1.7 Like Rain That Soaks You Before You Realize It’s Seeping In

When the old woman suddenly flew into a rage, the other residents hurried to step between her and Mikhail, apologizing.

“We are sorry, Hero! Given the current situation, the elders are naturally wary of those from Osbrant. Please accept our apologies on her behalf.”

At that, the old woman raised her voice even further, causing a scene.

“Apologies for what! These are bastards who live with their heads held high, ignorant of the sins of their ancestors! Just like this incident, we must not associate with those traitors!”

‘Traitors.’

As the three-syllable word echoed like a cold ringing in his ears, Mikhail reflexively stepped back again. Seeing this, the old woman shouted with a triumphant look on her face.

“What! Do you hate hearing the word traitor? It seems they didn’t even teach you what foul deeds your ancestors committed to seize the land, did they?”

While Mikhail stood frozen, unable to say a word, Marcel quickly intervened.

“I am not sure what you are talking about. From what we were taught, it was a conflict where both sides fought to monopolize the right of succession….”

As Marcel recited the details he had been taught since childhood until they were practically engraved in his mind, the old woman snapped back immediately.

“Ha, how shameless. So that is how they taught you. visit our siteThen, [unauthorized copy]do you know why your divine beast died? What did they teach you about that?”

What did they teach…? It’s a divine beast because it’s a legend; would it be a divine beast if it actually existed? Marcel looked at the old woman with a puzzled expression. Seeing this, the old woman continued, her face showing she had seized the upper hand.

“It took its own life because you lot betrayed the trust and were no longer worthy of the Goddess’s protection.”

What kind of absurd nonsense was this? Marcel first gripped Mikhail’s shoulder tightly to calm the Imperial Prince, then asked.

“Please tell us more about that in detail. We will leave immediately after hearing it.”

The old woman’s story was both long and short. Long ago, there were two kingdoms that served Eredite, the Goddess of Knowledge and Civilization, as their chief deity. The Goddess favored the families leading the two kingdoms as her own children and bestowed upon them a pair of blessed divine beasts, intending for them to join forces and maintain their faith.

Of the two divine beasts, which shared the same appearance, one took the form of a black bird, and the other took the form of a white bird. Looking like a devoted pair even from a distance, they would separate to protect their respective kingdoms whenever a crisis arose, and during times of peace, they wandered throughout the kingdoms together, spending affectionate moments.

Then, due to the betrayal of Osbrant, the head of Transis lost his life. Consequently, Emil, the divine beast of Osbrant, could no longer protect the faithless Osbrant and thus vomited out its own heart and died.

‘Isn’t this just… some legend tied to a national treasure?’

Just as the Heart of Emil was passed down as a national treasure in Osbrant, Marcel wondered if Transis had something like a feather from Cardina, the divine beast that paired with Emil. He asked with a sneer in his heart.

“I understand what you mean. But if Emil’s non-existence is proof that Osbrant betrayed them, has Cardina been alive until now?”

Marcel tilted his head, imagining the conceptual painting of Emil he had seen at the Read on Read BL Novelstemple as a child, but in a crow version. A giant black bird could possibly exist, but the Emil in the painting was as massive as a Read on Read BL Novelsfortress. There was no way such a bird existed in reality. As Marcel wondered what reason would be given for Cardina’s death, he wore a doubtful expression at the old woman’s unexpected answer.

“Of course, she is alive. She has been sending signals for a while now, so she will come to save us soon.”

Unlike the confident old woman, the other young people didn’t seem to agree at all.

‘Sigh… I’ve wasted my time because of an old woman gone mad over some superstition…’

Just as Marcel decided he needed to gather the shocked Imperial Prince and depart as quickly as possible, the surroundings were suddenly dyed in total darkness, as if the sun had vanished.

“What is this? A monster attack!?”

The moment Mikhail snapped awake and drew his sword, the old woman shouted in a voice overcome with emotion.

“Look! It is her, she has finally come! Did I not tell you that she would never abandon us!”

Beyond the small window, what appeared in the pitch-black darkness were wings of an unbelievably massive size, fluttering. The old woman murmured in a raspy, singing voice.

“Ah, Goddess, please look after your most faithful children…!”

