What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 162

#162 Love and Staff Don’t Get Tangled (2)

“Wow…”

I mumbled unconsciously and quickly shut my mouth.

My heart was pounding like a freshly caught flounder, but the Prophet’s cyan eyes didn’t waver.

It meant he wasn’t just saying things randomly.

Sir Johan, who had been standing silently behind me, stepped forward.

His voice was terribly subdued.

“Commander, I understand you’re wary of His Highness, but I can’t tolerate disrespect. Does the Fleur de Lys receive such treatment as royalty in Liester?”

-Whoosh!

The wind howled sharply, wildly shaking the young Prophet’s hair and clothes.

Bakari stared at me without batting an eye, despite the Holy Knight’s blatant threat.

Slash! A sharp sound and a thin cut appeared on the little boy’s cheek.

I was startled and tried to stop Sir Johan.

“Sir Johan, please don’t hurt him.”

“I apologize, Your Highness. I made a mistake.”

He immediately stepped back, his eyes curving in a smile.

Can a Cardinal-level Holy Knight also have lapses in controlling his strength…?

A strange question arose, but I nodded and opened a healing circle.

Woo-oong! The Commander frowned at the resonance of the sky-blue ether [magical energy].

“It’s not necessary. I don’t foresee things to receive favors.”

“I’m not doing this as a favor either. A friend made a mistake, so I’m trying to take responsibility.”

“…”

The little guy quieted down after I replied like that.

The wound was shallow, but drops of blood were clearly forming.

The words I had heard a little while ago kept echoing in my ears.

I carefully asked, watching the blue ether particles gather on his youthful face.

“You can see Sir Sarnese’s fate before your eyes?”

“…Yes. He is precious now, but he will become even more precious in the future.”

“You see well. You’re amazing.”

I answered as if possessed. The lines around his eyes under the round glasses crumpled.

“This is not something to be happy about. It’s not like that when Your Highness is around. Your Highness is an existence that distorts all prophecies.”

“…”

So that’s why he was glaring at me like that. Because the future is uncertain.

Hmm, ambiguous.

“That’s why I told you to know your place. I have a duty to warn the person involved.”

It might sound strange and scary to others, but I could accurately understand Bakari’s meaning.

The ‘stranger’ here was only me.

It was almost inevitable that an existence from outside the work would change the fate of the characters.

Besides, I didn’t know the details of ‘The Great War’.

I was doing my best to connect the main characters, but there was a limit because I couldn’t force them to do something they didn’t want to do right away.

In the meantime, if an unexpected event occurred, I would definitely get involved.

Even if I wanted to ignore it, I couldn’t help it because it often involved the elderly or animals.

Probably anyone else would have acted like me.

“Bakari.”

Then this kid… Could it be that the original story is visible in the form of prophecy?

And the accuracy is decreasing because of me, who doesn’t belong in the novel?

“Excuse me, I have a favor to ask.”

“I am not in a position to take requests.”

“I know. But it’s because you have such… great abilities.”

If it’s the kind of special ability I’m thinking of. I swallowed the rest of the words.

Then the teenager’s gaze flickered slightly.

“If it’s not too difficult, could you let me know when there’s an important prophecy involving Sir Sarnese or the Crown Prince?”

“…”

Only after saying it did I realize that this was an unreasonable request.

Because prophecy was a kind of personal information.

Although the accuracy wasn’t 100%, it was still knowledge containing someone’s future, so it couldn’t be provided to a third party.

The Commander’s face was hardening. I immediately corrected myself.

“I’m not asking you to tell me everything as if you were reporting to His Majesty. Of course, I’m not asking to hear all the prophecies either. Just as a friend of the two… I just want to help if there’s anything that puts them in danger. And as you said, I also want to step back when I need to.”

“If the two of them want it.”

Sir Johan blurted out. I smiled bitterly and nodded.

Before I knew it, the Commander’s cheek had healed completely.

The circle that had finished its work began to fade slowly. I added.

“If it’s uncomfortable, I won’t ask anymore.”

