What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 268

268. The Road to the Wilderness (2)

The Guide of the Ark. A divine artifact with a self.

A being that can glimpse the principles of this world and the approaching future.

-Clunk, clunk.

-Clatter, clatter…

I had many things I wanted to ask Nikki.

Ttuk-ssim couldn’t speak human language, but he could.

“……”

For example, whether the warning he gave me back then really meant Simon de Sarnez’s scheme.

“……”

Whether Foreign Minister Alexandre was really as tone-deaf as Christelle.

“……”

Whether there was a reason he dropped me out of the bell tower the day we first met.

“……”

Whether he was even imitating Alexandre’s *mal-tu* [manner of speaking] perfectly.

Well, just minor things like that.

Somehow, whenever I met Nikki, the situation was always urgent, and parting was abrupt, so I couldn’t have a peaceful conversation.

I thought this was a good opportunity, but I was wrong.

After all, Ttuk-ssim didn’t have an owner.

We had various adventures together, traveled all over the empire, and met many humans, but he hadn’t found anyone to his liking yet.

So, it would have been difficult to maintain the form of the Ark for long.

This wasn’t near Lord Blanquer’s castle, where the four divine artifacts had gathered.

He purely wanted to hide us… ‘He used too much power.’

“You worked hard. Thank you.”

I whispered, stroking Ttuk-ssim’s warm belly.

The wren in my palm was sound asleep.

His round, tiny chest rose and fell incessantly.

The divine beasts came and licked Ttuk-ssim with care.

It seemed like an expression of gratitude, and a heartwarming and admirable feeling filled me.

When Tite finally covered Ttuk-ssim with his flipper feet, I hugged each of the precious ones once.

I couldn’t ask how long they needed to sleep. Would a few days be enough?

“Keuheong! Keuheu……”

I was startled and raised my head.

Joan, who was lying on thick straw, was snoring and purring in her sleep.

Her lemon-colored hair, which had grown a lot in the meantime, was exquisitely mixed with the prickly straw.

Christelle crawled over and properly covered her with a coat.

I met Joan around the time I arrived at the Eastern Metropolitan Portal’s public garage.

She was utterly shocked to see us reappear in the luggage compartment.

‘What is it, what is it! Oh, that’s not right. Greetings to His Highness the Crown Prince!’

She got angry and hastily corrected her manners. A person skilled in multitasking.

‘Sorry for surprising you, Joan.’

‘Knowing is enough, Prince. What on earth did you do? Disappearing without a trace and then popping up! I almost fainted in front of the Captain of the Guard earlier. Is this magic too? Or a gadget from the eccentric Marquis?’

‘That’s……’

When I explained the simple details, leaving out Nikki’s existence, she was shocked and looked at Ttuk-ssim.

Then, she took out charcoal from her pocket and started drawing something like crazy on the inner wall of the carriage.

It seemed like she was properly inspired.

We moved quietly, taking advantage of her being engrossed.

While Sir Johan was choosing a carriage to transfer to, the rest moved the luggage and diligently erased traces.

We also created fake traces as if we had taken a different path.

We had to be careful because there were still Imperial Guards around.

The lesser pandas were busy imitating Christelle’s magpie walk.

-Squeak

“……”

And so, currently, the group managed to follow the route of the Rambouillet caravan with twists and turns.

Sir Johan was now sitting in the coachman’s seat.

If we went southeast quickly through this path, we would be able to meet a familiar face.

We had promised to meet at the last portal in the direction of the border.

This was all thanks to Lady Berenice, who took pity on me.

She secretly packaged and handed me the opportunity that I had no choice but to give up.

As if telling me to seize it.

-Squeak, squeak

“……”

Perry clung to the Crown Prince’s lap and kept crying. I glanced at the man’s expression.

He sat leaning against the wall, paying little attention to the lesser panda.

In fact, I had only been able to see that guy since leaving the Ark.

The unidentified bar-shaped light I witnessed beyond the subspace, and the story of the Foreign Minister, also bothered me, but my friend in front of me was more important right now.

The continuing silence bothered me, and the avoidance of eye contact was uncomfortable.

I didn’t know if I could transmit Aether, so I just opened the faucet as much as possible [referring to channeling Aether].

Thinking about how sad and painful he must be right now, I didn’t have the courage to speak first.

He must have been very surprised.

Would he resent me? Should I have told him in advance? Should I have let him prepare himself……

“Will you return to the palace?”

I was surprised and blinked.

It was Christelle who blurted out those words, and the target was Crown Prince Cedric.

The eyes of the two men and women intertwined intensely in the air.

They seemed to be glaring at each other, or maybe they had no thoughts at all.

