#14
* * *
Bruises in places that wouldn’t show were common.
Some of the palace servants would even take out their frustrations on Ersen through violence.
When I first possessed this body, I panicked and asked for help from those around me, but now I knew that was all useless.
‘I gave up not long after, even before my regression.’
It was shortly after I had returned.
Two palace servants with familiar faces approached and focused on beating only the parts that wouldn’t show when clothed.
‘It doesn’t even hurt much.’
Maybe because my pain threshold had increased, it only tickled.
Except for one thing—the wound on my stomach.
From somewhere, they had obtained a poison-coated blade that wouldn’t heal well even with healing magic and tore up my stomach.
They probably didn’t tell anyone around because this incident couldn’t be discovered, but they were also the first to figure out that my body was unusual.
“Even this won’t kill it, this monster.”
The voice that giggled as it spoke.
Too much time had passed to be tormented by nightmares from such things.
I brushed it off familiarly, then decided to use this condition instead.
The result was this.
“You use it like that?”
The elder asked with strangely glittering eyes. I thought I glimpsed greed in those eyes for a moment.
‘No, should I call it desire?’
“Why are you eating this?”
I grumbled and interpreted it as longing for the clan’s lost gray treasure.
‘Gray treasure…’
That was mentioned in the original work.
Eris, who was deceased in the story but was both the spiritual leader of the half-demon hardliners and the final boss.
The reason Eris was recognized as a pure-blood demon was precisely this gray treasure.
It was said to be something that could be stored in the heart, and when Eris died, the whereabouts of the gray treasure became unknown.
While it didn’t explain how or why she died, this gray treasure was described quite clearly.
‘It was said to be an object that could control the half-demons.’
The one who could handle the gray treasure was the clan leader, and the one who could control even the cursed power that all half-demons possessed with it was called a pure-blood demon.
I knew where this was.
In the mid-to-late part of the story, it was mentioned that this was embedded in dead Eris’s heart.
But the half-demons who truly served Eris as their master would never have thought to touch her corpse.
That clan leader would be the same.
‘So that’s why his eyes are rolling back.’
By eating poison and not vomiting blood, he became convinced.
That I possessed or controlled the power of a pure-blood demon.
He would think I was hiding the gray treasure or knew its whereabouts.
Anyway, the goal was achieved.
There was only one decoy poison in his possession. Now Sercil wouldn’t steal and eat that.
Now I just needed to get out of here…
“Your Highness.”
The Archduke quickly hid his earlier expression and approached with a troubled smile.
Then he firmly took the vial from my hand, put it in his own pocket—the elder’s eyes twitched seeing this—and wiped my mouth.
With his own hand.
“…?”
It felt different when he touched my body in front of people watching.
Flustered and forgetting to act, I opened my eyes wide and looked up at him, and he looked into my eyes and said gently:
“You shouldn’t carelessly eat things strangers give you. Someone of your status should know…”
“…Strangers rarely give me anything. If they do, I should accept it, right…?”
“…”
A very brief silence fell at my unconsciously flowing words.
But only for a moment.
The Archduke’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Then he quietly removed his hand that had been wiping my mouth and said:
“I understand. Shall we return now?”
Suddenly, I realized he had been telling me to return since earlier.
I had only asked him to pretend we accidentally entered this place.
‘Is he wary of me…?’
But the atmosphere didn’t seem like that, so I was confused.
I tilted my head, then shrugged and nodded as if my mood had improved.
“Sure, why not. It’s not even interesting.”
I naturally turned my eyes to glance at the High Priest once and said:
“The old man isn’t interesting.”
I wanted to sense Sercil’s presence that he might have hidden somewhere in the room, but seeing Marcus hyung-nim calmly staying put without any particular reaction, I thought maybe Sercil wasn’t here unlike in the original.
‘Even if he’s here, there’s no need to steal poison now, so it should be fine to leave.’
Sercil should be able to escape safely.
“This mister here apologized.”
The elder, who had never apologized, flinched.
He still hadn’t erased his smile, but couldn’t hide the murderous look in his eyes.
The half-demon beside him was also watching the elder’s mood while sending contemptuous glances at me.
I had expected such reactions from the half-demons, but it was more blatant than I thought, which saved me effort.
