#114
“Come on, as if. The Archduke even did purification for me. Right?”
Skyle let Ersen hold his hand as he did what he was doing.
It was an attitude that seemed leisurely, as if watching something.
“You have to accommodate my plan.”
However, when the Prince carefully took his and Sercil’s hands and cast nullification magic, his eyes were cooled to a lower temperature than usual.
It was because seeing the magic casting process properly was astounding.
Blood that had emerged from the spatial pocket in the Prince’s sleeve formed two streams embroidering the air.
And it became a pattern.
The pattern floating between Sercil and the Prince seemed to depict an olive branch, and the pattern floating between him and Ersen was……
“What are you doing?”
“Your Grace, you mustn’t speak.”
“……”
Skyle smiled quietly and obediently shut his mouth. The words just now had impulsively burst out without him realizing it.
But this time, even he couldn’t help it.
‘How.’
The red pattern floating between him and the Prince was in the shape of a hawk symbolizing the sky.
He could see Marcus, who seemed to understand the situation including the meaning of this pattern while being flustered, hesitating and sending a puzzled look.
Right, if this was a pattern symbolizing the mana of the one being liberated, then Skyle’s pattern should have been in the form of a sun, not a hawk.
If what was known was correct.
Skyle slightly narrowed his eyes while maintaining his smiling face.
‘Should I be grateful it’s at least just a pattern?’
Though he was momentarily flustered as some of the information he’d been hiding was revealed, it wouldn’t drag on long.
Skyle soon took his eyes off his pattern and looked at the Prince.
And at that moment.
“Cough.”
The Prince pressed his lips tightly with a shallow cough.
……Coughing up blood is quite routine, I see.
Blue eyes coldly took in the Prince’s physical reaction.
‘He even looks quite accustomed to it, even though casting nullification is a recent thing.’
This was a point that couldn’t be explained by just evidence of abuse.
However, one thing he could be relieved about now was that the purification effect seemed to be working.
During the approximately 15 minutes it took to liberate the two people’s curses, the Prince didn’t cough up blood.
Which meant it was a small enough amount to swallow.
The Prince’s physical condition was currently at its worst. That was because he had overexerted himself in the process of liberating them, and the poison had dealt a big blow. Though only Skyle knew, mana depletion syndrome had probably overlapped as well.
Considering that, the symptoms the Prince was showing now were mild. So it could be explained as a result of purification.
‘It’s fortunate that it’s working.’
“That’s enough for today.”
The Prince, who had swallowed the blood that came up, spoke in a mysterious tone with his characteristic inscrutable smile. He let go of their hands and headed toward Marcus.
He wanted to say that he shouldn’t swallow such blood, but he didn’t.
More precisely, he couldn’t.
He had come to understand Sercil, who had completely changed his attitude as soon as he experienced nullification.
‘So that’s why.’
Even if only briefly, it was a sensation sweet enough to make Skyle lose himself.
He could understand why Theodore had let his guard down around the Prince so quickly.
Though there had been circumstances for it, even for Theodore, he had seemed to take a liking to Ersen too quickly……
Quite bewilderingly, though it was a weak amount, the Prince’s mana that could inevitably be felt along with the magic was clear.
If blood reveals a person’s lifestyle and energy reveals a person’s mind, then mana reveals a person’s soul.
The three of them—no, like Sercil who was now showing signs of awakening as a fairy—those sensitive enough to mana to distinguish between half-demon curse mana and regular mana could distinguish that difference at once.
It was felt even more clearly when deliberately spreading one’s own mana to check or experiencing magic like now.
That clarity was what broke down people’s defenses.
“Wow, that entered my body……”
Sercil muttered in a daze. Behind Sercil’s back, the translucent shape of fairy wings appeared and disappeared in a wondrous occurrence, but Skyle didn’t even glance that way. He only focused on the fact that the nullification work method was different from before.
He painted the scene he had just witnessed in his mind while intoxicated by the high-quality mana he was experiencing after a long time.
