Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 330

330.

“Huh?”

Asel and Raon Hwizen’s party, having arrived in front of the Emperor’s tent, encountered an unexpected figure. It was Alisa. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed to have just arrived. Asel quickly spoke up, taking the place of the flustered Raon Hwizen.

“Alisa, you’re here too?”

“Ah, yes. Isana called me. We just parted ways a little while ago, but she said there was something urgent to discuss again. Asel, what about you?”

“We were summoned by His Majesty as well.”

“I see.”

*Could she also have been told to leave the front lines?* Asel was a little puzzled since that was the only reason he could think of for gathering them all together. Alisa had already expressed her intention to participate in the war several times. Knowing Isana’s personality, he didn’t think she would try to dissuade her again.

First, they announced their arrival to the Emperor’s knights. They said the Emperor was resting alone inside the tent. But as soon as they went inside, something bewildering happened. Isana, who was sitting on a chair reading, looked up and rose with a surprised expression as they entered.

“Alisa? Even Asel and the Crown Prince’s party… What’s going on, everyone?”

“Yes? We heard that Your Majesty summoned us.”

“I summoned you? I never did.”

“……!”

The realization hit quickly. The puzzled atmosphere froze in an instant. The knights guarding the surroundings, as well as the Crown Prince’s attendants, immediately became alert. Isana turned to look at Alisa with a stiff face. Alisa’s face was pale.

“Alisa, where’s Sibel, Brother?”

“Huh? Ah, s-sorry. Sibel said he felt a strange energy and went back to check it out for a moment. I just thought he’d be right back…”

That meant she had come out alone again. Moreover, a strange energy. Isana clenched her fist tightly, trying not to show her dismay. If the unicorn, Sibelius, had sensed something, it must be a bad sign. Alisa’s face became tearful.

“Oh, what should I do, Isana? I feel something very scary right now.”

“It’s okay, Alisa. Nothing will happen. Kay! Are you outside!”

After quickly comforting the trembling Alisa, Isana shouted outside. But unlike other times, there was no immediate response from Kay, the head of the Imperial Guard, who should have answered immediately. It felt as if they were completely cut off from the outside, a strange feeling of being pushed out of the boundary.

“We’ve been caught properly.”

Raon Hwizen muttered, defeated. At that moment, something fell to their feet with a thud. It was a small, fist-sized black bead. White smoke soon began to seep out of the rolling bead and spread thickly.

“Ha.”

There was no time to summon a spirit. By the time they realized the situation, their vision was already at the floor. They barely realized that they had fallen. Feeling his consciousness fading quickly, Isana swallowed a hollow laugh. This time, he couldn’t help but admit his mistake. It was just as Raon Hwizen had said. They were trapped. In the Emperor’s tent. In the very place that was most safely guarded.

Numerous thoughts flooded in for a short time, but they didn’t last long. He couldn’t resist even though he felt something approaching. He soon fell into a deep, dark slumber.

* * *

The incident of searching for the magical energy ended as a simple accidental event. A ritual to summon ghosts was playfully popular among the children living in a nearby village, and real magic was mixed in with it. Sibelius, who roughly cleaned up the situation and returned to the camp, sighed after confirming that no one was inside. It was long past night, and the surroundings were very dark. There weren’t many places Alisa could go alone at this hour. Without much hesitation, he headed to Isana’s tent. The Imperial Knights guarding the front recognized him and saluted.

“Alisa is inside.”

“Ah, I see.”

He had told her so many times not to go around alone. Perhaps because of the successive victories, Alisa had been overly careless recently. Sibelius clicked his tongue quietly, repeatedly vowing to give her a stern warning this time.

“Crown Prince Carters’ party and Asel are also having an audience with His Majesty together.”

“Is that so?”

*Did Isana call everyone?* Thinking nothing more of it, Sibelius stepped toward the tent. But the moment he tried to lift the thick canopy, his face froze.

“…What is this.”

