INTEC 27

Chapter 27

“Ha… it’s been a while. I missed this liveliness of Visentium, and the towering gates of the imperial palace.”

Radak, the second prince of Prahenfelt—no, now the emperor’s second elder brother and the Duke of Schlett—passed through the main gate of the imperial palace. He had wandered across the continent for nearly two years, and this was his first visit back to the palace in that time.

‘When I saw Heimelick recently, he said something strange. That a daughter of the Hoo family had come to him? I’ve suspected she might still be alive, but why would she go there? Has my brother finally gone mad? Maybe being locked up made him start seeing things.’

Unlike Heimelick, who had long tried—openly and secretly—to eliminate Kaiserten, Radak had maintained a fairly decent relationship with his half-brother. But the thoughts in his head were far from harmless.

‘Before, Kai said the family of the girl who made him explode had been exterminated, and when he looked into it, they turned out to be the Hoo family of Aventador. He even gathered the bodies from that estate and buried them. Kai, for all his looks, is surprisingly soft-hearted.’

At first, Radak also believed that Kaiserten’s first love had died. But long ago, when he visited Heimelick shortly after Heimelick had been confined, he heard something else.

“Radak, since I’ve ended up like this, there’s something special I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Radak’s eyes shone. That was exactly why he had bothered to visit his brother who had become a traitor. He listened intently, eyes wide. Satisfied with his reaction, the corner of Heimelick’s mouth lifted slightly.

“When I was on the throne, all kinds of important information about our country and foreign nations was reported to me.”

“Of course. The emperor is the head of Prahenfelt’s intelligence network.”

As if he were about to reveal some enemy secret, Heimelick suddenly brought up something unrelated.

“You know Kai’s first love, right?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. The Hoo family of Aventador?”

“Yes. At that time, Kai collected all the bodies in that family’s courtyard and buried them in a private estate near Visentium. I had the great archmage investigate their physical information.”

“The great archmage back then… not the current one, right? His name was… Darel?”

“That’s right. Darel examined them, and among them there was only one child, and two corpses whose genetic information matched that child. Those three were the only ones confirmed to be family. The rest were probably servants or knights.”

It was completely unexpected. Sharp-witted, Radak immediately caught on.

“So originally, there were more family members than just those three?”

“Exactly. That family had three children—son, daughter, son. Of the three, two are presumed to have escaped alive. And the child who died and was buried was the boy.”

“Th-then…”

Radak swallowed hard.

“Yes. There’s a high chance the Hoo family’s daughter is still alive.”

“The one with the fate to make her husband king…? But brother, you never believed in that kind of destiny.”

“True, I still half doubt it. But now that Kai already holds the throne, why not try anything? They say all daughters of the Hoo family are beauties, so there’s nothing to lose by taking her. First, catch that girl. If you manage to become emperor, that’s good too, isn’t it? And then you can get me released as well.”

It was an astonishing story.

Even while confined, Heimelick—who was deeply attached to Radak—constantly searched for ways to get out.

But Radak, for a long time, had pretended to have no interest in the throne and lived quietly with his head lowered.

As the second prince, stuck in an ambiguous position, and the one with the weakest magic among the three, this was the stance he had chosen in order to survive. He quickly laughed awkwardly and waved his hand.

“Oh, come on, brother. You know I’m not interested in the throne. Forget it. I’ll just keep traveling. See you~”

“Hey, I’m telling you this is important information!”

Heimelick shouted from behind bars, but Radak had already turned away.

Yet unlike the face he showed his brother, Radak’s eyes sparkled with excitement once he turned away. The corner of his mouth lifted soundlessly.

‘Who would ever suspect the second prince who isn’t interested in the throne? That I’m searching for a platinum-blonde beauty with purple eyes…’

He traveled for over two years, searching across the continent, but could not find any beauty who had both platinum-blonde hair and purple eyes. The clues were far too scarce.

And after wandering aimlessly like that, he returned to find Heimelick babbling about how the daughter of the Hoo family had been here.

But Radak was cautious and meticulous by nature. He questioned the villagers where Heimelick was confined and learned that, a few days earlier, a young woman in a black robe had indeed stayed there, and that she was heading toward Visentium.

