WSO 02

chapter 02

A wave of confusion washed over me at Deyan’s sudden action.

How am I supposed to interpret this situation?

Is this some kind of advanced psychological tactic?

The tension that had gripped me vanished so abruptly that I felt drained.

Just in case, I nudged the unconscious man’s hand with the tip of my foot, but Deyan still showed no reaction. It seemed he had genuinely fainted.

“This situation is getting really strange.”

I glanced at the other suspicious man Giselle had captured and bound.

His gaze remained fixed on Deyan, and somehow he looked relieved.

Was that noise I heard earlier because of this?

So it wasn’t an internal conflict or a fight?

The source of the commotion that had echoed throughout the forest was finally revealed.

Now I needed to find out why this man had acted the way he did.

“…Could it be that he couldn’t control his own actions?”

I recalled the clouded, almost mindless look that had been in Deyan’s eyes.

Had he briefly regained his sanity while being unable to control his body?

And if so, had he chosen to knock himself unconscious to avoid causing unnecessary harm?

That would make sense.

Then who had done this to him, and by what method?

Looks like he encountered someone highly skilled in magic…

I narrowed my eyes at the unconscious Deyan’s head before turning away.

“At the very least, I need to ask what he was doing in my country. Giselle, put him on a horse.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

By then, Giselle had recovered herself and securely tied Deyan up.

* * *

“Urgh!”

Glay Holdin, locked inside a prison cell, struggled violently.

Bound from head to toe like a caterpillar wrapped in thread, he writhed for a long while. In the end, unable to stand, he merely lifted his head.

“You can torture me for a hundred years, but I’ll never reveal any important information!”

“Oh my.”

Idir, who was standing at the entrance of the cell, smiled with her eyes curved into crescents.

“What makes you think I’d do something so cruel?”

“Huh? Then why am I in prison…?”

“Because we caught an illegal entrant. Detaining you is only natural, isn’t it?”

Now that he thought about it, she had a point.

Holdin carefully examined Idir’s expression.

There was no anger or malice on her face.

She was even smiling beautifully.

Something about her gave off the gentle atmosphere unique to kind people, and emboldened by that, he asked again,

“What do you intend to do with the man we found in the forest?”

“If you’re referring to Sir Deyan Boyislav Nemanich, we’ve isolated him in a guest residence.”

So they’ve figured it out.

Holdin clicked his tongue inwardly.

They had met only once, yet she remembered his face.

At this point, pretending ignorance would only make things worse. A reasonable excuse seemed like the better choice.

“May I ask about His Excellency’s condition?”

“Of course. A physician is examining him right now. Apparently, the wound in his abdomen is quite severe.”

“Yes. While carrying out a mission under His Majesty’s orders, he was attacked by bandits—”

“Pfft.”

Suddenly, Idir burst out laughing.

Her shoulders trembled as she laughed, looking for all the world like an innocent young girl.

“Bandits?”

Yet every word she spoke felt like a blade.

“You’re telling me that the Empire’s strongest knight—the one people call immortal—was reduced to that state by mere bandits?”

“…He was outnumbered.”

“I see. And it just happened to occur in that forest?”

A sharp glint flashed in her green eyes beneath her gently curved eyelids.

“It’s quite strange for a knight of Adorif to be carrying out a mission in our Grand Duchy.”

The eyes that resembled beautiful emeralds held no warmth whatsoever.

“Don’t worry, Sir Holdin. I have no intention of interrogating you.”

Yet her voice remained gentle and warm.

“When there’s a head, why would I go after the tail? Unless I needed leverage, of course.”

At her soft-spoken words, Holdin’s mouth fell open.

She’s insane.

He had never received intelligence like this.

How had nobody known?

“When Sir Nemanich wakes up, I’ll let you meet him. That should make conversation easier.”

The shrimp nation’s princess, Idir Hubert, who was said to be radiant as a jeweled flower and delicate as glass…

“If he hears his subordinate screaming right in front of him, he’ll probably feel like talking.”

…was actually a complete psychopath!

Speaking in the same tone one might use to whisper words of love to a lover, Idir turned and left the prison.

