What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 613

#613

Fire Towards the Ocean (3)

“What do you mean? Please explain in detail!”

Startled, Christelle gathered her dress and walked over with a bright expression.

Her white petticoat was clearly visible, but the Royal Guards had grown accustomed to averting their eyes (only young Prince Andre looked at the ceiling, unsure of what to do).

Besides, there was a much more serious matter at hand.

The group quickly gathered and began to murmur.

“Uncle, whose mana signature was detected?”

“Look here. I was one of His Highness the Crown Prince’s magic teachers. How could I not know?”

“More accurately, you were a teaching assistant.”

“Your Highness, what’s important now is that your mana signature was detected here. How could such a thing be possible!”

François D’Huem whispered in an agitated voice.

In contrast, the Crown Prince remained consistently calm. That was only natural.

For two mages to share the same mana signature was fundamentally impossible.

“It seems the Imperial Guard made a mistake during the mana signature collection process.”

“But Cedric, this isn’t just one person’s result.”

“······.”

Finally, the man’s red eyes moved.

His gaze fell upon Elizabeth, who was trying to maintain a calm expression.

“The Guard isn’t responsible for the entire Imperial City for nothing. They’re already keeping the Royal Guard in check, so they wouldn’t want to show any flaws in this investigation. The commander himself came and directed the operation all night. I heard they deployed nearly a hundred people just to analyze this platform. Naturally, more than ten mid- to high-level mages were involved in collecting mana signatures. There’s almost no chance this is wrong.”

“······.”

“Since there were no witnesses, they had to salvage something from the remaining evidence. The guards who were on duty at the time couldn’t identify the appearance of those who used the portal either.”

“······.”

“Even though this is all that’s left, the reports from here already exceed three hundred pages.”

At her words, the group slowly rolled their eyes. The platform was a complete mess.

Vines as thick as an adult’s torso were wrapped around the blackened doors, and one of the doors was half-fallen, dangling pathetically.

The bars and locks were broken like children’s toys, making it difficult to recognize their original form.

It would take at least a month or two to repair the wooden door, which was more than a hand-span thick.

Not to mention the stone walls and floors, which were deeply pitted from the impact, and the fishy smell that stung the nose from all directions.

It was due to the scattered scallop shells and piles of clams, coral reefs as large as Christelle’s dress, and seaweed and kelp hanging from the lights and torches.

Most of it had not been cleaned up yet, as the scene had to be preserved.

The floor was sticky wherever shoes touched.

“······Even so, it’s impossible for the mana signatures to be the same.”

“That’s the problem. Why is it that the result of nearly ten re-examinations and reviews is the same as yours? You were with us all day yesterday!”

“Are mana signatures not supposed to overlap?”

Christelle whispered into Elizabeth’s ear.

The Deputy Commander immediately lowered his head and voice.

“Yes. It’s like a person’s iris or voice. Moreover, it doesn’t change throughout their life. Even mana signatures among the same species of magical beasts are different.”

“I was in charge of recording and observing His Highness’s mana signature when he was young. There’s no way my genius memory could confuse it with someone else’s!”

“······.”

“······.”

Everyone looked as if they desperately wanted to refute, but unfortunately, François’s words were all true.

Elizabeth quickly opened the thick report she had received from her subordinate earlier.

The document introduced all sorts of evidence with simple illustrations, and the actual items were being transferred to the Imperial Guard.

This was why the imperial order was issued just over an hour after the report that ‘the Ivelyn portal was attacked by robbers’ was filed.

‘Hervé, take charge of this case.’

‘······Yes, Your Majesty.’

“There are testimonies from the first witnesses here. Of course, it’s an overstatement to call them witnesses since they didn’t see anything properly… ‘When we broke down the door, the orange mana was already sweeping over the portal like a wave and disappearing. I swear to the gods, that’s all we know. Please kill us.'”

“Orange? Isn’t mana originally red? Even in that dilapidated house where they abused goats…”

“That’s right. The bell that rang with the alarm magic was glowing red. If I remember correctly, it was a device installed by Ms. Barbara Schu from next door. But orange mana… Mine tends to be light pink, but I’m a special case, so this is also a very strange testimony. Reddish mana is the most common.”

“There are more than one or two disturbing points.”

“They’re all serious issues. Then, is it impossible to copy or forge a mana signature?”

The Princess asked again. François shook his head firmly.

“Even a hundred-year-old black magician couldn’t do it. The only way to change your unique mana signature is to be reborn.”

“Then perhaps…”

Prince Andre, who had been listening to the adults’ stories all along, carefully broached the subject.

All eyes turned to him.

“Perhaps His Highness has a hidden twin brother…?”

“Here! Here’s a handful of goat hair too. Yes. There’s a lot of strange on-site evidence?”

“Ah, I see! How absurd!”

Feeling a sense of crisis, Elizabeth suddenly raised her voice, and François hurriedly agreed, fearing that the Crown Prince would draw his sword.

Christelle immediately pulled the Prince’s belt from behind.

Cedric silently glared at him once—

Wait a minute.

“······Goat hair, you say?”

The Prince narrowed his eyes and asked again.

His fiancée also wore the same expression, as if something was bothering her.

“Uh? Uh, that’s right. They found it nearby, but no one knows how long it’s been there. Precise analysis revealed it to be goat hair.”

“······.”

The Deputy Commander’s reply came back.

Ruby-red eyes immediately moved as if calculating something.

