Chapter : 163

The Descendant of the Hero had been cursed within the Imperial Palace.

If that news were to spread throughout the Empire, the aftermath would be difficult to handle even for a competent emperor.

The fact that the hero was attacked would be enough to cause a stir in the Empire, but the place of the attack was the Imperial Palace, which should be the safest place.

It was a situation where it would not be strange for chaos to spread not only in the capital but throughout the entire Empire.

To make matters worse, numerous nobles had witnessed the scene, so the aftermath alone was enough to make one’s head explode.

As soon as the report came in, the Emperor erased the memories of everyone except those involved in the incident or necessary for its resolution.

For those whose memories were not erased, he placed a prohibition on them so that they could not spread the news to the outside.

“Damn it.”

“Your Majesty the Emperor.”

At the voice calling him, the Emperor had to struggle to swallow the anger that was rising to the top of his head.

The moment he was consumed by anger and could not make a correct judgment, it was inevitable that the Empire would fall into great chaos.

Because the emperor was one who reigned in such a high position.

It was something he had been prepared for since he took the tyrant’s crown, but at times like this, he really felt like handing over the throne to a suitable candidate.

Rights always came with corresponding duties, and why did people overlook the fact that if the rights an emperor could wield were immense, the duties were also immense?

Some people, when the Emperor muttered about wanting to hand over the throne, guessed that it was just a simple exaggeration or a political statement to justify the patricide he had committed to obtain the crown, but Leonald was serious.

He was just a stay-at-home prince who admired the hero.

If the previous emperor hadn’t suddenly gone mad and killed his own children, and engaged in tyranny, there would have been no reason for him to claim the throne.

“Damn it.”

The chamberlain, who had been cautiously calling the Emperor, finally gave up on advising him.

Since the Emperor was also another Descendant of the Hero, touching Lucian was the same as challenging the Emperor’s authority.

In other words, it was tantamount to treason.

An act of treason had occurred in the Imperial Palace, yet the culprit was nowhere to be found, and Lucian could not even open his eyes.

“To think that the most likely culprit is the Master of Gold.”

Grind, the chamberlain held his breath at the sound of Leonald grinding his teeth.

It was to the point that he wondered if she had created the condition of borrowing money without interest with this in mind.

Among the powers of the hero, there was also the power to purify all sorts of wicked things.

It wasn’t for nothing that the God of Light had bestowed the weapon upon the hero.

However, the hero was not waking up.

That meant that some kind of complex force was at work, hindering his recovery.

It was a method used by alchemy rather than magic, and the Golden’s merchant guild had just had valuable alchemy ingredients stolen.

‘Coincidentally, of course.’

Who in their right mind would dare to think of robbing the Golden’s warehouse?

It would be better to jump off a cliff saying you want to die; at least there would be a chance of recovering an intact corpse.

There was no citizen of the Empire who didn’t know that if you got on the wrong side of Golden, you would live a life worse than death.

“Your Majesty’s choice was correct.”

At the chamberlain’s words, Leonald let out a small groan.

The imperial treasury had long since been depleted due to the previous emperor’s luxury and pleasure-seeking.

An immense amount of gold was needed to restore the Empire to its original state.

If he had borrowed money under the original conditions, the imperial family would still be struggling with debt to Golden and other merchant guilds.

For now, it was a choice to save the Empire. Golden was a necessary evil for the Empire.

It was a festering wound that would have to be removed someday, but there was no suitable method.

Perhaps this could be an opportunity.

Touching the Descendant of the Hero in the Imperial Palace was a grave crime equivalent to treason.

“Is there any word from Count Lisitoel?”

Leonald asked, sweeping back his hair.

The chamberlain checked the magitool he had received for communication, but shook his head and replied.

“I will check, so Your Majesty, please get some sleep, even for a moment. If Your Majesty collapses, it will be impossible to resolve this matter.”

“…If you hear from Count Lisitoel, let me know regardless of the situation.”

The chamberlain bowed his head at the Emperor’s command.

“Are you worried about Sir Lucian?”

“That, and also….”

In truth, there was someone else he was really worried about.

The disappeared Theo Lisitoel, and his teacher who would be worried sick about his missing son.

“I can only hope that Iris Viden does not cross the line.”

Because even he, the Emperor, did not want to see Evan Lisitoel enraged by the loss of his son with his own two eyes. Sincerely.

* * *

“You’re being distracting!”

At Beatrice’s sharp remark, Lisitoel furrowed his brow.

At his expression, Beatrice flinched slightly and re-examined Lucian, who was lying on the bed, with magic.

“How long do you think it will take?”

While Beatrice was maintaining the magic, Artemia, who had taken her hands off for a moment, wiped her sweat-drenched forehead with her sleeve and said.

“For now, there are no external injuries. The internal injuries are serious, but in fact, this level of internal injury can be fully recovered with the healing ability of the Holy Sword.”

