Chapter 96
It was a strange sensation.
The air brushing my skin was chilly, but a warm current was seeping into my body.
At the same time, it felt as if vitality were welling up inside me.
I slowly opened my eyes at the strange sensations pouring over my body.
What I saw were torches lighting up a dark space and a priest in white ceremonial robes.
I squeezed my parched throat and barely managed to force out a voice.
"Who... are you?"
"Ah. You're awake. I'm glad you've come to. I'm a priest attached to the imperial family."
The imperial family.
The moment that word left the priest's mouth, my foggy, blurred mind turned cold as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over it.
I reflexively tried to move, but I couldn't budge.
Because my body, with chains on its limbs, was hanging limp in an X-shape.
Not to mention the restraints fastened all over my body.
From the way my mana refused to move as I wished, they seemed to be magical tools that interfered with mana control.
"Where is this place?"
"The underground prison beneath the imperial palace."
Only then did I search through my memory.
I had stood in the way of the imperial knights chasing Rinoa.
I put everything I had into stopping their pursuit and managed to hold them off.
But the backlash from driving my body past its limit left me unable to move, and the imperial knights brought me here.
That was all I could remember. After that, I must have been too exhausted to remember anything.
In other words, I’d been locked in the underground prison as a criminal who had defied an imperial order.
"Then why are you treating me, Priest?"
"Her Highness Princess Aurora ordered me to heal you."
"Pardon?"
Aurora was the empire’s first princess.
I only knew her name vaguely; I didn’t really know who she was.
It wasn’t even Prince Aither—so why would the princess tell them to heal me?
The light faded.
The priest moved away from me.
"That’s all for your recovery. Please wait until a new decision is made."
The priest turned away without hesitation and left the dungeon.
"What the hell is this...?"
I couldn’t make sense of it.
Were they planning to torture me after all? To pry out Rinoa’s location?
Hurt first, then heal?
'I hate pain.'
Couldn’t they at least anesthetize me before torturing me? That should hurt less.
If it were up to me, I’d escape these restraints right now.
The problem was that they hadn’t just put on one mana-binding restraint—they’d put on several.
It felt like a labyrinth inside a labyrinth, and another labyrinth inside that one.
I’d been trying since a while ago, but no matter how good I was at mana control, this wasn’t easy.
At a rough estimate, it’d take two weeks.
And I doubted they’d leave me alone for two weeks; even if I did manage to break the restraints, I wasn’t sure I could get out of the imperial palace by myself.
"Ugh, whatever. I’ll just rest."
There was nothing I could do anyway, so thinking too hard would just give me a headache.
I’d been grinding nonstop for years. I decided to think of this as the rest I’d earned for all that hardship.
"Taking a rest in prison. You sure do have a carefree fate."
Then, an all-too-familiar voice echoed through the dungeon from somewhere.
"Cassius?"
"Call me Young Lord, you lowly worm."
It was Cassius, Rinoa’s half-brother and the young lord of Edelhyde.
The voice had come from none other than the cell beside mine.
It seemed he had been captured just like me.
"How pathetic, getting caught after failing to protect even one master. You bragged about being a knight, but in the end a slave is still a slave."
"What kind of bullshit is that? I risked my life to save you and get you out, and you're the one who got caught after putting on all that dramatic flair."
"I never put on an act. If that’s how I looked, it was simply my innate elegance."
"Huh?"
Did this guy know how to joke too? I’d thought he was more of a sociopath.
No, there were a lot of suspicious things about him from the start.
Cassius had known that the duke was Cersia.
He had shared the location of the barrier’s core.
And he had even bought us time so we could escape.
"What exactly is your goal?"
I couldn’t figure out what he was really thinking at all.
"I’m simply doing what I can as the one responsible for the family. What other purpose would there be?"
"So you’re not a bad guy?"
"Think whatever you like. I couldn’t care less how a slave sees me."
Was he dying or something, to be this blunt?
These noble bastards never say anything plainly.
"You two seem to get along better than expected."
The one who appeared as he said that was Aither.
"You’re awake, Leon. How are you feeling?"
"I’m doing okay. I heard Her Highness the princess told them to treat me? Why did she do that?"
"I don’t know. I don’t even want to know what she’s thinking. She’s definitely up to something ridiculous."
Aither got prickly too when it came to his sister, apparently.
The moment his sister came up, he turned toxic.
"You should thank me too. I even held back the retainers with everything I had when they wanted to execute you."
"You?"
"Yeah. I’m your lifesaver. I’ll even allow you to consider me your benefactor."
"Here’s another person spouting nonsense."
Cassius and Aither both. Did they both eat some kind of Shameless Fruit or what?
Who did they think got me locked up here in the first place?
…….
'It was because of us.'
So this happened because of the trouble we caused.
Well, then I had nothing to say.
"But we can’t exactly relax. We only kept you alive, literally speaking, and the retainers are still insisting you be executed."
"And?"
"There’s still a chance, Leon. If you confess right now where the young lady went, I’ll try to keep you alive."
"I’d love to tell you too, but maybe she saw this coming, because our young lady didn’t tell me where she was going."
"Is that so?"
"I’m telling you. I was loyal like a dog, and all I get back is being cut loose. That’s why being a slave is so miserable."
If I was going to say that now, I wouldn't have gone through all that trouble in the first place.
I gave a suitably vague answer.
"I see. If even you don’t know, then I’ll have to find her myself."
Aither stroked his chin and started mumbling.
"Once she’s been branded by the imperial family, it’ll be hard for her to live in the empire. Then maybe she’d head for another country."
"Hmm..."
"Conveniently, there’s the Belmarine trading port in the southern part of the ducal territory. She might be waiting for you there."
