What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 823

Gemini (6)

“There are so many ups and downs in a freshman’s life.”

“If you’ve never seen your ultimate favorite die in real-time, be quiet.”

“······.”

“······.”

Jung Hyun-seo, who had killed Jung Eun-seo’s ultimate favorite in real-time, immediately shut her mouth, and Count Johan and I focused on our meal.

I was so confused whether the rice was going into my nose or my mouth, but somehow I managed to get it into my stomach.

The Cardinal must have felt sorry for my restlessness, so he placed braised quail eggs on top of the fluffy brown rice.

Thank you. You’re not just good at using chopsticks; you can even pick up quail eggs in one go now….

“Why, did the Prince appear in your dream and say something?”

Hyung [older brother or male friend] asked in a nonchalant voice. I was only impressed inwardly.

How can he be so shameless? Are all writers like that?

“No, not really… The content is a bit funny. It was….”

Even she seemed to think it was absurd; Eun-seo chuckled and made an embarrassed expression.

The girl, who folded the egg omelet amazingly and put it in her mouth, chewed the food diligently and swallowed it before seriously speaking.

“Listen, I…. I’m a god in some world.”

Cough!

“Are you okay?”

“Cough, cough, cough! Ugh, I’m okay, cough, cough!”

Cough, cough! I had a terrible coughing fit!

Count Johan calmly poured water into a cup, and Jung Hyun-seo tried to act as normal as possible, but she was already stirring the seaweed soup with beef like noodles with her left hand while using chopsticks.

‘Are you okay?’ The youngest, who asked that, looked into me.

I nodded while gulping down cold water, and she slowly continued.

“Ahem. Anyway, since I’m a god, I don’t live in a normal house anymore, right? I’m alone in a place like space. There are meteorites floating around…. The Milky Way is flowing; it’s really cool.”

“······.”

“······.”

“······.”

I felt like I should start reacting somehow—if I were a normal family who had never crossed world lines, if I were a family that wasn’t of a specific monotheistic bloodline, I couldn’t even guess what kind of answer they would give to such words.

Even though I wanted to think calmly as usual, my heart kept pounding so hard that it was too difficult.

After much deliberation, I decided to focus on non-verbal communication and diligently nodded my head while eating.

Jung Hyun-seo came to a similar conclusion and was now tearing kimchi with a spoon.

What’s the point of having a normal face and tone? I shouldn’t be saying this, but please calm down….

“Then, what was it? I don’t remember all the details…. Suddenly, Little Oppa [term used by a younger girl to address an older brother or male friend] came out.”

“······Me?”

My voice popped out in an unpleasant way.

Hyung shot me a look of disdain, but I gritted my teeth and ignored it.

“Yeah, Oppa came out and suddenly started fighting with some grandmothers?”

Oh my god…. This girl, she remembers the situation quite accurately.

Failing to manage my expression, I scooped up a generous portion of potato bacon stir-fry and shoved it into my mouth.

Count Johan, who prefers seasoned vegetables, picked up fernbrake and neatly placed it on top of his rice.

Jung Hyun-seo responded with a still indifferent face and uncharacteristic behavior, sprinkling ketchup on eggplant side dish.

“Jung-ye wouldn’t do that. Those grandmothers must have done something terribly wrong.”

Hyung is doing something wrong to the eggplant right now.

“Yeah, yeah. I think I was on Little Oppa’s side while getting angry too. Oppa kept saying only right things. So….”

“······.”

“Blah blah blah, Jung-ye and I were shouting, and suddenly arrows flew from somewhere and swept away the grandmothers with a bang! Maybe?”

“Spectacular.”

“Yeah. Maybe it’s because I kept replaying the war part since the hiatus announcement. Anyway, those grandmothers were really wrong, so I felt relieved. The problem is that the arrows were too big, so the place where I was also got hit. The universe started to collapse all at once with a crash.”

“······.”

She really remembers it quite clearly….

I rubbed my goosebump-covered arms and stirred the mushroom stir-fry with my chopsticks.

On the other hand, Count Johan, who had learned proper Korean table manners, continued to eat with a straight posture.

He hardly ever picked and ate all the side dishes evenly.

A being like a foreigner in a fantasy….

“So?”

“So…. I was about to fall while clinging to something, but then Prince Yeseo 딱! [onomatopoeia for ‘suddenly’] My hand 딱! [onomatopoeia for ‘suddenly’]”

Clap! Eun-seo clapped her hands with a flushed face. Jung Hyun-seo nodded lightly.

“He saved you.”

“Right, amazing. It’s a dream, so it’s immediately reflected as I wish. I couldn’t think of anything but the Prince at that time, and immediately 딱! [onomatopoeia for ‘suddenly’] My baby is right in front of me 딱! [onomatopoeia for ‘suddenly’]”

“And?”

“······And? I don’t remember. I probably woke up right away?”

“······.”

Thank goodness…. Is it a good thing…?

This was the first time I had such a tense breakfast since Jung Eun-seo’s college entrance exam.

The neatly tied necktie felt like it was choking me.

Hyung was now skillfully separating the heads and bodies of dried shrimp with his chopsticks.

Please calm down.

“Interesting.”

“No, if I dream this every day, the fun disappears.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, Hyung was also eating up the eggplant side dish he had killed.

I scraped the last spoonful of rice from my bowl and suddenly opened my eyes.

