Don’t Concern Yourself With That Book

When I asked him when he paid for the item, he gave a vague answer about giving the money while we walked past.

“Are you rejecting it?”

I was left entranced by the unfamiliarity of the bracelet placed on the palm of my hand.

Did this mean…?

“Excuse me, I have a hunch about something, can I talk to you about it?”

“Yes.”

“Have you fallen for me?”

“No?”

When I asked him under the midday sun, Hernan snorted before smiling.

“Then why did you give me this?”

It was as if we were lovers.

“My feelings are something similar.”

The real writer seemed to have mixed up the male lead and the sub-male lead. Why did she not consider a man like him to be one of the main characters? If he had served as the second male lead, the war would not have happened merely because of this man’s face.

“Don’t buy things like that for just anyone. You’ll cause misunderstandings.”

“Misunderstandings?”

“It’ll mislead the person you don’t even have feelings for. Shouldn’t you know things like that as an adult?”

Then, he tilted his head with an innocent puppy-like expression.

“I did not know.”

As if in deep thought, he tapped his lip before smiling like he quickly understood.

“Then, isn’t alright if I want that person to misunderstand?”

“… Then, why are you giving this to me again?”

“It’s worth learning good things. If you don’t like that, then you can consider it as your lunch money.”

“Well, you’re not someone who can live while owing people, right?”

“Probably.”

“I’m like that, too.”

“Is that so?”

“I will remember this debt to you for a long time because I misunderstood because of you.”

The handsome man laughed out loud. People who stopped in their tracks to look this way then nodded towards me.

‘Oh, it’s not what you think so please stop looking at me with looks of comfort and pity.’

I was not confessing to him.

“Excuse me, Hernan, why are you laughing?”

“What?”

“You’re smiling right now.”

“… Did I laugh?”

“Then, were you crying?”

I replied as I stared at him sourly. For a long while, Hernan kept his lips together.

Afterwards, we continued to walk along the street stalls as we moved away from the square little by little. Be it a stall or a shop, golden flags and small snake motifs could be seen in every one. They were all symbols of Jupiter and some were even selling these symbols as souvenirs.

Hernan snatched a meat skewer from an approaching cart before paying for it and handing it to me.

“It’s delicious!”

“It’s something you can eat only around this time of the year.”

I would have never imagined a princess would be eating street food like this. It was amazing how this kind of suited me.

In no time, we managed to finish viewing an area and now we were right in front of a street filled with rare animals. I spotted a man dragging a silkies I saw back in the livestock market. For a silkie, it was pretty colourful and I was sure it tasted really good. But it looked too pretty to be eaten.

Because there were so many birds their feathers fluttered about like the shower of petals back in the square. I reached out to catch a feather that was floating about without much thought but it flew away. Instead, it was Hernan who caught the feather.

He handed it to me but his expression seemed to be asking me why I wanted it in the first palace.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

At his lukewarm expression, I gave a small smile. Compared to how he was inside the palace Hernan acted more candidly outside the palace.

“You know, I don’t know why I can’t buy pretty things with what I have.”

“Are you saying that because you saw the rainbow? If you’re talking about things that money can’t buy, there are countless other things. Like, for example, freedom.”

“Is that so?”

One of the most basic human rights was freedom. It would be nice to have a god explain to me something I had never felt before.

Why must I live seeing only a portion of sky? When there were peaceful spaces all over the world.

After throwing away what we had just eaten, he brought me to one of the last places he wanted me to see.

When I stared at a distance away, I noticed a slab of marble that resembled a concert hall. It seemed like I knew what it was.

It was the stage for my performance. It was where I would perform the [Primo Savatio], which is considered the most sacred event in all of the Empire, under everyone’s expectations. Just thinking about the grand and immense scale that would be taking place, I swallowed my saliva.

”The princess will be dancing there, right?”

“The square will be filled with people on that day. We’d better reserve our seats in advance.”

Everyone’s words were just adding onto my burden.

“There’s really a lot of them. People, I mean…”

“They’re looking forward to it. All of them.”

There was a fence around the marble stage. Out of the troops guarding the entrance, some were yawning and chatting.

“They must have been very dissatisfied with the dance the ‘Saintess’ had been performing in the meantime.

“Saintess? Did this Empire have a Saintess?”

“Ah. You must not have known since you’re a foreigner. She was the princess’ replacement during her absence. It was just a temporary thing so she’s not the real princess.”

“Temporary…”

“Yes. Because there had been no one performing the dance for a long time. The dance the saintess performed had been very unsatisfactory.”

“Because she’s not the real princess?”

“That’s right. That’s why everyone’s looking forward to seeing the ‘real’ princess dance next month.”

I rejected Hernan’s suggestion to look at the stage closer. I did not want to feel intimidated. Even at a distance away, I could feel the pressure.

For some reason, Hernan looked strangely relieved by my refusal. As if he did not want to go closer in the first palace.

“According to history, the patronus of the performing Imperial lady becomes her future husband.”

