HRB 102

Wizard Boram was walking through the Imperial Palace without any attendants, as she always did.

The palace servants, who had been frantically cleaning, decorating, and moving ornaments in preparation for the upcoming New Year at the end of the year, were now gathered in corners, whispering in groups of twos and threes, as if they had never been so busy.

It was a topic that even the Imperial Palace’s maids and servants, who were strictly trained to ignore any gossip and continue their work, couldn’t resist.

The Hero, Marquis Rodrigo, oh my god.

After such whispers, gazes followed Boram as she passed by.

It wasn’t the awestruck, respectful gaze she had always received since her return.

It was simply a gaze full of insolence.

It was directed at Wizard Boram, the closest companion of ‘that Hero’ and someone who had often associated with him even after their return.

In times like these, it’s ‘Hero’ not ‘Count Fontain’.

Well, that’s more sensational and shocking.

Of course, Boram didn’t care about those gazes or the people gossiping. She had always been the center of attention, both before and after her return. She wasn’t the type to feel burdened just because the gazes had become more piercing.

After hearing the shocking news about Arthur, Boram was calmer than she had expected. Her complicated mind had somehow become serene.

There was no reason to worry.

Three days after Marquis Rodrigo died at Arthur’s hand.

The Empire was greatly shaken.

The Imperial Palace, the social circles, and the common people were all in shock at this shocking news.

Arthur was immediately detained and imprisoned.

There were too many witnesses to argue, and everyone who witnessed it that day testified that he had not killed Marquis Rodrigo out of self-defense or because he had been attacked. Decisively, when it was revealed that the weapon was the Holy Sword he was carrying, all excuses became meaningless.

No matter how much of a Hero he was, he had murdered a noble inside the Imperial Palace. No matter how lenient the Emperor was to the Hero, he couldn’t just let it pass.

“Absolutely do nothing.”

As soon as Marchioness Evans heard the news about Arthur, she immediately came to Boram and earnestly pleaded.

Absolutely do not interfere, absolutely do nothing.

But even as she said that, the Marchioness may have inwardly expected it. That Boram wouldn’t be able to stay still in the end.

That’s why she tried to stop her.

But the good child who listened to her Mother was long gone. As Boram left the mansion, she looked around her room, which she usually didn’t care about, thinking that it might be the last time. She didn’t feel anything new.

She was eventually going to see Arthur.

There was only one underground prison in the Imperial Palace. Of course, it was a place that hadn’t been used much since the days when the Demon race were rampant, and even since the Late Emperor’s reign. Because there were no criminals worthy of being put there.

In the most secluded part of the Imperial Palace, in a gloomy prison where countless criminals had once been imprisoned and never came out, a prisoner had entered for the first time in a long time.

The two soldiers guarding the front crossed their spears as soon as they recognized Boram, blocking her path.

“Lady Evans, we apologize, but you are forbidden from entering.”

Looking at the soldiers who were blocking her entrance so resolutely, as if they were reciting prepared words, Boram didn’t hesitate and cast Sorcery.

In an instant, the eyes of the two soldiers glazed over, and the spears that had been blocking her path were removed. One of them even busied himself opening the door.

The defense system of the Imperial Palace prison was quite excellent, so they didn’t pay much attention to the selection of people guarding the front, but they probably didn’t think that there would be anyone daring enough to invade the Imperial Palace prison against the Imperial order.

Moreover, no one would have thought that the person would be the daughter of Marquis Evans. It had been so long since a prisoner had been put in the Imperial Palace prison that everyone was careless.

There was a fishy smell in the basement. Was it the smell of blood, the smell of metal, an unknown musty smell. Even with the humid air and the smell that unpleasantly stimulated her sense of smell, Boram entered the underground prison without even frowning.

Boram’s intrusion was very smooth.

If she hadn’t encountered Augustine before meeting Arthur inside.

Arthur was confident that no one would suspect Boram, but everyone was suspecting her after all.

