Chapter 26
I Was a Homebody, But I Possessed a Dark Captivity Novel
Episode 26
“Ah, that… that is…”
Embarrassment flickered across April’s face.
Liam, who had been calmly looking down at her, let out a crooked smile.
‘It’s good I caught her now, pretending it was by chance.’
He deliberately had all the people around the Grand Duke’s room dismissed and instructed the attendants to have the mages trying to come this way take a detour. This was precisely to prepare for a situation like this.
A maid’s uniform, a ridiculous mask?
He opened his mouth again towards April, who looked suspicious at first glance and now seemed to be sweating cold sweat.
“Hoo, no matter how many eccentrics there are in the Magic Tower, if you wander around looking this. sus.picious, aren’t you practically advertising for people to suspect you of being a ruffian?”
“Ah, that, that….”
“Besides, that hammer in your hand looks like a weapon that could strike someone’s head.”
At Liam’s remark, April awkwardly hid the hammer behind her back.
“Ah, hahahaha. This is just… my self-defense weapon. I always carry it, and I don’t know what kind of place this is.”
But Liam could recognize it immediately.
The hammer April was holding was one of the luxury items presented to Grand Duke Kaiyan years ago.
A Partanium hammer crafted by a master artisan.
However, due to Partanium’s properties, it was less durable than other materials for its intended use, and the Grand Duke never had a reason to use a hammer himself, so he remembered it being stashed away in a warehouse.
But why would April Solt have it?
‘For self-defense?’
Was she planning to smash the heads of the Reaper Corps from Salt if necessary?
For a moment, Liam’s mind flashed to Bonita, who held boundless favor towards April.
Even if she was worried about sending April alone (?) to the Magic Tower without her, to give her something like that as a self-defense weapon.
As a result, her already suspicious appearance felt like that of a hammer-wielding murderer stalking prey.
“…Given that you don’t know the current situation of the Magic Tower, it would be best to refrain from such appearances.”
“I did it so that the remaining Reaper Corps of the Kingdom of Salt wouldn’t possibly find out.”
“They finished their audience this morning and returned immediately, so you don’t have to worry about them.”
“Ah! Hahahaha… R. Right. Yes…”
Liam, listening to her disjointed, awkward voice, recalled Kaiyan, who had acted as if he had foreseen this.
“If you question them about what’s happening, they’ll only shrink back further, so just maintain surveillance and intervene at a dangerous moment.”
Less than a day after that, encountering April in such attire, he felt as if Kaiyan were a prophet.
‘As expected, the most intelligent, astute, and wise Grand Duke of the Cletan Empire had foresight.’
Thump!
He briefly placed a hand on his chest, then turned his head towards April, who was looking at him with a very strange gaze.
“Then please return. If you continue to wander around in that state……”
As his words trailed off, April nodded as if she already knew without hearing them.
…The first infiltration attempt, which started grandly, ended weakly.
“How embarrassing…”
After being led back to my room by Liam, I buried my face in the bed for a while, writhing in belated shame.
Honestly, I thought it would work.
I had expected that when the Grand Duke went to meet the Tower Lord, the personnel would naturally flock there, but I hadn’t anticipated the variable that was Liam.
I still couldn’t understand why he, a devoted fan of the Grand Duke, hadn’t accompanied him to the meeting with the Tower Lord.
Now, it was a do-or-die situation.
‘I absolutely have to break the Core.’
Despite the setbacks, I still couldn’t give up.
What had initially been a vague sense of obligation now felt like a mission.
I needed the Magic Tower’s cooperation for my ‘independence,’ something I had been putting off without thinking about it…
As I pondered deeply alone, I reached a point of compromise with common sense.
‘I’m just part of the Grand Duke’s entourage, after all.’
Flash.
At that moment, my head, buried in the bed, lifted.
‘Do people know I’m the Princess of Salt?’
They don’t.
‘Then what about the Reapers of Salt who could prove I’m the Princess of Salt, or someone related to that status?’
Liam said they had already returned.
If time passed like this, the Magic Tower was destined to collapse anyway.
The only way to resolve this situation was the advice from the original work: I had to destroy the Core that Rumeia had handed over to the Magic Tower.
And Grand Duke Bleil…
‘In any case, as long as the outcome is good, he won’t kill me.’
Wouldn’t he protect me to use me as a slave instead?
In the depths of my heart, however, a fear flickered that he might still throw me to the mages as an experimental corpse or watch with amusement as I met my end, leaving me to my fate.
‘No. Surely, he wouldn’t go that far.’
But ‘surely’ often leads to ruin. I suppressed my worries and slowly began to prepare myself mentally.
.
.
.
“Princess.”
“…Yes?”
“Why are you trembling like that?”
On the way to the Magic Tower’s Core, following the Grand Duke.
To the question that broke the silence, I nervously wiped my sweaty hands on my skirt.
Under the guise of curiosity, I had received permission to approach the Core, and I had been going mad with impatience all along.
“I… I caught a cold.”
“I recall you staying in your room every day except the first.”
“Maybe it’s because the window was open. Cough, cough! Cough! Cough!”
It was an excuse that anyone could tell was absurd, but I didn’t care about such things now.
The cold head of the hammer, which I had firmly secured to my thigh, touched my bare skin, raising a chilling tension.
We would soon arrive at the central hall where the Magic Tower’s Core was kept.
I planned to take out the hammer in front of the other mages gathered there and smash the Core myself.
…It was a crazy idea, but it was the conclusion I had reached after days of deliberation.
“Still, you’re trembling excessively. If you’re not feeling well, you should go back first.”
“Yes, yes…”
Paying little heed to the Grand Duke’s words, I scanned my surroundings and finally entered the hall guarded by a gatekeeper.
The floor, so smooth that I couldn’t even guess what material it was made from, was engraved with the shape of light breaking out of an egg.
‘The closest hint was right here.’
I couldn’t hide my regret.
The darkest place is often under the lamp. The mages, perhaps focused on the visibly precarious Core, might not have seen it.
“Grand Duke Bleil, that crack is the source of the problem.”
An elderly mage, presumably the Tower Lord, approached.
After that, he seemed to be conversing with the Grand Duke, but I couldn’t hear any of it.
Thump, thump.
My gaze was fixed on the bluish Core floating in mid-air on a pedestal far away.
A Core so large it couldn’t even be compared to commercially available magic stones.
And cracks, like a spiderweb, etched onto its surface, which should have been smooth.
While the Grand Duke’s attention was diverted, I slowly began to advance.
“Princess?”
By the time he belatedly realized something was amiss, the distance had already widened considerably.
Swish.
Bending down, I released the hammer from my thigh and, without hesitation, started running.
“Huh?”
“Huh?!”
“Why is that woman suddenly…!”
The mages standing nearby were frozen, unable to react to the sudden situation.
As guests accompanying the Grand Duke, there was sufficient reason for them not to carelessly use magic.
After a full-speed sprint, I reached the Core, from which purple magic power was leaking, and raised the hammer high into the sky.
“S. Stop her!”
‘Yes, too late.’
CRASH!*
The head of the Partanium hammer struck precisely towards the center of the Core.
And at that moment, along with a thrilling sensation in my hand, came a satisfying cracking sound of something breaking.
‘If things go wrong, my head will shatter like this too, won’t it?’
My duty was now complete… but still, I squeezed my eyes shut, overcome by the fear of the overwhelming cleanup that lay ahead.