It properly gave them confidence that there would be no cooperation between them and me.
“Fine. There’s nothing interesting here, so let’s go.”
“Yes.”
The Archduke, who had been quietly watching my performance, smiled with satisfaction. He opened the door, gestured to Marcus, then naturally led me out of the room.
‘I guess Marcus hyung-nim will handle this side.’
If it’s just interrogation, Marcus hyung-nim would certainly be more suitable.
Though I don’t know how the High Priest will get through this crisis.
I readily followed behind the Archduke.
* * *
Unlike how he had acted in front of the two people, the 2nd Prince left the room with unstable, loud footsteps.
‘No matter how I look at it, it’s amazing.’
Which side was acting?
In front of them? Or now?
Marcus was certain that neither was the 2nd Prince’s true nature.
‘If I had to choose, what he shows in front of us seems a bit closer to his real self.’
He chuckled and approached the three people looking at him.
The High Priest’s fingertips trembled at the appearance that was like a tiger approaching.
Of course, the half-demons didn’t seem particularly nervous.
“So. What were you two doing together?”
“…We were just about to adjourn when you entered.”
The High Priest, who had only seemed gentle and benevolent, now looked quite different.
“Oh. I see. Then that worked out well. It means you have time to answer me.”
“That’s not what I meant. I was saying I need to get up now because I have a scheduled guest.”
The old priest answered while wiping cold sweat with his dry hands.
Unlike the 2nd Prince, this one seemed to have no talent for acting at all.
‘Or maybe not.’
Considering his usual behavior, he might be the greatest actor of all.
“I thought you were too busy with work to have time. You’ve been actively engaged in external activities, High Priest.”
Marcus was treating the High Priest from the position of the Empire’s precious Sword Master, not as a member of the half-demon clan.
“His Majesty should certainly know about this devotion.”
As he clapped smugly, the elder, who had been lost in thought while looking at where the 2nd Prince had been standing, turned to look this way.
“There’s no need to share all the contents of our chat.”
“Chat.”
“No need to look at me like that. We were just having casual conversation about sacrifices.”
The elder wasn’t shaken by the Sword Master’s aura.
He was simply relaxed.
It wasn’t just him.
Though not an elder, the half-demon with quite high status within the clan as the elder’s direct subordinate was also grinning beside the elder.
“Sacrifices? I understand that temple sacrifices and half-demon sacrifices are completely different in nature.”
Marcus showed not a trace of agitation while looking at them.
He knew they were acting so boldly because they trusted in the binding curse, but he wasn’t young enough to show anger over that.
What was important now was finding out something while they were together.
‘And if possible, what they fed the 2nd Prince.’
Seeing him say it was bitter, one might dismiss it as really being alcohol, but the elder’s expression wasn’t like that.
That was clearly a testing expression.
No one knew that expression as well as Marcus did.
‘But testing what.’
Well, it seemed certain that his father and the 2nd Prince weren’t working together, but that wasn’t particularly fortunate either.
‘Since it means the excuse to deal with the 2nd Prince has disappeared.’
Anyway, he suppressed his usual intensity and listened to their excuses.
“Why, His Majesty doesn’t like such things. Heartwarming stories like longtime enemy noble families becoming close through political marriage, things like that.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“Tsk, so impatient. I’m saying that’s what we were discussing… Isn’t that right, High Priest?”
The High Priest, who had been trying to hide his nervous expression, flinched.
And he nodded his head vigorously several times while saying:
“That’s right. Yes. Sacrifices, yes, we said sacrifices… Our temple’s sacrifices don’t involve blood splatter, no, this isn’t…”
“Indeed. The temple’s way of handling sacrifices is extremely moderate. Unlike ours.”
The elder raised the corners of his mouth sinisterly in response to the High Priest’s slip of tongue due to panic. He had naturally cut off the conversation.
And he spoke to Marcus in an ecstatic tone:
“You know too, don’t you? Our sacrifices involve blood splatter. Just blood splatter. Flesh is crushed and mixed with the scent of chestnut blossoms…”
“Ugh.”
At his blatant retching gesture, both half-demons stopped abruptly. And they glared at Marcus without blinking.
As if they wanted to make Marcus their sacrifice if they could.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