“What’s wrong, Sibelius?”

Kay, the head of the Imperial Guard, who sensed the serious atmosphere, approached immediately. As the knights’ atmosphere changed, the air became rapidly tense. Instead of explaining, Sibelius took out a piece of paper with magical writing on it from his arms.

“Verus. Illumin. Spao.”

The paper on his palm emitted a blue light and burned quickly. Sibelius clenched it as it was.

“Collapse (潰)!” [Destruction]

Crack! At that moment, a sound like something breaking was heard. It sounded like thin glass shattering. Since nothing was actually broken, the knights were bewildered, not knowing what was going on. But Sibelius knew exactly what the sound was. It was proof that the formation dominating the camp had been broken. He lifted the canopy with a cold face. Then, as if waiting, white smoke began to pour out from the inside. The faces of the watching knights hardened even more.

“What is this…”

“Don’t breathe. It’s an anesthetic fragrance.”

At the ensuing warning, the knights hurriedly covered their noses and mouths. Leaving them behind, Sibelius strode inside. In the space filled with thick smoke, he could see figures lying here and there. But the people he was looking for were not among them. Isana and Alisa, as well as the Crown Prince and Asel, were nowhere to be seen. The magical energy filling the room was familiar. It was the same energy as the real magic mixed in with the village children’s prank. Only then did Sibelius realize that he had been caught in a trap. *Damn it,* curses welled up unbidden.

“Sibelius.”

Kay, the head of the Imperial Guard, called in a stiff voice from behind. He, too, had grasped the situation, and his face was pale.

“The kids have been kidnapped. Judging by the method, it seems there’s a sorcerer involved.”

“…Can you tell which direction they’re in?”

“Wait.”

Fortunately, he had prepared something for times like this. Sibelius took out a blank piece of paper and cut his finger. “Verus. Illumin.” As he began to chant, blue letters began to appear on the empty space.

“Trace (跡).” [Track]

As the final command was uttered, the paper fluttered and soared as if it were alive. Then, after hovering in the air for a moment, it flew quickly out of the camp. Sibelius moved his gaze along the trajectory and said.

“It will lead to Alisa. Chase after it.”

* * *

He woke up feeling his body shaking. When he opened his eyes, his vision was blurry. At first, he couldn’t figure out what was going on. But the fact that his arms and legs didn’t move and the sensation of the hard floor gradually made him aware of his surroundings. Isana blinked a few times and slowly sorted out his thoughts. The last situation before he lost consciousness came to mind relatively quickly. A black bead fell from above, white smoke spread out from it, and he had no memory after that. He soon realized that he had been kidnapped. The space he was in was rattling all over, and the sound of horses’ hooves was all around. He seemed to be carried away in something like a carriage.

*How far have we gotten from the camp? Did the Imperial Guard outside realize the situation?*

As he grasped the situation, his head became surprisingly clear. He was puzzled that they were only kidnapping them without killing them, but he was glad that he was alive for whatever reason. As long as he was alive, he could turn the situation around at any time. Of course, the situation wasn’t flowing in his favor. Isana glanced down to check. His body had felt heavy since earlier, and a bracelet that controlled mana was fastened to his wrist. That fact meant only one thing.

*They know I’m a spiritist.*

The only one who would guess the fact that he hadn’t revealed to the outside world yet would be the Grand Duke. It became even more certain that it was his doing. Isana first calmly looked around. When he raised his head and turned his gaze, he could see other figures lying nearby. Closest to him was Crown Prince Raon Hwizen, and beyond him, he could also see Alisa and Asel. It was an operation that was carried out after deliberately gathering everyone together. He hadn’t thought he would be kidnapped alone, but it wasn’t a situation to be happy that his prediction was correct, so his mouth tasted bitter.

