Why did it have to be her?

It’s not complicated.

First, the yellow-eyed child I met in the Labyrinth. That’s Abraham.

Not someone under a revelation like Marco, but the real body.

Why did I conclude that?

‘It’s not hard to figure out. That kid was drinking blood.’

If it were someone like Marco, they would’ve had to draw blood and offer it to someone else.

Now, I have two clues about Abraham’s appearance.

First, terrifyingly radiant ‘yellow’ eyes.

Second, a height of about 145 cm at most. I can infer they were in their early teens ten years ago. They’d be in their early twenties now.

The pool of Abraham candidates has narrowed to mages in their early twenties with yellow eyes. To identify which one is Abraham, I need to examine their actions.

Abraham gave revelations to professors, causing berserk potions to be planted in Adelbert and Elias’s rooms. The warp magic set up in my room was also his doing.

The purpose of the warp magic was clear, so here’s what to consider:

‘Why were Adelbert and Elias chosen as victims of the berserk incident?’

It’s time to bring up this unresolved issue from the past three weeks.

Elias’s hypothesis was this:

‘When signs of interference with Primrose Path’s operations appeared, they tried to frame me for Adelbert’s murder.’ ‘After the raids began, they outright tried to kill me.’

The latter is half-true, so let’s set it aside.

The fatal flaw in the former, as I’ve thought before, is that there was no reason to use berserk potions among countless murder methods. Even ignoring the lack of effort to fabricate evidence, like planting berserk potions in Elias’s room, using berserk potions would likely point the murder charge toward me, perceived as a Pleroma, rather than Elias.

‘If Abraham wasn’t seeking revenge for Primrose Path as Elias speculated, why did he target those two?’

Adelbert’s emotional fluctuations were intense. He was the perfect target for the explosive effects of berserk potions.

So why wasn’t Philip, or Günter, a victim of the berserk incident? What about the students who failed the first and second selections?

They were all in emotionally vulnerable states, yet Abraham showed no interest in them.

‘Why,’ out of so many people, did it have to be Adelbert Hohenzollern and Elias Hohenzollern?

The answer is simple.

Because they’re Hohenzollerns.

Elias’s mistake was viewing the two incidents linearly. It wasn’t that Abraham failed to kill Adelbert and then targeted Elias.

The two incidents were parallel. Adelbert had to die, and Elias had to die.

However, there’s no direct causality between the two incidents, but they share a common thread.

‘Both are royals at the Imperial Second Academy.’

That’s a critical factor that can’t be overlooked.

Now, I just need to find the common enemy of the royals, but there’s a decisive problem.

Their political factions are polar opposites.

They’re so far apart that finding a common enemy is difficult.

‘There’s one more clue here.’

Previously, Adelbert, drunk, fell down the stairs and tried to crush Elias’s leg. If that had succeeded, Adelbert would’ve been branded as ‘a prince who drank so much he couldn’t control himself and permanently crippled his relative’s leg.’ For a lower noble, it might pass, but for someone from the Empire’s ruling family, it would be a massive stain, raising questions about his qualifications.

It would also end Elias’s combat magic career.

We’re almost there.

So, who gave Adelbert the spiked liquor back then?

You don’t even need to get this far to easily guess Abraham’s identity.

We know Abraham has yellow eyes and is in their early twenties. We also know Abraham considers the second and de facto third in line for the throne as enemies.

The sum of the clues points to one person.

“You’re in a hurry.”

A calm voice, neither shocked nor flustered.

Abraham—no, the Crown Prince—turned fully to face me. Her radiant eyes shifted to meet mine directly.

“And quick, too.”

What’s in a hurry, and what’s quick?

Figuring out who Abraham is was quick, and calling her Abraham to her face as the Crown Prince was hasty.

But that’s just her judgment.

“Since Your Highness couldn’t resist putting out advertisements in the papers, I showed up early. It seems Your Highness isn’t aware of your own impatience.”

