Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: Why Did It Have to Be Them?
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Why did it have to be them?
It's not complicated.
First, the child with yellow eyes I met in the Labyrinth. That was Abraham.
Unlike Marco, who received a revelation, that was truly his true form.
Why did I judge it that way?
"It's not hard. That child was drinking blood."
If it had been a being like Marco, it would have had to draw blood and offer it to someone else.
Now I had two clues about Abraham's appearance.
First, eyes of a 'yellow' so brilliantly bright it was frightening.
Second, a height of about 145cm at most. That suggested he was in his early teens ten years ago. He would be in his early twenties now.
The pool of Abraham candidates had narrowed to wizards in their early twenties with yellow eyes. To figure out which one was Abraham, I needed to look into their activities.
Abraham gave revelations to the professors, leading them to sprinkle rampage drugs in Adelbert's and Elias's rooms. He was also the one who installed the warp spell in my room.
The purpose of the warp spell was clear, so the question to consider was this.
"Why did Adelbert and Elias become victims of the rampage?"
It was time to pull out this problem that had gone unsolved for the past three weeks.
Elias's hypothesis was this.
"As soon as signs appeared that I was interfering with Primrose Path's business, they tried to frame me for Adelbert's murder," and "after the search and seizure, they tried to kill me outright."
The latter was half-true, so set it aside.
The fatal flaw in the former, as I thought before, was that there was no reason to use rampage out of all the many murder methods. Even setting aside that there was no effort to plant evidence like putting rampage drugs in Elias's room, using rampage would more likely direct the murder charge not at Elias but at me, seen as Pleroma.
"So, if Abraham wasn't retaliating against Primrose Path as Elias guessed, why did he target those two?"
Adelbert's emotional shift had been intense. It was perfect for the explosive effect of the rampage drug.
Then why weren't Philip and Gunther victims of rampage? Or the students who failed the first and second selections?
They had all been in emotionally weakened states, so why had Abraham shown no interest in them at all?
Why, out of all those many people, did it have to be Adelbert Hohenstaufen and Elias Hohenstaufen?
The answer is simple.
Because they are Hohenstaufens.
Elias's mistake lay in viewing the two incidents linearly. It wasn't that he failed to kill Adelbert and so tried to kill Elias.
The two incidents were parallel events. Adelbert had to die, and Elias had to die.
However, while there was no causal link between just those two events, they did share a commonality.
'Both are imperial royals at the Imperial Second Academy.'
This was a crucial factor that could not be overlooked.
Now all I had to do was find the common enemy of the royals, but there was a decisive problem.
The two belonged to political factions with completely opposite leanings.
They were at opposite extremes, making it hard to find a common enemy.
'There's another clue here.'
Previously, Adelbert had gotten drunk and tried to push Elias down the stairs to break his leg. If successful, it would have branded him with the assessment that "a prince got so drunk he couldn't control his body and permanently crippled his own relative's leg." For a low noble, maybe, but for someone from the empire's ruling family, it would be a massive stain calling his qualifications into question.
Elias's combat magic career would have ended too.
Here it comes.
So, who was it that spiked Adelbert's drink with drugs back then?
Even without going this far, one could guess Abraham's identity midway.
We know Abraham has yellow eyes and is in his early twenties. We also know he has the second and effective third in the line of imperial succession as enemies.
The sum of the clues points to exactly one person.
"You're in a hurry."
A calm voice, neither startled nor shocked.
Abraham—no, the Crown Prince—turned fully to face me. His shining eyes moved right in front of my gaze.
"And fast, too."
What was urgent, and what was fast?
Finding out who Abraham was had been fast, and declaring to the Crown Prince that he was Abraham was urgent.
But that was just his judgment.
"Since Your Highness couldn't wait and even placed an ad in the newspaper, I showed up early. It seems Your Highness is unaware of your own impatience."
I said that and raised an eyebrow.
A face similar to Adelbert's.
The face I'd seen in the Labyrinth had been filtered through Adelbert's subjectivity, so it differed from what I saw now.
Only by seeing him in person could I understand the evaluations people gave him. Unlike Adelbert, who shone close to perfection in everything, he seemed to exist to be forgotten by the world, despite his intellectual air and elegance.
Except for one thing: those indelible yellow eyes.
Those eyes shone intensely as if trying to devour the watcher whenever the world around him shifted even slightly. Looking into them made it feel like he didn't belong to this world.
"Our priest really takes his time observing a face he's seeing for the first time."
"How many chances in life does one get to see the Crown Prince?"
I'd already been staring at him like a monkey at the zoo for a while. Even with my unabashedly rude gaze and response, the Crown Prince maintained his initial expression.
He tilted his head slightly, then slowly opened his mouth as if recalling my earlier words.
"You said ad. I have a duty to reassure my subjects. If they tremble in fear because of Abraham..."
The Crown Prince smiled gently with a face resembling Adelbert's.
