What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 773

The Sub-Male Lead Goes on Strike – 773

Entrapment (12)

In the heart of the Venetian Royal Castle.

The main castle had become a scene of utter chaos.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Clear the way, His Majesty is coming!”

“Ah, I behold His Royal Majesty!”

“I behold the one who protects the faith of the Divine Kingdom. Good heavens…!”

“Queen Christiana has awakened? Is that true? Oh my!”

The most esteemed guests within the castle were gathered in the main building, among whom were the royals, confined here, passing their days.

The staff attending to the honored guests scrambled, prostrating themselves on the floor.

Those who recognized the Queen’s face were equally astonished and followed after her.

Christiana was heading towards the deepest, darkest part of the royal castle.

To a secret chamber, forbidden to anyone not of the direct royal lineage.

“Respected Majesty, we have arrived, your fifth cousins! Do you recognize us?”

“Yes, it has been a while. Quickly take up arms and head to the banquet hall. You must be ready to fight at any moment.”

“Heavens, Her Majesty finally recognizes us!”

“Wait a moment, brother. Prepare to fight?”

The youths buzzed with whispers. Most of the royals were much younger and more naive than Elysee.

Those with experience would have gone to the battlefield, and the cunning ones would have already hidden in their territories, leaving only clueless youngsters unaware of the world.

Christiana thought so inwardly, striding down the stairs with her sword.

Or, rather, she intended to, until one of her young relatives asked her.

“Your Majesty, what has become of His Royal Consort?”

“That’s right! Did they succeed in capturing him?”

Abruptly.

“······Your Majesty?”

“······Royal Consort?”

Royal Consort. Her husband. Werner Beatrix Venetian.

Her head tilted to the side with a creak.

“······.”

What happened to him? Now that she thought about it, where was the Royal Consort and what was he doing?

The Queen paused, gripping the railing, standing still.

Who was truly clueless and unaware of the world?

It wasn’t another episode of her long-standing madness.

It was merely that in a corner of her mind, a section long blocked and impenetrable, a crack was finally forming.

Christiana groped in the air with a blank expression.

With each blink, scenes flashed randomly—and these scenes rapidly grafted and grew into days, months, years.

‘Ah, Your Majesty! Your Majesty’s son…!’

Finally, breaking through the long occlusion [blockage], a hazy memory surged in.

Like an unstoppable divine disaster.

‘Your Majesty, news has arrived that the Second Prince, Yeser Venetian, has passed away!’

‘Oh dear, oh dear…!’

The attendants collapsed to the floor, bursting into tears, and the old chief servant nearly fainted on the spot, barely managing to grab the bedpost to regain his senses.

That morning, Christiana had been drinking a potion with a strange, bloody smell.

No, the medicine to control her madness always had a repulsive smell of blood.

It was a stench that anyone who had ever hunted or handled demonic beasts would recognize.

However, the royal physician diagnosed it as another symptom of her condition. No one else could smell the same odor from the medicine.

And, and….

‘What? Who, what… What happened to my son?’

‘Huuu… Your Majesty! Please, strike me down and kill me instead!’

‘…What did you just say?’

Reality swirled around her like a slow hallucination.

Even amidst this, Christiana felt her heart tear apart as the space beneath the bed caved in.

It was a despair that even the strongest medicine could not mask.

It was the day she lost her child, more precious than her own life.

Christiana went mad again at the disaster that no human could bear, a grief that even the gods refused to name.

She vomited everything she had eaten that morning and smashed all the furniture and dishes in sight.

She couldn’t tell if the screams echoing in her ears were her own or the servants’.

It was only after seeing the chief servant covered in blood from the shattered glass that her mind seemed to return, at least for a moment.

‘His Royal Consort, Werner, His Royal Consort… Huhu… It is said that he stabbed the Prince with a knife, according to the Riester Empire….’

A servant wailed, forehead pressed against the carpet.

The hazy vision cleared in an instant.

Christiana gasped, breathing in the metallic scent.

‘…Royal Consort?’

…Why him? Why Werner?

Why? Why?

“No.”

Her husband had a long-standing justification.

Christiana gripped the railing as if to break it, breathing heavily.

The startled royal children retreated in a flurry.

“Your Majesty, perhaps, perhaps you are unwell….”

“No. I am perfectly fine.”

More than fine. So clear-headed that it made her nauseous.

She shook her head sharply and uttered the name of the problem.

“…Werner Schneider.”

The man who was of the Duke’s bloodline before being a Venetian.

The one who cleverly avoided all the traps even after killing Michael. And….

‘Aaaaaah! Michael, no, Michael…!’

The murderer who dug out the eyes of the dead priest, erasing all brown eyes that were not his own.