“…Your Highness can’t force me anyway. I am His Majesty the Emperor’s magical tool.”

Bakari replied quietly.

While I was thinking, ‘Yeah, how could I get that kind of information carelessly,’ my heart sank.

Did he just call himself a magical tool?

“I’m sorry if you felt like you were being treated like a tool. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I apologize.”

“…”

I said sincerely, but the Commander bit his lip silently and paid his respects to me.

Then he strode back to the carriage he had arrived in.

I heard someone say, ‘Young master, are you acquainted with that precious prince?’

Clack! The door closed and the horses pawed the ground.

I reflected as I watched the carriage disappear into the depths of the lord’s castle.

“…I misspoke. I’ll be thoroughly hated.”

If my presence makes the prophecies uncertain, he wouldn’t have good feelings about me.

I thought I must have earned more animosity with the conversation just now.

If I were the protagonist of any web novel, I would have used the other person wonderfully, no matter who they were, but I’m not the protagonist and this is reality for me.

It was hard to act shamelessly towards someone who called themselves a tool.

“Well, I have a slightly different opinion, Your Highness.”

Then a gentle voice said soothingly.

The Holy Stone orb had already turned to dust in Sir Johan’s fist.

He broke it before I even did anything.

“The Commander will fall soon too. It’ll be three months.”

“Fall where?”

Instead of answering my question, he smiled brightly and gestured towards the inside of the castle tower.

I wanted to do Holy Stone experiments since I was already out, but I was also troubled and wanted to see the troublesome kids.

I obediently followed his escort and climbed the stairs.

I felt uneasy because I seemed to have said something I shouldn’t have to someone around Eunseo’s age.

*

The next day. September 30th.

“I guess I came too early. I was so excited that I couldn’t even eat.”

“I went to the spring ball too, but this one will be more fun. A masquerade ball has its own unique charm.”

“Have you heard the rumor? Countess Eva Blanquer is pushing out her brother today and becoming the Young Duke.”

Nobles walked through the wide corridors of the Blanquer estate, talking loudly.

Servants with large masks and ornaments followed them demurely.

In an hour, the largest ballroom in the castle would open, and the largest social event in the East would begin.

It was a party where the Crown Prince and his friends, as well as the leading nobles of the Empire, would gather in one place.

The castle was already buzzing with those dreaming of new romances and gossip.

The servants were busy setting up food and drinks and carrying the nobles’ luggage.

“…”

Robert Blanquer, the ‘Young Duke,’ quietly hid in a corner of the hallway, taking advantage of that gap.

The brighter the light, the darker the shadow.

No one guarded the castle’s loopholes, and thanks to the elaborate decorations everywhere, there was plenty of space to hide.

No one knew that he, who had been trapped in a villa in the corner of the territory, wallowing in shame and anger day by day, was here.

The man, in front of the only nanny who remained by his side, deliberately limped heavily and cried sadly.

He appealed to her emotions, saying, ‘I miss my sister,’ and ‘What can I do with this body?’

The weak-hearted woman couldn’t stand the tears of the immature young master.

The nanny stole a pony from the villa in the twilight and gave him several gold coins as he left.

‘Make sure to leave by midnight, young master. The Knights Commander will be coming again tomorrow morning.’

The nanny’s earnest request lingered in his mind. He knew it well.

The territory’s Knights Commander, who used to come once a week, suddenly barged into the villa last night and announced that he would be seeing the Young Duke every other day from today.

It was his mother’s order, but the situation was clear.

It meant that she would be more thoroughly controlling him since the ball was about to be held. And that was…

“I’m very curious about Prince Yeseo as well as the Crown Prince. Isn’t this the first ball he’s attending in the Empire?”

“Don’t even mention it. If I only knew what he was disguised as, I would snatch him up and take him to the balcony.”

“Oh my, Count! Are you finally going to get a husband?”

‘Wahahaha!’ Laughter erupted from the other side of the hallway.

The Young Duke gritted his teeth, crouching behind an empty display armor.