Raon Hwizen and Alisa also had mana-controlling seals on them. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be fine. After relieving some of his worries, another question took over his mind. In the case of the Crown Prince, he could understand to some extent that he was targeted since he had a history of trying to eliminate him. However, he couldn’t figure out why Asel was brought along. It didn’t seem like they brought everyone who was there, since the Crown Prince’s attendants weren’t visible. Moreover, the fact that Asel visited him meant that he was also summoned. It was clear that it was an operation that included him from the beginning. He thought it was probably the same reason as kidnapping them without killing them.

At that time, a dull sound was heard, and cold air came in. It was the sound of a small window above the carriage opening. Isana raised his head and made eye contact with the eyes that were glancing inside.

“Oh, you’re already awake.”

A voice with a smile chuckled.

“Amazing. I heard you were resistant to the anesthetic fragrance, so I used it quite strongly. I never thought you’d come to your senses so quickly. The others probably won’t wake up for quite a while.”

“…What are you thinking?”

Isana asked in a subdued voice. It was a question asking why they were kidnapping everyone without assassinating them. The other person also realized the meaning. The eyes that were looking down widened greatly.

“The Grand Duke wanted to end this civil war in a more rational way.”

“A rational way?”

“It’s no fun if His Majesty just dies and it ends. The Grand Duke is currently gathering special ability users these days. A spiritist and a magician are qualified enough. Moreover, the bloodline of a unicorn. Such rare blood is not easy to obtain.”

The wide eyes convulsed. Isana clenched his fist tightly with a stiff face. He couldn’t not know what the words he had just heard meant. It was an evil act that he had heard countless times and even witnessed with his own eyes. Just recently, a precious friend had been enraged because of it.

A sacrifice.

It meant that they would offer themselves to that ugly ritual to complete the evil god.

“Uncle, how low are you planning to sink?”

A sigh he couldn’t bring himself to utter churned within his chest. The eyes outside the window, thinking he was frightened, grew smug.

“Anyway, you should get some more sleep. It’ll be a while before we arrive. I’ll leave the window open. It’ll be the last night sky His Majesty sees while alive.”

The mocking laughter echoed loudly but didn’t register at all. Isana simply took a deep breath and showed no reaction. Finding it uninteresting, the mocker’s presence soon faded away.

“What did that guy just say?”

It was after hearing the low voice that he regained his senses. Turning his gaze, Isana found the man staring at him. It was Raon Hwizen, who had regained consciousness.

“You woke up early, Crown Prince. They said you’d be asleep for much longer.”

“I have some resistance to anesthetic. I didn’t expect His Majesty to regain consciousness faster than me, though.”

“Ah, well, I’m resistant to most poisons, you see.”

“It seems even the sole heir receives resistance training.”

At the lukewarm reply, Isana simply shrugged. Raon Hwizen, already in a bad mood from just waking up from anesthesia, frowned at the insincere reaction. But there was a more unpleasant issue than that right now. Raising his bound hands, he checked the seal cuffs and sighed. He tried to force it open, but the solid object wouldn’t break. Seeing him not giving up, Isana quietly advised.

“Trying to break it by force will only injure your skin. It’s best not to act recklessly.”

“So, you’re saying we should just stay still like this? You’ve grown up so carefree that you seem to think someone will come to help us. But unfortunately, Your Majesty, reality doesn’t unfold so easily.”

“Unfold easily, huh…….”

“Answer my question from earlier. What does it mean that the Grand Duke is gathering special ability users? I trust you won’t pretend not to know now. Your Majesty clearly knows what it means.”

A strange gaze passed between them, and then Isana sighed slightly. Raon Hwizen was right. Having been kidnapped together and hearing the suspicious explanation, there was no way to avoid suspicion no matter how he tried to gloss over it. The Crown Prince, who already had many complaints about him, wouldn’t let it slide. Now that the situation had come to this, he decided that hiding it would only worsen things.

“The Grand Duke is using dark magic.”

“……! Dark magic?”

“I heard it’s a magic that creates an evil god by offering human hearts as sacrifices. They’re taking us as sacrifices to use in that magic.”

