CH 41

♛

Although somewhat embarrassed, Eda only erased the smile on his face, conscious of Lenox in the doorway behind his back.

“It’s not that I don’t like you. It was just a habit of mine to always smile, so please don’t misunderstand.”

“…Is that so?”

Yi-Gyeol looked up at Eda and smiled broadly as if asking when had he ever misunderstood.

“That’s a relief. I want to be close to you, too.”

Eda laughed inwardly at Yi-Gyeol’s words and spoke as softly as possible.

“So am I. I’ll see you often from now on, so please take good care of me.”

Even just for the prince who was on the same boat as himself, he had to befriend the scrawny man in front of him and dig up various information. He may have a bit of wits in him, but he seems so naive that he doesn’t even know how to tell a lie properly. A person like this will tell you a lot of information just by pretending to be chatty, even if you treat him with just a little kindness. For that reason, he’ll have to pretend to be selfless for a while.

On the other hand, Yi-Gyeol, who said that he will surely treat him well in reply to Eda’s gentle words, felt his heart beating a little faster. It was an unpleasant palpitation.

Eda definitely has negative feelings toward him. He has a bad feeling like his whole body was being stabbed with a needle. He doesn’t know why he ‘despises’ and ‘scorns’ him even though it’s the first time they’ve met. If it had been based on his external appearance, he would have let it pass without any problem, but obviously, he felt like he was trampling on the human being called Joo Yi-Gyeol beneath him, so he couldn’t pretend not to know.

It was such a familiar feeling that he felt since the first time coming here.

It resembled that of a friend who came to him – who had been living without any hope in life – after a long time, and laughed at him silently, pretending not to be.

If it was in the past, he would have denied or pretended to be ignorant of the emotions he was feeling. Since it was more comfortable and less painful that way.

However, he has no intention of doing that here.

Sethian doesn’t want him to put up with his feelings and turn away from them any longer. He told him many times that there was no need to blame himself for doing anything wrong, and that he could always be confident of himself. He said it was the best way not to unnecessarily make him worry.

It doesn’t sound like much, but the words Sethian said every day had a greater effect on him than that of any other counselor.

It’s still hard to tell for sure, but it was clear that there was a reason for Eda’s malicious feelings even before he met him. Until he was certain of the reason, he had to hide his thoughts and feelings as much as possible.

‘Don’t trust anyone here but me. If there’s someone wearing a mask in front of you, you do the same. That is the basics in this place.’

Recalling what Sethian had said, Yi-Gyeol naturally smiled at Eda, pretending to be unperturbed. When it comes to covering up his true feelings with something else, he was confident in his own way as he had been doing it for the past five years.

⋆♚⋆♛⋆♚⋆

Sethian, sitting at the seat of honor in the drawing room, pressed Roa – who was sitting diagonally from him – with his eyes, telling him to get to the main point straight away. Roa thought that he was being short-tempered as usual, but still opened his mouth as he wanted, taking some time.

“Have you made up your mind about the throne?”

Even before he asked the question, he was already sure of the answer that would come back. The Sethian that Roa saw was more deeply engrossed in the man named Joo Yi-Gyeol than he thought, and it was worthy enough to say that he would aim for the throne just for him.

However, the short answer that returned was not very clear.

“Maybe.”

Roa’s face was filled with doubts at the non-committal answer.

“You know that you have to ascend to the throne in order to maintain Joo Yi-Gyeol’s body, right?”

The Emperor and the Crown Prince’s mana stones are automatically engraved with their names the moment a new owner is appointed. Since the owner obviously used the mana stone to cast golden magic, of course, the master of the mana stone must also remain the same in order to maintain that magic.

What Sethian used to carry out the golden art is the mana stone of the ‘Crown Prince.’ The crown prince’s position would be naturally stripped if a new emperor, not him, was established, and in that case, the name engraved on the mana stones would also be erased. It was obvious that Yi-Gyeol’s body, which was made of that mana stone, would also disappear without a trace.

Therefore, it was only natural for him to ascend the throne in order to retain the ownership of the magic stone used in the golden art, but it seems that Sethian did not intend to do so.

Because of that, it was Roa who became impatient.

‘My research subject!’

For Roa, Yi-Gyeol was a rare subject that he wanted to devote his life to studying. It was the first time that he met a ‘living soul’ that escaped without the body being dead, and it was also the first time he had created a perfect body based on it. As a result, there are a lot of things to research while checking Yi-Gyeol’s physical condition, and he couldn’t let him disappear just like this.

“If someone else ascends the throne, the Crown Prince’s position will be naturally stripped, and Joo Yi-Gyeol’s body will disappear completely.”

