Chapter 208
To confess, he hadn’t actually cursed Ysaris. Though he was currently deceiving them, monopolizing her under the pretense of not knowing her true identity, the elders would never tolerate letting a precious experimental subject like a purification wielder die just because he made a mistake.
He’d have to move her to the Eastern Continent within weeks—all that nonsense about binding her soul here couldn’t possibly be true. He didn’t even have that kind of power to begin with.
But what could they do? The humans of this continent knew nothing of dark magic. There was no way for them to prove it. And they wouldn’t dare bring the Empress into this and risk a dangerous gamble just to verify his claims.
Trienne smirked. At best, the Emperor’s group could only confirm the curse’s effects through minor injuries like this. If he played his cards right, everything would likely go exactly as he intended.
“Nervous? It already stings a bit, doesn’t it?”
Exaggerating his discomfort, Trienne weakly stirred the wind magic lingering in the sanctuary—then layered it with the visual flair unique to dark magic. For a mage of his skill, it was child’s play to precisely slice the back of his own hand at the same moment an ominous black mist enveloped the Empress’s, letting the sharp wind nick her skin beneath.
“Huh—!”
“What was that just now…?”
“Well? Convinced yet? Should I go deeper? You look like you want to kill me—how about I just kill myself instead, huh?”
Without giving the royal mage time to ponder, Trienne barreled on, his deranged laughter and theatrics—as if he might stab his own throat any second—drawing every eye in the room.
“Enough recklessness. We’ve verified enough.”
“Tch, what a letdown. Really, though? You’ve been glaring at me like you want to tear me apart since earlier!”
Kazhan didn’t bother replying. The urge to rip Trienne apart hadn’t faded. Instead, he pulled Ysaris tightly against him and glared at Trienne with eyes like smoldering ice.
He knew the curse placed on Ysaris was overwhelmingly unfair. But was there truly no way to circumvent it?
Kazhan briefly considered knocking Trienne unconscious, restraining him, and keeping him alive just enough to prevent suicide. If the curse was tied only to the body, then killing the man’s mind might still be an option.
Or perhaps—
“Oho, thinking hard, aren’t you? Don’t forget—I’m a dark mage. What is dark magic? Magic that trades in life force. I can blow myself to bits whenever I please, got it? Keep glaring like that, and my poor heart might just give out! Hm?”
“……”
Kazhan’s jaw clenched at the taunting, singsong threat. If he were the one cursed, he’d have tried something already—but the problem was Ysaris.
The thought of his beloved getting hurt was unbearable. Kazhan gritted his teeth until his gums bled, then forced out each word like grinding stone.
“Why. Why kidnap the Empress? What’s your goal?”
“Hmm?”
Trienne tilted his head, pausing his fidgeting as if genuinely puzzled by the question.
“Why play naive? You’ve been profiting off Her Majesty’s ability all this time.”
‘Ysaris’s ability?’
Kazhan swallowed the question before it could escape. But—now that he thought of it, a memory surfaced.
“I’m desperate, Ysaa. You’re the only one who lets me breathe easy.”
The side effects of Tennilath vanished when he was with Ysaris. He’d accepted it without question, but now he realized—that phenomenon was the ability the dark mage meant.
“Honestly, I wasn’t after Her Majesty at first. I just wanted to quietly bring the Crown Prince back, but thanks to my associate’s… enthusiasm, I landed a far bigger prize.”
“……Why target Mikael? Where’s the Imperial Consort?”
“Needed Tennilath’s blood for a gamble. The concubine outlived her usefulness, so I killed her.”
“What?”
Trienne smiled brightly, as if to say he had no intention of humoring further questions, and smoothly shifted topics.
“Instead of trivialities, why don’t we discuss something more productive? For example—”
Lick.
Trienne’s tongue darted out as he stared at Kazhan like a starving man eyeing a feast.
“How about we talk about this lovely situation? Me holding Her Majesty hostage—and Tennilath, who loves her, standing right here?”
Discussion
0 CommentsReactions
No comments yet.