“······You dream the same dream every day?”

“I think so. At first, it was just a dream of clinging to something and falling? But it gradually got fleshed out and came this far.”

Wow….

“Then Prince Yeseo is….”

“He first appeared last night. The arrows and grandmothers also started appearing recently. Little Oppa has been there from the beginning, though.”

“······.”

“······.”

The guardian deity is not supposed to remember their dreams.

Even if there were lingering images, they should forget them as time passes.

On the contrary, the dream is getting clearer?

“Ah, why are you looking at me like that? It’s not to the point where I need to go back to counseling. I’m just too immersed in it.”

“Yeah, that’s right. That could be.”

Eun-seo’s added words brought me back to my senses.

Oh, I forgot that my sister had been going to the hospital for depression for a while.

The head that was already trembling became even more complicated.

Hyung nonchalantly wrapped up the situation by nagging, ‘Look at everything in moderation, in moderation.’

“······I enjoyed the meal. I have to go out a bit early today, so I’ll brush my teeth first.”

“Alright.”

“Oh? Come to think of it, why is Jung-ye wearing a suit? Do you have a blind date?”

“Who would set up a blind date for an old man? I have an important meeting.”

I brushed it off with a casual smile, put the dishes and spoons in the dishwasher, and glanced at Count Johan.

The man then sent me his usual kind smile.

As if everything would be alright. As if he wasn’t worried about anything.

His wedding ring was still on his left ring finger.

“······.”

I felt like all the food I had eaten was stuck in my throat. Of course, it wasn’t because of Count Johan.

It’s just that the weight of the countless promises I’ve made so far was pressing down on me anew.

*

Meanwhile, April 11, 1615 in the Holy Calendar.

Crown Prince Cedric Liester of the Great Liester Empire returned to the capital.

It was a spring day when the sun was shining brilliantly.

“Aaaaaah······!”

“Long live the Crown Prince! Long live! Long live!”

“Long live the Liester Empire! Long live! Long live!”

“Yaaaaah······!”

The crowd that filled the Claire Square, where the statue of the Warlord was located, was a large crowd of hundreds of thousands of people.

Only thousands of people had already camped out here for two days to see the Crown Prince returning in triumph with news of victory.

The young people who had climbed onto the roofs of buildings and the tops of fountains shouted until their throats were hoarse and scattered flower petals in all directions, and the old people sitting on ladders here and there and the children riding on their parents’ shoulders constantly waved handkerchiefs and bouquets.

The sunlight was warm and the wind was clear, as if grace had been bestowed.

“Wowwwwww!”

“Victory! Victory! Victory! Victory!”

“Your Highness! There’s the Crown Prince, the real Crown Prince…!”

At the head of the escort unit that returned home after a year, the Imperial Guard in splendid armor was lined up.

Guard Captain Erbe Dhiem, who had gone out to meet the Crown Prince on the outskirts of the capital, escorted him at close range, and the great nobles who had returned with the Crown Prince smiled happily even though they were wrapped in bandages all over their bodies.

Behind them, the procession of fallen soldiers in urns solemnly continued.

By order of Emperor Frederick, they were receiving honors virtually equal to those of nobles.

Higher-ranking knights walked in front of their remains, holding black flags and imperial flags together, announcing their honorable deaths, and those who held the remains of their comrades in their arms wore the cleanest clothes thanks to the consideration of their commanders.

Those who had left behind heroic achievements were specially honored by draping small emblems over their urns.

Then, the people of the capital expressed their condolences for the dead by placing white flowers on the ground or throwing them from afar.

Many people took off their hats and bowed, or clasped their hands together and prayed.

-Pooooooo······!

-Doom, doom, doom······!

“Waaaaaaa!”

“Who descended to earth and raised the empire—”

“May the blessed Arian King receive grace—”

“God, protect our Emperor—”

“God, may our Emperor live long—”

The soldiers’ cheers that seemed to pierce the sky spread through the crowd in an instant like a wildfire in spring.

The people put their arms around each other’s shoulders or swayed their bodies from side to side, or sang the national anthem in drunken faces.

The Crown Prince, with Cristel Lanbuet on his left and Djibril Diop on his right, looked back at them while riding his horse with a noble expression.

“Honor to Your Highness, victory to Your Highness, glory to Your Highness—”

“Justice to the Empire, prosperity to the Empire, blessings to the Empire—”

Everyone was sincerely happy.

They were now singing the ‘Your Highness’ part of the lyrics instead of ‘His Majesty’.

“So that the great sun of Liester does not set—”

“So that the noble heart of Liester does not stop—”

“Oh—oh—God, watch over the Empire forever—”

“Oh—oh—God, watch over Your Highness forever—”

As the song passed its climax and headed towards the end, the Crown Prince smiled faintly and raised one hand to greet them.

Then, the people literally foamed at the mouth and poured out cheers.

“Aaaaaaaa!”

“God, protect our Crown Prince—!”

“God, may our Crown Prince live long—!”

“Wheeeeeek!”

“Long live the Crown Prince…!”

Deafening shouts, flower petals and pollen covering the sky and earth.

The hot joy of victory and the cool pain of loss….

It was a day when everything was mixed together like a blast furnace.

Cedric quietly looked back at the seat next to him.

“······.”

“······.”

Gain made eye contact. Then she smiled and shrugged.

Only two people’s bowls were empty among them.