Episode 44
The object from the battlefield.
Why had he frowned upon hearing those words?
‘Was it because he didn’t want to discard the object from the battlefield?’
But that couldn’t be the reason; he had already sorted through and burned all such items.
Louise held out a hand mirror to him with tearful eyes.
“Look, Brother.”
In the mirror, he saw a face both familiar and strange.
Rurick raised a hand and rubbed his blackened eye.
The dark energy within it shifted and swirled, fleeing from his touch as if alive.
Then, a loud voice boomed in his ears.
—Offer victory to the starving sword!
Almost simultaneously, Louise asked again in a small voice, coughing slightly.
“Brother, cough! Did you get rid of all the things from the battlefield?”
Rurick winced, a headache blooming as he pressed his temples.
“That, more than that…… I think……”
What spilled from his lips were his own inner thoughts, whose existence he had never even realized until now.
“Perhaps… we should continue the war of aggression.”
“What did you say?”
I was so flabbergasted I could only parrot his words back at him.
Just the day before yesterday at the banquet, Rurick had been angry about the Empress and Crown Prince advocating for war again.
‘And now, after just two days, he’s changed his mind to this extent?’
Unless something specific happened, a person doesn’t flip their opinion so completely.
‘Especially not a character like Rurick.’
I tightly grabbed Rurick’s large hand, interlacing my fingers with his.
It was a level of intimate contact I wouldn’t normally dare, but seeing him spouting nonsense with those black eyes made courage well up inside me. This time, I had to properly grab hold of this weak male lead’s senses and stop him.
“Say it again, Brother. What do you want to do?”
“I…… what did I just say?”
Rurick scanned my face with a confused gaze.
His red eyes, his features, his cheeks deliberately drained of color—his eyes lingered on each in turn.
I took a deep breath and spoke.
“You said you wanted to continue the war of aggression. Is that truly your sincere wish?”
“What?”
I cut him off before he could spout more foolishness.
“You want to be close to me, don’t you, Brother? And you don’t want us to be apart.”
Thanks to having repeatedly considered Louise’s perspective, I could now immerse myself in the situation almost as quickly as the real Louise could.
“Then just who is it that wants war?”
“That……”
The black vortex swirling in Rurick’s eyes were frightening, but they also made me angry.
I glared at the demon sword hanging at his waist and cried out.
“The thing you brought back from the battlefield. What about that sword? What about that object, the one that must be drenched in the most blood?”
At that, all expression rapidly vanished from Rurick’s face.
“This sword is a treasure of the Imperial Family. With this sword, I have spread the fame of Brentani, with this sword……”
He then pressed his thumb hard against his temple, as if his head hurt.
He continued, grinding out the words.
“With this sword, countless victories and glory…!”
Before the sentence could even finish, one of Rurick’s pupils turned completely, utterly black.
“I hate it, Brother!”
I shouted, springing up from the bed.
Rising onto my tiptoes, I stretched my arms high and threw them around his neck, clinging tightly.
“I hate it. We don’t need any more victories.”
Rurick gasped for air.
I pressed my forehead against his jaw, fervently hoping he wouldn’t lose control like this.
“Think carefully, Brother. I’m sure you think so too.”
“I……”
Rurick slowly pried me off.
The black vortex still swirled in his eyes, but it didn’t seem like they had completely consumed him as they had moments before.
He shook his head slowly and spoke as if making an excuse.
“You are right. It’s just… I have a bit of a headache, perhaps from losing sleep last night. I will return tomorrow.”
“Brother……”
I held onto his hand until the very end, refusing to let go.
I felt resentful towards Helena, who had promised to come if he needed her.
‘Helena, we need you right now…!’
It seemed that mentioning the demon sword had sent Rurick into a state of extreme agitation.
My power alone could only calm him down briefly; I couldn’t completely erase the signs of his rampage.
“Rest.”
After he finally left, my legs gave way and I collapsed to the floor.
“Your Highness……!”
Phoebe came running in immediately, as if she had been waiting outside the door.
“I didn’t dare enter when your voices were raised. Are you alright?”
I could only nod my head helplessly.
“I need to… I need to talk to Ren.”
Phoebe carefully attended to me, brewing tea and massaging my shoulders.
However, the moment I was given some time alone, I stood up as if I’d been waiting for it.
I then found the blue pearl Ren had newly given me and activated it.
“Lu?”
His welcome voice came through immediately.
Even though we had parted awkwardly yesterday because I was disappointed he seemed to know about the demon sword, seeing Rurick had changed my mind.
“I have a favor to ask, Ren.”
Ren’s soft laugh, coming from the distant Magic Tower, sounded as if he were right next to me.
“When you have a request for me, you just have to say it.”
“Ren.”
“About the forging of the new sword the Emperor ordered you to make.”
If you know about the demon sword, then you have to help us even more.
“How is it progressing?”
Ren was silent for a moment, as if the question was unexpected, before explaining calmly.
“I’m working on it. The Tower’s forge hasn’t been operated in a while… there are many things to prepare.”
“That… Could you hurry it up?”
“I’ll try, Lu. But in my opinion…”
Ren added, sounding troubled.
“I think persuading His Highness the Prince will be harder than forging the sword. The new sword will be different from ‘Velih’. I’m not sure if His Highness will welcome it.”
Well, he might be right.
Given that it would be made with ordinary magic stones instead of a demon beast’s heart, it was unknown whether Rurick would give up his own sword and use the new one instead.
If he refused, it would be difficult for even the Emperor to publicly take back a sword he had bestowed.
“I’ll, I’ll help!”
“…You?”
For some reason, Ren sighed before speaking.
“It seems this won’t do. Wait a moment.”
The light from the communication pearl faded as if switching off.
‘Wait… does that mean he’s coming to me?’
I paced aimlessly near the fireplace.
Before long, a familiar explosive sound was heard.
—Boom!
“Ren…!”
Before the black smoke could even clear, I called his name, and he emerged from the fireplace, dusting off the soot.
“Lu.”
Ren knelt on one knee before me.
His lips against my hand were cautious and careful, unlike usual.
He remained kneeling on the floor and spoke.
“Until I received the order to forge the new sword, I too only knew about ‘Velich’ as much as everyone else does. Just the legends, like how the first Tower Lord, Studites, forged it.”
His neat eyebrows looked stubborn.
His deep purple eyes were serious, and there was no trace of a smile on his lips.
“Believe me.”
I realized Ren had come specifically to say this.
And that my suspicion had hurt him.
‘In other words, it means he has learned about the demon sword now.’
At the very least, when Rurick first received the sword, Ren also knew nothing.
‘Right, Ren hasn’t been the Tower Lord for very long either.’
Even though it was just his claim with no proof, I felt immensely relieved.
Just imagining the assumption that he had helped the Emperor give Rurick the demon sword had made my day a living hell.
Ren finally rose and asked.
“But why do I get the feeling you know something about the demon sword? Did old man leave you some kind of hint?”
Moghold!
It was Moghold again.
He was the Tower Lord when Rurick received the demon sword, and unlike Ren, he might have known about it from the beginning.
‘Of course, if Moghold was close enough to Louise to enchant her diary, he might have given her some kind of hint about the demon sword too.’
The problem was, I knew nothing about that…
‘But Rendo doesn’t know that either.’
So, I decided to use the informational blind spot created by the former Tower Lord’s wandering and unburden myself of this novel’s secret I had been holding onto alone.
“Please don’t ask how I found out. What matters is that the demon sword is actually destroying my brother.”
