#23
“…There won’t be time to rest though.”
Skyle said while consciously trying not to give attention to Ersen’s direction.
“I’m glad there’s hope now.”
Everyone made subtle expressions at the word “hope,” but no one particularly objected.
As they said, the unique magic ‘Nullification’ was desperately needed by them.
The three of them didn’t yet know that Sercil was also one of those desperate people.
“I’ll clean up the ballroom on my way.”
“Please do.”
Theodore nodded, then led Marcus and Sercil away.
Skyle immediately began burning everything in that space with blazing flames.
Not with fire, but with light.
The magic that earned him the title of Great Mage of Light, ‘Light of Judgment,’ burned quietly and majestically until the Elder arrived, realizing the situation had gone wrong.
“What is this? Archduke, what’s happening?”
The Elder, who rarely showed panic, was trembling.
Skyle turned his head to check on him, then slowly drew a smile.
“Ah, come to think of it…”
Can I stop holding back now?
Once there’s a solution to the curse, there’s no reason to tolerate the half-demons anymore.
‘No wait, we still don’t know anything certain about the extent of that power.’
“…You were here. Elder.”
The Elder hesitated seeing the Archduke who appeared slightly abnormal.
He quickly examined the interior of the chamber, then looked through the window at the people in the hall who were enjoying the ball, unaware of this situation.
Everything except that small window had melted away in brilliant flame-shaped light.
Why did he suddenly do something so reckless?
Surely the curse…
“Ah, this. You were making unauthorized recordings. So stop.”
The Archduke muttered nonchalantly.
The leisure embedded in that languid voice made the Elder’s mind snap to attention.
There’s something.
‘Damn it.’
Skyle Rodias.
The last survivor of the Rodias Archducal family, renowned for their beauty, noble aristocratic spirit, and brilliant magical abilities.
‘Not being able to kill him when he was younger is now holding us back.’
It would have been good if he had obediently died by Eris’s hand back then, that day.
It’s only because they had him bound with the curse of a beast dominated by impulses, otherwise the half-demons would have already been pushed to the frontier or massacred.
However, there was one problem with that control tool.
“I’ve dealt with all those who made mistakes. But… come to think of it, Elder, you were their master, weren’t you?”
The Archduke, who had been resisting the curse to a degree that made you question if he was human, was sometimes untouchable when he let go of that resistance.
That wasn’t a gap created by giving up resistance, but a insane coordination using the curse’s explosive power to achieve his will.
‘That monster bastard…’
The Elder cursed inwardly as he watched the monster who tilted his head and muttered in an affectionate tone.
He should retreat now and find out what happened. With the curse involved, there should be nothing he couldn’t do.
It was a thought possible only because he didn’t know that the Archduke had burned away even the magical residue that could be read.
‘The High Priest ended up being discarded before I could even use him properly.’
Muttering to himself inwardly, the Elder put on a smile on his face that was about to contort.
“Well. If they were illegally recording the situation, they’re just criminals, aren’t they? Though it’s unrelated to me, I’ll make sure to warn my other subordinates. Don’t worry, Archduke.”
“Indeed. That’s behavior befitting a pillar of the empire.”
The Elder gritted his teeth then raised the corners of his mouth at the sight of him clapping once and freshly mocking his change of stance.
“That’s how it should be. We’re here thanks to the empire’s grace.”
“Your insight is also exceptional.”
“Haha.”
“I’ll trust you. Then please go.”
It was telling him to get lost instead of thinking about searching.
“…Yes. Then.”
The Elder couldn’t even ask about Ersen and the Crown Prince and quietly bowed his head.
* * *
As soon as I regained consciousness, I didn’t open my eyes and quickly turned my head.
‘I should have kept talking earlier. I said nonsense.’
The picture I wanted was specifically this:
2nd Prince Ersen wants to have the half-demons. Since those who are the adversaries of that clan would be helpful in obtaining that clan, he decided to propose a win-win deal.
Of course, those adversaries—no, the protagonists—wouldn’t fully believe the 2nd Prince’s purpose.
‘Well… considering that, I won’t take any actions to protect the half-demons.’
Like this time.
So after being suspicious, they would learn the 2nd Prince’s true intentions at the last moment.
‘That’s a treasure.’
The tool that could control not only the half-demon clan members but also all the curses.
It was because he knew where it was located.
In other words, it could be summarized as: he planned to obtain the gray treasure inside Eris’s corpse and use the half-demons as his tools.
