Chapter 341

"Where did the 3rd Prince go? How dare he, where!"

"Your Majesty the Queen Dowager, you're still unwell, so please stay calm- Kyaaaak!"

-Crash!

The maid knelt on the floor with blood streaming from her forehead.

The heavy crystal cup that had just struck her forehead rolled across the floor.

The Queen, now the Queen Dowager, was breathing heavily in bed.

Her disheveled nightgown and sickly appearance proved that the Queen Dowager had not yet fully recovered from the aftereffects of the poison.

Even so, she had immediately flown into a rage upon hearing that the 3rd Prince was trying to escape the royal castle and had thrown whatever was within reach.

At the sudden commotion, the maids and servants in the room all knelt in fear at once.

Only the Queen Dowager's head maid among them approached the Queen Dowager's bedside on her knees and whispered.

"Your Majesty, please don't be so angry. I'm worried about the royal heir in your womb. Couldn't we immediately organize a pursuit team to go after the 3rd Prince and his associates?"

"Do you think they can be caught?"

"Issue a manhunt throughout Aquilonia. Strengthen border security and thoroughly monitor them so they cannot move to other countries. No matter how accustomed the 3rd Prince is to living outside, if he's rejected even in cities, won't he have no choice?"

Her gentle tone soothed the Queen Dowager's fierce mood.

The Queen Dowager pressed one hand to her dizzy head,

And the head maid quickly poured the remaining potion into a new cup and offered it.

"Please calm down, Your Majesty. Though the dangerous period has passed, I'm worried your body will be harmed. Isn't Your Majesty the Queen Dowager the only pillar of Aquilonia's royal family?"

The Queen silently accepted and drank the new medicine.

There was nothing wrong with the head maid's words. No matter how much the 3rd Prince rampaged within this country,

Since everything in this country was in her hands, the 3rd Prince's struggles were useless.

He would someday return to the royal castle on his own feet. Yes, that was the natural future.

But why was she so anxious? The inexplicable anxiety didn't easily disappear.

As the Queen traced back the cause of her anxiety, she suddenly recalled someone she had buried in a corner of her memory.

"What about the mage?"

"Do you mean that wicked sorcerer? He's still confined in the Mage Tower. The shock to the nobles present was so great, and since he tried to assassinate Your Majesty, he'll receive proper punishment."

"So he's not dead yet."

The Queen Dowager hesitated briefly. But the hesitation lasted only a few seconds at most.

She ordered the maid who served only her.

"I should go to the Mage Tower. I'll need a mage. Contact them secretly."

"Yes, Your Majesty. How could there be any question?"

* * *

In the darkness where nothing could be seen, there was only one way to measure time.

For him to measure time himself.

Since Yurik had left, he had been sitting on the floor the entire time just counting seconds.

Though he sometimes forgot what he was counting while doing nothing but thinking about how much time had passed,

He was still trying his best to count slowly.

When he had counted up to around 6,700 seconds,

He heard the same rusty metal sound as when Yurik had appeared.

However, the person entering now was not on his side.

"Your Majesty the Queen Dowager, right here. We've confined that wretch here."

"Good. I'd like to have a brief conversation with the mage now."

"I'll wait outside. The mage has been completely neutralized by this tower's own power, so please be at ease."

-Creeeak. Bang.

The door closed again.

There was a rustling sound for a moment.

"Mage."

"......"

"I think I should apologize for sullying the mage's honor. But it was necessary, and it had to be done. I'm sure the mage would understand my intentions?"

"Did you think I would understand you because you're working for Yurik's sake?"

"Because the mage's and my goals are the same."

"I would have thought so before the mourning banquet. You broke the oath you made with me."

"No, Mage. I haven't broken that oath at all. Because I've never harmed that child or those who follow him."

"So that's why you fed me poison?"

"Someone had to be sacrificed."

He found that amusing. He had been quite stupid not to notice that either.

But the reason he hadn't been able to find loopholes in their oath was probably because he had believed only in the Queen's 'good side.'

A good mother. A good protector. The best option he could provide for Yurik.

She had said she loved Yurik. He had believed those words.

So he had thought that rather than him, who didn't love Yurik, she would provide better things for Yurik.

But what about now?

By framing him as an assassin, what had happened to Yurik?

"And I was that sacrifice."

"Mage, the misunderstanding will be resolved soon. If only the 3rd Prince returns to the royal castle. The mage will be able to become Aquilonia's legitimate mage. That child will be able to rule Aquilonia together with me."

It was a promise he had heard before. And now it was also a broken promise.

The Queen spoke of a rosy future while gradually approaching him.

"So please make an oath to me again. That you won't lend strength to the 3rd Prince's flight, so that child can return to the royal castle even a day sooner."

