I Became the Emperor’s Sleeping Pill - Chapter 65

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Lysei let out a long sigh as they approached the hunting grounds. “I’m sorry, Luigia, and Sir Trey. I shouldn’t have let the Empress and her ladies goad me into this.” She fiddled with the hilt of her sword.

“It’s alright, Sister. If you hadn’t volunteered, I would have. Those women were insufferable.”

“Haha.”

“Six Shadows are guarding us, along with myself and the other knights. There’s no need to worry unduly, My Lady.”

“Thank you.”

Despite Trey’s reassuring words, a nagging unease lingered. Lysei shook her head, trying to dismiss it. I’ll just stick near the entrance, catch a small monster, and present it to the Empress. With this thought in mind, she walked with Luigia and Trey towards the edge of the forest, waiting for a monster to appear.

She couldn’t deny a flicker of anticipation at the prospect of seeing a real monster for the first time. She wasn’t fond of gruesome or frightening things, but the monsters described in the books about this world didn’t seem particularly repulsive or grotesque. She imagined them to be something like alligators—green skin, bulging eyes, and sharp fangs, as the books described.

Luigia, too, seemed to share her anticipation. Her jewel-like violet eyes sparkled as she gazed into the forest depths.

“Oh!”

But anticipation quickly morphed into horror. The monsters inhabiting the forest’s edge were supposedly weaker and more timid than humans, but these creatures looked like the final boss and its minions. Their green skin was closer to a dark, almost black, green, and the eyes on their humanoid faces weren’t cute and frog-like, but rather like alien antennae, protruding grotesquely. And instead of two sharp fangs, as she’d expected, they had dozens, stretching from one ear to the other.

Lysei and Luigia froze, shocked by the monsters’ appearance. Fortunately, the grotesque creatures, upon seeing them, frantically wiggled their antennae-like eyes and fled.

“Are you alright, My Ladies?” Trey asked, his face etched with concern as he looked at their pale faces. Luigia, still shaken, blurted out, “Sir Trey, could you just… stand there for a moment and let us look at you? That monster… its appearance was quite traumatic.”

“Are you saying you need to cleanse your eyes by looking at Sir Trey’s face?”

“Of course, Sister. I’m still reeling from that visual assault.”

Trey’s initial confusion quickly gave way to understanding, and his face turned as red as a beet. Lysei and Luigia burst into laughter, completely oblivious to the unseen dark magic that was swiftly approaching.

***

The insidious nature of the heretics’ dark magic lay in its invisibility. It was this very invisibility that allowed them to mask an omega’s pheromones with the scent of a beta. It was also why, tragically, even the emperors of the empire—each generation possessing the ability to neutralize dark magic—were often powerless against the heretics. They simply couldn’t see it.

While the emperor’s blood, imbued with sacred power, could briefly reveal dark magic, it was a precious resource. Even if the emperor offered his blood to coat a sword or body, the glimpse it afforded was fleeting, barely a blink of an eye, and therefore not particularly useful.

Luigia’s ability to see dark magic was invaluable to Edin. It made her a powerful ally, capable of helping him identify and eradicate the heretics.

In the original story, there was a scene where a heretic tried to strangle Luigia with dark magic. Now that she could see it, Lysei had assumed such an attack wouldn’t work. As a precaution, Edin had even offered his blood, imbuing Trey’s sword and the swords of Lysei and Luigia with sacred power. She’d believed they would be safe. That complacency, however, seemed to have backfired spectacularly. Luigia and Lysei had vanished.

“?!!…” Trey’s eyes widened in disbelief as the two women disappeared before his very eyes. He instinctively drew his sword, but with nothing to target, he could only stand there, bewildered.

Luigia and Lysei hadn’t been strangled. Instead, a massive wave of dark magic had enveloped them, rendering them instantly invisible.

“Aaah!” Luigia screamed as a viscous mass engulfed her. Already sensing the danger, Lysei swung her sacred blade, instantly dispelling the dark magic that held Luigia captive.

“Are you alright, Luigia?!” Lysei cried. But at that moment, the disrupted dark magic lashed out like a giant serpent, seizing Lysei and lifting her into the air. Her sword clattered to the ground. Before she could strike back, the dark magic completely swallowed her.

“Lady Luigia!”

Thanks to Lysei, Luigia had escaped the dark magic’s grasp. Trey, seeing Luigia reappear and fall to the ground, instinctively swung his sword towards where Lysei had been standing.