What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 420

#420

Finding the Lost Piece (9)

Not a single day had passed since that day without me thinking about that old woman.

“······.”

Yet, strangely, I couldn’t recall the old woman’s face at all.

The more I thought about it, the more chilling it became.

I clearly remembered buying a pile of luscious apples from her.

Nominally, it was for the Second Princess Cornelisse, but in reality, it was to conceal the purchase of an Imperial dagger.

I also remembered that the old woman had given me a ragged robe as a thank you before leaving.

But that was it.

The surrounding circumstances were as vivid as if they had happened just yesterday, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall her appearance.

The attendants who had been there with me acted as if an entire corner of their minds had been erased.

It was as if they had been possessed by a ghost.

“Oh dear······. Do you think he can do it? Can that young coachman do it alone?”

“Shouldn’t we help? Huh?”

Amidst the small commotion, Werner stared at the old woman with trembling eyes.

She was looking at him as well.

He hadn’t remembered until now, but seeing her face, he could be certain.

It was her.

“Hey, I can do it alone. Just sit over there!”

“Young man!”

The old people who got off the mail coach numbered about a dozen.

Why they were riding in the cargo hold like luggage instead of taking a regular passenger coach was beyond the Crown Prince’s understanding.

Fortunately, no one needed his understanding.

The coachman, who had rolled up his sleeves despite the cold weather, began to strain as he braced against the carriage wheel that was deeply stuck in the mud.

Everyone’s eyes were on him, except for Werner.

The man bit his pale lips hard. He had a question for that old woman.

He already believed some of it himself without asking, but there was something he truly wanted to confirm. That day—

“Your Highness, let us go.”

However, Martier Zehlstrait didn’t even bat an eye.

Werner flinched and turned to look at her.

“We don’t have time to waste in a place like this. War is not a friend who waits for anyone.”

“······.”

“Let’s go.”

Martier commanded the horse in a curt tone.

The well-trained warhorse moved its hooves without hesitation.

Some of the old people looked at them with pleading eyes, but since the priest refused to help, the Crown Prince had no justification to approach them.

The man forced himself to compose his expression and turned the horse’s head.

However, he couldn’t avoid the old woman’s sticky, dark gaze clinging to his cheek.

He glanced back repeatedly.

A foul stench rose from the robe he had reluctantly put on.

It wasn’t a magical artifact, nor was it cloth coated with magic stone powder, yet it was a garment that wielded truly eerie sorcery.

Werner lowered his head, feigning ignorance of the goosebumps that had risen all over his body.

The face, scarred by tattoos, disappeared into the shadows of the hood.

-Clop, clop, clop······

Yes, this wasn’t a conversation to be had in a place like this. It was already in the past.

As he steadied himself and moved forward—

“That’s it, just a little more! Just a little! A little more!”

“Ugh······! Keuk!”

“Oh! Oh oh!”

‘Thump, crash!’ A loud crashing sound came from behind.

‘Click.’ Almost simultaneously, Martier stopped the horse and extended her arm. It was a signal to stop.

The Crown Prince frowned and pulled on the reins. The priest’s expression was unusual.

“Haa······.”

She took a deep breath and eventually turned back towards the mail coach.

She didn’t forget to leave a sharp warning for the man.

“Just watch without getting off. I will take care of it.”

“······.”

“It’s best not to think about running away. Trust my words.”

Now that he saw it, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to help them.

She was simply reluctant to add another variable to the important task of escorting Werner Venetian.

She had gritted her teeth and ignored what would have been a few minutes of kindness, but she was no match for the emaciated coachman and the group of powerless weaklings.

The priest, who had returned to the front of the carriage, dismounted from the horse with a thud.

Then the old people brightened up and flocked around her. The coachman also looked relieved.

“Oh my, young master! I knew you wouldn’t just leave!”

“You look strong and have a kind heart.”

“Thank you in advance, master. Thank you so much.”

“Please step aside for a moment. Oh dear······. Has the wheel come off completely? Is the axle alright?”

The priest clicked her tongue and quickly took off her robe.

