BANG!
THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD.
Karl woke to the sound of the door being flung violently open and heavy footsteps drawing closer.
But he could not even open his eyes. His entire body was filled with excruciating pain, as though he had been engulfed in raging flames, and even breathing was difficult.
If he lifted his eyelids now, his dried-out eyeballs might tear loose from their sockets.
“Treat him.”
At the sound of the voice, Karl felt the heat that had been burning through his body rapidly subside, and realized that it was Milton’s magic.
“Ugh…….”
As the heat receded, Karl finally managed to open his eyes, and a pained groan escaped his lips.
Through his fever-blurred vision, he could make out someone quietly looking down at him.
For a moment, Karl remembered the first time he had met Madius. Unlike Madius, however, the indistinct figure before him possessed none of that terrifying presence.
“Karl.”
Only after hearing the voice again with a clearer mind did Karl realize that the person before him was none other than Third Prince Ias.
“…Brother……. Why……?”
Ias quietly looked down at Karl, his shadowed face betraying no emotion.
It was as though he were concentrating on his sickly younger brother, over whom the shadow of death hung, in an attempt to discover something of value within him.
“Your nursemaid came to find me.”
“…….”
Karl, who had been struggling to sit up, froze.
Then he hurriedly looked around for Cecile.
But Cecile was nowhere in the room.
“W-where is Cecile?”
At Karl’s urgent question, Ias answered flatly.
“Your nursemaid was taken away for violating the rules of the imperial palace.”
“What…! Why would Cecile—?”
“Because she did something she was not permitted to do.”
Only then did Karl understand why Ias had come to see him.
Cecile had done something.
“What will happen to Cecile?”
“Is that important?”
Ias coldly brushed aside Karl’s desperate question.
There was no trace of the kind, cheerful young man Karl had seen during the day.
He truly carried himself like a son of the Emperor now.
Yet Karl did not freeze in fear as he had before Madius.
“Cecile is my…!”
Karl began shouting in anger, only for his voice to trail off as his lips trembled.
My…….
My what?
To ‘Han Changin,’ Cecile was no one.
But to ‘Karl,’ what kind of person had Cecile been?
Ias silently watched Karl’s fever-flushed face turn deathly pale.
Then he slowly stepped closer.
“Is she nothing to you?”
“…….”
Nothing.
Surely that was what she was.
And yet that woman who was supposedly nothing had risked her life for Karl.
“……What will happen to Cecile?”
“Well, that is not for me to decide.”
“Then what must I do to save her?”
“You want to save her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Karl met Ias’s probing gaze head-on.
“I do not really know, but I want to save her anyway.”
In the end, Karl still had no idea how he was supposed to treat Cecile.
But at the very least, he could not bear the thought of her dying.
Ias slowly nodded at those words, then stepped back, removing the shadow he had cast over Karl, and straightened.
“Your nursemaid begged me to obtain the medicine for you. She prostrated herself in front of my bedroom and shouted for me. Even while the Imperial Guards were dragging her away.”
“…….”
“She is currently imprisoned. She defiled the rules of the imperial palace, so she will be sentenced to death. But if I suppress the matter, then unless His Majesty personally gives an order, she will return to you safely without any further disturbance.”
Ias referred to his father, Madius, dryly as ‘His Majesty’ and continued in a low voice.
“So, what can you give me? What can you offer me in exchange for saving a woman who defiled the rules of the imperial palace, and for obtaining the medicine that may cure your disease?”
Karl felt a chill at Ias’s stern demeanor.
Just as Madius had proven far more terrifying than the character in the novel, and just as Aingir had fooled Karl into mistaking him for someone else despite Karl knowing his identity from Han Changin’s memories—
Ias, too, stood before him not as some flat character from a novel, but as a living, breathing human being.
Ias asked with quietly burning eyes.
So, what will you do?
Karl slowly opened his mouth.
“I owe you two lives, so I will repay you with two lives.”
“……You intend to save my life?”
“Yes. And once more after that.”
“How?”
“Save Cecile and me. Then, when you need me in the future, I will put everything else aside and do as you ask.”
“You are still saying absurd things.”
“I cannot simply give up without trying, can I?”
Ias grinned when Karl repeated those words once again.
“How am I supposed to trust you?”
“I will stake my life on it.”
“If you die without my help anyway, then does that life not already belong to me?”
“It is all I possess. I have nothing more to stake, and nothing more to offer.”
“Impudent. You possess nothing, yet you act as though you possess everything.”
Karl’s eyes widened in shock.
Those were the words Madius had spoken when he first saw Karl and immediately perceived that there was something alien about him.
‘Even Ias, who was utterly outmaneuvered by Aingir, possesses this much depth and cunning!’
Fear and unease seized Karl.
But such concerns would only matter if he survived the immediate crisis.
“Very well, Karl. From this moment onward, you owe me two lives.”
