What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 229

Curtain Call (2)

“Yeser, my child, my poor baby…”

‘Losna.’

A frail murmur escaped from Christa Ner Venetian’s lips.

The hand that once wielded a sword now trembled weakly, clutching a flower without roots.

Even as crimson blood trickled down to her elbow, she didn’t seem to notice her own condition.

Elise quickly shook her head and approached her mother on the bed.

“Mother, it’s alright. Yeser will be safe. Janine, the royal physician!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The attendant obeyed, hurriedly leaving the banquet hall.

The Crown Princess picked up Cornelise and held her close.

The child was not yet awake, and fussed at being disturbed, but there was no help for it.

Elise didn’t want her younger sister to see their weakened mother.

Her younger sister was already scarred enough at the age of eight.

At Janine’s command, servants rushed in, took the Second Princess, and hurried out the door.

“Wisil, your sister is suffering again…!”

The King’s voice rose. His apricot-colored eyes were filled with sorrow and despair.

The vigor from the previous night was nowhere to be found.

Christa Ner shed tears as she stroked her daughter’s cheek.

The marble-white face of the heir to the throne was stained with blood.

“I lost him, how can this be happening? How could they do this to you as well…? How could they!”

“It’s a false scheme.”

“What do you mean her memories aren’t intact? Explain, explain it to me.”

Christa Ner asked Martier, her disheveled blonde hair a mess.

Her gaze wandered aimlessly, and the topic changed rapidly.

She still didn’t seem to care about her own injuries.

The knight knelt properly and prostrated himself before her.

The woman’s voice trembled as if there had been an earthquake.

“When I visited the Liester Imperial Palace last summer… the Prince, he gifted me a magical heating device. It was like a massager.”

“……”

The mother and daughter were shocked.

Ten years ago.

Martier had been protecting the Prince when he was struck by an arrow smeared with monster blood and potent poison, and since then, he had been unable to use magical devices.

This was because the traces of magic remaining in his body caused malfunctions. There was no way Yeser wouldn’t know that.

Her expression of concern for his pain on snowy, rainy days was vivid in his mind.

Martier clenched his fist and spat out the words through his teeth.

“I felt it was strange that his way of speaking was slightly different from when he was in the Holy Kingdom. But he gave me such a thing with such a kind and clear face.”

“No, no, no…”

Christa Ner shook her head. Elise gritted her teeth and held onto her mother.

“When did my son lose his memory! When, in all this!”

The King screamed. Blood droplets splattered everywhere. ‘Kill me.’ Martier confessed his sin.

“There must have been a mistake. Perhaps the gifts were switched.”

The daughter tried to act rationally. Even in this situation, her mother didn’t let go of the tulips.

In the end, Elise only unfolded her left hand.

The bright red bloodstains spread to her, and now it was impossible to tell who was injured.

The Crown Princess checked the scratches and spoke incessantly.

‘Surely it’s nothing serious. Yeser will be fine, so don’t worry.’

“Why doesn’t she remember? Didn’t she help Martier with his compress? But why, huh?”

“The Yeser I saw was healthy.”

“My precious daughter, don’t you know her well? Yeser is not someone who would harm anyone!”

“That’s right. So please, rest assured.”

Her words wavered. Elise tried hard not to dwell on that fact.

“Where does it hurt that she forgot? Did she swallow poison again?”

“No. The Imperial Family of the Empire strictly controls the ingredients…”

“Michael?”

And then, the name of love and hate flowed from her mother’s lips. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Michael.”

Suddenly, all the light in the world faded, and all sounds grew distant.

The mother tenderly stroked her daughter’s lips. Her neatly folded eyes had no focus.

Elise slowly closed her eyes. She tasted blood.

“Michael, I missed you. My love…”

A heart-wrenching pain surged through her. Martier sobbed silently.

*

It must be Father.

—Kwaang!

“Your Highness, you can’t do this!”

Surely, Father was behind this incident.

“Crown Princess!”

“Get out of my way.”

A low voice echoed through the room.

The spear of the Main God, ‘Headwind’s Omen,’ gleamed in its owner’s grasp.

The Crown Princess, who had spent the night in the banquet hall, arrived at the Royal Consort’s chamber in her gown.

Her gold hair, usually neatly braided, was loose and almost touching the floor, and her fierce eyes seemed ready to cut down anything that defied her.

The lower servants of Venetian Castle were all terrified.

The opponent was a powerful warrior from the Holy Kingdom, a Cardinal of Fire at that.

“N-no one, including both of Your Highnesses, is allowed to enter, according to the Royal Consort’s orders.”

The Royal Consort’s chief attendant prostrated himself at her feet.

The old man didn’t dare to lift his head in the face of his master’s wrath, but he stammered out what he had to say.

“I will not listen.”

“Your Highness!”

Elise unleashed her killing intent.

“Open the door. Can’t you see the one who will inherit the throne of the Holy Kingdom?”

“Heok, heok! Keok!”

The old man clutched his bloodshot neck and rolled on the floor. The Cardinal’s pressure had blocked his breathing.

‘Chief Attendant!’ The terrified servants grabbed him and burst into tears. Elise didn’t waver.

Her eyes, like a replica of a human carved by the Main God, were devoid of warmth.

Two or three attendants, their faces covered in tears, clung to the doorknob.

Their hands kept slipping, making it difficult to open the door. Click!

—Kwagang!

“Aaaagh!”

As soon as the entrance opened, the door flew off its hinges. The young ones screamed and collapsed.

Elise kicked the wooden door to pieces and passed through the side room, holding her weapon.

The servants and maids were horrified and fell onto the carpet. Suppressed groans flowed from here and there.

—Kwagagang!

“Your Highness!”

“Your Highness, how could you!”

When she broke down the door to the bedroom, the servants holding basins and towels jumped in surprise.

Clatter! Water spilled and chairs fell over. Elise paused at the unexpected sight.

“Elise… Our Princess, have you come?”

A faint voice was heard from the bed.

‘Our Princess.’ It was the endearment Father used to call her when she was the First Princess.

The Crown Princess then noticed the scent of medicinal herbs and incense lingering in the room.

Even considering it was morning, it was strange that the bedroom was still dark.

The sapphire-colored eyes slowly widened.

“Father?”

Thud! Elise hurriedly drew back the bed curtains. And she was astonished.

“It’s… noisy outside. Has something happened to His Majesty…?”

The face she hadn’t seen in a long time was drenched in cold sweat.

Blood oozed from his white, chapped, and cracked lips.

The fingers barely stretched out from under the blanket were pale to the tips.

The Crown Princess was speechless for a moment.

She had never seen her father sick before. Her father was a robust man who didn’t even catch a cold.

But why.

“How… can you be so ill?”

Her heart weakened helplessly.

Elise bit her tongue, feeling angry and pathetic at herself.

Berner’s eyes curved into a smile.

“Since… I hurt my hand last time, cough!”

“……”

Suddenly, the day her father was injured came to mind. Elise glanced at his hand.

A red scar ran across the palm.

It was the wound he had sustained when he directly stopped her from trying to harm herself with divine objects.

The arm holding the spear tensed.

“Cough, cough! It seems my body has weakened because my heart is sick…”

“Don’t say that.”

“Haha. Your father has aged, cough! I’m not like I used to be… After not being able to share a meal with His Majesty, I’ve lost my appetite.”

The man’s eyelids flickered weakly. Elise was silent.

It was all the price of your sins, but the memories of loving her father as a child were too big and deep.

He looked very helpless now.

“Ahem, isn’t it almost the Crown Princess’s birthday? Your father has become like this and hasn’t been able to pay attention… Are the preparations going well?”

‘I need to prepare a gift for our Princess.’ A smile that seemed like it would break followed.

Her birthday had passed. The celebration was already over.

The Crown Princess barely suppressed some emotion that surged up from within.

Then, she glared intensely at the royal physician standing by the bed.

“Since when has he been bedridden?”

“It’s as His Highness said, Your Highness. Since late summer, his strength and appetite have decreased, and he has had a slight cough. He has also been losing weight little by little. From twelve days ago, his condition has deteriorated rapidly…”

“The cause.”

“That is, seeing as even the healing priests can’t do anything about it… I believe it’s a disease of the heart.”

The old man humbly bowed. Suddenly, something flashed through Elise’s mind.

The voice of her youngest sister, chattering, ‘Father seems to have no energy.’

“……”

She thought it was just something the child was saying in passing. She didn’t know.

It was a story that had never flowed into the Crown Princess’s space. She barely parted her tightly closed lips.

“Rest. I will have some sunroot tea brewed and sent.”

“Thank you. You must be busy…”

The man replied softly. The Crown Princess left the room immediately without paying her respects.

It was completely unlike her, but when she thought about it, carrying a spear in shameful attire from early in the morning was also an unlike Elise action.

Soon, the daughter’s presence completely disappeared. The Royal Consort took a long breath.

“Haa… Heu… Hehehehe.”

The sigh soon turned into laughter.

His chest heaved, and his lustrous eyes regained their vitality and shone.

Chareuk! The man unfolded a folding fan with his injured hand, which he had deliberately left out.

It was like a furnace inside the room because he had been pretending to be a patient for a long time.

The chief attendant, who had approached sometime ago, stood demurely by his side. The Royal Consort opened his mouth without hesitation.

“It seems things are going well. Seeing how agitated she was, even if it’s not a death notice, the Prince is in great danger.”

“Yes.”

“Cough! Bring up the antidote immediately. It’s frustrating because my body is in this state. Put out the fireplace too.”

“I will obey your command, Your Highness.”

The old servant bowed and stepped back.

It was enough that Elise had seen it. This was all according to plan.

Berner Venetian smiled dazzlingly as he received the busy care of his underlings.

