Chapter 155
It was a rude interruption, but unavoidable.
“As I’ve told you before, Your Highness contracted with a spirit at a young age and silently endured countless hardships.”
She didn’t want to hear the Third Prince belittle himself, and by now, he shouldn’t be speaking that way anymore.
“You also understand the lives of the empire’s people better than any royal. Therefore, Your Highness is more than qualified to become Crown Prince.”
“…”
“Your Highness was chosen by Duke Dearrut, the empire’s hero. Surely you don’t doubt the Duke’s judgment?”
“Of course not.”
The Third Prince emphatically denied it, shaking his head vigorously.
“Then please have more confidence. The Dearrut Duchy has staked everything on you.”
“Yes. From now on, I’ll prove that the Dearrut Duchy’s choice was not wrong.”
The Third Prince said, his opal eyes shining with determination.
Alice looked at the Third Prince and smiled gently.
As she raised her teacup to moisten her lips after their long conversation, the Third Prince slowly moved his lips.
“But I think my brother… won’t harbor different intentions.”
“What?”
Alice paused with her teacup in hand at the unexpected remark.
“Actually, before my brother collapsed, I had met him a few times, though not often.”
The Third Prince lowered his gaze as if reminiscing about the past and said:
“In the palace where everyone turned away from me, he was the only one who came to see me. Unlike the Second Prince… he treated me as a person, as a brother.”
“Ah… I see.”
Alice blinked, responding a beat late.
This was because what the Third Prince had just shared was not mentioned in the original story.
The First Prince had died very early in the story, and the book merely mentioned that the Empress had poisoned him.
There was no information about his character or his relationship with the Third Prince.
So it was surprising to hear that he had met with the Third Prince and was the only one in the palace who had cared for him. It was quite unexpected.
Of course, she knew the First Prince wasn’t a scoundrel like the Second Prince, but she hadn’t thought he would be kind enough to look after the Third Prince.
After all, in the original story, the Third Prince was portrayed as someone thoroughly abandoned in the palace, and the First Prince was royalty too.
That’s why she hadn’t believed Count Latrang’s claim that he would persuade the First Prince to renounce his right to succession.
Since Alice knew nothing of the First Prince’s character, she thought that the First Prince, who would be different from the book if revived, might not acknowledge the Third Prince.
After all, the Third Prince’s mother was not even a lady-in-waiting but a mere maid.
He might say he couldn’t yield the Crown Prince position to the Third Prince with such lowly blood.
The First Prince was the legitimate bloodline of the former Empress, so it seemed quite possible. But after hearing the Third Prince’s story, it seemed unlikely that the concern she had would materialize.
If the First Prince had considered the Third Prince as someone born of lowly blood, he wouldn’t have seen him as a brother.
At that moment, the Third Prince raised his gaze and said:
“He was truly a good person. Almost too good to belong in the cold and cruel palace.”
In that instant, Alice thought of the former Empress.
The former Empress who had found the palace stifling and who had loved people.
‘He takes after his mother completely.’
Alice felt at ease.
Though she had decided to save the First Prince, she had been anxious about potential conflicts.
But now that she knew he was a good person who took after the former Empress, Alice felt she could genuinely use her holy power for the First Prince.
“Since he was such a good person, I’ll do my best for the First Prince as well.”
“Yes.”
Alice looked at the smiling Third Prince and drank her tea. She enjoyed the sweet flavor of the tea spreading in her dry mouth.
She set down her teacup with a satisfied expression.
Then, brightening her golden eyes toward the Third Prince, she spoke:
“Well, now that we’ve finished the important discussion, would you tell me about your life in the palace?”
While Alice and the Third Prince were in the midst of an enjoyable conversation, Kylus was in the palace library.
The place where he stood was not where ordinary books were shelved.
It was the restricted section, accessible only with the Emperor’s permission.
A section with books on black magic.
In front of a bookshelf filled with numerous books on black magic, Kylus finished reading one book, sighed deeply, and placed it on the table below the shelf.
Already, books he had read were piled high there.
Even at a glance, there were more than twenty books. And all of them were about black magic.
Mainly about what could be created with black magic and to what extent.
The focus was so specific that if others saw it, they might misunderstand that Duke Dearrut had developed an interest in black magic.
In truth, it wasn’t a misunderstanding. Kylus had indeed developed an enormous interest in black magic.
All because of Alice.
Last night, Alice had told him many truths about herself.
That she wasn’t the real Alice, that only her soul had crossed over from another world, and that it was none other than this world’s Deity, Helios, who had brought her soul here.
It was a shocking story that an ordinary person would never believe.
A soul possessing someone else’s body? And crossing dimensions, no less.
