Chapter 119
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Despair Flower
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From the moment he entered the room guided by the knight, Jun kept his head bowed and quietly made his way to the Emperor before dropping to one knee.
"I have come at Your Majesty's summons."
"Hm. The reason I called you this time is separate from the reward I mentioned at the banquet."
A separate matter?
Jun realized right away that this wasn't a summons for some ordinary reason.
Of course, someone of the Emperor's stature wouldn't summon him for something trivial.
'It must be something related to Havier.'
As Jun predicted, the Emperor continued.
"On the way here, I heard that the Third Prince's carriage had plummeted off a cliff. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, but I wish to hear from you regarding the matter."
If someone else were in this position, their heart might have clenched in fear.
In a way, this was no different from being interrogated before the Emperor.
But Jun, head still bowed deeply, let his eyes gleam.
He had been wondering whether to tell the Sword Soul about it separately anyway.
"I shall answer with all sincerity."
"I heard you were the first to discover the Third Prince's accident site. Did you notice anything unusual there?"
"I actually recorded the scene with a phenomenon recorder. Would it be alright if I showed it to you?"
"I permit it."
With that, Jun pulled the phenomenon recorder from his dimensional bracelet and handed it to the Emperor.
"I think it would be most reliable for you to see this first rather than hear it from me."
"Hmmm. Is there anything else you wish to add?"
"If you do watch it, I recommend doing so only with those you can fully trust."
"......Very well."
The conversation ended there.
Jun rose with his head still bowed and backed out of the room, while the Emperor gazed at the phenomenon recorder with a complicated expression.
The Emperor turned to Aden, who stood at his side.
"Brother. Weren't you at the scene as well? According to that mage, there must be something important in here."
"Well...... I was busy tending to Havier and left before the mage. He returned about ten minutes later."
"Hmm."
Soon after, the First Prince, Teardin, and his twin sister Natalie entered the room.
"Father. Did you learn anything from that mage?"
"Yes. He handed this over."
"That's......"
"We're about to watch it now."
Before long, the phenomenon recorder Jun had given them began recreating the scene from that time in midair.
The first image was of Aden's back as he climbed the cliff with Havier in his arms.
Jun hadn't recorded the surroundings with the phenomenon recorder back then for any grand reason.
It was simply to prepare against any unnecessary scrutiny in a situation where royalty had nearly met their end.
That said, there was something suspicious.
'No matter what, the people accompanying the royal fell too easily.'
Jun was now at the fifth circle himself and had met various powerhouses.
They weren't the type to die neatly just because a carriage plummeted.
'There must have been some trick at play......'
What if it tied into some story he didn't know?
Naturally curious, he began searching the area thoroughly.
And then.
"......"
Among the fallen dead, his eyes landed on the coachman whose body was the most intact.
The two who looked like escorts had limbs broken, but the coachman's corpse only had some blood on it—otherwise completely unharmed.
"No signs of life......"
The mana wasn't that of a living person either.
It was slowly coalescing like the death energy of an undead.
Just the level of energy typical from a normal corpse.
As he turned his head to look away.
Memories from his past life stirred.
[Mental Game: Marionette Line]
Black threads were summoned and shot toward the corpse.
The moment they pierced the corpse's forehead and ear.
"......!!"
The body, thought to be dead, snapped its eyes open.
"How......?"
"Who are you?"
"Kuhk!"
The opponent, whose physical abilities were sharply diminished by the sorcery disguising the living as dead, resisted Jun's [Marionette Line].
Jun poured in more mana.
"I-I-I-I-I am......!"
'Just a bit more......!'
Was the opponent's skill higher than expected?
The coachman resisted Jun's spell fiercely before starting to bleed from his nose.
Upon closer look, he'd bitten down on a hidden poison capsule between his teeth and chosen suicide.
But even in his final moments, he glared at Jun with venom-filled eyes and whispered.
"......For...... Master...... Dex...... ter......"
He breathed his last with those faint words.
"......Dexter?"
The First Prince's name.
"......"
The phenomenon recorder stopped, and the room fell into silence.
Then, the first to speak was the First Prince, Dexter.
His face had gone deathly pale.
"Father, I swear on my honor that what you just saw—"
"I know. That you had no part in it."
"......"
"Brother. You were right. Someone is plotting against the Imperial Family."
Someone had deliberately approached Havier and planted a spy.
And in the process, tried to sow discord between the Third Prince and the First Prince.
Everyone present was certain of it...... but the problem was Havier's mother, Benes.
If she saw this......
Regardless of the truth, she'd exploit the situation to tarnish Dexter's reputation.
No heir apparent had been named yet, but the Emperor didn't want fractures forming between the royals like this.
Finally, the Emperor spoke with a grave expression.
"Sword Soul. By the Emperor's name, I command you: investigate everyone connected to this incident thoroughly. Natalie. Mobilize all your social connections and assist the Sword Soul in the investigation."
"As Your Majesty commands."
"Yes, Father."
