Chapter 41
“That’s right. It’s Agatha’s letter.”
At my confirmation, Gobad immediately focused on the letter.
I naturally took a step back as I watched him.
Thank goodness Brillint kept her promise with me.
When she safely settled down with Agatha in the Senderin territory, she promised to send me a letter.
I had mentioned it to her beforehand—
That I might show the letter to Gobad.
All for my own gain and greed.
At the time, Brillint had answered me with unwavering eyes:
“No matter what anyone says, Your Highness is on my side. You’d never do anything to harm my family, so it’s fine.”
Some time later, the letter really did arrive—
From Brillint, and with Agatha’s enclosed as well.
Truth be told, even then I hesitated about showing Agatha’s letter to Gobad.
After all, Agatha had run away from him in disgust.
Now that she would be living peacefully with her family, was there any need to exploit her until the very end?
But then I saw a short paragraph in Agatha’s letter, and my decision solidified.
“Is he… all right? I know. I know it’s foolish of me. But I can’t sleep at night worrying about him. Did he really lose his title as crown prince because of me? In the end… did he give up everything and choose me?”
With the sender writing this, there was no reason for me to hesitate.
Agatha is, inevitably, a heroine weak to love.
Thanks to that, I could more comfortably dangle her letter as bait.
She sent three letters in total.
I sent Gobad only the first one—the one with that paragraph.
Since I had Is, it wasn’t difficult to get the letter to Gobad.
And so, he took the bait I offered and appeared here today—
At the exact time and place I demanded, and alone.
Gobad quickly read through the letter, then snapped his head up.
In a voice full of urgency, he pleaded,
“Wh-where’s the next page? Why does it end here!”
Of course he’d be frustrated.
What I had given him was only the second of the three letters, and it ended like this:
“I want to explain where I’m staying now. First, the name of this place is…”
Naturally, Gobad was going mad.
“Hurry up and give me the next page!”
“That depends on how you act now,” I said with a light smile.
“I’ve already told you what I want.”
“You mean that absurd demand to sneak you into the imperial secret vault?”
“That’s right. You came here because you’re ready for it, didn’t you?”
At my question, Gobad frowned.
“What are you even planning to do in there—”
“You don’t need to know.”
I cut him off firmly.
“Now that you’ve been completely pushed out of the line of succession, what good will it do you to know more?”
As I calmly reminded him of reality, Gobad’s face stiffened.
I looked up toward the sky.
The moon was fuller and brighter than ever.
“If not tonight, the letter with Agatha’s whereabouts will be reduced to ashes. And I’ll hide that girl somewhere even deeper.”
“Hah… so this is your true nature. Using Agatha as a hostage to threaten me… what vile, petty tactics.”
I accepted his attempt to wound me without hesitation.
“That’s right. In the end, I’m not a Lornod, but a Miban—just as you said, Gobad.”
“What?”
“Save your resentment for when you’re alone. For now, don’t forget your role, Gobad Luim Lornod.”
I furrowed my brow slightly, making it clear I would tolerate no more idle chatter.
“Lead the way. To the hidden entrance of the imperial secret vault.”
“…Follow me.”
Gobad took the lead.
When I followed, the spirits quickly gathered beside me, whispering excitedly:
[Wow! Just like in the diary, that man really does know something!]
[Right? A hidden entrance to the imperial secret vault~? What could that be?]
[Even Modway and Marin, who’ve patrolled this palace for ages, didn’t know about it. Fascinating.]
Exactly.
The imperial secret vault was, of course, located in the Central Palace where the emperor resided.
But the Central Palace was like an impregnable fortress, armed with all sorts of security magic.
Even the spirits could barely patrol as far as the emperor’s office or the great hall.
There was no way to just waltz in.
If there were any trace of entry—or worse, if I were caught midway—
I would be the one in trouble.
