LP 3.11 The Prince’s Rebellion

Lucian couldn’t answer immediately. While he hesitated, his lips parting, Kosha stepped forward with a casual stride. A glowing lizard peeked its head out from within his clothes. It seemed to be in a good mood, having been freed from the shackles for the first time in a while.

Lucian, catching up with long strides, grabbed Kosha by the shoulder.

“Come with me. Do you have any idea where you are? Don’t just wander off alone.”

His tone was scolding, yet subtly tender. When Kosha smiled faintly and leaned the back of his head against Lucian’s shoulder, Lucian leaned down and kissed him. It had become a complete habit now. Lucian felt he needed to stay sharp just to avoid doing such things in front of others.

“Anyway, the atmosphere here is a bit grim. To think a place like this is a bedroom…”

Kosha looked around, fidgeting with his fingertips. Lucian watched his expression closely.

“Perhaps it’s because it’s an old place. And it was a military fortress. It witnessed many brutal wars in the past. Can Mages distinguish places where many people have died?”

“No, not exactly…”

Kosha scratched his cheek. While he could sense imminent death or the aura of a fresh corpse, he couldn’t individually distinguish traces of death from hundreds of years ago. To begin with, most Mages didn’t even believe in ghost stories.

As Kosha trailed off ambiguously, Lucian added,

“If I inherit the throne, I plan to completely tear down and remodel this entire section. So that not even a memory of this gloomy, dilapidated atmosphere remains. I detest old things myself.”

“…? Ah, yes.”

“Then it will be much more pleasant and livable.”

The way he added information that wasn’t asked for was somewhat hasty. Kosha couldn’t understand why he was suddenly laying out his residential preferences and renovation plans.

Then again, his office had relatively many windows, and he seemed to prefer wide, open structures overall. Kosha nodded awkwardly, silently rooting for him to be able to live exactly where he wanted.

Regardless, there were more urgent matters than that right now. For instance, the unpleasantness that grew denser as they approached the King’s bedroom.

The lizard in his arms also seemed to be growing increasingly sensitive.

“It will be your first time seeing the King up close, but don’t be too surprised,” Lucian remarked casually.

“He will look very frail for his age. I’ve heard that happens when one is bedridden with an illness. In any case, he is not in good condition.”

Kosha simply nodded quietly. He knew what Lucian was worried about, but Kosha was more accustomed to ‘patients’ than one might think.

Two royal guards stood watch before the door to the King’s bedroom. Judging by the atmosphere, they seemed to be Lucian’s people, so Kosha kept his head down and remained silent, and Lucian simply presented two identification plaques without a word.

Even for a ‘Regent,’ this was a place one had to enter through identification—the most heavily guarded spot in the heart of the royal court: the King’s bedroom.

Once the identification was complete, the heavy door opened slowly.

And for a moment, Kosha froze, unable to move. Simultaneously, the iridescent scales of the green lizard bristled.

“……?”

Lucian was the first to notice the strange reaction. While Kosha gasped, unable to breathe properly, Lucian raised his hand, signaling the guards to step back three paces.

“What is it?” he whispered into Kosha’s ear.

Kosha shook his head reflexively.

“Something is wrong here.”

Kosha barely managed to catch his breath. An ominous energy permeated the entire room. A human wouldn’t feel it, but a Mage could. It touched his skin, his veins, and every single strand of hair.

This place was another Mage’s ‘domain.’

Is it the ‘King’s Mage’? No, I don’t think so.

If the ‘King’s Mage’ was a Mage who had ‘chosen’ the King, there was no way a Mage would do something harmful to the human they chose. However, this energy was far too ominous. An ominous and sinister aura was asserting its domain, strongly rejecting the approach of any other Mage.

“Wrong? What do you mean?”

Lucian asked again, but instead of answering, Kosha raised his hand. He didn’t have the mental capacity to explain.

Moving his hand as if pushing through something invisible, he stumbled forward. It felt as if he were forcing his way through a space filled with egg whites. It was disgusting, difficult to breathe, and hard to move.

However, this was ultimately a battle of the innate capacity of a Mage. This domain was quite sturdy, but not to the level where Kosha had to retreat. Kosha looked back at Lucian.

“Please close the door.”

It would become more suffocating and disgusting, but to find the ‘source,’ he had to limit his senses.

In the center of the room was a large four-poster bed, and in the middle of it lay a shriveled old man alone. Although the royal attendants had been intentionally dismissed, the man looked extremely unstable, his breathing so faint it seemed he might pass away at any moment.

“…Ca, Castor? Is that you?”

The old man, who had been motionless as if asleep, mumbled. He seemed to be looking for someone, but he couldn’t be heard clearly, nor did he have the strength to respond. Kosha began searching around the old man’s bed. Lucian followed close behind.

“What are you doing? Give me some expla—”

“The protective magic isn’t the problem right now. I have to find what’s wrong,” Kosha answered urgently, sticking his head even under the bed.

Find what? However, Lucian instinctively realized that he could be of no help in ‘this matter.’

Meanwhile, the old man repeated a few more delusions. Kosha, with his head buried under the bed, gestured to Lucian, who was pacing behind him.

“Please look after His Majesty.”

“…Me?”

Lucian, who had never once been on affectionate father-son terms with the provider of half his bloodline, was flustered. But for some reason, Kosha looked like a real ‘Mage’ right now… and so it felt as if there was a reason for whatever he asked.

