Chapter 76 :

Chapter 76 - Derailment

Dito’s gaze did not leave the afterimage of his flame, which had been swallowed helplessly.

Before long, when he turned his head toward Ratel, his expression was coldly hardened, without even a trace of ridicule.

“You. This time, don’t dodge the question and answer properly. What are you? Why did you suddenly appear?”

“You don’t need to know what I am, and I have only one goal.”

When Ratel raised a finger into the air, a lump of light the size of a fingernail was created.

It floated up and slowly approached Dito.

The drop of light faded away before his eyes like a candle going out.

“To take everything from you people.”

Ratel was smirking.

* * *

“To take everything from you people.”

Thanks to the silence that had arrived after his appearance, Ratel’s arrogant and unlucky voice crossed the room and properly reached the door through which the children had run out.

Furthermore, it even reached behind the fragment of the broken statue where El and I were hiding.

It was Ratel.

The protagonist of the novel ‘Dark Header’.

I knew every corner of his life as described in the book, yet this was the first time I had seen his face in person. It was quite ironic.

Naturally, he looked exactly like the description in the book.

No, did he look a little older than I had imagined?

Whether because he was tall or because he had no expression, even though he was one year younger than the Seventh Prince, he did not seem that different in age from me in my modern life.

“I see. It’s that child, isn’t it? That child is the protagonist of the prophecy, right?”

Thanks to the excited punches from El, who had transformed into a squirrel like me and was staying beside me, my impression of the protagonist ended with, “He looks older than his age.”

At the voice filled with expectation, I nodded.

The furry face of the squirrel brightened.

“As expected! Unlike you, who are always hazy and unmotivated, he is clearly different starting from his spirit!”

He talked a lot for someone who had followed around a guy without any spirit for months, thinking he was the protagonist.

Because this bastard failed to hold on to the young duke properly, I had to call Duke Feedus all the way here in a very unbecoming manner.

I even sweated a little pushing Duke Feedus, who had followed the squirrel wearing the young duke’s ring around its neck without knowing anything, into the secret passage.

By now, had Priest noticed that the young duke’s gold ring, which he had carefully placed inside his clothes, had disappeared?

After the Feedus ducal family’s ring finished exhausting its strength to lure him here, it returned to its owner.

In any case, considering how much I sweated out of worry that we might be late, I ought to grab this irresponsible squirrel by the collar and shake him, but I endured it.

Now it was farewell.

Rather than holding him responsible, getting out of here came first.

I took in the three who were about to face the final battle one last time, then turned my body.

The stairs were too high for a tiny squirrel to descend quickly, so after returning to my human form, I diligently moved my feet.

“Where are you going?”

El’s flustered voice pierced the back of my head, and I heard him chasing after me to the front of the stairs.

“Are you sure you can follow me right now? The conclusion will come soon.”

At my words, El turned his head toward Ratel and Dito.

Conflict rose on his face.

I did not know why, but he was a guy who wanted to help Ratel’s affairs enough to throw away his life.

It was obvious that he wanted me to help for even a little longer.

But I no longer had any intention of obediently watching him do as he pleased.

Being hit in the back of the head once was enough.

And Ratel would not need my help beyond this point anyway.

Because everything was unfolding more favorably for him than it had in the original.

Since Rasia Abiran had not died, Dito had not grown as strong as he had in the original, and the full-strength Duke Feedus was standing in better condition than in the original.

It was embarrassing to call him healthy, but compared to the original, where one of his legs had been cut off and he had almost lost sight in one eye, he could be called fine.

There did not seem to be any factor here that would cause Ratel to die.

The original, which had been patched together roughly, would flow smoothly from today onward.

He would destroy Dito’s core stone and set off on an adventure with victory, or at least a draw, in hand.

All the servants working in the Seventh Prince’s castle knew that I had gone to the temple following behind the other imperial family members.

There would be no better excuse than the powerless Seventh Prince getting caught up in the commotion and losing his life.

Moreover, there was no more perfect chance to escape than this moment, when it was certain that Ratel was holding Dito’s feet in place.