So he sent out his people to search Visentium for several days, and in the end, he discovered her with Kaiserten.

‘I was going to approach her the moment she got away from Kai. But she vanished without a trace.’

He had narrowly missed the daughter of the Hoo family, but now that he had come to the imperial palace and observed the atmosphere, it did not seem that Kaiserten had brought her with him.

‘As long as she’s not Kai’s woman yet, that’s fine. If she’s in another man’s hands, I can just take her. The problem is, where do I find her again…’

Like a hunter searching for prey, his eyes gleamed ominously.

From about forty or fifty paces away, a young man watched Roabellin’s back as she bought fruit juice from a street stall in the busy district of Visentium.

‘Hearing an Aventador accent here.’

Platinum-blonde and blue-eyed, handsome enough to suit the word “beautiful,” he stopped walking and turned to look at Roabellin’s profile.

‘It can’t be someone I know, but somehow she feels familiar.’

“Terik, what are you doing?”

At the call of a middle-aged gentleman, the young man called Terik hurried to catch up with him. With the friendly smiles on their faces, they looked like father and son.

“Just… there’s a lot to see.”

“Yes, this is the capital of the empire, and it’s also the Visent Festival right now, so there’s plenty to look at. But there are so many people that it’s easy to lose your group. Don’t let your eyes wander too much.”

Though his words sounded scolding, the gentleman’s gaze toward Terik was warm.

Even as he answered that he understood, Terik glanced back once more at where the woman had been. But she was already gone.

‘It’s been such a long time since I heard an Aventador accent. If our Roa were alive, she’d be about that age now…’

Hearing the accent of his homeland after so long naturally pulled his memories back to the night of the massacre.

Though only sixteen, Itanistad, who possessed swordsmanship far beyond his age, was fighting alongside the knights against the intruders. He knew they were at a disadvantage, but with his family’s lives at stake, he could not retreat.

He had just finished cutting down a wave of enemies and was catching his breath when a knight returned to the knight-commander who was guarding Itanistad and reported with a grim face. He was one of those sent as reinforcements to guard the duke and duchess’s room.

“The Duke and Duchess have… already been attacked.”

“What?! Then what about the young lady and the young master?”

“From a distance, I saw them dragging what looked like the body of Young Master Emilic. It also seems Lady Roabellin’s room was attacked…”

If Emilic was dead, there was no need to even confirm Roabellin’s fate. These intruders would surely have killed her first.

“……”

Though he fought bravely, Itanistad was still a boy. Shock, grief, fear, and despair rose across his face as he lost his entire family. The knight-commander immediately led Itanistad into the bushes and hid with him.

“Young Duke, listen carefully. Now, the only one left of Hertenes is you. If you survive, this family will not disappear. Run this way. Go, and 반드시 survive.”

Itanistad instinctively shook his head.

“But—”

“Please, survive. If you think of me at all. It has been an honor to serve you.”

Without listening further, the knight-commander ran off in another direction. Soon, fierce fighting broke out between him and the intruders who found him.

Momentarily stunned by the sudden turn of events, Itanistad soon came to his senses, turned, and began to run. His platinum-blonde hair was concealed beneath the black robe the knight-commander had thrown over him earlier.

Escaping the ducal castle through a path leading into the forest, he looked back once to see the burning castle. The immense flames flickered in his tear-filled blue eyes. But he had no time to linger. He quickly wiped his tears away.

‘First, I’ll take refuge with some distant relatives. If I go to my uncle or aunt’s house, the intruders might expect it and追踪 me.’

Having chosen his destination, Itanistad began running toward the estate of Count Biston, a distant relative on his mother’s side.

After running and walking for a long time, he fortunately found a horse that seemed to have lost its owner. It was sheer luck. He rode without rest and reached the count’s manor the next evening. Fortunately, the manor looked peaceful, as if it had not been attacked.

Count Biston greeted the haggard Itanistad with a shocked expression.

“Good heavens, Itan! Why have you come so suddenly without notice? And what happened to you?”

“Pl-please… hide me… without even letting the servants know…”

After enduring two full days of unrelenting tension, Itanistad finally lost consciousness.