Chapter 10
Escape from Another World with a Possessor (10)
1. Families Collapse, Society Collapses, the Empire Collapses (8)
Selena reacted instinctively, stepping forward to stop what could have become a shameless kidnapping marriage incident.
She regretted it for about 0.1 seconds—but only that long.
After all, she had already checked the restaurant with mana before entering. At most, there were only two third-class mages. They wouldn’t even remember what she looked like.
So the real problem wasn’t them—it was the ridiculous slander that could ruin Count Selena Kim’s reputation as an Archmage in a completely new and devastating way.
“What nonsense is this? There’s no way I’d do that! A forced marriage with the Empress? I don’t do kidnapping marriages!”
“What… what?”
Her fierce shout caused the few people affected by her perception-altering magic to lose focus for a moment.
A man, who seemed to enjoy spreading hot gossip, also paused but then straightened his shoulders and confidently opened a newspaper.
Pointing to a cheap page printed with low-quality paper and ink from a propaganda newspaper of the Empire, he declared:
“You young ones who follow Count Kim just because of some silly card game… wake up! Look here! His Majesty the Emperor said that Count Kim fell in love with the Empress at first sight and kidnapped her!”
Selena immediately read the newspaper with her Archmage-level eyesight.
It was true.
“See for yourself. It says clearly that Count Kim is planning to marry the Empress with a pink diamond ring in Ariel Fortress City. The Emperor exposed this plot himself!”
This crazy Emperor…
The absurd details made Selena’s temples throb.
Selena, who was used to getting revenge on others but had never been humiliated herself, stumbled in shock. Gayeon, who had been staring blankly, hurriedly supported her.
Gayeon whispered anxiously:
“Unnie, what is he doing? Is the rabbit really crazy? Is he insane in a pathological sense?”
“I want to ask that too, Gayeon. What kind of drug did he take to say something like this? Did you give him anything before leaving the palace because you were angry?”
“Uh… um.”
“…Gayeon?”
Selena asked half in exasperation, but Gayeon’s behavior was strange. When Selena stared, her clear, blue eyes avoided her gaze quietly.
“Hmph. The past doesn’t really matter. He’s the master anyway, so most poisons are like water to him. It’s not because of anything I gave him.”
What a scary girl.
Selena raised Gayeon’s danger level from 1 to 2.
As they whispered about whether the Emperor had really taken drugs, others started discussing the situation.
“Oh my! A kidnapping marriage with the Empress? How could he do such a terrible thing?”
“I wonder how beautiful the Empress is for Count Kim to do something like that.”
“Hey, is that really the important part?”
“No, the important thing is the cause. If she wasn’t beautiful, none of this would’ve happened!”
“What nonsense? The problem is Count Kim for kidnapping her, not her beauty!”
“Right, Count Kim is the bad one. Even just looking at that cursed card game shows it!”
“What? Why bring up a card game here?”
“Do you think it makes sense to play twelve times in a row and get only five 2-star results? Terrible luck! That game’s cursed! Whoever made it deserves punishment!”
It was chaos.
At first, people pretended to be shocked, but over time, the atmosphere began to change.
News of Count Kim’s kidnapping of the Empress gradually became light gossip.
Summing up the public opinion: 60% thought Count Kim was a bastard, 30% felt sorry for the Empress, and 10% complained about the card game being a bad luck-based game.
Selena, listening carefully to the flow, narrowed her eyes.
“…Was this planned?”
“Huh?”
“I think they want to make us look like fools.”
Normally, this story would never have spread like this.
“A mysterious Archmage who kidnapped the Empress in the heart of the palace, for reasons nobody understands.”
Archmages were like living natural disasters to ordinary people. Because the first Emperor had saved the world as an Archmage, the Empire’s citizens vaguely understood what kind of miracles an Archmage could achieve.
So the so-called Empress kidnapping incident was something people would normally be cautious about discussing.
They were careful because they never knew where the dangerous Archmage might appear next or what kind of threat a betrayed Archmage could pose.
When Selena and Gayeon entered the restaurant, no one even mentioned the Empress or Count Kim.
People were consciously or unconsciously avoiding the topic because it was a real threat.
Yet the Emperor simplified everything with one ridiculous explanation:
“The Archmage impulsively fell for the beautiful Empress and tried to forcibly marry her.”
Not a kidnapping by an evil fairy-tale magician.
It was impossible to take it seriously.
The public first felt anger, shock, and disbelief—but slowly relaxed.
Ah, Count Kim was focused only on the Empress. We won’t get caught in this. The Empire is safe. Poor Empress… but he kidnapped her out of love, so she should be fine.
The citizens instantly became safe third parties.
Then they began gossiping freely.
Such a ridiculous scandal was rare.
Of course, it was mostly their imagination, but the general public’s awareness was low anyway.
With only two years of basic elementary education, most could only read, write, and do simple math. Critical thinking was limited to the elite.
Also, since the Emperor himself said so, who would dare doubt it?
So letting the situation flow exactly as the Emperor wanted was very easy.
Selena and Gayeon exchanged glances, quietly listening to conversations, then slipped out of the restaurant into a shadowy alley.
Some thugs were there, but a small taste of 100,000 volts quickly brought them down.
After clearing them away, Selena solemnly declared:
“From now, we’ll hold the first meeting to respond to the mad tyrant’s scheme. Gayeon, who lived with that lunatic for three years, what do you think he wants?”
“Maybe he wants to calm the Empire’s citizens, who are anxious about the Archmage’s sudden kidnapping and escape?”
“Hmm, that’s part of it. Normally, even if people saw my wanted notice, they’d be too scared to report me. They might gossip, but mostly ignore it. Not now though.”
Mercenaries and adventurers would now be alert. They’d know I’m using perception-altering magic and report me at the first sign of trouble.
“You’re saying they’d react that fast just because the Archmage seems easy to deal with?”
Gayeon looked unconvinced, but Selena smiled wryly.
“They’re used to living with danger. Now they’ll poke carefully. We were going to have a simple meal in the restaurant, but that won’t be easy.”
“…It was an absurd claim, but also clever.”
“Yes. It calmed anxious citizens and made witnesses step forward. My reputation might drop, yours a little too, but we gained a lot. But that’s not the main problem.”
Tapping her chin, Selena said the question she could not figure out:
“What I really wonder is… how did he know to pick Ariel Fortress City and say those things?”
