What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 600

Catching a Rainbow (2)

‘The Prince’s Sleep’.

The year he turned twelve.

That was the title emblazoned across the cover of [a fictional magazine].

I don’t clearly remember the other subheadings, but I distinctly recall that one.

‘-Clatter, clatter······’

In fact, I remember everything about that day as vividly as if I could grasp it.

‘The clear, blue fairy said, ‘Dear Prince, dreams are the winds created by your heart. Please, sleep now. In dreams, your heart won’t hurt.’’

My godmother, in the early morning, read the same novel with the young prince at every meal, simply because he liked it.

It was because the time he spent sleeping was so long that even meal times couldn’t be fully used for eating.

My mother was meticulously scanning various newsletters spread throughout the Imperial City, along with bundles of papers still smelling of ink, as usual.

Because they always spread out at dawn, even the Emperor had many things to check as soon as the sun rose.

My father was looking at me with a gentle expression, as always.

He was always that kind of adult.

Amidst my mother, who was busy beyond words, and my enthusiastic godmother, my father was always the one who watched over Cedric and waited quietly.

The kind voice of the priest echoed through the dining hall.

‘The red, hot prince glared at the fairy with a suspicious look. The child giggled as if he couldn’t help it. ‘Don’t be difficult, and believe in your dreams. Then someday, your rainbow······.’’

Since there were three people, the colors and shapes of affection were also three.

‘And Your Majesty······. The latest issue of has arrived.’

Around that time, Laura, the chamberlain who was pouring whiskey into the Emperor’s teacup, spoke in a trembling voice.

I felt a crack forming in the atmosphere in an instant.

My mother turned to look at her with a strange gaze.

Looking back, I think she had anticipated such a situation to some extent.

The only question was ‘when’ it would happen.

‘-Clatter!’

The color drained from her face as she checked the cover, and my godmother took her eyes off the novel for the first time.

It was a time when she didn’t wear things like monocles.

‘Eve?’

‘······.’

Even with the usual call, my mother gave no answer.

My father glanced at the magazine his partner had put down, excused himself to the attendants, and slowly rose from his seat.

His gaze was still on me, and his warm face remained unchanged, so Cedric didn’t know what was wrong.

Because it sometimes happened that his mother got angry after seeing the newspaper—

‘Chamberlain.’

‘Yes, Your Majesty.’

‘Deploy one hundred Imperial Guards to the Belial family’s printing house. Immediately.’

‘Good heavens······!’

‘Clang!’ It only took a few minutes for the young prince’s breakfast time to be ruined.

The book fell from my godmother’s hand, and the fork and plate pierced my ears with a loud noise.

When I came to my senses, Cedric was being held in his father’s arms, being quickly led out of the hallway.

The child was smaller and had less flesh than boys of his age.

Since he spent most of his day sleeping, he didn’t know much about national affairs or social circles.

But my father told me that I was the smartest and kindest child in the world.

That day was no different.

‘It’s okay, Seidi. You don’t have to worry about anything.’

‘······.’

He smiled brightly as he looked at me.

His long, black hair fluttered before my eyes like a warm night sky.

The attendants following behind all had tearful faces, but thanks to that, I couldn’t see them well.

Cedric realized that his father had taken his book even while rushing out.

Several pages of that story, the title of which he couldn’t even remember now, fluttered busily in the child’s arms like fairy wings.

As if to say, please look here.

‘Don’t be difficult, and believe in your dreams.’

‘Then someday, your rainbow will rise smiling.’

Over the clear voice of imagination, my father’s kind tone was added.

Warm lips touched my temples several times.

‘You really have nothing to worry about.’

‘Your father will protect you.’

‘······I promise.’

It was a promise the boy never wanted.

But a promise is inherently established by one person’s oath alone.

It was the ninth time in the empire’s history that the Emperor had infringed on the freedom of the press.

Considering that most of the monarchs who had set precedents were called ‘tyrants’ or ‘dark lords,’ this was a very dangerous move for Frederick Liester.

Especially considering that she was a young monarch who was not even forty years old.

At the time, the captain of the Imperial Guard was an old general who had been trusted by the late Emperor Celine, and as soon as the imperial order was issued, she led one hundred soldiers and raided the Claire & Adrien printing house.

The Emperor’s strict decree did not even require a warrant.

Everything related to the article, from a single bottle of ink used to print to the pony carriages of the nobles who contributed to that issue, was confiscated in a single day.

More than 90% of the magazines distributed in social circles were recovered and burned, and Sara Belial was summoned to the Imperial Palace to be interrogated under the name of ‘audience’ and imprisoned.

The main reason was that she had reported on the young prince’s frailty, who had to sleep 18 hours a day, causing potential unrest and crisis in the empire.

······But that was it.

‘Sun who has descended upon the earth, please withdraw your anger.’

After a week, elderly great nobles began to come and go to the Imperial Palace.

They were elder statesmen who had retired from official positions, who would not even open their mouths unless it was a very important matter.

In addition, imperial family members who were close to the Emperor visited and tried to calm her anger.

‘The people of Saga are already deeply angered by Lord Belial’s reckless actions and are not ceasing their reverence and concern for His Highness the Prince. Our social circles are no different.’

‘No matter how glitzy the cause may be, if it threatens the person who will become the Crown Prince in the future, it will only fall into a mere excuse. This is a fact that does not change even if that person is the daughter of the late Emperor.’

‘Even those who admired and followed Lord Belial seem greatly disappointed in her actions this time. The front of the baronet’s residence, which used to be crowded every day, is now full of garbage and eggshells.’

