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‘If I didn’t see it wrong…’
I looked at one arrow on the window with my trembling gaze.
And, following my will, the system window drew up the mission that it showed a while ago.
Before long, what I was looking for appeared.
〈 Condition met— Skill activated.
– Condition: Bug recognition (Done)
: Successfully exterminated the bug on ‘Hildeon Kyros’. 〉
After I went over those words over and over again, I gulped dryly and turned to look at the two men.
As I was given more context, the dust I had just brushed off was a bug.
‘But that bug was on Hildeon Kyros?’
This meant only one thing.
The man in front of me was…
The one and only crown prince of the empire and the male lead of the original novel… Well, that was until he died in the first part.
Apart from that, he was the very person who would hurl countless upon countless of curses at Roella, eventually killing her without any mercy…
“Ah, how cute…!”
—Ah, this crazy…!
Hildeon Kyros.
The man who’s going to kill me.
* * *
—What did you just say…?
—I’m sorry…! I, uh, I don’t feel so good.
—How is your condition? By any chance, if you were injured anywhere…
—No. My body’s fine. I am just in so much shock that my heart hurts. Before I feel even more pain, I’ll have to excuse myself first. Then, goodbye!
After saying so, Roella left without looking back.
Hans—or rather, Hestin—shook his head as he watched her retreating figure. She looked like she was running away.
“The Saintess surely must have gotten shocked… seeing as she said that Your Highness is cute.”
At Hestin’s admiring tone, Hildeon’s back stiffened.
Then, his dark green glared straight at his aide.
“…Hestin.”
“Ah. Good grief, I apologize. It’s just that, it’s already been eight years since I started staying by your side, but it was the first time I’ve ever heard Your Highness be called ‘cute’. I was taken aback a little.”
The crown prince’s deep voice was a firm warning, but Hestin replied with a serious look.
Letting out a short sigh, Hildeon remained silent.
Even if he were to reply, he already knew that the only one who’d get exhausted was him.
Instead, he pointed one finger towards the exit.
“That’s enough. Follow her.”
“You mean the Saintess?”
“Yes. At least until she returns to her carriage. Do it covertly and don’t get caught.”
“Yes, sir. In return…”
Hestin made a circle with his index finger and thumb, while the other three fingers were splayed open. It was the clear symbol of capitalism.
“Your Highness keeps making me do dangerous things these days, so please compensate me with a separate risk allowance.”
“I’ll give you a bonus on top of that risk allowance. So, go on your way.”
At the satisfactory answer, Hestin smiled kindly and prepared to leave.
“Will you be staying here, Your Highness?”
“Yes. The guards will be here soon. I’ll wait here since we might miss each other.”
“Ah, indeed. They were called in advance so that they can arrive any time now.”
Before coming here, the two of them roughly calculated the time for them to finish up their business at Charon’s shop before the guards would arrive.
According to their plans, of course, the two of them should disappear before the guards would be here, but…
“We failed to steal the sacred relic, so we don’t need to hide ourselves.”
It was just as Hestin said.
They came to Bastion while hiding their identities for the express purpose of intercepting the sacred relic, which had been illegally smuggled to this place.
Of course, anyone might question why the crown prince himself would need to involve himself with such illegal activities, but there was a reason.
The curse.
About three months ago, an unknown curse began to spread throughout Hildeon’s body.
His aide, Hestin, used all his resources and intelligence agents to collect information about the curse.
—It’s no use. The curse remains unknown. However, there’s one thing that’s certain…
The origin of the curse was related to ‘Arhopev’.
And this was no laughing matter.
The Kyros Empire had such a strong connection to the god, Luqera, that it could nearly be considered a holy empire.
The fact that the crown prince of such an empire was under the curse of ‘Arhopev’ was, in itself, a great flaw because this might incite doubt against whether Hildeon was fit for his position or not.
Therefore, the two of them had been trying to find a way to somehow break the curse while keeping it all a secret.
Their trip to Bastion today was also a part of that effort.
It was a few days ago when Hestin got a lead about this.