There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 180

For a moment, a faint rustling disturbed the quiet darkness.

‘Could it be Dale or the escort knights?’ Eustis wondered.

But they knew how sensitive the Prince was to such matters, so they were always as careful as possible.

Even if something urgent needed discussing in the middle of the night, they usually spoke from a distance to avoid waking Eustis, and they would never recklessly enter his room.

‘Or maybe a hotel employee? Surely not. It can’t be,’ he thought.

A thief trying to steal valuables seemed more plausible.

Even in this situation, Eustis suppressed the urge to grasp at hopeful explanations.

The intruder in his room was an assassin, aiming for his life.

“Ugh.”

As soon as he reached this conclusion, the boy pretended to be asleep, tossing and turning convincingly.

His body stiffened as he quickly reached under the pillow.

It wasn’t there. He couldn’t find the self-defense dagger he always kept under the pillow.

He realized he’d forgotten his nightly routine of checking for the dagger before falling asleep.

He had been living in fear of death every night, but tonight, he’d been distracted by the magician’s words from the VIP room.

‘How could I be so foolish?’ he berated himself. The peaceful days had made him careless.

He knew it was more dangerous outside the Imperial Palace, but once he was away from the contemptuous gazes, his guard had dropped.

Without the dagger, he had no way to protect himself.

However, he couldn’t just wait for the intruder to kill him.

Realizing this, Eustis clenched his trembling fist and counted to five in his mind.

The presence felt clearer, as if it were right in front of him.

Thump! He leaped from the bed and shoved the assassin with all his might.

“Argh!”

He bit down on what felt like an arm as it grabbed him, and a scream echoed in the room.

Fortunately, he broke free and reached the door without further resistance.

But as he ran out of the room, he saw someone lying on the floor in the dimly lit hallway.

It was one of the escort knights assigned to protect him, the Seventh Prince, without a doubt.

In that brief moment, Eustis had to make a critical decision.

Any hesitation would mean capture by the assassin.

Which path offered the greatest chance of survival?

An answer flashed in his mind.

Following his intuition, Eustis ran down the hallway to a room.

The most luxurious VIP room. The room he had yielded to someone else, where the person he needed most was staying.

The door, which he expected to be locked, opened easily.

It seemed the lock hadn’t been engaged.

“Hey!”

Eustis shouted at the top of his lungs to wake the sleeping man, but quickly realized it was unnecessary.

“There! Don’t step on it!”

The man, already wide awake, yelled at the boy.

Eustis stopped and looked down.

On the floor was a red geometric figure resembling a magic circle.

The man rushed over with a brush and examined the circle.

“Ah! It’s a mess!”

It seemed the magic circle was his work.

“Damn it, this part is especially annoying… Hey, kid. How are you going to compensate me for this?”

Ignoring the question of whether it was acceptable to paint in a hotel room, Eustis spoke to the grumbling man.

“I’ll give you whatever you want if it’s money. Just do me a favor.”

“What?”

“Protect me. I’m being threatened by an assassin.”

The man raised an eyebrow.

“This brat, I’m telling you to compensate me. What are you talking about? Fine. I’ll forgive you this once, so get out.”

“I said I’ll give you money!”

“I probably have more money than you do.”

Eustis struggled to avoid being kicked out, and the man tried to drag him away.

‘Was this a mistake?’ He was regretting his decision to seek help from this thug when it happened.

“Your Highness!”

It was Dale’s voice. He appeared in the VIP room with another escort knight.

“Dale…”

“You were here? I was so surprised when you weren’t in your room.”

“Did you go to my room?”

“Yes, I heard a loud noise a little while ago, so I ran over.”

He checked Eustis’s condition and sighed in relief.

“Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe. What on earth happened?”

“An intruder broke in.”

Dale’s expression didn’t change. He had probably guessed the situation after finding the escort lying in front of the room.

“He’s dead. It seems he was stabbed in a vital spot with something like a sword.”

Seeing the amount of blood on the floor, Eustis knew the knight was dead. It didn’t feel good to have his death confirmed.

“…By the way, did you run into anyone suspicious on your way here?”

“No. When I went to Your Highness’s room, there was no one there. This was the only person I encountered in the hallway.”

The escort knight spoke up.

“I also woke up from a scream and was looking outside. I didn’t see any intruders either.”

Just in case, Eustis, Dale, and the escort knight searched the hallway and Eustis’s room again.

They searched Dale’s room, the escort knights’ rooms, and even Ronald’s room, where he was sound asleep despite the commotion, but they found no sign of the assassin.

After nearly half an hour, they concluded that the assassin had already left the hotel.

“There’s still a possibility he’s hiding inside the hotel,” Dale added.

“Even if he’s in the hotel, he probably hasn’t left the city yet. Should I meet the mayor right now, reveal Your Highness’s identity, and issue a search warrant?”

Eustis hesitated, then shook his head.

“No, if this gets out, the Imperial Palace will call me back. I can’t let this stop me from going to Orletta County.”

Assassination attempts had happened before.

Even if they caught the assassin, he probably wouldn’t reveal the mastermind, and even if he did, Eustis couldn’t do anything about the Crown Prince’s forces.

Meeting Count Orletta and gaining his protection was the priority.

“Prepare to leave quickly.”

There was no time to waste.

“Even if we have to take a big detour, we must leave for Orletta County right away.”

“Yes!”

They agreed with Eustis’s plan.

After the escort knight left to collect his colleague’s body, Eustis discussed further matters with Dale.

“What should we do with Ronald? He still can’t move on his own.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t care for a patient on the road. We’ll leave him here. Give him some money. He can return to the Imperial Palace later or follow us on his own.”

“Yes, I understand. I’ll prepare an outfit for going out, so please prepare to leave, Your Highness.”

“Okay.”

Eustis stopped following Dale.

“There’s one thing I need to do before I leave.”

“Yes?”

“Wait a moment, it won’t take long.”

He headed to the VIP room.

The man was drawing a magic circle on the floor, oblivious to the assassination attempt and the death of the knight.

He had learned that Eustis was a prince, but showed no interest.

Eustis was curious about him.

“Hey.”

“…”

“Hey, magician!”

The man looked up.

“What, it’s you again? What is it this time?”

“What did you mean yesterday afternoon?”

“What words? What did I say?”

“I told you not to cause trouble, and you said you wanted to say that to me instead.”

“Ah, right. I did.”

“What does it mean? When have I ever caused trouble?”

He would probably never see this person again, so Eustis wanted to understand.

“Ah, that wasn’t about not causing trouble.”

“Then?”

“I wanted to return the words you said after that.”

He thought back. Yesterday, he had said…

“Instead of just causing trouble to others, why don’t you live with a little consideration for those around you?”

“That’s right.”

The man put down his brush and whispered in Eustis’s ear.

“The enemy is near you.”