Above Your Head

Chapter 91: To the Imperial Capital (4)

Have you ever been hated?

As a matter of fact, I already knew. It wasn't common for fans to welcome the marriage of the celebrity they were crazy about with open hearts. Either those two were the ideal couple that everyone couldn't help but admit, or the celebrity was already old enough and there had been comments like 'yeah, it's already been too long for our unnie' or 'Oppa smells like an old bachelor!'. If not, then it was definitely normal for them to protest against it.

If a scandal or a romantic relationship happened between idols on Earth, their fans would rise up like wildfire and they would post malicious comments to attack and terrorize the related party. Background checks were the basics, and they would react violently by complaining to the agency the related party was affiliated to.

So, what more if the person in question was a young, lively and beautiful space idol?

There was no need to explain how the fans would have felt.

"It's scary..."

"My skin stings... This is a completely different atmosphere from when we were at the spaceship."

Of course, there were many fans of Celestia on the Albatross ship. It was a natural course of action for the Empire's citizens to become her fans since she was their country's Imperial Princess. Moreover, she had the nickname Space Idol and her name was spread throughout the universe. Her alias, Queen of Starlight, was a kind of symbolism that carried great significance, so comparing her to other celebrities was an insult in itself.

But even so, not all of Albatross' crew members were big fans of her. Some of them just weren't interested in music, while others didn't like idols. Or they liked idols, but not to the point of obsession.

Moreover, most of all, I was a hero who saved everyone's lives on the Albatross ship. A majority of the crew members who were on board were unknowingly indebted to me. As such, even when my decision to marry her was announced, there weren't any particular troubles, and it only bothered them at most. The gazes I felt from them were of that level only.

However… Who was I to Celestia's fans, who would cross the distant universe from all around just to see her? A lowly scum they had never heard of before. Yes. The lowly scum they had never heard of before won over their queen.

Bzzt bzzt-!

My vision was distorted. The glasses-shaped Magic Armament Udjat that I acquired by nagging Kwon Hye-ran, the Dwarf girl on Albatross, broke.

"Uwahh… There's a crack on my glasses because of the bloodlust."

"It wasn't even a materialized bloodlust, it's just pure bloodlust though."

"As expected of the Great Universe. The fanboys here are on a whole different level as compared to those on Earth."

Both my face and voice were calm, but Bo-ram and Dong-min were breaking out in a cold sweat and sweating profusely. Then, they stared at me all of a sudden and asked.

"By the way, are you alright, Sunbae?"

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what?'. I'm obviously talking about the bloodlust. Perhaps because they don't have any intention to attack, there weren't even any Aura waves. Yet, it's intense enough for the glasses to crack."

"Now that I took a good look, you're not the least bit fazed at all. My hands are trembling just from the aftereffects of the bloodlust… You have a braver personality than I thought."

"Is this something that can be solved by something like personality?"

I glanced around while listening to the two of them whispering with a fascinated expression. It wasn't an exaggeration, I could clearly feel that the fans wanted to tear me to death right away if they could, and their gazes that contained such feelings were raging around like a violent storm. Gazes filled with anger, jealousy, annoyance, and resentment.

'But the problem was that this was bearable for me.'

I was immune to any interference that negatively affected my mind. The demi-humans had kidnapped me and even went as far as to drug me, but they failed to meddle with my mind. Even the Divine Spirit Fragment that was capable of deceiving the eyes of a transcendent could not escape my eyes. If I was negatively affected after I saw or felt something, that was because I felt despair and intimidation myself, and it wasn't because my mind was overwhelmed by the opponent. Hence, I could say for sure that my mental barrier was perfect.

Therefore, any intimidation and pressure was of no use against me in this situation when I had made up my mind. Moreover, the bloodlust that was purely raging from the fanboys' gazes was not even great enough for me to feel ticklish. If they wanted to harm me, they would have to charge at me and punch me. They wouldn't be able to do anything just by staring at me.

Bzzt bzzt bzzt!!

"Agh, I..."

I took off the completely broken Udjat because it was messing with my vision. Was it perhaps more sensitive because of its function to receive outside information? When I was wondering about it...

Thump!

The atmosphere suddenly changed. The waves of bloodlust that were raging like a tsunami were split apart as if it met Moses, and the bloodlust spread in all directions and dissipated. Even though I didn't feel any distress from the bloodlust, I could sense the existence of the bloodlust itself. Hence, I could clearly feel the process of the bloodlust vanishing.

"What is this mess? Are you alright?"

As Celestia hugged my right arm, I could feel something voluptuous as her slim body touched my upper arm, and I was almost skeptical about the sensation I felt. She didn't just talk to me normally, she stuck close enough that I could even feel her breathing and she whispered in my ear.

Whooooosh----!!

There was bloodlust raging around!!

"Hey... Why are you needlessly provoking them?"

"Oh my, I'm just briefly hugging my lover whom I am engaged to, so how is this provoking them?"

She put on a pretty act that didn't suit her and stuck even closer to me. I was a human male, so to be honest, I didn't hate it… The problem was that thousands of her fans were seeing it in real-time, and they were releasing their bloodlust.

'Phew, man. I never thought the day would come when I'd be hated by so many different species of aliens.'

Only about 30 to 40 percent of the fans gathered in the huge plaza were human. In other words, more than half of Celestia's fans were extraterrestrial beings.

In actual fact, this was a scenario that I couldn't even imagine.

It wasn't just because of the fact that 70 percent of the intelligent race in the universe were in human-form. If it was just a matter of probability, then it was alright to think that the extraterrestrial beings that existed in nearby galaxies weren't in human-form. However, those gathered here did not gather under random conditions. Weren't they part of some kind of fan club that was crazy about Celestia?

