#81
Should I stop this? This could create a flow different from the original story. But I couldn’t say anything. It seemed the same for others in the room, as no one opened their mouth.
The Duke’s words carried that much impact. One wrong move could overshadow all the trust and achievements the Duke had built up until now. Nevertheless, the Duke conveyed his wishes without a tremor. He seemed confident that no one in this room could harm him, no matter what they did.
As the quiet silence continued, Persis was the first to speak.
“Do you need my help?”
“I’m surprised too. To think there are things I can’t resolve with my position alone.”
The Duke must have known about the demon’s existence beneath the temple. When we went beneath the temple with Persis, didn’t Kara come looking for us? I thought the demon’s location would already be known. The problem was that even if the location was known, there wasn’t much the Duke could do. It seemed difficult not only to extract the demon in advance but even to grasp what was happening now.
The royal family’s power was that strong in this country. I knew that, but it was somehow hard to believe that the Duke hadn’t predicted this. In the original story, the Duke perfectly accomplished everything. The Duke not only possessed powerful force but was also skilled in strategy. Even if it was a plot by the royal family, it was incomprehensible that the Duke hadn’t known about it until now.
“Then what do I gain from this?”
Persis didn’t back down an inch before the Duke. That boldness was so like Persis, but I was worried about how the Duke might react. Fortunately, the Duke answered Persis’s question without even a flicker of change in his expression.
“Your Highness has no backing. Even if Young Master Parten accompanies you, the Parten family won’t support you.”
What am I hearing right now? I wasn’t foolish enough not to understand the Duke’s words. The Duke was essentially proposing that Persis join hands with him.
The Duke, who used to shudder at the mention of royalty, offering to support someone? I wasn’t the only one shocked—Rikin, sitting next to Persis, stared at the Duke with wide eyes.
Until now, the Duke had maintained neutrality and never supported any member of the royal family.
“I will be that backing for you.”
Such a person was now saying he would be in the same boat as Persis.
“Am I worth that much to you?”
“Worth is something that can be created.”
To be able to create someone’s worth—it sounded arrogant, but it was a statement possible only for the Duke. From the beginning, Persis was someone who could create his own worth, but if the Duke joined forces with him, Persis’s power would clearly grow as swiftly as if it had wings.
What the Duke clearly wanted was to overturn this country. More precisely, the death of all royalty. In the original story, the Duke said he wouldn’t stop until he erased all the values and ideologies held by the royal family.
I knew the Duke had changed from the original story. It was expected through our awkward meal times and some of the things he said to me. Moreover, hadn’t he granted my absurd request? The sword in my hand was proof of that.
Not only that, but it wasn’t the Duke who was using the demon’s power, but the royal family of this country whom he so wanted to eliminate.
This world couldn’t be seen as completely different from the original story. However, this world had long been flowing in a different direction from the original, and its impact had reached even the Duke. He wasn’t the heartless Duke who would stab this sword into Andelion’s stomach.
Once I realized this, I couldn’t stop the two of them. Perhaps in this world, the Duke might not be Persis’s enemy.
“Besides, Your Highness cares for my child. The possibility of betrayal is also small.”
I flinched, not expecting to be suddenly mentioned. Persis, who had been facing the Duke, turned his head to look at me. After staring at me for a moment, Persis nodded.
“Very well. How can I help you first?”
“First, we need to enter the temple.”
“That…!!”
I interrupted their conversation in alarm. I couldn’t forget the intense premonition I had felt when meeting Kuatrin earlier. That feeling still remained vividly. Although I wanted to rescue the imprisoned demon somehow, I didn’t want Persis to be in danger. I don’t know why I felt so anxious, but I was filled with the thought that Persis shouldn’t be allowed into the temple.
Realizing I had impulsively stepped forward, I closed my mouth without saying more.
“Andelion, is there something bothering you?”
Now that the Duke had asked like that, I didn’t know what to say. If I said I didn’t want to send Persis because I had a strange feeling, who would believe me? It was obvious I’d only get a response dismissing it as needless worry. As I was pondering how to persuade the Duke, Kara, standing behind me, placed her hand on my stiffened shoulder.
“It’s alright. Go ahead and speak.”
Since I was young, Kara had never taken any of my words lightly. She never thought of them as childish impulses, nor did she ignore them as useless words; she properly accepted what I wanted to express.
With Kara behind me, I felt like I could say anything.
“It might be my imagination, but it seemed like His Highness Kuatrin had made some preparations at the temple.”
“Did you see something?”
At Rikin’s question, I shook my head. I had only been to the temple once when I was young, and this was my first time meeting Kuatrin. There was no way I had evidence that Kuatrin was threatening Persis’s safety.
“I also oppose His Highness Persis entering the temple directly, but I don’t think His Highness Persis would be in danger inside the temple. The temple is literally a divine space, so what could possibly…”
“Senior, didn’t you see what happened in that divine space?”
When Rikin countered my words, Iria pointed once more to the black pillar that had magnificently destroyed the roof earlier.
That temple was no longer a sacred place where gods resided.
“But even so, if a royal family member gets hurt in the temple, it wouldn’t just be overlooked.”
“There’s an excellent suspect in that temple who could be immediately blamed.”
The moment Iria uttered those words, the word ‘demon’ flashed in my mind. Probably the same for everyone else. The plan must be to attack Persis and then blame everything on the demon.
“But it’s strange to begin with that you want to retrieve that demon. Duke, what are you thinking? I understand that His Highness Kuatrin is doing something strange with the demon. And that it could be very dangerous. But what do you plan to do by bringing that dangerous demon with you? What we should be doing isn’t bringing the demon…”
I silently placed the sword I was holding on the table. Rikin stopped his flow of words and looked at me. As I removed the cloth Rikin had given me earlier, the black blade was revealed, reflecting the bright light. It was an eerie sight, enough to sense an ominous atmosphere just by looking at it. While the sword was familiar to me, it wouldn’t be for those seeing it for the first time.
“This demon used to reside in this sword.”
“What?”
“He talked to me, became my ally, and helped me when I was in trouble.”
“Ana, what are you saying…”
“I want to find him again.”
The moment I uttered those words, my vision brightened. Just as I had sensed Persis’s danger earlier, an intense feeling struck my mind like lightning. I didn’t know if this was right or wrong, but I felt that if I sought him out, Persis and Iria wouldn’t be in danger. Rather, I thought that if he remained in the temple, the world might be in danger.
There’s no reason. No one had presented me with plausible evidence. But filled with certainty, I spoke once more.
“I’m not bringing this up now to explain what kind of being the demon is. I’m just saying that’s who he was to me. If he isn’t the person I know, if he’s truly dangerous, my father will step in. My father has subdued a demon before. What he’s done once, he can surely do again.”
The scene beneath the temple that I had seen through his eyes came to mind. They were conducting some experiment on him. And among them was a familiar face that had gleamed with excitement, saying they had finally succeeded.
“Perhaps this incident is related to what happened at the entrance ceremony at the academy.”
“What?”
“Teacher Ramtel Ion was inside that temple.”
I recalled the face of Ramtel, who had tried to kindly inform me while researching Clum. Having worked at the school for a long time, he knew the structure in advance and was proficient in mana. He must have been conducting some experiments while researching demons. And that experiment might have been the accident that occurred at the entrance ceremony.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
