Doesn't this happen to everyone?
“When I first read , I read it carefully, but how many times did I re-read it after that?”
I re-read it frequently.
I don't know how many times I've read it.
Of course, I focused on the romance and read quickly.
I skipped boring scenes I had seen before, and sometimes I just focused on the parts I had marked.
I laughed cheerfully at the refreshing scenes where the villains are defeated, but the parts where they were setting up their plots or dropping hints, I skipped and never returned to them.
In other words, I read it superficially...
“So I don’t remember who the people involved were, where their bases were, and what actions they took in detail.”
Why, even after I moved into this world, am I like this?
In other novels, the original text appears as a line before the character's eyes, the original novel falls out like a book, or the system window gently displays the original novel.
Anyway, the conversation seemed to be coming to an end.
The reputation of the Emperor's guide, that is, me, was as I had heard.
And also…
I looked over to where the guides were staring in eager anticipation.
Black sky, portal.
“Was there a portal that took this long?”
I felt goosebumps for some reason.
For me, who had not yet gotten rid of the memories of the past, the portals were particularly terrifying.
As if a black hand would suddenly emerge from within and grab my heart.
clink.
I quickly retreated into the trees.
“Didn't you hear a sound now?”
“Maybe wind.”
As I listened to the guides speak quietly, I saw the level of danger of the Emperor losing control hanging in the air.
It was still a slight orange shade.
“Since that night you threatened him.”
I didn't go to him even once.
How can he bear it?
As the Duchess quipped, Casey had been keeping to himf over the past few days.
That was really amazing.
No one's words, no one's intervention, and no one's concern stopped him.
But he was monitoring his condition carefully.
At night, when he faces his mate, he becomes irresistibly weak and fragile.
He becomes like a child clinging and ing.
So, during the day, it must be cool.
Not like that night when he collapsed over one word that said she wouldn't come back.
While he was carefully conserving his energy, his guide did not appear even once.
The stages of loss of control among awake people depend only on their intuition.
Because there is no way to measure it.
But how does she know?
Is he on the verge of losing control, or is he in a state where he can handle the pain?
How exactly?
At that moment, Doom─
The ground shook.
The trees shook like crazy, and something extended in all directions.
An awake person who was observing the atmosphere shouted loudly:
“Your Majesty, second-rate claws, plant-type!
Beware of the side attack!”
“First class, elemental type, attack together.
Bind his limbs!”
“No, take advantage of the swamp.
Move the ground to keep him from moving!
Dig a trap!”
As he listened to the rapid commands, Casey looked from above at the terrain of the portal.
As he watched the winged beast screaming in a long voice, he remembered that he was not the only one who had been strange in recent days.
'Duchess Ariel.'
That woman was a stranger too.
Since he began to suspect that the Duchess was a stranger, he had developed a habit of observing her.
It's not big, but like a small puzzle that doesn't fit, it was behaving differently than before.
The Duchess Ariel he knew would not come into her own with her young student, no matter how much he pleaded with pitiful eyes.
The enemy he knew had no habit of biting her lips to hide her anxiety.
The leader of the arrogant magicians he knew didn't care even the slightest about others, and didn't watch her followers carefully.
And also…
“The Duchess feeds the cats?
Even the dog would laugh at this.”
Something happened to that woman.
This is clear.
But why, of all times, when a big change happened to him too?
“Why does no one suspect the Duke’s strange behavior?”
It was annoying, like a thorn stuck between his fingernails.
Hilaria, Duchess Ariel.
That woman is still annoying to him, he is wary of her, and he hates her inteny.
Although the relationship between witches and Awakened is not good, Kaysis particularly hates witches.
“Don't call me mother, prince.”
His mother, who was looking at him coldly, was a witch.
She always told him he was a monster and looked at him like a monster.
“Her behavior is clearly different from usual, but no one feels strange.
This situation, isn’t it similar?”
As if no one finds anything strange in the woman who visits him at night.
His savior, his guide.
The leader of the witches, who is more of an enemy.
There was something in common between them.
The mere possibility made him feel extremely repulsive.
Of course, he had no doubt that the Duchess was his guide, which was ridiculous.
“But...”
Rumor.
That's a rumor that keeps coming up.
Word that is said to have spread among magicians.
Duchess Ariel is holding the Emperor's guide.
To dispel this doubt, he issued a direct order, and Duchess Ariel cooperated well, despite her sharp temper.
So it must be a ridiculous rumour.
It should be so.
“Your Majesty!”
At that moment,
Flutter.
The wings of a giant bird shook the air.
He smiled evilly, releasing the strength he had been carefully conserving.
With pain spreading through his veins, the giant winged beast's scream rang out.
─Craaaaaa!
A terrifying killing intent that shook heaven and earth.
Sharp columns of ice spread.
com─
The monster pierced.
Does his cruel guide, who shows nothing and tells him not to look for her, feel his volatile strength inside the gate from the outside?
“But the emperor is the one who issues the orders.”
There is no one who obeys her.
─Quaddddd!
Pillars of ice that had nearly frozen the giant monster rose into the sky.
Like prison bars, it trapped the escaping beings time after time.
Finally, he discovered the winged monster egg that they had been carefully protecting.
Emerald light, intense scent.
“I found her.”
Caesis held the egg and gave strength to his fingertips.
Boom!
With a harsh explosion sound, a red magic stone that was inside her appeared.
“Your Majesty!
Why...”
It is dangerous to hold the magic stone directly.
He expected the knights to panic, but he entered this gate for that purpose.
“Your Majesty, my God!”
He ignored the cries of panic, and stared at the magic stone embedded in the palm of his hand.
A calm smile leaked out.
However, even if he was not perfect, he could maintain his awareness.
He would be able to see the face and expression of the woman who approached him and whispered those words.
At night, he promised not to search for his companion, but during the day, he promised nothing.
He said he wouldn't catch her, but he didn't promise not to do anything.
The always bloodied hunter smiled calmly.
It was a smile so charming and beautiful that the knights, worried about the Emperor, could not say anything and stared at him in amazement.
While looking at the emperor's state, which turned into a darker orange, I accidentally fell asleep.
I woke up from a terrifying dream in shock.
“Ah, ah.”
I could hear my ragged breathing as I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.
Is it because I saw the sparkling black gate today?
The memory of my death came to me clearly as a nightmare.
The pain of a crushed and trampled body.
“It was really painful.
So horrific that I don’t want to go through it again.”
That's why I was desperately carrying out tasks, struggling in any way to survive.
Because I feel afraid.
Because I don't want to die.
I don't want to be in front of a gate that explodes again.
“I don't want to die miserable like this.”
Being asked to stand in front of a gate and use magic?
“Caesis, you bastard.”
What a terrible request.
While I was about to cry, I heard...
─ Knock.
Quiet voice.
I was surprised.
Then again.
─ Knock, knock.
There was someone knocking on the door from outside.