The old people were filled with admiration at the sight of her thick, muscular arms.

Werner calmly gripped the reins and looked around at them.

Everyone was gathered around the front wheel of the sunken carriage, and only the old woman in question was standing behind the carriage.

Standing under the shade of a tree, she looked like a member of the shadows. Their eyes met again.

Small, murky gray eyes, wrinkled cheeks.

Lips smiling ominously. Skin as pale as a corpse. Empty gaze.

“······What on earth are you?”

The Crown Prince spat the words out between his teeth.

-Thud, thud, thud······

Then the old woman moved towards him.

For a moment, he had the illusion that darkness was spreading towards him.

Werner looked towards the people in great alarm.

But strangely, no one paid any attention to him.

Martier checked on him from time to time, but there was no change in her indifferent expression.

She didn’t seem to care about the old woman standing alone at all.

The Crown Prince’s intact hand and prosthetic hand trembled simultaneously. What a truly bizarre thing. It was as if······.

“I am one of the three.”

As if this person was only visible to his eyes.

“What······?”

‘One of the three’?

“The Main God is watching.”

The old woman continued. It was a strange voice.

The tattoo around Werner’s eyes distorted greatly.

An ominous wind wildly shook the hem of his robe. ‘Whoosh······!’

“······Me? Is she watching me?”

If he had heard this story in the capital, if he had encountered it at some salon or banquet—he would have dismissed it as just another piece of flattery and laughed it off.

Or, depending on his mood, he might have banished the speaker forever or sent them to a remote rural post.

But the person in front of him was no ordinary nobleman.

No, not an ordinary ‘person.’ He was certain of it.

“I know that you helped the Yeser Prince to be murdered. Aren’t you the one who gave me the robe that could hide my appearance and allowed me to pass through the labyrinth? All of my true experiences are recorded in writing.”

“······.”

“And that was God’s will?”

Werner had also been vaguely thinking about that.

Without the hand of God, it would have been difficult to understand the miracle of that time.

“Am I truly blessed by the Main God?”

Then the old woman grinned broadly.

The dark mouth he had seen through the window of the Borderland Temple that day revealed itself.

The Crown Prince felt cold sweat running down his spine and examined Martier’s expression.

She glanced at him as well, but her expression was indifferent.

She truly didn’t see anything, nor did she seem to hear anything.

The priest gritted her teeth and lifted the carriage with a jerk. ‘Wow!’

“Hang in there, young master. 30 seconds! Just hold on for 20 seconds!”

“Oh my, you’re working so hard······. My daughter is about the same age as you!”

The old people added their support one by one.

The coachman, who had crawled under the carriage, hurriedly fitted the parts together.

The Crown Prince hurriedly looked down at the old woman. The whisper was fast and sinister.

“If that was God’s will, how can rumors spread that the prince has been resurrected? The rumors are so unpleasant that I can’t sleep at night. The Empire’s propaganda is definitely false, isn’t it?”

“······.”

“Is the filthy bloodline definitely dead? Answer me quickly.”

‘Quickly!’ He gritted his teeth and urged her. The veins on his scarred neck stood out.

But the old woman’s eyes were always calm. Her skeletal jaw slowly opened.

“Do not worry. The Main God’s creation can never kill Your Highness······. Sneider will not fall until the Borderland Temple comes to the capital.”

“······.”

“You will become even more precious. The glory of the past cannot be compared.”

Those words took his breath away.

“Waaaaa!”

Flinch! The Crown Prince took a quick breath and raised his eyes.

The carriage, with its wheels neatly attached, had already escaped from the mud and was on solid ground.

The old people rejoiced like children and hugged the priest.

Happiness finally appeared on Martier’s cheeks.

Some of them took out fruits and cheeses from their baskets and stuffed them into her arms.

She shook her hands, saying there was no need, but of course, no one listened.

The delighted old guests flocked to Werner.

The priest and the Crown Prince’s expressions hardened at once.

“Um, are you with him? Master, please have some of this too. My son-in-law picked these apples himself and sent them.”

