However, even with the blade at his throat, the man moved his tongue.
“Is it just one? Even if you behead all of them, he won’t move. He’s someone who doesn’t care about his children.”
It was a joke, but it wasn’t something to laugh about. Driene scoffed.
“Even so, shouldn’t you value your own life?”
“I value it; that’s why I’m doing this. I need to get something out of this if I want to keep my head.”
Of course, it was already too late for his head to stay attached, but Driene didn’t correct him.
“Isn’t it already too late to expect any gain?”
“I’m confident it’s not too late.”
Driene wondered what he should have said in response. He would never know in the future. Perhaps he should have laughed at the man’s foolishness and cut off his head on the spot. Or maybe he should have had him thrown into the dungeon.
However, at that moment, he decided to listen to the man a little more and gestured to the one holding the sword. The blade was withdrawn, and a few red hairs fell.
It was clear who the hair belonged to, but the man remained calm.
Annoyed by the man’s face, Driene frowned and asked,
“What’s your name?”
It was a question he already knew the answer to. He enjoyed asking such questions to belittle his opponents.
However, the man answered without a hint of displeasure.
“It’s Kinas Nasant.”
“Which illegitimate child are you?”
Although there was a clear intent to demean, it wasn’t an incorrect statement.
The Emperor of Nasant acknowledged all his children but did not include any of his concubines. Despite Nasant’s laws allowing multiple wives and concubines, none were included in the line of succession.
So, excluding the one child born to his lawful wife, the rest were all illegitimate and motherless.
It wasn’t something to say to someone’s face, though.
Nevertheless, the man’s expression didn’t change.
“I suppose. Since the Emperor is quite… promiscuous. Officially, I’m the fourth prince.”
Driene had never heard that Nasant’s fourth prince had achieved anything. Among Nasant’s numerous illegitimate children, the one who stood out was the first princess, Iliad. She was already being mentioned as the next emperor.
Driene had no shortage of eyes and ears in Nasant, so the man must truly be insignificant.
Yet Driene found himself intrigued. It was an old intuition.
In the end, he acted on his impulse.
“The fourth prince of Nasant, I will give you a chance to speak. If you want to survive, you should work hard with your tongue.”
Although it was rather impolite, the man laughed as if he hadn’t heard it.
“Thank you.”
Drien scowled at the man’s insincere face but didn’t bother to point it out.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
The fourth prince claimed that Juliet’s illness was not a disease. She had not been infected with anything, and there were no significant issues with her body. Driene scoffed at him. What do you know?
The princesses of Rosenta had suffered from that illness for generations. If there were no problems with her body, such things wouldn’t have happened.
However, the fourth prince continued with his claim, not even blinking at Driene’s laughter.
“It’s a depletion of magical power.”
When Driene first heard this, he doubted his ears.
Is this man in his right mind? Does he really believe that, or is he just a madman? Should I throw him underground now?
With these unfiltered thoughts, Driene retorted.
“Nonsense. It’s been over two hundred years since magic vanished from the continent.”
“Yet it remains in Nasant.”
Kinas Nasant was talking about a family in his homeland. A family that continued to produce magicians for generations.
Was it the Inovis? Driene shook his head after briefly searching his memory.
Magic was not an all-powerful force. It could start fires or bring rain, but it couldn’t influence life and death.
A long time ago, when dragons were alive, there were also magicians who governed life and time, but that was truly a tale from legend.
There were no dragons left on the surface, and even if there were, it was unknown whether they really possessed such powers.
And as for humans in this era, Driene scoffed.
“Magic cannot change that.”
“Magic does not cure diseases; generally speaking, that’s true.”
But magic depletion is different. The fourth prince picked up the gem with a soft cloth. The mineral sparkled in a color very similar to his eyes.
“The foundation of magic is magical power. It is about expressing excess power in new ways. In fact, all humans have basic magical powers. It’s just that the amount is too small to cause any significant changes.”
This aligned with theories espoused by most scholars. Driene had a vague recollection of such ideas. Although magic had already disappeared from Rosenta, it still existed in Nasant, which shared a border with Rosenta.
However, that didn’t mean that the fourth prince’s words were convincing.
