Chapter 90
[At the same time]
In what should have been an empty laboratory, a stranger was humming a tune as they stood there.
“Eda-nim, should I take these too?” A knight in golden armor, who had entered through the wide-open laboratory door, pointed to the numerous glass jars on the shelf behind the curtains that had been pulled back.
Eda, momentarily startled, furrowed her brows and growled in a harsh voice. “Even if the door is open, knocking is basic. Don’t make it obvious that you were never taught manners.”
“I apologize.” The knight, who served only the Emperor and bowed to no one outside the imperial family, quickly lowered his head in apology.
Watching him, Eda nodded as if she were his master. There was no trace of courtesy or tension toward the Imperial Knight in her demeanor.
Eda quietly watched the Imperial Knight, who was placing glass jars filled with soul butterflies into a large sack.
‘I wish I could distinguish the possessors like Prince Zair does.’ If she could, like Prince Zair, the moment she heard a voice, she would be able to immediately sense it in her mind, just like him.
Zair thought it was simply his “power” that made it possible, but that was a big misconception.
Only those who shared the same spiritual wavelength could distinguish the possessors.
Only those who had left their “original body” could hear the voices of the possessed, as they were drawn to the unique wavelength of the souls. Even someone like Roa and Eda, who had researched the spiritual waves deeply and could see the soul butterflies, would have no chance. There was no way Zair could do it, unless he were still in his “original body,” not this “fake body.”
‘At least I won’t have to go through the hassle of changing bodies every now and then.’
Zair had obtained a fake body when he was still young. He naturally aged by consuming food infused with the Emperor’s life energy, but since it wasn’t his real body, physical growth was impossible. So, once a month, Zair would be drugged into a deep sleep and moved to the Magic Tower, where Roa and Eda would secretly create a new body for him.
Fortunately, Sethian, with a similar disposition and body type, was nearby. Based on information from the soul that had been watching him, they were able to gradually grow Zair’s new body without much difficulty. The process was extremely tedious, but now, with Zair’s eventual disappearance, she was freed from it.
‘Though he’s foolish, he was useful.’ Just thinking about Zair made Eda's lips curve into a smile. She couldn’t help but smile, and as she did, another Imperial Knight entered with a new sack and bowed before her. He then began collecting the glass jars from the shelf along with the other knight who had arrived earlier.
Just like during Sethian’s time, Zair’s followers, close aides, and knights were all confined to the halls of the castle. Because of this, despite the clear morning, the inside of the castle remained eerily quiet.
In this situation, the only ones who could move freely were the Imperial Knights who had been tasked with guarding and monitoring the castle for the time being.
Eda had already had souls possess several of the Imperial Knights, including the ones in front of her. Until now, she could only possess souls after they had consumed the possession drug multiple times, with the duration of possession depending on the amount of the drug in their body. However, with the improved version of the drug that Eda had created, even a single dose would allow possession for about a day.
The Imperial Knights had been possessed in a day were simply people who, being human, couldn’t avoid eating something. While it would be difficult to feed them the possession drug in a thoroughly controlled environment like the Imperial Palace, in this case, with everyone gathered in Zair’s castle, there were plenty of opportunities to slip it in.
‘They don’t even realize most of their souls are already mine…’ The souls following Zair had done so because they clung to the hope that, one day, they could regain a physical body and live a new life, as well as due to the loneliness they had nowhere else to turn to. Zair emphasized this psychological aspect, gradually brainwashing them. However, Eda was also secretly moving in the other direction.
Eda had avoided touching Zair’s knights and underlings and instead targeted the souls who were already under the process of brainwashing. She subtly informed them that Zair’s life would end along with the Emperor’s, and after a little persuasion, they eventually promised to make her their master.
They moved as Zair commanded, sometimes possessing the gardener of Emerald Castle and several others there. As a result, Zair never suspected the souls that were being brainwashed.
