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Vulcanus represented the Temple of Blacksmiths. They were responsible for making anything in the Empire and they lived peacefully in their blessed lands.

Their land was located in a huge mountain range. The deep valleys were a fortress delivered from the heavens. It was hard to find and hence difficult to visit.

Vulcanus granted his powers to those born with the passion for creating and the talent of dexterity. Not only were they the one who built the Imperial palace, but most other famous sites in the Empire were also built by them and not a single famous artifact did not go through their hands.

They were outstanding craftsmen who were well-versed in a wide variety of metals and could smelt high-purity ores.

Fleon’s mother, Ioneste Nere Vulcanus.

At an early age, she had already made a name for herself as a craftsman.

None of those under Vulcanus were without admiration for her craft. Her name would be praised and shown admiration for over a pint of beer. She was a free-spirited and cheerful person, much like an incarnation of Vulcanus. She was also loved across her blessed lands as the heir to her temple.

One day, the emperor of the Empire came to visit their blessed lands.

“Marry me and become one of the flowers in my palace.”

That was the moment the Emperor robbed her of her life. Back when was the sole heir to her temple.

“That’s not possible. Your Majesty! You’re trampling upon our blessed land!”

“Out of the way, High Templar!” (1)

The intruder, who barged into the blessed lands with his army, called the noble heir to the said land his flower.

Legions of hundreds of templars and the amount of divinity they were exuding soared to the skies and were close to engulfing the lands.

Eventually, Ioste herself had to kneel before him.

“This girl will go! Please save the people of my blessed lands!”

She never thought the time would come when she had to throw her hammer away. But the moment her brother died, she had no choice.

It was better for everyone if she sacrificed herself than to let everyone else die.

The emperor snatched the hammer of the great blacksmith before placing a beautiful golden crown upon her head.

The life she had led like a galloping wolf lost its light forever the day the Emperor arrived.

Her deprivations started from that day.

It was only natural to marry the man who had robbed her of her life.

Ioste had two sons. And they were twins.

“My queen, they’re twins! And they’re both healthy boys!”

The woman had looked down at her children with an expression too calm and unimpressed for a mother who had just given birth.

“I can’t believe they’re twins.”

One had black hair and golden eyes with features closely resembling the emperor.

The other had gray hair with blue eyes. The colours of her father and her dead brother.

“This child looks like my brother.”

Her brother was a quiet craftsman. He was a friendly man who embraced everybody quietly and calmly, standing out amongst the other templars who were as passionate as fire. And finally, it was his tenderness that made him try to stop the emperor from taking his sister and get himself killed as a result.

Unfortunately, Ioste felt compelled to love this child even though he was the child of the man she had hated so much.

She had named the child ‘Fleon Claché’. Because she wanted him to be as sweet as her own brother one day.

On the other hand, she was scared.

She was enjoying the joy the life, that she made and held in her hands. It was humiliating to grow out her hair and wear dresses she had never worn before whilst in the hands of such ruthless people.

She had tried to understand. In order to not have any regrets, she had taken a leap of faith.

She was brought to a strange land and married the man who had killed her brother before being abandoned.

However, regardless of her decision, life in the Imperial palace was suffocatingly difficult. She could not even hold her hammer. Because her hand was ruined.

The woman’s hand was in a terrible state.

Though the scars had vanished, her skin had been bleached to force the white skin to reveal itself from underneath her tan. The muscles she had developed from hammering had deteriorated.

Time had taken away her traits of a blacksmith.

Ioste did not exist here.

She was merely the 5th ornament adorning the emperor. She was confident in her nobility. But to her this was not nobility.

She could remember the smell of unsmelted iron, the furnace, the sounds of metal scraping against each other and the exhilaration she felt as she took a breath of that hot air.

Ioste had withered from the inside. But that was something no one knew. It was because she had deteriorated quietly and slowly. Even Eupitea, her closest friend who followed her here and the head maid of her palace could not tell.

And at that point in her life, the 5th Prince was born with golden eyes. Proof that he inherited the name of the highest god.

“I congratulate you, my queen! Your son has inherited [The Power of the Lords]!”

That only made Ioste feel awful.

She could not separate the 5th prince and the emperor who took her life away from her.

‘I’m sorry.’

And time passed like that. She did not go to see the 5th Prince.

“My queen, the 5th Prince has arrived.”

She thought it would be best if he never had to understand why she did not love him and refused to see him.

“What did you say?”

The woman who was once the greatest templar of blacksmiths and the sole heir to the high templar had abandoned her title of the 5th Queen to protest against that fact that her life was stolen.

“I only have one son though?”

She became the 6th Queen.

The child, who very much resembled the emperor and even had his powers, could not call Ioste his mother. The 5th Prince who had been abandoned by his mother was Fleon’s older twin.

