Ch. 43

“Please step back right now, Master!” Derol shouted while jumping up.

I quickly held out my hand in front of him. He climbed onto my hand and looked at me with shining eyes. “Master, leave Ardion to me. If he acts with ill intent…”

“It’s fine, Derol. You don’t need to be so angry.”

“But…”

At that moment, I felt a faint vibration from the mana tracker. I hurriedly checked it. The bottom part was flashing a quick red light.

My hands trembled. “Your Highness! She’s nearby.”

Ardion approached me. He checked the tracker and immediately saddled the horse. I put Derol back in my pocket and climbed onto the horse.

“We just need to go a bit more northwest from here.”

I kept an eye on the mana tracker. Ardion grabbed the reins and urged the horse to go faster. The red light on the tracker began to flash more intensely.

We were getting closer.

But suddenly, Ardion stopped the horse.

In front of us was a strange creature. Its face resembled a wolf’s, but its body was upright like a human’s, and its entire body was covered in fur, resembling a werewolf.

I had a bad feeling. In a low voice, I asked Ardion, “Your Highness, what is that?”

Derol popped his head out of my pocket and tilted his head. “It looks exactly like a wolf.”

Ardion narrowed his brows. “It’s a monster.”

He immediately dismounted.

❋ ❋ ❋

An hour earlier, in Rowell’s office.

Long, sharp leaf stems hung down in a graceful curve. Beneath them, droplets of water slid down smoothly.

Plop, plop.

As the droplets fell, a circular, dark stain grew larger on the ground below. Rowell gracefully sipped tea while staring at the falling droplets, their regular rhythm capturing his attention.

But soon, he furrowed his brows.

Plop.

It was a sound louder than the droplets. The rhythm that had been so carefully tuned seemed slightly off. Rowell set his teacup down calmly and called towards the door. “What’s going on?”

“Your Highness the Crown Prince… the prince…”

“Come in.” Trede, captain of the Imperial Guard and Rowell’s trusted knight, bowed and entered.

“I’m sorry. Our knights—”

Before Trede could finish speaking, a teacup flew through the air and landed precisely at his feet. Trede lowered his head further, but he couldn’t hide his nervousness. His hands trembled slightly.

“Did I not make myself unclear?” Rowell’s lips curled into a faint smile. To the untrained eye, it might have seemed soft, but his eyes glowed with a dark light.

“No, but the prince managed to escape by using magic…”

At that moment, Trede grabbed his forearm. There was a bandage covering a throbbing wound, a cut from Ardion’s blade. It had been hastily wrapped, and the deep wound still leaked blood.

Rowell glanced at the bloodstained bandage and said, “That looks more like a wound from a blade than from magic.”

“We tried to stop him, but…”

“How long are you going to make excuses?” Rowell slowly stood up from his seat and walked towards Trede with an indifferent expression. He approached him without hesitation and drew his blade.

Trede quickly kneeled. “Your Highness, I will definitely catch the prince this time. We missed him because of the water barrier, but…”

“‘Missed him’… I don’t want to hear that anymore.” Rowell expressionlessly stabbed his sword into the bandaged area.

“Ugh,” Trede groaned and lowered his head even more.

“Knowing how painful it is, you still dare to make mistakes?” Rowell’s voice held no trace of warmth.

Trede clenched his jaw, trying to hold back the pain.

Rowell looked at him and muttered in a low voice, “You should be thankful that you at least got the necklace.”

He let the necklace dangle from his fingers. The gold necklace, with a central gem that gleamed like a jewel, shimmered in front of Trede’s eyes.

Suddenly, Trede’s face twisted in pain. “Ugh… Your… Your Highness!”

He gasped for air. Rowell watched him for a moment before sheathing his sword. Trede immediately grabbed his forearm, blood flowing freely from his wound.

“Well, Serina made the mistake. A few nobles seem to have sided with Ardion, and some priests will probably use the prophecy to apply pressure.”

“Ugh…”

Rowell stared at Trede, who was groaning in pain, then wiped the bloodstained sword on his clothes. “By the way, did you meet with the emperor’s healer?”

“The emperor… The healer said His Majesty has no hope left.”

