Chapter 39
“You, of all people. If things had gone wrong, you could have been the first one torn apart by that magic beast.”
“One has to endure that level of gambling. But I was certain. I believed the Princes would be in more danger than I was.”
“Why did you think so?”
“Because I thought it would attack those who are older, stronger, and closer to the throne, yet have not officially received the crown.”
No matter how I thought about it, this was exactly the kind of trap an Emperor would set—one terrified that a civil war might break out inside the palace or that his own siblings might stage a rebellion right under his nose.
I wasn’t sure if someone officially granted the title of Crown Prince would be included in the attack range or not.
The current Emperor had not bestowed the title of Crown Prince upon anyone. In other words, the Emperor’s two sons were his most potent rivals for imperial power.
It was a bit strange that while the magic beast in the Maze Garden attacked to kill other intruders but spared me, the one hidden in the Hall of Glory prioritized attacking those of imperial blood.
The traps must have been set back in the era of the First Emperor; wouldn’t the imperial family members of that time have wielded the Power of Light quite strongly? They wouldn’t have been easily taken down by a magic beast….
Perhaps it wasn’t designed to kill other royals for the Emperor’s sake, but rather to attack all royals, with a taboo placed on it so it could never touch the Emperor or Empress. That actually seemed more plausible.
“And, besides me or Prince Brian, it could have attacked Prince Adrian, couldn’t it? Your Majesty the Empress took a risk just the same.”
“I simply realized anew that by trying to lose nothing, one might end up losing everything.”
The Empress stared at me with inscrutable eyes.
“You, however, are remarkably calm. Adrian and Brian have at least learned the sword, but you have never even swung one, and didn’t you almost die after being attacked by a magic beast recently?”
My expression stiffened. To be honest, it wasn’t that I hadn’t been worried. I’d borrowed something just in case it decided to attack me.
“…….”
I couldn’t hide my troubled expression as I looked at the pure white cloth draped over my shoulders.
To think I’m wearing the <Insignia of Gloriana>….
It must be an item that has endured an immeasurable amount of time, but as expected of a divine weapon—though the insignia doesn’t exactly look like a weapon—it was snow-white and sparkling with a brilliant luster.
It looked a bit like a decorative cloth meant to be hung on a wall, yet also like a simple mantle that could be worn over the shoulders.
The thin piece of white fabric was just large enough to wrap around my shoulders and nothing more. Every time I moved, the gold tassels attached to the ends of the cloth glinted.
Since that Emoticon Sword had kept prattling on about a test or whatever, I didn’t want to touch it if I could help it. Honestly, I expected my request to be ignored, or for a reaction like, ‘I thought you were finally handing over this precious item, but I see it was just empty words.’
But for him to just hand this over the moment I asked if I could borrow it—what was I supposed to do with that?
Anyway, according to the book I borrowed back then, this weapon seemed to have a function that could protect the wearer, even if only a little. To be precise, it seemed intended for those who had ‘awakened the Power of Light,’ but I figured it was better than nothing.
I shrugged and spoke.
“I simply trusted in the stupidity of Prince Brian, who has never once experienced a crisis like I have.”
Naturally, there were spies planted on Prince Brian’s side by the Empress and the Duchy of Castline.
Prince Brian was incredibly gullible. If someone said the weather was nice so they should go hunting, he went hunting; if they went hunting and someone said the prey looked terrible today so they should go drinking instead, he happily went to drink.
Imperial Consort Cleo—who intended to bring the High Priest to the Empress’s palace to discern if I was cursed, then purify, treat, and wake me—hardly ever involved her son in her schemes.
After all, Prince Brian was dimmer than Imperial Consort Cleo.
He tried to flatter the Emperor, but he was so clumsy at it that his true nature would have been exposed long ago if the Emperor hadn’t looked at him through the rose-colored glasses of a doting father thinking, ’Oh, my lovely child.’
Furthermore, if any trouble arose, the Imperial Consort intended to take the fall herself and ensure the Prince remained unaffected.
‘That shouldn’t be allowed.’
She uses every scheme in the book while trying to keep her son from facing the consequences?
How ridiculous.
Here is what Prince Brian experienced today.
Following Imperial Consort Cleo’s advice to stay quiet for once, Prince Brian had intended to rest in his room today.
