Chapter 111 · Desire for Revenge

Ollentia Palace.

“What is the meaning of this, Count Alter?”

The moment Alter entered the room, Aquila glared at him coldly with her arms crossed.

“You clearly said all three would be dead by this evening.”

She uttered the horrifying words as if they were nothing.

“Why are all three still alive?”

“There were some unexpected variables.”

Alter answered with a slight frown.

“The research on the rampage drug was successful. It was truly difficult to obtain Gollard’s venom, though. I nearly died several times in the Dark Forest.”

Gollard is an A-rank monster with venom that causes abnormal effects on mana. Alter had been creating a drug that could induce a mana rampage using that monster’s venom.

“And I succeeded in getting that prince to ingest it. That part was easy. Bribing a server in the academy dining hall is no trouble at all. However…”

He tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

“Originally, the Kalisan prince was supposed to rampage inside the carriage and the princess was to be struck directly by that mana and die, but the princess grabbed the prince in an instant and jumped outside.”

“She jumped out of a moving carriage?”

“Yes. As if she knew the warning signs of a mana rampage…”

Alter stroked his scarred chin and paced the room. He looked deep in thought.

“Mana rampages are so rare that almost no one knows the warning signs, and it’s hard to notice until just before it happens. Yet the princess grasped the situation in an instant and even made the decision to jump from the carriage. It’s strange.”

Aquila pressed him in an irritated voice.

“Fine. Let’s say that child has incredible reflexes. But if you failed at the first stage, shouldn’t you have succeeded at the next one!”

“Of course I moved to the next stage immediately. I made the situation more difficult, certain that the princess would try to save the prince.”

His blue eyes glinted sharply.

“If the prince was badly wounded, she would try to heal him, and healing while simultaneously stopping the rampage is harder than dual magic, so my calculation was that the princess would ultimately be caught in the rampage and die.”

Aquila just listened quietly. Alter’s plan had no flaws.

“But the princess did it! She healed him while simultaneously calming the rampage little by little. Hah! To have that much divine power at only eight years old.”

At his admiring tone, Aquila’s face grew colder and colder.

“So that child is a magic prodigy and a divine power prodigy as well?”

“Well, to sum it up, yes.”

Alter shrugged.

“Then you should have just killed her on the spot!”

She exploded.

“Why did you wait until Sir Parsiel arrived!”

Alter raised his voice as well.

“That’s too much! I may be taking all sorts of risks to help the princess, but I can’t do just anything for you.”

He barely suppressed his anger.

“There was a coachman, and there were several palace people. Did you want me to make myself a regicide? Or should I have killed all those people?”

Aquila bit her lip hard. Going that far was excessive and foolish.

Her range of movement was limited, and she absolutely needed Alter’s help. So she stopped needling him further and plopped down on the sofa.

“Do not be too disheartened, Princess. Though things did not go perfectly, all three are as good as finished.”

Seeing that Aquila seemed calmer, he softened a little, sat on the opposite sofa, and spoke calmly.

“That prince has been confined in the Tower of Repentance again. He will never come out until he dies. I have perfectly reorganized the mana-blocking formula.”

“Good. I told Stella to provoke him at the academy, so people won’t find it strange that he attacked the princess. We can say he couldn’t hold back his anger and tried to kill Princess Anastasia, but failed.”

“That is so. In any case, it will be hard for the bastard princess to avoid criticism. Because she lost the continent’s strongest holy knight commander by releasing that prince.”

Alter was reasonably satisfied. For him, the priority was Paeon’s death rather than Anastasia’s.

“Sir Parsiel…”

“He will not survive. He received a mana rampage in the worst possible condition.”

He felt as if a thorn in his side had been removed.

“It became easier because that foolish man endured without reporting to the Great Temple. Well, even if he had reported it, nothing would have changed.”

“What did you do to Sir Parsiel for someone that strong to collapse in an instant?”

“That is a trade secret.”

Alter smiled leisurely, raising an eyebrow.

“I believe there should be no secrets between us.”

Aquila looked displeased.

“Isn’t a man with some secrets more beautiful? In any case, without him, Princess Anastasia is nothing. We just need to use the rampage drug one more time.”

“Belus might stop it! That child lives in the temple!”

“We’ll have to do it outside the temple. Ah, come to think of it, she seems to be going to the port of Salamis next month. We can feed it to her then.”

Aquila pressed her forehead and sighed. She was not satisfied at all. If two people were disposed of by the same method, it could cause gossip. Mana rampages were also extremely rare phenomena.

It would have been clean if that prince of an enemy nation had killed Anastasia. She was frustrated that things never went smoothly.

