EP.199 After the curtain falls (5)
A blood-red circuit carved into the wall.
If you look at it from a distance, it looks like dozens of bugs crawling on the wall. Even with empty words, it was a circuit that was far from clean.
‘Not a clean line, but a collection of messy lines.’
It feels like looking at a bundle of threads, or like a scribble drawn by a child. This was a characteristic of circuits made in the Old Kingdom.
There is no regularity.
It is a raw circuit, not refined.
While the circuits used by modern wizards pursue sophistication and balance, the circuits of the ancient kingdom pursue promiscuity and imbalance. I muttered while looking at the circuit that was not symmetrical.
“···It’s complicated.”
It was complicated.
This wasn’t just about looking at the circuit in front of me.
‘It’s an unexpected situation.’
Discovery of a corpse and an unidentified circuit.
And the reverberation of Skebal.
The worst I expected from the information given was that an altar appeared in the castle.
‘But, this…’
It was something far beyond the worst I could have imagined.
『Continuing life by robbing flesh and blood.』
A circuit with that meaning.
And, the circuit in front of me was very old. There were traces of blood being painted over several times on the faded lines. This means that it is not a circuit that is one or two years old. Traces of at least a hundred years were felt.
‘Hundreds of years.’
I thought about the history of this country in my head. This is what my teacher hammered into my head, calling it cultured. I listed the information in order.
“···682 years.”
When this country was founded.
“The first palace built was the Red Palace.”
Instead of the aging Red Palace, the throne was moved to the newly built White Palace… but the first palace built was the Red Palace.
Thinking of them.
“······.”
I raise my head and look at the circuit.
A circuit that appears to be hundreds of years old and has traces of being used many times. As I was looking at it, one word came to mind.
‘Black curtain.’
A dark shadow cast over the royal family for a long time.
Something that must have been secretly operating in the deepest part of this country, changing bodies. I had no way of knowing exactly what it was.
‘However, one thing is certain…’
There is darkness hanging over the royal palace.
Deeply rooted darkness is not something that is completed in a day or two.
“Why did you come here now?”
That’s why I have doubts.
“I could have hidden it better.”
It is a being that can draw ancient circuits at ‘this scale’. Most of the ancient circuits I saw were broken down into fragments.
Finely divided words or fragments of letters.
‘But this is a complete sentence.’
There is a being that can carve a circuit like this.
A being that has been lurking in secret for at least hundreds of years.
“Why did you appear now?”
I narrowed my eyes.
Even though he could have hidden it for a longer period of time, he revealed himself beyond the curtain. I think about the reason for this.
“…Are you confident that you won’t be caught even if you reveal it?”
Unless it is.
“Even if you knew, were you sure you couldn’t stop it?”
The candles placed throughout the Red Palace suddenly swayed.
At the same time, the shadow of fire on the floor also swayed.
The flickering shadow resembled a human face.
-Cluck cluck.
The shadow that resembled a face was smiling.
As if laughing at someone.
2.
“I can’t track you.”
“···Can’t be tracked?”
Since there was nothing more to investigate, I left the First Prince’s residence and joined Kalt, who was investigating nearby.
“Lord Kalt, is there any progress in the investigation?”
“If so, please share the situation…”
While walking through the corridors of the royal castle, the guards who came running in a huff would ask questions to Kalt. Considering the current situation, it was not something that was completely understandable.
Disappearance of the 1st Prince.
And, the specialty of Kalt, who was walking next to me, was ‘finding someone.’
‘Traker.’
A special class optimized for tracking someone and following their tracks. And Kalt was the first article mentioned when discussing the class called tracker.
Hunting down traitors, destroying major bases by backtracking demons, etc. Not only did he make great achievements on the battlefield, but his activities as a Hound were also quite well known.
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The best tracker.
A hunting dog that doesn’t miss even the slightest trace.
“I’ve tried everything.”
That Kalt was now asserting himself in front of me.
“I can’t find this.”
1st Prince, Isaac.
