Chapter 77
Roa anxiously rolled his eyes, wondering why the alarm devices scattered throughout the Magic Tower hadn’t gone off. Then, he recalled a magic-nullifying magic stone that worked for a set period. A few days ago, Sethian had used his authority as the crown prince to obtain two of them for some purpose.
Realizing that the man threatening him likely had one of those stones, Roa’s expression darkened.
‘That’s a royal-exclusive item…’
Roa had been present when Sethian and his associates made a deal, so he knew exactly what kind of work this man had done before. Giving such a precious stone to a man whose profession was assassination… Should he call it bold or simply a willingness to use anyone as long as they were useful?
Since no alarms had been triggered, it meant the man had reached the top floor, where the research lab was, without being detected by anyone. That meant he was capable of silently eliminating most of the people in the Magic Tower. If that had happened, Sethian would have likely sneered arrogantly and dismissed it as their own incompetence.
As Roa was involuntarily harboring minor grievances toward Sethian, the man, who had remained silent with a wire wrapped around Roa’s neck, suddenly grabbed a piece of paper and a quill from the desk and started writing something.
‘Ah, that’s the first page of my research paper… but it’s just the cover, so I guess it’s fine.’
Knowing that the wire around his neck was not an ordinary item, Roa refrained from making any sudden noises or saying anything that might provoke the man.
The man finished writing and held up the paper for Roa to read.
<I came to deliver Crown Prince Sethian’s message and information. Before I speak, lock the door so no one can enter. Stay silent.>
As soon as Roa finished reading, the man crumpled the paper. Then, without hesitation, he pulled down his mask to his chin and shoved the paper into his mouth, chewing and swallowing it as if it were second nature.
While Roa stared at him with a stiff expression, the wire that had been wrapped around his neck vanished without a trace. It had disappeared so seamlessly that he couldn’t even feel it leaving. Rubbing his neck absentmindedly, Roa turned toward the door to follow the man’s instructions.
There was no physical lock, but by injecting mana into the embedded blue magic stone, he could secure it from the inside. To unlock it, a magician with greater mana reserves than Roa would have to use a nullification spell from outside. Since there was no one in the Magic Tower with more mana than him, this was as secure as it could get.
After locking the door, Roa turned back and scowled. The man was now scribbling on the back of a page from his research paper, right over a blocked-out section. The back of the page was blank, and he could always transcribe the contents onto another sheet later, but considering this man’s behavior, he would likely eat the paper as soon as he finished delivering his message.
“Wait, you can’t—”
Roa had been about to stop him, but he instinctively shut his mouth when the man abruptly held the paper up to his face. As he read the contents, his expression grew increasingly serious.
* * *
Click—
Sethian sat in the middle of his solitary confinement cell, staring quietly at the food placed on the table before him. Compared to the other prisoners, he was enjoying a luxurious meal—hot and nutritious. Yet, he still hadn’t touched a single bite.
“You don’t intend to eat today either?”
The young male attendant standing beside him asked with a faint smile.
“Should I?”
“It’s not mandatory, but even someone like Your Highness will collapse after a few days without food.”
Sethian, who had been gazing at the food, shifted his eyes upward to look at him.
“There’s possession-inducing drugs mixed in. Do you really think I’d eat it?”
The attendant’s smile gradually faded.
“You have sharp instincts.”
“It’s not instinct. I just know it’s something Zair would do without hesitation.”
Sethian understood Zair’s intentions perfectly. If he consumed enough of the food mixed with possession drug, it would make it possible to possess him as well, making it easy to force a false confession. If there were a confession saying he was the culprit, Zair could quickly strip him of his title as crown prince. Of course, the imperial succession would proceed before that as well, if only so he could switch masters while keeping Joo Yi-Gyeol’s body intact.
The young attendant calmly pulled a small pocket watch from his coat and checked the time.
“I’ll wait for about thirty minutes in case you change your mind.”
There was no chance of that happening. Sethian wasn’t foolish enough to knowingly ingest a drug that would allow another soul to take over his body.
This was his second day in solitary confinement.
Though the imperial knights had initially been aggressive right after his arrest, they had made no further contact after that. Since they only acted on the emperor’s orders, this was likely at his command.
“How is His Majesty?”
“I cannot say.”
It was the expected answer, but Sethian didn’t stop his questioning.
“Is that His Majesty’s will, or are you choosing not to tell me?”
“That’s not what you really want to ask.”
The attendant’s faded smile returned.
“What you really want to know is about the person you cherish, isn’t it?”
Sethian’s eyes narrowed with displeasure.
“Did you go see him in person?”
“I did. Though he was in soul form.”
