112 – While I was asleep
A flash of red fell from the sky to the ground, followed by a huge shockwave.
While the heavens and earth were shaking as if they were turning upside down, dust swept through the surroundings as if a storm had struck.
The sudden shock wave and roar surprised the riding horse, but there was no knight among the members of the Imperial Knights who could not handle a surprised horse.
After the dust had settled, what Theodore saw was the back of a man holding a red spear in tatters.
As if it was a meteorite, the ground around the man was turned upside down.
There is nothing left, just a large crater.
A person who causes catastrophic destruction on their own. His appearance was not lacking at all to be called a transcendent.
As he calmed down his startled words and moved forward cautiously, the man looked over his shoulder as if he had noticed Theodore’s approach.
In the darkness that the moonlight couldn’t drive away, I saw blue eyes.
Instinctively at the ferocious madness in those blue eyes, Theodore put his hand to the scabbard.
The sword master’s instinct was wary of the man in front of him.
‘It’s a monster.’
Theodore gulped down his saliva at the eyes as sharp as blades.
While working in the imperial family, he had met many transcendent people on the continent, but it was the first time that he felt this much intimidation with just a glance.
Fortunately, to his knowledge, no one has ever been hurt by his gaze.
Sureureung–!
As Theodore drew his sword, the members who followed him drew their swords nervously.
“Leo, be careful.”
At Theodore’s cautious voice, Leo, who was next to him, tensed up and grabbed his sword.
At that time, the crown princess Bella, who had been hidden behind the man’s body, came into Theodore’s eyes.
“Hwang, princess?”
Finding Bella lying on the floor and protecting her body with her magic, Theodore immediately raised her mana.
Then, the church workplace where the man in front attacked the princess.
Situation judgment is over.
“Rush everyone! Save the princess!!!”
At Theodore’s cry, the Imperial Knights rushed toward the man at full speed.
Theodore, who had raised his mana, was about to unleash an intense sword energy.
The man’s body tumbled and collapsed forward helplessly.
When Theodore, flustered by the sudden situation, stood firm with his sword held high.
Holding a man covered in scars in her arms, the crown princess looked up at Theodore.
Facing his golden eyes, Theodore hurriedly got off his horse and bowed to his knees.
“Princess Bella! Theodo, the leader of the 2nd Imperial Knights-“
“… Shh.”
At Bella’s gesture to be quiet, Theodore fell silent. Theodore rolled his eyes at the sight of Bella carefully groping the man’s body.
‘What kind of situation is this?’
Bella’s voice came through the ears of Theodore, who was sweating in an incomprehensible situation.
“Potion.”
Theodore, who did not understand his short words, was dumbfounded for a while, and Leo quickly took out an emergency potion from his bosom.
When Leo carefully handed over the potion, Bella let out a sigh of relief as she opened the stopper with her own hands and cautiously opened the man’s mouth to drink the potion.
“Move this person to the imperial family as carefully as possible.”
“… Al, I see!”
I was curious about the man’s identity, but the princess’s order came first.
As Theodore beckoned, the two members behind him approached and carefully raised the man in Bella’s arms.
While Leo secured the man’s body to the saddle, Theodore helped Bella, who had fallen to the ground.
“Everything, where you were injured…. Heo Eok! Arm, arm… !”
Finding that Bella’s left arm was empty, Theodore quickly took out a potion from her arms.
While Bella was drinking the potion, Theodore looked around with his head bowed as if he was embarrassed.
There was no sign of life at all. No, there were no geographic features.
Everyone was swept away and destroyed by the red flash presumably caused by that man.
‘Are you the transcendental person who secretly kept the princess?’
Looking at Bella’s expression as she threw an empty potion bottle on the floor and sent a sad look at the man, Theodore was convinced.
‘It was a deep relationship!’
***
I knew that Estelle had called for reinforcements when I saw a knight in golden armor approaching on his horse.
I let out a sigh of relief at the thought that it was over and immediately lost consciousness.
A moment later, when I regained consciousness, a pure white world spread out before my eyes.
A place where nothing exists. Like a single black dot that fell from the sky in this pure white world where there is no boundary between top and bottom, it was placed all at once.
“… What?”
Have you come to heaven? Just as I was having a stupid thought, a message popped up in front of my eyes at just the right time.
[Boss Power – Penalty for continuing the battle has been obtained.]
[You cannot leave this place while distinguishing all marbles.]
With that message, marbles smaller than a pinkie nail began to fall from the sky like hailstones.
As he stared blankly at the marbles rolling everywhere, two bags fell over his head.