"Then I must naturally work for my vassals."
"......"
"Since we've met again, let's introduce ourselves properly."
He extended his hand to me.
"I am Elizabeth Hohenstaufen."
It was as if someone had turned down the volume of the world, making sounds quiet. At some point, a soundproof spell had been cast so our words wouldn't reach outside, but as he extended his hand, everyone watching the investigation from around us started looking our way.
A superior had proposed an informal greeting. I couldn't ignore it. And I had no particular reason to.
I lightly touched his hand. I meant to pull away quickly, but the Crown Prince's long fingers pressed down on the back of my hand.
"......"
As I released the leather glove hardened by winter wind, I smiled.
"It's an honor to meet you, Your Highness."
"The feeling is mutual. To meet again the one who gave my funeral such grandeur—what greater joy could there be?"
He used my phrasing.
As expected, he's the chairman no matter what anyone says. The chairman's insight was his, and even with a changed shell, he never disappoints me as always.
Cold wind scattered the soundproof spell and passed between him and me. Feeling the wind, I smiled.
"I'm glad you're satisfied. Destroying ten years was quite amusing."
"My death brought you happiness."
"Not just me, but the happiness of the countless ancient humans trapped in Primrose Path, and those used by you, Your Highness."
The Crown Prince gazed at me steadily with a smile, then turned his head.
"I'd like to talk more, but it's difficult here. It's hard to have a deep conversation in a place like this, so let's move."
He snapped his fingers lightly, and mana pulled my arm toward him with a whoosh. The moment something devoid of any warmth wrapped around my elbow, the space before me changed.
"Well."
A murmur came as if he'd witnessed something unexpected.
From a position where he couldn't see my face, he spoke with a hint of amusement.
"You seem quite fearful. Not like a five-year-old..."
"......"
"Who made you averse to warps?"
He must have wanted to provoke a hot-blooded reaction, but he picked the wrong person. I replied indifferently.
"It's not something Your Highness needs to know."
"At this point, you could just drop the formalities."
Instead of responding to him, I slowly took a deep breath to slow my heartbeat and looked around.
The place he'd moved us to was a space I'd never seen.
'A library?'
Pale moonlight filtered through long windows, making it possible to somewhat discern objects.
Curtains and decorations in a Berlin blue darker than Bavaria's hung everywhere. It didn't seem very large, so probably one of the imperial annexes.
But he didn't sit; he approached the door. A method often used by noble families—he'd clearly warped not to the final destination but somewhere else to evade tracking.
As he placed his hand on the library door, light rose on the navy door hidden in shadow. Mana waves shook the air.
I glanced at the chessboard-patterned tiles that seemed untouched by human feet, then walked forward. Everything, like the floor, seemed brand new. It was just the imperial palace outside, yet the view from the window felt somehow off.
"You must be wondering where this is. It's the Crown Prince's Palace, fifth floor."
The Crown Prince walking ahead said quietly.
The Crown Prince's Palace is a three-story building with no fifth floor. It was an unhelpfully vague explanation, but clue enough.
"The setup is ingenious."
He turned his head, met my eyes, and smiled.
"I'm telling this only to you, priest."
"I have no interest in state secrets like this. I'll pretend I didn't hear."
"How heartless."
"......"
When he's deliberately trying to get under my skin, I think he should analyze his target better first, but this approach just leaves me dumbfounded and annoyed.
Of course, it was intriguing information nonetheless.
The one before me is the chairman, but at the same time, not quite like the chairman.
It's clear his personality shifts slightly depending on whether he's using Marco Schreiber's body or his true form.
No one appeared on this floor; even after a while, no one showed up until we entered a room.
Only after the Crown Prince entered the room at the end of the hall did someone knock and come in.
A servant brewed tea before us, set out snacks, and left.
The Crown Prince gestured.
"Please, have some. I couldn't serve you properly before, so this time I'll do it right."
"......"
"Nothing's in it."
He took my cup, drank from it casually, and gestured to the waiting servant. The servant pulled out a new cup before me and poured tea himself to show.
Even if not in their right mind, the somewhat socialized ones knew well what suspicions they were arousing in the other party.
Of course, even with this verification, I had no intention of drinking. Ignoring the tea, I asked what I needed to know.
"Let's hear why you called me here."
"For the same reason as you."
"The same reason."
He looked at me and asked.
"Did you come to kill me, priest?"
An easy question.
I answered without a moment's hesitation.
"No."
"I thought so. At least not today. I didn't think you were someone with poor calculation skills, and I'm glad my prediction was right."
To make him talk as much as possible, I kept my mouth shut. I had no intention of carelessly giving him information.
"You don't have much information on me, priest. What you know is still in the realm of inference. What you know for sure is that with the current information, you can't dispose of Abraham, and if you choose the simplest method—murder—you and many others will face generational purges for crown prince regicide."
Correct.
Murder is the simplest but dumbest choice.
