CH 65

Utter chaos could still be heard outside when the bedroom door suddenly swung open without the usual prior knock. Who entered the bedroom were two knights dressed in golden armor, which appeared a bit hurtful to the eyes at first glance. They strode over to Yi-Gyeol, who was sitting alone in the bedroom, and glared at him while saying,

“So the rumor that the Crown Prince is raising a slave in his bedroom is true.”

The knight’s voice that spoke contained a smirk of derision.

Rather than getting offended for being treated as a slave, the mere thought of Sethian being ridiculed made him misty-eyed for an instant. But more than that, he was startled by the sense of incongruity that came over him. It was accompanied by a strange eerie feeling that Yi-Gyeol had never felt before.

‘Huh…?’

Clearly, the man’s voice flowed through his ears, but at the same time, he seemed to hear it inside his head. Even what was strange was they weren’t of the same modulation, only from the same gender, but certainly of two distinctly different voices.

As his eyes looked around to scan, wondering if there was an unnoticed soul butterfly around, the other knight who hadn’t spoken since entering the room came up to Yi-Gyeol and grabbed his arm then forced him to rise. Remembering Sethian’s words not to let anyone touch himself, he quickly shook the knight away. As soon as he did so, the knight let out a harsh sound as grim as his face.

“Stop resisting and just follow before I beat and drag you away!”

This guy is also strange! A voice befitting a middle-aged man, matching his face, came through his ears, but a voice of a weak old man that didn’t match him at all entered his head. Even though the voices were completely different, the sense of incompatibility is considerable since they have the same breathing, as if they were reading the same lines at the same time together.

“Does the Crown Prince know about this? Even if it’s the order of His Majesty…-!”

At that moment, Kirsty’s voice undividedly came through his ears from the other side of the door. No sound resonated inside his head and could be even deemed clear enough to be distinctly pronounced. On the other hand, the knight’s vocal resonance, who was holding himself back and tying his wrists with a coarse rope, was still heard in two.

“Stay still if you want your body to continue functioning properly.”

Yi-Gyeol’s thoughts didn’t stop turning even as his two wrists that were pressed behind his back were tied so tightly that it was painful. 

He turned his gaze and looked at the white butterfly floating in the air. The voice that had been full of concern about him earlier had now inconspicuously ceased. Since normal people can’t hear the voices of souls anyway, they can ask again if he’s okay, like what it’s been asking repeatedly, but at the moment, it’s strangely quiet.

“Follow me!”

As the knight viciously grabbed Yi-Gyeol by the arm and dragged him away, his mind finally came up with a hypothesis.

‘Are they possessed like it was with the crow?’

As soon as the thought came to him, he was immediately convinced. Even though they entered another person’s body and borrowed their mouths to speak, they are originally souls that speak through someone’s head, making them unintentionally produce both voices. Most people were unable to hear the voices made by souls[1] so they wouldn’t feel anything out of place, but to Yi-Gyeol who was able to hear both, it felt nothing but anomalous.

While recalling that the crow used to open its beak as well as if going to make a sound when it was talking with him, Yi-Gyeol felt the pain in his arm and knitted his forehead. Considering the knight’s intensity, it doesn’t seem like he’ll listen to him even if he says it hurts and most likely just hit him for being bothersome then drag him away, so Yi-Gyeol clenched his teeth and quietly bear with the pain.

Stepping out of the bedroom, he saw Kirsty and the servants from the Emerald Castle tied up and being dragged in the distance. Only then did Yi-Gyeol realize the severity of the current situation. The fact that the Crown Prince’s deputy knight commander and dedicated servants were being manhandled one after the other only shows that they were already at a critical junction.

“…Is his Highness Crown Prince Sethian all right?”

He impatiently asked. Rather than asking for his sore arm to be loosened or questioning the reason for being dragged away, what came to Yi-Gyeol’s mind first was to know if Sethian is okay. As long as they can tell him that, Yi-Gyeol thought he’d be willing to be taken away.

The knight who was tugging on Yi-Gyeol’s arm just snorted and didn’t answer. The other knight also kept his mouth shut with a serious face.

Anxiety struck him. All those related to Sethian being arrested solely mean that something big has happened to the point that it can threaten his position as the Crown Prince.

Biting his lower lip, he tried to sustain his emotion that was on the verge of collapse. Encouraging himself inside by thinking about Sethian, his faltering mentality hardened in no time.

“Do whatever you deem should be done.”

It was something that Sethian spat out even though he knew that they were being watched. It might have sounded nothing to the soul tailing him – like being told to do something trivial like simply staying in bed, reading a book, or watching people outside the window – but to him, those words were by no means light.