He recalled the disastrous raid on the dilapidated house.

The Marquis D’Huem had clearly stated that the natural mana near that district was scattered and showed a strange flow.

He also claimed that a paladin must have been present nearby.

Commander Modest Bacari also left a similar note at the Andre family’s estate.

‘End of the swamp and jungle,’ ‘Traces of the prince,’ ‘Breath of the beast.’ At the time, the group assumed that ‘breath of the beast’ referred to a herd of goats.

‘End of the swamp and jungle’ was seen as referring to the terrain around the Bacari family’s lake.

But… there was nothing in that house.

‘Oh, oh! Lords! We don’t know anything. We really don’t know anything!’

‘What’s going on, dear? Heo-eok…!’

They thoroughly searched the basement floor, but only found that the homeowners had not properly fed the goats for more than half a year.

Ms. Schu, who lived in the house behind, was away.

It was not surprising, as she was known to travel and go out frequently.

However, Cedric did not dismiss his suspicions there.

His memory began to turn slowly like a music box.

‘Clatter, clatter, clatter…’

Going back further in time, he looks down at the path in front of Schu’s dilapidated house.

“······.”

He didn’t pay much attention to it at the time.

But now that he thinks about it, there are several muddy goat footprints in front of Noohn’s house.

The man decides to analyze what this means.

His brilliant mind moved like a top once again. Turning the key further into the past…

‘Cedric, isn’t Juliette your responsibility?’

‘I should give her some warning.’

That day, his attention is distracted by the Grand Duchess’s soft voice.

The man outside the window who caused a commotion in Juliette’s garden catches his eye.

Cedric puts down the documents he was reviewing and calls David.

He then has a few words with the Grand Duchess.

In the meantime, several people appear beyond the window frame.

Benjamin Girardin, the chief steward of Juliette Palace, and Ms. Barbara Schu.

And a man who is her ‘grandnephew’…

‘······Is the grandnephew’s identity confirmed?’

‘Why? Does he seem suspicious?’

He feels a strong sense of unease when he sees the man for the first time.

So much so that he feels strange himself.

He assumes it’s just because he’s not feeling well, but he can’t shake the strange feeling.

He thinks back to whether Schu had any family close enough to enter the palace with her.

He doesn’t know much, so there’s nothing certain.

“······.”

Next, he notices the Prince’s servant. Common brown hair and brown eyes.

White skin as if he had never done a hard day’s work. A skinny man who took care of four beasts.

He helps with the chaos with a familiar expression.

The beasts beside him all give Cedric a strange feeling.

It’s not unpleasant, but it’s unsettling, and although they look like ordinary dogs, they somehow don’t seem like it.

······Beasts. ‘Breath of the beast.’

“Cedric? What are you thinking about right now?”

The man rewinds the key even faster without a word. This time in the opposite direction.

Back, back, back.

‘The Prince is looking for… It must be you.’

‘······Yes?’

One night, he encounters the Prince in the maze of Juliette’s garden.

To be exact, it’s because he mentioned himself and made an offensive remark.

‘P, Prince… I greet the little sun of the Liester Empire…’

The servant prostrates himself and greets him.

The moment he sees him, his shoulders tense with inexplicable tension.

Cedric assumes it’s because he suddenly met the Prince.

He doesn’t usually like Yesser Venetian.

‘I asked what those beasts were.’

‘Th, they’re the dogs I raise. They came up with me from my hometown, and the merciful Prince Yesser and Benjamin accepted them as family with me.’

······It wasn’t just the servant who disappeared with the Prince.

Cedric thinks about what kind of kidnapper would plan to steal the pets of the kidnapped person’s underling.

‘You must have read the posters. Have you seen a priest leaving Romero late at night?’

‘No, no. I haven’t seen any other priests in the palace besides the Prince.’

Shortly after, the Prince cuts off their conversation.

Cedric feels unpleasant again. A brief argument ensues.

The servant widens his eyes when he sees his shirt.

‘Heok…’

Cedric doesn’t ask what it’s because of.

After all, there’s no reason for him, a member of the imperial family, to care about the feelings of a mere servant.

However, the man now analyzes his own memories in detail.

He accurately pinpoints the spot the servant observed.

A cracked necklace comes into view.

It’s the item the mysterious priest dropped.

“Ha…”

The music box creaked and spun as if it were broken.

The Crown Prince raised his hand and briefly covered his forehead.

The voice that had been pouring out coldness beside him was greatly embarrassed. ‘Your Highness, what’s wrong?’

“Don’t suffer alone, please tell me. We promised.”

“······I was greatly deceived.”

“Yes?”

“I was taken in from beginning to end.”

The man cut off the sentence between his teeth.

His bloodshot eyes rolled and aimed at one of the Royal Guards.

“You go to the Imperial Palace right now and investigate Barbara Schu’s family relations. Find out if she has a grandnephew, and if so, who he is, and secure him if possible. If necessary, you can mobilize all your subordinates and colleagues.”

“Yes, yes! Your Highness!”

“Elizabeth, urgently dispatch the Imperial Guard to Ivelyn by land. How many available personnel are there?”

“······It won’t be as many as you want. After the Fleur-de-Lis prophecy, half of the Royal Guard has been dispatched to southern Empire.”

‘Damn it.’ Elizabeth muttered a small curse.

Cedric looked back at his only oasis with bloodshot eyes.

“······Then we’ll have to go ourselves.”

Then she declared.

As if she had been waiting for the man’s will.