Just then, there was a knock, and Aquila’s loyal maid entered and whispered to her.

“His Majesty is heading to the temple. Princess Anastasia has woken up. The High Priest is with her as well.”

Aquila thought for a moment, then rose from her seat.

“I should go too.”

“Are you going to visit the sick? That is unlike you.”

She couldn’t understand herself either. They weren’t even close, so visiting the sick was strange.

But this was a good opportunity to observe that little brat closely. Just what tricks did she use to survive every time?

‘To call it all coincidence is too much luck.’

◇ ◆ ◇

The room was wrapped in silence. Only the occasional sound of Yuz and Rosa sniffling could be heard.

“His life is in danger?”

I muttered blankly only after a long while. It was my own voice, yet it sounded distant, unreal.

‘Paeon is dying?’

If he took his own life, perhaps, but I had never imagined a death like this. To me, he was practically immortal. It seemed nothing could bring him down.

But the him before my eyes now looked powerless.

That’s right. I knew him well. Unless his condition was truly bad enough to die, Paeon would never lie there with his eyes closed when I had come.

“P-Princess, High Priest. His Majesty has arrived.”

At Sierra’s trembling voice, I did not turn my head.

Was I still wandering through a dream? I wished it were. This had to be a dream. I wanted to turn away from everything that made it real.

“Anastasia.”

The king slowly called my name.

“You seem to be all right. That is a relief.”

“…”

“I have confined the prince in the Tower of Repentance again. To think he dared do such a thing to you—I underestimated him.”

Only then did I snap to my senses and whip my head around.

“What do you mean by that?”

“What do you mean?”

“You confined Leo in the Tower of Repentance!”

“That child attacked you. Of course I cannot leave him be.”

Blood rushed to my head. I was so angry that my whole body trembled. I shouted.

“Leo did not attack me!”

Just then, a heavy voice came from outside the door.

“If that was not an attack, then what was it?”

Soon, utterly hateful faces appeared. It was Alter and Aquila.

“That man nearly caused the princess’s death. He also reduced Veritas’s greatest asset to that wretched state.”

Alter spoke shamelessly.

“Even if he is the prince of another nation, I believe he must be dealt with according to national law. If we notify them of our damages, Kalisa will have nothing to say.”

“National law? What, are you asking for a death sentence?”

I gritted my teeth and cried out.

“I’m telling you again, it wasn’t an attack! He suffered a mana rampage!”

“A mana rampage?”

When the king asked in bewilderment, Alter hurriedly cut off my answer.

“How does the princess know about mana rampages? Can you precisely distinguish between an attack and a rampage?”

I glared at him and shouted.

“I can! I know it well! Your whole body stings as if electrocuted, and consciousness fades in an instant. And mana pours out around the body like a whirlpool. Leo was in exactly that state right before he rampaged!”

“You sound as if you’ve experienced it yourself.”

I flinched for a moment at his words, but I didn’t let it show and retorted bluntly.

“I read it in a book.”

“Mana rampages are not common. They occur only when mana has been accumulated in the body without being used for at least several years.”

Alter looked at me with a relaxed face.

“But that prince used mana every single day while attending the academy, didn’t he? There would be no reason for him to rampage.”

“Just ask Ark! Ark will say the same thing I do!”

“Sir Ellenoa is currently receiving treatment at his family home and cannot come. He said not a single word about a mana rampage.”

Ark is still receiving treatment? His wound was deep, but it was something that could be healed quickly by priests.

Alter and Count Ellenoa must have conspired to confine him at home.

“It seems our niece is thinking that way to avoid the shock.”

Aquila cut in, wearing a voice full of feigned pity.

“It must be a great shock to be betrayed by someone you trusted. But none of this tragedy is our niece’s fault. Our niece is still young and didn’t know that people can betray you.”

“…”

I glared at her with fierce eyes. Every word she said was unbearable and loathsome. I had hated Aquila for a long time. But in no life had I ever thought of taking revenge.

Because I am a bastard!

I had judged that no matter how hard I tried, I could never defeat a legitimate royal like Aquila, who was much older than me and had the support of the nobles. In part, my desire for stability was stronger than my desire for revenge. I wanted to live properly just once.

If she had attacked only ‘me,’ as in all my past lives, I would have continued to let it go.

Now it was different. Inside me, a new emotion I had never felt before blazed fiercely. She had touched something that must not be touched.

“If a mana rampage occurred when there was no situation for it to occur, then someone might have deliberately caused it.”

At my words, Aquila’s face hardened slightly.

“Who on earth would do such a thing?”

I looked straight into her green eyes and spoke clearly.

“Someone who wants me dead.”