After using healing magic, it was safe to say that the internal injuries were practically gone.

However, the reason he still couldn’t open his eyes was, as expected, a terrible curse.

The curse did not break even with the combined use of the Holy Sword’s power, Artemia’s healing magic, and Beatrice’s curse-breaking magic, but only became more entangled.

“It’s a very terrible curse, so if Betty and I stick to curse-breaking without a moment’s rest, it should be possible within a few days.”

“It’s Iris Viden.”

Beatrice, who could be said to be second only to Evan in magic, and Artemia, who was called the best in the continent when it came to healing magic.

A high-level curse that took days to break even with these two working together.

The only person who could cast such a curse, unless a tremendous mage suddenly fell from the sky, was Iris Viden.

“And yet, we cannot question her.”

Without clear evidence, they could not question the Master of Gold.

That was what was holding them back. Even though, if it were up to him, he would storm into Golden right now.

“Tsk.”

He wanted to be a proud parent to his child.

Evan Lisitoel was a man close to a tyrant, who had great power and wielded it in the world according to his own nature.

Looking back, his former self was not a desirable adult, nor was he even a man worthy of being a parent.

Someone had once evaluated Evan as a human who did not have the heart of a human.

It was a perfectly accurate assessment.

At the time, Evan could not possibly consider ordinary people as his own kind.

Hadn’t even his own father extremely despised Evan’s nature?

At that time, he was like a floating balloon. Someday, he would have just floated in the sky, and when he reached a certain orbit, he would have burst and died.

It was his lovely wife, who he still couldn’t forget a single thing about, who had grabbed Evan and made him a person.

He became a professor as she wished, and found a sense of purpose.

He married her when they met again, and had a son who was the apple of his eye.

Although she had passed away in the end while holding their son in her arms, Evan was still living as the person she had made him.

Teaching his students, taking care of his son, and fulfilling his duties as a teacher. But—

“What’s the use of that?”

When the only hope you left me has disappeared?

Yes, he had been arrogant.

Even when his son was lying in bed with a sudden illness, he had not returned to his former self.

This was the result of his arrogance, thinking that everything would be fine no matter what happened.

“Serena….”

How long had it been since he had called his wife’s name?

Because it made him sad to think of that name, because it was difficult to bear that sadness, he had buried it in the back of his memory.

Evan’s fingertips trembled.

Being the Emperor’s teacher, none of that mattered.

He just wanted to go to Iris Viden right now and make her pay dearly for daring to touch his son.

“Evan!”

At the voice calling him, Evan stared at the witch in front of him.

Beatrice, who had switched places with Artemia at some point, was shaking Evan’s body and calling him urgently.

“Is there a problem?”

Is there a problem? He wanted to snap back that there were a damn lot of problems, but Beatrice decided to hold back.

Even in Beatrice’s opinion, it was admirable, no, miraculous that Evan was holding back in this situation.

The Evan from his academy days was a guy who would destroy anything if someone so much as touched his belongings.

For such a guy to hold back this much because of his position, even when it wasn’t just a simple object but his own son that had been touched, was truly….

“If it’s really hard to bear, should I have you expelled from the academy?”

“Beatrice!”

Artemia, who hadn’t closed her ears even while using magic, called out to Beatrice in astonishment.

Instead of stopping him, she was egging him on! It was the worst possible thing to say as an academy professor.

But Beatrice silenced Artemia with a slight glance.

“If you want, I can do that for you.”

“…Damn it.”

Evan repeatedly wiped his face with his palm.

Half of him wanted to agree, and the other half knew he shouldn’t.

“I won’t go.”

Theo was missing, but he would definitely come back.

As a father, he had to believe in his son. He had to believe in his son as steadfastly as a 500-year-old tree root.

“If it’s really hard, why don’t you go back to the mansion and get some rest.”

“…I can’t be sure that I won’t storm into Golden on my way back to the mansion.”

Thanks to Beatrice and Artemia, he had calmed down to some extent, but it could just be a temporary state.

Muttering that, Evan flopped down on the floor.

At the sight, Beatrice and Artemia were at a loss for words. It was scary because it seemed so genuine.

“……”

The two professors, who had decided not to add any more words, began to focus on Lucian’s treatment.

If Lucian, once he regained consciousness, pointed to Golden as the culprit, the situation would change in an instant.

‘This might be a golden opportunity to get rid of Golden from this empire.’

It would bring about a drastic change to the empire for the time being, but in any case, the positive effects would surely outweigh the negative ones.

So there was no choice but to do their best—

At the same time, they earnestly wished for something else.

‘Please let Theo be safe.’

As professors, they hoped their student would not be harmed, and at the same time, as Evan’s colleagues, they were certain.

That if something happened to Theo, they would lose Professor Evan Lisitoel forever.

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