20
At Hagen, they had let their guard down. Eliza had never once defied them, not even for a single moment.
They had been naive to believe that if they used Leopold as an excuse and asked her again, Eliza would come to the Hagen estate of her own accord.
A moment of carelessness can transform into an unexpected, deadly dagger that comes flying in. Instead of Eliza, it was an armed force that arrived at the Hagen estate.
The royal knights raided the Hagen estate. They sealed every door so that no one could escape the estate, and even the few inquisitors were dispatched.
“Ricardo Hagen, come out!”
Knights carrying torches kicked the doors open and stormed inside, followed by inquisitors and priests.
The servants, unaware of what was happening, came rushing out in a panic at the sudden commotion in the middle of the night.
Cutting through the uproar, the master of the estate slowly descended the central staircase.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Ricardo Hagen. You are to be taken into custody on charges of treason through the use of black magic.”
Even as fully armed men approached him, the Marquis of Hagen wore a faint smile.
His demeanor was so relaxed that it made the knights themselves bewildered.
“This is rather sudden. Punishment for those who have committed crimes is only proper, but I have yet to stand trial. You cannot treat a lawful noble of the kingdom in such a manner.”
“Hah, how composed.”
“Consider it divine mercy that we have not forced you to your knees at once. You wicked black mage.”
The inquisitor growled as he stepped forward. Ricardo’s calm gaze shifted toward him.
The Marquis had something he trusted. At least, that had been the case until that something betrayed him.
“Do you have the royal authorization?”
“You ask the obvious.”
A scroll was swiftly pulled from within his robes and unfurled. For the first time, a crack appeared in Ricardo’s expression upon seeing it.
The gold leaf bordering the parchment bore a seal that could only be used by the royal family.
“It is indeed a genuine royal edict. Then…….”
“Now, you will be taken into cust—”
“I suppose I will have to run.”
“What?”
The knights who had been approaching him warily were all taken aback. Ricardo quickly turned his back while maintaining his faint, gentle smile.
“Where do you think you’re going? Seize him!”
Those possessing some of the kingdom’s most renowned physical abilities tried to catch up with him, but by then, a brief opening had already appeared.
Crash!
As he ran up the stairs, the bottle he had thrown shattered, and darkness instantly engulfed the area.
The ominous energy that had spread in an instant writhed as it began to take shape.
“W-What is this?!”
“Everyone, take up battle positions!”
“We cannot cut it with our swords!”
Leaving the commotion behind him, Ricardo hurried onward. His smile was still steeped in obsession.
Ricardo Hagen had used the black magic that the royal family had turned a blind eye to all this time to handle their dirty work.
Though the Hagen family had a sufficiently long history, it lacked both wealth and power, and without that connection in the first place, it would not even have been able to advance into the capital.
‘And yet they intend to discard me. Now? That will not do.’
Their experiment was still incomplete. They were on the verge of reaching the greatest stage before success, and yet they had been cornered at precisely this moment.
The sound of darkness devouring the knights from below the stairs gradually faded into the distance. And just as everything seemed to have grown quiet, Ricardo arrived at the place where his son was.
It was not the magical room Eliza had seen, but the room in the most remote corner at the very top of the Marquis’s estate.
“My son, how pitiful.”
Leopold was bound in the very center of a magic circle. His limbs were tied so tightly that the flesh around the bindings had been torn ragged from how much he had struggled.
Leopold’s dazed eyes turned toward Ricardo. A gloomy shadow fell across the Marquis’s face, which had completely discarded its gentle mask.
“She abandoned you.”
Leopold stopped moving for a moment as he tried to comprehend those words. One by one, focus returned to his slowly blinking eyes.
“Eliza took the hand of the First Prince. You meant nothing to her. Your friendship was nothing but something insignificant that she could cast aside in an instant like this.”
The Marquis whispered curses earnestly into his son’s ear. He intended to provoke him and cause the power planted within him to run wild.
“You could have had everything, but what a shame.”
Leopold’s body flinched. At the same time, black power swept through the room as though a wind had blown through a room with no windows.
Ricardo felt ecstasy at the enormous energy. His voice, genuinely beaming with delight, ran wild with excitement.
“Now there is only one way. Accept the ritual. Run wild and seize what is yours. Capture that girl who betrayed you and bind her…….”
“Father.”
Leopold had already regained his senses completely. Mimicking the Marquis before him, he too pulled the corners of his mouth upward in an exaggerated smile.
“Shut up.”
“H-Haha! You still say such things!”
Ricardo strode toward Leopold and grabbed him by the chin. His grip was rough, as though handling an object.
“It is understandable that you cannot trust her after having your heart betrayed. But I saw the First Prince enter the Waluer estate. What do you think that means?”
“I said shut up…….”
“Is it truly so difficult to believe that she may already be in another man’s arms?”
Leopold’s energy raged ominously, closing in around the Marquis.
The more it did, the more pleased Ricardo became. Once his son gained enough power to even break these restraints, he would become the perfect weapon.
Once that was complete, there would be nothing to fear from dozens or even hundreds of knights outside.
“Rumors are quietly spreading that Eliza and the First Prince have been meeting privately. There are even quick-witted speculations that the Crown Princess may finally be chosen.”
Veins bulged on Leopold’s face. Seeing that, Ricardo continued to flatter him when the door suddenly burst open.
“Dear.”
“Vanessa.”
The suddenly appearing Marchioness of Hagen hurried over to Ricardo’s side.
“Not yet?”
“He is not listening very well.”
Vanessa let out a deep sigh. In the meantime, Leopold steadied his breathing and struggled to regain control of his mind.
If he were consumed by the power, things would go exactly as they wished. He desperately suppressed the murderous intent running wild within him.
Vanessa quickly assessed Leopold’s condition. After awakening from the brainwashing once before, his mind was no longer easily restrained.
‘Our dream.’
Vanessa gazed affectionately at her husband.
Meeting someone who shared her beliefs had been like fate to her.
She had been regarded as a quiet eccentric for living with books instead of marrying and secretly worshipping a great being.
For Vanessa, who had finally found someone who understood her for the first time, she was prepared to devote everything she had to Ricardo Hagen.
“We need to make an offering.”
“Do we have a sacrifice we can bring here right now?”
“We have one right here.”
“Vanessa…….”
Ricardo looked at her in surprise before lowering his brows.
Leopold, too, instantly regained his senses as though cold water had been poured over him. Gritting his teeth, he spat out the words as if chewing them.
“I refuse.”
Are you planning to turn me into a monster that devoured even my own blood relative? Even as Leopold contorted his face in horror, Vanessa merely smiled with the same composed expression as always.
“My son. You should have stayed on good terms with that girl until the very end.”
Vanessa gently caressed Leopold’s bound cheek. She clearly did possess affection for her child as a mother.
But that was only because this child had been born as a vessel to bring that being into the world.
“If Eliza had not escaped from you, there would have been no need to rush things like this.”
How happy she had been at the thought that she could become part of the great undertaking.
But if a mere tool dared to rebel, then all they had to do was make this child realize the greatness of that being as well.
“Don’t!”
With a clanking sound, Leopold’s body jerked upward.
Vanessa quickly stepped backward and drew the dagger at her waist. The raised blade was pointed toward her own heart.
“Vanessa, I shall never forget your holy sacrifice.”
“For the Great Darkness. You must complete the great undertaking.”
Vanessa quietly closed her eyes.
The fear of an irresistible being. Surrender to awe, and accept its overwhelming power. Leopold. And you shall become that very being yourself.
Is that not a most ecstatic thing?
“Stop, I said stop—!”
“I love you, Ricardo.”
Her hand came swiftly down.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
