Chapter 81 :

Episode 81 - Unexpected

The inside of my chest felt stifling and hot.

I wanted to pound my chest with my hand to cool the heat, but like all dreams, my body would not move at all, as if it had been bound.

As I groaned, the area around my heart grew hotter and hotter.

Was it because my heart was beating too fast? Or was it because of the fire?

But why was there fire in my chest?

What had I been doing?

My mind was hazy, and I could not think properly.

An unpleasant sensation continued, like I was forcibly jamming the wrong puzzle pieces together.

I was going to save someone, wasn’t I?

I had been going to save the black-haired one.

But I have black hair too, don’t I? Everyone has black hair.

—Save Ratel.

A voice of unknown ownership spoke inside my head.

That’s right, Ratel!

I have to save the protagonist of the novel.

Without him, the world would be in danger, and so would I.

But why do I feel like I’ll only suffer a loss even after saving him?

The world spun round and round.

No, was it moving up and down?

“You reckless child! Pull yourself together!”

Ah, this time I could be certain.

My head was shaking from side to side.

Was the owner of that worried voice shaking me?

I appreciated the concern, but judging by the way they were shaking the head of an unconscious person like this, it was clear they had no common sense.

“I told you to wake up!”

Along with an urgent voice, a small hand slapped my cheek.

Unable to ignore the other party’s hard work, I struggled to lift my eyelids.

Golden eyes looking down at me filled my vision.

“......If you wanted to save me, didn’t it occur to you that you should get the two people on top of me off first?”

My vocal cords hurt terribly as air brushed past them.

Damn it, the inside of my throat, which Dito had strangled, must have swollen.

But it was nothing compared to the pain of being crushed under the unconscious Ratel and Jing.

“Do you know how startled I was? All three of you collapsed and wouldn’t wake up, and I......!”

El bustled around me and chattered.

Ignoring the frantic fellow, I struggled to pull my body out from under Ratel and Jing.

We were inside the secret passage connected to the temple and the capital.

That’s right, I had collapsed after my stamina ran out while dragging Ratel and Jing along.

It seemed that my transformation had also undone itself when my stamina was exhausted.

I looked at the two grown men sprawled around me and let out a sigh.

“What are you going to do now? The surroundings are packed with people and imperial family members. Even if we head to the center like this, we won’t be able to escape the capital. The Second Prince has probably already sealed off the capital.”

El, who had calmed down along with me, muttered worriedly.

“......Tollin prepared a carriage to help the young duke escape. We’ll use that to escape the capital.”

At my answer, El frowned.

“Where did you hear my words go? I said the roads leading out of the capital are blocked now, didn’t I?”

Letting his words go in one ear and out the other, I looked at the two people who still had not regained consciousness despite El’s shrill voice.

If things had followed the original work, by now these two would have obtained the red book and leisurely escaped the capital.

But the ones here now were two leading characters who had obtained nothing, had been injured, and had been defeated.

A fresh sense of reality came over me.

The reality that the original story had gone off track, that I had failed to escape, and that I had now become involved in the protagonist’s adventure.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t anxious.

But there was no other choice.

Because I could not imagine a future where Ratel did not save the world.

Feeling a very slight amount of strength returning, I stood up.

El, who had been chattering nonstop until then, finally closed his mouth.

I looked down at the fellow, whose eyes were rolling anxiously.

“Your resolve still hasn’t changed either, has it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your resolve to help the protagonist in order to destroy the imperial family.”

At my question, meant to receive one final vow, El’s eyes filled with something whose depth I could not fathom.

“My thousand years were all a wait for that. If it is now, even my life would not be a waste.”

Then that was enough.

This was an adventure beginning from unfavorable conditions.

I could not refuse having one more companion willing to give his life.

Most of all, I needed his help right now.

“One carriage carrying an imperial family member should be enough to get out of the capital.”

Even if they arranged a carriage search, it would be hard to find him after he transformed into a squirrel.

El seemed to understand my words and silently nodded.

Hoping the two would not wake up, I stood.

To move two large men, it would be impossible in my current form.

* * *

Rattle.

The carriage jolted hard after hitting a stone.

At the impact, the duke’s eyes snapped open, and he reflexively raised a hand to his waist as he sat up.

