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Chapter 7
Echoing through the imperial corridor were slow, relaxed footsteps. Behind them, hurried footsteps followed.
Yukar moved closer to Calix, his jade-colored hair swaying.
“Your Majesty, forgive my rudeness, but I must advise—”
“No.”
“Yes, sir.”
At the firm refusal, Yukar immediately closed his mouth. But soon after, he wet his lips nervously with his tongue.
“Your Majesty, please……”
Leaving Yukar’s almost groaning voice behind, Calix arrived at the archive room. The waiting guards bowed and opened the grand doors.
As the doors split apart, a cold silence and dense smell of books filled the space.
The imperial archive room was mainly used for confidential meetings.
Calix slowly walked toward the window.
“Your Majesty.”
Seeing Yukar hurriedly enter after closing the door, Calix waved his hand as if annoyed.
“Speak.”
Yukar’s green eyes flashed.
“Your Majesty, please allow me to investigate that woman.”
“That woman?”
“The woman named Lucina Langport!”
Yukar clenched his clothes tightly, his face twisted in urgency.
“If anything happens to Princess Rubellin… I… I…!”
He shut his eyes tightly, as if imagining something terrible. When it came to Rubellin, his title as the “Iron Wall Chief Advisor” meant nothing.
“Hah.”
Calix let out a short laugh.
“To anyone watching, one would think she is your niece.”
Yukar let go of his clothes and looked determined.
“Your Majesty, please allow it. A witch who can manipulate human souls may exist in this world, so I must investigate—”
“Yukar. Are you saying she is a witch?”
Calix turned around with a look of disbelief. The reddish sunset light dyed his hair.
“Even if she is not a witch…”
Yukar glanced at him carefully before continuing.
“I am concerned about the remnants of the fallen Tethan Kingdom.”
“Ridiculous.”
Yukar quietly closed his mouth and sighed. Even he knew he was thinking too far ahead.
The destroyed Tethan Kingdom had been wiped out. Its remaining survivors had become slaves in foreign lands.
The princess who spared Prince Alex II had been sold as a slave, her life or death unknown, leaving her powerless.
And yet Yukar still worried. Anything related to Rubellin made him stay awake for three nights, calculating worst-case scenarios.
Even though protective magic layers had been placed around Rubellin—three, even four layers—he could not calm his anxiety.
Yukar sighed deeply and glanced at Calix.
‘Even though His Majesty worries, he never shows it…’
Lost in concern, Yukar’s atmosphere grew heavy.
‘I should instruct the head maid, Rinel, to keep her under surveillance.’
Yukar deliberately sighed loudly for Calix to hear.
Calix looked at his subordinate with disbelief.
‘This is definitely a sickness.’
He had already investigated Lucina’s entire background down to the smallest detail, yet he was still talking about more investigation.
Calix clicked his tongue and turned toward the window, leaning against the wall with crossed arms.
“A witch…”
Long ago, after the bloodline of black magic users had nearly vanished, the remaining surviving woman was called a witch.
No name, no age—only rumors that she appeared and disappeared anywhere.
And now Lucina Langport being called a witch… Calix scoffed.
She was clearly nothing of the sort.
He recalled their first meeting.
Soft light brown eyes, smooth hair, a woman pale-faced and trembling so much she looked like she would break.
Like a hamster about to be eaten.
“Even unseen places can be injured, Your Majesty.”
Yet she had looked straight into his eyes and spoken firmly.
She had run toward Rubellin without hesitation and held the child in her arms.
How absurd it had been.
“A report from Ken states that Princess Rubellin sees that woman as her mother. It is also suspected that this is why the princess unconsciously controls her immense strength.”
Even Calix had been doubtful when he heard this. No matter how many skilled tutors and mages had tried, nothing had solved Rubellin’s condition.
Yet simply recognizing someone as “mother” could control her strength?
That was not the only strange thing.
Calix frowned and closed his eyes.
“Brother!”
The image of Alex returning as a corpse burned in his mind.
The king of Tethan had been foolish and corrupt.
He used his daughter, the princess, to marry Alex for political gain.