And there's a decisive reason it can't end with killing his flesh.
As he said, still inference for now, but certainty for me.
"You came today to declare war on me. To say that if I do anything foolish, you'll reveal to the world that I'm Abraham. Since I might prepare to slander you in response, you'll seek a way to kill me as quickly as possible. So from now on, you'll monitor my movements."
Moonlight from the window reflected in his eyes, shining like the sun. With an utterly serene expression, he asked with conviction as intense as his gaze.
"Am I wrong?"
"Your Highness knows the answer."
"You know it too, but my position is fundamentally no different from yours. However, I can tell you it's quite different from what you expect."
He snapped his fingers and caught something.
A metal ring—no, a bracelet.
"A tool the first wizards used to implant artifacts into skin. I modified it for interrogations, and it works quite well."
He slipped it onto his right hand. Turning the protruding square part inward toward his wrist, he said.
"I regret my mistakes and wish to turn everything back."
Stab—
I raised an eyebrow.
The smell of blood stung my nose.
He removed his glove and placed his hand on the table. Blood soaked his white sleeve and dripped onto the table. Looking closely, blood was flowing from the skin where the bracelet was.
"This is how it reacts. It judges truth by mana flow, so it errs occasionally, but not often. If it looks like self-harm to you, feel free to use it yourself."
"Tools like this wouldn't be used by the investigation bureau, would they?"
"I didn't hand it over. Even Pleroma doesn't know about it. If you think I'm Abraham, why would I casually give it to others?"
Right.
To Abraham, both the imperial family I belonged to and Pleroma were inevitable rivals.
He left his bracelet-clad hand on the table and said.
"I'll tell you. I know you hold my social life in your hands. One exposé from you, and I'm done."
"......"
"You met me as chairman the day before yesterday, and yesterday you met His Majesty and visited the palace. I know what else you've prepared. You've gathered everyday, decisive testimonies that back up proof I'm Abraham—testimonies where even the witnesses have no idea they're about Abraham. I won't stop that."
Won't stop it.
Even his seemingly fake words didn't pierce his veins. The blood remained dried as is.
My eyes never strayed from him, fixed solely on the target, yet the Crown Prince spoke with a clean expression, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
"Let's do this. Kill me."
"......"
"You know what kind of killing I mean. If it's you—not someone else—who kills me as Crown Prince, I'll gladly accept."
The corner of my mouth twisted upward.
His eyes, watching my face, were serene, unreadable. Still, what lay behind his words was easy to see. Smiling softly, I said.
"A clear proposal. You speak as if for my sake, but it's not for my sake at all."
"I'd like to know why you think that."
"If I go all out to kill you, you'll learn my patterns. You'll get a chance to know how much I know, what I don't, how I think, and what attack methods I prefer."
"......"
"Not a losing proposal for you. In a situation where we're both weighing gains, better not to phrase it like charity."
"Hahaha..."
The Crown Prince let out a light laugh.
"As expected of our priest. I didn't think the one who baptized, entered the Labyrinth, and erected a mental barrier on Lord Schreiber's mind would be ordinary, but your thought process is truly unique."
"......"
"I said you don't have much information earlier, but that's from now on. Until now, you've figured out too much. No, you've pieced together trivial things not even worth calling 'knowledge' to find answers. Thanks to that, we could meet like this without wasting time, so I can only say thanks."
"Overpraise. I'm not pretending humility. Did His Majesty want me wandering clueless when all clues screamed the answer?"
" Dealing with ordinary folk like that is easier, after all."
"How disappointing for you."
"I said easier, not more fun."
The Crown Prince leisurely sipped his tea and looked out the window.
It was raining.
"Father Jeremiah Caetani belongs to the Papal Court and didn't exist in records until last year. Italian maternal line, Bavarian paternal, and the whole family in America since 30 years ago... I found exactly one line of records created this year. The only place nationwide out of Prussia's reach: flew into Bavaria Airport, got a traveler visa, passed through the Prussian quarantine at the Bavaria border without issue, waited half a day there, then took a full train to Berlin. Lodging records all intact. Aside from what I mentioned, nothing suspicious."
He shook his head with a smile.
"Ah, so meticulous. Do you know how much it cost to investigate?"
His speech changed.
Now it begins.
Thinking that, I smiled and stayed silent.
"It's laughable how they hyped you as the empire's top bastard son in Darmstadt. No, honestly, the funniest is how all media till now hailed you a national hero near-saint. In reality, seducing Pleroma in Primrose Path to achieve your goals... and succeeding spectacularly in three days."
"......"
"Too good at situational judgment and execution to call a wastrel just waiting for chances at brothels and casinos. Whatever you imagine, it's excessive. In the end, among those I know with such judgment..."
I kept the same expression without a word.
Only the Crown Prince's face shifted with interest.
His yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness.
"There's exactly one. Lord Nikolaus—it's a fresh feeling to meet a lord like this."