As Marcel rubbed his eyes, unable to believe the sight, and checked the Prince’s condition, he found Mikhail staring completely dazed at the gliding giant divine beast. Like the mural depicting the divine beast Emil in the temple, a bird with wings larger than a house roared.

[——–!]

As the cry, which sounded like a sharp scream, echoed, surprisingly, the monsters began to collapse one by one, writhing in pain.

“……!”

“Thank you, thank you, Your Majesty!”

While the old woman offered her thanks to someone, nearly fainting, the divine beast turned and flapped its wings toward where the monsters were gathered. Every time the bird, of a size unbelievable to the eye, flapped its wings, a black shadow wavered beneath it like a draped veil.

What on earth was happening? Was it that they didn’t need to come? Marcel felt bewildered, as if in a dream, at the appearance of a savior he hadn’t seen when the Quillan Great Estate was trampled by Osbrant’s soldiers five years ago.

As Marcel and Mikhail looked up at the sky as if possessed, the heads of the monsters burst like overripe fruit every time the divine beast roared. The monsters, which until a moment ago had been wandering aimlessly throughout the forest to devour anything living, suddenly began to swarm toward the divine beast.

The divine beast soared even higher with an elegant poise that showed not a hint of fear. The feathers scattered beneath where the divine beast had stayed seemed to be a deadly poison to the monsters, as they shrieked in disgusting agony.

Mikhail watched the scene with a vacant face, and the elegant yet brave figure of the divine beast reminded him of someone. Was the ‘person’ the old woman mentioned actually the person he was thinking of? As Mikhail looked up at the divine beast—which was so strong and beautiful that he couldn’t tear his eyes away, yet somehow looked lonely—he noticed something stretching from the ground toward the divine beast.

‘What is that?’

Narrowing his eyes as if observing prey from afar, he saw the monsters huddling together, stretching higher and higher in an attempt to reach the divine beast.

[——–!]

When that roar, which sounded like both a scream and a song and was difficult to express in human language, echoed, the black mass that had stretched as if to reach the sky collapsed in a heap, but it soon gathered again without yielding. Finally, the moment one of the monsters that had climbed to the top leaped up to grab the divine beast’s feathers, fortunately, the monster fell straight back to the ground. However, Mikhail jumped in surprise, as if a sword had been plunged into his own back.

There was no more time to delay. He had to protect the divine beast. Mikhail grabbed a single sword from the luggage he had brought and threw the rest to Marcel.

“I’ll be back, wait here.”

Then, without a moment’s hesitation, he jumped down below the window, which was only wide enough for a body to fit through. It happened so quickly that Marcel didn’t even have time to stop him. He stared blankly at the scene. A real divine beast, and a monster-like human. If those two were together, perhaps a way out of this hellish situation would open up. Now, all Marcel could do was offer a desperate prayer.

How long had he run? Perhaps because all the monsters had rushed toward the divine beast, Mikhail didn’t see a single monster along the way, which was terrifyingly quiet. Passing through ruins where it seemed every living thing had been wiped out, Mikhail ran relentlessly toward the place where the monsters had formed a tower. There, he found the divine beast, unable to flap its wings, fallen to the ground and fluttering, completely entangled by a mass of monsters. Whenever the divine beast roared, the monsters flinched and recoiled, but whether they had developed a resistance or only those who wouldn’t die from the roar had survived, they clung to the divine beast like sticky jelly, refusing to let go.

“Let go!”

Mikhail charged at the mass of monsters like a wild beast, swinging his sword without a hint of fear. The monsters, fused into a single mass without ego or distinction between friend and foe, instinctively hid their cores—their energy sources—and bit into the divine beast. Mikhail continued to cut away the tentacles clinging to the divine beast and scatter them like ash. He struggled to prevent regeneration as much as possible, but since it was a being composed of many monsters, its core was powerful; no matter how much he cut, there was no end to it. He had never seen or faced anything like this before.

“Dammit…!”

The monster, which was closer to a disgusting viscous substance that regenerated endlessly than a lump of meat, now gripped both of Mikhail’s legs and was slowly wrapping around his entire body to absorb his life force. Without a thought for his own body, Mikhail was preoccupied with hacking away the vine-like tentacles clinging to the divine beast.

“Just… wait! I’ll… find the core… and destroy it…!”