Kalt, who was investigating the prince’s disappearance, concluded that he could not be found. I frowned because this was my first time experiencing something like this.
“···What does that mean?”
“Really, there is no trace left.”
Kalt said.
“The first prince, Isaac, stayed in the royal castle for a long time. He’s never been on a rampage. In other words, the story is that he has stayed in the red palace ever since he was born…”
It’s strangely neat.
Kalt muttered like that.
“Starting from the small traces that would be left behind by humans, not even the common reverberations remained. Just, nothing. “It was as if a ghost had stayed.”
“Does that make sense?”
“For humans, this doesn’t make sense. Even the apostates who appear and disappear often leave deep traces… This is it.”
There is no trace, so you can’t find it even if you look for it.
With Kalt saying that, I touched my chin for a moment. The pace of my steps slowly slowed down, and soon I stopped in place.
“Hey, Kalt.”
“Yes, senior. “Why are you doing this?”
I said to Kalt, who looked back.
“What if you’re not human?”
“What if you’re not human? well···.”
Kalt crossed his arms and tapped my elbow.
“Unless you burn it, any tangible being will leave traces in some way. Even if we assume that they are not human, it still makes no sense.”
“If that were possible, what would it look like?”
“maybe.”
In response to my question, Kalt pointed at my feet.
I lowered my gaze. There was a shadow beneath my feet.
“It must be something along the lines of shadow or light.”
While saying that, Kalt smiled bitterly.
Although he did answer, it seemed as if his words were not very nutritious.
“I think I’ll do a little more research. So, have you figured out the identity of the circuit?”
“···For now, I figured it out.”
“What was it about?”
I wrote a single sentence on a piece of paper and handed it to Kalt. Kalt’s face hardened after seeing the sentence.
“…It’s a good thing the court wizards didn’t recognize me.”
Kalt held the paper tightly without saying a word.
“What do you plan to do?”
“Originally, I was thinking that I would destroy you after you find it… but that seems impossible.”
If Kalt declared ‘it cannot be done’, it means that it is impossible to track down the first prince right away. What if they completely destroy the Red Palace?
‘I’m not sure how to do that either.’
It is a being that travels between human bodies and bodies.
Even if you tried to catch it in a half-baked way, there was a high chance that it would cut off its tail and run away.
‘That’s right, let’s go attack the king who may be related right now…’
It wasn’t such a simple story.
Before making a decision, I probably needed to meet someone.
“First of all, we should meet.”
“Who are you talking about?”
I said.
“The first princess, Leruelle.”
3.
The office of the first princess, Leruelle.
In front of the tightly closed door, the nobles were loudly calling Lruel’s name as usual.
『Please take the opportunity…』
『It’s okay if it’s just once, let’s tell our story…』
The voice is starting to crack.
Despite their pleas, the closed door did not open. There was no sound inside the room.
“Wow.”
The voice came from behind them.
The nobles looked back with wide eyes. There stood a woman wearing deep black robes. The skin that can be seen at a glance under the robe is pure white.
“Shouldn’t we clear some road?”
The voice heard is a soft voice.
The nobles flinched at the voice filled with contempt, and their shoulders trembled slightly. It was an extremely rude attitude, but the nobles quietly retreated, unable to utter a single word, as they were overcome by an inexplicable sense of intimidation.
She passes by among the retreating nobles.
So, she stands in front of the door and knocks lightly. It is an infinitely small sound compared to the cries of nobles.
-Kkiik.
However, the door responds to the sound.
The door that had not moved for the past few hours slowly opens. While the nobles’ eyes widened, the woman walked into her office with light steps.
-thud.
The nobles just looked at the closed door with blank eyes. Their eyes were full of emptiness.
* * *
Lruelle, dressed in light pajamas, sipped tea and looked at the paper in front of her. There is one line of sentence written on the paper. Leruel said that sentence out loud.
“By robbing flesh and blood, we connect lives.”
That’s a terrible sentence.
Lruel raised his head with a frown.
“Is this the meaning of the circuit engraved there? professor.”
