Chapter 7 It Is Already Irreversible.
Chapter 7 It Is Already Irreversible.
Episode 7
The Imperial Palace dungeon.
A place that was the exact opposite of the Platinum Palace's splendor.
Here, there was no white marble, no golden decorations, nor the sweet fragrance of flowers.
Damp walls.
The stench of rotten sewers.
The smell of blood and iron.
And even the low, pain-filled groans of prisoners echoing from the darkness.
This place was the true face of the Imperial Palace.
"Who goes there!"
Just then, the guards standing watch at the dungeon entrance turned their heads all at once.
Beneath the torchlight, a man wearing a black military uniform and a grey cloak was walking over.
"By order of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress, entry to this place is forbidden! Turn back!"
"If you come any closer, we will detain you under Her Imperial Majesty the Empress's orders!"
Just as expected.
Every single guard brought up the Empress.
'Perhaps this dungeon is Eleonora's bare face.'
Ernst's expression grew grim.
Ernst couldn't even fathom how many of the Empress's political enemies were locked up in this place.
"Where is Count Walter von Clausen?"
Snapping out of his thoughts, Ernst stated his purpose.
"Count Walter von Clausen?"
"That old traitor?"
The guards exchanged glances with each other.
"....."
A brief silence.
That was enough.
"Move."
Ernst spoke in a low voice.
"You cannot! It is the order of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress! Reveal your identity and turn back!"
"I am telling you for the last time. Move."
His black eyes sank coldly.
A guard gritted his teeth.
"Words aren't getting through to him! Subdue that bastard!"
"I see."
Ernst nodded.
He judged that he had conveyed his intentions well enough.
"Then there's no choice."
Cheolkeok!
The guards drew their swords as well.
The next moment.
"Eoeok!
Kwaang!
The body of the guard at the very front slammed into the wall.
Before he could even draw his sword.
"Keoheok!"
Ernst's fist sank into the second guard's abdomen.
The armor crumpled, and the guard collapsed, folding over.
"Block him!"
"Sound the alarm!"
Realizing the severity of the situation, the guards shouted.
"Too late."
Ernst's foot kicked off the floor.
The hem of his black military uniform fluttered in the darkness.
"Keuaack!"
Peok! Ppagak! Kwajik!
The guards who had drawn their swords collapsed one after another.
"I won't kill you."
However, Ernst broke them enough so that they wouldn't be able to get back up and block him.
"Eueuk..."
One guard crawled along the floor, reaching his hand toward the alarm bell.
"Quite diligent."
Ernst stepped on the back of his hand.
"Aaaaah!"
Ppudeuk.
The guard writhed in agony.
"I'll ask again. Where is Walter von Clausen?"
Ernst bent his upper body forward and asked softly.
Upon recognizing that face, the color drained from the guard's face.
"I-Is it possible... the hero of the Northern Wall Territory, Ernst von Eisenwald?"
Black hair and black eyes.
Martial prowess that couldn't possibly belong to a human.
Above all, there were few men in this subterranean dungeon who would ask for Walter von Clausen's whereabouts.
"I will ask one last time. Where is the Commander-in-Chief?"
Ernst didn't bother to deny it.
Instead, he leaned down further, making eye contact with the guard as he asked.
"Heoeok!"
At that moment, the guard became certain.
This man with eyes like an abyssal bottomless pit was undoubtedly the war hero of the Northern Wall Territory.
"B-Basement Level 3... the innermost solitary cell... Young Grand Duke Eisenwald-nim..."
"Good."
Ernst took a step forward without delay.
And he descended along the stairs leading further underground.
Passing Basement Levels 1 and 2, to Level 3.
The further down he went, the darker and gloomier the underground became.
At least a few torches were hung sparsely.
Filthy sewage had pooled on the floor.
Beyond the iron bars, prisoners held their breath and stared at Ernst, the unfamiliar uninvited guest.
'Please, let me not be too late.'
Ernst did not stop walking.
And so, it was when he arrived in front of the thick iron door at the very end.
"Mm?"
Ernst sensed a familiar presence from inside.
"Count-nim."
There was no answer.
Ernst kicked the door without hesitation.
Kwaang!
The iron door crumpled inward.
A second kick.
Kwaaaang!
The hinges were completely torn off.
The thick iron door collapsed onto the floor from just two kicks.
"Dammit..."
A curse naturally escaped Ernst's lips.
Inside was Walter von Clausen.
His military uniform was tattered, and both hands were bound in chains.
Bruises and blood were matted together on his face.
Torture marks remained on his back and shoulders as well.
However, his eyes alone were unextinguished, burning bright.
"Ernst...?"
Walter slowly raised his head.
"Is this a hallucination?"
"It's not."
Ernst stepped inside.
"I have come to rescue you, Commander-in-Chief-nim."
Walter stared at Ernst for a moment, then chuckled softly.
"Foolish lad. You haven't changed a bit. That stubbornness of yours."
"I hear that often."
"If you rescue me, it really will be irreversible."
"It has already become irreversible."
Ernst grabbed the chains.
"I will release you."
Uuuung.
A grey aura spread across his fingertips.
Kwajik!
The chains, which had binding magic cast upon them, snapped with futile ease.
"Eueuk."
As Walter's body lurched forward, Ernst caught him.
"What happened? How did you get here?"
Walter asked Ernst, half in worry, half in rebuke.
"The Imperial Family made us traitors first."
"Phew... So everything was predetermined after all..."
Walter caught his breath with a bitter expression on his face.
Even that short breath was mixed with pain.
"What happened to the soldiers of the Northern Wall Territory?"
