The Harem Is an Unforgivable Master

82 – The truth of the attempt to assassinate the Emperor (2)

Sitting on the stone floor of the prison where the chill creeped up, I reflected on my mistake that had just happened today.

As he tried to bring back the humiliating memories that should never have been there as a loyalist, his heart was infested with pests, and the pain that gnawed at his inner walls came flooding in.

It’s a familiar pain.

Haven’t you suffered from that pain for over 6 years already? Even so, this time I changed the target and drove me into the swamp of guilt.

A new sense of guilt crawled through my body, mixed with the creeping chill at the fact that I was again driven into pain that I shouldn’t have gotten used to.

I wanted to jump off the stone floor and jump onto the bed right away, but I gnashed my teeth and endured it.

Because this was the minimum atonement I gave myself.

At that time, His Majesty was in the midst of handling a ‘certain task’ secretly so that it would not be revealed to the duchy.

Breathing in the dreary night air cooled by the moonlight, My Majesty and I were taking a walk in the small garden inside the imperial castle.

“Your Majesty, the wind is cold. Please go in.”

At my words, His Majesty stroked his long beard and said playfully.

“It hasn’t been long yet, but already. Shouldn’t you and I take a little breather?”

“It’s already been 10 laps.”

Although it is a small garden, it is wide enough to hold small banquets. It was the 10th time I had walked along the trail that meandered along the edge of the garden. It is time for the body to cool down.

Only then did His Majesty come and groan a little before stretching his shoulders once more.

“Has it already happened? Time flies quickly at times like this.”

“It’s because you have a lot of things in mind.”

The time to finally bring to the surface the plan that has been underway for almost four years to prepare for the threat of the imperial family is drawing closer.

It was not unreasonable for His Majesty to have many thoughts.

‘If this plan fails…’

In the long term, including the imperial family, even the safety of neighboring countries will be endangered. It would be nice if we could seek cooperation, but since the other party was the other party, they demanded covert action.

Even the immortal empress, far from the world, took great interest in our affairs.

“Look, Count.”

“Please tell me.”

“How about bringing your son? It will be of great help to us.”

I disrespectfully kept my mouth shut at His Majesty’s question.

The plan we are working on in secret is to go through the unknown darkness. You have to risk your life against a mighty enemy called ‘the devil’.

If there was a ‘Dark Cloud Witch’ who responded to the existence of the devil, it would have ended so easily, but she is not here now.

The Great Witch of Dark Clouds who blocks the onslaught of demons in the eastern part of the continent.

However, the stronghold of demons is only there, and it is different from the offensive of dragons and vampires.

Devils can appear in front of anyone who wants a contract anywhere on the continent.

That is why the Great Witch of Dark Cloud travels all over the continent and strives to eradicate demons. However, there are limits to what she can do alone.

It’s a daunting situation just to deal with the demon that has appeared, but she doesn’t give any help just because there is a sign that the demon will appear.

So, the Great Witch of Dark Cloud did not respond to the imperial family’s request. So we must risk our lives to solve it.

You can’t involve your loved ones in such a dangerous undertaking.

“Sorry, Your Majesty. As much as that…”

“I know. However, if you change your mind.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

In response to my confirmation, His Majesty didn’t say anything further. Even loyalists of the empire have certain things that cannot be conceded.

Pride as a father? It’s not because of such a petty idea.

No matter how much Tyr is a wizard with superior skills than me, he is a veteran who has gone through countless battles to the death. How could he be willing to push his son into a job where he has to risk his life as a father?

Never. Even if I die, Tyr and His Majesty…

“Count!!”

While I was lost in my thoughts for a moment, His Majesty suddenly grabbed my shoulder and pushed me aside.

Before he could even wonder what had happened, he quickly used his mana and spread a magic barrier around his majesty.

Then I realized that a rogue boat that I hadn’t noticed before was thrusting a dagger into my back.

‘How on earth?!’

Even I, a court mage, and those who were protecting Your Majesty from the shadows didn’t notice.

Still, thanks to Your Majesty’s quick recognition, I succeeded in hitting the barrier before the blade of the sword touched His Majesty’s jade body, which pushed me aside and entered in my place.

Of course I thought the blade would bounce off my magic.

That was a very foolish idea.

“Keuuugh!”

The black blade of the mysterious assassin slashed through my magic as easily as through wet paper, and shoved the blade through Your Majesty’s shoulder.

“Your Majesty!”