Due to the demonic energy filling him to the brim, it was becoming difficult for Mikhail to maintain his sanity. The divine beast didn’t seem much different. This was exactly why [unauthorized copy]subjugating monsters required risking one’s life. Not only were the monsters themselves difficult creatures to deal with, [visit our site]but prolonged exposure to Read on Read BL Novelsthe purple mist they emitted—the demonic energy—made one’s entire body lose strength, as if they had inhaled an anesthetic.

But he could not collapse here. He hadn’t yet made his Elder Brother pay for causing such an absurd situation, and if he failed now, both ‘that person’ and the residents of Quillan would be lost, and everything would be in vain. However, the strength began to drain from his body to the point where he could barely hold his sword. The divine beast, likewise, could no longer roar and could only stagger, letting out ragged, wheezing breaths.

When Mikhail reached a state where he could no longer struggle, the mass of monsters completely swallowed him, wrapping around his body. Deeper and deeper. With his body limp as if unconscious, Mikhail was gradually sucked into a mire-like place. And just as the monsters brought him closer to the core to absorb him as an energy source, for some reason, a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

‘Then when will you come next time?’

‘…….’

I came here today to meet you. I came all this way to protect you.

Mikhail’s fading consciousness returned in an instant. To protect that person, Mikhail was willing to become a monster greater than any monster. He couldn’t close his eyes so pathetically here without confirming if that person was safe.

Squeezing out his last bit of strength, Mikhail swung his sword from within the mass of monsters. The moment the round, bead-like core finally shattered into pieces, the mass of monsters writhed in pain and spat Mikhail out with a death scream that felt like it would tear his eardrums apart.

“Ack, cough… cough….”

Along with the scream of the monster mass, the core of the magic cave seemed to have exhausted its power, and the thick mist that had been creeping down to the foot of the mountains began to clear. As Mikhail, finally able to breathe, coughed while inhaling air cleared of demonic energy, the divine beast, likewise freed from the monsters, rolled weakly onto the brush.

“Are… are you okay…!?”

As Mikhail leaned his weight on his sword like a cane [visit our site]and managed to approach the divine beast, the weakened unauthorized copy‘thing’ struggled to move its beak. It was a movement that seemed stolen contentto soothe Mikhail, telling him not to be afraid.

“Stay still! I’ll… go… call people…!”

However, Mikhail had no strength left to move. He would be lucky if he could return to the Imperial Palace alive without dying here. Still, since Marcel knew where he had gone, if he collapsed and died, Marcel would at least bring his remains back to the Imperial Palace.

“You worked hard, you worked so, so hard….”

With a barely extended hand, Mikhail stroked the giant bird, which seemed dozens of times his own size. Despite being such a strong and brave divine beast, its loneliness appeared more vivid in Mikhail’s eyes. Just like that person.

“It’s okay now, it’s all over….”

The moment Mikhail embraced the divine beast with his whole body, his heavy eyelids finally closed.

At that moment, in the Transis mansion at the frozen lake exile site, the Duke was slumped on the floor, covering his mouth.

“Cough, ugh….”

He tried to block it with his hand, but it was not enough to stop the dark red blood bursting out with his coughs. Since he had been caught by a monster’s tentacle and fallen, his vision had vanished completely. Soon, his hearing and smell were cut off as well. Only endless pain continued. But it was alright. At the very least, Misha’s peril had not been seen by Hyeon’s eyes, so he could now be at peace.

It’s all over now. Now… Hyeon collapsed onto the floor, comforting himself.

After evacuating the caretaker couple, Hyeon had entered the Duke’s secret vault once more. After searching the vault for a long time, what Hyeon found was the black gem visit our sitethat had been placed at the Duke’s feet on the day he was first summoned. The Heart of Cardina. If the Heart visit our siteof Emil kept in Osbrant was the actual organ ‘heart’ of Emil, the Heart of Cardina was a gem that had solidified Cardina’s will into the form of a magic stone.

Long ago, after Emil took his own life due to Osbrant’s betrayal, his partner Cardina also fell gravely ill. Thus, Cardina fell into a long sleep, waiting for the day Osbrant would wash away its sins and Emil would be reborn. And before falling asleep, she handed over the ‘Heart,’ which could summon her avatar, so that the descendants of Transis could receive the divine beast’s help in times of crisis.