I said this, raising an eyebrow.

A face resembling Adelbert’s.

The face I saw in the Labyrinth was colored by Adelbert’s perspective, so it’s different from what I see now.

Only upon seeing her in person could I understand the evaluations people gave her. Unlike Adelbert, who shines with near-perfect brilliance, she seems to exist to be forgotten by the world, despite her intellectual aura and dignity.

Except for one thing—those unforgettable yellow eyes.

Those eyes gleamed intensely, as if ready to swallow the observer whole, whenever the world around her shifted slightly. Looking at them, it felt like her existence didn’t belong to this world.

“Our priest sure takes a long time observing a stranger’s face.”

“How many chances does one get to see the Crown Prince in a lifetime?”

I’ve been staring at her like she’s a zoo monkey for a while now. Even with such blatantly rude gazes and responses, leaving no room for excuses, the Crown Prince maintained her initial expression.

She tilted her head briefly, then, as if recalling my earlier words, slowly opened her mouth.

“You mentioned advertisements. I have a duty to reassure my subjects. If they’re trembling in fear because of Abraham…”

The Crown Prince smiled gently with a face resembling Adelbert’s.

“I must strive for my subjects’ sake.”

“…”

“Since we’ve met again, let’s introduce ourselves.”

She extended her hand to me.

“I am Elisabeth Hohenzollern.”

As if someone turned down the volume, the world’s sounds fell silent. At some point, a soundproofing spell must’ve been cast to keep our words from reaching outside, but when she offered her hand, everyone watching the investigation turned to look at us.

A superior proposing a casual greeting isn’t something to ignore. I had no particular reason to refuse.

I lightly clasped her hand. I tried to pull away quickly, but the Crown Prince’s slender fingers pressed down on the edge of my hand.

“…”

Releasing the leather glove stiffened by the winter wind, I smiled.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness.”

“The feeling is mutual. To meet again the one who held such a grand funeral for me—there’s no greater joy.”

She’s using my own phrasing.

As expected, she’s the Chairman, no matter what anyone says. The Chairman’s insight was hers, and even with a different shell, she never fails to impress.

A cold breeze scattered the soundproofing spell and passed between us. I laughed, feeling the wind.

“I’m glad you’re satisfied. Destroying ten years was quite entertaining.”

“My death became your happiness.”

“Not just mine, but the happiness of countless Old Humans trapped in Primrose Path and those used by you, Your Highness.”

The Crown Prince, still smiling, stared at me intently before turning her head.

“I’d love to continue this conversation, but this isn’t the place. It’s hard to have a deep discussion here, so let’s move elsewhere.”

She lightly snapped her fingers, pulling my arm with magic. The moment something devoid of warmth wrapped around my elbow, the space before me changed.

“Well, well.”

A murmur, as if she’d witnessed something unexpected, came out of nowhere.

From a position where I couldn’t see her face, she spoke with a faint laugh.

“You must be quite timid. Not even five years old…”

“…”

“Who could’ve made you so averse to warping?”

She probably wanted to provoke a hotheaded reaction, but she picked the wrong person. I responded nonchalantly.

“That’s not for Your Highness to know.”

“At this point, you might as well drop the formalities.”

Instead of engaging, I took a slow, deep breath to calm my heart rate and looked around.

The place she’d brought me to was unfamiliar.

‘A library?’

Faint moonlight streamed through tall windows, allowing me to make out objects faintly.

Curtains and decorations in a Berlin blue darker than Bavaria’s hung here and there. It didn’t seem very large, so it was likely one of the imperial annexes.

But she didn’t sit down and instead approached the door. It’s a common tactic in noble houses—she must’ve warped to an intermediate location to avoid tracking, not the final destination.

When she touched the library door, light flared on the navy-blue door hidden in the darkness. A wave of magic power rippled through the air.