“This is pomegranate! This is citron! Take it home and wash it clean in water with vinegar······.”

“Oh my, you must have servants. Why are you rambling on and on!”

But despite their wariness for their own reasons, the old people were only friendly to him.

Werner inadvertently grabbed an apple.

He didn’t want to touch anything dirty, but he didn’t have the mental capacity to fuss over the details right now.

It was because of the old woman in question. He unconsciously looked down at his grip.

And then he froze.

‘It’s a trap. Run away.

-W. A.’

On the surface of the blood-red apple, he saw letters engraved in dark blue ink.

The prosthetic hand holding the fruit began to tremble in shock.

Wilhelmina Abraham. ‘W. A.’ were his sister’s initials, excluding her last name.

The man quickly raised his head and looked around.

But there were only innocent-looking old people around.

If he suspected, he could suspect everyone, and if he didn’t think so, no one seemed like a culprit.

The man clenched his jaw and looked for the old woman from before.

“Ha······.”

But there was no one there.

Only a few fallen leaves were rolling across the dirt floor, where no footprints remained.

In an instant, the Crown Prince’s hand lost its strength. Everything happened in an instant.

-Thud!

“Oh my, you dropped your apple!”

“Let me wipe it clean for you, wipe it clean. Here.”

“That’s enough. I’ll be on my way now.”

The priest, confirming that he hadn’t received anything, cut off the conversation appropriately.

Among the group of old people, the apple had already been polished until it shone.

In an instant, no evidence remained. Werner finally had a thunderous realization.

The moist eyelashes began to flutter.

It was terrifying.

“Thank you so much, Priest. I won’t forget your kindness in helping us. I never expected the wheel to come off completely······.”

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry I couldn’t help sooner. Then I have urgent business, so I’ll leave first.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Take care, young master!”

······Come to think of it, the more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

He hadn’t thought deeply about it at the time because of his fear of death, but now that he looked back, it felt very suspicious.

Sneaking into his bedroom in the middle of the night and attempting murder using a servant he saw every day was definitely not his sister’s way.

She used much more subtle and inconspicuous methods than this.

How could that priest have broken into his room at such an opportune moment? And the head servant?

“Let’s go. We need to cross that hill over there before the moon rises.”

“······.”

Perhaps, did they already know?

“Your Highness. Is something wrong?”

If his sister was warning him in this way, it must have been because there was no other way.

Then is this the Crown Princess’s trap?

Is she trying to drive a wedge between her aunt and father in this way? That child······.

Did that child finally go crazy after losing one of her lowly relatives?

“Your Highness.”

Like her mother?

“Your Highness!”

Flash! Werner snapped out of his thoughts and looked ahead.

The priest, already on horseback, was frowning at him.

Although it was a very small call, he was concerned, and his gaze kept returning to the mail coach, looking serious.

Werner thought it was truly ridiculous, even as he sweated coldly.

After all, didn’t they already know his identity?

“······I’ve been riding since dawn, so I have no energy.”

Finally, the Crown Prince spoke in a very frail voice.

It was a tone that would sound pitiful to anyone’s ears.

“I’m so tired and hungry that I almost ate their fruit.”

“······.”

“If you’re okay with it, I’d like to stay at the foot of the hill today. I’m slowly getting phantom pains in my arms and legs.”

“······.”

Martier stared at him for a long time. Really, for a very long time.

Eventually, the carriage carrying the old people departed first, and they waited until it was very far away and even the sound of hooves could no longer be heard.

“······I’ll go find a place to camp.”

Finally, a satisfactory answer came back.

Werner smiled almost imperceptibly.

And once again, several days in the military camp passed without incident.

Of course, volunteering at the relief center didn’t make him think this place was ‘peaceful’······.

“Urgent news! Urgent news! Urgent news!”

What a surprise!

-Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter!

The sound of hooves rang right in my ear.

I was startled and ran out of the tent while preparing François’s medicine.

Knights with red flags stuck in their backs were quickly riding their horses towards the highest-ranking person’s tent.

The crowd that was passing by was surprised and retreated in droves.