Chapter 87
Now he desperately needed the help of the Crown Prince, who had said he would return after evacuating the Emperor. Idelin wouldn’t be able to help unless Revenant’s arrow made of living dragon bones was removed, and he didn’t want to call Sian’s black dragon unless absolutely necessary.
Soldiers wouldn’t be much help no matter how many were mobilized. Some of the troops remaining in the imperial palace had already suffered heavy casualties from Brita, and even if they mobilized all the rest, with Brita taking Antonio’s safety hostage and siding with Revenant, it would only lead to pointless casualties.
All that remained was the Crown Prince’s Nathan.
“…What do you want?”
Carl spoke while keeping his sword pointed at Revenant.
“Money, honor… Seeing how you’ve abandoned your position as a dragon knight’s wife to do this, it can’t be those things. Do you intend to hunt all dragons?”
Let’s try to buy time, Carl thought, when Revenant burst into loud laughter as if she had been waiting for that question.
“Why do you suddenly ask such things? Are you trying to buy time?”
“…”
It was as if she had read Carl’s thoughts. Revenant raised both hands and coldly sneered as if it were absurd.
“I apologize, but Prince Nathan won’t be coming, Your Highness.”
* * *
“…What have you done, Marquis Daniel Klaus Gregory?”
While Carl and Sian were struggling against Revenant’s overwhelming force, Crown Prince Hendrick encountered a shocking situation within the imperial palace.
“I’ve safely escorted His Majesty to a secure location, nephew.”
The Emperor’s bed was empty. And before it, the Marquis stood with soldiers lined up, wearing a victor’s smile.
“…So it was true that you were in league with the dragon hunter Revenant?”
It was something he had suspected with near certainty but couldn’t pursue without evidence.
“In league? What frightening words you use. I have nothing to do with that woman causing chaos outside. I merely rushed here first out of concern for His Majesty’s safety when I saw the palace barrier breaking.”
“Surely you don’t expect me to believe that, Uncle?”
“Why would I tell you to believe it? What other intention could I have?”
The Marquis played innocent while having mobilized soldiers to occupy the Emperor’s chamber. Hendrick made a small gesture with his chin toward the soldiers standing behind him.
The soldiers tilted their spears, aiming precisely at the Marquis. As their weapons moved with a metallic clinking, the soldiers in front of the Marquis also raised their spears decisively, pointing them at Crown Prince Hendrick.
Hendrick furrowed his brow.
“You dare point spears at me, the Crown Prince. Do you even realize what you’re doing?”
“Well… would you call this a coup?”
“This is treason, Marquis.”
“Only if it fails.”
When the royal family suspected him of being an accomplice in the Dragon King’s assassination, the Marquis had trembled in fear. Now, as if that had been a lie, he faced Hendrick smoothly.
They had thought the dragon hunter Revenant was behind this, but could it have been the opposite?
He seemed like a different person from the Marquis who had previously displayed a timid and sensitive nature, speaking with refinement but without force in his voice and manner.
Since a person’s character couldn’t change in an instant, he must have been hiding his true nature for a long time.
“Even if Father dies, by the law of primogeniture, the throne will be mine. For this rebellion to succeed, Marquis, you’ll have to kill me.”
As he spoke, Hendrick drew the sword he had hastily brought. Purple magical energy blazed and surged along the lowered blade. The Marquis smiled slightly and took a step back.
“My, my, nephew. I haven’t even said what I plan to do with you, yet here you are pointing your sword at this old man.”
Hendrick narrowed his eyes with suspicion at the Marquis’s words.
The Marquis was elderly. Even in his youth, he was said to have been unremarkable with a sword. The number of soldiers facing off in the Emperor’s chamber was roughly equal on both sides.
From any angle, his chances of success seemed negligible, yet the Marquis maintained an extremely relaxed attitude, whether it was bluff or something else. There must be another scheme at play. But not knowing what it was made Hendrick feel a cold sensation creeping from his scalp down.
“As I said, I’ve taken your brother to a safe place, nephew. So why don’t you lower your sword and cooperate quietly?”
“I don’t know how long you’ve been dreaming of this plan, but it’s reckless, Uncle.”
When Hendrick spoke, the Marquis bowed his head and laughed softly.
“If you won’t comply, I’ll have no choice but to use somewhat rougher methods.”
The Marquis politely clasped his hands together. As if responding to a pre-arranged signal, the soldiers raised their spears higher and stepped forward.
At the clinking sound of weapons, Hendrick’s soldiers also took their battle stances in preparation. Though it seemed simple enough to order his men to subdue the Marquis by force, Hendrick hesitated, wondering if there might be other traps.
“Seize him.”
While Hendrick was trying to assess the situation, the Marquis, having lost patience, stepped back once more and spoke plainly.
The soldiers fearlessly aimed their spear tips and charged forward, closing the distance. Feeling more amused than alarmed, Hendrick swung his sword directly without ordering his soldiers.
The purple dragon magic that had gathered at his sword’s tip followed the arc of his swing through the air, becoming sharp blades that flew like arrows toward the heavily armored soldiers in their full gear from helmet to boots.
One of the Marquis’s soldiers at the front bravely pierced through the Crown Prince’s magic with his bare spear. Hendrick, who had been watching the silent clash of white spear tip and purple magic in the air, involuntarily grimaced and took a deep breath the next moment.
Though it had been a simple collision between spear tip and magic in the air, Hendrick’s purple energy dissipated instantly like a candle in the wind. What returned to Hendrick was an inexplicably powerful shock.
“…Kugh…!”
The sensation was all the more bewildering and painful because he hadn’t expected it at all. Hendrick let out an unguarded groan, gripped his sword differently, and sank to his knees. He could see the Marquis, hidden behind his soldiers, smiling with ecstasy as his eyes widened.
“Great rewards for whoever kills the Crown Prince!”
The snake had shown its true face. Hendrick’s soldiers, who had momentarily hesitated in confusion when the Crown Prince who had suddenly stepped forward collapsed, finally regained their composure and charged against the Marquis’s soldiers.
CLANG!
The Emperor’s bedroom instantly became a battlefield. Meanwhile, Hendrick, having somewhat recovered from the shock, stumbled backward while gripping his sword. His face, as he glared at the Marquis, showed utter bewilderment.
Carefully observing the Marquis’s soldiers’ spears as he retreated, he noticed their blades were all white. Like primitive tools carved from animal bones.
‘We confirmed ten places where bones were carved out from the Dragon King’s corpse.’
The words of the Imperial Medical Director flashed through Hendrick’s mind.
“Such a brutal act…!”
In that instant, having connected all the dots, Hendrick trembled with rage. But the Marquis maintained his snake-like smile without flinching.
Hendrick recalled the story of how Carl had nearly died when his wound rotted after being attacked with living dragon bone. This ominous material, whose existence they hadn’t even known of before, seemed to inflict pain even from just magical collision.
If he couldn’t use magic, Hendrick had no advantages against the Marquis, who had clearly prepared for this situation.
Most of the troops had been deployed outside where Brita was rampaging, and he had only brought about fifteen soldiers to help evacuate the Emperor.
Hendrick quickly acknowledged that he couldn’t face the Marquis’s soldiers with their special weapons. In that case, he needed to target the head rather than the limbs.
Unlike the common soldiers, the Marquis, being a dragon master himself, wouldn’t be able to handle living dragon bones. In a physical confrontation without magic, Hendrick would have the advantage over the Marquis.
With this thought, Hendrick subtly adjusted his grip on his sword.
