Chapter 136
Chapter 136
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: The Annoying Extra
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No, honestly, everyone will sympathize.
In any media, there’s always at least one character who causes trouble for everyone.
From the viewer’s perspective, it’s like, argh, why is that guy acting like that? Why say hello and walk into a place where ghosts are supposed to appear? Why go where they tell you not to go and do what they say not to do?
We curse them out while watching, but the truth is, from the creator’s standpoint, a character who sets off incidents left and right is a real lifesaver.
‘But I never thought it would be me.’
Honestly, I felt a bit wronged. I hadn’t anticipated Seria locking me up like this at all.
‘Because there’s no need for her to pick a fight with me.’
Even if she caught me and squeezed me dry, if she thought Kaiman behind me was the one pulling the strings, it’d be a pointless endeavor.
‘So why?’
I gave an awkward smile as I sat on the bed and gazed at Seria, who was seated in the chair across from me.
“Our father is so busy that he wouldn’t care if I stayed here for half a year.”
“Eh, he wouldn’t mind Young Lord Adelrian staying here for half a year. But wouldn’t he care about the delay in sales for that Siren artifact?”
Ah, yeah, that’s true.
If Kaiman really was the one leading things.
I shook my leg as if anxious, causing the shackle fastened around one ankle to rattle metallically.
How embarrassing. Even if I called the kids, I’d have to get this off first.
“If you faithfully fulfill just a few conditions, you could head back today… or even right after dinner.”
Seria’s cheeks flushed rose-pink as her eyes curved into playful arcs. Mischief danced in those amethyst irises.
In response, I let out a sigh like I was going along with it, tousled my hair, hunched forward with my arms draped over my knees, propped my chin on my hand, and answered.
“What are the conditions?”
“This.”
When Seria raised her hand into the air, a maid with her hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail handed her a glass of water.
“Poison?”
“Wrong. It’s medicine. With almost no side effects.”
Almost? Almost?
I rubbed the space between my brows slightly as I stared at it, and Seria laughed as if to say, “Do you really think you can defy me?”
“It’s a truth serum used by the imperial family. The side effect is just some memory loss before and after? There are things I want to ask you.”
In that moment, I sensed Seria’s eyes gleaming unusually bright at the words “want to ask.”
And a piercing intuition cut through.
It wasn’t just about the Siren. She wanted something from me.
When I considered everything, there was only one possibility.
‘She tried something on my body, but it didn’t work.’
Besides the drug slipped into the carriage, there was something easy she could’ve done.
[Seira von Taiteria—Secret Schemer]
Representative Traits: [Seal(SS)] [Arrogance(S)] [Cruelty(A)]
Hidden Traits: [Gluttony(C)] [Addiction(E)]
She’d released her Seal trait.
Normally, she’d cast a seal on her own traits to hide them from others, and the temporary seal on her Arrogance and Cruelty traits had made her personality smoother as well.
But my trait—probably Arrogance. She must’ve tried to seal it, but when it didn’t go as planned, her own sealed Arrogance and Cruelty traits went into overdrive.
[Adelrian Guardian Krueger—The Beater]
Representative Traits: [Wealth Supremacy(SSS)] [Arrogance(S)]
Hidden Traits: [Sense of Affluence(B-)] [User’s Eye(SSS)]
Whew, damn. The Sense of Affluence was already down to B-.
My Arrogance, clearly lower-ranked than her Seal(SS), hadn’t been sealed, and that must’ve caught her interest.
So she wanted to feed me the drug to break my Arrogance, then get me to stamp the contract in the direction she desired while I was at it.
“How about it? Just drink this and answer well, and you can go home nice and tidy. Young Lord Adelrian.”
“Stamp the contract too? But I don’t have a contract with me.”
“You came to meet the Empire’s First Imperial Princess without so much as a single contract in your pocket?”
Seria chuckled playfully and slowly shook the water glass in a tempting manner.
‘If I drag this out too long, the kids will come.’
That wouldn’t do.
