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Chapter 33 – Did You Go To See Him Again?
Oh, I’m screwed.
Kennes’ escape route was darker than expected, so I couldn’t see anything. The entrance closed and I stood blankly for a while. As the cold chill touched my skin, it felt like I was rubbing against the cool, slippery skin of a reptile, and my spine shivered.
Whishh~ The cool wind rang into the cave, beating through my eardrums to the cochlea. My hair stood up.
In addition, from the hard stone floor as if standing on an Arctic glacier, cold air like dry ice slowly came up and wrapped around my ankle.
‘Ah, Empress Kennes! How terrified were you of Theodor, to rely on a string rope on the wall and run in this insidious darkness like the belly of the devil?’
I guess I’m not that desperate yet, I can’t move! My legs trembled. I wanted to go back.
Research, analysis, or whatever, should I just go back to Shlezen Castle? My weakened heart hardened when I remembered Theodor. I had to protect him from any threat of poisoning.
‘You should only give him plenty of love under solid protection.’
‘Ahm, I can’t sit here. If you leave it to that book-smart Gerard, who only knows about books and swords, you will only get the same result as the book.’
I may have no other choice but to die from the greed and wickedness of my parents. But I can’t be torn to death by the devil in a quiet way as they please.
First, like Empress Kennes, I found the rope. According to the book, a long string was hung on the wall of the escape route, and if you follow it even in the dark, you will reach an exit. I felt goosebumps because the wall was slippery like snake scales when I touched it, but I couldn’t help it. I mustered my courage and traced the wall where the rope was supposed to be. A moment later,
Squish~
This slender existence that makes the hairs all over the body stand up is undoubtedly–!
A worm. Maybe a centipede.
“Kyaaak!”
I ran forward, frantically shaking my hand that had touched the bug. It felt like cold dead hands were coming out of the hard floor and gripping my legs. No, what if you step on a corpse or a rat and fall? Maybe a monster lives there. Imagination nurtured fear, and in an instant, fear wrapped around me like a vine, squeezing my chest and making it impossible to breathe.
“Ahhhhhk!!”
My voice resounded on the escape route. Besides, the sound of my shoes. My eardrums withstood echoes of screams and sounds exceeding 100 dB, and my legs sped up like cars running on the autobahn. The damp wind hit my face.
Pang.
Puck.
Ugh…
I bumped into a huge exit and hit my buttocks.
Ah…
A moan issued from my mouth. My whole body tingled. I ran at full speed, so it was normal if there was a break or bruise somewhere.
‘Thank you for being strong, my body.’ Then,
Hiiing- Kwen!
Behind me, I could hear the cries of insidious ghosts that had missed me. My heart was pounding in surprise. I had to run away. I jumped up and looked for the latch on the door with my eyes slightly accustomed to the darkness. There was a spring mechanism at the end of the clasp. I pulled the latch to the side and the door opened like in a book. Blinded by the intense light coming through the open door, I raised my arms and closed my eyes. After a while, when I opened my eyes and got used to the light, I couldn’t help but marvel.
“Wow!”
In the book, it was described only as a cave outside the guild on the other side of the port, inside a beautiful strange rock cliff, but this was no ordinary cave. A large hole was drilled in the copper-shaped ceiling, and the orange sky was visible. The sunlight entering the hole colored the cave walls with warm yellow and orange-scarlet colors. It was like a hidden resort on the Mediterranean coast. Above all, it was in strange harmony with the clear fluttering ice-green sea. Embracing the overwhelming emotions of nature, I set out on a sandy beach filled with the warmth of midday.
Wow! I quickly took off my shoes. Grains of sand were seeping between my toes. My whole body was warmed by the intense heat. A groan came out of its own accord. The heat that had melted my whole body like the steam room in a Korean sauna rose through my toes. At that time.
Kururu- Bang! When I turned around in surprise, I heard the sound of the door closing by itself.
Phew…
The salty smell and the cool breeze from the sea whispered to me that I could rest for a while. Here there was just the sky, the blowing wind, and the crashing waves. Put your mind down and rest. The sky that heated up like lithium and turned red also encouraged me. No, no, relax after the mission is complete!
I left for my next destination, crunching across the warm sand.
Gerard was astonished. On his way home from the academy, he heard from Schmidt that Sinclair had stopped by the Dyson Guild temple and visited the prayer room.
‘I can’t believe you went to the temple without a prior report after getting permission to go out.’ It was suspicious. Owen and the current Orlezion temple denomination were close.
Whether what she said was true or false, he had seen through the words she said. But to disappear after making a political statement in the temple asking for an effort to annul the exile of the late Empress?
Gerard stared at the teddy bear lying on its face instead of Sinclair as if interrogating it. There was clearly no sign of going out. But there was no escape hole in the prayer room.
‘What’s your plan?’ He quietly summoned Schmidt.
“Quietly find her. Secretly, without anyone knowing.”
“Yes!”
“Not even Ariel.”
“Yes.”
“I also decided to pray together as a couple for my mother’s return.”
As the prayer room door closed, he closed his lips and clenched his hands.
‘If it’s not a meeting with the priest, did you go to meet him again?’
An unidentified displeasure stirred his heart, and Gerard glared fiercely at the teddy bear dressed in Sinclair’s gown.
“Don’t do this, my Lordship!”
As I suddenly approached the side, a man put his head down, lifted his ass, and shouted.
‘I think my menswear is perfect.’ Should I have added a beard? What a waste of an opportunity.
“Now that darkness has descended, please allow the water to float. Our slaves also need to drink water to live. Please have mercy on me!”