I bit my lip nervously. Demi, who was in my arms gnawing on a tangerine, also stopped licking and looked at the two.

“If you wish, I will ask Sir Johan to turn the carriage around. There will still be guards at the Metropolitan Portal.”

“……”

There was no response. The man withdrew his gaze from Christelle without any regrets.

Then, he stared intently at somewhere on the floor of the carriage. For the first time, I felt frustrated.

He was closing the door of his heart tightly, just like Sadie, whom I met in the confessional of the Imperial Palace.

Would it be a little better if I could feel his Aether too?

……Clatter, clatter. Snore, snore.

The noise of crossing the cobblestones and Joan’s breathing barely filled the silence.

“I will take that as a sign that you are returning.”

Christelle stood up abruptly from beside Joan and headed forward.

I looked back and forth between her and the Crown Prince like an idiot. I couldn’t think of anything to add.

Would it be better to be with my mother and godmother now? Probably, right?

Then I should apologize for kidnapping him……

“It was the same as the day you died.”

Abruptly. Christelle’s fist, which was about to knock on the wall, paused.

The Crown Prince’s voice flowed out in a low tone.

“The clothes and appearance.”

“……”

“That’s all.”

Clatter, clatter! The sound of the carriage once again replaced the silence.

He finally looked straight at me.

The garnet-like eyes had already calmed down.

My heart tingled at the fact that he revealed his inner thoughts first, even though we didn’t ask.

So, roughly translated……

He was greatly shocked to see the same appearance as when his father was alive, but it wasn’t so hard that he wanted to go home. Is that right?

-Swish……

I wasn’t sure if I understood correctly, so I carefully opened the sanctuary [a personal space created with Aether].

I made the circle small so that it wouldn’t protrude out of the carriage and slowly transmitted power.

When I shared it with Christelle and the precious ones, Leah wiggled her whiskers in delight.

Her sulky face was just like mine now.

A ticklish and languid sensation, as if Aether was flowing through capillaries, followed.

The Crown Prince silently watched the golden energy hovering around him……

Swoosh.

“Haha.”

He accepted the power without resistance.

Aether flowed out like a tide through the palm of his hand touching the circle.

When I smiled slightly, Christelle plopped down, saying, ‘That’s right.’

The serious atmosphere from before was gone, and she suddenly had a bright and playful face.

The Crown Prince frowned, but he didn’t cut off the Aether.

Perry, excited, ran across his thighs like a highway.

The protagonist stretched out his legs and said.

“None of us three have fathers, do we? If we try to understand, it’s not impossible.”

Um, that was a great statement. And it’s all true!

“So, you can tell us anything. If you want to. Right?”

She turned to me and smiled brightly. It was a sentence that seemed to read my mind.

I smiled brightly and nodded.

I have no intention of forcing him to speak, so I just want him to remember that we will always lend an ear.

It wasn’t just the Crown Prince’s story.

The same goes for Christelle, who is still overcoming her wounds with Isabel……

And me.

“There is something I definitely want to tell you both.”

So I said it abruptly. It just happened that way. The sentence fell off my tongue.

As if I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Oh, what is it? I’m curious.”

‘Looking at your expression, I don’t think it’s about the dinner menu.’ Christelle moved closer, wiggling her butt while sitting.

I couldn’t help but laugh, wondering if I had been acting like such a fool all this time.

Before I knew it, amber-colored sunset was seeping through the gaps in the carriage roof.

“Do you remember? The day Her Highness Aurelia examined Herritt’s vessel.”

I opened my mouth, recalling the memory of last fall.

‘It was truly touch-and-go. His Highness was almost turned into noble barbecue.’

Christelle’s angry voice was still vivid.

I didn’t know, but there was a moment when I was almost grilled alive in the Juliette Palace.

It was the night I realized there was a problem with the Crown Prince’s vessel.

The time I learned that he was suffering from ‘Synesthesia’ or a similar disease.

‘If you keep it all to yourself, how will you know when it will explode again next time?’

Our protagonist harshly rebuked the taciturn male lead,

‘If Your Highness speaks, I will reveal one secret too.’

Suddenly, she proposed a deal, not a deal. I was genuinely surprised.

In context, what Christelle was trying to say was the truth about ‘possession.’

She was trying to say that she fell from a completely different world that is not on the map or in the sky.

Of course, the Crown Prince would not easily reveal his story.

Christelle said that she made the suggestion as a stimulant because she knew him.

‘Deal?’

‘……Accept.’

But shocking is shocking.

I was caught between two big and small fists, and I was at a loss as to how to deal with it.

Because I was also hiding a considerable secret.

