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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Escape
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I was startled, but not terrified, because the scent was familiar.
The scenery whipping past in a blur told me I was outside the palace. It seemed we had just about left the Princess's Palace entirely.
“Khang!”
(Brother!)
Startled by Jusielia's cry, Ijeten looked down at his sister cradled in his left arm.
Wrapped in a cloth as white as her fur, Jusielia looked like a true angel.
“You're awake? How strange. Is it because you're so pretty?”
Ijeten spoke gently to Jusielia, his eyes curving into a smile.
His eyes shone beautifully in the darkness, but something was off.
Jusielia focused her mind, trying to stay sharp.
Even as he spoke to me, Ijeten didn't stop his terrifyingly fast run.
“Kyaaang?!”
(What are you doing?!)
“This is a sacred artifact, you know. One with a paralysis effect.”
Jusielia's jaw dropped in disbelief.
Did this guy really use a sacred artifact with a paralysis effect just to kidnap me?
“Krrraang?”
(Why are you doing this?)
“You won't be able to move. Just stay still, Jusielia.”
Ijeten whispered affectionately before his gaze sharpened on what was ahead. He leaped onto a high windowsill in a single bound and looked down.
‘Gasp!’
Jusielia was horrified when she saw what was below.
It was a four-story drop.
It was past midnight.
A high full moon brightly illuminated the Princess's Palace garden.
“Shh.”
Ijeten hugged Jusielia tightly with both arms and leaped down lightly.
*Thud!*
It felt like a fierce wind was rushing up from the ground, but Ijeten's landing was incredibly light.
‘Ha.’
As Ijeten started running again, Jusielia looked up at him and marveled inwardly.
He'd been so soft with me since the first day that I'd forgotten, but he was truly an incredible guy.
But why on earth was he kidnapping me? Was this some kind of surprise event?
My birthday was too far away for a surprise like this.
His golden eyes, shining even at night, scanned the surroundings sharply.
Jusielia looked up at Ijeten, who was storming through the garden with a grim expression.
I tried to move on my own, tensing my limbs and core, but…
It was no use.
‘Ugh, my body really won't move.’
He said the sacred artifact was effective, and he wasn't kidding. I couldn't budge.
Jusielia sighed, unable to even twitch a claw. Was it a relief that at least her voice worked?
“Kahaaaang!”
(Brother, where are you going?!)
At Jusielia's desperate cry, Ijeten glanced down at his sister, bit his lower lip, and then spoke in a strained voice.
“Let's leave home.”
“……Kyang?”
What kind of nonsense was this?
It was utterly absurd.
Jusielia was so dumbfounded she let out a scoff, then frowned, then grew angry.
“Kyaang?!”
(Why are we leaving home?!)
“Your big brother will take good care of you. I have enough life skills for that. We beastmen have rights too. We have the right to live happily, so I'll help you.”
“Kwwaaaang?”
(No, what on earth are you talking about?!)
While Jusielia, wrapped in the white cloth, glared and caused a fuss, Ijeten kept running, grinding his teeth.
“I just can't accept it. I know there are people like that in the Penterin Empire, but! How could they send you to a place like that alone?”
“Kahang?”
(Where am I going?)
“Yes! To that harsh place! That uncivilized place!”
Answering the bewildered Jusielia, Ijeten looked extremely angry.
He was so furious that his eyes blazed as he seethed, and as if to express his rage, he made a great leap.
Just as they were about to leave the Princess's Palace completely.
Ijeten's eyes widened. He quickly drew his sword, stepping back to block what was in front of him.
*Screech, craaash—!*
Golden mana chains clashed with Ijeten's sword, creating a flash of light and a deafening roar.
It was a close call.
Startled, Jusielia instinctively shut her eyes, then opened them.
The golden chains tightened their grip around his sword, as if to pressure Ijeten.
The chains, moving as if alive, slowly began to crackle.
‘Lightning, too!’
The crackling between the chains intensified, and soon, a current flowed through them as if to shatter the sword.
The chains slithered down the blade toward the hilt, threatening to electrocute Ijeten if he moved even an inch.