Yet Ias suddenly smiled gently, as though the fierce interrogation from moments earlier had been a lie.
“I will not expect much, but I will remember this. Make sure you do not forget either.”
“What?”
“You have a debt to repay, don’t you? Ha ha ha ha!”
With that, Ias turned around and strode confidently out of the room.
Unlike Madius, he left alone without so much as a single attendant.
His back seemed so impossibly broad that Karl could not tear his eyes away.
Cecile returned less than ten minutes later with a dazed expression.
Her hair was disheveled, but she was otherwise perfectly unharmed.
“Cecile, are you all right?”
“Ah, yes….”
“I heard you were imprisoned. Were you hurt?”
“What? Ah, no. I was just sitting there until they let me go….”
He tricked me.
Karl closed his eyes and exhaled deeply in relief.
At the same time, he collapsed back onto the bed beneath a whirlpool of emotions too complicated to put into words.
Ias had played him completely.
Karl had not noticed a thing.
He had been utterly terrified.
Karl was forced to realize just how powerless and foolish he truly was.
He had acted as though knowing the future of this world somehow made him special.
Yet he had frozen in terror before Madius, been completely deceived by Aingir’s act, failed even to contact House Felt despite intending to use them, and had now been perfectly fooled by Ias, whom Karl had thought far less cunning than either Madius or Aingir.
You useless idiot.
Karl trembled with self-loathing.
Even Ias’s help had ultimately come down to luck—and to Cecile risking her life for him.
Karl himself had accomplished nothing.
A crushing sense of helplessness and frustration engulfed him.
“Lord Karl, are you all right? Were you terribly frightened? I’m sorry. I only…….”
But when Cecile hurried over and wiped the sweat from his forehead, Karl pushed those sinking emotions aside.
There was suddenly something he wanted to ask her.
“Cecile, what kind of person was ‘Karl’? And my…. my mother, and you…….”
“…….”
Cecile’s eyes widened.
Tears gathered within them.
“…I was so focused on finding a cure…….”
Karl offered the pathetic excuse.
And judging by how relatively calm Cecile was, he realized she had not yet heard the news.
“Brother Ias promised to help us.”
“…….”
Karl felt something difficult to describe as he watched Cecile’s expression transform.
He had never imagined that human emotion could manifest so vividly on someone’s face.
Joy exploded across Cecile’s startled features, only for her expression to crumple like a child who had finally let go of everything.
Then she burst into sobs.
Karl took her hand.
Perhaps it was because he felt guilty.
The Karl whom Cecile had loved like a son no longer existed.
But Karl, who possessed Han Changin’s memories, had obtained the key to changing the fate that should originally have ended in death.
Karl did not know whether he should suffer over the fact that he had pushed Cecile’s son aside and taken his place, or feel relieved that even if he was now a different person, he had given her the chance to see ‘Karl’ for longer.
In the end, Karl crumpled all those thoughts up and threw them away like garbage.
It was all meaningless.
He did not want to die.
He would grit his teeth and survive no matter what it took.
There was no way for the old ‘Karl’ to return now.
So Karl would simply do his utmost with what he had been given.
That was enough.
Karl—
He was alive now.
Cecile told Karl many things.
There was, in truth, not much worth telling about the former ‘Karl.’
He had been little more than a living corpse waiting for the day he would die.
He had been irritable, plagued by depression, and had done little more than give up on everything, cry until he exhausted himself, and fall asleep.
But Karl could tell that Cecile had truly loved him like a son.
Anyone listening to her would have felt the overwhelming affection in her words.
“You greatly resemble your mother, Lady Viole, Lord Karl. Your vivid green eyes, your light blond hair, even the shape of your nose, cheeks, and ears.”
“…What kind of relationship did you have with my moth… er?”
At Karl’s question, Cecile smiled softly.
The longing in that smile was almost painfully radiant.
“I grew up together with Lady Viole.”
“Were you friends?”
“Friends…. No, I was Lady Viole’s maid.”
“So you were friends.”
Karl realized that Cecile had not merely been an ordinary maid.
She had probably grown up beside Viole from childhood, becoming her playmate, her companion in conversation, and a friend who studied and learned alongside her.
“What kind of person was my mother?”
Cecile seemed overjoyed that Karl had asked about Viole.
Her eyes filled with tears as she smiled.
Then, in a soft and gentle voice, she told him how warm and kind Viole had been, how beautiful she looked when she smiled, and how much fun they had secretly playing mischievous pranks together.
At some point while listening, Karl drifted into unconsciousness.
His fever had begun rising again, and he could no longer endure it.
Yet when Cecile’s loving hand stroked his forehead, he was able to fall asleep peacefully.
The memory of Han Changin’s parents was empty, as though someone had painted over them in black.
And the memories Karl himself had accumulated amounted to barely more than a week.