Even though Sethian certainly is not ignorant of this fact either, he was still expressionless.

He visibly cherished Yi-Gyeol, but it was so frustrating why he wouldn’t give a clear answer.

Sethian asked, placing his elbow on the armrest and clasping his chin.

“What happens to the soul when the settled body disappears?”

Roa, who hesitated at the composed question, answered cautiously.

“I’m not sure since there’s no successful precedent, but I think it will return to its original body.”

Sethian’s brow furrowed at those words.

“You mean going back to the body that is in the comatose state?”

“In fact, when Joo Yi-Gyeol-nim met the Crown Prince in the soul state before, didn’t you say that he would return to his original body and open his eyes after about two hours? It’s just one of the hypotheses, but if the current body disappears, it is believed that there is a high probability of returning to the original body connected to the soul.”

Sethian’s eyes fell into deep thought. Roa doesn’t know what he’s thinking, but he was hoping for it to be actively and positively aiming for the throne. If he did that, he too would roll up his arms and try to persuade the elders of the tower.

But Sethian did not speak his thoughts.

“Is that all you have to say?”

Sethian took out a pocket watch with a thin gold chain from his arms and checked the time, acting as if he’s going to stand from his chair at any moment. Roa quickly seized him with his words.

“There’s one more thing. It’s about Joo Yi-Gyeol-nim’s physical condition.”

Sethian’s eyes shone sharply for a moment. It made him wonder why he reacts so promptly to the state of Yi-Gyeol’s physical condition, but doesn’t give a definitive answer to his physical preservation.

“Did Joo Yi-Gyeol-nim perhaps go out of his body several times yesterday or today?”

The corners of Sethian’s eyes wriggled and his voice sank even lower.

“Does that put a strain on his body?”

The returned question seemed to answer the word ‘yes’, so Roa put on a very serious expression.

“Upon inspection today, there is a path where the soul frequently left and entered the body, and there are traces of a slight disturbance of mana as a result.”

Roa carefully chose his words from the line that would not offend Sethian.

“As you know, the created body has a set flow of mana and vitality that circulates through the body. The fact that the mana was disturbed means that the vitality was the same at that time. Such a disorganized vitality would have slipped out of the body and scattered in the air.”

“Just tell me the conclusion.”

Even though Roa had already said it carefully, Sethian still doesn’t seem to be in a good mood. For him, Roa answered briefly and boldly.

“If he leaves his body frequently even in just a short period of time or stays away for a long time, he will need to be careful because the vitality is also rapidly depleting. Actually, I couldn’t say it because I was afraid Joo Yi-Gyeol-nim would be worried, but most of the vitality was lost even today.”

“….”

Sethian didn’t answer. But his cold eyes were clearly thinking of someone.

Roa, who followed Sethian after leaving the drawing room and was now going back to the bedroom, looked at his back with a bitter expression. He was the same as usual, but he seemed to feel uncomfortable somewhere.

‘It’s only understandable.’

It would be dissatisfying to think that you split your life span and gave life to others, but it’ll just be lost due to frequent soul withdrawal. He thought that it would not be unlikely for Sethian to prevent Yi-Gyeol from going out of his body due to waste of the scattered vitality.

Roa, who remembered the golden butterfly that was Yi-Gyeol’s soul, stood in front of the bedroom thinking that it was a pity since it’s an extremely coveted ability.

Sethian opened the door and accepted Kirsty’s bow, and quickly approached Yi-Gyeol, who was raising his upper body in bed just in time.

“You’re back?”

Yi-Gyeol smiled as soon as he saw Sethian, but his eyes suddenly opened wide at the touch of the hand that quickly supported the back of his head. Then, without even prior notice, Sethian overlapped both of their lips.

“…?!”

Sethian’s tongue protruded between Yi-Gyeol’s lips, whose breath hitched in astonishment. Eda, who was seeing it from a close distance, and Lenox and Roa, who were standing inside the door, each had a surprised expression on their faces.

Not long after a moan began to flow out of Yi-Gyeol’s mouth, Sethian’s lips fell off. He leaned Yi-Gyeol’s head – which was reeling with a burning face – against him, and turned his head to look back at Roa.

“Examine him again. Check if this much is enough.”

Rather than preventing Yi-Gyeol from going out of his body, it seems that he intends to fill the loss with his vitality. Seeing that he had chosen to share more of his own lifespan rather than restricting Yi-Gyeol’s actions, Roa could only wonder why he hadn’t decided to succeed the throne with certainty yet. Since he likes Yi-Gyeol that much.