The 24 gods that descended following their lord.

And amongst them there were 12 considered to be the most powerful.

Other than the gods who have died, most of the nobles who were templars leading the Empire were templars of one of the 12 gods.

Vulcanus was the 9th most powerful.

As the original heir to Vulcanus, the 6th Queen Ioste gladly made her child who had not once stepped into the blessed lands as the heir.

The palace was left in turmoil at the news. It was ridiculous.

“How can a boy with no divinity become the high templar?”

But even amidst the controversies and the fuss, Ioste remained nonchalant.

‘Did he say flower?’

The emperor had proposed to her just like that.

‘I have no intentions on being some plant.’

In any case, though she was the heir to her blessed lands, she could not return. This was the only thing Ioste could do after her life had been trampled upon.

The current high templar and all the templars below him had respected her decision. How could they not when it was the same woman who had sacrificed herself to save everybody in their blessed lands?

“This is not right. Your Imperial Highness, please grant the 5th Prince the title of the heir.”

“Please return, Your Highness, the 2nd Prince.”

The power of Vulcanus should have been granted to the 5th Prince, the one with the ‘Power of the Lords’. That was what the emperor wanted when he came to visit the 5th Prince.

However, the authority to appoint an heir was within the temple’s jurisdiction in which even the emperor could not encroach. So Ioste proudly handed everything over to the 6th Prince Fleon.

He was now the person recognised as the unorthodox successor of the 9th most powerful god out of the 12 — Vulcanus, the God who protects the veins.

That modifier allowed Fleon to behave as he pleased even though he was not a templar.

People ridiculed him for being fortunate. He was not even a templar but he was born with every advantage he could possibly get.

***

“Today’s no good too?”

At the look of great impatience, the palace maid lowered her head further.

The 5th Prince clenched his fist before sighing and smiling to himself. He rubbed his face under his glasses. He bit his lips. The sound he let out sounded like an animal’s cry.

‘Brother…’

Little Fleon hid from behind and watched. His brother’s black hair fluttered gently. His tiny shoulders were trembling.

“Rex.”

“Yes.”

“… We’re heading back.”

Fleon clenched his jaw.

It was only a year after he did he understand why his mother did not want to meet his brother.

Fleon was as gentle as a lamb before his mother. He believed that everything positive about him was all due to her. So he had repeatedly turned his back around and pretended not to know the 5th Prince.

‘Mother must have her reasons.’

His mother was the only one who understood him and acted like a pillar to Fleon.

“Rex, mother won’t see my brother, will she?”

“Yes. As always.”

“… Alright.”

In face of his conflicting values, he chose to turn a blind eye to that one person.

He needed to fill in the missing space that the one person left.

Time passed like that.

“Brother, we are going to be that child’s shield one day.”

‘Now I’m not going to leave anything behind and protect what I can.”

If the blacksmiths under Vulcanus had their hammers to craft, his was that of numerous rules and elegantly executed etiquette.

The girl who had fled to the eastern estates to escape the plague had finally returned. Finally, the red-roofed palace would come to life.

The world he had started for three people was now complete.

“If you don’t like the banquet that much, why didn’t you leave?”

For Ashley, Fleon learned patience.

“I can’t.”

People had tried to undermine her and fretted about her background. She had borne witness to greed.

The more he faced malice, the whiter her innocence became and the lovelier she got. His younger sister who did not know of the world yet. And hopefully she stayed that way for a long time.

“Do you know hwabyung?” (2)

“What’s that?”

It might have been his selfish love for her on her part.

“It’s something you get after holding something in for too long.”

Rex had been sent from the blessed lands of Vulcanus. He was an outstanding templar. He had been recognised for his skills in making weapons from a young age especially his delicate control over fire.

“If you hadn’t gone to the banquet in the first place, you could have had a good life till you turn 18, right?”

“That’s not possible.”

“Is that because of the princess?”

“… That’s right.”

He had followed Dane’s suggestion diligently.

‘At least he’s a lot smarter than I am.’

He believed that Dane would produce better results.

“You both really cherish the princess a lot.”

Rex gazed upon his master.

“My grandson’s life is in danger.”

When he first saw Fleon as a child and noticed how much resemblance he bore to the current head templar, Rex was amazed by how genes worked.

‘No, he looks more like Flezion.’

Fleon resembled his dead uncle. A man Rex was quite familiar with.

T/N:

(1): I have no idea what I used before but I’ll be using High Templar to refer to the head of temples from now on

(2): This is a pretty culturally heavy word so I’ll have quora explain it to you. https://www.quora.com/What-does-Hwabyeong-%ED%99%94%EB%B3%91-mean-in-English