What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 542

Her voice kept babbling like a stream.

“Oh my. Now that I see it, you’re all talk, Duchess. A little disappointing. You’re just another common······.”

《That child was killed by her own father.》

Then, a sentence as cold as a corpse returned.

In an instant, I felt a tingling sensation as if I had been hit on the head with a club.

Ms. Gain’s lips, which had been slightly raised, slowly fell to the ground.

I breathed into the dark robe and silently waited for the words to follow.

《That was the first death. That day, she awakened her stigma and became a cardinal [a high-ranking official in the church].》

“······Bullshit. If you’re trying to scare me for no reason, stop it.”

《Why? Did you grow up as a very precious child? Were you born into a family where the father doesn’t abuse the child and the mother doesn’t neglect the child? Like in children’s fairy tales?》

“······.”

In those words, Ms. Gain’s eyes rippled greatly.

The end of the whip she had already taken out was also vibrating.

I immediately wanted to get up and hold her hand, but I couldn’t move because the crystal ball was still working.

It wasn’t me, but another friend who stopped her trembling.

-Tak

“······.”

Cedrick’s large hand was gripping her whip as if to burn her fighting spirit.

There was no other exchange between them, but only then did I let out a big breath.

The Duchess continued, as if reminiscing about a trivial old story.

《After being killed by her father, that child came back to me.》

······.

《I saved the child who had been abandoned by that great faith and high-ranking family. I gave her the power to avenge the father who was worse than a beast and gave her power. So wouldn’t she be loyal with all her heart?》

“······.”

《Would you be any different?》

No answer flowed to that question. Sneider chuckled elegantly, making her throat vibrate.

《Yes. Go to your master and tell him. The days of guarding the royal capital and playing the role of a toothless bear are numbered.》

“······.”

Huh? I blinked rapidly.

‘Your master’? ‘A bear guarding the royal capital’?

《The spring of the Rose Garden will be the last this year.》

“Ah······.”

Goodness. I gaped, unable to help but exclaim.

Diop next to me simply shrugged, as if he had already expected it.

I see. She doesn’t even suspect that we are Imperial soldiers.

She just believes that we are from the Roseharder ducal family, a bitter political enemy and rival.

After all, the northern lands are barren and lack even decent resources, so if only profit is considered, His Majesty shouldn’t be sending us.

Nevertheless, the reason why he invested time and military power to send us here was for another purpose.

To capture Werner Fenetian and find and destroy Wilhelmina Sneider’s secret chamber.

To thoroughly understand the inside story of the Divine Kingdom, which had been shrouded in mystery for over thirty years.

War is not just about killing the enemy and winning.

I poked Diop’s side with all my might.

“Ugh, hey. Say it with words!”

“We can’t let the call end like this. From now on, please talk to her as I say.”

“What? Then you can do it directly······.”

“I can’t because my voice is the same as when I was a prince. There’s no need to confirm that I’m alive. It’s obviously a secret that we’re here.”

“Damn it.”

Whisper, whisper! After a few seconds of fierce discussion, we decided on the order of speaking.

In the meantime, Duchess Sneider was silent for an ominous amount of time.

Judging from the faint sound of her clothes rustling, it seemed like she was about to leave at any moment······.

《By the way, the connection isn’t breaking. It seems like you’ve poured a lot of life force into it.》

“······.”

《Did you kill Atsuma?》

······Is she asking us that? I made an absurd expression.

My friends, including Ms. Gain and the Crown Prince, had similar reactions.

“Why are you curious if he’s dead or alive? You’re a human who only treats people as tools. Even if he’s dead, would we have killed him? Are you not thinking about all the garbage-like spells you’ve cast here?”

《Indeed, you touched the crystal ball. It is designed so that it cannot cast spells on the engraved baron.》

“Ha, damn······.”

《He was a loyal servant. It’s a pity.》

No, she didn’t sound sorry at all. It was a voice that couldn’t feel any warmth.

I was momentarily upset and pulled Prince Diop’s earlobe.