He lowered his gaze before blinking slowly

“Princesses used to marry their patronuses.”

“Is that so?”

“The current princess too.”

On his handsome face, irritation subtly wrinkled his expression as if anger had been woven into the fabric of his face.

“The princess too?”

“History will repeat itself. As such, she too will… may marry her patronus.”

He replied me.

“Are you talking about the princess who’s going to perform? Then, what’s wrong with your expression?”

“Me?”

“Ah, was I mistaken?”

Huh? I tilted my head.

“Never.”

He shook his head. Based on his expression, it looked like he had no idea what expression he had on his face a while ago. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Hm. The Princess’ patronus… I wonder what kind of person he is?”

Why was he even curious? We had not even decided on one yet. Rebecca had been reminding me a terrifyingly often to decide on my patronus.

“The prince is not possible. Never.”

Rebecca stopped me from going with my brother. Because it showed how poor my social skills were for not even having a man to perform with.

‘… Why did the lord refuse my request?’

I shifted my gaze and fixed it on the concert hall. Hernan continued explaining.

“The sacred stage is a place anyone can do anything with their powers of divinity and has been around since the First Emperor’s reign. It’s also a space that’s able to increase one’s strength exponentially.”

If a Templar of Song goes up on that stage, they would be able to sing songs that were more beautiful and more appealing than ever before. If a Templar of Dreams gets on the stage, they would be able to show an illusion so powerful, it would never be broken. If a Templar of Rivers goes on stage, they would be able to produce enough water to flood nearby rivers.

In short, it was able to explosively amplify the ordinary divines. It was used to show off the strengths of heirs a long time ago. It was a magnificent creation.

The only problem was that I was a weak Imperial.

“What happens if an ordinary person gets up on the stage?”

“That becomes an ordinary stage. The stage is driven by divinity.”

I was in trouble. I did not have any fancy abilities or the money to decorate the stage. Considering how I was the princess, I was in trouble. I was going to be dancing in the worst possible place for me.

… Should I just give up now?

“I’m done looking around now, so I’ll head off first.”

At a distance away, I notice the Templars of Alcohol holding a wine-tasting party. The ripe scent of the wine was attracting people like flowers to bees.

“Get out of the way!”

I wanted to take a closer look so I was going to suggest looking around a little longer. Then I heard a harsh voice.

“How dare a mere wench step into our sacred temple!”

“Ah, no. I just wanted to receive some blessings.”

“Shut it! Don’t you know how to shut up?! This is the Temple of Thunder! It’s not somewhere a lowly girl can enter!”

People were stopping in their steps one by one to look at the brutal sight that did not fit the sounds of music drifting from somewhere.

The woman that was thrown out by the man looked like she was crying as she fell down the steps of the temple.

The sound of her sorrowful sobs. I could clearly see her tears falling from the side of her face.

“Urgh, that’s unfair! I too… I too have divinity! Why can’t I be a templar! Why!”

I could see some people flinching and some avoiding the woman’s desperate cry. There were also some who gazed upon her sadly.

The people in the temple were mostly old men yet no one was able to come forward.

The woman was then dragged away by two men wearing light armour. Leaving the woman behind, the crowd was now slowly dissipating one by one.

Before I knew it, I was chasing after Hernan through the hordes of people.

The expressions of the people in the streets were all bright again. The street I was heading towards contained a greater diversity of stalls and stores that served bread and savoury meat pies. They were selling more interesting items compared to the first street I was looking around in.

A strange feeling rose in me. It felt like countless tiny needles were pricking me. There were also goosebumps running down my back and I could not ignore it because it kept bothering me.

Tingles travelled down my back.

I did not know when I would be able to witness such an enchanting spectacle again but there were so many things to look at, I did not know what to focus on. I would never be able to see this much if I walked around with one of the troops.

“Can’t a woman be a templar?”

I did not speak loudly but Hernan turned around at my voice. As if he managed to hear me in the middle of this bust street.

“Only in special conditions.”

“Why?”

“Because it has been forbidden by law.”

There were both gods and goddesses looking over this Empire and I did not think there was any difference between them. But why was there such a difference when it came to people?

My eyes looked around the scene. The templar singing the beautiful melody was a man. The templar who gave ne a spectacular water show with the fountain was a man. Be it the Templar of Alcohol offering drinks to people, the templar cleaning the streets or the templar who was shooing the woman away from the huge templar just a while ago, they were all men.

It was something I had never thought of.

A templar could only be a man. But I heard that templars could be of any gender a long time ago. I heard that the abnormal reforms began with the Emperor of the Sun 200 years ago who led the 2nd Revolution in the Empire. Before then, Emperors did not discriminate against genders. But the discriminatory system continued even with the current emperor.

After Hernan’s explanation, I asked.

“… His Majesty, the Emperor, and templars are irrevocably linked, right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

The stronger the Emperor’s powers, the stronger the divinity of the Empire. The stronger the Templars, the stronger the Empire’s power.

“Do the templars… feel the Emperor’s presence anytime, anywhere?”