I glanced at the chessboard-patterned tiles, barely touched by human steps, and walked forward. Like the floor, everything seemed brand new. The outside was probably just the imperial palace, but something about the window’s view felt off.

“You must be wondering where we are. The fifth floor of the Crown Prince’s Palace.”

The Crown Prince, walking ahead, said softly.

The Crown Prince’s Palace is a three-story building with no fifth floor. It was an unhelpfully vague statement, but it was enough of a clue.

“Quite an intricate setup.”

She turned to meet my gaze and smiled.

“I’m only telling you, Father.”

“I’d rather not know such state secrets. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear.”

“How cold.”

“…”

If she’s deliberately trying to get under my skin, she should’ve done better target analysis. Her approach is so absurd it’s almost irritating.

Of course, that’s valuable information in itself.

The person before me is the Chairman, but at the same time, not quite the Chairman.

It’s clear her personality shifts slightly depending on whether she’s using Marco Schreiber’s body or her true form.

There wasn’t a soul on this floor, and no one appeared until we reached the room after a long walk.

Only after the Crown Prince entered the room at the end of the corridor did someone knock and come in.

A servant brewed tea, set out snacks, and left.

The Crown Prince gestured.

“Have some. I couldn’t properly host you before, so this time, I’ll do it right.”

“…”

“Nothing’s been added.”

She took my cup and drank from it casually, then signaled the waiting servant. The servant pulled out a new cup and poured tea in front of me to demonstrate.

Even if they’re not entirely sane, well-socialized people know exactly what suspicions they’re raising.

Of course, even with this show, I have no intention of drinking. I ignored the tea and asked what I needed to know.

“Let’s hear why you called me here.”

“For the same reason as you.”

“The same reason?”

She looked at me and asked,

“Did you come to kill me, Father?”

An easy question.

I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“No.”

“Of course not. At least not today. I thought you weren’t someone with such poor calculation, and I’m pleased to see I was right.”

I kept my mouth shut to let her talk as much as possible. I had no intention of carelessly giving her information.

“You don’t have much information on me, Father. What you know is still in the realm of inference. What you know for sure is that with the information you have now, you can’t take down Abraham, and if you choose the easiest method—murder—you and many others will be purged for generations for assassinating the Crown Prince.”

She’s right.

Murder is the simplest but dumbest choice.

And there’s a critical reason it can’t end with killing her body.

As she said, it’s still in the realm of inference, but to me, it’s a certainty.

“You came to declare war on me today. To tell me that if I make a wrong move, you’ll expose me as Abraham to the world. Since I could plan to discredit you in response, you’ll look for a way to kill me as quickly as possible. So, you’ll start tracking my movements.”

The moonlight reflecting in her eyes shone like the sun. With an utterly serene expression, she asked with intense certainty matching her gaze,

“Am I wrong?”

“Your Highness already knows the answer.”

“You know too, but my position isn’t fundamentally different from yours. However, I can say it’s quite different from what you expect.”

She snapped her fingers, grabbing something.

A metal ring—no, a bracelet.

“A tool used by the first mages to embed artifacts in the skin. I modified it for interrogations, and it’s quite effective.”

She slipped it onto her right hand. As she turned the rectangular protrusion toward the inside of her wrist, she said,

“I regret my wrongs and wish to undo everything.”

Thud—

I raised an eyebrow.

The smell of blood stung my nose.

She removed her glove and placed her hand on the table. Blood soaked her white sleeve and dripped onto the table. On closer inspection, it was flowing from the skin where the bracelet sat.

“This is how it reacts. It judges truth through the flow of magic power, so it occasionally makes errors, but not often. If you think I’m staging this, you’re welcome to try it yourself.”

“A tool like this wouldn’t be used by the Royal Investigation Bureau, would it?”

“I didn’t hand it over. Even Pleromas don’t know about it. If you were me, would you carelessly give this to others?”

Right.