At the time Sethian disappeared leaving behind only the massacre scene inside the stone tower, Eda instinctively knew Zair had outlived his usefulness. She ordered those who had been possessed to leave their bodies, and she too vanished from the Magic Tower as planned. The soul that was meant to possess the Emperor was someone Zair had kept by his side for a long time, so he would undoubtedly obey Zair’s orders, but once Roa stepped in, he was bound to be caught without even properly possessing the Emperor.
Prince Zair had come to the end of his story.
Prince Sethian had willingly walked into Zair’s trap, seemingly with the intent to completely root him out. Now that the sinister-eyed crown prince had made his move, the outcome was predictable.
‘Either way, I’ve gotten everything I wanted.’ With a chilling smile, Eda walked toward a corner of the laboratory. In front of her stood a heavy bookshelf filled with books. Just like Zair had done, Eda removed a thick book, about the width of her palm, and used a key she had prepared earlier to unlock the lock behind it. She then placed the book back and pushed the bookshelf, which smoothly slid open.
Behind it was a large glass cylinder, filled with red blood. Countless white butterflies floated inside.
Drip, drip.
Following the slow drops of blood, Eda looked up and saw the body of a man, hanging upside down, already dead from blood loss.
The sickening stench of blood made Eda scrunch her face as she called one of the two knights. The knight, who seemed unfazed by the gruesome scene, stepped forward.
Pointing to the butterflies in the glass cylinder, Eda said, “Just gather those and we’ll leave right away. The cargo carriage is ready as planned, right?”
“Yes, the other souls have already possessed the coachmen and the attendants. There will be no chance of being caught.”
Eda nodded happily and handed him a glass jar with a faint blue glow. Unlike the other jars, it was large enough to require both hands to hold and emanated a chilling aura.
The knight opened the lid of the jar near the blood-filled glass cylinder. As he did, the white butterflies, soaked in blood, slowly began to float upward, without even flapping their wings. They seemed to be drawn to something, gathering neatly inside the jar.
The butterflies, drunk on the blood of a living human and Zair’s blood—i.e., the Emperor’s life energy—would soon become the essence of life itself, used to create and sustain the bodies of those who would protect Eda, not Zair.
The knight, holding the jar, absentmindedly watched the butterflies inside, before suddenly asking Eda, “What about the ‘Living Spirit’? Won’t you need it too?”
Understanding who he was referring to, Eda smiled faintly and replied, “Yes, but not yet.”
She narrowed her eyes as she watched the white butterflies in the jar slowly turning blood-red. “First, Sethian must sit on the Emperor’s throne. Only then can the Living Spirit be connected to the ‘Emperor’s magical stone,’ not the Crown Prince’s.”
The Emperor’s magical stone had one crucial difference from the Crown Prince’s.
It was because of that difference that Eda had attached herself to Zair, who was connected to the Emperor’s magical stone, and had long been after his soul. Through research, Eda discovered that the life energy donor’s lifespan was also crucial. At the time, when she had nearly despaired over the Emperor’s short remaining lifespan, the Living Spirit who had caught Crown Prince Sethian’s eye appeared at just the right moment. Once Sethian, who had promised to supply life energy to that person, sat on the throne, Eda wouldn’t have to worry about when his breathing might stop.
Thus, by presenting Idelo from the underground of the Magic Tower and the not-yet-bloomed Ivelo to Zair and pretending to lend a hand in using them to deal with Sethian, Eda had set her plan in motion. That way, Sethian, who had seemed uninterested in the throne, would properly make his move, and the result would all but ensure that he would sit on the Emperor’s throne.
What was needed was Idelo, which contained the deadly poison called ‘Dimension Poison,’ the life energy of a magical stone bearer, the crystallization of desire, and a mage to open the door.
With a sense of foreboding, Eda couldn’t help but tremble in excitement as her long-awaited goal was finally within reach.
Eda never lost her crazed smile as she left Zair’s laboratory, now thick with the smell of blood.