‘What I want to do. What I should do.’

The current situation downright proves that Zair had been laying the groundwork for his schemes for a long time now.

Previously, while specifically hiding the details of meeting a soul-possessed crow from Roa, Yi-Gyeol asked if an animal could be possessed by a human soul, and his answer was as follows:

“There have been cases of souls possessing animals by using ‘Possession Powder’ that existed hundreds of years ago, but it was impossible to maintain them for a long time. Maybe a couple of hours. For humans…, It’s sad to say, but I haven’t the faintest idea. The recipe for the possession powder completely disappeared a long time ago now. It’s because crushing a living human’s soul to allow another soul to enter their bodies and pretend to be its owner can cause various problems.”

It was said that the recipe had disappeared, but seeing that the soul connected to Zair had successfully possessed the crow, he’s leaning toward the possibility that the drug called possession powder was used. And judging from the amount of time he was monitored this time, which was twice as long instead of only a couple of hours, they must’ve used the drug which was already been further studied.

Despite that, the negative effect of possession powder on humans still showed as it is now.

A creepy chill came to Yi-Gyeol the next moment.

He doesn’t know what Sethian’s state is exactly, but what if these two knights aren’t the only ones possessed by souls?

That thought made him even more queasy about Sethian’s condition. There’s a big chance that he’s been caught in a strange scheme made by the possessed people on Zair’s side.

His face turned into a serious expression, not noticing that the knights who were walking briskly in front of him gradually slowed down. Yi-Gyeol, who was ruminating in his head without caring to know where he was being taken, only raised his gaze when their footsteps stopped.

The place where Yi-Gyeol arrived is in a completely different direction than the one where Kirsty and the attendants were led. However, as soon as Yi-Gyeol asserted that all of this was Zair’s doing, he had already guessed where their destination was. That’s why he didn’t ask where they were going and didn’t panic about what this place was.

Two knights in black armor were standing on the left and right sides of a large door engraved with neat patterns. They glanced at the knights in golden armor and Yi-Gyeol, then uniformly knocked on the door as if expecting the situation beforehand.

“Second Prince. Two knights from the imperial guards have arrived.”

A single voice was heard from the knight, indicating that he wasn’t possessed.

Shortly, a familiar voice gave permission from within the room, and the two knights in black armor opened the door wide.

As soon as the door opened, he saw Zair approaching with a faint smile on his face.

“Come in. Why don’t you seem too surprised?”

What Yi-Gyeol felt as soon as he saw the calm smile on Zair’s face was not relief and comfort but displeasure. Thinking that Zair is the one who set Sethian into a trap, his face almost crumpled up, wanting to lunge at him right away.[2]

“What happened? I’m honestly quite shocked….”

But contrary to the radical thoughts in his head, Yi-Gyeol showed a fragile appearance with his eyes tinged with tears on the outside. Using his pale complexion from worrying about Seth, he pretended to be anxious and scared of suffering in the days to come. Ensuingly upon seeing Zair’s smile, he duly pretended to be relieved, lowering the corners of his hard-set eyes.

“You’ve suffered. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything you want to know.”

Zair naturally approached Yi-Gyeol and pulled him into his arms.

It sucks.

I feel so bad, It’s the worst.

I really, really hate him.

I feel so crappy and mad.

Near-vicious emotions filled Yi-Gyeol’s mind instantly that he was surprised even by himself. He has never hated anyone like this before, but when Zair staged such an abomination and put Sethian in danger, insuppressible displeasure started to overwhelm him. He wanted to get rid of Zair and get out of there this very instant.

Sethian’s enemy is his own enemy.

Knowing that, he had to hide himself even more now, especially on how things stood and put up with it.

Zair softly swept his back who was seemingly trembling in fear, then blinked his eyes at the two golden armored knights who had brought Yi-Gyeol out. As members of the Imperial Knights solely serving the emperor, they politely left the room as if Zair was their lord.

He took pleasure in Yi-Gyeol’s anticipated reaction then pulled him out of his arms with superficial concern and pity on the outside. Yi-Gyeol’s eyes became so red as if he were about to weep at the slightest touch and his complexion is exceptionally pale that anyone who would see him would want to comfort him. Zair inwardly smiled in satisfaction from his appearance then bitterly distorted the corners of his eyes.

“To tell you the truth, Sethian murdered our brother; the first prince, Mendel. As the evidence is clear, he will probably be relieved of his position as the Crown Prince soon.”

Yi-Gyeol’s eyes sharply widened. Expecting the astonishment on his face, Zair added another word.

“In that case, what do you think will happen to you with Sethian as your owner?”