Because of that, he did not know what parental love felt like.
Karl felt something soft and cloudlike slowly fill the gaping emptiness deep within his chest, following the warmth of Cecile’s touch.
***
Even after securing Ias’s promise, Karl continued visiting the archives every day.
He would search for more possibilities in case Ias failed to obtain the medicine, or in case it did not work.
Under that pretext, Karl cautiously indulged in the precious knowledge accessible only to members of the imperial family.
Knowing that he was foolish and still doing nothing about it would have been the truly foolish thing.
Milton and the librarians noticed that the direction of Karl’s reading had subtly changed, but they said nothing and simply continued bringing him the books he wanted.
Ias did not visit the Imperial Archives for some time.
Karl had no idea where he had gone.
Then, several days later, he heard surprising news.
“Third Prince Ias is currently not within the imperial palace.”
“What? Why?”
“I do not know that much either.”
Ias had temporarily left the imperial palace.
And even after several days passed, he did not return.
Karl’s condition continued to deteriorate.
By now, not only Madius but even the meticulous Aingir had completely lost interest in him.
Every day, Karl dragged his burning body back and forth between his bedroom and the archives, gasping with death seemingly at his doorstep.
The only people who still paid him any attention were Cecile, Milton, and the librarians of the archives.
It was almost as though he had become a ghost.
Everyone was certain he would die.
In the end, a little over twenty days after making his promise with Ias, Karl’s condition deteriorated to the point that he could no longer move even after receiving treatment.
“Please, God, please…….”
“…….”
Karl wanted to say something to Cecile as she sobbed and prayed, but he could not even manage that.
Milton had just cast healing magic on him, yet Karl could barely breathe.
His entire body was burning, and it felt as though his brain were melting into sludge that would soon pour out through his ears and nose.
In the middle of it all, Karl let out a faint laugh.
The absurdity of it made him laugh despite himself.
To die so meaninglessly.
“…….”
Milton stood a short distance from the bed, quietly watching Karl.
Then he closed his eyes.
It was a horrible feeling.
Karl had struggled so desperately even with his body on the brink of death.
Was he truly going to disappear in such a wretched, meaningless way?
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
BANG!
At that moment, heavy footsteps approached, and the door flew open so violently that it sounded as though a charging bison had slammed into it.
“Good. I’m not too late.”
Karl thought the laughter-tinged, sunlike voice was merely a hallucination.
THUD!
Something heavy struck the floor.
Karl’s entire body already felt as though it were burning away beneath the searing heat, and when the air inside the room suddenly grew even hotter, his agony intensified.
But the heat did not last long.
CLACK!
The instant something opened, bitter cold surged through the room like the arrival of a winter storm.
The moment Karl felt that cold, it was as though he had been reunited with a missing half of himself.
And despite being unable to move even after receiving healing magic, Karl began trembling and managed to sit up.
“You held out well. I like that stubborn determination of yours.”
Karl met Ias’s eyes.
He looked utterly disheveled, dressed in fur clothing covered with dust and stains, with a long, thick spear strapped across his back.
“I had some fun myself thanks to you. It gave me a bit of trouble, but I enjoyed it.”
Ias kicked a box glowing with fiery red light with the toe of his thick fur boot, sending it sliding toward the bed.
“The Frostwind Corpse Flower. I brought it back.”
Then Ias turned around and left with an attitude even cooler than the chill emanating from the Frostwind Corpse Flower that had killed the great hero of legend.
Karl realized that Ias had not acted merely because of their promise or to save his younger brother’s life.
He had found himself an excuse to go on an adventure.
Of course, that hardly mattered.
Ias had kept his promise.
Before Karl lay the enormous, beautiful flower of legend.
Even Ias, who could wield mana, had not dared touch it directly.
He had barely managed to transport the Frostwind Corpse Flower by sealing it inside a magically heated box.
The flower itself looked like transparent ice.
Moisture on its surface froze white beneath the tremendous cold, only for the frost to sublimate almost immediately and become transparent again.
It looked as though light were moving across its surface, making it shimmer.
Karl raised a hand to stop Cecile when she tried to approach and support him.
If Cecile so much as touched the flower, she would freeze solid and die.
Karl slowly reached out and grasped the flower.
The tremendous cold froze his skin instantly, only for the violent heat erupting from deep within his body to thaw it again.
His fragile skin froze, melted, and peeled away.
His fingernails tore free, fell to the floor, and shattered into pieces.
“Karl!”
Cecile screamed in horror at the sight.
CRUNCH!
Without hesitation, Karl shoved the frost fairy’s flower into his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed.
I will not die.
I will survive.
No matter what it takes.
An immense shock tore through him as though every cell in his body had exploded at once, and Karl lost consciousness.
Even as darkness claimed him, Karl felt an unbearably intense, primal desire surging through his chest until it overflowed, pounding fiercely against his entire being.