Rowell’s lips curled into a grim smile. “Right, it’s about time for him to go.”

“… Your Highness, what should we do about the prince?”

“Search the entire forest around the imperial palace. I released a few monsters. He won’t get far.” Rowell placed Ardion’s necklace in his pocket.

Trede exhaled and cautiously asked, “However, where is Miss Serina?”

“She already came and went. She’s probably resting somewhere.”

Trede nodded. Rowell sheathed his sword and motioned for him to leave. Trede knew it was time for him to disappear.

He slowly stood up, wincing as his injured arm throbbed.

Rowell handed Trede a bottle filled with mana. “Take this immediately to the emperor’s personal healer and have him make the medicine.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“And make sure to add enough poison to kill.”

“I understand.” Trede bowed his head to Rowell and immediately left the office.

❋ ❋ ❋

Ardion immediately drew his sword. As he held the sword, all kinds of mana began to surround the sword.

He slowly walked towards the monster, and as he got closer, he swung his sword without hesitation. The monster dodged the blade, but only for a moment. Soon, Ardion skillfully swung his sword in the opposite direction.

A red wound appeared on the monster’s arm. He continued to release mana without stopping as red and blue lights surrounded his sword.

At that moment, the monster charged at Ardion. He gripped the sword with strength in his hand, and the blade began to be engulfed in flames. He skillfully evaded the monster’s arm and stabbed it in the heart.

I stared at Ardion in a daze. He must have fought like that on the battlefield, right?

Back in the armory, it was impossible to see him fighting because of the dust. But now, I could see it very well, and it made me realize that Ardion was the male protagonist.

He looked so cool fighting.

Ardion certainly seemed to know how to handle mana well. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to use mana so freely with a normal weapon.

Soon, a howl sounded, and the monster fell forward helplessly.

“A monster wandering around the forest behind the palace. How did you manage it?” Ardion muttered in a low voice. He wiped his sword on the grass and put it back in its sheath.

Derol, who was watching all of this, squeaked. “He’s definitely someone with an abundance of mana.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s definitely different from me.”

Now Derol nodded.

Just then, Ardion approached me and looked at me with a worried expression. “Laila, aren’t you hurt?”

“I’m fine. How about you, Your Highness?”

“I’ve killed a lot of those guys, so I’m okay. By the way, your expression doesn’t look good.”

“No! I was just surprised because the monster was bigger than I thought.”

“There are many bigger ones in the frontier than that one. There must be a place near here where they come out.”

“But isn’t this place behind the palace?”

No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t make sense for a monster like that to pop out. It was definitely near the palace, so there was no way the management would be lax…

“Those who like to cause trouble will intentionally send out things like that.”

“So, you’re saying they’re releasing monsters on purpose?”

“That’s the only other explanation. The area around the palace has been thoroughly managed to prevent monsters from entering.”

I suddenly thought of Rowell.

Ardion must have had that thought too, as he said in a low voice, “Since Rowell has been ruling this empire instead of our father, the number of monsters has increased. But who would have thought it would be like this even behind the palace?”

He shook his head, took out a vial from his pocket, bent down, and collected the monster’s blood. He smiled as he looked at the blood in the vial. “Still, I’m grateful that he’s revealing it to me like this.”

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Ardion put the vial in his pocket. “I’m collecting evidence. Anyway, since a monster appeared in the forest behind the palace, we should investigate it. It’s obvious who’s behind it.”

There really was no place where Rowell didn’t get involved in bad things, which included Duke Orchid’s mansion.

While I was watching Ardion, Derol shouted, “Master! The mana tracker!”

I hurriedly ran to the horse where the mana tracker was. Just as Derol said, the red light was still flashing fiercely.

Ardion quickly walked towards me. He looked at the mana tracker up close and immediately looked around. “There’s no need to get on the horse. It’s definitely around here.”

Derol got off of me, stood on his two feet, and looked around. I also quickly scanned the trees.

Then I saw a cabin in the distance. Someone was entering the cabin. This person was wearing a cloak, but they felt familiar, and their leg was limping.

I quickly turned around. I thought my voice would reach the cabin from here, so I quickly walked to Ardion and whispered softly, “I think we found Serina, Your Highness.”

Comments