The method of summoning the divine beast using this gem was simple. The Heart of Cardina responds only to the ‘noble’ blood of Transis. He already knew how to use it through Isaac’s memories. Just as the real Isaac had done when he summoned him here, Hyeon slit his wrist against the Heart of Cardina. The moment crimson blood soaked the gem, there was a vivid sensation of his consciousness connecting with a being awakened in a distant place.

“Ugh.”

Overcoming the disgusting sensation of nausea, Hyeon led the divine beast to the monsters’ stronghold. At first, he thought he could suppress them easily, but he didn’t know what the Crown Prince had done; the monsters appeared endlessly, no matter how many he killed. He could feel that the Prince was determined to leave not a single human alive in Quillan.

‘At this rate, everyone will die and this will become a land of mortals. Is he fine with this land becoming unusable forever?’

Hyeon grit his teeth as he saw the residents cheering and bowing every time the divine beast glided. Just hold on a little longer. Eventually, as the sheer number of monsters proved overwhelming and he was surrounded by the endless swarm, Hyeon rolled on the ground, writhing in indescribable pain.

“Kh….”

It was a vivid pain, as if his entire body were being bitten by insects. With an immense pain that made it impossible to even control his fingertips, Hyeon prayed with a trembling body for this torture to end. It would be easier if he just died. When Hyeon closed his eyes in the real world, would it have hurt as much as it did now if he could feel the pain of his whole body? Receiving the vivid pain of his flesh being eaten by monsters, Hyeon vomited blood.

“Cough, hack, ugh….”

At this moment, it felt like a punishment to be alive, as if his limbs were being torn to shreds. Please, let me rest now. I tried my best to protect the people of Quillan in place of the real Isaac. This was the price paid for the brief peace granted to Hyeon. Just as Hyeon thought it would be better to take his own life, all the pain suddenly vanished, and his body went limp.

‘It’s okay now, it’s all over….’

Hyeon closed his eyes, feeling someone’s warm temperature. He felt like crying at that lovely consolation, as if wounded beasts were sharing their warmth.

How much time had passed since he succeeded in destroying the monster’s core? Mikhail opened his eyes, surrounded by the villagers he had rescued a short while ago.

“……!!??”

As Mikhail sat up in surprise, the people surrounding him all took a step back.

“Oh, youth really is the best. He woke up in no time. He must have inhaled a considerable amount of demonic energy.”

As Mikhail looked up at Marcel with a bewildered expression, Marcel replied with a shrug.

“We simply told them we were some nameless heroes passing through. We’ve strictly warned them to keep their mouths shut about everything that happened yesterday, so you needn’t worry. And as for what you’re likely most curious about—fortunately, the monsters didn’t reach the exile site, so that area is safe. If you wish to verify it yourself, shall we depart after you’ve rested a bit longer? Or…”

When Marcel asked for the Imperial Prince’s wishes just in case, Mikhail immediately bolted upright and asked.

“The divine beast…!? Was it not collapsed beside me?”

However, Marcel merely shrugged as if he had no idea.

“I wouldn’t know. We only found you collapsed after we went out to visit our sitesearch once [stolen content]we [stolen content]confirmed the fog had cleared.”

Did it recover and fly away? If the divine beast truly was connected to the Duke through some magical means, he could only hope that was the case.

In his heart, Mikhail wanted to run toward the ice lake this very instant, but there was no time. Since the plan had hit a snag, his Elder Brother would soon move to execute another plan. He had to stop him before then.

“We’re going to the Imperial Palace. We leave right now.”

Hearing the firm tone—sounding as if he had grown significantly more adult than he was a year ago—Marcel felt a strange sense of regret. Where had the innocent, childlike Wild Child prince gone? In his place stood a man befitting a ‘hero.’ When he first took charge of the prince, he had indulged in the absurd fantasy that he hoped this boy would never grow up and would remain the pure, youngest prince forever.

And for good reason; the prince was a person who didn’t fit the etiquette of the Imperial Family at all—he was kind, gentle, and beautiful. Unless someone was truly twisted, it would be impossible not to like the prince. Thus, Marcel had dared to hope that he would remain happy, forever untangled from conflicts like politics or war.