Sethian’s brow twitched, and he stood from his seat. The pressure radiating from him was overwhelming.
“You saw Joo Yi-Gyeol’s soul?”
Despite the weight of Sethian’s presence bearing down on him, the young attendant remained unshaken. If anything, his smile deepened.
“I can see souls and hear their voices, just like Zair. That’s how I’ve been able to serve His Majesty so discreetly for so long.”
Sethian frowned.
The emperor cherished this young attendant nearly as much as his deceased empress, and the young man, in turn, was devoted to the emperor. Moreover, despite his youthful appearance, he was older than he seemed and had served the emperor for many years.
To think that he, too, possessed the ability to see souls like Zair and Roa… It was an unexpected revelation.
“I thought Zair was the only one in the Imperial Palace with that ability.”
“That’s how it appears. How could a mere attendant claim to have the same power as the Second Prince?”
The young man’s response was casual, but his eyes flickered with bitterness.
“…His Majesty also preferred it that way.”
It was unlikely that he had hidden his ability just to avoid jealousy from the other attendants. More likely, it was a direct order from the emperor. If his ability had been known, Zair might have taken an interest in him and drawn unnecessary attention to him.
But if he had this ability, Sethian had to wonder—
“If you can see souls, you must have realized it earlier.”
Zair was meticulous. He wouldn’t have acted without testing his methods first. He had undoubtedly experimented on others before moving on to the emperor, conducting multiple trials.
If this young attendant had been by the emperor’s side the whole time, he would have seen it all.
“You must have known that Zair was using possession drugs.”
“Yes, I did. I saw the white butterfly-like soul Zair brought in enter His Majesty’s body. I saw that soul mimic His Majesty’s mannerisms, speaking as if he were truly the emperor.”
The young attendant’s voice trembled with suppressed anger, his words laced with resentment.
“If you knew all of that, why did you stay silent? You love His Majesty, and yet you let His Majesty’s body be toyed with like that?”
Sethian demanded, his suspicion growing.
The young attendant’s expression twisted, unable to hold back his emotions.
“…Because of you.”
For the first time, he referred to Sethian as “you” rather than “Your Highness.” But Sethian didn’t reprimand him. Instead, he simply waited for the man’s next words.
The young attendant raised his severed wrist, displaying the stump where his hand had once been.
“That day when you cut off my hand… You promised to set both me and His Majesty free.”
Tears welled up in his eyes as he recalled the moment he had willingly offered his hand to Sethian.
Sethian silently stared at the severed wrist, lost in thought.
Realizing that the man threatening him likely had one of those stones, Roa’s expression darkened.
‘That’s a royal-exclusive item…’
Roa had been present when Sethian and his associates made a deal, so he knew exactly what kind of work this man had done before. Giving such a precious stone to a man whose profession was assassination… Should he call it bold or simply a willingness to use anyone as long as they were useful?
Since no alarms had been triggered, it meant the man had reached the top floor, where the research lab was, without being detected by anyone. That meant he was capable of silently eliminating most of the people in the Magic Tower. If that had happened, Sethian would have likely sneered arrogantly and dismissed it as their own incompetence.
As Roa was involuntarily harboring minor grievances toward Sethian, the man, who had remained silent with a wire wrapped around Roa’s neck, suddenly grabbed a piece of paper and a quill from the desk and started writing something.
‘Ah, that’s the first page of my research paper… but it’s just the cover, so I guess it’s fine.’
Knowing that the wire around his neck was not an ordinary item, Roa refrained from making any sudden noises or saying anything that might provoke the man.
The man finished writing and held up the paper for Roa to read.
<I came to deliver Crown Prince Sethian’s message and information. Before I speak, lock the door so no one can enter. Stay silent.>
As soon as Roa finished reading, the man crumpled the paper. Then, without hesitation, he pulled down his mask to his chin and shoved the paper into his mouth, chewing and swallowing it as if it were second nature.
While Roa stared at him with a stiff expression, the wire that had been wrapped around his neck vanished without a trace. It had disappeared so seamlessly that he couldn’t even feel it leaving. Rubbing his neck absentmindedly, Roa turned toward the door to follow the man’s instructions.
There was no physical lock, but by injecting mana into the embedded blue magic stone, he could secure it from the inside. To unlock it, a magician with greater mana reserves than Roa would have to use a nullification spell from outside. Since there was no one in the Magic Tower with more mana than him, this was as secure as it could get.
After locking the door, Roa turned back and scowled. The man was now scribbling on the back of a page from his research paper, right over a blocked-out section. The back of the page was blank, and he could always transcribe the contents onto another sheet later, but considering this man’s behavior, he would likely eat the paper as soon as he finished delivering his message.