In what should have been an empty laboratory, a stranger was humming a tune as they stood there.
“Eda-nim, should I take these too?” A knight in golden armor, who had entered through the wide-open laboratory door, pointed to the numerous glass jars on the shelf behind the curtains that had been pulled back.
Eda, momentarily startled, furrowed her brows and growled in a harsh voice. “Even if the door is open, knocking is basic. Don’t make it obvious that you were never taught manners.”
“I apologize.” The knight, who served only the Emperor and bowed to no one outside the imperial family, quickly lowered his head in apology.
Watching him, Eda nodded as if she were his master. There was no trace of courtesy or tension toward the Imperial Knight in her demeanor.
Eda quietly watched the Imperial Knight, who was placing glass jars filled with soul butterflies into a large sack.
‘I wish I could distinguish the possessors like Prince Zair does.’ If she could, like Prince Zair, the moment she heard a voice, she would be able to immediately sense it in her mind, just like him.
Zair thought it was simply his “power” that made it possible, but that was a big misconception.
Only those who shared the same spiritual wavelength could distinguish the possessors.
Only those who had left their “original body” could hear the voices of the possessed, as they were drawn to the unique wavelength of the souls. Even someone like Roa and Eda, who had researched the spiritual waves deeply and could see the soul butterflies, would have no chance. There was no way Zair could do it, unless he were still in his “original body,” not this “fake body.”
‘At least I won’t have to go through the hassle of changing bodies every now and then.’
Zair had obtained a fake body when he was still young. He naturally aged by consuming food infused with the Emperor’s life energy, but since it wasn’t his real body, physical growth was impossible. So, once a month, Zair would be drugged into a deep sleep and moved to the Magic Tower, where Roa and Eda would secretly create a new body for him.
Fortunately, Sethian, with a similar disposition and body type, was nearby. Based on information from the soul that had been watching him, they were able to gradually grow Zair’s new body without much difficulty. The process was extremely tedious, but now, with Zair’s eventual disappearance, she was freed from it.
‘Though he’s foolish, he was useful.’ Just thinking about Zair made Eda's lips curve into a smile. She couldn’t help but smile, and as she did, another Imperial Knight entered with a new sack and bowed before her. He then began collecting the glass jars from the shelf along with the other knight who had arrived earlier.
Just like during Sethian’s time, Zair’s followers, close aides, and knights were all confined to the halls of the castle. Because of this, despite the clear morning, the inside of the castle remained eerily quiet.
In this situation, the only ones who could move freely were the Imperial Knights who had been tasked with guarding and monitoring the castle for the time being.
Eda had already had souls possess several of the Imperial Knights, including the ones in front of her. Until now, she could only possess souls after they had consumed the possession drug multiple times, with the duration of possession depending on the amount of the drug in their body. However, with the improved version of the drug that Eda had created, even a single dose would allow possession for about a day.
The Imperial Knights had been possessed in a day were simply people who, being human, couldn’t avoid eating something. While it would be difficult to feed them the possession drug in a thoroughly controlled environment like the Imperial Palace, in this case, with everyone gathered in Zair’s castle, there were plenty of opportunities to slip it in.
‘They don’t even realize most of their souls are already mine…’ The souls following Zair had done so because they clung to the hope that, one day, they could regain a physical body and live a new life, as well as due to the loneliness they had nowhere else to turn to. Zair emphasized this psychological aspect, gradually brainwashing them. However, Eda was also secretly moving in the other direction.
Eda had avoided touching Zair’s knights and underlings and instead targeted the souls who were already under the process of brainwashing. She subtly informed them that Zair’s life would end along with the Emperor’s, and after a little persuasion, they eventually promised to make her their master.
They moved as Zair commanded, sometimes possessing the gardener of Emerald Castle and several others there. As a result, Zair never suspected the souls that were being brainwashed.