It was a reaction his body displayed because it remembered the crisis before he lost consciousness.

“Please don’t move. It shakes.”

Though his tension drained at the voice, which was far from urgent.

Duke Feedus found Ran Abiran sitting across from him, studying a map with a serious expression.

“W-where is this?”

Seeing such a peaceful sight, so disconnected from his final memory, he asked blankly.

Only then did the black-haired prince take his eyes off the map.

Deep black eyes turned toward the duke.

“We left the capital a little while ago. At the next village, we’ll abandon the carriage and travel on horseback.”

“What?!”

Feeling his chest, which had somewhat calmed, begin to pound again, the duke looked out the carriage window.

It was just as he said.

The capital was growing distant behind the running carriage.

Several faces that must still be in the capital passed through the duke’s mind.

“W-we have to go back. My son, Tollin, and the remaining servants of the ducal house are.......”

The prince, who had been quietly watching him flounder, spoke bluntly.

“......You don’t need to worry about Tollin and the young duke for the time being.”

“What do you mean by that? If they are seen by anyone else in the capital.......”

“I put both of them inside the academy, so no one should harm them.”

This time, even the duke had no choice but to close his mouth.

If they were in the academy, they would not die.

The problem was that getting out would not be easy either.

But the fact that their lives had been saved alone allowed the duke to regain a little composure.

Then, things he had not been able to see slowly began to enter his eyes.

For instance, the presence of a young man whose existence was so strong that it was surprising he had failed to notice him.

The duke looked at Ratel, who still had not opened his eyes, and let out a sigh.

“......We really survived. Like a miracle.”

“You should not feel relieved. From now on, death will keep chasing us.”

The black-haired prince, who had casually said something rather despairing, folded the map in his hands and set it down beside him.

The duke stared blankly at the sight, then turned his gaze back out the window and looked at the receding capital.

Even if they had taken refuge inside the academy, that was only a temporary measure.

“We have to go back. We can’t leave the two of them in there forever.”

“We are leaving in order to save them.”

After giving another brief answer, the prince casually pointed with his finger beside the duke.

Only then did the duke recognize the presence of the young man sitting opposite him.

Thinking that he must have been truly lacking composure to fail to notice such a large human being there, the duke looked at him.

At Ratel, who still had not opened his eyes and was sleeping as if dead.

“You have probably already noticed. That man is the only key capable of defeating the imperial family.”

At Ran’s question, the duke slowly nodded.

Had he not already confirmed it with his own eyes?

That man possessed the power to face the imperial family.

Although he had been defeated.

“He will become stronger. The journey from now on is for him.”

As if reading his concern, Ran Abiran added those words.

Perhaps this time, too, his words would be correct.

Because Ran Abiran was also someone who had created miracles every time.

Duke Feedus had no other choice now.

No, even if another choice existed, he would have followed Ran’s words.

Because Ran Abiran was his savior and the savior of his family.

* * *

“Then where are we going now? East, as expected?”

Duke Feedus asked the Seventh Prince, who had buried his head in the map again.

“No. We have to go to the closest place first. We’ll head west.”

He belatedly lifted his head and looked at the duke.

“Is there perhaps a reason we must go east?”

“No, that is not it.”

“We are going somewhere we can reach as quickly as possible, so please do not worry too much.”

Ran, who had been looking suspiciously at the duke as he hurriedly answered, turned his gaze back to the map and spoke.

The duke was not worried.

He had a kind of faith that the Seventh Prince would not lead them into a trap.

He owed Ran Abiran too many lives to harbor suspicion.

Of course, his methods were not very humane.

Still, the fact that he had saved him and everyone else did not change.

A life had to be repaid with a life for the balance to be fair.

“Prince, if a dangerous situation arises on the way, please hide behind me. I will protect you somehow.”

At the duke’s offer, filled with gratitude, the Seventh Prince frowned as if he had heard something utterly bizarre.

“Of course you should protect me. I’m the only one here who knows the way, and I’m also the worst fighter.”

While thinking that he was quite confident compared to what he was saying, the duke nodded.

“Yes, that is why you need not worry.”

At his refreshing answer, Ran narrowed his eyes as if something displeased him.

“And won’t it be troublesome if you keep calling me Prince?”

