Chapter 96
‘This is surprising…?’
When Eugenie Norton was dropped into the hunting grounds, Alokes hadn’t expected much. He was merely trying to silence that insect Tristan’s mouth while casually assessing the ‘possibility.’
‘I can always deal with the dark magic insect attached to her later.’
But wasn’t the result quite unexpected?
“Alokes, what is going on here?!”
Empress Silvea sharply demanded with a stunned look on her face.
“Tell me exactly how this all unfolded! What is the exact state of my son?!”
He could not lie to the Schroder family. According to the contract he had made, Alokes sighed and slowly began to speak.
“Your son died once, Silvea.”
“What…?!”
“But someone turned back his body’s time to just before his death.”
“Then… if the time was turned back, why hasn’t he woken up?”
As expected from a family that had long been contracted with wizards, Silvea quickly grasped the unreal situation.
Alokes covered his mouth and murmured.
“That’s because… they skipped the time in his brain.”
“What?”
Silvea heard Alokes’s explanation clearly, but she couldn’t make sense of it. How could anyone immediately understand the phrase about ‘skipping the time in the brain’?
“…What does that mean? Explain properly, Alokes.”
“Silvea, it means your son’s brain is in the exact state it was in when he died.”
His heart still beats, and he still breathes, but in reality, he’s a living corpse.
After hearing the verdict, Silvea’s eyes became as dark as night, even in the bright daylight.
Tristan was the only child she had ever received from the Emperor.
She had killed every illegitimate child without a second thought. In the grand scheme of things, Silvea had always placed her own future and that of her family over the Empire’s succession.
“No, no, Tristan…! Alokes, fix this right now!”
“It’s impossible. You know why, Silvea.”
Magic can only be undone by the caster themselves, and if someone else tries to break it, there will be consequences. In this case, even Alokes’s life would be in jeopardy…
“I lack the necessary magic now. And if something happens to me, the Schroder family will be affected too.”
“…”
“So I can’t break this curse, Silvea.”
“…Alokes.”
The Empress, who had been bowing her head under the horrifying judgment, lifted it slowly. The grace she had always embodied was gone, replaced by madness in her eyes as she whispered,
“Why are you smiling?”
“Hmm…? Did I smile?”
“You’re smiling now. Is this situation… amusing to you?”
Alokes slowly brushed his mouth. For some reason, the corners of his lips had risen, as if drawn to his cheekbones.
Was this really a smile? He hadn’t used those muscles in his face for over 500 years, so he had long forgotten what it felt like.
But why was he smiling? This feeling, as if fireworks were going off inside his stomach, was causing his lips to rise.
Was it amusement, as Silvea had said?
“…Maybe.”
“You’re insane.”
Silvea gritted her teeth in anger, but instead of striking him, like she always does to others, she refrained.
After all, Alokes was a being who could hardly even be called human in this era. No one would think to slap the cheek of a natural disaster or a storm.
“Then let me ask the most important question.”
But, having faced this tragedy with her precious son, Silvea would seek revenge no matter what.
That revenge would not end with just taking a life.
“Who did this to Tristan?”
* * *
Eugenie finally got up from her bed ten days after the hunting event.
With a coffin ready, she could step into it at any moment.
As a side note, the atmosphere in the mansion also seemed to require a coffin.
‘The mood is really something else.’
When she finally stood up, all five men looked relieved. But even Eugenie, who was usually indifferent about relationships, could feel the sharp tension.
Moreover…
‘…Actually, I think I’m still a little off.’
Eugenie swallowed a groan and bit her lip.
What she felt was lacking was that despite Alfred’s first-aid in the forest, her body still felt weak and fragile…
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