So while I was searching for a safer, newer method, I found this passage in my mother’s notes:
“Come to think of it, Gobad once snuck into the secret vault without the emperor knowing, didn’t he? I can’t remember exactly, but I think he said there was something in the eastern abandoned palace… Hmm, I can’t recall the trick.”
How fortunate—that the very person I could exploit had all the answers.
According to the original story, Gobad had discovered a backdoor into the vault even before meeting Agatha.
And in this situation, I held the upper hand.
So why not simply make use of him?
Naturally, I never considered the possibility that Gobad wouldn’t cooperate.
Nothing could overcome the madness of reclaiming the object of his obsession.
And now…
Gobad walked straight toward the inner part of the abandoned palace without hesitation.
That told me everything was going according to plan.
“Why did you call me here of all places?” he asked, right on cue.
“This palace was completely abandoned after a fire forty years ago. And yet you specifically chose it as our meeting place.”
“Because no one comes here. It’s easy to avoid prying eyes.”
“Hah. Is that really the only reason?”
“Do I need another?”
At my retort, Gobad glanced back at me as we walked the corridor.
Our eyes met—his blue gaze instinctively trying to probe me.
I let the look slide off me with calm indifference.
Gobad paused for a moment, then slowly turned his head forward.
“Right… you were always like that.”
Always?
The muttered word caught my attention for a moment, but before I could ask, he grabbed the ring on a nearby door and turned it.
Creeeak—
The poorly maintained door opened with an eerie sound.
“Come in.”
He stepped inside first.
I brushed off the strange sense of unease and followed him.
Inside, the air was thick with dust and the remnants of that old fire.
Moonlight streamed through holes in the crumbling walls, illuminating debris and piles of ash on the floor.
Without glancing at any of it, Gobad strode ahead.
“This is the method I found.”
He stopped before a full-length mirror, its surface dusted with ash and its edges charred.
I approached slowly, examining it.
“This?”
“The imperial secret vault is protected by an extremely powerful ward—created with dragon magic. No one can dispel it. But, on nights with a full moon, the ward disappears for a short time.”
“Dragon magic…”
“This mirror was also made with dragon magic. On nights like tonight, when the ward fades, if you infuse it with Lornod magic, it becomes a gateway connected to the secret vault.”
Dragon magic referred to special enchantments that only responded to the unique mana of the Lornod bloodline.
Human magic and dragon magic used entirely different forms of mana.
So no matter how skilled a human mage was, detecting or using dragon magic was nearly impossible.
Likewise, members of the Lornod royal family could rarely learn human magic at all—because their dragon mana clashed with it.
However, on rare occasions, a royal who broke through that limit would become a mage of historic renown.
That’s why, when I learned Moren had magical talent, I had been so overjoyed—
Not only because it secured her safety, but because the current Tower Master, Hist, the strongest mage alive, had personally confirmed it.
Moren could surpass the limits of Lornod blood.
It was a little disappointing.
If records on dragon magic still existed, Moren might have been able to learn it too.
Then she wouldn’t just be using simple techniques—infusing mana into artifacts to activate them—
She might have become the strongest mage capable of wielding dragon magic directly.
But dragon magic lies asleep beneath the Empire with the dragon who founded this nation.
The records say it “sleeps” beneath the Empire, but in truth, “sealed” would be more accurate.
Some fragments of the dragon’s legacy remained above ground, but their principles had never been fully understood in all of imperial history.
Thus, all modern use of dragon magic relied solely on existing relics.
Among the related records, there was one more piece of information that caught my eye:
“Until the vile sinner of blood undoes the hundred million chains, the Door of Truth shall not open.”
It was a prophecy from several generations ago, said to have been heard by an emperor obsessed with dragon magic during his bloody coronation ritual.
This prophecy is passed down only to emperors after the ceremony, but I had stolen a look at the records through the spirits—
So I knew some of the prophecies received by past emperors.
A sinner… and the Door of Truth…
The “Door of Truth” was another name for dragon magic.
But the “sinner”…