To Abraham, both the imperial family I’m part of and the Pleromas are all competitors.

With the bracelet still on, she rested her hand on the table and said,

“Let me be clear. I know you hold my social life in your hands. One word from you, and I’m finished.”

“…”

“You met me as the Chairman just the day before yesterday, and yesterday, you visited His Majesty at the palace. I know what else you’ve prepared. You’ve collected mundane yet decisive testimonies that support my identity as Abraham, from people who don’t even realize they’re testifying about Abraham. I won’t stop you.”

She won’t stop me.

Even though it sounds like a lie, her device didn’t pierce her veins. The blood remained dried.

My eyes never once strayed from her, fixed solely on my target, yet the Crown Prince spoke with a pristine expression, devoid of any emotional wavering.

“Let’s make a deal. Kill me.”

“…”

“You know what kind of murder I mean. If you, not someone else, kill me as the Crown Prince, I’ll gladly accept it.”

The corner of my mouth twisted upward.

Her eyes, watching my face, were unreadable, perfectly calm. Yet, it was easy to discern what lay behind her words. I smiled softly and said,

“A clear proposal. You speak as if you’re looking out for me, but it’s not for my sake at all.”

“I’d like to know why you think that.”

“If I do my utmost to kill you, you Fascinatingly, you’ll learn how to analyze your opponent’s patterns. You’ll know how far I know, what I don’t, how I think, and what attack methods I prefer.”

“…”

“It’s not a proposal that disadvantages you. Since we’re both weighing our gains, you’d do well not to act like you’re doing me a favor.”

“Hahaha…”

The Crown Prince let out a light laugh.

“As expected of you, Father. I didn’t think the one who performed the baptism, entered the Labyrinth, and built a barrier around His Excellency Schreiber’s mental strength would be ordinary, but your thought process is truly exceptional.”

“…”

“I said you didn’t have much information, but that’s from now on. Up until now, you’ve uncovered too much. No, it’s hardly even ‘uncovering’—you pieced together trivial details to find the answer. Thanks to that, we could meet like this without dragging things out, so I can only say thank you.”

“You flatter me. I’m not being humble. Did Your Highness expect me to wander aimlessly in a state where every clue points to the answer?”

“It’s easier to deal with ordinary people, isn’t it?”

“A pity for you, then.”

“I said easier, not more entertaining.”

The Crown Prince leisurely sipped her tea and looked out the window.

It was raining.

“Father Jeremiah Caetani is affiliated with the Papal State, and until last year, he didn’t exist in any records. He has an Italian maternal line and a Bavarian paternal line, with his entire family in America for the past 30 years… just one line, a record created this year, was all I could find. You flew through Bavaria’s airport, the only one in the country untouched by Prussian hands, obtained a traveler’s visa, safely passed through Prussia’s quarantine office at the Bavarian border, waited there for half a day, and took a fully booked train to Berlin. All your accommodation records are there too. Aside from what I mentioned, I couldn’t find a single anomaly.”

She laughed and shook her head.

“Oh, it’s so meticulously done. Do you know how much it cost to dig that up?”

Her tone shifted.

Now it begins.

I thought as much, maintaining my earlier smile and staying silent.

“All that talk in Dasrothe about being the Empire’s ugliest man feels laughable now. No, the fact that every media outlet has been calling you a national hero, practically a saint, is honestly the funniest part. In reality, you’re someone who seduces Pleromas at Primrose Path to achieve your goals—and succeeds spectacularly in just three days.”

“…”

“To call you a scoundrel sniffing around brothels and casinos doesn’t do you justice; your situational judgment and execution are beyond excessive. No matter what I imagine, it’s too much. In the end, among the people I know, only one has this level of judgment.”

I kept my earlier expression, saying nothing.

The Crown Prince alone continued, her face shifting with intrigue.

Those yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness.

“Just one. Sir Nicolaus, meeting you like this feels refreshing.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep