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Chapter 68
I hadn’t told As, but even now, recalling that time sent a chill to a corner of my heart.
The strange sorrow that spread from my chest, the emptiness so unbearably dreadful that I didn’t want to live—it was all still a chilling memory.
Whether that person was really Arkes or not, the experiences I endured at his face were enough to make me shiver.
Because it was a reality that showed everything I had worried about for the past five years.
More pressure was applied to my front paw.
Dante shouted from beside me, unable to bear seeing his master’s body crushed.
“Spirit Mage! I can explain everything! Please…!”
“Ah.”
The moment I heard that voice, every expression on my face vanished at once.
My silver eyes, now icy cold, turned toward Dante lying nearby.
“Now that I think about it, you were the one who blocked all of my natural affinity, weren’t you? So you thought you could limit it again this time…”
I slowly rose to my feet.
Step by step, I stopped in front of him.
“You can’t do anything to me with a suppression spell like this.”
I shattered, with my mana, all the spirit suppression spells spread across the Duke’s mansion.
“Gah…!”
Blood spewed from Dante’s mouth as the spells were forcibly broken.
A crooked smirk twisted across my lips.
“Ah, right. You dared to call the Bellarisian Emperor a ‘Deposed Emperor,’ didn’t you?”
“…?”
Dante, coughing painfully, looked up at me with a confused expression.
“You knew Harnen was the Bellarisian Emperor, but you didn’t know that the word ‘Deposed Emperor’ was my trigger?”
“…W-what are you talking about…?”
Dante’s dumbfounded expression showed he hadn’t expected what I just said.
I moved my hand gently.
Eldimir, pressing down on Dante, bit down on his front paw.
“Even back at the Academy…”
Boom.
“Anyone who uttered the words ‘Deposed Emperor’… I pulverized them.”
I tilted my head and laughed.
At the Atlanta Academy, where talented people from all over the world gathered, there were naturally nobles from Belzesti, and they would openly mock and belittle the deposed Bellarisian Emperors—calling them ‘Deposed Emperors’ as if it were a game.
It was a kind of amusement for them.
Under the tacit approval of Duke Cervante, the real power holder, this mockery happened openly.
Even though excessive insults could be heard everywhere in the Academy, Harnen had always let them pass as if listening to someone else’s story.
Reacting emotionally to such insults would cost more than it was worth.
But I was different.
“Say that again.”
“W-what…!”
“The words you just said. Yeah? ‘Deposed Emperor’?”
Whenever I heard the words ‘Deposed Emperor,’ I lost control, and anyone who dared speak such insults, regardless of their status, would be utterly crushed.
Did I face any disciplinary action?
No. I didn’t.
I had recently entered the Academy, had contracted with Ilaye, and had all the Spirit Kings’ attention on me—there was no professor who could restrain me.
Not even the Academy Director.
An ordinary Emperor and the Spirit King who governs nature—obviously, who would bend before whom?
Thus, I became the number one person my classmates had to avoid provoking.
Ironically, I never had an outburst like a runaway train after that.
Everyone was careful, so I never heard ‘Bellarisian Deposed Emperor’ uttered aloud.
…Of course, Millan took As on a reckless errand, and then it came up again.
“Cough… cough…”
Dante, hit by my powerful stream, flew back and crashed into the wall.
Blood dripped from his mouth.
I approached him like a predator hunting trapped prey.
“I was planning to just gather information here.”
Cough, hack…
“But touching the grave of our poor Emperor is crossing the line.”
Just as I raised my hand to attack Dante again…
“…Spirit Mage, cough, how much do you know about Bellarisian… him?”
His words made me pause.
“What?”
Thinking his plea had worked, Dante desperately continued.
“That person… in the past, massacred nobles at the palace… waged unnecessary wars and ruled through fear… he’s a tyrant. I don’t know what Harnen whispered in your ear, Spirit Mage, but…”
“So you think Harnen is cursed and deserves to be eliminated?”
My head burned hot and cold in alternation.
“So that’s all you have to say?”
“…Yes?”
“Answer me. Is that really all you have to say?”
“….”
Dante, subdued by my presence, couldn’t speak, but his gaze clearly asked what more there could possibly be to say.
The corner of my mouth twisted upward.
“…You know nothing.”
Nothing about what the Bellarisian Emperor endured at the palace.
Nothing about why he had no choice but to do it.
Nothing about what he truly desired.
Nothing about his misfortune, his suffering, his pain.
“You talk a lot, don’t you? Right, Dante?”
If Harnen had seen me, he might have said, ‘Einra has already lost it, so just wash your neck quietly.’ A smile bloomed across my face.
“Not only did you curse Arkes with regression, but you even dared to touch Harnen?”
Sharp ice spears formed around me.
They shot toward Dante, only to be blocked by a suddenly appearing transparent barrier.
Haah… haah…
Dante, barely managing to form a barrier, wiped the blood from his lips.
I tilted my head slightly.
“You want to kill Arkes and Harnen, but you don’t want to die yourself?”
“….”
Despite my provocation, Dante silently lowered his head.
A purple spell circle began to appear beneath his feet.
“You can’t try to run, Dante.”
I moved my hand.
The newly formed ice spears shot indiscriminately toward him.
“We still have a lot to settle.”
Cough…
The teleportation circle at his feet lost its light.
To block the sharper spears, Dante had no choice but to concentrate his mana on the barrier.
Kaang—
Purple flames erupted where the ice spears collided.
Inside the half-ruined reception room, debris fell as the clash of powers tore through the space.
The ice spears eventually failed to break the defensive spells and dissipated into light.
I launched several more attacks.
Fire, wind, earth—every type of attack—but Dante’s barrier remained immovable.
Huff, huff…
Dante wiped the sweat from his chin while gasping.
The room was unrecognizable, with flames and storm debris obscuring the interior.
The ceiling had collapsed, revealing the floor above, but such things didn’t matter.
“Impressive defensive magic.”
I summoned more ice spears.
Massive plant roots emerged from the floor, wrapping tightly around his barrier.
“But I don’t have much patience.”
Boom. Another spear struck the barrier.
Gazing at the purple-lit barrier, I drew upon my natural affinity and summoned Ilaye.
I wanted to end this prolonged stalemate in one strike.
A huge amount of mana was drained at once, and as a reaction, the ice spears and roots wrapping the barrier vanished.
It was at that moment Dante’s eyes sharpened.
“Please…!”
The purple teleportation circle beneath him flashed.
The next moment, where the light had vanished, Dante was gone without a trace.
“…Ha.”
I let out a scoffing laugh.
I ran my fingers through my hair.
Just as anger surged, thinking I had lost Dante…
“What is all this?”
A clear, cool voice spoke beside me.
Ilaye’s gaze swept the area before settling on me.
Seeing my expression, he hesitated and slowly raised a hand.
As a blue light emanated from his hand, droplets of water, falling everywhere, gathered above it.
Reading the memory of the water, he roughly grasped the situation and frowned in displeasure.
“You’ve spent the past five years suffering because of that guy.”
He let out a low sigh.
“Is it because of him this time as well?”
