IMT 13

Chapter 13

Huh?

My vision blurred, and my body staggered. The strength drained from my legs, and the world spun before my eyes. Even so, I couldn’t just collapse to the ground.

E-Eblin? Did he just call me Evelyn?

I even forgot that I had been coughing up blood as I repeated those words over and over in my mind.

In Creras, I was supposed to be nothing more than “Lin.”

When I first came for the interview, I couldn’t think of a suitable name, so I simply took the last syllable of my real name, Evelyn, and introduced myself that way.

A commoner with no family name. Lin.

The only person who knew both my identity and my real name was Cassian, the one who had brought me to Creras.

But this was Furious Palace, the Emperor’s palace.

And that voice hadn’t belonged to Cassian.

No way…

Uneasy, I slowly turned my body.

I saw Mikhail running toward me with a sorrowful expression. In his arms was Joshua, whose eyes were swollen red like a rabbit’s from crying.

“Lin! What happened? You said you were fine. You told me you were okay!”

His frantic voice, his hurried movements…

I could clearly see my reflection in Mikhail’s worried eyes.

Ah…

I look like a zombie that’s been feasting on corpses.

Joshua burst into tears again and reached both hands toward me.

“Mama! Are you okay? Mama!”

As soon as Mikhail set him down, Joshua grabbed the hem of my skirt and shook it.

Did I hear wrong?

I couldn’t take my eyes off Mikhail’s face.

What did you just call me?

The question rose to my throat.

But if I asked, it would be no different from admitting that I had lied about my identity all this time.

“Your Majesty… why did you come out here?”

The moment I opened my mouth, the blood pooled inside spilled down my chin.

“You looked unwell and suddenly ran outside, so I followed you to see what was happening. But… to find you like this. Lin, what happened? You said you were fine.”

He called me Lin.

Had I imagined it? Who knew hearing a single name could make my heart pound this violently?

Thank goodness.

The moment relief washed over me, blood surged up from inside again.

“Urgh… cough…”

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

I hurriedly bent over so the blood I vomited wouldn’t stain my clothes.

But my blood was faster than I was.

In the end, the front of my dress was completely soaked.

This was the dress I had only planned to wear today before leaving the palace. I was going to sell it afterward to use as travel funds…

And now it was covered in blood…!

I stared at it miserably and muttered,

“My dress…”

My money…

I couldn’t say those words in front of Mikhail, so I swallowed them.

Mikhail pulled me into his arms and gently stroked my head.

“It’s alright. Calm down, Lin.”

I was not alright.

I hurriedly tried to push him away and lowered my head to look at my dress again.

Then I noticed it.

The blood dripping from my chin had landed on the necklace hanging around my neck.

“My blood…”

“It’s alright. I don’t mind if my clothes get stained.”

No.

Not your clothes.

My jewelry!

Perhaps he half understood what I was thinking, because Mikhail looked at me with pity.

“I’ll buy you ten dresses. Twenty, if you want. Just don’t be sick.”

“Mama… I’ll give you my money too. Don’t cry, Mama.”

His pitiful little voice was heartbreaking.

But the cries of my money were even louder.

Aaaah! How am I supposed to clean blood out from between the metal and gemstones?!

I stood there in complete despair when Mikhail suddenly shouted,

“Steward! Call the Imperial Physician! Now!”

“I’m really fine. Please don’t…”

At that very moment, something surged up again.

I hurriedly covered my mouth with my hand.

Too late.

Blood poured out.

Much more than before.

This damned mana backlash.

How many times is this going to happen?

I knew it was simply my body’s way of trying to survive.

But I’d rather it didn’t involve vomiting so much blood that I couldn’t even hold a conversation.

My head was already spinning.

Damn it.

Cursing inwardly, I reached out for something to grab.

My body swayed.

My vision gradually turned white.

I had a feeling I was about to lose consciousness.

When I stayed quietly in my room, nothing happened.

So why did my body always become like this the moment I stepped outside?

I silently complained to my rebellious body as I tipped forward.

Someone caught me firmly before I could fall.

I looked up at the face of the person supporting me.

“Mi… khail?”

Last time, I collapsed in front of Eunsu.

This time, it was in front of Mikhail.

Seriously… what a disaster.

That was my last thought as darkness swallowed my consciousness.

At the same time, in a forest not far from the Imperial Palace of Creras.

Cassian threw the letter he had been holding onto the ground.

The man who had secretly carried the letter all the way from afar widened his eyes at Cassian’s dismissive attitude.

Wrapped from head to toe in black cloth, the man was Torio, one of the Seika Knights—the Emperor’s personal knight order that moved only under the Emperor’s direct command.

This mission, too, had been carried out under a secret imperial order, bringing him and his superior deep into the heart of the foreign nation of Creras.

“You crossed the border in secret just to deliver this piece of trash?”

It was the first time Torio had ever heard anyone refer to a letter personally written by the Emperor as “trash.”

Even more shocking was the sight of his superior bowing deeply before the man who had spoken those words.