Because I had been constantly deceiving and tricking them.

“Christelle said she would tell the Crown Prince a shocking secret.”

“Yes. If His Highness ever tells his story.”

She answered, tilting her chin. The Crown Prince snorted as if it were ridiculous.

Still, seeing him react like that, it seemed like he had definitely accepted the promise.

I looked back and forth between the two and said in a whisper.

“Actually, I’m hiding something too. I haven’t told anyone yet……”

“Jackpot. Someone you like? Do you perhaps have a child?”

“Hahaha. It’s not like that.”

When I finally burst into laughter, Christelle giggled and got closer.

The touching elbows were warm, and the tension was slightly relieved.

The Crown Prince glared at us as if to stab us. A persistent person.

“For now…… I’m not ready to tell you in detail, but there’s another reason why I wanted to go to the neutral zone.”

“Heo.”

The protagonist’s eyes widened at my words.

‘I was a little stubborn. But I liked it.’ Such murmurs also followed.

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly, thinking that I really wasn’t acting my age.

I had been making a fuss everywhere just because I was desperate, so I was speechless.

I quietly met the Crown Prince’s gaze.

“I’m sorry for lying that the reason was only Her Highness the Princess.”

“……”

Then the red eyes darkened like ashes.

“In the Temple of the Boundary,”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Pardon?”

The words were cut off like a knife! I was about to talk about the Holy Relic, but the flow was cut off.

The precious ones, who had been listening quietly, shook their tails in dissatisfaction.

Christelle also made a disgusted face, but the man stood up abruptly without paying attention.

Hey, he’s as tall as a telephone pole, so suddenly!

“Watch your head!”

-Thud!

Ouch!

“What! What just exploded!”

Joan woke up with a start and looked around.

Christelle cried and fell to the side.

If Elizabeth had been there, the tea room would have probably been washed away.

I was worried alone that the male lead of the romance fantasy novel might get a bump on his head.

“……I’ll switch with Sir Haynes.”

He spat out with a flawless expression. Fortunately, he didn’t seem dizzy.

Sir Johan outside also heard the impact, and the carriage gradually slowed down.

Belated laughter burst out.

*

A rumor without truth fades away, and even the most outstanding hero is forgotten if not seen.

Death in a distant place ultimately remains a distant matter.

Recently, the Venetian Royal Castle was returning to its place. As a result of that truth.

-♩♪♬……

Beautiful music from the East filled the room.

Luxurious light purple curtains and a chandelier as big as a house draped like a dream here and there.

Werner Venetian’s favorite banquet hall hosted expensive parties and balls every day.

The Foreign Minister originally enjoyed luxury more than anyone else in the Royal Castle.

After Duchess Wilhelmina Schneider visited his residence, his extravagance blazed uncontrollably like a winter wildfire.

He changed his clothes four or five times a day and often looked for his youngest daughter while drunk.

All kinds of jewels and precious leather came and went in his space day and night.

No one could stop him. Or they didn’t feel the need to.

The Schneider Duchess neglected him, the King lost his mind again, and the Princess, who had left far away, was not returning.

“You are indescribably beautiful, Your Highness.”

“Thank you.”

A nobleman respectfully kissed the back of his hand.

The Foreign Minister, sitting at the head table, quickly scanned his face and body under the fan.

He was quite handsome and looked young, but objectively, he couldn’t compare to me.

He would never catch the eye of his sister and lie in the King’s bedchamber.

He naturally pulled out his hand and gave a benevolent smile.

Every time he moved his facial muscles, his bruised cheek throbbed.

“……Have a good time.”

In the meantime, he did not call a healing priest. Isn’t it obvious?

No one should know that he was hit by his sister.

Once in a lifetime was enough for the humiliating pain.

The bruises that had spread to his temples and chin did not fade for over a month.

Werner received makeup for two hours every day to cover the blemishes.

“I am honored. It is an infinite honor just to see Your Highness like this.”

The man bowed deeply and stepped back.

The Foreign Minister fluttered his fan and looked around the hall with a fascinating gaze.

Those who met his gaze showed reverence and paid their respects without exception.

Numerous nobles and rich people. Sparkling hypocrites.

Splendid and lovely murderers who would do anything to cling to power.

Because of them, he was never alone.

Trying to kill one bastard was nothing.

“I like it. It’s a little peaceful now.”

“It is my pleasure.”

His chief attendant bowed. The Foreign Minister moved his gaze and stopped.

His intoxication vanished in an instant.

Next to the huge marble pillar, his eldest daughter’s escort knight was standing and glaring at him.

Alone, covered in dirt and wearing ugly armor.