"And......"
The Emperor recalled someone.
"Dexter. I'll give you a chance separately. Speak with that mage. It seems he hasn't shared all his information with us yet."
"Understood."
The Emperor, eyes closing wearily, stared into space with narrowed gaze.
His eyes burned with clear fury.
It was late at night.
Jun sat alone at his desk, perusing a magic tome.
Having reached the fifth circle, he was now quite seasoned.
With [Intermediate Magic Talent], he could aim up to the sixth circle at most, so there was still much room for growth.
"At this point, I wonder if I really need to learn magic solely from tomes."
Nearly two years had passed since he began living as a mage in this world.
His understanding of magic had deepened accordingly, and he knew his own level wasn't low.
'Maybe I can reinterpret the existing spells.'
In fact, there were mages who approached it that way.
And lately, he'd been feeling......
'The [Shield] spell is starting to show its limits.'
The new defensive spells [Fire Wall] and [Iron Rampart] weren't bad, but they had overly wide ranges and blocked vision.
On top of that, they consumed a lot of mana, strained the mana circuits, and hastened overheating.
'What if I added attributes to [Shield]?'
It wouldn't be easy.
[Shield] had a simple pattern due to its low circle, and forcing an attribute pattern could collapse the spell entirely.
'Then maybe expand the pattern a bit. But that defeats the purpose...... What if I layer the spell itself and infuse attributes in the process...... That might work.'
A pretty good idea came to him.
Jun jotted it down in Korean in his notebook and experimented with various spell variations.
As the night deepened.
Knock knock knock.
Someone rapped on the door.
His comrades wouldn't visit at this hour, and if they did, they'd announce themselves.
But the one outside didn't.
'They snuck in.'
He didn't know who, but he had a guess why.
Jun quietly opened the door.
"Good to see you, mage."
"......I greet the First Prince."
There stood the future crown prince, with golden hair as radiant as Aiden's, smiling firmly at Jun.
"Tea?"
"Please."
After boiling water with magic and handing over the tea, Jun sat facing the First Prince.
"First off, I should say this: thank you so much for saving my brother Havier."
"I only did what needed doing."
"Haha. As humble as Lord Aden said."
He sipped his tea and spoke again.
"Hm, I'm not usually this impatient. But given the circumstances, I'll get straight to it. I saw the phenomenon recorder you showed His Majesty."
"I see."
"Let me be direct. What was your intent in showing that footage to Father?"
In the footage, the mysterious coachman had uttered Dexter's name even while swallowing poison.
Naturally, Dexter had no knowledge of it, so mishandled, all suspicion could fall on him.
Havier's mother, Benes, surely wouldn't let it slide easily.
"I judged it best to present it to the most impartial person."
Jun didn't know the princes' relationships or the Emperor's temperament in detail.
What he knew mostly was that the Emperor would meet his end in the future, and the two princes would come to hate each other intensely.
He'd heard bits about the process, but not the full details.
"So, not suspecting me, but to prevent the story from veering elsewhere."
"Yes."
"Then, what makes you not suspect me?"
Jun pondered the question.
Truth be told, until receiving the invitation, he'd assumed the royals' relations were at their worst, like in the game.
But from what Aden had said on the way here, they weren't as bad as he'd thought.
The First Prince Dexter was of excellent character without rough edges.
His twin Natalie was an artist obsessed with painting, renowned in high society.
And the Third Prince Havier was just a bit timid, but no issues with his personality.
'So unlike the game's future backdrop, there must be some inside story I don't know.'
Of course, he didn't fully trust Aden's words.
Long observation didn't mean knowing someone's heart completely.
But at the crash site, he'd found the most crucial clue.
The black flower he'd asked Maya about.
"Your Highness."
"Call me Dexter."
"Yes. Do you know anything about this flower?"
When Jun showed the black flower from his dimensional bracelet, Dexter frowned.
"Not really...... but it doesn't feel like good energy."
"As you say, this flower has hallucinogenic properties. Its name is 'Despair Flower'."
"Fierce name. So what about it?"
"As I mentioned, it induces hallucinations. The kind fitting its name—despairing visions for the victim."
"......"
"To someone whose friends died in a carriage accident, constantly compared to his brothers by those around him...... what hallucinations do you think it would show?"
"No way......"
Only then did Dexter understand what Jun meant.
"They used that accident and this flower to shatter Havier's mind?"
At that point, Dexter felt chills run through his body.
Not because of the incident with Havier.
Because of the mage before him.
'What kind of person is this mage?'
Instead of panicking over the fallen prince, he calmly surveyed the surroundings.
And uncovered a secret no one else noticed.
Even waiting for the perfect timing to report it to Aden.
'The rumors don't even capture half of who this man is.'
A sudden greed stirred for this talented mage.
But Dexter suppressed it.
This wasn't the time for personal desires.
Instead.
"Then, mage. In your view, how will this situation unfold?"
To the First Prince's question, Jun slowly opened his mouth.