That lowly prince must have whispered fox-like words to his mother.

He was no different from a spy from an enemy country.

He seduced the Crown Prince, leaving indelible disgrace and scars on him, and not only tricked his sister into taking his place, but now he was even trying to alienate him from his parents.

The Young Duke clenched his right fist, which had lost sensation since the ‘duel’.

Rustle. A small note screamed. It contained a very concise message.

‘If you want revenge, come in disguise.’

It was a letter of unknown origin that had been placed on his bed a few days ago.

The handwriting crawled like earthworms, as if it had been written by an unfamiliar hand.

He had grilled all the nannies and servants, but none of them said they had ever seen such paper.

At first, he thought it was just a low-quality provocation by someone among the underlings to insult him.

So he threw it into the fireplace.

However, the same note was placed on his bed the next day, and the day after that.

A strange sentence was added to the third note.

‘So that the tulip roots may be infested with worms.’

“I’m not stupid.”

The Young Duke muttered. He really wasn’t.

He was the well-educated eldest son of the family, and he knew as a matter of common sense that tulips meant ‘priest’ or ‘holiness’.

And there was only one priest in the world he wanted to avenge.

Yeseo Fenetian.

“The Prince will surely dress up as an angel. He did such a great job on the eve of the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony.”

“Do you really think so? Isn’t it too obvious?”

“Since he’s coming as Countess Blanquer’s partner, it must be something fancy.”

The nobles moved away, spouting nonsense. Grind. His teeth were grinding on their own.

-Clunk, thud!

As soon as the presence disappeared, he roughly grabbed the armor in front of him.

This was enough of a disguise.

If this was a joke, he was going to play along, and if it was a real opportunity, he was going to seize it in an instant.

*

Finally, the day of the ball arrived!

Ganael and Sir Elizabeth, flamboyantly disguised as a lion and a clown, had headed to the main castle ten minutes earlier.

If the Young Count was Ganael’s partner and chaperone today, my chaperone was Benjamin.

As planned, Sir Johan was in charge of escorting me.

-Clank, clank

“Ouch.”

“It’s alright, Your Highness. The sound isn’t that loud to the person next to you.”

Benjamin encouraged me. I smiled awkwardly and went down to the castle tower lobby with the two of them.

My steps in armor were light, but it wasn’t easy to get used to the sound.

The black mask and veil also made it difficult to see.

I had no experience with balls other than peeking at them from the balcony during the spring ball, so I was very nervous.

Will people really not recognize me? When I thought about that, the corners of my mouth twitched again without any backbone.

-Awoo-woo

“Our Tite recognizes his brother.”

Then, Tite, who was swimming in the lobby’s aquarium, greeted me from outside the water.

I made eye contact with him and said hello.

I had hugged Dduk-sim and the Lesser Pandas in my room several times before coming out, but I was sad that I couldn’t hug the Harp Seal right away.

Tite was smart enough not to splash water on me and quietly waved his flippers.

It seemed like he was telling me to have fun.

“Yeah, I’ll be back early. You too, play tag with the fish here, do all the backstroke you want, play with the coral too…”

I trailed off as I looked beyond the coral.

Across the aquarium where blue and yellow fish were swimming, a man in a pure white uniform and a white mask was standing.

His silver hair was very long, and when I looked closely, he had large white wings on his back.

The man was also covering his eyes with a veil, so I couldn’t check the color of his eyes.

His height was much taller than the Crown Prince, and I felt like our eyes met for a moment.

I was flustered and opened and closed my mouth with the fish.

“Um, you’re not allowed to enter here without permission…”

Oh, that’s not it.

The lobby had been opened up to three steps away from the aquarium for the nobles who were coming to greet the divine beast.

Splash! I thought I heard the other person sigh beyond Tite’s tail wagging.

“Your Highness, I’m here! Hup.”

Then, Eva’s clear voice echoed through the lobby.

I was surprised by the word ‘Prince’ and quickly stepped back.

I had bothered to disguise myself, but it seemed like I had already been caught by an angel, damn it!