Raon Hwizen opened his mouth blankly. He himself couldn’t tell what kind of expression he was making. He had expected a serious situation, but this was far beyond his imagination.

“Is that really true?”

“If I were going to lie, I would have made up something more plausible, not a ridiculous story like this.”

“It’s the truth then.”

Certainly, no one would easily believe this story. It was so unrealistic that it was determined to be true. Raon Hwizen recalled the image of Grand Duke Yukarte he had met when he first came here. He didn’t feel like getting close, but overall, he had a fairly upright impression. The fact that he was plotting such terrible things behind that decent face was chilling. After wiping the cold sweat from his face with both hands, Raon Hwizen muttered with a sigh.

“Emperor Kyle made a huge mistake. I knew it. Unlike him, he left behind such loose ends, and this is what happened. As per his usual philosophy, he should have crushed his political enemies down to their roots.”

“……You speak as if you know the late Emperor well.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. I can confidently say that I am the one who understands Emperor Kyle better than anyone else.”

“Are you saying that you understand the late Emperor better than I, his son, do?”

“Sometimes, there are bonds stronger than blood.”

“Bonds, huh.”

“Your Majesty, who has lived peacefully as the sole heir, will never know this feeling. Do you know what it’s like to suspect the food you eat every day and not be able to drink a single drop of water carelessly? What it’s like to see your so-called brothers greedily spying on you, hoping for you to make even the slightest mistake? Of course, you wouldn’t know what it’s like when their relatives insult you in public. You wouldn’t have experienced your own people betraying you overnight or being spies from the beginning.”

“……You’ve experienced all of that, Crown Prince?”

“Does it not seem like it? I experienced it just a moment ago.”

“……?”

“The fact that Asel is of unicorn blood was something he had been claiming but had never been acknowledged until now. But just now, that guy referred to Asel as being of unicorn blood as if it were obvious.”

Isana, who had been looking at him with a puzzled expression, slowly hardened his face. Acknowledging that he was of unicorn blood right away meant that he already knew the evidence. He had probably seen the scene where Sibelius had turned back into a unicorn, or he had obtained testimony from someone who had witnessed it. But at the time, only the Emperor’s Imperial Guard and the Crown Prince’s party were present.

The Imperial Guard were all people who had risked their lives to protect Isana. There was no way there could be a spy among them. He was certain of that. In the end, it meant that someone from the Crown Prince’s party had passed on the information. Seeing his sinking face, Raon Hwizen gave a twisted smile.

“Do you understand now? I have never been able to trust anyone easily in my life. Emperor Kyle probably felt the same way. That’s why he didn’t want his son to walk the same path.”

Isana quietly stared at Raon Hwizen. He stared intently at the face that seemed to be crying and laughing, at the eyes filled with the shock of betrayal. At first, he only saw the Crown Prince, but before he knew it, the image of the late Emperor overlapped on top of him. The late Emperor in his childhood, whom he had never seen. That figure was stained with anger and betrayal, covered in wounds. The face trapped in despair looked straight at him with a sad expression.

“Your Majesty, you have no idea how much privilege you have enjoyed in your life.”

The voice he had heard sometime in the past overlapped in the trembling voice. Isana took a deep breath. When he conveyed those words while wearing a face soaked in regret and sorrow, he was convinced that he was on the right path. So, he thought so too. But that wasn’t all right. Once he acknowledged what had been making him suffer all along, he felt relieved. Then, he was able to accept even the things he couldn’t understand.

“……Yes. I am definitely walking a different path. But I don’t think that’s entirely true either.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“For example, you asked me earlier if I had received resistance training. No, as the Crown Prince said, I am the sole heir, so I have never received separate training for poison. The late Emperor forbade it on purpose—to emphasize the position of a strong heir in a safe place.”

“Then having resistance means…….”

“It built up on its own.”