The pattern made of blood charred like burnt paper during the short 15 minutes, and where it burned away, shining leaves and hawk wings floated.
When those were absorbed by each person, his body became lighter with mild dizziness.
As soon as the Prince acknowledged that his nullification was actually like the act of a sacrifice taking on curses instead, he changed the method of nullification.
Did this mean the current way was more comfortable?
If so, this also meant he had been liberating the two people’s curses using an uncomfortable method until now.
‘Why?’
There was nothing the Prince could gain by hiding the sacrifice method. Rather, after understanding their tendencies, he would have known that revealing this would be good for gaining sympathy.
‘It wouldn’t be impossible if he didn’t want to gain sympathy.’
However, in his view, the Prince seemed like he wouldn’t understand the very possibility of gaining sympathy.
Skyle’s eyes turned toward Ersen a beat late.
“……Hyung, since when did you become a tree?”
“……Shut up, Your Highness.”
“Ahaha, you were going to go out wearing this on your chest? That’s ridiculous. Were you trying to catch rainwater or something?”
It didn’t seem like his stiff face was due to poor physical condition.
That was fortunate, though.
“Your Highness, how does this look like a tree branch to you? It’s clearly chains.”
“Well, could my nonsense ever match hyung’s recklessness~?”
“Ugh.”
Marcus, who had been standing up to leave, was caught by Prince Ersen’s hand in that same position.
“You can’t even cut off something that activates just by touching it, so what were you planning to do? Are you perhaps crazy~?”
At the serious gaze that stared intently at the caught hand while being startled, Skyle let out a hollow laugh.
It seemed that friend had completely let down his guard toward Ersen even before experiencing the mana.
Though he was vehemently denying it.
It was probably related to what he had mentioned earlier about interrogating the palace people.
‘I should confirm this.’
At the same time, the thought crossed his mind that it was a strangely displeasing composition.
Because the sight of the Prince scolding while holding Marcus’s hands and smiling broadly looked quite endearing, to be honest.
Marcus seemed to find that scene subtle too, as he was unusually unable to hide his bewilderment.
The pattern floating between the Prince and Marcus was a chain pattern.
Perhaps because the acceleration phenomenon had appeared most noticeably in Marcus?
It seemed to take about 30 minutes just for that side.
The chain pattern burned away. What remained in its place was a white sword blade.
After confirming that the sword flew into Marcus’s chest where the chains had disappeared and was absorbed, Skyle spoke.
“You’re holding up well, Your Highness.”
No matter how much purification he had done, even if it had been effective, to move around like this immediately……
‘Besides, that plan from earlier is clearly too advantageous only for us, no matter how you look at it.’
Was he trusting the mana contract made with them? Confident that they would help him according to the contract even after all the liberation was complete.
He didn’t think Prince Ersen would have failed to grasp the loophole in that contract—the ambiguous point of ‘helping.’
It was either that he knew them well, or that he didn’t mind even if they abandoned him by exploiting gaps in the contract.
‘Maybe it’s both.’
If so, there was one aspect about the Prince to think about differently……
“Then would you please come this way now?”
Looking at the Prince who turned around and drew a mysterious smile, Skyle slowly clenched and opened the hand that had been held by him.
Savoring carefully how even the touch that had been let go without lingering as soon as nullification ended had been cautious.
After shrugging his shoulders, the Prince approached silently, leaving behind Marcus who seemed momentarily dazed like Skyle and Sercil had been earlier.
A smile different from usual briefly crossed Skyle’s face and disappeared.
Sercil happened to catch that and opened his mouth slightly.
‘Could His Grace also have had acceleration symptoms?’
How many times had he seen him show such a special expression only to Prince Ersen today, while having an infinitely sacred-looking face?
Then what would it be like when he was alone with His Highness the Prince later?
‘Oh, this seems like I should tell him to run away.’
But he also had the conviction that if he interfered, he would die without leaving a trace.
Sercil crumpled his face and looked forward to after becoming a complete fairy.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