The corpse that supposedly hanged himself had empty eye sockets.

They were filled only with old bloodstains. That’s how she knew.

That her husband had killed him.

Blood. A terrible smell of blood.

“….From the beginning, Schneider started this war. By killing my son.”

“What did you say?”

“Shhh!”

“So Elysee confronted Schneider in the middle of the battlefield.”

From the tangled mess in her head, Christiana barely managed to salvage a few coherent clues.

One of the relatives who had been listening to her muttering quickly bowed.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty. We will take our leave now. We will diligently sharpen our swords and prepare to face the Imperial Army.”

“No.”

The Queen looked back at the royals with fierce eyes. The frightened youths shrank back.

“Whether our swords will ultimately be directed at the Imperial Army remains to be seen.”

“……”

“So prepare well. If you do not want to have your country taken from you by anyone.”

“Yes, yes……”

Before the children could give a proper answer, the Queen skipped down the stairs two or three steps at a time.

She passed through the underground corridor, descended the stairs leading further down, and as soon as another door opened, she rushed without hesitation into the even darker depths.

Each time she passed a torch on the wall, knights in heavy armor bowed respectfully.

At least the royal guards protecting this place were all trustworthy people of the Queen.

Wasn’t that only natural?

“Open the door. Quickly.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The underground was a notorious sinecure [a position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit], where nothing ever happened and no one could ever play an active role.

-Krrrrr….

-Kugugung…!

Two burly knights clung to the stone door and opened the way.

It was so deep that the air was as cold as midwinter.

The darkness, like night, was constantly filled with a damp and ominous aura.

Christiana breathed out a faint mist and hurriedly stepped inside.

-Wooowoong….

“……”

What greeted her was a golden ether barrier of a scale that could not be compared to the previous stone door….

“……Babette?”

A familiar scent.

“Welcome, Your Majesty.”

It was Babette Bowman, the chief servant who had attended to Christiana since the moment she was born as a princess.

The Queen’s eyes widened at the unexpected discovery of her servant.

The old man bowed deeply as soon as he saw her.

“Since hearing the news of your awakening… I have been guarding this place all along. Please forgive my disloyalty in not visiting you sooner.”

“……You have been guarding it yourself?”

The Queen asked again. The chief servant answered respectfully.

“Yes. Remembering how you always regarded the existence of the Royal Womb with unease and worried that Schneider’s people might invade, this old man decided to defend the underground first. Fortunately, no one has come this far yet.”

“……”

“……”

The old man spread out his scarred hands.

Each time he endured Christiana’s madness, the chief servant had to get hurt and bleed here and there. In his dry palm lay a small bread knife that would normally be found on a dining table.

The Queen exchanged glances with her old friend and let out a short laugh.

Indeed, that was it. That was why he had not been seen until now. It felt like one unresolved question was finally being answered.

Nodding, Christiana immediately placed her hand on the ether barrier.

Specifically, in the center of the highly complex pattern, the hollow, circular heart.

-Jiiiiing…!

The direct lineage of the first King, Yuri Venetian.

The ancient spell, recognizing the extremely demanding conditions, immediately began to create circular ripples.

The fist-sized golden waves quickly grew in size, spreading to the corners of the barrier.

Before long….

-Wooowoong, wooowoong, wooowoong…!

The luxurious patterns, intricately interlocked like components, disassembled in order, leaving faint afterimages and disappearing into the air one by one.

Christiana gripped her sword tightly and gritted her teeth. Now, what lay before them was….

“……”

“……Let’s go.”

A vast, tall chamber of darkness, perfectly shaped like a hemisphere.

The two walked through the space devoid of even a single spark of light, waiting for their vision to adjust to the darkness.

The chief servant, after offering a short prayer to the heavens, turned back.

The great ether barrier was silently blocking the entrance once again.

Eventually, Christiana was able to identify the writing that encircled the circular ceiling.

‘AD LUNAM ET ULTRA’

And mixed with the scent that she could always smell in her bedroom….

A faint smell of blood.

“……Excuse me, do you know what that phrase means, Your Majesty?”

“I do not. Even my royal father, who was merely a priest-level paladin, did not know.”

“……”

“No, perhaps he knew but did not teach me. Is it not a word of no use? Everything that decorates this place. The very existence of this filthy and damp place….”

Christiana spat out words like a curse and looked back at the stone floor.

Her eyes, accustomed to the dim light, were filled with engravings in the form of a garden.

Intricate and complex like a self-contained mechanical device, yet so ornate and vast as to fill the entire room….

“……So, it must be destroyed.”

A cardinal’s circle.

A trap of the king who insulted the main god.