Chapter 194

“Exactly.”

Yelena was speechless.

‘He’s a complete dunce.’

She knew the crown prince had a few screws loose because she had seen him herself, but she didn’t think that he would stoop that low. She was shocked and horrified.

Then, Yelena felt pity, but not towards other people.

‘To think a punk like him is going to become King…’

Would this country be okay? Of all countries, why did she have to be born a citizen of this one?

Yelena sighed as she took pity on herself.

She was annoyed too.

‘I can’t even do anything rash because he’s part of the royal family.’

Sidrion was able to lash out his temper in front of the royal family because the Black Tower was an independent entity. The Black Tower cooperated with the royal castle, but they did not have to obey them. This was different from Yelena and Kaywhin, whose stati were subordinate to the royals.

‘I should’ve hit him and pretended it was an accident when we were in the mountains.’

She could have struck him in the back of his head at least once without anyone seeing amidst all the chaos.

As Yelena felt her belated regret, Ben’s face suddenly came into sight. His complexion wasn’t great to begin with, but he seemed even paler today, perhaps because of the crown prince.

Yelena stared at the butler with a sorrowful look. Then, she suddenly opened her mouth.

“Ben, should I tell you a funny story?”

“A funny story?”

“It happened before we excavated the Holy Sword…”

She recounted the tale of how they had competed and won against the crown prince for the Holy Sword’s excavation right at the Morgana Countdom. She gave every detail so that Ben could feel like he was actually there.

She specifically emphasized the part where the crown prince had taken off his outer garment and ran towards the fire in a comical manner, mentioning it twice.

“Haha! That must’ve been quite a sight! I should have been there to see everything, hoho!”

The color returned to Ben’s face as he laughed, as if the story made him feel better. Yelena looked at his wrinkled face that now appeared healthy, pleased. It was a harmonious moment.

***

Aendydn was flying in the sky, traveling a great distance. He discovered something on the ground and opened his mouth.

“Hold on, Sylphie.”

Then, he slowly descended to the ground. A man stood in front of him when he landed.

“Hey, Aendydn.”

“How did you know I’d pass by?”

“You know me. I occasionally have the ability to see into the future.”

“So you saw me with your ability. Gosh, it’s always a surprise to hear about it.”

“You flatter me. I think your animistic sorcery is better.”

The man smiled. His long hair that went past his shoulders was currently in a ponytail. His hair was a dark brown that looked different depending on whether or not there was light. It looked brown in the light and black in the dark. Aendydn could see his reflection in the man’s silver gray eyes.

“Anyhow, was the information I gave you of any use?”

“Oh, that.”

Aendydn’s eyebrow twitched and he scratched the back of his head.

“The information leaked.”

“…Is that so?”

“The crown prince knew about it, though I don’t know how he did.”

“I guess one of the informants was a greedy rat for money,” the man murmured with downcast eyes.

The secret information had leaked. One of his subordinates had sold the information to fulfill his own self-interest.

“Thanks, Aendydn. Thanks to you, I now know that the guild needs some internal reorganization.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“And I’m ashamed. I meant for only you to have that information…”

“Forget it. We acquired the Holy Sword in the end.”

“Really?”

“Well, not me, but my friend,” Aendydn said and then briefly went quiet. Then, he opened his mouth.

“And I witnessed a rare and precious sight…”

What came to Aendydn’s mind was the process of excavating the Holy Sword with Kaywhin.

“The trap will activate once you pass the marked line. I will wait here.”

The coachman, who had driven the carriage that brought Kaywhin and Aendydn to the forest where the Holy Sword was discovered, stopped and said those words.

The two men got off the carriage and walked into the trap. A thick fog suddenly accumulated once they were inside.

From a distance, they could see a sword buried in the ground with only its hilt showing.

“That must be the Holy Sword…”

As they came closer to the sword, the fog thickened. It became so thick that they couldn’t see in front of them.