*

The precarious chase had been going on for hours.

—Swaaaa, swaaaa, swaaaaaa…!

“Ugh, they’re still following us!”

Christel urgently stretched her arms towards the sea.

Splash! The vast ocean beneath the protagonist’s small hand surged like a colt, pushing the pirate ship forward.

I quickly grabbed her elbow.

“Ugh.”

Swoosh! A large amount of ether escaped at once, causing dizziness.

Fortunately, Christel seemed to be concentrating on her divine power and didn’t hear my groan.

I hugged Tite tightly and endured. The divine beast looked up at me with worried eyes.

—Wooeuh…

“Don’t worry. Hyung [older brother/term of endearment] is super strong.”

I whispered, raising the corners of my lips. What was more concerning was Christel.

Turning moisture in the air into water droplets was said to be relatively easy.

I had heard that controlling it wasn’t difficult either.

But moving the existing sea according to one’s will was a different matter in terms of scale and dimension.

Not only currents and tides, but even the existence of marine life and terrain had to be considered as resistance.

It was truly a ‘crazy act’ that consumed an enormous amount of ether!

—Kwaaaang!

“They fired a warning shot from over there!”

Isabelle, who was looking through the magic stone telescope, shouted calmly.

I quickly looked back at my friends.

No one was tired yet, but the problem was that they would be soon.

The Diem brothers, who had deployed a defensive magic formula, exchanged uneasy glances.

Across the torches that lit up various parts of the pirate ship, the navy’s fast ships that had departed from Cheboim could be seen.

Admiral Emma Corleone stood at the bow of the lead ship.

She ran on the water and then boarded the ship to replenish her stamina and mana.

She also replaced her hook arm with spares brought by her subordinates.

At that rate, the chains would reach our stern someday!

“When the Admiral approaches… there might be a chance if I give a divine decree. But allowing her to approach is dangerous in itself, for someone like her.”

—Awoooeuh

I muttered, and Tite cried sadly and flapped his flippers.

Since they had no intention of ‘harming’ us, the circle’s protection function wouldn’t work either.

—Wheeeeeng!

Sir John was creating a tailwind at the rear of the ship, but no matter how much of a Cardinal he was, we couldn’t let him use his divine power like that all the time.

The same went for the Crown Prince, who was blocking the approach of the Admiral’s group with threatening flames.

To make matters worse, Dduk-sim couldn’t unleash his full power.

It seemed he had exhausted himself from flying across the entire Empire.

I glanced at the precious bundles huddled in a circle at the entrance of the cabin. It was heartbreaking to see them dozing off in the open.

“It’s so difficult to shake them off.”

We couldn’t attack, and we shouldn’t. They were, after all, imperial forces.

How could we avoid hurting each other…

—Thuddeudeuk!

At that moment, something poured down at my feet. I was startled and scanned the deck.

Squirming squid, hairtail, abalone… all sorts of sashimi.

“Tite?”

—Awook

The harp seal immediately replied. I hugged him and chuckled quietly.

I didn’t want to disturb Christel’s concentration.

“He wants to help.”

—Wooeung

“But he’s sad because he doesn’t have the strength, right? Our Tite is still young.”

—Awoo…

The black, round eyes became moist. I rubbed noses with him and soothed him.

“It’s okay. You’re warm, so Hyung isn’t cold. Tite is a great help just by existing.”

—…

“Little one, just stay healthy. Hyung and your sisters will do the hard work.”

Then, I smiled brightly.

The divine beast stared at me intently, then looked at Christel, who was trembling and emitting ether.

Then, he turned his gaze back to me. A determined light settled in his tearful eyes.

—Awooouoooo…!

The harp seal flapped its flippers and cried out loudly.

I was startled and embraced him with both arms. Eventually, Christel’s ether supply was cut off.

She staggered and collapsed on the deck.

Tite’s cry echoed in the dark ocean. ‘Awoo, awoo, awooouooo…!’

“Shh, Hyung is here. Not scary at all, right?”

I checked on Christel’s condition while comforting the divine beast. Then, the Crown Prince retorted.

“The Admiral might think differently.”

Huh?

—Woouooo…

At that moment, the ‘seabed’ resonated.

I felt goosebumps all over my body and locked eyes with the man.

Not only us, but also the ships chasing us were enveloped in silence.

Sir John slowly withdrew the wind. I could tell without anyone explaining.

Something is coming.

“Everyone be careful…!”

—Kwaaaaa!

A waterspout as huge as an apartment building soared up right in front of us.

Slosh, slosh! The ship heaved greatly, as if it would capsize at any moment.

Sir John flew like a gale and wrapped Christel, and the Diem siblings protected Isabelle and Ellen.

I instinctively threw myself and hugged the divine beasts.

Beyond my bent arms, an unbelievable scene unfolded.

—Chwaaaaa!

—Kouoooo…!

A mountain-sized great whale, sparkling in the moonlight, was soaring into the night sky.