Rania, sitting across from me, nods.
Leruelle pressed the corners of her eyes.
“How long was the circuit used?”
“I don’t know about that. What’s certain is that it won’t happen once or twice. “It’s been quite a while since it was engraved.”
“…Are you saying it’s roots spread over several generations?”
Lruelle felt her head throbbing.
‘It’s a story I want to dismiss as a simple conspiracy theory.’
But Lruel knows that cannot be done.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but…”
“No, I believe it.”
Lruel shook his head.
“If that’s you, then that’s probably it. Also, assuming this sentence is true… the situation roughly fits.”
Leruelle stood up and took out several books from the bookshelf that filled one side of the office. What she took out was a history book of her kingdom.
“Look.”
She said, pointing to the history book on the table.
“If you think about it, it’s strange. The royal family had quite a few children for generations. And that number always stayed. “It’s not like anyone ordered it to do that.”
Five to six.
The number of successors that has been maintained that way.
“To be honest, this is strange, Professor.”
“···Because it would be a hassle.”
“okay. The greater the number, the more talk there is in the process of deciding on a successor to the throne. “It only gives the nobles a reason to divide into factions.”
nevertheless.
Even though numerous members of the royal family were buried in the front yard of this royal castle due to the power struggle.
“Those who experienced such a power struggle… that is, even those who ascended the throne by stepping on the corpses of their flesh and blood were reduced to ghost-like stallions the moment they ascended the throne.”
Leruel patted the history book and looked at the professor in front of him.
“This story has probably been told before.”
『I don’t know if my father is quite competent in politics, but his weakness is that he makes fun of others. The crystallization of that shortcoming is my brother.』
Rania nodded.
Leruelle pressed her eyebrows together and continued speaking.
“Before ascending to the throne, all of those who left anecdotes to be engraved in history books… change suddenly the moment they ascend to the throne. There were people who called it the curse of the royal family, and there were plenty of people who were executed for spreading such rumors.”
But, to see it now.
“They weren’t wrong.”
Leruelle mumbled and sighed.
“Was the reason for having so many children to create bodies to carry them all? Me, Isla that child, my sister, or my brother and her brother…”
The golden eyes turn cold.
Lruelle’s lips part slightly when she realizes that she was born to be a doll. What escapes between parted lips is a laugh.
“That sounds like shit. really.”
“······.”
“There is no need to look at it that way, professor. “Life in this already shitty world just got a little more shitty.”
Lruel reached for the teacup.
She quenches her thirst with the remaining tea and closes her eyes for a moment. Rania waited in silence for her moment of silence. The silence wasn’t very long.
“So, Professor.”
Leruel says as he opens his closed eyes.
“Don’t you doubt me?”
“···yes?”
“There has been a secret presence in the royal family for a long time. He continued his life by stealing the bodies of those who were born with royal blood.”
If so, Leruelle asks.
“Couldn’t I also fall into that category?”
“···that.”
“Aila, that child rejects the things that come to him with the starlight he was born with… I am just a criminal after all. Now that my brother is gone, I think the most suspicious thing is who the real woman is.”
A human being who can only be eaten.
A mere human being who cannot resist beings that go beyond common sense.
“You.”
Lruelle smiled a little sadly.
“What do you think of me now?”
Lruelle felt suffocated at the fact that even her current face might be seen as mere acting by others.
Everything you have built up.
All the life I’ve struggled with so far.
Feeling that it was becoming meaningless, Lruel lowered his gaze. Her empty teacup seemed to resemble her own life, and Le Ruelle muttered helplessly.
“I can’t help it even if you doubt me…”
“No, I didn’t really think about that.”
“···what?”
Lruel raised his head.
Looking in front of me, Rania was just blinking her blue eyes. Her gaze hadn’t changed one bit from when she first met him.
“In the first place.”
Rania laughed bitterly.
“The princess’s personality is such that even if I tried to act, I wouldn’t be able to.”
It seemed like he quite sincerely thought so.
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