'How come… Why is the percentage of human fans so low even though she's a beautiful human girl?'

The Arch-Sorcerer Morne who led the demi-humans was deeply disgusted by Cheong Won who had threatened him to marry Celestia. Though Celestia possessed a dazzling appearance, such good looks weren't even worth dust to other species with different standards for beauty. Just like how humans did not see the most beautiful female hippopotamus with sexual interest, Morne also didn't see Celestia with sexual interest.

However, looking at the atmosphere now, the situation looked different from back then.

'Does that mean there are races who accepted Celestia's beauty to a certain extent? Just like how humans perceive cats as cute beings even though they're a different species?'

As a question like that came to mind...

"Wait-! Wait a minute please-!"

There was a commotion within the fan club(?), and a crowd came towards us while passing through the others. Led by a blond-haired man in a tuxedo, they were all human beings.

"Welcome to the Imperial Capital, Second Imperial Princess-nim. It's been three whole years since we last met."

"Yeah, long time no see, Rex. But it seems that you're being polite today."

"Ha, haha. What, what are you talking about..."

He was a handsome man with a sleek impression overall, and he bowed his head while twitching the corners of his lips. He was most probably feeling uncomfortable as he faced Celestia while being surrounded by countless extraterrestrial beings (And these beings were her avid fans).

"Who is he?"

"He's the Grand Chamberlain. He manages the Imperial family's important matters as well as trivial ones."

"I'm Count Rex Valentine."

Rex Valentine introduced himself in a tone that was quite different from when he was talking to Celestia. Celestia's eyebrows flinched.

"Be polite, Rex. He's my husband."

"It's not definite yet."

"It's not definite yet? Is there anyone else who can decide on this matter besides me?"

"Imperial Princess-nim... That is not a topic we should bring up at a place like this."

"If not? Is it a topic to be brought up behind closed doors where no one can see while being threatened?"

"That's…"

Rex was intimidated by Celestia's insolent attitude as a whole. Celestia was not treated well by the Imperial family of the Leonhardt Empire because she didn't have any backing, but… Unless someone was crazy, no one would threaten her while being in the middle of her fan club. Unless they intended to spread rumors throughout the universe that the Queen of Starlight was being persecuted by the Imperial family of the Leonhardt Empire.

'No, apart from that… How did someone prepare such a composition?'

Even if her fans gathered from all over the universe, there was no reason to let them all come to the Imperial palace. The atmosphere right now seemed to be uncomfortable for the fans gathered here, so instead, it would be normal to prevent them from meeting Celestia.

However, the Imperial palace did not do that.

'No, in this case, it's more like they couldn't. That's a more reasonable judgment.'

Even Voltermone who was treated as an elder by the Leonhardt Imperial family, was a huge fan of Celestia, so there must be more of her fans inside the Imperial palace. What more the people of the Empire? Celestia was a big star who had made a name for herself in the whole universe, way beyond the Leonhardt Empire, so it was obvious that there would be many people who were proud of her.

I began to roughly understand the situation.

In Korea too, there were celebrities who possessed unrivaled-class and were recognized officially by titles such as National MC, National Sister, or World Star. Needless to say, these people didn't have any authority whatsoever. Strictly speaking, they were just rich and famous ordinary people.

However… What if the government suppressed them for illogical reasons? What if they tried to drive them to their destruction for unreasonable reasons? Furthermore, Celestia was the perfect being who possessed the bloodline of the Imperial Princess. It was no different from putting all three of those titles together.

Most importantly...

'These fans who gathered from all around the universe... is unusual. They can't be coerced and chased away by using strength.'

From the standpoint of the other members of the Imperial family and the nobles who supported them, it felt like they were literally beaten in the back of their heads. No one would have expected that there would be a force supporting Celestia.

"Any-, anyways, I'll go into the details once we go inside."

"I don't want to though?"

Celestia retorted in a playful manner, but Rex looked at the knight in golden armor that followed him as if he didn't hear her.

"Escort the Imperial Princess-nim!"

"Affirmative!"

About a dozen knights answered at the same time and they approached Celestia. However, Major General Chun Hyun-il stood in front of them and blocked their way.

"My, my. Are you trying to kidnap her?"

"…You cannot interfere with the Imperial family's business, Major General Chun Hyun-il. Are you going to violate the contract you made with the Imperial family?"

"Of course, that's not the case. I have a very, very close relationship with her, but it's not to the point that I would give up everything I had."

Rex's face brightened up upon hearing Hyun-il's answer.

"If so…"

"But."

Hyun-il smiled brightly and pointed with his chin at the person behind him.

"I wonder if that guy will do the same?"

Cluck.

He took a step forward. I was able to draw the scene clearly even though I couldn't see it. An extremely strong presence instantly pressured the slightly chaotic atmosphere around, and everything was silent.

"I'm sure I must be mistaking it, but..." A man with black hair said with a deep voice before he continued, "It looks like you're trying to drag the Queen away."

He was a handsomely tall man with black, long hair hanging down to his waist, yet the atmosphere surrounding him was extremely serious and heavy. His black hair was swaying like a shadow under the hazy sunlight, and countless stars and galaxies were reflected in an instant beyond that darkness.

He looked like a human being, but he wasn't human. I could see his true appearance beyond his human-form.

It was a huge dragon. I spotted the huge shadow that was inherent in him and I chanted his name.

"Shadow Dragon."

Rex's face hardened when he heard my words.

"Noblesse…"