Although Alex was the 2nd Prince of the Empire, the kingdom repeatedly made arrogant trade demands.
Calix had endured—until his younger brother returned in pieces.
‘Anyone left?’
‘None, except the escaped remnants.’
After hearing Yukar’s report, Calix looked over the blood-soaked royal castle of Tethan and smirked.
‘To think he lived in such a place. Even Alex must have lost his mind. This land is not even worth governing.’
“Your Majesty…”
Calix turned away from Yukar’s voice.
At that moment—
Waaahhh!
A child’s cry echoed from a small room in the abandoned castle.
When Calix entered, the crying became deafening.
There, in the middle of bloodstains, stood a baby crib.
A baby cried with red cheeks and tear-filled eyes.
The faint dragon-like mana and resemblance to Alex made it unmistakable—an imperial bloodline.
Clang—
A sword fell from Calix’s hand.
Without realizing it, he reached toward the child, then froze.
His hand—covered in dark, thorn-like energy and blood—was too dangerous.
He slowly withdrew it.
“Your Majesty!”
Yukar rushed in and saw the child, eyes widening.
“Your Majesty, is that child…”
“Yukar. I will take the child.”
“What do you mean take—!”
The baby cried even louder as if it understood.
“If it becomes unnecessary, we can kill it.”
“Your Majesty!”
Calix stopped his memory and opened his eyes.
Normally, he would never have made such a reckless decision. Even he did not understand it.
Why bring the child instead of killing it?
“Waaah!”
Perhaps it was the desperate refusal of death that echoed in his mind.
Or perhaps it reminded him of his own distant past.
Ever since that first meeting, the child had always cried in front of him.
“And… and no… our mom…”
And now Rubellin, who once always hid in fear, had started resisting. She ran forward and protected Lucina.
Calix looked at his right hand.
Around the ring on his middle finger, dark thorn-like energy spread like vines, wrapping his knuckles.
Ancient records said:
“Only the strong can control power.”
He knew power was not just physical strength. Since childhood, his uncontrollable mana had always plagued him.
From a young age, everything he touched withered.
When he became an adult, he searched for an artifact said to seal such power.
After great trials, he found a ring buried in a swamp of monsters.
That ring became his burden.
It was not simple. It absorbed his mana and caused unbearable pain. Sometimes, once every half year, it exploded and transformed him into something monstrous.
But in the end, he proved he could control his power with it and became emperor.
He had looked coldly at his dying father and said:
“I have succeeded you. You may rest now.”
But he felt no satisfaction.
‘Brother. I will leave now.’
Alex had always been insightful. Knowing he would become a threat to rebellion, he left the empire for Calix’s stability.
Since then, Calix lived a life opposite of freedom.
He purged anyone who spoke of imprisoning him or sent assassins since his childhood.
He looked at the cold palace and felt anger.
Why must he be confined like this?
‘If something is troublesome, just kill it and submit it.’
Even if everything around him died, it didn’t matter. So why hide his power?
Yet ironically, he could not remove the ring.
Even now, he still struggled with uncontrollable mana.
So he wondered—
“Who is she?”
Lucina Langport. What is she, that Rubellin became stronger because of her?
Why can Rubellin control her power without a ring, while he cannot?
Calix looked out the window.
Purple clouds drifted like Rubellin’s hair.
He imagined her flushed cheeks, moving lips, and her quick, shy glances.
“I will understand if I keep watching.”
He ended his thoughts and turned around. Yukar still stood there, gloomy.
“Your Majesty, she is someone beside you. Should we not investigate further?”
Calix frowned and waved his hand.
“If she becomes a threat, kill her. What is the problem?”
He walked toward the door without hesitation.
Yukar let out a tired sound but stepped aside.
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
Knowing the emperor would kill without hesitation, he could not argue further.
He sighed quietly.
Click.
The door opened. Yukar turned toward his lord and bowed again.
Calix paused just as he left the archive room.
He stared at Yukar’s jade hair falling like a waterfall.
‘Do you have something more to say?’
Yukar lowered his head even further, only his eyes moving nervously.