"After confining me to such a place, what's the reason for saying such things?"

"If the mage is truly Eibon's teacher, who knows what magic you might have cast on the 3rd Prince?"

Now he understood a little.

The Queen wasn't here to apologize for the misunderstanding surrounding him,

Or because she was worried about Yurik who had fled.

She had a purpose. Though he didn't know exactly what it was,

Judging by Aphoom-Zhah who wasn't in this place, it was definitely not for Yurik's sake.

It was purely for herself, and Yurik would just be utilized as a very good means to that end.

As his thoughts reached that point, he felt nauseous.

"You said you loved Yurik."

"Is that important now?"

"It's important. So important that depending on your answer, I'll decide my mind."

"......I do love him."

"Because he's family? Because he's a member of the royal family like you?"

"That doesn't seem like content I can answer in this place."

He was sick of the evasive answers.

He was beginning to think even the effort to distinguish how much was truth and how much was lies was wasteful.

Well, he had to provoke her anyway.

He smiled at her in the darkness.

"You don't know this, but I owe him a debt. He also owes me a debt. Neither of us can rashly say we'll repay it, but still, Yurik was doing his best."

"......What are you talking about now?"

"I wanted to give him a good family. I wanted to let him know love. So that even if I disappeared someday, he wouldn't lose his heart. That's why I thought you, as a human, could teach him many things."

"......"

"But now I'm having this thought."

"What thought?"

"The thought that I would cherish him more than someone like you. You can't become a meaningful human to Yurik."

-Slash!

His cheekbone and the area around his eyes stung and burned as if scalded.

The Queen had probably been near him and swung her hand in anger,

And it hurt particularly because she had scratched him with her nails.

But his words weren't finished yet.

"Human of Aquilonia. You won't be able to catch or find Yurik. He'll soon leave for a place your eyes and hands can't reach. Since you made him leave with your own hands, shouldn't you bear the regret from that?"

"Mage!"

"My name is Yu Yesung. I am the teacher of Eibon, called the great archmage. You have neither reason nor authority to persecute the human I cherish."

Hands full of malice pushed him away.

The staff fell to the floor making a heavy sound,

And the veil draped over his face was pushed back.

"If he wishes to stand against you, I will help him unconditionally, and if he wishes to flee from you, I will hide him to the ends of the world. No matter how much you desire him, if he doesn't want it, he won't become yours."

"Shut up."

"I'm not simply threatening you. Don't you know? This is a prophecy, human. A prophecy that what you want will never happen."

"Shut up!"

She was straddling him.

How angry the Queen was, how much she was despairing - such things weren't revealed to him.

But only her trembling hands and the weight pressing down on his shoulders expressed her emotions instead.

The Queen muttered.

"I love him."

"You don't love him."

"I was first. I saw him first. Among all the people who were there that day, only I recognized his worth...!"

"That's your delusion."

"He was mine. If it weren't for the king rotting in his coffin, if only I weren't married. If only I weren't the Queen, if only I had greater power!"

"He's not property."

"I like him. I can't bear it. I love him so much I'd cling to him even while suffering such humiliation. I could have given him anything. If only he'd become mine. If only he'd say just one word that he loved me, I would have made anything in Aquilonia his. No one can understand these feelings. Not you, and not even that person."

"You're insane."

"I didn't need anything. Everything was worthless. Things no different from trash. Only he was alive and moving for me. He was beautiful, I almost stopped breathing. But why."

"Stop it!"

"Why do I, only to me, how come!"

A mad scream filled the darkness.

The shoulder caught in her grip hurt as if it would crumble.

After silence passed, a voice breathing like a beast whispered.

"Your prophecy was accurate. Who would have thought the prince would defeat that thing in the east."

"Let go of this."

"So this cursed prophecy you gave me will surely come true too?"

"I said let go."

"But Mage, I know a way to make him return to the royal castle on his own feet."

What?

What trick had the Queen used? Had the others been caught perhaps? There should have been time to leave the royal castle.

While all sorts of thoughts swirled, something touched his throat.

A voice that had cleanly erased the madness and was even refreshing rang in his ears.

"Just as you cherish that child, that child seems to think of you extremely fondly. What if your corpse were hung on the castle's highest tower?"

"You wouldn't-"

"Yes, he'll surely return. Without fail."

With a disgusting thudding sound, a chilling sensation penetrated his body.

A cold blade was thrust in several times. His convulsing, resisting hand was crushed.

He reflexively screamed at the terrible pain he had felt once before, but no voice came out.

He wasn't dead. He had consciousness and the mind to distinguish pain.

Something lukewarm flowed down his neck. His gasping mouth could say nothing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

The Queen burst into bright laughter.

"Yes, Mage. When that person hears news about your mutilated corpse, he'll surely return to the royal castle!"