I ran the calculations in the short time available.
It wasn’t poison, but a powerful truth serum like this, combined with memory loss for a set period, would probably be judged as no different from a deadly toxin or curse.
Setting aside the small subspace ring with its minor poison resistance enchantment, if I factored in Aegis’s resistance to curses, sorceries, and similar magical attacks, plus the Sense of Affluence…
‘What would I lose if it failed?’
My entire existence?
I straightened my hunched body, placed both hands behind me on the bed, and stretched out languidly.
“I’ll trust the food to be good for the next six months.”
The moment Princess Seria left, I’d contact the kids.
Even if they strip-searched me and locked me up naked. Even if they took Aegis and the Siren prototype I’d stashed ahead of time.
As long as they didn’t take the Krueger ring, it’d be fine. I could request rescue with the mass-produced Sirens inside it.
Even if they tried to take the ring, the Krueger ring couldn’t actually be removed. Unless they cut off my finger, that is.
And if it came to that, the ring separated from me, its bloodline heir, would automatically send a signal back to the main family—so rescue would be signaled either way.
If Cain and the others stormed in and pulled me out, Princess Seria wouldn’t be able to complain. If it went to a formal trial, she’d request a memory check at the temple, and it’d clearly show she was the one who tried to imprison me first.
“It’s strange, isn’t it? The heirs from the other grand duchies weren’t this defiant toward me.”
Seria gestured as if displeased with me, and the ponytail maid approached me.
Eh, no way.
“Wait. Staying for six months? Ugh!”
Was I the annoying extra in the troublemaker position?! Like the side character who steps on the one rock they said not to step on and causes it to roll?!
I pushed back with all my strength, but it was for naught—the maid, who clearly had body-related traits, effortlessly pinned me down, pried my mouth open, and poured the drug from the glass down my throat.
“Ugh, mmph!”
I didn’t want to swallow!
No, this meant I’d need the Heimlich maneuver.
In the end, I swallowed a few gulps and glared at Seria. That face, like it had leaped straight out of a masterpiece painting. An angel’s visage, yet arrogant and wicked…
Soon, my body sank as if thrown into the ocean depths. Or into a sand pit, a swamp—add whatever you like; I wouldn’t be surfacing.
It sank.
The ponytail maid approached, grabbed my arm, and let it drop onto my face.
My arm struck my face squarely before flopping downward. Only a dull sensation registered, no pain.
“The drug has fully taken effect.”
“Good. Let’s test it. Your name.”
I couldn’t twitch so much as a finger by my own will. Even breathing felt obstructed, with deep inhales halting midway and resuming only when it grew suffocating, over and over.
Yet Seria’s voice rang crystal clear in my ears, and though my body refused to exert any strength anywhere else, it could somehow manage a strained answer.
“Adelrian… Guardian… Krueger.”
Go ahead and ask everything you’re curious about, Your Highness.
Long live Aegis and the Sense of Affluence.
* * *
“Adelrian’s mana has sharply decreased.”
Cain, perched in the tree with his eyes closed as if meditating and devoting all his power to mana detection and sensing, slowly opened his eyes. Luna stared off at the imperial palace, faintly visible in the distance.
“What exactly does that mean, Senior?”
“Either he’s asleep.”
“Or in a state where he can’t resist.”
Rachel picked up Cain’s words with a sly grin, prompting Luna to speak.
“Rachel, stay here.”
“Eh? Why?!”
Rachel, who had been squatting and bulking up her thigh muscles as if ready to leap straight into the palace, protested to Luna, who sat on a higher branch.
“Because we plan to slip in and out quietly with our faces covered, but you can’t.”
“No, I can! I’ll follow quietly too!”
“To be honest, Rachel Junior, the moment you swing your fists and laugh, we’ll all be busted.”
“Ugh, uuuugh!”
Lost for words, Rachel pouted as Leaf slowly pierced a perception-lowering earring through his earlobe like an accessory.
