Chapter 09
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ Translated by Bree ｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
However, no one dared to contradict him.
‘Magic Backflow Syndrome,’ a rare disease that easily triggers explosions, the imperial family’s only flaw.
And the person who had endangered even the life of the current emperor by exploiting this flaw.
Despite the imperial announcement that young Luciel had not attacked the emperor but simply couldn’t control his magic, no one believed it.
After that, Luciel was sent to the temple under the pretext of treatment. It wasn’t until he reached a certain age and could control his magic to some extent that he came out of the temple…
The emperor, seemingly waiting for this, bestowed the title of Grand Duke on the underage Luciel.
It was a blatant royal decree that had expelled him from the imperial family.
But Luciel did not resist the emperor’s words.
He quietly left the palace, locked himself in his tower, and never came out.
…That’s what people thought, but Luciel freely roamed around the empire.
In secret, he established an apothecary shop and skillfully manipulated even the temple’s finances.
Of course, due to his exquisite beauty, he had to wear a robe limiting his actions, but he had no intention of hiding his identity.
Luciel asked as he removed his robe, “Another customer?”
“We received an order for potion production… They want a potion that can fulfill their wish to be with a loved one.”
Saying this, Gael glanced at Luciel.
His owner, if given enough money, could easily produce banned substances.
However, a love potion was not easy to make, and it wasn’t something Luciel was interested in.
‘He’s someone who specializes in killing, after all…’
At that moment, Luciel chuckled and said, “Sure. Tell them I understand.”
“Really? Is that true?”
Surprised, Gael widened his eyes, and Luciel spoke in a gentle voice.
“The human senses are truly foolish, often mistaking tension and fear for love.”
“…”
“So, if we hang them upside down in midair together, wouldn’t they fall in love?”
Well, that’s true.
Gael thought it might be best not to convey Luciel’s words since the customer might faint.
Sweeping back his tousled hair, Luciel asked, “Was there anything else interesting?”
Gael, who had been thinking for a moment, said, “Lady Peregrine attempted suicide by taking poison after her fiancé, Lord Evans, declared their engagement over. Since they’re both from noble families, it’s a hot topic these days.”
“Peregrine, huh…”
Mumbling to himself, Luciel suddenly furrowed his brows.
Even if he had an unpleasant relationship with someone in front of him, Luciel was a person who cursed them with a smiling face.
To him, such a change in expression was quite an explicit reaction.
“A woman obsessed with love.”
Luciel defined Daphne in one sentence.
Although it was a somewhat acerbic remark, there was no better way to put it.
Daphne had struggled desperately to become a saint, and unable to let go of her fiancé, she had tried to end her life.
If she had died then and there, who knows what would have happened, but she survived. It’s hard to believe that the person who abandoned herself could become a saint to save others.
In the end, everything was ruined by her own hands.
“Pitiful.”
Muttering to himself, Luciel walked into the inner part of the shop.
“Master, are you not leaving now?”
“Yeah. I thought you might quit working, so I came to supervise.”
“Ugh, Master… I just said that as a joke…!”
Gael, hunching his large physique, pouted. However, Luciel paid no attention and went inside without a word, climbing the stairs.
A clean room without a speck of dust welcomed him.
It was Luciel’s room, a place where only authorized individuals could enter.
Luciel, with indifferent eyes, scanned the tidy desk. While casually looking through the sales ledger, a certain name caught his eye.
It was a request for an antidote from Lyas Peregrine.
Since Lord Peregrine directly requested it, the poisoning incident involving Lady Peregrine seemed to be true.
‘Even so, she’s his niece, and I guess that’s why she got the medicine.’
If he wanted her to die, he could have just left her alone. What’s the point of keeping such a pathetic person alive?
Luciel pushed the documents aside and took out a pipe from his pocket. He didn’t enjoy smoking. In fact, Luciel disliked strong smells.
However, unlike ordinary people, Luciel’s body didn’t respond well to medicines and potions due to his Magic Backflow Syndrome.
So, he often used a potent anesthesia herb used when taming beasts to suppress his magic. To alleviate his headaches, he had to smoke it periodically.
The smell caused by this… well, there was no other way. It was better than suffering from pain.
Leaning back lazily in his chair, Luciel was about to light the pipe.
With a knock, Gael entered and looked at him cautiously.
As Luciel lowered the flame, he smiled kindly and asked, “Seeing you on the second floor, Gael, it’s even more welcoming. Did you come to submit your resignation?”
“Ah, no!”
“Then?”