“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to be a dead person. There’s nothing good about getting involved with Ratel any further.”

“You acted as though you were helping until now, yet you don’t care what happens to the master of the prophecy?”

“At this point, I didn’t just act as though I helped. I already helped a lot.”

When I moved my feet as if I truly meant to leave, the guy looked anxiously at the confrontation between Ratel and Dito.

He must have been nervous that the child of prophecy he had finally found might get hurt.

“Don’t worry. There’s no chance he’ll die in this fight.”

At my words, his face changed subtly.

“How can you be so certain of that?”

Because that’s how it’s set.

Instead of answering the question, I changed the subject.

“You’d better be careful. If those two fight, nothing around them will remain.”

The guy laughed as if that was ridiculous.

“Enough. How long do you think I have waited for this moment? From now on, I will not leave him for even a moment.”

Then this is farewell here.

As if he would no longer stop me, who was truly about to leave, El turned his body completely away.

“His name is Ratel Roera. He is not ‘that guy’ or ‘the protagonist of the prophecy’.”

After leaving those final words behind, I too left the place without lingering.

The stairs going down were long.

I could not return directly to the imperial palace.

I still had a mission left to guide the children trembling in fear beneath the stairs outside.

When I appeared in the form of a wild dog to take Seya and the child with the injured leg, the guys who had been frightened quickly lowered their guard.

After I repeatedly pointed to my back and bit at the young duke’s clothes, he obediently put the children on my back and followed me, and the same was true of the other children.

Why do most young children like dogs?

Mir did not erase the suspicion from her face until the end at the appearance of a wild dog that had suddenly appeared, but she held her tongue at the young duke’s persuasion that dogs were good at smelling, so it would be helpful.

He probably could not ignore the desperation of the child whose father was risking his life above.

This was my final conscience and responsibility.

For having used their lives as bait in order to gather Duke Feedus and Ratel in one place.

When I guided them along the path Duke Feedus had entered, in other words, the path through which the young duke had been captured, the basement of the unfinished food distribution center appeared.

I saw Mir, Seya, and the young duke talking to one another, but I did not listen closely.

Because from this point on, it was no longer something I should be involved in.

When I finally dropped the young duke in front of the duke’s estate, everything was truly over.

I heard the young duke shout his thanks, but I did not look back.

Behind me, I heard the sound of short legs running hard.

He was probably going to look for Jack or Tollin.

To save his father.

Since the story had all been connected, that guy’s life would branch out again into a side path.

When I transformed into the crow I was most familiar with and flew up, the capital covered in darkness came into view at once.

I did not feel any particular sentiment.

I was sure there had been no time to grow attached.

Most of my memories were of watching this place and that place while tense, let alone sightseeing, so there was no way I had any feelings left to fall into sentiment.

Still, I took every corner of the capital into my eyes.

The land of change and stagnation that I would probably never return to in my life if I could not escape this world.

* * *

“Lord Rasia Abiran has passed away!”

The screams and shock ringing through the imperial palace announced the derailment of the story that had begun again.

At Rasia Abiran’s death, the entire imperial castle boiled with confusion.

The Seventh Prince’s castle was no different.

No, in the castle that did not even have the Seventh Prince, there was no one to manage the servants, so the chaos seemed twice as great.

At the sudden death of an imperial family member, everyone came out into the corridors all at once, unsure what to do, and murmured among themselves.

Anna was the same, but even so, the child shouted hard at the people gathered in the corridor, trying to respond with surprising calm.

“Everyone, please calm down just a little! We have to wait until His Highness returns!”

But her voice was buried by the murmuring, and those who heard her had no intention of listening carefully to the words of a young child.

Judging that this could not continue, Anna slipped out from the crowd of people and headed toward the medical room where the Seventh Prince’s physician stayed.

Sein had long since put aside his work, and if it was the words of someone of his age, people seemed likely to listen at least a little.

Moonlight that had flowed down through the corridor windows lit Anna’s path.

It was the moment Anna, moving her feet diligently, stepped onto the staircase going down.

The corridor darkened as if the moonlight, which had been lighting the path along with the candlelight, had been covered.