Knowing now how foolish that wish had been, Marcel swallowed a self-deprecating laugh. Mikhail was now a proper man of the Imperial Family, a hero who knew how to throw himself into danger for what was right, regardless of friend or foe. If there must be someone who reigns over the world, it is right that such a person ascends to that position. Marcel knew without being told what Mikhail would do once he returned to the Imperial Palace.

‘I never thought I’d live to become a kingmaker.’

At this rate, a peaceful wedding would be postponed by ten years. With a self-mocking smile, Marcel entered the Imperial Palace, and Mikhail immediately requested an audience with his father.

The Imperial Palace soon became a shambles. What else could be the reason for a half-baked prince, who looked to anyone like he had barely survived a gruesome battle with monsters, to request an audience with the Emperor? The Crown Prince, feeling that the inevitable had finally arrived, announced that he would gladly sit beside His Majesty.

“Yes, my precious youngest. For what reason have you summoned me at this late hour?”

Facing the Emperor’s coldly hardened face, Mikhail spoke without hesitation.

“Since I am five years younger than my Elder Brother, is it correct that when I was born as a proper member of the Imperial Family, it was before my Elder Brother was appointed as the Crown Prince?”

At that, the Emperor closed his eyes, let out a long sigh, and spoke.

“Yes, that is correct.”

Having obtained the desired answer from the Emperor, Mikhail spat on the palm of his gloved left hand, unbuttoned his wrist, gripped the end of the glove with his teeth, and pulled his hand out. He then threw the removed glove right at the Crown Prince’s feet. The moment the tattered glove hit the floor, everyone in the audience chamber held their breath.

“Then, I shall reclaim my rights as a prince.”

The expression on the Crown Prince’s face, as he struggled desperately not to look at the glove at his feet, was quite a sight. While those watching the audience were struck with shock at this unprecedented situation, Mikhail continued, undeterred by the pressure.

“I, too, am a bloodline of Osbrant with the proper qualifications, so I request that you allow me to compete with my Elder Brother for the position of Crown Prince.”

It was the first moment Mikhail’s destiny changed because of ‘that man.’

After the Second Prince brought a storm to the Imperial Palace, the atmosphere in the capital became a disaster. Most of the capital’s nobles naturally sided with the Crown Prince as they always had, but the story was different in the provinces. Of course, for the sake of political stability, it would have been better for the Crown Prince—who had solidified his foundation by utilizing the fact that there had been no other choice but him—to ascend to the throne.

Whether he squandered the Imperial Family’s wealth like water, or whipped and drove his servants and maids like cattle and pigs, that was none of the high-ranking officials’ concern. What mattered to them was an Emperor who could stably maintain their assets.

The current Crown Prince, Edwin Onegin Osbrant, was vicious and incredibly spiteful, but he had the strong backing of the [stolen content]Empress. Who was the Empress? The eldest daughter of Marquis Onegin’s house, a legitimate noble family of the capital, she was the one responsible for making Read on Read BL Novelsthe Imperial Family—which had four concubines—exceptionally lacking in children. She stopped at nothing to achieve her Read on Read BL Novelsgoals and felt not a feather’s weight of guilt for the many lives she had taken with her own hands.

Like the Crown Prince, she believed she was born into the world with the right to enjoy all these things, and that her role was to trample upon those who dared to covet what was hers without knowing their place, treating them as less than human. Therefore, the capital nobles who held positions as officials in the Imperial Palace judged it wise to side with the Crown Prince, if only to avoid upsetting her.

Opposing them, those who sided with Mikhail Ivan Osbrant were mostly provincial lords. They suffered headaches due to the monsters that continued to multiply despite annual subjugations. According to the laws of the Empire, dungeon breaks below Grade 5 were to be handled by the local provincial lords. However, not all territories possessed enough military power to solve the monster problem within their own lands.

They had to hire mercenaries who traveled the country regularly every year to defend against monsters invading their villages. Lords who could not afford this cost either became vassals of a neighboring great territory or sold their lands and fell to the status of nobles in title only. Thus, it was not hard to imagine what kind of existence a prince who defeated monsters without asking for special reward was to them.

Stories of the young, strong, and beautiful prince, more dazzling than sunlight, spread like legends through the mouths of children, and oral tales of Prince Mikhail, the young hero of Osbrant, were told at every festival throughout the villages. Count Frogen, who ruled the great territory of Delwin, had long since revered the prince as a status equivalent to the Crown Prince since last year.

