CHAPTER 150
Inside the cave, it was surprisingly warm and cozy.
The traces of the couple who had lived there for so long were evident everywhere.
The emperor's gaze deepened as the cave felt more like home than the cold, stifling air of the palace where he had spent his childhood.
His eyes fell on a stone platform ahead.
A large black body lay stretched out on the flat stone. With each shallow, uneven breath, the skin on its back rose and fell slightly.
Eyes that were slowly closing were lifted with effort to hold the emperor’s gaze. The golden eyes within were dimming rapidly.
The emperor, kneeling with one leg bent at a right angle, did not move a finger. He simply held the panther's gaze in a prolonged silence.
In that silence, countless unspoken words passed between them.
A warm hand rested on his tense shoulder.
When he turned his head, a dignified face came into view. The harsh years had not stolen his mother’s beauty. Even her sun-weathered, wrinkled face and rough, calloused hands were beautiful.
The emperor silently placed his hand over his mother’s, which he had just been reunited with.
‘Not a day has passed that I haven’t thought of you.’
Those were the first words the Crown Princess had spoken as she embraced the son who had grown so much taller than she remembered.
Her arms, which no longer even reached his shoulders, felt impossibly generous and comforting.
The Crown Princess then took Arabelle’s hand in her other hand. Though her eyes were red and swollen, her determined expression, trying not to cry, was utterly endearing. The Crown Princess’s gaze at Arabelle was filled with gratitude and relief.
From a distance, her son had always looked so unbearably cold. He had spent the childhood that should have been filled with love defending himself against hatred and betrayal. The guilt of leaving him behind in the palace was indescribable.
In the eyes of his parents, their son had secured the throne and achieved great things, but he did not seem happy. Despite being praised by everyone and shining like a brilliant sun, Maxwell appeared achingly lonely. His mother’s heart had always ached for her son, who was so accustomed to loneliness that he didn’t even know he was lonely.
The Crown Princess then looked at Arabelle, who was watching her son with worried eyes. Maxwell no longer appeared lonely or cold. His once frozen crimson eyes now warmed and shimmered with overflowing emotions whenever he looked at Arabelle. The mocking, false smiles he often wore had transformed into genuine, perfect happiness when directed at her.
The Crown Princess placed both Maxwell and Arabelle’s hands together, clasping them as one. She looked at her husband, whose head was drooping weakly. Seeing him struggle just to breathe made her heart tighten painfully, but she was certain he was happy to be reunited with their son and daughter-in-law.
Crown Prince Luca had been injured when Esperell and Berel briefly left Mount Ecol after regaining their strength. Esperell had gone to the Aether River to find a way for the creatures in this place, including the Crown Prince, to cross it.
Crown Prince Luca had been severely wounded while saving three children who were being pursued by vicious monsters near the Forest of Spirits. The children had escaped from experiments in the underground lab of Besilkia.
Though he could have brought the children back to the forest where he and his wife lived, one of them was in critical condition. Despite his injuries, he had entered the Forest of Spirits to gather herbs, where he encountered Besilkia again.
Though Luca managed to escape from Besilkia and her followers, the poison, for which there was no antidote, had already spread throughout his body. By the time Esperell and Berel returned to the forest, there was nothing more they could do.
Esperell had created a barrier around the sanctuary for lost creatures that the panther and his wife had built. It was the only gift he could give to the beast who had helped him. At the very least, he ensured that the dying panther and the creatures he had protected would not be exposed to further danger.
But they all knew the truth.
The barrier would soon collapse. Elven magic did not last long in the human world.
Esperell and Berel had ventured outside the forest to gather energy from the sacred spirits that still lingered in the human world to buy time. On their return from receiving energy from the spirit of the waterfall, they had encountered the emperor and Arabelle.
"Why didn't Esperell inform His Majesty about the Crown Prince's condition?" Sir Peter's small voice could be heard outside the cave. "If His Majesty had known, he surely would have helped."
"Have you forgotten?" Count Corald responded. "Elves cannot directly interfere in human affairs. If Esperell had broken that rule again, his energy would have weakened, and the barrier protecting the Crown Prince, his wife, and the creatures would have collapsed. They would have been quickly discovered by Besilkia and the evil spirits in the Forest of Spirits."
The knights nodded in understanding at Count Corald's explanation. Sir Derrick added in a low voice, his head bowed from the pain in his heart.
"More than that, the Crown Prince and Princess wouldn’t have allowed it. They wouldn’t want His Majesty and the Empress to be in any danger."
Both Count Corald and Sir Derrick were right.
The emperor and Arabelle inside the cave didn’t need anyone to explain why Esperell had not informed them. They understood.