That Boram Evans and Arthur Fontaine were in cahoots. That they were more than just friends.

So the soldiers who had blocked her entrance hadn’t blocked Augustine’s entrance, unlike her.

She chuckled.

It wasn’t such a wrong guess.

“Boram?”

As soon as Arthur, who was imprisoned inside the prison, recognized Boram’s face, he clung to the bars. In just a few days, his face was deeply etched with fatigue and exhaustion.

“Boram!”

Even at the desperate call, Boram didn’t look at Arthur. Instead, she focused on Augustine.

Augustine narrowed his eyes as he watched Boram walk in calmly.

“How did you get in?”

“There’s a path, why wouldn’t I be able to come?”

Boram replied as if it was nothing, as if there were no difficulties in entering, but Augustine wasn’t fooled.

“I was watching in real time as your entry was blocked by Imperial order.”

It seemed that even the Emperor had anticipated her intrusion.

However, he probably didn’t think that she would break through the entry ban and go to extremes. That’s why he had only deployed two soldiers.

Augustine, who was about to continue speaking, realized something and sighed.

“You used sorcery.”

“…”

“You used Sorcery on the soldiers blocking the way to get in.”

Augustine’s guess was close to certainty. He didn’t even ask, ‘Isn’t that right?’ And that was the truth.

It wasn’t just a reprimand for using Sorcery in the Imperial Palace.

“You defied the Imperial order. Without a care.”

He realized what Boram was thinking as she came all the way here.

“…”

Boram stared intently at Augustine.

Her hand twitched. She was gathering mana in her hand, ready to attack Augustine if necessary.

Although there were formulas applied inside the prison to interfere with the mana operation of Swordsman and Magician in preparation for escape, a Magician of her caliber could still use Sorcery even with the interference. Augustine was in the same situation with his mana blocked, so it would be worth a try.

However, even if Augustine was ignorant of Sorcery, he was one of the Hero’s companions who had faced the Demon King, and he was a Hero. He frowned as he watched Boram prepare for battle.

“Don’t go too far. You know what will happen to Arthur in the prison if you and I clash.”

“…”

“He’s precious, isn’t he? Arthur is to you.”

The last words were close to sarcasm.

Ah, right.

Augustine also knew. But he hadn’t shown that he had guessed the relationship between the two until now.

The two were silent for a while.

“Do you know when I started to feel that something was wrong, Boram?”

It was Augustine who broke the silence first.

“It was when we came back, when we came back from our journey.”

He was saying that he had felt something was wrong from the moment everything went wrong.

“Why did I feel like everything was so wrong every time I saw you guys?”

“…”

“I don’t think it’s just my feeling.”

Augustine always had a good intuition. Ketron’s intuition and Augustine’s intuition were different, but what was certain was that his intuition had saved the party several times.

But Boram firmly denied those words.

“It’s a feeling. It’s a misunderstanding.”

“…”

“I have something to talk about with Arthur alone, can you excuse us for a moment?”

It was quite a brazen request, considering that she had just tried to attack Augustine. Augustine, who had been leaning against the prison with his hand on it, sighed at the brazenness.

“I guess so, you guys have always been like that since you returned.”

“…….”

“No, everything was strange from the middle of the return journey.”

“It’s not strange. You must have felt something wrong.”

“It wasn’t like this in the old days, neither you nor Arthur.”

“…”

“Everything went wrong after that day. Everything.”

There was nothing she could say to those words.

The Sorcery of erasing existence was great in itself, but it was by no means kind. Boram had succeeded in putting Arthur in the place where Ketron had disappeared, but Arthur’s existence did not perfectly fill the void of Ketron that remained in everyone’s memory, and in the end, a sense of incongruity remained.

That sense of incongruity was felt most strongly by Augustine, who had lived and suffered together with Ketron for several years and was closest to him.

The absence of his close friend, the presence of Ketron that Arthur’s inadequacy could not fill.

“What the hell did you guys do?”

What could Boram say to that accusatory question?