, please share it with us. Of course, you have to keep its identity quiet.”
She replied with a resolute face.
“I can’t take it with me.”
“As far as I know, tomb guardians only follow one owner.”
“Didn’t you say you don’t know anything, except that humans can’t control it?”
“It was a saying in the data related to black magic, not the record of the temple.”
‘I can smell it. The smell of a con-man.’ Elysia peered at the High Priest with eyes of disbelief. Yet he just laughed as if he was gracious.
“Ah!”
Out of nowhere, the cat suddenly bit her finger.
‘Ah, really. You do really think you’re a cat now?’
For a short time, Elysia frowned her forehead at the pain that pierced her finger. The inside of her wrist tingled. Cassian immediately removed the cat and put her off the table.
‘My precious blood...’
She could feel the cat drinking the blood.
Last time in Jericho mountains, she bled from a strange monster, and this time, it was a cat...
Her face was dumbfounded. “Hoo- This again.”
As Cassian observed her fingers and inside her wrist thoroughly, he could see that on the inside of her wrist, a strange red pattern was engraved. It was so light that it could only be seen when viewed up close.
“...Oh, God.”
Seeing Cassian, Elysia thought. ‘Mister, talk about that somewhere else.’ It was clear that he called out God without knowing it.
As proof of the spur of the moment, there was no word from the High Priest, too.
Cassian called him in a cold voice.
“High Priest.”
“Hmm. We’ll try to figure out more about the patterns on our side as well.”
Seeing the situation, Elysia was contemplating in her head whether she had to call Ramote to clear the situation.
The hand that touched the statue was also the hand that had the wound, which was also on the same hand as the finger that the cat bit before the pattern was formed.
Both of them seemed to be related to her blood.
It seemed that she had to consult with Ramote after this.
However, no matter how cute it is, how could she take a cat who is so big and ignorant that runs around and even bites her.
“Nyaang.”
The cat jumped from the table and jumped into Elysia’s arms.
Though, it was in a smaller shape.
***
Elysia was dragged back to her house by her father, who had reached the temple. On the way back, she was sweating away from soothing her angry father, who kept saying, ‘do you know how surprised I was?’
“Should I name it?”
“Nyan!”
“How about Der? Um. I think I should cover the color of your eyes first.”
She engraved magic on a little magic stone that she had the next day, turning the cat’s eyes red like herself.
Elysia had also bought a chain and ordered a necklace from the shop she normally buys jewelry to hang around Der’s neck. It was because she wanted to send the magic stone to entrust it, so she didn’t want to hide the color of its eyes.
She didn’t forget to send Ramote the pattern and ask him to find out.
‘I don’t think it’s as bad as it is.’
Even though Elysia doesn’t know if this cat is a real guardian cat, it might have helped if it properly sensed black magic.
At least, as long as she has this cat, she could be said to be one step away from the black magic incident of the Second Prince.