The injuries were so severe that the panther could no longer even return to human form. It extended its front paw forward. The emperor reached out and placed the beast’s paw on his palm. The emperor's face filled the panther's dimming golden eyes.
No matter how hard he tried to maintain his composure, his face kept crumbling.
The father, whose life was ending...
The emperor’s jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth.
He would descend into the underworld.
All monsters are dragged into the underworld, where they either become more grotesque monsters or are devoured by others. Moreover, Demon King Urbesia would not leave the emperor’s father, the panther, unscathed. She must be eagerly anticipating the chance to exact revenge on the father of the emperor who had humiliated her.
Arabelle gently placed her hand on the panther’s back, but it was to no avail. Though she was a Lumen Savior, capable of healing beasts, she could not save a monster on the brink of death.
She could give up her life to shine her light for a loved one, but even that was not something she could do on command. Her light must move of its own accord for the one she loves.
Still, as Arabelle's touch reached him, the panther seemed to breathe more easily, the pain somewhat alleviated. Sensing that the end was near, the Crown Princess embraced the panther’s neck, resting her head on his shoulder.
Her tender voice, without a trace of tears, whispered in his ear.
“I won't let you go to the underworld alone. I will be with you forever, Luca.”
The panther weakly shook his head in protest.
Esperell and Berel looked at the panther’s family in silence. They wanted to help, even if it meant breaking the rules, but there was nothing more they could do. Esperell, feeling the barrier weakening, lowered his head.
Without the panther’s protection, the creatures here would not survive.
Even with the help of himself and Beral, there were limits.
If only they could take him across the Ether River to the world of the ancient gods.
At that moment, a firm and unwavering voice echoed through the cave.
“I will help. I will take Father across the river.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Arabelle.
“I remember that when the Lumen Saviors went to the world of the gods, they took injured beings with them across the Ether River.”
Esperal and Beral’s eyes widened slightly.
Arabelle recalled the stories of the Lumen Saviors and the Three Kingdoms that were once inscribed on ancient papyrus.
It was possible if Arabelle helped, but the two elves couldn’t bring themselves to reveal this fact.
No human had ever crossed the river and returned, including the Lumen Saviors.
No one had ever tried to take living creatures to another world and then return to the human world, except for a few elves.
The same thoughts crossed the minds of the emperor, the empress dowager, and even the exhausted black panther, who all expressed their opposition.
“It would be better if the empress left this place and waited at the camp. I will assign knights to escort you.”
The emperor’s face hardened sternly as if there was no room for further discussion.
It was a cold expression he had never shown Arabelle before.
As the emperor stood to summon the knights, a small hand pulled at his.
Arabelle stood up, meeting the emperor’s gaze.
“I cannot let Father close his eyes as a black panther. And I want to help the creatures he has protected cross the river. Father must have cared for the young creatures as if they were his own children.”
The father who couldn’t protect his own son had protected lost and frightened young beasts.
Her heart ached as she imagined how he must have felt.
Arabelle didn’t avoid the emperor’s still firm gaze, instead capturing it warmly.
She placed the emperor’s hands over her heart with both of hers.
“I can do it. I will return safely. The light within me is telling me so. It’s saying that helping the injured beings is the true destiny of the Lumen Savior.”
Arabelle lifted the emperor’s hand to her lips.
“I will ask the gods to lift the curse on the Heltred bloodline. I will tell them that a Lumen Savior loves the Emperor of Heltred more than life itself. That the Emperor of Heltred survived the underworld for the sake of the Lumen Savior. I will ask them to finally lift the curse, so our children can be free from it forever.”
At Arabelle’s words, the emperor’s eyes flickered momentarily before calming again.
She had unearthed the deepest fear he had buried within his heart.
Even though Arabelle’s sacrifice could lift the curse on the emperor, it was a different story for their descendants.
It was why, despite smiling at the thought of a child resembling Arabelle, the emperor didn’t want one.
And his wife already knew this.
Plop.
A single tear fell from the emperor’s bloodshot eye onto the back of Arabelle’s hand.
***
At the Ether River.
The red sunset began to quickly erase the boundary between the sky and the river.
The crimson light that filled the sky now tinged the water’s surface.
The cold evening air of winter stung at their noses.
The figures of knights on horseback could be seen at the mouth of the river.
Each wore a look of anxiety and unease.
A black horse stood with its shadow stretched long between the river and the land.
On the black horse sat the emperor, his dark blue robe fluttering in the river breeze.
Like an ice-carved statue, the emperor waited...
For his wife.
The length and direction of his shadow changed, but he did not move from his place.
The opposite side of the river was shrouded in thick fog.
Even though the river wasn’t that wide, not a single feature of the landscape beyond was visible.
It was when the emperor’s shadow shifted direction once more.
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