"Hey. You were asking because you already knew, weren't you?"
Then a graceful smile curved Aither's lips.
"Ugh. Figures."
"So what’s the point of keeping me alive?"
"Let’s call it mercy, as a friend. More than anything, killing someone with your level of strength would be foolish."
In the end, it meant he intended to make use of me somewhere.
Of course, it would be far better than being executed. At least, most of the time.
"Your Highness, time’s up."
"…Right. I should go now."
The guards headed toward the cell beside mine.
They pulled Cassius out of the cell and began escorting him out of the prison.
"Where are you taking him? Don’t tell me you’re leaving me here and escaping without me?"
Cassius stopped walking. He slowly turned his head and met my gaze.
"If you truly regard Rinoa as your master, then fulfill your duty until the very moment you die."
"Huh?"
"Please look after my little sister."
That was all he said.
Cassius left the dungeon.
I blinked blankly, unable to understand what he meant.
"What was that supposed to mean? Where is he going?"
"Cassius Edelhyde has dabbled in forbidden black magic. He murdered the duke and stained the territory with blood—a traitor guilty of high treason. He’s being taken to answer for those crimes now."
"What?"
Cassius used black magic?
A traitor who murdered the duke?
"The mastermind behind this incident is Cersia, isn’t it? What do you mean black magic?"
I wondered if Aither was spouting nonsense again, but he continued explaining with a more solemn expression than ever.
"I told you before, didn’t I? The imperial family needs someone to hold responsible for this incident. Since we couldn’t catch the witch, my brother is taking that role instead."
"Don’t talk bullshit. That’s a false accusation."
"It was a deal my brother proposed to us first. He used his own life and honor as collateral to keep the young lady as safe as possible."
"You mean... he’s being taken to the execution grounds?"
Aither did not answer.
As if he couldn’t bear to say that much out loud himself.
My head went numb, as if I’d been struck from behind with a hammer.
If you had to name the biggest victim of this incident, it would undoubtedly be Cassius.
Because he’d had his family controlled by the witch and lost everything, family included.
And now Cassius was going to shoulder the witch’s crimes and vanish beneath the guillotine, branded a traitor and an unfilial disgrace.
'Please look after my little sister.'
The words he’d left me with just moments ago, while meeting my eyes, rang in my ears again.
From the very beginning, he had intended to shoulder all the burden of this incident and go down with it.
For the sake of protecting the only family he had left—his little sister.
"Aither."
"That was the choice my brother made. I respect it. But you seem dissatisfied. Then bring me the young lady. If you do, both my brother and Edelhyde can be safe."
I couldn’t open my mouth. Rinoa’s safety mattered more to me than anything else.
It was only a matter of time before Aither figured out what I was thinking from my reaction alone.
"You can’t do it, can you? Just as you were willing to give your life to get the young lady out, my brother was the same."
"……."
"If you understand, then figure out a way out of here. Unless you want my brother’s final wishes to be in vain."
With that, Aither turned away without a hint of hesitation.
***
Time passed while I was imprisoned.
Without sunlight, I couldn’t tell how many days had passed exactly.
All I could vaguely tell was that about four days had gone by from the meals they brought in regularly.
Naturally, Cassius never came back after leaving the prison.
Now he was gone from this world.
And this wasn’t someone else’s problem.
If I couldn’t come up with a groundbreaking use that everyone would accept, I’d soon end up going through the same procedure.
I had to prove my value somehow.
When the scales were weighed, keeping me alive had to be more profitable than killing me.
'What could it be?'
I thought about it, but nothing suitable came to mind.
No, there was one thing that did come to mind.
I’d have to go through hardship that was hardly any different from dying, but it would still be better than dying.
Still, it was only a last resort.
I wanted to find another way if at all possible.
"Hmm..."
Just as I was wondering whether there might be some good option, the prison grew noisy.
"Y-your Highness? What brings you to such a humble place?"
"I came to take care of some business for a moment."
"However, outsiders are not permitted entry..."
"Outsider? Are you saying I’m an outsider now?"
"N-no! I absolutely didn’t mean it that way..."
"Move."
A clear female voice that didn’t suit the underground prison.
Judging by how flustered the guards were, she didn’t seem easy to deal with.
Click-clack—the sound of heels rang out, and soon a woman came into view.
Pale blue-white hair, as if the heavens had been ground into powder and scattered. Blue eyes like a clear lake were set into her face.
Her familiar features were strikingly similar to Aither’s.
I didn’t know her well, but I knew at least who she was.
Aurora Argenvalt.
The empire’s first princess, and Aither’s older sister.
'And the one who ordered them to treat me.'
Aurora stood before me.
"Hello?"
"Um, hello."
"You look surprisingly well."
"I got treated, and the regular meals too, so I’m fine. I assume that’s all thanks to Your Highness. Thank you."
"So you know who I am?"
"Anyone who doesn’t know the princess who’s practically the empire’s treasure would be a spy."
Aurora let out a small laugh at my casual flattery.
"You sure know how to say pretty things. How adorable."
Aurora smiled playfully, yet gently.
It was the kind of smile that made her seem like an older sister. In fact, she was probably older than me.
"What brings Your Highness to a place like this? Why did you have me treated?"
"Because I personally have a fondness for you."
"A fondness for me? You mean, Your Highness has a fondness for a slave like me?"
"Yes. Very much so."
Aurora said it bluntly, as if she had no intention of hiding her purpose.
"You belong to me."
Her blue eyes, fixed on me, glistened with greed.
"I’ve wanted you for a long time. Luckily, the master’s seat is vacant, isn’t it? So I’ll become your master."