“Look.”

As Elysia blankly stared at him, Illeon reached out towards her head. Elysia, seeing the white acacia petals caught at the tips of Illeon’s fingers, was startled and sprang up.

“What do you mean, you see… Ah, ah.”

Her body tilted all at once over the unstable railing beyond the large dark ship.

Splash.

“Elysia!”

Illeon’s calling voice was drowned out and faded away by the splashing water sound.

Elysia seemed to be sucked into the water and sank.

‘Ugh.’

The river, which had looked warm and calm when reflecting the sunlight, was hiding its turbulent claws underneath.

‘Uh, ah!’

She was quickly submerged without a chance to take a deep breath, and her breath was quickly cut off. Elysia flailed her arms towards the surface of the water.

But her body was drawn further and further underwater. Trying to move her legs, but the heavy and overlapping wet dress weighed heavily on her legs.

‘Help me…’

The water entering her mouth and nose instead of air was painful. She felt her hot tears being pushed out of her eyes in the cold water.

That’s when it happened.

‘Illeon!’

She could see him swimming down towards her sinking body.

‘Illeon…’

I’m so scared. Save me quickly. Elysia reached out desperately towards him, who was still not caught.

That’s when she looked at him so desperately.

The pupils of the man who moved as if he had turned into an underwater creature appeared to flake, as if to peel away. For a moment, it seemed as if he had two pupils.

‘Ah…’

With her focus blurred, the gray pupils seemed to fall away, torn by the current.

What was left was a red light.

The red pupils, vivid as drops of life’s source, were visible even in the darkening water as it moved away from the surface.

It was the symbol of Oder, that pupil.

The next moment, her lungs felt squeezed, and her consciousness blurred.

‘In the world where I lived, a red signal means to stop.’

Thinking that it was also used to mean danger, she thought she should have told Illeon at least once, and with that strange thought, Elysia lost consciousness.

(This is a time separator.)

Emperor Marksis was walking towards the Empress’s palace. He, followed by those in his train, was the resplendent sun of the magnificent empire itself.

He was in an unusually good mood.

Receiving the ‘Word’ from the prophet, the messenger of God, was an exhausting task.

And many times, he didn’t understand the instructions, wondering if it was not what the Five Gods wanted. But the dilemma always ended with the trivial thought that mere humans could not understand God’s benevolence.

This time, what the one who suddenly appeared had told Emperor Marksis when he was praying to the Gods was, unexpectedly, about the Crown Prince’s marriage.

“Saviel and Elysia.”

They were both of a suitable age for marriage, and neither was lacking in status or the glory of their family, so they would make a good match. The Empress Seraphina had been thrilled when a girl was born in the Duchy of Uter. The Uter Duchy was a family traditional and excellent enough to be the Crown Princess without anyone’s objection.

But when Elysia unexpectedly entered the temple of Hadyunsha at a very young age, Empress Seraphina was upset that there was no lady for Saviel.

“Yes. It’s not ordinary to be embraced by the Gods, but leaving that path is not up to human will either.”

Thinking of Elysia’s life of tough training to serve the Gods, it was hard to call it fortunate, but it seemed like a connection.

“Empress will be happy.”

With news that Empress Seraphina would welcome, Emperor Marksis himself was walking towards the Empress’s palace.

“Your Majesty the Emperor. What brings you at this hour?”

Since he had not sent word ahead, Empress Seraphina greeted him with a surprised face.

“Tea is done. Please, sit here.”

“Yes.”

Empress Seraphina’s face was filled with a look of ‘what’s the matter?’ She seemed to wait as Emperor Marksis cleared the room and then opened her mouth.
“Do you have something to say?”

“It’s been a long time since God has visited us.”

“Is it the message from the Five Deities?”

Empress Seraphina was also a member of the royal family. The empress, the emperor’s consort, was also a person close to the secrets only shared with those who ascended to the throne.

A country that worships the founding myths of the Five Deities and Oder. The Constance Empire, ruled by Oder’s descendants who prove that they are children of the divine after death.

For generations, there had appeared one who would convey the words of the deity to the emperor.

It was a secret known only to the one who ascended to the throne and the empress sitting beside him.

Sometimes, it was recorded in the ancient scriptures passed down from the ancestors that it helped avoid famine and prevented great disasters.