Like a true commander-in-chief, Walter checked on the well-being of the soldiers first.
"They are waiting at the temporary encampment."
"They must have been greatly agitated."
The Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Wall Territory had been detained.
Walter knew full well that to the soldiers, it must have been news like a bolt out of the blue.
"Fortunately, I managed to calm them down."
"As expected."
In Walter's brief words lay his trust in Ernst.
Before long, Walter twisted his bloody lips into a faint smile.
"I'm glad you're here, Ernst."
Ernst did not answer.
Instead, he slung Walter's arm over his shoulder.
"Can you walk?"
"Even if I'm old and tortured, I'm not dead yet."
"Then let us go."
It was just as Ernst was supporting Walter and about to leave the solitary cell.
"Eueum?"
Ernst's steps came to a halt alongside eyes filled with doubt.
"What's wrong?"
Walter asked.
Ernst did not answer.
His gaze was directed toward the far side of the corridor.
The deepest part of Basement Level 3.
A secluded corridor slightly set apart from the main dungeon area.
At the end of the darkness, where there were hardly even torches, a single cell sat isolated.
It was strange.
It was too quiet, and too deep.
And it was excessively hidden.
"Who is imprisoned over there, Count-nim?"
"Well... I don't know for sure either."
Walter racked his memory with a hardened face.
"However, right from when I was dragged in here, the guards didn't even let anyone look in that direction. The surveillance was heavy too. It wouldn't be an ordinary prisoner."
It was just as Ernst's doubts were deepening further.
A voice came from the darkness.
"Ern...?"
The voice was so small and faint that if it weren't for Ernst's heightened senses, he wouldn't have been able to hear it.
"What...?"
Ernst's eyebrows twitched.
That nickname, shortening Ernst to two syllables.
There were not many people on this continent who called him that.
"Ern... right...?"
It was a woman's voice.
Cracked, dry, and raspy from not having drunk proper water for a long time.
Yet strangely, there was a tremor in it.
Waiting.
Desperation.
And an unbelievable joy.
"I will go check and return, Count-nim."
Instinctively drawn to it, Ernst walked down the secluded corridor.
Walter spoke in a low voice.
"Be careful."
"I know."
Ernst stood in front of the cell at the far end.
Beyond those iron bars, there was a woman.
A haggard face.
Disheveled brown hair.
A torn maid dress.
Wrists so thin that the bones were exposed.
On the surface, she looked like just an ordinary maid.
However, she was clutching the iron bars.
Her eyes were trembling toward Ernst.
"Ern... is it really you...?"
Ernst looked at her silently.
"Who are you?"
The woman's face crumpled with tears.
"It's me."
She spoke in a trembling voice.
"It's Eleonora."
"The Empress...?"
At that moment, Walter, who was leaning against the wall behind him, gasped.
"What nonsense."
On the other hand, Ernst's voice was cold.
"Eleonora Arteria is in the Platinum Palace."
"No."
The woman shook her head.
Tears continued to stream down her cheeks.
"That woman isn't me. She stole my body. I am... I am Eleonora Arteria."
Ernst glared at her coldly.
"Proof?"
The woman bit her lip so hard blood almost seeped out.
"When we were young."
She began to speak.
"You fell into the garden pond while trying to save me after I fell in. That day, I cried and begged you not to tell anyone. You covered me with your cloak. And then you told me, 'Don't cry, Ellie. I'll be on your side. I'll protect you for the rest of my life, so don't cry.'"
"....!"
Ernst's eyes flickered faintly.
That wasn't Seo Jinwoo's memory.
However, the memories of Ernst von Eisenwald remaining inside this body reacted.
Young Ernst.
A wet cloak.
The crying, red-haired girl.
And the promise to protect her for a lifetime.
'What is this?'
Ernst's mind spun coldly.
The Empress of the Platinum Palace.
The woman spitting out Earth slang like "no-jaem."
Knowledge of the original novel.
The pendant artifact.
And now this dungeon right here.
And now, this woman before his eyes was saying her body had been stolen.
He couldn't firmly conclude that her words were a lie.
"I'll hear the detailed explanation later."
This was the conclusion Ernst reached after careful thought.
"We don't have much time right now."
He grabbed the iron bars.
"You're coming with me."
Kwajik!
The iron bars bent.
As he applied force a second time, they were ripped off entirely.
"Ern..."
The woman staggered out.
Perhaps because she had been imprisoned for a long time, she couldn't even walk properly.
"Can you walk?"
Ernst caught her with one arm.
She was so skinny and emaciated that he felt no weight at all.
"A little bit..."
"Then hang in there."
Walter also looked at the woman.
His eyes were full of confusion.
"Are you... truly Her Imperial Majesty the Empress?"
Upon seeing Walter, the woman bowed her head.
"Count Clausen-nim. I am sorry that you must see me in such a state. Count-nim, you too have suffered great hardship. All of this is due to my oversight. Please grant me your benevolent forgiveness."
"What...?"
Walter's face froze solid.
A manner of speech and etiquette that exuded dignity.
And those gentle eyes he had seen since she was young.
At the very least, she was different from the fake Empress he had seen at the Platinum Palace.
"We must leave first before the imperial forces make their move."
Ernst spoke briefly, leading the Count and the woman claiming to be the Empress as he moved.
Dungeon entrance.
There was already one person waiting there.
Silver armor.
A red cloak.
A breastplate engraved with the Imperial Lion emblem.
The Captain of the Imperial Guard and at the same time the Imperial Knight Commander.
"I knew you would come this way."
Kaiden von Laurenz.
The man known as the Emperor's Sword.
End of Episode 7