“His Majesty ordered us to deliver it as quickly as possible. We had no other choice.”

And not just respectfully.

Extremely respectfully.

Who in the world is this man?

Torio stared at the man before him.

Well… aside from that ridiculously handsome face, there’s nothing particularly special about him. No, wait. A face like that would probably be considered a national treasure even in the Empire. But surely His Majesty didn’t send him a letter just because of his looks…

As Torio’s eyes darted around, Cassian clicked his tongue while looking at the two men.

“You people really know how to make yourselves suspicious. You’re supposed to be the Emperor’s personal knights, yet what’s with those clothes? Are you advertising yourselves as shady bastards?”

Torio and his superior were both dressed entirely in black from head to toe.

Black clothes might stand out during the day.

But at night, they were perfect.

Since it was currently nighttime, there wasn’t really a problem.

There were plenty of arguments they could have made.

Instead, his superior bowed once again.

“We were short-sighted. My apologies.”

His superior was none other than the Vice Commander of the Seika Knights, a knight trusted personally by the Emperor.

He was not someone who bowed to just anyone.

Yet before this man, he kept lowering his head as though he had no neck bones at all.

Just who is he…?

“Enough. Don’t come looking for me over things like this again. Do you know how important this moment is for me? You’re just getting in my way.”

Cassian’s irritated remark made the vice commander look up with wide eyes.

“An important… moment, you say? We heard you’ve recently been keeping a close eye on Vivace. Are you planning to make it part of the Empire?”

Hope filled his voice.

Cassian waved his hand dismissively.

“What would I do with a tiny patch of land like that? Do you really think that’s all I’m after? Stop talking nonsense and get lost. You’re annoying.”

He coldly turned around.

“W-Wait!”

Cassian looked back with an irritated expression.

“What now?”

“Aren’t… you going to send a reply? If I return like this, they may suspect I never delivered the letter.”

Seeing the vice commander’s desperate expression, Cassian stretched out his hand.

“Give me that back.”

The vice commander quickly picked up the letter from the ground, dusted it off, and respectfully handed it over with both hands.

Cassian held it with both hands and stared at it briefly.

Crunch.

He crushed the letter into a ball.

Then changed direction.

Crunch.

After only those two squeezes, it had become a perfectly round paper ball.

“There. Happy now?”

Whoosh.

He tossed it into the air.

The vice commander hurriedly caught it.

“I crushed it with mana. He’ll know I saw it. Now get lost.”

Before the sentence had even finished, Cassian’s figure dissolved into the air.

Torio, who had remained silent the entire time, finally grabbed the edge of his superior’s cloak.

“What the hell is wrong with that lunatic? He actually crumpled His Majesty’s letter!”

The vice commander immediately tucked the paper ball into his robes before striking Torio squarely on the head with the side of his hand.

“A lunatic? Watch your mouth! That’s not someone you can speak of so carelessly.”

“Ow!”

Rubbing the top of his head, which burned as though it had been struck by an axe, Torio looked at him.

“So who is he?”

The vice commander let out an exasperated sigh before leaning close and whispering quietly into Torio’s ear.

Torio’s eyes flew open.

“Whaaaat?!”

Cassian let out a mocking snort as he recalled the contents of the letter.

“Hmph.”

“Come back?”

After throwing me out?

Cassian still couldn’t forget the day he had been banished from his own country.

The day he had been gagged in his sleep by knights and carried away somewhere.

At first, he thought he had been kidnapped.

He believed he was going to die without ever being able to resist.

But no one ever entered the wagon he was confined in.

Days passed in thirst and hunger until he could no longer tell the passage of time.

When he finally opened his eyes again, the sight before him made him think he had reached heaven.

But it wasn’t heaven.

It was a temple.

A temple in a foreign country, far from his homeland.

Only later did he learn that it had been built in the small kingdom of Vivace.

At the time, he had no idea.

After he awoke, a priest handed him a letter from his father explaining the situation.

“The current state of the Empire is unstable. Even you must realize that your very existence is shaking your elder brother’s position.

You are a kind child. Surely you wouldn’t wish to ruin the future of your brother, who deserves perfection in all things.

Knowing your heart in advance, I have sent you somewhere safe.

Behave yourself there, and one day I will send someone to bring you back.

—Father”

Knowing my heart in advance?

What a ridiculous excuse.

It simply meant:

“You’re in your brother’s way, so disappear.”

He had always worried that something like this might happen someday.

Even so, he had kept reassuring himself that everything would be alright.

Because they were his parents.

Because they were his older brother.

Surely the parents who had given birth to him and raised him wouldn’t abandon him.

If he stayed quiet and lived as though he didn’t exist, someday they would look back at him.

At the very least…

They would never throw him away.

But when he finally came to his senses…

He had already been discarded.

Eleven years old.

Old enough to understand everything.

Yet still far too young to survive alone.

Without the knight who had sworn to protect him until death.

Without the attendant who had vowed never to serve anyone else.

Cassian was left completely alone.