Raon Hwizen showed bewilderment at the calm answer. The situation in which resistance to poison could build up on its own was obvious. It meant that he had been poisoned frequently. Seeing the honest reaction, Isana chuckled.

“Is it surprising? Did you think the sole heir wouldn’t be threatened by assassination? Of course, that’s how it seemed on the surface. But you can tell from my current situation. Does the Crown Prince think that the civil war in this empire started suddenly one day? Is the Grand Duke the only one involved in this outcome?”

“…….”

“Being the sole successor is the same as being the sole target. The late Emperor was young, and the Empress’s seat was vacant. The nobles were always dissatisfied with the fact that the late Emperor was relying only on one young son. Many thought he was still attached to the offspring of the Empress who died early. Do you think there was no force thinking, ‘If only that prince would die’?”

Again, Raon Hwizen couldn’t say anything. Such information was not included in the information he had bought with a large sum of money. Emperor Isana was the sole heir who had grown up in a blessed environment since birth, receiving the unwavering love of the late Emperor and those around him. The suffocating power struggles of the imperial concubines, the envy of all the brothers, and the checks of their related families were all unrelated to him. The threat of assassination that infiltrated from time to time was, of course, unrelated.

“I’ve said something similar before. No one has an easy life, Crown Prince. Anyone can decide to harbor hatred in their heart. Wouldn’t there have been lives that seemed easier than mine to me?”

“……That’s…….”

“But my path is different from the late Emperor’s. It has to be different because I chose a different path from him.”

“……!”

“I won’t get caught up in self-pity and miss something more precious than that. Rather than dwelling on the unfortunate elements and becoming more unhappy than anyone else, I will find the happy parts and become happier than anyone else. I have no intention of letting the people who hate me ruin my life.”

Raon Hwizen’s expression wavered greatly. It was just empty boasting that he could dismiss with a sneer, but somehow he couldn’t. The moment he heard those words, his whole body from head to toe trembled. The weight that had been pressing down on him until now seemed to lighten in an instant. Unable to understand the source of that strange sense of liberation, Raon Hwizen unknowingly bit his lip.

“Well, even so, we have to solve this difficult situation first.”

Isana, who sighed lightly, raised his bound arm. While realizing the bleak reality, the atmosphere, which had been tense, was rather relaxed. Raon Hwizen, who had been hesitating, glanced around and found the object restraining his hand.

“……Is Your Majesty also wearing mana seal cuffs?”

“Yes, as you can see.”

“That’s strange. Your Majesty is not a special ability user. Why would they put something like this on you?”

“Ah.”

The returning answer was subtle. Raon Hwizen, who had asked without thinking, narrowed his brow at the reaction. Suddenly, the first time he had encountered him came to mind—the Emperor’s figure, who had appeared like a mirage with a huge and splendid water wolf.

“Could it be…….”

Thud! At that moment, the carriage carrying them shook violently. Along with the loud screams of the horse, the sound of swords being drawn erupted from all sides. “W, who is it!” Before the terrified cry could continue for long, the sound of someone’s breath being cut off followed. Had the pursuit team already arrived? Isana and Raon Hwizen reflexively looked at each other. There was no other way to explain this situation right now.

The surroundings, which had been noisy for a while, soon became as quiet as a mouse. The next moment, the doorknob of the carriage moved, and soon the door itself fell off completely. Surprised by the tremendous force, Isana and Raon Hwizen stepped back in tension. Then, the one who was entering lightly clicked his tongue.

“You’re a mess.”

“……!”

The moonlight illuminated the figure that had been invisible due to the deep shadows. Beneath the brilliant silver light, well-groomed hair began to slowly reveal itself. Beyond the elegant and clean facial lines, gorgeous features that did not seem to belong to this world also appeared. It was an intense impression that would not be forgotten once seen, but that was why it was an existence that he had never thought he would meet in this place. Isana, who had been stunned, opened his mouth with a groan.

“……Eluien… nim [a respectful title]?”