Still, his words seemed like systematic nonsense.
However, since this was the first time someone approached the problem in this manner, Driene listened quietly. There was no harm in trying a new perspective.
The prince continued explaining.
“So, in cases of magical deficiency, if you replenish the lacking magical power, it disappears.”
“But that’s impossible.”
All magical power had the nature of returning to its source. Even if it was infused into someone else’s body, it could not remain there.
Even the great dragons succeeded in binding magical power to their hearts but could not infuse it into others.
Driene remembered clearly the cover of the book where he had read this. Juliet had been interested in dragons when she was young. Rosenta had many legends about heroes and dragons, and his sister enjoyed adventure stories.
Thus, Driene had read many books related to dragons. He stopped after his sister’s interest waned.
However, the fourth prince did not waver.
“If a living being tries, it might be possible.”
“Do you think magical power would remain in a non-living being?”
All magical power arose and faded with life. Only dragons left something behind after death. Their hearts and eyes could still hold power even after death.
Even that was not eternal; magical power dissipated over time.
There were no traces of dragons left on the continent. Everything had been diluted and worn away by the passage of time.
What on earth is he talking about? Driene scoffed. But Kinas Nasant took even the mockery calmly.
“Of course, it wouldn’t remain in a normal corpse. But if it’s not a typical case, wouldn’t the story be different?”
“Are you suggesting I should go and fetch a dragon’s dead body?”
“Oh, there’s no need to go that far. You know that the children of Inovis are born with magical power, don’t you?”
The fourth prince looked at the gem in his hand. Driene observed the two amber-colored stones facing each other.
Both emitted an astonishingly similar light.
It was as if the eyes of the Nasant royal family had been plucked out. Driene thought as he looked at the sight. If someone had known, they would have been terrified, but he was not afraid.
He was the sole heir to the kingdom, and an heir to a country could wield more power than one might expect. The power to pluck out an eye as he pleased was also included in the ‘things that he could wield.’
Kinas Nasant’s eyes were not safe either.
Driene was ready to send him underground immediately if he lost interest in his words or even to execute him on the spot.
Either way, the matter would be resolved without any problems.
Driene leaned back. The fourth prince smiled faintly, despite the arrogant expression of his opponent.
“Though the family has declined recently, magical power still flows among the bloodline of Inovis.”
“Declined is an understatement; isn’t ‘collapsed’ more appropriate?”
Though Nasant was the family in question, Driene was also familiar with Inovis. Their dramatic decline had once been a matter of great interest across the continent.
They, who had enjoyed luxury and pleasure for hundreds of years wielding the last of their magic, had fallen into unbelievable decline within just a few years.
There were many causes, but the most significant one was clear.
The numerous unequal treaties made by the deceased empress with her husband.
The Empress of Nasant, who passed away not long ago, was from the Inovis family and was a renowned magician.
She held considerable influence within her family and gave everything she could from her family to the imperial power.
From the trade rights that they had held onto for a century to the family heirlooms that had been passed down for hundreds of years and even their reputation, which had been easily destroyed, everything had been given away.
How outrageous it was. Many gossipers claimed she was blinded by love and ended up selling out even her own family.
Driene was not interested in such stories, but he paid attention to the emperor of Nasant, who gained such powerful imperial authority. Strengthening one’s rule often led to wars, and his era was no exception.
However, even with the plunder he had amassed, the emperor of Nasant focused solely on indulgence. The creation of numerous illegitimate children was a byproduct.
The empress did not expel those many illegitimate children. Or perhaps she could not.
Either way, the result would not have changed. Her son, the only legitimate heir, was driven to the north, and the property she had devoted to the imperial family was torn apart. The family, deprived of most of its foundation, could not support her.
All of this should rightly be termed a collapse.
However, mentioning this in the middle of the conversation was just a way to disrupt the opponent’s train of thought, but Driene didn’t care.
“Yes, it may seem that way.”
Despite the obviousness of the action, the fourth prince responded smoothly. Driene was a bit disappointed by the bland reaction, but it was also somewhat expected.
Inovis was the empress’s family, and Kinas Nasant was an illegitimate child.
There was no reason for him to be concerned about a family that wasn’t even his own.