The Second Prince, supported by the people and provincial lords, and the Crown Prince, supported by the capital nobles. The Emperor could not readily side with either.

The prince was a hero who boasted outstanding martial prowess. Moreover, since he had a temperament that couldn’t stand being tied to one place, it seemed more rational for him to act as a Great General, helping his brother solve problems across the Empire as he did now, rather than ascending to the throne.

However, although he did not sleep with the Empress often, he had lived as her partner for a long time and knew her personality better than anyone. She would never leave the seed of conflict that was the prince alone. This was obvious just by looking at how the other members of the Imperial Family—excluding the daughter known as the Empire’s lunatic—had lost their lives in vain through accidental and unfortunate mishaps.

Though the timing might differ, she was a woman who would not be satisfied until she took the prince’s life by any means necessary, even after the Crown Prince ascended the throne. She was a woman who had frequently attempted to assassinate the prince even when he showed no interest in the throne; it went without saying that she would be even more relentless now that he had challenged the succession.

The ideal assumption that the Crown Prince would come to his senses after ascending, purge the maternal relatives, and rule the Empire in cooperation with his younger brother had long since become impossible. In the end, the Emperor had to choose one side. A pale scholar who knew nothing but how to swing a whip given to him by his mother and uncle while wrapped in his mother’s skirts, or a fighter who grew up with mercenaries. The latter was not a successor who provided peace of mind either.

It was all well and good to have the support of the people and the lords. But how could he place a Wild Child, who had not even properly learned the etiquette of the Imperial Family, let alone the education of a sovereign, in the position of Crown Prince? Could a fellow who had done nothing but hold a sword and fight survive in the political world, where one is swallowed whole from the head by dozens or hundreds of snakes the moment they show a gap in their armor? The Emperor could not be certain.

‘Sigh…’

Nevertheless, since things had come to this, he had to take a side. And it had to be in a way that everyone could accept. After agonizing for several days, the Emperor announced a test to determine the qualifications of the Crown Prince and the prince. The period was one year; since the position of sovereign was a heavy responsibility that only one possessing both literary and martial arts could hold, the Emperor would personally set the tests to determine which of the two was more suited for the throne.

The Empress protested vehemently, but he had no right to stop this test. Because if it was evident that someone who held the status of a prince before the Crown Prince was appointed had no legitimate opportunity to prove their skills, it was the right of all imperial descendants—not bastards—to challenge the succession by staking their privileges as members of the Imperial Family.

The winner of this duel would become the Crown Prince, and the loser would be permanently stripped of their succession rights and lose their rights as a member of the Imperial Family. Normally, this was a right one would not claim unless they were blinded by the throne, but this fledgling hero, seemingly oblivious to everything, had quite boldly thrown his glove at the Crown Prince in front of everyone.

‘A filthy, lowly scoundrel who luckily survived, and now he doesn’t even know his place.’

The Empress vented her anger on her maids, unaware that those words would one day return to her. The Empress and the Crown Prince did not have the petty hobby of breaking things. Instead, they enjoyed torture—tearing, crushing, and searing human flesh. They believed it was only natural that carpets imported from Pedha and ceramics offered as tribute from Sinan were more precious than people.

‘I will make sure you regret this.’

While the Empress and the Crown Prince gnashed their teeth, there was someone else who was dying, their body wasted away to skin and bone.

“Oh dear, what to do… Your temperature is still like ice…”

After the nameless hero and the divine beast successfully destroyed the core of the magic cave, the demonic energy that had covered not only Frigid but all of Quilan vanished instantly, as if nothing terrible had ever happened. The caretaker couple, who had fled east while urging their aching knees, also noticed the disappearance of the demonic energy and returned to the mansion.

The Duke they had observed until now often treated the couple, who were not from Quilan, as mere jailers and traitors whom he could boss around as he pleased. He complained about this and that, finding fault all day long, and despite having fallen to a level no different from a common street thug with no power left, his attitude remained utterly arrogant.

Thus, the caretaker couple had never once been satisfied with their life here throughout their [stolen content]service at the exile site by imperial order. Their master-not-master was eccentric, the weather was cloudy and snowy year-round except for a short summer, and visit our sitethey lived in a remote area where the [stolen content]only things in sight were a lake like a vast ocean and the ridges of distant mountains.

