/
“O-ho, you must’ve had a hard time.”
A man in his early 50s with long silver hair tied together responded with shining eyes. That’s what he said, but it was clear that he was enjoying the story that happened on the way, as he smirked and smiled.
Sethian looked at the Duke of Adelan Lou Antoine, who was sitting opposite him moistening his lips with a cup of fragrant tea. His delayed arrival made him enjoy a deep night tea-time, but he didn’t seem to mind. Rather, he is intently listening to the story with a relaxed expression.
‘Are you still treating me like a child?’
Sethian thought that Adelan was the only one who dared to think of him as a child up to this day. The influence of the time when he took care of him as if he were his own son since he was young seems to still have an effect.
“So what do you plan to do next?”
To Adelan’s question, Sethian drew out an outspoken answer.
“I intend to threaten His Majesty as soon as I get back.”
At that, Adelan burst out laughing out loud. Rather than scolding for his profanity of threatening the emperor and being disrespectful as a prince, he was rather delighted.
“It wouldn’t be easy. Do you have any good threats?”
“There is a male servant who His Majesty had relations with before he became bedridden. I gathered quite a lot just so you know.”
Three years ago, the first thing Sethian, who had teamed up with the Bandits Guild, did was to plant them as servants throughout the Imperial Palace. Thanks to this, most of the secrets in the imperial palace were flowing into Sethian’s ears. In fact, he only collected them and did not hastily detonate or use them in order to use them at the right timing like now.
“O-ho.”
Adelan nodded as he stroked his silver bearded chin.
“From the perspective of His Majesty the Emperor, who was pursuing uprightness, the scandal of mixing his body with a servant would be very offensive.”
“Do you think I would just threaten him with such a scandal?”
Sethian’s eyes shone coldly.
“His Majesty the Emperor tends to cling to the slender hands of that servant. I’m thinking of presenting that person to him as a gift so that he can put it in his eyes and kiss it as much as he wants, even on his sickbed. I’m also considering other areas in case he is not satisfied.”
Adelan shuddered at Sethian’s carefree words and shrugged. Then he smiled with satisfaction.
“He’ll definitely like that present.”
Adelan, who let out a pleasant laugh, supported his chin and asked.
“So what are you going to ask for in return for that threat?”
“I’m quite itching for the Crown Prince’s seat.”
At Sethian’s words, the smile on Adelan’s lips disappeared at once.
“Is that true?”
“Have you ever seen me joke?”
Adelan looked straight into Sethian’s eyes and seemed to be trying to read something. However, Sethian’s pale green eyes remained tranquil without a single ripple.
“I thought that the 4th Prince was not interested in the throne.”
“That still hasn’t changed now.”
“Then what’s the point of wanting the Crown Prince position?”
In a situation where the Emperor was not known if he was still alive and well, or where it was unknown when he was going to stop breathing like now, the position of Crown Prince was not very meaningful. If he had sat on the position early, he would’ve been treated as the next emperor and the nobles would have appointed him on their own, but even if he becomes the crown prince now, the nobles who are already supporting their respective imperial members would not move. Both the imperial family and nobles knew that the emperor’s days were already numbered, so they wouldn’t care about the Crown Prince who was established just before his death.
Even though Sethian probably wouldn’t know that, the Duke was surprised to hear that he would covet a place with only a façade.
Sethian’s eyes fluttered slightly as if thinking about something. Adelan didn’t miss it.
“There was something with the owner of the tower.”
“Is it the golden magic?”
Seeing Adelan who had guessed it at once, Sethian nodded his head lightly.
“Yes, I need the magic stone on the crown prince’s brooch.”
“Hmm….”
Adelan looked at Sethian carefully. When he was young, Adelan, who was a regular at the Magic Tower, was interested in various types of golden magic, just like Sethian, who was influenced by him. It was like reading anecdotal-oriented thesis books one after another, but there was some golden magic that passed through his head.
“If the owner of the tower intervened, it must be a pretty interesting magic. May I ask what kind of magic it is?”