It was because I remembered the girl who had fainted and was being carried away by Tess.

The lightning magician grumbled but accurately conveyed my words to the Duchess.

“We know what you’re plotting, Duchess Wilhelmina Sneider.”

《······.》

“Kidnapping people and torturing them without their consent, calling it an experiment is a crime. Insulting corpses without permission and calling that an experiment is abandoning humanity. You’re just the worst who commits violence and murder without hesitation······.”

《The High Priest family is still old-fashioned. Even the underlings are just spouting cliches.》

The Duchess languidly cut off the sentence.

I, who had been endlessly whispering in anger, looked at the crystal ball with a hollow breath.

What?

《That is why your family has only remained as ducal family for hundreds of years.》

It was a tone as if she cherished the other party.

“Are you any different? I suppose you’re very realistic and good at discerning things? Even if you try so hard, the position of the main god is―”

《Does the main god save the starving people?》

The end of the sentence was as sharp as a blade sharpened on a whetstone. I paused my lips, which had been moving diligently.

Diop was now about to shatter the orb with just his eyes.

《The god you believe in is so fair and merciful, does he pour the same love on everyone and give them the same happiness, I asked.》

“······.”

《Does he ask the guilty for their sins, reveal the innocence of the wronged, heal the sick livestock, and alleviate the suffering of the sick? Does your main god do that every day?》

“Don’t say arrogant things. What the god can’t do, the leader has to do! Your authority should end in your territory, and anything bigger than that should be discussed with the royal family. Arbitrarily overestimating your own existence and abilities······!”

《Overestimate?》

She cuts the sentence sharply.

《Is that what your master taught you? Wilhelmina Sneider is overestimated?》

Each syllable stabs people, and each question mark contains a curse.

《The current king has been suffering from madness for over a decade because he lost just one man, and the late king divided the aristocratic society into pieces with his weak nature. But your master calls them the ‘bloodline of the main god’. He praises Fenetian as a family chosen by God and has endured their faults and assisted their flaws for a thousand years.》

“······.”

Every stroke of the letters, a dizzying sensation that pierces the whole body like an awl.

《But ‘I’ am overestimated? Is that what the ducal family is saying!》

It was truly an enormous force. I momentarily lost my words and wiggled my chin.

《······Lowly and foolish thing. What that person has done for the Divine Kingdom to this day has only made the Divine Kingdom sicker as a result.》

“······.”

《I am the one who corrects, so tell your master that.》

“Your way doesn’t correct anything.”

-Rumble······

I muttered as if boiling.

In the meantime, Diop seemed to have sensed something, and he looked up at the ceiling without conveying my words.

It sounded like I could hear the wind.

For some reason, the black magic crystal ball was also trembling slightly.

I clenched my fist so that my fingertips turned white and whispered.

“You’re just a murderer······. A piece of trash who is intoxicated with killing himself.”

“Hey, Palace Lord. Stop it and get up.”

“Suddenly, the sky is not looking good.”

-Kurrr······

The magician grabbed my arm and whispered, and Francois’ worried words also reached my ears.

I kept trembling, and I couldn’t tell if it was because I was shaking or because the ground was vibrating.

My friends and the navy also had slightly embarrassed faces, but I was honestly so angry that I couldn’t see anything.

I felt like the scene in front of me was rippling in purple.

《······To the baron, the daughter who will be left alone······.》

Jijijik, jiiiing. Sneider’s voice flickered like a broken TV channel.

I glared at the crystal ball and tried not to miss a single word of her nonsense.

《Have pity and medicine······. Send······. Not poison······. If you want to save her, you must not throw it away.》

“······.”

Chijijijik. It was a strange word. ‘Medicine to save Francisca.’

And I had a premonition.

-Flutter!

“Good Lord! Red rain is pouring from the night sky!”

“What?!”

“No, you’re not seeing things! It’s really······!”

-Swaaaaa······

I stared at the crystal ball with a dazed look.

