Episode 38
The Magic Tower Lord’s necklace was inscribed with the oath, guaranteed by his life, stating that breaking it would cause the necklace to slowly absorb the mage’s life force.
The Emperor looked at the necklace, chuckled softly, and handed the booklet to Ren.
“The writings in this booklet are a secret of the imperial family. Not that I can read it anyway, as it’s in an ancient language.”
The Magic Tower Lord’s expression twisted peculiarly.
“So, you mean even Your Majesty doesn’t know the exact contents?”
The Emperor shook his head.
“No, Moghold read it to me long ago. He was…”
His voice continued bitterly.
“…quite shocked by the use of ‘Velich’. That probably contributed to his sudden retirement.”
Ren stared intently at the booklet in his hand, pondering this newfound fact.
His master also possessed the Tower Lord’s necklace, so he too would have been unable to reveal the booklet’s secrets to him.
After a moment’s thought, Ren spoke.
“If you’re concerned about leaks, I can read it here and leave.”
“Can you decipher it in one night?”
“…I’ll try.”
The Emperor nodded.
“Do so. I trust the Magic Tower, but not everyone in the palace does. Therefore, I’ll formally station a guard unit, if that’s acceptable.”
Ren asked, sounding puzzled.
“…What do you think a guard unit can do to me?”
The Emperor replied in a tired tone.
“Well, they can watch, I suppose. If you don’t like it, just think of them as statues.”
Then, he rose wearily and left the room.
—Knock, knock.
I furrowed my brow slightly at the early morning knock.
Phoebe seemed to share my thought.
“It seems His Highness the Prince has already arrived.”
If it was about me needing rest, the physician had surely said enough yesterday.
Phoebe swallowed a sigh and got up to open the door.
Immediately, a surprised voice came through.
“Lord Ren?”
What?
Well, it was a time and manner in which one wouldn’t expect Ren to appear.
‘It’s clearly his sleeping time now, it’s my chamber door that just opened, and there was no explosive sound.’
But Ren strode in, frowned upon seeing me, and said,
“You collapsed? And then didn’t contact me?”
Ah, right, I collapsed yesterday…
‘Fake-collapsed.’
I chuckled and reached my hand out to Ren.
“Ren…”
“You think acting cute will make me let it slide? What do you take me for?”
He scolded me but didn’t hesitate to take my hand.
The hand of the man who must have worried about me was warm, his gaze affectionate.
I deliberately teased him.
“The Imperail’s Magic Tower Lord…?”
“The Imperail’s Magic Tower Lord…?”
I giggled watching him get annoyed. Ren sighed as if the ground would swallow him and sat by my bedside.
Then, he glared at me threateningly.
“If you keep this up, I won’t return to the Tower, you know? I won’t look into any of the things you want to know, either.”
“…But I think you will.”
Ren clicked his tongue at my timid rebuttal.
“I said I won’t, okay?”
Finally, I fiddled with Ren’s hand and whispered,
“I just faked collapsing. Everyone needs to know I’m sick so I can go away for recuperation.”
“What?”
Ren questioned incredulously, then his face scrunched up fiercely.
His vivid purple eyes flashed sharply.
“Does Erni know this fact?”
“Huh?”
How could Ernst not know that?
I tilted my head, eyes wide. Suddenly, Ren shook off my hand.
“Ah, that Erni, I’m going to…”
It seemed Ernst had played a trick.
I hastily grabbed Ren’s hand back and said,
“Cut him some slack. He’s the one who arranged the physician for me, you know.”
“He did that for his own benefit. You’re planning to go to Flavi for recuperation, right?”
Ren answered sideways, then raised one eyebrow and asked,
“But Lou, why the sudden curiosity about the Prince’s demon sword?”
“Ah, that?”
Rurik considered Ren the Emperor’s lackey, but I thought differently.
“Ren, actually…”
So, feeling no need to hide it from Ren, I answered directly.