Sethian, who received Adelan’s persistent gaze, replied in a casual way.
“I just want to tie up a person.”
Adelan thought that the ‘person’ Sethian was referring to would never pertain to an ordinary person. Perhaps the person he wants to bind is a soul without a body. And the golden magic he wants is the kind of magic that traps the soul in a body that is connected to him. [1]
There is a huge difference between trying to keep a normal person by your side and trying to restrain a person who has only a soul into a created body. And not to anyone else too, but to Sethian.
Adelan looked into Sethian’s eyes as if he was thinking of someone, and sensed that a change had begun to take place in him.
⋆♚⋆♛⋆♚⋆
Crash-!
“What the hell is this!”
Mendel, unable to contain his anger, smashed the table. As a result, four cups of tea poured out, but no one dissuaded him.
“What the hell are those sewer bastards doing?! Why is Sethian still wandering around unscathed! On top of that, what?! Appointment as the Crown Prince?! At this time?!”
His face was burning with rage and he was about to burst. Mendel pounded his chest with his fist in frustration and looked at his siblings. All of them keep their mouths shut with no smile on their faces.
While only Mendel’s suffocating breathing could be heard, Raminez opened his mouth first.
“It’s highly likely that they failed, given that we can’t reach the assassins. I don’t know what kind of moves they used, but they survived quite well.”
“What about the contract?! What happened to the contract?!”
At Mendel’s worked-up question, Zair answered.
“I heard that Canael’s assassins soak their contracts in reagents to oxidize in case they fail after a certain period of time. They hide it in places that only they know, so they won’t be found out.”
“If that’s the case, then it’s a relief….”
Mendel, who didn’t finish his sentence, brushed his bangs back and made an anxious expression.
“What the hell was father thinking? What’s with the sudden Crown Prince appointment?”
Suddenly delegating an imperial edict for the installation of a Crown Prince on his sickbed. And it was Sethian who was sealed as the Crown Prince. Thanks to that, they had gathered like this after having been at the crowning ceremony a little while ago.
“What will be the difference if he’s installed as the Crown Prince at this time? After all, the aristocracy’s power had already been divided for a long time, so there won’t be any significant influence.”
Mendel complained that the emperor was already bedridden but still added unnecessary work. Raminez and Elina also agree with him, saying that they do not understand the Emperor’s intentions.
But Zair, who had been quietly listening, was rolling his thoughts on the other side.
‘Is it perhaps because of golden magic?’
Everyone here knew that Sethian had been very interested in the golden arts recently. However, the three of them were not very interested in magic, so they had shallow knowledge in that area. Therefore, they’ve never thought of the correlation between the Crown Prince’s position and the golden arts.
When it comes to research and interest in magic, Zair definitely has done more than Sethian, it could only be more and never less. Thus, by weaving the sudden Crown Prince’s appointment and Sethian to magic, and to golden magic at that, he quickly came up with an answer.
‘There must’ve been a transaction based on the anecdote of Crown Prince Theodore. Though I’m not sure why His Majesty complied with that bastard’s request.’
When he remembered Sethian who he met in the garden last time, his left fingers that were broken by him twinged in pain. The two neatly broken fingers were still tied to a bandage with a small splint.
Thinking of Sethian with an unpleasant face, Zair suddenly opened his eyes wide in start. The golden butterfly that followed behind him, and Sethian, who called that butterfly his ‘friend,’ come to mind.
‘Don’t tell me it’s the soul magic from the golden arts category?’
Thinking so, the two fists above his knees clenched. In fact, it was not for honor and power that he wanted to become an emperor and rule the country. It is only because of the ‘Golden Arts’ that only the emperor can use.
‘It is also the golden art’s soul magic that I wanted so badly, but Sethian….’
He was even angrier to think that the subject of the gold art was the beautiful golden butterfly of that time. Either the butterfly, or the golden arts, they were everything he covets.
Zair’s eyes quickly shone with violence. In his head, there was still a clear image of the golden butterfly following Sethian that day.