‘Once that purpose is achieved, they’ll try to kill me, but there won’t be a need for that. Everyone.’
Because once I get the treasure, I immediately plan to deal with the hardliners, clean up most of the curses that harm people, and then die together with them.
This plan was possible because Ersen’s body was special.
The blood of the Mayer royal family, the only ones in this world who could handle unique magic, and the blood of half-demons.
Perhaps because the two bloods were mixed, Ersen’s body had bizarre aspects.
This body was, in a word, practically born to be a sacrifice.
From the half-demons’ perspective, it was a body that wouldn’t easily die no matter what damage it took, no matter what curse it became a medium for…
Of course, the side effects from absorbing that damage were quite troublesome…
‘But if used well, that’s also useful.’
Like how I delayed the poison’s effect using the injury I received in my stomach as a basis.
The problem is that sometimes, like this time, it has effects I didn’t expect.
‘Anyway.’
I’m not sure if what I said earlier can be digested as part of Ersen’s villainous image.
While turning my head and worrying about how to handle this, I heard the voice I’d heard before losing consciousness again.
“Your Highness. Are you awake?”
“…Ah, caught?”
I naturally raised the corners of my mouth, then spoke to the Archduke without opening my eyes.
“Archduke.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Could you say that again?”
“What?”
“That thing from earlier. ‘Are you awake?’ That.”
“…Your Highness.”
“No, I can’t help it. If I woke up and the Archduke said that, anyone would act like me, right?”
He didn’t speak for a moment, then said gently.
“Get up. Right now.”
“Yes sir.”
When I smiled mischievously and opened my eyes with a sparkle to look right up at him, the Archduke sighed shallowly with coldly sunken eyes.
‘He’s calmed down a bit.’
Hearing his voice, I could definitely tell that he had been somewhat swayed by the curse earlier.
‘He probably did it on purpose though.’
His curse was one that made all kinds of desires rampage at a beast’s level.
Since it was an environment where negative emotions like revenge were easy to explode, this curse should have been fatal to the Archduke.
But he had never once caused trouble by being swayed by it.
The reason was simple. Because he still had something to protect.
“I really like that about you, Archduke.”
“…What are you trying to say now?”
“Pure and beautiful… and foolish.”
Originally, fools are the strongest in the world.
It was a compliment, but the Archduke was looking at me with narrowed eyes.
It wasn’t the expression of someone who’d received a compliment.
I rolled my eyes around, then silently rolled my body to get to the bedside.
“Your Highness. Your wound!”
“Hm?”
Blood began to seep out and the bandages wrapped around me started to spread with redness as I stood up beside the bed with a thud.
‘Hmm. This isn’t my palace, is it?’
I thought at best they might not confine me to the Cold Palace.
It was a place I’d been to before my regression.
‘Crown Prince’s palace. What’s Theodore hyung doing here?’
This was the makeshift bedroom next to Crown Prince Theodore’s reception room.
I still don’t know why there’s a makeshift bedroom attached, but anyway, it was certain.
“It’s fine, it’s fine! More importantly, I can hear voices from over there…!”
“You mustn’t move hastily.”
“Hmm.”
And since he was trying to grab me, I ran away as is and went to where I’d been sensing presences.
“Everyone was here? How could this be. Were you waiting for me?”
“…Ersen.”
Stiff faces turned to look at me with wariness, suspicion, and a very, very small hope.
I smiled mysteriously and tilted my head slightly.
“This is exciting.”
* * *
Whoosh, a sigh was heard from behind.
“Is that so? Are you excited?”
“…Ahaha?”
When I laughed awkwardly and peeked up, lifting my head, I met eyes with the Archduke who was standing right behind me, watching silently.
“Is that not allowed?”
“No. It’s rather good that you’re not avoiding us.”
He answered with a slight smile.
I went “Hmm” and smiled mischievously before looking forward again. Marcus hyung was watching me sharply with languidly half-lowered eyes.
The chair he was sitting in with his legs crossed looked wider and more cushioned than the sofa in my reception room.
It wasn’t just his that was like that.
Perhaps because it was the Crown Prince’s reception room, it was splendid. Even though it wasn’t overdone.
“Avoiding? Why would I avoid you?”
I muttered and leisurely moved away from the Archduke.
I could feel the Archduke’s gaze following me.
The moment I was pretending to look around the splendid reception room while trying to read the subtle expressions of Sercil and Theodore hyung.
Marcus hyung called me coldly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
