What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 25

#025 Curriculum of Pride and Prejudice (1)

I think I slept for about ten hours.

The protagonist, Christel, declared she would get a new job, and Prince Cedrick looked incredibly like someone I knew.

On top of that, there was the mystery surrounding the sacred artifact of the temple.

I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep with so much to think about, but as soon as I washed up and lay down on the bed, I passed out.

When I opened my eyes, it was 9 o’clock.

-Chirp chirp······

“It’s nice and peaceful.”

I agreed with Benjamin’s words and sipped my cinnamon tea.

Even though it was our regular morning tea time, it felt like it had been a long time since last night was so long.

The garden, which had been decorated more elaborately than usual to welcome guests, was as quiet as a library.

It felt like a storm had passed.

“From now on, if there are any events, I should pretend to be sick a few days in advance.”

Benjamin nodded at my words.

I gave Demi, who was sitting on my lap, a piece of apple and lowered my gaze to the notebook on the table.

Benjamin never looked this way, even by mistake, when I was scribbling something in my notebook.

He seemed to think it was something like ‘A Hostage’s Tragic Memoir’.

It wasn’t a completely wrong guess, so I didn’t bother to correct him.

∙ Sacred artifact stolen from the Temple of the Boundary

Possibility that someone used it, rather than it disappearing

This is the first thing to think about.

Everything from here on out is just an assumption, but there was a world of difference between setting up a hypothesis and moving forward, and being swept away without thinking.

I savored the story the Duchess Sarnes told me in front of the carriage last night.

The temple’s sacred artifact, which should have been used to save Christel, fulfilled someone else’s wish first and exhausted its usefulness.

Because of that, the Duchess had no choice but to use the ‘Blessing of the Azure Sea’, an item that would have sealed the engagement between Christel and Prince Cedrick in the original story.

It was a powerful variable that changed the protagonist’s path, no less.

And as far as I know, there is only one external factor that can do that right now.

It’s me.

-Squeak

“Demi, don’t go on the table.”

I held Demi’s black belly, which was reaching for the table, and put a green grape in his mouth.

The lesser panda quickly calmed down.

‘Yesuh Venetian’ definitely died in the story.

And the next day, possession and regression occurred simultaneously to save him.

Until now, I thought this was a kind of ‘phenomenon’.

Why, aren’t there cases like that in web novels where the protagonist is possessed by a book?

A case where you just happened to be possessed, not because there was any particular force involved.

Stories where life after possession is more important than the process of possession.

Until yesterday, I believed that I was in such a situation.

The sacred artifact theft at the temple was a bit annoying, but I was too busy getting over the near-death experience to think deeply about it.

But it wasn’t just a simple theft.

Someone wished there to save ‘me’, and as a result, I was possessed.

∙ Sacred artifact stolen from the Temple of the Boundary

Possibility that someone used it, rather than it disappearing

– Who made the wish?

– Do other sacred artifacts have the ability to grant wishes?

If so, who is the culprit?

I’m a little curious about this, but it didn’t seem like it would change much even if I knew.

Even if the future Christel heard the news of Prince Yesuh’s death and did that, the current her didn’t know anything about it.

Of course, I thought about Eunseo, but this was even more hopeless.

I had no idea what Eunseo outside the story could do to perform such magic.

Therefore, the second thing was important to me.

Do other sacred artifacts have such abilities?

The temple’s sacred artifact, ‘Blood Wish’ or whatever, seemed to have a widely known power to grant wishes, but not the Blessing of the Azure Sea.

According to the book, it was just a powerful water-attribute sacred artifact as its name suggested.

However, the fact that it exerted the power to save Christel was probably due to the author’s forced handling, but I couldn’t ignore the slight hope.

If other sacred artifacts also have the ability to respond to human desires, can they grant my wish to ‘go home’?

I know it’s an overly optimistic question, but······.

“Lady Elizabeth is coming over there, Your Highness.”

I woke up from my thoughts. My notebook was full of underlines and circles.

When I looked up, I saw Lady Elizabeth walking briskly, her olive-colored bob swaying.

Ganael was with her.

“Good morning, Prince Yesuh.”

“Hello, Lady Elizabeth.”

The commander of the Royal Knights looked very refreshed, as if she was relieved to have successfully completed a major event.

I closed my notebook and put it in my arms.

While Benjamin got up from his seat and pulled out a chair for her, Ganael talked to me.

“Cardinal Boutier said he would contact the Duiem Marquisate directly. And he asked if it would be okay to see you around 3 PM today.”

“I’m fine with it, but I’m surprised that His Eminence is okay with it. Thank you, Ganael.”

Ganael told me about Demi and that the private tutoring with the Cardinal, which was scheduled for 11 AM, had been pushed back to the afternoon.

I overslept and had a lot to sort out, so I was going to skip today’s class, but this was the answer I got.

Benjamin skillfully cleared his and Ganael’s empty glasses and headed to the Juliette Palace with the boy, saying, ‘Please feel free to talk’.

“Thank you for coming even though you must be busy. Thank you so much for your hard work yesterday.”

I poured cinnamon tea directly into Lady Elizabeth’s glass.

She smiled and took the glass. Her gray eyes, looking at the dessert, sparkled.

“I’m always welcome because I can officially skip work if Your Highness calls me. I worked until I was about to die yesterday, but I felt so relieved when it was over.”

She drank her tea and told me about the big and small episodes that happened at the spring ball.

Most of them were about problematic nobles, and there were people who didn’t listen to the Royal Knights, but when she, the heir to the Count, appeared, they finally behaved themselves.

So Lady Elizabeth had no choice but to visit every site of power abuse.

“Come to think of it, I heard that Your Highness also came to the Stroda Palace for a while.”

“I only went to the balcony. Because of this guy.”

I said that and pointed to Demi, who was starting to climb up my chest.

“Is that the guy I saw last time?”

“Yes, I thought he had left, but he stayed in the palace. I think he will be going to the territory of the Duiem Marquisate, where there is another sacred artifact, soon.”

-Squeak

Demi cried softly. I stroked the back of his head and moved my mouth.

I called Lady Elizabeth from the morning because I had something to say, but it wasn’t easy to bring it up.

I wondered if it was okay to really ask this, but on the other hand, I thought I had the right to know.

“You can speak comfortably, Your Highness.”

She opened her mouth first, as if she had read my mind.

I finally spat out the sentence that had been bothering me since last night.

“I recently saw a child in the Imperial Palace. He asked me to keep it a secret, but I don’t think I can do that anymore.”

“Yes.”

She brought the teacup to her lips.

“He is a boy with black hair and orange eyes. About this tall······.”

“Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough!”

Lady Elizabeth, who had a bad case of choking, started coughing violently.

Surprised Demi raised his tail in a flash.

I quickly handed her the napkin next to her and poured water into the empty cup.

After a long time, her eyes were filled with tears.

“Are you okay?”

“Keep, ahem, keep talking.”

“Ah, yes. That guy has a bit of a connection with me. His name is Sadie.”

“Ha······.”

She sighed and covered her mouth with a new napkin. She seemed to have something on her mind.

“He looks a lot like Prince Cedrick. Lady Elizabeth, you will think so too if you see him in person.”

“Yes······.”

“Have you already met him?”

Another nod with a resigned face.

“Are you two acquainted?”

Another nod.

“He goes in and out of the Imperial Palace whenever he wants, is he also a member of the Imperial Family?”

A moment of hesitation, and then a nod.

Indeed, the ‘Prince’s best friend’ knew everything.

A picture was being completed in my head.

Eunseo’s appearance of calling the Prince trash all the time.

The novel that was loved for mixing old clichés and fresh settings, .