Oh my gosh, it seems like you’ve been hit a lot to have such an automatic reflection. I pity you.
“Count Arthur!” I called out the man’s name affectionately. The man raised his head and looked at me in surprise. “Count Arthur, right?”
“Who are you?”
The man burned with hostility when his past title was revealed. I continued the work the man had stopped doing. I scooped water with a bucket and poured it into the man’s wooden barrel.
“I’m just here to make a deal, so don’t growl like that.”
“It’s a deal… Are you making a deal with a slave?”
“I need the laboratory tools you’ve been secretly experimenting with.”
“Aigoo~ what the hell are you talking about? What kind of experiment are you talking about…”
The man smiled and looked around. Of course, he would be scared. The mere sound of the word would make your throat run away at once.
“Unbreakable glass, I know.”
There was a twinkle in the man’s eyes. But as soon as he found his composure, he took the bucket from me and drew water again.
“Is there such a thing? I do not know, my Lordship.”
“It’s not that, no. You know it, I know it, and the great Emperor, His Majesty Herace knows it.”
As I spoke, Count Arthur’s eyes lit up.
“Did the Emperor send you?”
Anger flashed in his eyes. He tried to throw a bucket at me, and I grabbed his arm and easily subdued him.
“Ugk! Arm, arm!”
“Your work makes me feel resentful too. Still, it’s difficult for a baby flower like you to vent his anger on me. And your invention, I thought it was wonderful.”
“…”
“If you hand me the lab tools, I will run several experiments. And unlike you, I’m going to climb the money cushion. Then I will buy you and free you from slavery.”
I loosened my grip on the hand. He turned and looked at me.
“Don’t charm me with nonsense, my Lordship.”
‘Does that mean you’re half-charmed?’ I had to put a wedge.
“Should I explain it? Ordinary glass is made by melting silica stone with heat. And when the glass is heated to a temperature of about 700 degrees and about to melt like jelly, if you freeze the surface in an instant with cooled air, the surface hardens, while the inside hardens slowly instead of right away. In that case, the glass does not break easily due to external compressive stress.”
“Did your Lordship also make it?”
“No way… How will I? Didn’t you make it?”
A twinkle flashed in the man’s eyes. I smiled at him.
Count Arthur was a master of invention. Besides, he was loyal. As soon as he invented unbreakable glass, he immediately presented it to the Emperor.
However, the Emperor believed that widespread use would have a devastating effect on his glass industry. Thus, he decided to remove it. And sometimes a scapegoat is needed to catch up on the disorganized discipline of the Empire. So, he, who had nothing to do with magic, was handed over to the witch trials and turned into a slave.
Fortunately, the laboratory was close to the guild. And it was more perfect than I imagined!
Beakers and bowls, gas collection tubes, test tubes, small braziers, clamps, clauses, pinches, carvers, measuring cylinder evaporating dishes, filters, tripods, Erlenmeyer flasks, round bottom flasks with a flat bottom and long necks, vacuum filter flasks, and more! Nothing was missing. There are always geniuses who are truly ahead of their time.
He was a genius, but he was hated by the Emperor and eventually became a slave. The humiliation and abuse he suffered while a slave nourished his revenge.
In the end, he planned to kill Crown Prince Alfred, who visited the guild ten years later, instead of the Emperor.
Just like tonight, to draw water from the well, he adjusted it to the Crown Prince’s movements to do a surprise attack. However, the plan was revealed before it could even be put into action, and in the end, it was fatal. Of course, when I read the book, I was angry that he dared to touch Alfred instead of the Emperor. Anyway, thanks to that, I got the experimental equipment.
‘All I have to do is find a way to move it to my workplace. How can I bring it?’ First, I decided to wrap it so that others could not see it and put it in a box. Should I ask someone I can trust to bring it? That would be the best, right? Since I have a lot of eyes on me when I go out. When I thought of a way to get it, my hands got faster.
And… With the setting sun in the background, I was trembling when I stood in front of the secret door again. My heart raced at the thought of having to go back through that black hole again. And the moment I opened the door.
It was frustrating. Because bright lights were on on the escape path.
‘Oh my gosh, what a sly, wicked escape route!’
Why didn’t it turn on before?!
Somehow, when Empress Kennes ran away, she didn’t run screaming like me. Did I press something wrong when I fell earlier?
Today, the goddess of fortune was holding my hand tight. My cheekbones went up on their own.
Bang, the door closed behind me, but it sounded like a happy rumble.
Now that sight had come to life, I couldn’t even hear the sound of the wind howling like before. Rather, I was mesmerized by the naked goddesses and male gods painted on the wall. The cherry blossoms painted on the wall were illuminated and shook enchantingly.
I felt gradually better. Coming here as if for the first time since I got something I wanted very easily. In addition, as I was walking on the stone-paved road, it was nice to hear the sound of my shoes squeaking.
The song came out by itself.
“You, you, you, you, you–”
It felt like someone was playing a harmonica and acoustic guitar next to me.
I walked as if dancing, kicking one foot forward and the other lightly floating. Then I shook my head side to side. I folded and unfolded my arms, and gently moved to the foot beat.
“Why don’t we walk down the street together today? How is the lullaby that you hear tonight, oh yeah.”
[tl/n: Song: Cherry Blossom Ending–Busker Busker]
I balled my fists to the tune of ‘Oh yeah’ and raised the warm air of the cave with one hand. But at that moment, as the door opened, a man appeared.
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Gasp!
With a foot in the air, I couldn’t move.
——
Sinclair is me coming back home while my mom is waiting to scold me for something
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