At the time Sethian disappeared leaving behind only the massacre scene inside the stone tower, Eda instinctively knew Zair had outlived his usefulness. She ordered those who had been possessed to leave their bodies, and she too vanished from the Magic Tower as planned. The soul that was meant to possess the Emperor was someone Zair had kept by his side for a long time, so he would undoubtedly obey Zair’s orders, but once Roa stepped in, he was bound to be caught without even properly possessing the Emperor.
Prince Zair had come to the end of his story.
Prince Sethian had willingly walked into Zair’s trap, seemingly with the intent to completely root him out. Now that the sinister-eyed crown prince had made his move, the outcome was predictable.
‘Either way, I’ve gotten everything I wanted.’ With a chilling smile, Eda walked toward a corner of the laboratory. In front of her stood a heavy bookshelf filled with books. Just like Zair had done, Eda removed a thick book, about the width of her palm, and used a key she had prepared earlier to unlock the lock behind it. She then placed the book back and pushed the bookshelf, which smoothly slid open.
Behind it was a large glass cylinder, filled with red blood. Countless white butterflies floated inside.
Drip, drip.
Following the slow drops of blood, Eda looked up and saw the body of a man, hanging upside down, already dead from blood loss.
The sickening stench of blood made Eda scrunch her face as she called one of the two knights. The knight, who seemed unfazed by the gruesome scene, stepped forward.
Pointing to the butterflies in the glass cylinder, Eda said, “Just gather those and we’ll leave right away. The cargo carriage is ready as planned, right?”
“Yes, the other souls have already possessed the coachmen and the attendants. There will be no chance of being caught.”
Eda nodded happily and handed him a glass jar with a faint blue glow. Unlike the other jars, it was large enough to require both hands to hold and emanated a chilling aura.
The knight opened the lid of the jar near the blood-filled glass cylinder. As he did, the white butterflies, soaked in blood, slowly began to float upward, without even flapping their wings. They seemed to be drawn to something, gathering neatly inside the jar.
The butterflies, drunk on the blood of a living human and Zair’s blood—i.e., the Emperor’s life energy—would soon become the essence of life itself, used to create and sustain the bodies of those who would protect Eda, not Zair.
The knight, holding the jar, absentmindedly watched the butterflies inside, before suddenly asking Eda, “What about the ‘Living Spirit’? Won’t you need it too?”
Understanding who he was referring to, Eda smiled faintly and replied, “Yes, but not yet.”
She narrowed her eyes as she watched the white butterflies in the jar slowly turning blood-red. “First, Sethian must sit on the Emperor’s throne. Only then can the Living Spirit be connected to the ‘Emperor’s magical stone,’ not the Crown Prince’s.”
The Emperor’s magical stone had one crucial difference from the Crown Prince’s.
It was because of that difference that Eda had attached herself to Zair, who was connected to the Emperor’s magical stone, and had long been after his soul. Through research, Eda discovered that the life energy donor’s lifespan was also crucial. At the time, when she had nearly despaired over the Emperor’s short remaining lifespan, the Living Spirit who had caught Crown Prince Sethian’s eye appeared at just the right moment. Once Sethian, who had promised to supply life energy to that person, sat on the throne, Eda wouldn’t have to worry about when his breathing might stop.
Thus, by presenting Idelo from the underground of the Magic Tower and the not-yet-bloomed Ivelo to Zair and pretending to lend a hand in using them to deal with Sethian, Eda had set her plan in motion. That way, Sethian, who had seemed uninterested in the throne, would properly make his move, and the result would all but ensure that he would sit on the Emperor’s throne.
What was needed was Idelo, which contained the deadly poison called ‘Dimension Poison,’ the life energy of a magical stone bearer, the crystallization of desire, and a mage to open the door.
With a sense of foreboding, Eda couldn’t help but tremble in excitement as her long-awaited goal was finally within reach.
Eda never lost her crazed smile as she left Zair’s laboratory, now thick with the smell of blood.
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