“Then may I call you Lord Ran from now on?”

“Just ‘Ran’.”

He emphasized the name without the honorific, unable to hide his discomfort, but the duke did not mind.

“Then please just call me ‘Jing’. You cannot keep calling me duke.”

With a dissatisfied face, Ran spread out the map he had been scribbling on and pointed to one spot with his finger.

“To tell you in advance, this is where we must go first.”

It was an outer region in the west, not far from the capital.

“Yes, I will follow Lord Ran’s will.”

At his willing answer, Ran’s expression crumpled even further.

“......There should be enough travel expenses. Tollin packed the carriage with the necessary things.”

The duke’s eyes widened for a moment in surprise at the fact that the person who had prepared this carriage was Tollin, but soon he nodded willingly again this time as well.

“Yes, I will entrust that to you too, Prince.”

“Why would you entrust that to me? The original owner is the duke, so the duke should manage it.”

“Yes, understood.”

Ran, who had been looking at the duke with discomfort, eventually let out a sigh and gave one final order.

“And if possible, stop using formal speech.”

After saying that, he cast his gaze out the carriage window without listening to Duke Feedus’ answer any further.

A premature snowflake drifted in through the gap in the open window and settled on his black hair.

* * *

Just the fact that a leading imperial candidate had died of an unknown illness, and under suspicious circumstances at that, made no one want to attend Rasia’s funeral.

His funeral, which not even the emperor attended, was held in his castle on a scale that, at least in name, would not disgrace the death of an imperial family member.

There were many opinions on how to handle his corpse, from which Manis had not emerged, but the conclusion was reached more quickly than expected.

—Burn it.

Because nothing was more important than the emperor’s order, given as if it were a nuisance.

Rasia’s corpse, which had suited splendor best, was placed not in a coffin full of jewels, nor in an ornate gold-plated coffin, but in the wooden coffin easiest to burn.

In the backyard of the castle where Rasia had lived, firewood was piled high enough to completely cover the wooden coffin and still have some left over, forming a massive tower.

His funeral was conducted very quietly.

Because rumors had secretly spread that he had died of illness.

The fact that “something” capable of killing them, who had been free from disease and poisoning, had been discovered carried great meaning.

One of the reasons death was frightening was its suddenness.

In that sense, the imperial family had no immunity to the fear brought by sudden death.

Even poison snakes were frightening enough.

But what if he had really died of illness?

What if a disease that killed the imperial family, one that no one had found for a thousand years, was spreading?

Rasia’s death planted a new fear called “death by illness” in them.

A sticky sense of fear clung between the members of the imperial family.

Because it would not fall away, their anxiety grew, and everyone became sensitive.

And an incident that burst that anxiety, swollen to the limit, occurred at the funeral.

Rasia’s coffin appeared amid the firewood collapsing as it burned.

A coffin without even a single scorch mark.

When Rasia’s corpse did not burn, screams erupted from here and there.

“Who dares play such a prank? Stop it at once!”

Among them, those who still had their reason remembered that only the imperial family could control flames and shouted.

“No one among the ones who use fire has that much power!”

Though they soon fell silent at someone’s irritable retort.

Rasia’s coffin remained completely undamaged until all the firewood had burned and the flames weakened.

Just before the remaining flames went out, someone spoke.

“Let us postpone the funeral.”

A voice that was not loud rang out as if filling the entire room.

People’s gazes gathered in one place.

It was Dito, who had scarcely been seen since Rasia’s death.

He, who had erased the smile that had been on his face every day, slowly approached the place where Rasia’s coffin lay.

Everyone held their breath as they watched the remaining flames subside according to his gesture.

“He left us so suddenly. We cannot say our final farewells like this, can we? Let us hold the funeral again from the beginning. This time, with everyone showing proper respect.”

As if he were not afraid of anything like disease, he opened the coffin and lifted out Rasia’s body, which lay as if asleep.

Rasia, lifted along with the cloth covering the body, looked peaceful in Dito’s arms.

Dito ordered the others to prepare a new funeral, then carried Rasia’s corpse to another room for a while.

No one found it strange to see him taking care of Rasia, with whom he had been extremely close.

Therefore, the only one who saw the clear arc drawn on Dito’s face as he left through the door was Mentil.