With my eyes closed, I instantly drew out all the magic at my disposal and attacked the assassin. How dare you harm the body of a noble member of the imperial family!

Not only me, but those hiding in the shadows also jumped out and moved quickly toward the assassin.

But the assassin was quick to admit that the ambush had gone awry and laid down his sword. And with all my might, I stepped back.

And right after that, the Assassin’s presence completely disappeared again.

The assassin hurriedly disappeared, breaking through our strict security, which was perfectly prepared. Neither I nor Sernai’s shadows could hide their bewilderment at the impossibility.

“No… What the hell is this?”

“Wait!”

His Majesty looked at the dagger stuck in his shoulder and said.

“Ji, it’s rather fortunate that Jim couldn’t use mana satisfactorily.”

“Your Majesty! We will treat you right away!”

Even though I poured all my mana into it, the cut on His Majesty’s shoulder did not heal easily. While searching for the cause, I saw the assassin’s sword and swallowed my saliva.

“How did this get here…?”

“That’s not all. Did you see the cloak he was wearing? It looked a little different, but it was definitely an invisibility cloak.”

Only then did we learn why we didn’t notice the assassin’s presence even though it was close by. How the hell did that rogue boat carry two treasures of the imperial family?

And then a heavy feeling of guilt settled in my heart. As a subject, I couldn’t protect His Majesty, but I ended up wearing His Majesty’s silver.

His Majesty, who knew my personality better than anyone else, patted me on the shoulder and said,

“I was able to find out because Jim was aware of the invisibility cloak’s shortcomings. Don’t blame me.”

“But Your Majesty!”

“Rather… Let’s make use of this situation. First of all, I’m really glad you’re safe.”

I could easily imagine what would happen if I was the one stabbed by that blade. That is why His Majesty sacrificed his body to save me.

His Majesty spoke softly as I and the shadows surrounded me.

“For now, Count.”

“Yes…”

“There must be a reason why he was targeting you, not Jim. So, stay away for a while.”

“Haona!”

Before I could speak, His Majesty held out the palm of his hand to calm me down.

“This is my order to you. Would you refuse?”

That’s cowardly. How could I deny your order?

I slowly lowered my head.

“Your order… I will obey.”

“The shadows spread this covertly by decorating this as an attempt to assassinate the emperor by the count. Then the enemies will think that the count has fallen from me.”

As always, the shadows obeyed His Majesty’s orders silently.

Thus, the attempt to assassinate the emperor was created in the hands of the parties involved.

—–

“And this is the sword the one who attacked the count had.”

After mentioning what had happened at dawn, His Majesty took out a dagger with an impressive black blade from his bosom. Aisha and I both opened our mouths as soon as we saw it.

“This is…”

“It is an artifact created to kill only wizards, and one of the treasures of the imperial family, the ‘Reverse Constellation Blade’.”

I knew it well because it was a weapon that was evaluated as having excellent efficiency in the original work.

The dagger of the reverse constellation is a legendary weapon with a limit of 3 times, and it exerts a heinous effect only on wizards.

The effect is ‘runaway mana’. The magician’s mana explodes inside the body, causing great damage and at the same time making mana unusable for a certain period of time.

The stronger the mana stored in the body of the target, the greater the damage.

If that blade had touched my father, a court mage… He would have surely died.

If so, I… By all means.

“Tyr! Calm down!”

It wasn’t until Aisha’s hand wrapped around my clenched fist that it turned white, and then I realized that I was excited.

From nob le mt l. co m

My excitement slowly subsided as I saw Aisha’s worried eyes in front of my eyes.

“…Ah.”

He squeezed so hard that his fingernails tore through his skin, leaving his palms wet with blood.

While receiving treatment from Aisha, I took a deep breath and calmed her mind. She then bowed her head deeply towards the emperor.

“Thank you very much for saving my father.”

“Thank you. I have just paid off one of my debts to the Count.”

I then combined the newly acquired information and posed a question to the emperor.

“Is it genuine?”

“No.”

At my words, the emperor declared as if he had waited.

“Here I am wearing a real invisibility cloak. And the sword of this reverse constellation, too.”

Then, holding the tip of the knife with both hands and pulling it down, it split in two, like dry firewood splitting.

“It’s just a replica.”

The emperor threw it on the floor as if he had touched something unclean, and sent a bright glare at me.

“The Count is unable to move, so I need to help with the luggage, Count So.”

I was willing to do that in the first place, so I nodded slowly.