“W-Wait! Please wait, Princess!”

Panicking, Holdin squirmed across the floor and stuck his head between the bars.

“I’ll tell you everything! I’m terrible at keeping secrets!”

I hate pain!

* * *

I ground my teeth as I strode rapidly through the corridor.

Do they think I’m an idiot?

Their absurd lies irritated me.

Just because I’m always smiling and acting pleasant, they think I’m easy to fool?

Why did people always underestimate those who smiled often?

One day it would get them into serious trouble.

When I returned to the room I had carefully locked, all the traces of my attempted demon summoning remained exactly as I had left them.

“Ah, right.”

Massaging my throbbing forehead, I remembered my original objective.

What I had found in the forest was merely a side benefit.

This was what truly mattered.

“Where was I again?”

Right. The summoning had failed, so I had gone hunting for venomous lizards.

The scroll specified “the blood of a creature imbued with poisonous energy” as the sacrifice, so I had been capturing all sorts of dangerous poisonous creatures and using them in experiments.

Please let this work.

I began drawing the magic circle once again—a design I had drawn so many times that I already knew it by heart.

“Just succeed already.”

With a demon’s power, I would force two nations and an entire alliance to kneel and lick my boots.

Especially the culprit.

I would skin the soles of their feet and make them dance a waltz on a burning iron plate.

I was just about to inscribe the final symbol at the center of the magic circle.

Ssssshhhhh—

What?

The moment my sleeve brushed the circle, it emitted a faint glow.

A sinister magenta light.

My eyes were not deceiving me.

“…Did it just glow?”

I couldn’t believe it.

The magic circle had never reacted before.

Why now?

What triggered it?

My gaze slowly traveled to my hands, stained with chalk and chalk dust from drawing the circle.

Then to the lace sleeve hanging from my wrist.

And finally to the blood staining its edge.

It was Deyan’s blood.

“No way…”

Someone once said that “no way” was exactly how people got caught off guard.

Even while telling myself it couldn’t be true, I pulled my sleeve over the circle.

Sssshhh!

This time the reaction was even stronger.

“…!”

I sucked in a sharp breath.

The circle was definitely responding.

According to the summoning scroll, the sacrifice required was “the blood of a creature imbued with poisonous energy.”

That was why I had tested every kind of blood I could obtain.

Naturally, that included my own blood.

All it had done was leave unnecessary cuts on my fingers.

It definitely didn’t react to human blood.

I had even tested blood from people under the effects of medicine and poison.

I had considered every variable imaginable.

Of that much, I was certain.

Then why was this different?

Does that man’s blood contain something special?

Thump. Thump.

My heart raced uncontrollably with excitement.

Suppressing the heat rising in my face, I desperately clung to my reason.

I need confirmation.

I didn’t care what secrets Deyan possessed.

If I had his blood, I might finally be able to summon a demon.

And since he was already severely wounded and had lost plenty of blood, obtaining more wouldn’t be difficult.

I hurried toward the annex where Deyan was receiving treatment.

“Princess?”

“It’s nothing important! Don’t worry about it!”

Then I returned carrying a bundle of blood-soaked bandages used to dress his wounds.

I rubbed them against the magic circle.

The result was exactly what I expected.

Sssshhh—!

“It’s reacting!”

The light quickly faded, but there was no doubt.

Deyan’s blood had triggered the circle.

In other words—

That man was the key to summoning a demon.

My heavens.

I quickly covered my mouth.

Otherwise I might have screamed with joy.

At last… I’ve found a clue.

“Mother!”

“Take the Princess away! Don’t let her see this!”

I would find the person who murdered my mother.

No matter what.

And when I did, I would make them scream in despair.

Of course, simple revenge wasn’t enough.

The one who killed my mother deserves a horrific punishment.

And beyond that, as a ruler, wasn’t it my duty to create a strong and prosperous homeland for the people who would live under my protection?

The time was approaching to overturn this wretched food chain and write a new history.

And at the very forefront of that history, the name of the first queen of the great Kingdom of Plene—

Idir Hubert—

would be engraved in the most glorious letters of all.