Most would have called Alice crazy, labeled her a dangerous witch, and tried to kill her.
But Kylus, though initially surprised, accepted it without much resistance.
He had been subtly suspicious whether Alice was genuinely the unimpressive rural lady from the Fordley Barony.
He couldn’t help but wonder.
She knew information that even he didn’t know, and despite the story that she hadn’t properly learned due to being overshadowed by her brother and sister at the Fordley Barony, Alice was quite intelligent.
Of course, she occasionally showed unusual words and actions unbecoming of a noble family’s lady, but it wasn’t rudeness stemming from lack of education.
Therefore, when Alice said she came from another world, he could properly understand everything about her.
And anyway, he didn’t care if she wasn’t a person of this world.
He didn’t love her appearance; he loved Rien—everything about her.
So no matter what danger lurked before her, he would definitely protect her.
Kylus looked at the books piled on the table and recalled what Alice had said.
Among the many stories, the most important one was about the Deity.
‘I can’t tell you in detail, but the Deity told me to eliminate something in the Empress’s Palace.’
Though the explanation was vague, Kylus had organized Alice’s words in his mind during the sleepless dawn.
The reason the Deity brought Rien’s soul to this world and something in the Empress’s Palace that needed to be eliminated.
After combining all these elements, Kylus concluded that the something in the Empress’s Palace that needed to be eliminated from this world was related to black magic.
The Deity was the God of Light, and what he wanted to eradicate from this world was black magic.
And too coincidentally, the current Empress was a black magic practitioner.
Of course, the information was far too insufficient to be certain, but that possibility seemed the most likely.
“But was I wrong?”
No matter how much he searched through books about dangerous things that could be created with black magic, he couldn’t find anything that was invisible and could live in a basement floor.
There was no other source of information besides the more than twenty books piled on the table.
Kylus exhaled deeply and looked at the books on the shelf.
‘The Origin of Black Magic.’
At that moment, that book caught his eye.
But Kylus already knew the origin of black magic. He had learned it all when studying basic theology and magic as a child.
Perhaps out of frustration, Kylus pulled that book from the shelf. When he opened the book, he saw familiar content.
[To understand the origin of black magic, one must go back to when the primordial God of Light, Lord Helios, created this world.
At that time, when the Deity created this world, the Wraith of Chaos secretly infiltrated the continent.
Unfortunately, the Deity did not immediately notice the wraith’s existence, and those bewitched by the wraith summoned the power of darkness through magic circles that could communicate with Lord Helios.
When the power of darkness began to harm people, animals, and everything in this world, the Deity, upon learning of the situation, sealed the Wraith of Chaos and Darkness, the source of the dark power, beneath an ancient magic circle and commanded his priests.
To destroy all ancient magic circles so that the seal could never be broken.
Thus, the priests, led by Ricardo, the Deity’s first priest, eliminated all magic circles existing in this world.
However, the power of darkness that had already entered the world could not be completely eradicated, and that remaining dark power eventually transformed into today’s black magic.]
A fact he already knew.
Kylus was about to close the book, looking at it with disinterested eyes.
There seemed to be no answer here either.
But at that moment, a name flashed through Kylus’s mind.
“Ricardo.”
The Deity’s first priest.
If his memory was correct, he was certainly…
Recalling a forgotten memory, Kylus hastily left the restricted section.
And headed to the section where books on imperial history were shelved.
Among numerous books, Kylus pulled out one titled [The Pentium Empire, About the Imperial Palace].
He immediately opened the book and ran his finger down the lines of text, as if searching for something.
Soon, he found a familiar name in one sentence.
[When the imperial palace of the Pentium Empire was completed, the first Emperor invited Lord Ricardo, the Deity’s first priest, and asked for his blessing on the palace.
Lord Ricardo personally blessed the Sun Palace, the Emperor’s palace, and the Moon Palace, the Empress’s Palace, and in gratitude, the first Emperor presented a great gift to Priest Ricardo…]
The content that followed wasn’t important.
Ricardo, who had been in charge of eliminating the ancient magic circles that sealed the Wraith of Darkness, and the blessing he had bestowed on the Empress’s Palace.
“…It can’t be.”
Kylus’s expression hardened so much it was chilling.
Because he finally seemed to have found the answer to what was in the basement of the Empress’s Palace.
Something that ordinary humans cannot see, something that only those who have received the Deity’s powerful strength can see, the most dangerous thing in this world.
And the Empress’s powerful black magic too.
When connecting these answers, everything fit together perfectly, like puzzle pieces coming together.
Yes.
What was in the basement of the Empress’s Palace was undoubtedly the ancient magic circle that sealed the Wraith of Darkness.
