The Runaway Maid is Loved by the Archmage - Chapter 173

※ This book contains depictions of coercive/dubcon/noncon acts, violence, and immorality. Reader discretion is advised.

It was rare, but not unheard of, for the Archmage to stay at the Imperial Palace. In the past, it was common because the Emperor cherished and called the Archmage as if he were his own child.

But even so, Lutan felt a subtle discomfort. He had come here because he felt Roina’s energy somewhere in this Imperial Palace, but there was a lingering feeling of unease.

When he expressed his intention to visit the Imperial Palace and stay for a day, the Crown Prince was very pleased and welcomed him. As if he had been waiting. The shadow wearing Veronica’s guise, on the contrary, didn’t say anything and pretended to be quiet, wearing a docile smile.

Though it was a place he had entered of his own will, it was a place he was reluctant to be, as it had become somewhat dark and gloomy since the Crown Prince had taken over. The black magic used by the Crown Prince was probably the reason. That magic wasn’t the magic that Roina had brought. It wasn’t within the Archmage’s domain either. The fact that he was easily deceived by Ryuhyeon’s magic was based on a similar principle. Lutan frowned at the deep sense of displeasure.

The Imperial Palace seemed to be filled with brilliant light, adorned in gold, but in reality, it was shrouded in a terribly gloomy and deep darkness. Lutan, with a cold gaze, looked down at the extravagant bedding and food prepared for him, then left that place. Everything in the Imperial Palace was only disgusting to him, and he didn’t even want to touch it. His mind was only filled with Roina’s whereabouts.

His steps confidently headed towards the deepest part of the Crown Prince’s Palace. The basement. He felt her energy as if there was a clue in the basement, but he also intended to break the mirror, the main body of the shadow whose intentions he didn’t know, or otherwise gain its cooperation.

He found a passage that no one else knew about. In a room used as a library, he took out a book, placed his finger on it, and moved his magic to turn the key device.

Thump— A slightly dull sound was heard, and the door opened. The underground passage, unknown to anyone except the members of the Imperial Family, was revealed too easily by him.

Thud, thud, his footsteps echoed within the secret passage.

He lightly gestured to summon light and closed the passage. The door returned to its original form, concealing the fact that he had passed through. Black mana tried to cling to him stickily, and Lutan shook it off with a look of disgust.

Soon, his shoes stepped on the stairs leading down. Cold air with a slight dampness greeted him. It had been a long time since he had come here, he thought.

The Emperor used to take Lutan and freely roam around various places in the Imperial Palace. Leaving the Crown Prince aside. This became the decisive reason why the Crown Prince disliked him now. The Crown Prince in his childhood was neglected by the Emperor, while Lutan, who was not even his own child, received that love.

It was a funny thing. For the Emperor to regard Lutan, not the Crown Prince, as his own child.

In Lutan’s eyes, the Crown Prince was the Emperor’s perfect bloodline. As a human, Lutan was said to be the offspring of the Emperor’s beloved, but he did not regard the Emperor as his father.

Because his mother did not love the Emperor. She was always unhappy.

Lutan let his sinking thoughts drift as they were and quickened his pace. A faint magical light illuminated his path.

“Hmm.”

At that moment, the end of the stairs came into view, and his steps abruptly stopped. He looked with suspicious eyes at the passage on the other side, shrouded in darkness and invisible.

Lutan soon created an additional light source besides the one he was holding. That light orb slowly flew down and illuminated the bottom of the stairs. He sensed darkness in his perception.

‘There’s a trap.’

He moved a step back with agility and moved a nearby candlestick, dropping it onto the floor at the bottom of the stairs. As if waiting, a certain part of the floor opened up in a circle and swallowed the candlestick with a thud. It was a mimic disguised as the floor. Lutan, with emotionless eyes, moved his fingers and sent a burst of flames.

The mimic futilely burst into flames with a shriek—!

He decided not to step on the floor and stepped into the air. The ceiling was high enough for him to do so.