Chapter 34 (2/2)

“Your Majesty, who I have yet to formally serve as my master, has probably suffered from a lot of pitfalls since the death of his father, the former emperor. Maybe it’s because I don’t have any connection to my family that I seem a little comfortable when I’m alone with myself. I’m not proud of it, but I was sold to a slave dealer and only barely escaped with the help of the emperor.” I gave him a small smile. “I am not calm, Your Majesty.”

“Then what?”

“No matter how much I’ve lived in the back alley, I know my priorities. My priorities come under the will of Your Majesty, who has agreed to appoint me to a high position. I need to figure out what’s wrong so I can be of better service to Your Majesty.”

He laughed. “So you do know how to speak to a royal.”

It wasn’t flattery.

It didn’t matter what he thought. Even I, who was born with a low status unaware of the concept of chivalry, knew that being in an organization and being loyal were very important. It might be even more important than chivalry, as it was a matter directly related to our survival.

“The guard who made chase is said to have been seriously wounded in pursuit, but he couldn’t catch the culprit. But a suspect at the academy… That’s something we can investigate.”

“Yes.”

“Can you stand up?”

After taking the antidote, I guess I wasn’t the only one who was judging the extent of the drug’s effect. I’d been wiggling my fingers and toes for a while now, and I was sure I would be able to.

“Yeah.”

“Then go back now.”

I didn’t readily agree.

It was so obvious what he would do the moment I stepped out of this room. He’d take men like the security I have around my room, or the wizards I took when I went hunting the beast, and take them to the academy. And then he would bring out Xenon and torture him to near death until he confessed everything he knew. It was the most efficient way for him.

That was not to say that it was wrong. He dared to break into the imperial palace and lay a hand on me, someone who belonged to the emperor.

Maybe Instructor Xerox knew that.

However, before that, there was something I wanted to do first. Though I was sure this beautiful black-haired emperor wouldn’t like it.

I moistened my lips with my tongue instead of walking towards the door, to which he gestured for me to exit.

‘How can I talk to you so that you can pretend to listen to me?’

“Well, Your Majesty.”

“What is it?”

“Now, I can imagine that you’re carving out the limbs of Master Xerox in your head, but could you give me some time?”

“Didn’t you say you weren’t going to stand up for him?”

“I’m not standing up for him. It’s just that I suddenly thought of a possibility.”

“You do tend to say that a lot.”

He was the kind of person to listen very carefully to people’s words, looking for anything useful. I bet on that trait of his.

Instead of urging me to get out, the emperor crossed his arms as if he was listening.

I was skeptical about whether I could persuade him, but I had no choice but to try. There was no better plan for now than this, except that I would be exposed to danger.

I took a small breath. “It was the chief of staff who informed the empress about your condition.”

“What…?”

“I told you that I didn’t remember the last time, but as I pondered over it, I realized why his voice was so familiar to my ears. I have no doubt about it.”

“Can you take responsibility for that?”

“Yeah,” I answered decisively, but I don’t know which one he would trust more, the chief of staff or me. I waited for a moment in silence, waiting for his judgment.

The emperor rolled his red eyes as if contemplating for a moment and pressed his fingers to his temple as if he had been bothered. “He knows what happened when I was a kid, so he must know what happened.”

“Your Majesty.”

“I see.”

“Are you all right?”

“Well, there’s nothing that won’t eventually be fine. It’s surprising, but it’s good to know the rotten branches to cut. It’s bad to be rotten to the core.”

‘Do you trust me?’

Even if you didn’t believe me, he may have been pretending to.

I couldn’t figure out what he was up to, but I continued, “When the chief servant told the empress about the constitution of Your Majesty, she seemed not to believe a thing. Still, I thought the reason why she accepted the testimony was because I was suddenly attacked after that.”

“So what?”

“What if the two groups are different?”

“How would it be different…”

“Your Majesty, you said that the empress would not believe the truth about your condition. I thought that might be the case.”

I thought that the wizard who attacked me on the way down was sent by the empress dowager to find out about the ability to nullify magic. But thinking about it, wouldn’t Instructor Xenon’s purpose and that of the man who broke into my room differ?

“It means that the two groups are completely different and that information is not shared between them.” The emperor seemed to understand.

“Yeah.”

“Is there a third group with a different purpose as well?”

I nodded slowly. The man in my room was obviously, undoubtedly from Golddina.