“That is…”
With a nervous expression, Gael spoke, “Lady Daphne Peregrine… came to see you.”
Luciel faintly furrowed his brows.
“That crazy woman came to see me?”
“Yes. She said she has some business to discuss with you, so please meet her.”
“Decline.”
Luciel responded firmly.
A woman who chose death just because she was abandoned by her fiancé. He could guess what kind of request she would make.
“Tell her I can’t meet today, even if she asked.”
“I delivered that message, but…”
Gael said with a troubled face, “She insisted on conveying this message to you. ‘The artifact you seek in the black market is a fake… It’s better not to buy it.'”
At that, Luciel, who was playing with his pipe, stopped for a moment.
An artifact, left by the goddess before her death, referred to a rock sealing a demon.
As it was sealed directly by the goddess, these demons were powerful and malicious beings.
For safety, the temple kept the artifacts, but due to the lack of specifics, they couldn’t recover all of them.
So, some eccentrics still sought the artifacts not yet recovered by the temple.
Occasionally, such artifacts appeared at a high price in auctions in the black market.
‘How does that woman know I’m looking for an artifact?’
The artifacts belonged to the temple.
If it became known that the mage tower master who once lived in the temple and suffers from magic backflow syndrome, was looking for it, things would become troublesome.
Luciel’s gaze fell on the mirror on one side of the desk.
Through the magic mirror he made, he could place one in a location he wanted to observe in advance and take it out whenever he wished to see it.
In the mirror was Daphne, wearing a robe.
She looked directly ahead with a confident face.
Luciel narrowed his eyes slightly.
He didn’t want to meet her if he could help it. However, unless he knew what that woman might do, he had no choice.
Luciel licked his lips overtly.
“Let her in.”
“Alright.”
Gael greeted and quickly disappeared.
The expression vanished from his master, who usually smiles.
‘It’s not at a dangerous level, right…? Please, let it be…’
Gael wiped his cold sweat with the handkerchief he cherished while descending downstairs.
＊＊＊
“Please come in.”
As permission was granted, I clenched my fist hidden in the sleeve.
I wanted to let out a sigh at least in my heart, but I held back because of the man in front of me.
“Just go upstairs.”
“Thanks.”
“But, um…”
As I tried to climb the stairs, the tall man grabbed my arm.
“The owner is not in a good condition right now. So, um, please be careful not to…”
He mumbled. He seemed reluctant to give warnings, probably because the other party was a noble lady.
“I understand. I’ll be careful not to disturb him.”
I don’t want to die either. Without further ado, I turned around, omitting the afterthought.
As I entered, I thought about the villain in the original story.
He was the antagonist who had a hostile relationship with the male lead, the Crown Prince, and was the final boss trying to destroy this world.
There wasn’t much information known about him as a villain. At most, he sold various items in the dark alleys.
However, seemingly disillusioned even with that, he reached for the artifacts.
In the end, he invaded the temple and broke all the artifacts, summoning demons to this land.
At that time, he encountered the original female lead, Maria, and kidnapped her.
“Why, why are you doing this? Breaking the artifacts, what are you trying to achieve?”
“What am I trying to achieve? I’m trying to erase this world.”
“That’s…!”
“But it’s quite difficult, you know. Even the artifact I got from the famous black market was ultimately a fake. But now that the saint has appeared, I should use her, right?”
Although the villain tried to harm Maria to obtain her blood, the Crown Prince Eren appeared dramatically.
‘And together with Maria, they joined forces to defeat the villain. That’s why the Crown Prince became the true hero.’
It was a brief scene, but it provided a clue.
The villain frequently visited the black market to obtain the artifacts.
However, all of those turned out to be fakes.
‘Along with that, the current time is before the villain visited the black market.’
So, using this information, I’ll try to make a deal with the villain.
With just this much information from the original story, it should be fine to use it as long as no one gets hurt.
Thinking so, I stood in front of the door.
No one, unless they were one of the closest associates, would know that he was seeking artifacts.
The information that they were all fake could be seen as helping him not to waste time…
‘In other words, I’ve found his weakness.’
He might kill me the moment he realizes it. The thought made my body tense involuntarily.
‘No. Let’s think easy. This is just a job interview.’
Yeah, I’ve been trained through countless job interviews at various companies.
English interviews, group interviews, pressure interviews. I’ve even had a final interview in front of the company president.
‘Face-to-face interviews like this are at a boring level.’
Thinking so, I surprisingly calmed down as I took a deep breath.
‘Capitalist society, scarier than the villain, the best.’
I thought so and opened the door.