They vowed to leave this place the moment they had a chance. Like the caretakers before them, they spent their days waiting for the Duke to kick them out as soon as possible, claiming he was dissatisfied with them.

That was why, when they learned the Imperial Family had abandoned them, their world turned dark, leaving the elderly couple—who had already seen grandchildren—sobbing uncontrollably. Just as they were prematurely worrying about what would happen if that traitorous man harmed them now that it was all over…

The traitor they had consistently despised and mocked gave them a key that would allow them to secretly slip out of the mansion. It was surprising enough that he had possessed this and not fled, but what was more surprising was the fact that he gave this fatal secret to them and chose to remain in the mansion himself.

Why on earth? The couple thought it might be a trap, but they figured there was little difference between dying in a trap or dying here. If so, they decided to bet their fate on an attempt that might be a trap. The door they opened with their last shred of hope truly led to a long waterway heading toward the mainland.

Finally, after a long journey, they emerged onto the mainland and saw a giant, beautiful bird fighting monsters. They had seen something similar at a temple when they were children. A divine beast, showcasing elegant and brave wingbeats with a body as large as a house. Though the color of its feathers was different from what they had seen, it was clear that it was no ordinary being.

Could that be a being the Duke summoned? But if he could command such a creature, what on earth had he been doing instead of summoning it five years ago when the soldiers of Osbrant invaded Quilan?

After everything was settled and the couple confirmed it was safe, they returned to the mansion, only to find the Duke collapsed like a cold corpse, vomiting blood.

‘Your Highness, please wake up, Your Highness!’

Until then, he had been nothing more than an arrogant scoundrel, but they could no longer ignore the man who had given up a fatal secret to save those abandoned even by their own country. The couple carefully wiped away the blood the Duke had vomited and changed him into his finest clothes. Then, they filled leather pouches with warm water and held them against him to raise his body temperature. Even though his complexion had returned from a bluish-gray to a snow-white level, the Duke did not wake up for several days.

“His temperature still won’t rise…”

While the caretaker couple paced anxiously, a small boat traveling between the unauthorized copyexile island and the mainland was gradually approaching the castle from afar. The couple, watching [visit our site]over the Duke who slept like a corpse, barely breathing as if his life had already departed, did not hear the sound of someone landing on the island and knocking on the door.

“Is anyone here!”

Only when Marcel called out loudly in a surprised voice did they suddenly realize a guest had arrived and went down to the entrance.

“…What brings you here.”

Marcel’s heart stung at the reaction, which had become markedly colder than before. Since these people were also dispatched from Osbrant, they must have watched the demonic energy swell and spread from the magic cave and naturally requested rescue from the Imperial Palace. He didn’t know exactly what method the Crown Prince had chosen, but seeing how their attitude had turned so chilly, it seemed certain that their requests had been ignored.

“I was informed that there was a dungeon break in Belgorg. I visited to check if the frozen lake exile site had suffered any damage.”

Despite Marcel’s efforts to explain with the utmost politeness, the caretaker couple’s attitude remained as cold as thin ice.

“As you can see, we passed through safely. I heard that while the Imperial Palace stood by without any support troops, the Quilan autonomous force succeeded in the subjugation on their own.”

Is that how it was reported to the outsiders living in the exile site? Marcel nodded first and took a step inside the building.

“I received the same report. I am glad there was no damage. Then, I shall just confirm if the Duke is safe and then depart.”

Marcel desperately tried to soften the atmosphere with a good-natured laugh, but it was all in vain. Mikhail quietly nodded, trying his best to hide his physique, which couldn’t be hidden behind Marcel. At that, the caretaker shook his head with a grim expression.

“No. The Duke is currently in a deep sleep, so please [stolen content]leave without disturbing his rest. Or, you may [stolen content]wait Read on Read BL Novelsuntil he opens his eyes.”

From the caretaker’s perspective, it was disgusting that they had left him to die when he was in danger, but now came to check if the Duke had perhaps played some trick. Thus, he spoke that way, meaning they should suffer a bit in the land they had abandoned.

When Marcel glanced at the prince to see what he wanted to do, Mikhail slowly nodded.

“I understand. Then we shall wait in the drawing room.”

“Please do.”