‘The Noble Council has adopted a resolution recommending the dismissal of Lord Belial. It is widely predicted that she will resign on her own.’

‘All the blood of the Imperial Family is praying for Your Highness. Please, Your Majesty, show mercy.’

‘······If Your Majesty shows mercy at this point, the dignity and honor of the Liester Imperial Family will be further enhanced.’

Sara Belial had clearly crossed the line.

This had become a truth known throughout the empire.

The rumor that the prince was not in good health had been spreading secretly even before the article was published, and only the extent and details were confidential.

Fortunately, the problem of the ‘vessel’ was a top secret known only to a very few people, so it was not known.

The Emperor seriously considered stepping back at this point.

Of course, on the first day the incident occurred, she truly intended to punish Sara Belial for treason.

But her partner, Alexandre, dissuaded her.

Frederick was the ‘Emperor,’ not anyone else.

The moment Durendal [a legendary sword] sees blood, all lives on earth become light, and the moment she begins to suppress, an eternal winter will fall on the empire.

The monarch was a support before being a person, and someone who had to consider the country before prioritizing emotions.

Even though Belial had left the Imperial Palace on her own feet, she was Romero’s daughter and her aunt.

If she were to cut down someone with the blood of the Imperial Family, she would surely arouse the vigilance of other imperial family members, and if she did, even the prince’s future would be jeopardized.

Closing down the most widely read magazine in the empire was also not a wise move in the long term.

Besides, Belial and her family were already paying the price for their sins.

The part that the Emperor did not expect was public opinion.

‘······I understand your intentions to worry about the safety of the empire.’

‘May you receive the endless blessings of the Lord.’

‘Belial will be sent back to her home.’

‘I am overwhelmed with gratitude, Your Majesty.’

The people of Liester loved the prince much more than she had vaguely expected.

They wanted the family that the kind and beautiful Prince Consort had obtained after overcoming all kinds of difficulties to be happy.

Just as the ground hardens after the rain, and a beautiful rainbow appears.

Like a fairy tale.

The incident seemed to be coming to an end like that.

-Tap!

“······.”

-Weok

The feline divine beast suddenly made a strange noise.

Cedric woke up from his drowsy thoughts and looked down at him.

The creature was busily rubbing its face with its small paws. But it was no use.

The clouds in the night sky were already a mess and looked tearful.

-Tap, tap, tap tap······

-Swish······

The raindrops that had tapped the man’s nose and forehead a few times finally began to cry out loud.

White raindrops poured like needles into the alley where all the light had disappeared.

Cedric felt an instinctive displeasure and quickly became soaked.

The moisture that formed on his eyelashes constantly flowed down his cheeks and Adam’s apple.

The man quietly looked at his hands. Before his crimson eyes, everything was now water, water······. It was water.

Not blood.

‘Father, no. No. There’s too much blood······.’

Without warning, the memories of the last day rushed in like a torrential rain.

Cedric didn’t even think about warming his body and closed his eyes.

He simply complied like a dying fire.

‘I’m okay. I’m sorry to you······.’

‘Your Majesty, I will call the royal physician right away. Just a moment!’

“······.”

The memories of that day were fragmented and scattered, so there was not much that was certain.

For example, he doesn’t remember exactly where he was holding his father.

He couldn’t bring himself to ask his mother and godmother again, so it remained a question for him alone forever.

Furthermore, he does not clearly know what his father was doing that day.

Some things that are certain are that his father’s cane was shattered to pieces, and a huge magic circle was drawn at his feet.

That his internal injuries were already so severe that they were irreversible, and······.

‘Seidi. It’s not your fault at all.’

That he was the cause of all that tragedy. The boy was not a fool.

‘Father, Father······. Please open your eyes······.’

‘No, no! Nikki!’

The scream that seemed to tear his eardrums belonged to his godmother.

Cedric remembered her face more clearly than his mother’s at that time.

He still doesn’t know why.

However, in the intermittently scorched and lost sections, his mother in mourning clothes was always holding something back tightly.

It was sometimes anger, or sadness, or pain, regret······.

Or all of it.

Frederick Liester had never cried out loud in front of her son even once.

‘Let go, I can save him! I can save him! Let go of this!’

And the next memory······.

‘Your Highness! Your Highness, please! Kill us instead!’

‘Aaaaaah! Nikki!’

‘Hold her down, Your Highness!’

His godmother, stained red with his father’s blood, screamed in front of a certain door until her throat was hoarse.

The attendants, including Natalie, wept and tried to stop their master.

Cedric realized why they had acted that way only after a very long time had passed.

A theoretically excellent healing priest could save even a person in a state of suspended animation if they devoted all their ether [magical energy].

In short, it was an act of exchanging lives.

‘No, Nikki! Nikki! How could you, how could you be like this······!’

‘Your Highness Oreli!’

That day, his godmother tried to empty her vessel [a metaphor for life force].

At the very least, it was certain that she was trying to save his father even by cutting out her life force.

Held in David’s arms, Cedric could see her even with his eyes and ears blocked by his large hands.

Her whole face turned leaden, covered in tears, struggling······.

‘Aaaah, aaaaaah!’

Her left eye, dripping with red blood, had no focus.

The Emperor, who had approached in an instant, grabbed her arms and hugged her.

The cardinal, held by a powerful force, screamed for the last time.

Her partner’s shoulders were submerged in red with the blood she had newly shed.

‘[I curse you! May the one who made you like this suffer the same pain as us······!]’

-Drip······

“Your Highness.”

Flinch. Cedric floated back to the surface.

Miraculously, all the noise disappeared.

“······.”

“······It’s raining too much.”

Where he raised his head, there was a blue sky and purple tulips were blooming.