Then, I slowly shifted my gaze and stared at Eda Atsuma, who was lying like a corpse.

The conversation I had with the merchants at the guild meeting passed through my head like a kaleidoscope.

As if it were fate.

‘The baron seems to be a very faithful person.’

‘Oh, he has no choice. His daughter was very sick before······.’

‘Has it already been three or four years since the princess got better?’

‘Besides, the baron has already lost two, so how much······.’

‘That was originally a secret, but it became known when her husband died at a young age. She fainted on the spot after hearing the news that the second child had been miscarried, and for about three years from then······.’

“Ha······.”

I felt like my breath and blood flow were blocked.

I could only move my lips because I couldn’t believe my reasoning. My heart was pounding as if it would explode.

My eyes were burning hot, and my arms and legs were trembling as if I had a body ache.

No, this can’t be······.

Please let it be a lie.

“You······. Did you make Francisca sick?”

“Juliet, stop it.”

“Did you even kill Eda Atsuma’s husband to shake that person to his roots and use him?”

-Papapapap―!

‘Kwaaa!’ The moment I shouted in anger, an opaque wave formed in the air and something broke. Sir John’s soundproof barrier had collapsed.

In an instant, half of the tent’s roof flew away and raindrops poured down my neck.

Prince Diop, who was horrified, tried to cover my mouth.

But I was so angry at the Duchess’s wickedness that I was furious. My eyes were all purple and I couldn’t see anything. Let go of me!

[Did you kill him?! I’m asking if you killed his family to shake that person to his roots and use him!]

A blurry figure was caught in my vision as I 벌떡 일어나 [boltteok ireona – suddenly got up].

The criminal’s lower jaw in the crystal ball was moving intermittently.

《Choice······. Necessary, sacrifice······.》

[Don’t bullshit!]

Really don’t bullshit!

“Palace Lord, calm down.”

Ssaeaeaeak! Sir John, who had come in an instant, pressed down on the back of my neck.

But I didn’t faint. The horrified cardinal inhaled in my ear.

[Is there no choice? Was it a necessary sacrifice? Don’t talk nonsense!]

“Everyone, take that person outside! Hurry!”

“Yes!”

[If the king can’t act like a king and the god can’t act like a god, are you going to wear the crown yourself and become a god? Do you think the thousands of people who died at your hands can understand that reason? If they were killed for that reason! Would they understand and accept that they died well!]

《Someday······. Realize······.》

[You’re just a murderer at the bottom of hell!]

-Kwakwakwang―!

A deafening roar erupted from the sunless sky.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, soaked in red rainwater.

By now, Ms. Gain’s white hand was covering my eyes.

But her voice didn’t reach me at all.

[Starving people? Sick livestock and the sick? If you knew the lives of the beings you exploited in the black market, you wouldn’t be able to say such nonsense! You’re just using those people to fill your lowly cause! You’re manipulating their lives like tools! You don’t have even a fingernail’s worth of interest in what kind of lives they really live!]

《That······.》

[Shut up!]

-Paaaaaaa―!

When I shouted for the last time, the golden ether that soared from my whole body also filled the inside and outside of the tent.

-Ssaaaaa······!

“Gasp, cough······!”

-Jjeojeojeok!

Beyond the dazzling flash, I could see the crystal ball splitting exactly in half.

At the same time, I felt a familiar ice energy on my forehead, which was heating up hotly.

Only then did all the strength in my body drain away, and my eyelids slowly fell.

And the voice of my favorite protagonist too······.

‘My little brother is the scariest when he’s angry, in our house.’

Flash! My eyes opened again.

“Heok―!”

I gasped for breath like someone who had fallen into the water and survived.

Just now, just now that wasn’t Ms. Gain’s voice!

“Palace Lord, calm down! I’m here!”

“Jeong Eun-seo! Where are you, Jeong Eun-seo!”

I looked around like a madman, then raised my eyes to the sky as if possessed.

“Ah······.”

My breath stopped.

The white lines in the sky were now four.

In a very familiar rectangular shape.