Suppressing a feeling of reluctance, Lucian approached the old man on the bed.

He was told that the King had once been taller and more imposing than others, but now he seemed to have shrunk to half his size. The King, not yet seventy, looked over ninety by appearance, and a smell like rotting corpses emanated from his body, despite the royal attendants scrubbing him day and night.

“Lacey…?”

The King’s clouded eyes looked at his son, and he mumbled another delusion. It was just as Lucian reflexively frowned.

Kosha, rising from under the bed, began fumbling over the King’s bed. His curly hair was a complete mess, and amidst all the unpleasantness, that one detail managed to make Lucian smile.

Just as Lucian was about to stop him from reaching for the pillow, telling him not to touch it because it was dirty—

“Found it…!”

Before he could stop him, Kosha, who had slid his hand under the King’s pillow, shouted. Lucian flinched in surprise.

“I-I found it.”

Kosha held out his palm. It was a round metal Pendant. It wasn’t very large, and a crest of a beast resembling a fish was engraved on it.

Lucian’s expression stiffened strangely. There was no time to ask what it was. No, there was no need.

“…Someone used a curse.”

A curse—well, strictly speaking, it’s not so much magic as something passed down from ancient times… Kosha explained haltingly with his poor eloquence. But what mattered to Lucian right now wasn’t some mythical era magic knowledge.

“…….”

Lucian knew that fish-like crest. Strictly speaking, it was the crest of a mythical era beast with the lower body of a carp and the upper body of a horse.

“I think we need to get rid of this first.”

Watching his reaction, Kosha spoke cautiously. After a moment of hesitation, Lucian gave his permission with a single gesture.

The furious lizard crawled out from Kosha’s clothes. Then, it opened its mouth wide. Every time it bit and swallowed the Pendant, the metal rusted and soon scattered into powder. To Lucian, who could not see the lizard, it simply looked as if the Pendant were disintegrating on its own in the Mage’s palm.

It was the moment the entire metal Pendant scattered into powder.

“Haa, haaa.”

A gasping sound came from the bed. The two of them looked down at the King simultaneously, and their eyes met.

Lucian’s eyes and the King’s eyes met.

Blue-gray pupils filled with surprise, and black pupils that had become slightly clearer than usual.

“…Lucian?”

And his voice was slightly clearer than usual.

“What on earth is happening, Lucian?”

It was an abrupt question, but it felt different from his usual delusions—definitely.

“Why… am I lying down? My son.”

The last time the King had called him ‘my son’ was six years ago, when he received his knightly investiture. Lucian, unable to find words for a moment, barely managed to speak.

“You are… being treated. By the royal physician.”

“Treated?”

The King gasped. He was speaking at the fastest pace he had in years.

“Was I dreaming? How much of this was a dream? What in the world…”

“—Your Majesty.”

“Hah, haaa…!”

The King, who had been rambling, suddenly suffered a convulsion in his limbs before his body went limp. “Your Majesty—!” Lucian reached out, but Kosha was faster.

The moment the Mage grabbed the King’s wrist, his eyes glowed green, and soon the King’s breathing settled into a steady rhythm.

“He fainted from the shock. I’ve stabilized him for now, so his life isn’t in immediate danger… probably.”

Kosha continued in a small voice.

“As you can see, I think someone did something bad to the King, Your Highness. The problem is, there’s definitely something more here, though I’m not entirely sure…”

Halfway through, Kosha swallowed hard and shook his head. Only then did Lucian notice that Kosha’s lips were pale blue and his fingernails were almost purple. In an instant, Lucian’s jaw tightened and a curse leaked through his teeth.

Action preceded thought. The pale cheek he urgently cupped felt exceptionally cold.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I think it’ll be a bit difficult to resolve everything right now. I don’t know what the effect would be if he woke up immediately…”

“Is that the problem right now?”

A gray robe was abruptly wrapped tightly around Kosha’s body. Looking around as if wanting to call for help, Kosha seemed very bewildered. He tried to say it wasn’t that big of a deal, but Lucian was faster.

Tightly fastening the robe up to the nape of his neck, Lucian practically tucked Kosha under his arm and strode quickly across the bedroom.

The two royal guards waiting in front of the bedroom were startled by the Regent Prince’s actions, as he burst through the door as if etiquette and law meant nothing. As planned, Lucian’s personal knights were waiting outside the bedroom at timed intervals.

“His Majesty is sleeping according to the prescription after completing treatment.”

Lucian’s gaze swept over the two guards. His voice was somewhat strained, as if suppressing something.

“Let the royal attendants in to look after him.”

To anyone, the situation looked suspicious, but the guards simply puffed out their chests and stared into the void, pretending to see nothing. They were, first of all, personnel selected by Lucian, and generally, three things were most important when working in the royal court: solemnity, loyalty, and the ability to pick the right side.

Usually, the last one was more important than the first two combined.

“If you wish to keep your heads, watch your tongues.”

The low voice was like the blade of a guillotine. It was no ordinary matter when a figure like the Regent Prince felt the need to add a warning. The two guards, their shoulders tense, expressed their obedience by slamming their ceremonial spears onto the floor in unison.

With a nod to his personal knights, Lucian walked quickly down the hallway, still clutching the bundle of gray robe under his arm. On the wool carpet lining the hallway, the tips of Kosha’s toes dragged, leaving long streaks behind.