Chapter 29 –– Seichi the Holy Monastic

Meixia and Yumi walked away to take a look at other contestants' creations. Meanwhile, Haru stayed to take a closer a look at the statue Yujin made. He then decided to put his sticker on it, voting for his creation. He was the first person to vote for Yujin's statue.

"I don't think this reminds me of Yumi.....but I think it's pretty. I like it," Haru said.

Yujin was moved. It was his first time participating in the contest and also the first time he got a vote. He immediately hugged Haru, in excitement.

"Thank you, Haru! I'll remember you when I'm crowned!"

Haru felt awkward being hugged by someone he just met. Haru said that he didn't mean much by that and said that he just liked the statue Yujin made.

Haru then excused himself to follow Yumi and Meixia, taking a look at other contestants' statues.

After the voting session was done, the judges announced the winner for the contest. After calculating all the votes in total, they finally announced the winner.

"The winner is...Crown Prince Yujin Horahua!"

Yumi's brother, Yujin, won in first place.

"Woohoo!"

He exclaimed in joy, running to the stage to get his prize.

"I can't believe he won. What a lucky guy," Yumi said, weirdly impressed.

Even though this was his first time participating in this contest, Yujin came out as the winner. Turned out, a lot of people voted for him. Not particularly because they liked his creation, but because they were big fans of the Prince and the royal family, so they came to support him.

Yujin then received the tickets for UI's concert. He looked thrilled, proud of his achievement.

The awarding took place in the evening. After they announced the winner, the competition finally ended and they looked forward to next year's Snow Festival competition.

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Several days after the festival, the Holy Monastic visited Premiere Tianming's grave at the cemetery once again. This time, he went alone, without any Sacred Guard accompanying him.

"Tianming....."

He looked at the headstone set up at Premiere Tianming's grave. He then caressed it, gently.

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After having been separated for 10 years since their teenage years, as the new Holy Monastic, I managed to return to Tianming's side as her envoy in religious affairs of the nation.

I served Tianming as the Holy Monastic dutifully. Even though we were still in love with each other, we decided to respect our Holy Oath and put romance aside in order to serve the nation dutifully. We worked with each other professionally, separating our personal life from work.

One day, at the age of 79, Tianming was diagnosed with a deadly curse by the healers. I immediately called upon the Temple Members to conduct an emergency meeting, trying to find a solution to the Premiere's declining health. We then decided to have her go into an intensive care to treat the curse. We summoned all of the best healers and exorcists in the nation to work together to cure it, as it was our utmost priority at that moment.

Tianming suffered from memory loss and deteriorating organ functions. Day by day, she remembered less. She kept forgetting stuff, about the people she knew, about herself, about everything. After 3 months of being in intensive care, she entered a vegetative state*.

I visited her in her room at the Premiere's Palace every day, bringing a flower and some of her favourite food during her childhood when we were studying in our parochial school, in hope for her memories to return. Even though she didn't remember me anymore, I did my best to take great care of her, as if she were my wife. Seeing her sickbed really pained my heart. I prayed every day, both in the palace and at the abbey, for her recovery.

After months of intensive care, instead of getting better, Tianming's health was deteriorating quickly. Her vital status dropped significantly due to unknown reasons. During that time, she whispered my name faintly, wanting me by her side. The healers who were on standby then immediately called me to inform me about her condition.

I was out of town at that time, searching for a mythical item that legend said would able to heal her. I was so close to finding it. However, after hearing that call, I immediately dropped everything I was doing and went to the palace, aborting my search for the item. Luckily, I got there on time. After months in a vegetative state, the first word that she spoke was my name, which made me happy yet still sad at the same time.

The moment she called my name, I hugged her tightly, staying by her side in her final moment. At the last second, the look in her eyes changed. That was the look that she had before she got sick. She then whispered to me who was hugging her, softly to my hear.

"Thank you, Seichi. Farewell."

Her heartbeat stopped. The healers checked up on her and announced her dead.

I bawled my eyes out the moment the healers announced her dead. I hugged her even more tightly, refusing to accept the reality. The healers then decided to call other Temple Members to deal with the situation. The Lord Commander and the Advisor came first before everyone else. They told the healers to let me be alone with her for a while, letting me mourn in peace.

While I was mourning, the other Temple Members were devising the preparation for the Premiere's funeral and the announcement to the public. They also deployed a special team to search for the new Premier(e) immediately, not wasting any second.

After about an hour, the healers entered the room and took the Premiere's body to have her ready for the funeral.

Premiere Tianming was later known as "Tianming the Brave."

That was the most sorrowful day of my life.

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Remembering the past made the Holy Monastic in tears. He never realised that time had gone by so fast. It'd been 22 years since her death and the Holy Monastic was still in love with her.

"Oh, Tianming.....tell me what I should do....."

The Holy Monastic was currently in distress. After the all of the stuff that happened recently for the past few months, he was stuck in a dilemma. He just found out the truth about things he had been hidden from. He wished for her to be here with him, to guide him towards the right decision. Yet, she only lived in his memories, leaving him to choose for himself on his own.

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A week later, it was finally the last week of Dionsys. A few days before the day of the Crown Prince's coronation, chief of Garuda Squad–– Saaya–– announced the members of her team who were coming with her to the Royal Residence.

"Everyone, listen up."

The members of Garuda Squad listened to her closely.

It was finally time.

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*vegetative state = awake but showing no signs of awareness nor cognitive functions.