CH 219

Who would’ve known that the woman whose whereabouts couldn’t be located after she disappeared from the capital would turn up here and target Cecile’s life? Estian cast a look at the paper that had fallen to the floor beside her. Without releasing Yuliana, he speared the paper with his black steel blade. If Richard had been present, he would’ve questioned if the emperor was insane for doing such a thing.

The spell was extremely powerful magic, and to dispel such a thing would normally require several high-ranking mages working in tandem over several days to break it. Not only was instant dispelling of such complex magic extremely difficult, the spell would also defensively attack those who tried. The possibility of aggressive blowback against the attacker was all the more likely in the case of a vicious, ancient spell such as this one. Unsurprisingly, the power contained in the paper pierced by the black steel blade immediately shot towards Estian.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” However, the scream came not from Estian, but Yuliana, who was caught in his grip. As one would expect of a spell of fire, the power emitted from the paper contained tremendous heat. Estian felt its effects, but it wasn’t so painful to the extent of being unbearable. While the power of Eugendiph’s blood was activated, Estian could neither be injured nor killed. The same could not be said for Yuliana.

“Aaaaaah! It’s hot! My… my eyes!” Yuliana screamed, as her body was scorched into a miserable state—the very fate she’d wanted Cecile to suffer. Estian looked around to see whether there were others, and his eyes landed on something crumpled in a corner of the building—a pink rabbit doll the size of a person. It was clearly the same doll Cecile had given away to the child on the street. ‘Was that used as a magical medium? Is that why the magic was targeting me?’

The spell cast tracked a specific target, and the doll was clearly used to determine that very target. Although Cecile was the one who’d won it, he had been the one to carry it almost the entire time. What he couldn’t have known was the real reason he’d also been a target was that Cecile had named the doll, Estian.

He tossed Yuliana aside, and she fell and rolled hard on the floor, yelping with a sharp cry of pain. “You will be dealt with upon my return,” he announced coldly. He had much to ask the former princess, but finding Cecile was a more pressing matter. Knowing that Yuliana was in no shape to run in her current state, he left her behind and headed in the direction the kidnapper had taken Cecile.

‘I have to hurry,’ he thought. The purpose of this vacation was for Cecile to rest, but was also a rare chance for him to take a break too. Ever since the incident in Etia, Estian had noticed something unusual with the blood of Eugendiph inside him.

‘It keeps trying to go out of control.’ This was only natural, since he had been keeping the power suppressed ever since he first acquired a human form. However, ever since it had been released without restriction after such a long period, the blood had been fighting to return to its original form once more.

As evidence of this change, Estian could now summon forth Eugendiph’s blood with ease, and he constantly felt it raging to run rampant at any moment. Even at this very moment. The blood he’d awakened out of necessity was now trying to wrestle for dominance over his actions, little by little. ‘I shouldn’t use it any further.’

Now that the magic had been dealt with, all that was left was to track down the kidnapper using the blood remaining in his black steel blade. With that thought, Estian decided to reseal the Eugendiph’s blood, but suddenly, one of the fireballs still lingering in the sky shot straight at him and he instinctively reacted. At the moment Estian blocked the incoming fireball, he realized that he had also lost control of the Eugendiph’s blood.