Chapter 80
A short distance from the lavish Ilmark Palace, whose lights never went out even at night, two people were hiding in a thicket. Dressed in black that blended into the darkness, they watched the palace entrance using clairvoyance magic. They were a young man and woman.
Both had black hair. The man had an ordinary, forgettable face, while the woman had cool, dignified features with striking eyes and brows.
The sky was covered in thick clouds, hiding both the stars and the moon.
Although it was a spring night, the air was cold enough to suggest that snow might begin falling at any moment. Even so, they kept their breathing so still that not even a wisp of white breath escaped as they watched the people entering and leaving the palace through clairvoyance magic.
Before long, a young man emerged from the palace.
He was a blond young man wearing a modest dark-navy formal suit and a black mask. Seeing him, the woman spoke.
"Yuan, the target has left Ilmark Palace. However, the black-haired man who accompanied him isn't there. Shall we split up as well?"
"...Wait a moment, Heidi."
The man—Yuan—touched the corners of his eyes with his fingers and increased the precision of his clairvoyance magic.
The target in Yuan's vision was indeed wearing the same navy outfit he remembered.
His hair color and build were similar as well.
...But his gait was different.
The target always kept his back straight and walked with perfect posture—the movement of his feet was unmistakably that of someone trained in martial arts.
The man before him looked very similar, but his way of walking was completely different. No matter how drunk the target might have been, Yuan's eyes could not be deceived.
"That's not the target. The real one is probably..."
"Correct."
Before Yuan could finish speaking, he heard footsteps behind him.
When he turned around, the black-haired man and the blond young man were standing behind them. Both were dressed in formal wear, but neither was wearing a mask.
The black-haired man was grinning, while the blond young man had a handgun raised, its muzzle aimed at their foreheads.
This blond young man was their target.
When he entered the masquerade ball, he had been wearing a plain navy formal suit, but he was now dressed in a vivid scarlet one.
...He had presumably exchanged clothes with the man who had left through the entrance.
"Now then, are you willing to tell me honestly who you are? I happen to have a very useful item with me right now: a witch's love potion. If you're going to be tight-lipped, I wouldn't mind using it."
"I remember that woman's eyebrows."
Heidi pursed her lips irritably after being teased about her eyebrows.
The black-haired man's golden eyes gleamed as he hissed from his throat, like a threatening reptile.
"You two are those people from the Empire who messed with Monica before, aren't you?"
"...The Empire?"
The blond young man narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
In any case, with the Silent Witch's attendant present, there was no point in attempting any clumsy deception.
Yuan bent at the waist in an exaggerated gesture and spoke in a syrupy voice, sweet as burnt honey.
"I'm Yuan, and this is Heidi. We aren't meeting for the first time, but... nice to meet you...
──Fake prince."
＊ ＊ ＊
Fake prince.
At those words, all expression vanished from Isaac's face.
Even so, Isaac's gun did not waver despite his agitation.
According to Nero, this man was from the Empire and knew Isaac's true identity. It was a grave matter. Depending on how things unfolded, Isaac could not let him leave alive.
This situation could hardly be favorable either for Isaac, whose identity had been discovered, or for Yuan, whose surveillance had been exposed.
As Isaac cautiously considered how to draw out what they knew, Yuan spoke.
"When did you realize that we were watching you?"
"A month ago. Since we were in Sazandoll."
When Isaac answered tersely, Yuan shrugged with a sorrowful expression and let out a sigh.
"...That was practically from the beginning, wasn't it? It's a blow to my confidence."
Yuan said that, but his skill at remaining hidden had been surprisingly impressive.
From the moment Isaac had decided to call himself Felix, he had lived constantly mindful of other people's eyes, making sure he always looked like the perfect prince.
As a result, he was sensitive to people's gazes and presences, and adept at spotting guards and recognizing when he was under surveillance.
Even Isaac had found it remarkably difficult to catch so much as a trace of Yuan and Heidi.
That was why Isaac had set a trap.
Isaac had attended the masquerade ball for two reasons.
The first was to track down and eliminate whoever was impersonating Felix.
The second was to use that imposter as bait and draw out whoever had been snooping around him.
"Do you know the Silent Witch?"
At Isaac's words, Yuan raised one corner of his mouth into a smug grin, as though mocking him.
"Oh? The Silent Witch hasn't told you about us? Hmm... I see..."
He was being provoked.
Without taking the bait, Isaac glanced sideways at Nero and asked him,
"Who are they?"
"Monica said they're directly under the 'Black Lion Emperor.' And that squiggly-talking guy over there? I punched him before. He's all wobbly and creepy."
"...Yeah, could you give me a moment to process that?"
Isaac could understand less than half of what Nero was saying, but he had learned one thing.
The Black Lion Emperor—that was the emperor of the neighboring Schvargalt Empire.
The Empire was a vast nation made up of many peoples. As a result, it had far more factions and potential flashpoints than the Kingdom of Ridill.
When Isaac learned that Yuan and Heidi were from the Empire, he had assumed that their faction would determine how he responded to them, but...
(I never imagined someone directly under the Black Lion Emperor would come.)
There was hardly anyone on the continent who did not know the name of the Black Lion Emperor.
He had risen to the imperial throne at a young age. Rumors said he had assassinated the previous emperor and annihilated villages belonging to other peoples—a man surrounded by one dangerous rumor after another.
As the Second Prince, Isaac had met the Black Lion Emperor during official business.
They had exchanged few words, but Isaac had found him bold and magnanimous, while also being exceptionally sharp-minded.
(It's hard to imagine someone like that sending spies for no reason and creating a flashpoint, though...)
As Isaac pondered, Yuan quietly exhaled and covered his face with both hands.
Wondering what he intended to do, Isaac watched in confusion as Yuan began kneading the flesh of his face.
Yuan's face twisted and warped as though it were soft clay being kneaded.
It was a nauseating sight. Yet Isaac was rendered speechless for a reason beyond mere physical disgust.
──Isaac knew what this was.
When Yuan took his hands away from his face, he revealed a face exactly identical to Isaac's own.
Yuan grinned with Isaac's face—or rather, Felix Arc Ridill's.
"The physician who remade your face—Artur—stole my technique. Does that help you understand?"
Body-manipulation magic was forbidden in the Kingdom of Ridill.
That was the technique that had once transformed Isaac Walker into Felix Arc Ridill.
(...So that wasn't Doctor Arthur's own technique?)
It was immediately obvious that Yuan's technique far surpassed Doctor Arthur's.
Doctor Arthur had said the procedure required more time, and that he could not remake a face repeatedly.
Yet Yuan had changed his face with astonishing ease.
As Isaac stood speechless, Yuan spoke.
"Two years ago, my master was concerned that the Second Prince faction in the Kingdom of Ridill wanted to start a war. At that point, after discovering your true identity, my master tried to expose it, bring down the Second Prince faction, and avert a war between the Empire and the Kingdom of Ridill... That was when the Silent Witch proposed a deal."
That Monica had made a deal with the Empire?
As Isaac struggled to process this, Yuan smiled—not mockingly, but with pity.
"'I'll stop the war, so please keep the Second Prince's identity secret.' The condition was that, if she failed, she would serve my master for the rest of her life."
The truth behind the Supreme Council that had saved Isaac two years earlier left him speechless.
All the blood drained from him, his throat tightened, and his footing wavered.
──What had he made Monica bear?