“Where are you going, Crown Prince?”
And then, on the palace wall that Ijeten had just been about to leap over with Jusielia, the master of the golden chains appeared.
‘Ekiel!’
The golden chains swirling around the young boy's body were both mystical and intimidating.
Ijeten ground his teeth, narrowed his eyes, and shouted fiercely.
“Why are you meddling in another family's affairs!”
With a loud shout, Ijeten sent a great flame shooting along the chains wrapped around his sword.
‘Hah!’
Seeing Ijeten unleash his supernatural ability to this extent for the first time, Jusielia gasped.
A torrent of red flames erupted from Ijeten's sword, incinerating everything connected to Ekiel's mana chains.
Because it was a flame born of a supernatural ability, not an ordinary fire, Ekiel withdrew his mana chains and sighed.
After all, a deliberately conjured supernatural flame couldn't be extinguished by ordinary means like water or dirt.
He extended his hand instead.
“Let's not do this. Why don't we talk this over calmly and rationally…”
“Rational? Don't make me laugh!”
Ijeten scoffed.
From within Ijeten's arms, Jusielia watched the Princess's Palace garden turn into a sea of fire and ground her teeth inwardly.
‘Damn it, my palace!’
Amidst the chaos, Jusielia used her blizzard ability to belatedly suppress the fire.
The sacred paralysis artifact weakened its power, but she was relieved that the fire was dying down a bit.
*Clang, shing!*
*Whoosh, clang!*
‘Gasp!’
Jusielia's blood ran cold as she watched the golden chains and the sword blade clash viciously right before her eyes.
His destructive power was immense, and he wasn't losing even against Ijeten, who was a skilled swordsman.
At this rate, shouldn't he be called a combat mage who wields chains as a weapon, not just a simple mage?
Ijeten seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Jusielia, his face contorting every time his sword met the chains.
He seemed to dislike Ekiel even more.
‘He's still just a mage. I'll take him down in close combat and get out of here quickly!’
Ijeten deliberately raised a tall, circular wall of flames around himself to block Ekiel's line of sight.
‘?’
In that moment of confusion, Ijeten closed the distance between them in an instant.
“Ah.”
“……!”
Just then, Ekiel's eyes met Jusielia's bright blue ones, which had been hidden by the white blanket, and he flinched.
Seeing that brief exchange, Ijeten scoffed in disbelief.
‘Are you two seriously happy to see each other right in front of me, in this situation?’
“Do you want to die?!”
Enraged, Ijeten held nothing back, raising his sword energy to its peak and swinging with the intent to kill Ekiel.
“Ugh.”
This time, Ekiel had no choice but to retreat.
Ekiel blocked Ijeten's sword with his mana chains.
The attack was so powerful, infused with immense sword energy, that he had no choice but to reinforce his defense with a shield spell.
After dodging the follow-up attack and retreating to a safe distance, Ekiel smiled as if he was enjoying himself.
‘He's not even an adult Golden Tiger beastman…’
It was intriguing.
Ijeten's incredible offensive power, despite not being an adult, was so remarkable that it made one want to study it seriously.
Ekiel saw the backs of the siblings as they ran, having already scaled the palace wall and heading for the center of the imperial castle.
“Jusielia, I wonder if she's okay.”
Ekiel muttered, recalling the small white tiger in Ijeten's arms, then snapped out of it and quickly gave chase.
Meanwhile, having shaken off Ekiel and broken through the central imperial castle, Ijeten grinned at the sight of the outer wall and main gate.
Once he passed that point, he would be completely out of the imperial castle.
Outside the main gate, he had prepared his prized horse, ample travel funds, clothes, and food for a proper escape with Jusielia.
The plan was to head straight south, then take a boat from the archipelago to an island, but…
‘Ah.’
The smile quickly vanished from his face.
There were no guards near the main gate.
But there was one person.
Someone whose presence was more powerful than all the guards combined.
“Where do you think you're going in the middle of the night, my little cubs?”
The Emperor's golden eyes glinted as he waited for them, his sword planted in the ground.