Startled by the sudden change, Anna raised her head and looked at the window to check what had blocked the light.

“Kyaaaaaagh!!!”

Anna, who discovered a silhouette standing by the window, screamed before she even had time to confirm who it was.

Soon after, the person who had grabbed Anna’s arm, preventing her from personally demonstrating what it meant to fall over backward in shock, was breathing hard.

“Is it true that the First Prince died?”

At the familiar voice, Anna opened her eyes, which she had squeezed shut in preparation for the impact.

It was Ran Abiran.

“I asked if it is true that Rasia Abiran died.”

Breathing roughly, he asked again.

“I asked if it is true that Rasia Abiran died.”

Only after I asked for the second time did Anna come to her senses and quickly nod.

“How did he die? Was he murdered?”

Even though it was merely a question, perhaps the content of an imperial family member being murdered was shocking, because Anna shook her head violently.

“No, that is absurd. They say he had symptoms of illness. When the servants entered, they said the bed was full of blood.”

Unless their neck is cut so it cannot be reattached, or their heart is completely burst, an imperial family member does not die.

There is no poison in this world that can kill the imperial family.

Since it was neither of those, had they concluded it was death from illness?

I left Anna in the room and went out.

Surely, he should have been treated so that his death would not come too early.

So why did he suddenly die?

No, when did he die?

The Seventh Prince’s palace was too far from the main palace.

When I entered the formal dining hall where they gathered once a month for a banquet, the imperial family members who had gathered in haste stood there, unable to hide their confusion.

Their number was noticeably smaller than when they had gathered for the ritual.

They must have summoned only the ones who could gather immediately.

Despite it being the death of the First Prince, who had been the strongest candidate for crown prince, the reason they were handling the matter so hastily and sloppily was probably because his death was not befitting a descendant of god.

A sudden death far short of his lifespan.

And the warning symptoms of nosebleeds and coughing blood.

Because it took the form of an ordinary death, a death from illness, that had never been seen among the imperial family of the past.

The ripples brought by that strange death were spreading quickly throughout the spacious hall.

At least at this moment, my black hair did not become much of a topic among them.

I quietly looked toward the head seat from my place.

The seat of the dead Rasia, and the seat of Dito, who should now be locked in a life-or-death battle with Ratel, were empty.

The murmuring quieted down.

I saw the emperor appear through the front door.

Six attendants carrying a golden coffin followed behind his expressionless figure.

Everyone knew what was inside it, but not a single person carelessly mentioned it.

If only the First Prince’s seat, which had always been filled, had not been empty, one might have believed that what was inside was food for the banquet.

The emperor did not look around the hall.

“Take it out.”

At his cold voice, the attendants seemed to hesitate for a moment, then carefully reached into the coffin.

With cautious movements like scooping flowing water with their hands, they lifted out the contents of the coffin.

Rasia’s pale corpse appeared.

It was carefully placed upon the Prasa.

Rasia, whose head was laid at the tip of the triangle, looked clean, as if all the blood he had vomited had been wiped away.

Unlike the original, where he had collapsed on top of it covered in blood.

Once the corpse found its place, the emperor placed his hand upon the Prasa.

At that sight, a little curiosity and excitement began to bloom among the imperial family members.

It was similar to the impression of having a rare spectacle before their eyes.

Soon after, just as he had done during the ritual, the emperor infused power into it.

A beautiful surge of light rapidly passed the center of the table and stretched all the way to the lowest seat where I was.

That was the end.

The emperor’s Manis faded slowly, no differently from usual.

And then, murmuring burst out from all over.

Voices mixed with confusion and contempt filled the hall.

Of course they did.

[The banquet hall was covered in chaos in an instant. The quiet space filled with murmuring. Someone’s mutter rang out especially loudly. “No Manis came out.” With that, the funeral rite ended. As they scattered in all directions, the emperor gave no explanation at all. “Burn it immediately and end the funeral.” That was the final gift the emperor gave his first son.]

It was the same as the original.

It had already been taken.

That was a corpse left behind after all its power had been drained.

There was no way any Manis remained.