“Lately, Brother’s eye color sometimes turns black.”
“…What?”
But for some reason, Ren’s eyes wavered.
‘Huh? I never expected him to know anything about it…’
Was I wrong?
Could it be that Ren also knew about the demon sword?
“Th-that is…”
Flustered, I stammered on.
“It’s just… strange, isn’t it? For one’s eye color to change. The only thing different about Brother is that he carries a demon sword, so I wondered if it might be related to that.”
“Lou.”
When Ren called my name, I hoped he knew nothing.
Nothing about the Emperor giving his own son a soul-devouring demon sword and using him as a war machine for over a decade. What he did to my brother.
‘I hope he doesn’t know.’
But on Ren’s face, as he quietly called my name, hesitation surfaced along with many emotions.
The kind of emotion one who knew nothing could never show.
“Actually, His Majesty the Emperor has ordered the Tower to forge a new demon sword.”
“A new demon sword?”
I feigned ignorance and added,
“But doesn’t that sword have legends about a magical beast’s heart and all that?”
“You’re right.”
A seemingly forced smile hung on Ren’s firm lips.
He slowly reached out and stroked my hair.
“But this time, the imperial command is to make it simply by processing a magic stone, excluding terrible materials like a magical beast’s heart.”
His large hand stroking my hair was affectionate, but for the first time, I felt a distance from Ren as he spoke of the imperial command.
“Really? Why? Then, do you know what the Emperor plans to use that sword for?”
I found myself probing sharply. Ren, however, answered gently instead.
Uncharacteristically so.
“It seems he intends to bestow the new sword upon His Highness the Second Prince and retrieve the old one.”
The Emperor, suddenly?
“I don’t know the detailed reason, but if it goes according to the imperial command, you won’t have to worry about the demon sword anymore, Lou.”
Suddenly, I remembered hinting to the Emperor about Rurik’s condition about a month ago.
“I don’t know if it’s an overreaction, but I’m worried because Brother’s eyes seem different since his return…”
I thought if he was concerned about the demon sword, he’d catch my hint, but the Emperor just laughed foolishly and praised our sibling bond.
‘And yet, did it bother him the more he thought about it?’
I hadn’t really expected much from the start, so this was an unexpected development.
‘In the novel, the Emperor was a foolish, stubborn villain who neglected Rurik until he went berserk.’
I made him that way.
But was there room for the Emperor’s redemption too?
‘He missed the timing, but did he have even a little intention to retrieve the sword?’
Aside from Rurik, all the characters around me now were minor supporting roles from the novel.
As such, I hadn’t given them any narrative or backstory…
‘Why do they all seem so self-willed?’
Questions linked one after another, but I soon shook my head.
Now wasn’t the time to be complacent, comparing the Emperor to a novel character.
‘Room for redemption? What nonsense.’
Even if he suddenly decided to retrieve the sword now, I wouldn’t grant him absolution.
‘Rurik’s life force has already been completely gnawed away!’
Perhaps the Emperor, having used him enough, now wants to take the sword from Rurik before a major incident occurs?
Then, I suddenly recalled what the Empress said at the banquet.
“But now that we hold the entire upper reaches of the Dunez River, the plains of Whitnil are quite tempting. If we could incorporate that land into the Empire, the homeless Zedelren would naturally follow.”
Is he trying to replace the sword before the next war of aggression, fearing Rurik might go berserk?
‘And Ren is helping with that?’
I slowly removed the gentle hand stroking my hair.
“Lou…?”
“Ren.”
From the day I became Louise and first met Ren, I had overlooked all the somewhat eccentric and rude actions of the man before me.
Of course, it was partly because he was incredibly handsome, worthy of staring at, but more so because I learned through numerous letters how much Ren cherished Louise.
‘But he knew about the demon sword?’
If he knew from the beginning and hid it, I truly wouldn’t be able to forgive this man.
“About the magic sword… did you know? That it harms my brother’s health. Did you know that too?”