However, as soon as morning came, a hunting companion arrived and made a huge fuss, spinning a full-of-holes story: “I saw a wolf with an incredibly beautiful golden mane. No one has ever seen such prey. But it was wounded near the Imperial Palace hunting grounds and fled. It might be hiding inside the palace.”
Common sense-wise, did that even make sense?
Well… sure. The Imperial Palace is vast.
At night, a beast could stealthily avoid human eyes, scale walls and roofs, and hide in a garden somewhere.
But then the instigator properly fueled Prince Brian’s desires by adding, “News was lost right near the Imperial Palace of all places, and the hunting enthusiasts are truly lamenting it. After all, isn’t there no one permitted to use weapons within the palace?”
A creature of unusual color and shape that might be mixed with magic beast blood, and someone had already dealt it a major wound.
Because it had hidden near the Imperial Palace, it was prey that other nobles—who were only permitted to hunt in the designated grounds—wouldn’t dare covet.
If he could just catch it, it would be something truly worth bragging about to the Emperor.
Yes. If only he could catch it.
And so, Brian fell for the trap.
Thanks to the additional commentary that ‘it’s a shame such beautiful prey would just be slaughtered if spotted by a sentry or a knight because they wouldn’t understand its value at all,’ Prince Brian wandered through the palace in secret, carrying his own weapon without a word to his guardian knights or the soldiers guarding the area.
Based on the pre-planned route, at the exact time he was expected to be closest to the Hall of Glory, the Empress was prompted to release the magic beast (I had already fled far away in advance).
The magic beast lunged straight for Brian.
When the wolf with the beautiful golden mane appeared, Brian gripped his sword in delight.
However, contrary to what he’d been told, there wasn’t a single wound on it, and the aura it exuded was far too powerful for an ordinary wolf. Brian couldn’t even swing his sword properly.
Until now, Brian was the type of hunter who only slit the throat of his prey after bringing along several people to fire arrows, intimidate it, corner it, and use traps to drive it into a dead end.
Hunting a magic beast that had approached within arm’s length all by himself? There was no way he could do it.
Terrified, Brian turned and fled in an instant.
Of course, there were soldiers and knights who discovered Brian screaming things like, “Is no one there?! Someone save me! Please! Argh!” and rushed at the magic beast.
Brian’s Royal Guard, personally assigned by Cleo, happened to find the missing Brian and charged at the beast.
Brian ran, leaving behind the sight of his guard sacrificing themselves in his stead. However, the magic beast was extremely strong; it dealt with the guard in one go and pursued Brian.
Paralyzed with fear, Brian sprinted blindly, forgetting his way and everything else, until he tumbled into the Maze Garden (in fact, I had subtly blocked off the other escape routes by calculating his path in advance).
Because the Castline family exerts all their effort into maintaining the barriers and fighting magic beasts on the front lines, the large cities and the Capital are relatively safe from magic beasts.
One only has to look at how the nobles leisurely enjoy drive-hunts in the woods and the noblewomen hold outdoor banquets to know this.
However, that doesn’t mean magic beasts are non-existent. Magic beasts with weak power, which usually end up losing their lives to the city guards, do appear quite often. They are barely more than wild animals, so people usually don’t even call them magic beasts—they don’t even have proper cores.
So, would Imperial Consort Cleo or Prince Brian truly be afraid of a magic beast?
They were bold enough to smuggle items imbued with the power of darkness into the palace just to fabricate a curse. They couldn’t possibly know.
The members of the Castline family have, for generations, learned how to deal with magic beasts through bone-carving effort, know-how, and experience.
It was the same for their power and abilities. They knew what to use and in what manner to minimize civilian casualties and which magic beasts they could kill.
The reason the Castline family can hunt down and analyze magic beasts like rats, and sometimes even use the strategy of using one beast to catch another, is because they are, quite literally, specialists.
I didn’t know which bastards Imperial Consort Cleo had joined hands with, but even they wouldn’t have accumulated as much know-how as the Castline family.
Yet, Imperial Consort Cleo had made a deal with dangerous people solely for the purpose of striking at this side.
The Duke of Castline quickly identified the true nature of the ‘evidence of the curse’ that Imperial Consort Cleo had obtained. To be precise, he deduced it. And he reached the conclusion that it was ‘extremely dangerous.’
It was no different from an explosive concentrated with the power of darkness.