Everyone but Rachel stood up after Leaf donned the self-repairing one-piece armor and transformable arm warmer that doubled as a shield, all gifts from Adelrian, then glanced at Luna.
“In case another group intrudes from the rear, we’re counting on you for the back, Rachel Junior.”
“Zero, your bullshitting skills have improved a lot? Huh?”
“The Young Master wouldn’t just fall asleep without contact. He’s not in immediate danger, but we should move fast.”
Once Luna, Cain, Zero, and Leaf had all equipped perception-lowering rings and draped robes over themselves, Rachel smacked her lips regretfully and waved.
“Come back safe.”
In that instant, the four bodies bounced forward from the tree branches like they’d been catapulted.
As if bypassing people via detours or alleys was less important than reaching their destination even a second sooner, they sprinted in a straight line, bounding from rooftop to rooftop.
“Leaf and I on point, Luna on support. Zero on rear.”
“Cain Senior mentioned earlier that the palace barriers prevent pinpointing Adelrian’s location, so once we’re inside, I’ll temporarily shift to Bahadi and search with spirits.”
“If we find him, I’ll carry the Young Master out first, so cover the rear.”
―Please handle the breakthrough, Cain. I’ll manage defense against all attacks.
They’d been waiting at a fair distance, per Adelrian’s instructions, to avoid unnecessarily provoking any hidden powerhouses in the palace—but was that not enough?
As they neared the palace, Cain looked up.
Not killing intent, but a definite threat. Or perhaps a lure.
Someone powerful was prodding Cain with mana pokes.
“Change of plans. Luna takes lead in the center, and I’m peeling off now.”
“I’ll join you all at the inn after it’s done.”
Till now, he’d been matching pace with the group, but Cain abruptly veered off at a ninety-degree angle and vanished in an instant.
The Imperial Palace of the Empire, if you isolated it, was the size of a small village.
So vast and grand that besides the grand main gate, there were four mid-sized gates positioned diagonally opposite it, plus small gates scattered in between—for a total of twenty gates.
Thanks to Cain tracking the carriage’s trail, they knew exactly which small gate it had entered.
‘Cain said that since it’s such a huge place and they made the first move, even forcing our way in wouldn’t bring out the full guard contingent.’
Luna hailed from a small family clan in Chabid. She wasn’t particularly gifted or talented in tactics, strategy, or reading the battlefield—but her party had Cain.
A being molded from every talent in the world fused into one.
Thanks to Cain drilling every possible contingency into her beforehand, Luna didn’t panic even without their strongest spear and opened her mouth.
“Zero, Leaf. Smash the gate.”
Jumping the gate walls could trigger barriers or alarm spells, but gates were different.
With constant traffic and the possibility of accidents like carriages crashing into them, gates weren’t wired for immediate emergency alarms.
With a boom! an iron gate large enough for a carriage crumpled and fell backward.
Someone capable of mana detection and sensing must’ve been on that side, because the moment the gate broke, arrows rained down on Luna, Zero, and Leaf like a storm. Leaf spun his mana heart—not erecting a mana barrier, but opting for a far more efficient method.
“Wh-what…?”
It was Leaf’s role to shield his comrades up front.
He took dozens of arrows into his body without a hint of pain, yanked them out swiftly, and tossed them to Zero, who rapid-fired them back at the soldiers.
Regenerating cost less mana than deflecting with a barrier. Leaf blocked only pierces with arm shields, focusing slashes, then gripped spears stabbed up to his elbow and counterattacked the soldiers with their own shafts.
“This way!”
As Zero pinned them down with arrows from the rear, Leaf tanked the hits, and Luna circled behind with her swift legs to sow chaos from the back, Zero shouted—apparently having located Adelrian with Bahadi’s spirit arts.
And in that same span of time, Cain had raced to the outermost edges of the imperial capital and slipped into a ruined small temple.
“To think the one daring to invade the empire’s deepest sanctum is you.”
There waited a middle-aged man whom one might overlook without a second glance if spotted elsewhere.