I raised my hand to check the pouch on top of my head.
Simple pouch with black and white written on it.
With that alone, I realized what to do.
“Wow… Bored already?”
I can’t believe that the power penalty is simply filling the bag with marbles….
The silence comes out naturally.
I expected you to be unable to move for several days due to the penalty, or to be asleep that much.
It was a more annoying penalty than I expected.
I even saw a message warning that I couldn’t get out of here until I identified all the marbles, so the more I tried, the more I lost.
With no geographic features or boundaries between the top and bottom, it was impossible to even perceive the passage of time.
An hour spent here could be a day in real life. Maybe, it could be a week.
“Eh, let’s pick it up first.”
Even if I thought about it in my head, it was something that I could know only when I got out of here.
In the end, if I wanted to see Luna as quickly as possible, I had no choice but to bend down and pick up the beads.
***
Unlike yesterday, it was late at night with a lot of clouds and no moonlight.
Princess Bella’s room was filled with a tense atmosphere.
“… If nothing is wrong, why don’t you wake up after a day?”
At Bella’s cool question, the priest and wizard quietly lowered their heads.
I checked the body with magic, but there was nothing wrong. But for some reason, the man did not regain consciousness.
Even when Benedict heard the news, he came with a potion containing the saintess’ power with a spirited expression, but the man did not wake up even with that great potion.
Unknown reason.
But no one said it. For the priests and wizards who traveled to and from the imperial family, their senses were their lifeblood.
However, Bella’s ferocious spirit of staring at the man in silence had a strange sense of intimidation that made even Benedict keep her mouth shut and bow her head.
When everyone was in a cold sweat in a suffocating atmosphere, Bella let out a sigh.
“… Everyone, let’s go.”
“Yes, yes!”
Everyone hid her joy at Bella’s words and hurriedly left her room.
Benedict also tried to say something comforting, but Bella’s heavy aura of refusal to approach her kept her mouth shut and sneaked out of the room following her.
Tak.
At the sound of the door closing, Bella perched on the edge of the bed where Ross was lying.
Ever since she was little, she felt awkward about Ross lying in her room. Even Roel had never been in his own bed.
Bella gave Ross a complicated look.
If Ross had said a few days ago that she would risk her life to protect herself, Bella could bet her crown daughter’s place on that lie.
That’s because it made absolutely no sense.
She told Ross that she didn’t know what she had done.
Ross even came to visit him not long ago and threatened to kill himself in a hateful voice.
At the time, all of Ross’ feelings for him were sincere.
He didn’t regret what he did to Ross. Even until just yesterday.
Because there was no one in this world who would be on his side except for Roel.
The short words of Ross who saved his life.
‘Don’t die.’
The sincerity in her voice made Bella’s mind even more complicated.
Why did Ross hate himself….
Like Roel, he showed such feelings to himself.
I wanted to ask.
In what sense did you act like that?
Why did she not give up on the self she hated so much and fought fiercely even when her own life was in danger?
I also wanted to know why he lied to himself.
When he asked if he wanted to be emperor.
When her older brother’s girlfriend became emperor, she gave a snobbish reply that she wouldn’t fall for anything, but it was false.
Surprisingly, Ross only genuinely wanted himself to be emperor.
That’s why I was more curious. So far, except for Roel, he hasn’t had anyone who doesn’t have what he wants.
Money, position, power, body….
People who need her with the identity of the Crown Princess.
Telling lies, smiling at oneself. Those who offer loyalty without a single heart.
Among those who always turn their backs when their utility value drops.
I thought that the only person I could trust was Roel.
But Bella is now able to come up with one more name carefully.
Because that person told me to trust him no matter what.
“… Loss.”
The name that came out of my mouth sounded really awkward.
I just called her name, but Bella bit her lip in a surge of guilt.
Complicated head, confused emotions.
As Bella, in her confusion, covered her face with her hands and let out a sigh, someone knocked.
Smart-
-The princess. Roel has arrived.
The voice of her attendant startled Bella out of bed. She was Roel, who briefly left the academy to find Ilia and the spirits.
In case you’re worried about Ross’s disappearance, he put a letter in Roel’s drawer telling you what happened. He didn’t know that he would come right away.
I couldn’t have predicted how Roel would react to me. Feeling her strange uneasiness, Bella cautiously opened the door.
“Hello, Bella.”
Bella responded in a crawling voice to Roel’s greeting as always with a warm smile.
“Roel.”
“… I’m here to get her brother.”
There was a deep sadness that could not be hidden in Roel’s voice when he said that.