“Wait, you can’t—”
Roa had been about to stop him, but he instinctively shut his mouth when the man abruptly held the paper up to his face. As he read the contents, his expression grew increasingly serious.
* * *
Click—
Sethian sat in the middle of his solitary confinement cell, staring quietly at the food placed on the table before him. Compared to the other prisoners, he was enjoying a luxurious meal—hot and nutritious. Yet, he still hadn’t touched a single bite.
“You don’t intend to eat today either?”
The young male attendant standing beside him asked with a faint smile.
“Should I?”
“It’s not mandatory, but even someone like Your Highness will collapse after a few days without food.”
Sethian, who had been gazing at the food, shifted his eyes upward to look at him.
“There’s possession-inducing drugs mixed in. Do you really think I’d eat it?”
The attendant’s smile gradually faded.
“You have sharp instincts.”
“It’s not instinct. I just know it’s something Zair would do without hesitation.”
Sethian understood Zair’s intentions perfectly. If he consumed enough of the food mixed with possession drug, it would make it possible to possess him as well, making it easy to force a false confession. If there were a confession saying he was the culprit, Zair could quickly strip him of his title as crown prince. Of course, the imperial succession would proceed before that as well, if only so he could switch masters while keeping Joo Yi-Gyeol’s body intact.
The young attendant calmly pulled a small pocket watch from his coat and checked the time.
“I’ll wait for about thirty minutes in case you change your mind.”
There was no chance of that happening. Sethian wasn’t foolish enough to knowingly ingest a drug that would allow another soul to take over his body.
This was his second day in solitary confinement.
Though the imperial knights had initially been aggressive right after his arrest, they had made no further contact after that. Since they only acted on the emperor’s orders, this was likely at his command.
“How is His Majesty?”
“I cannot say.”
It was the expected answer, but Sethian didn’t stop his questioning.
“Is that His Majesty’s will, or are you choosing not to tell me?”
“That’s not what you really want to ask.”
The attendant’s faded smile returned.
“What you really want to know is about the person you cherish, isn’t it?”
Sethian’s eyes narrowed with displeasure.
“Did you go see him in person?”
“I did. Though he was in soul form.”
Sethian’s brow twitched, and he stood from his seat. The pressure radiating from him was overwhelming.
“You saw Joo Yi-Gyeol’s soul?”
Despite the weight of Sethian’s presence bearing down on him, the young attendant remained unshaken. If anything, his smile deepened.
“I can see souls and hear their voices, just like Zair. That’s how I’ve been able to serve His Majesty so discreetly for so long.”
Sethian frowned.
The emperor cherished this young attendant nearly as much as his deceased empress, and the young man, in turn, was devoted to the emperor. Moreover, despite his youthful appearance, he was older than he seemed and had served the emperor for many years.
To think that he, too, possessed the ability to see souls like Zair and Roa… It was an unexpected revelation.
“I thought Zair was the only one in the Imperial Palace with that ability.”
“That’s how it appears. How could a mere attendant claim to have the same power as the Second Prince?”
The young man’s response was casual, but his eyes flickered with bitterness.
“…His Majesty also preferred it that way.”
It was unlikely that he had hidden his ability just to avoid jealousy from the other attendants. More likely, it was a direct order from the emperor. If his ability had been known, Zair might have taken an interest in him and drawn unnecessary attention to him.
But if he had this ability, Sethian had to wonder—
“If you can see souls, you must have realized it earlier.”
Zair was meticulous. He wouldn’t have acted without testing his methods first. He had undoubtedly experimented on others before moving on to the emperor, conducting multiple trials.
If this young attendant had been by the emperor’s side the whole time, he would have seen it all.
“You must have known that Zair was using possession drugs.”
“Yes, I did. I saw the white butterfly-like soul Zair brought in enter His Majesty’s body. I saw that soul mimic His Majesty’s mannerisms, speaking as if he were truly the emperor.”
The young attendant’s voice trembled with suppressed anger, his words laced with resentment.
“If you knew all of that, why did you stay silent? You love His Majesty, and yet you let His Majesty’s body be toyed with like that?”
Sethian demanded, his suspicion growing.
The young attendant’s expression twisted, unable to hold back his emotions.
“…Because of you.”
For the first time, he referred to Sethian as “you” rather than “Your Highness.” But Sethian didn’t reprimand him. Instead, he simply waited for the man’s next words.
The young attendant raised his severed wrist, displaying the stump where his hand had once been.
“That day when you cut off my hand… You promised to set both me and His Majesty free.”
Tears welled up in his eyes as he recalled the moment he had willingly offered his hand to Sethian.
Sethian silently stared at the severed wrist, lost in thought.
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