If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 166

“…”

 

“…”

 

After glaring at each other in silence for quite some time, the two men each took out one of the records concerning the madness, as though they had silently made some sort of agreement. Regen began reading from the imperial family members who had died long ago, proceeding in chronological order, while Dominic worked backward from those who had died most recently. Their eyes, fixed on the letters, were fierce. The two knights were sharing the most deadly reading session in the world.

 

Wait, this is… At some point, Regen’s gaze cleared, and the speed at which his pupils moved from side to side increased. Before long, the hands of the two men simultaneously reached for the last remaining record. It was the record of the Ninth Empress.

 

Unlike Regen, Dominic seemed to have gained nothing from his search. With bloodshot, hollow-looking eyes, he unexpectedly withdrew his hand and yielded the record. “If it’s about the Ninth Empress, I don’t even need to read it. I memorized it by heart because she and the prince regent are a set that will forever be remembered in the history of the empire.”

 

“Then please summarize it.”

 

“Until just before I was born, the strongest knight in the history of the empire was the prince regent. The Ninth Empress seduced that incredible prince regent using her beauty, subdued him, and succeeded in reclaiming the power of the throne. But life is truly fleeting. Before long, she contracted the madness and died. It happened not long after a child was born between the two of them.”

 

“…”

 

Regen closed the record of the Ninth Empress without reading it. There was nothing more to see. “I found something the imperial family members who died from the madness had in common.”

 

“What? What is it?!” Dominic sprang to his feet.

 

In contrast to his growling demeanor, Regen’s expression was utterly cold. “They all had powerful personal knights.”

 

Dominic’s expression stiffened, then turned blank. After recalling the contents of all the records he had read so far, he arrived at the same conclusion as Regen. “You’re right. That’s true.”

 

“…”

 

“They were all powerful knights who had left their names in history for at least a line. Especially the prince regent. There’s no need to even say it.”

 

Personal knights. Once they tried to find the answer in the dominion, everything became simple. Regen and Dominic’s hands grew busy. They rummaged through the records to verify their findings again, exchanging their conclusions as they went.

 

“I once heard Sasha mention in passing that if a knight’s mana exceeds the imperial family member’s power of dominion, it can place a burden on the imperial family member’s body.”

 

“I thought that was just an unfounded rumor. After all, His Majesty is still so healthy despite having a powerful knight like me.”

 

“My apologies.”

 

“Well, anyway. That means that’s the mechanism behind the madness.”

 

“Yes. Over the past month, my mana core has recovered at an abnormally rapid rate. So it is certain that it had an adverse effect on Sasha’s body.”

 

“…Was there anything that could have caused your core to recover so rapidly?”

 

The hands that had been busily moving across the desk abruptly stopped. The two men silently exchanged chilly gazes.

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

They communicated more through their eyes than words. A murderous tension hung in the air. A killing intent strong enough to suffocate an ordinary person seemed to threateningly tighten around each other’s throats.

 

Just then, a sheet of paper was pushed by the wind and fell outside the desk. That faint sound broke the precarious silence. Dominic spoke in an even, emotionless voice. “Fine, I understand. In the end, the problem is the power of dominion.”

 

It seemed the subject had returned to where it started.

 

“Then it’s simple. The way to make Rosasia recover is…”

 

Regen and Dominic gave their answers at the same time.

 

“Break the domination.”

 

“Kill you.”

 

“…”

 

“Why?” Dominic looked at Regen as if to say, ‘Isn’t that obvious?’ “Rosasia can’t even regain consciousness, so how are you supposed to break the domination? We’ll have to kill you cleanly.”

 

“…”

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you. You can sacrifice your life for Rosasia, can’t you?”

 

Shing. The sword Dominic drew ostentatiously emitted a sharp killing edge. Yet even colder than that was the madness gleaming in his red eyes, seemingly delighted to have found a justification to kill and dispose of his romantic rival.

 

Even with the blade held before his throat, Regen did not so much as blink. “I’ll handle it myself, so stay out of it.” He caught the blade between his index and middle fingers and pushed it far away. Then he immediately rose from his seat.

 

As Regen headed for the exit, Dominic warned him from behind. “Bring her back to life by tomorrow.”

 

“…”

 

“Make it so I don’t have to step in.”

 

Regen left without answering. As he walked down the hallway, the pattern in his left eye intermittently flashed in the dark glass windows reflected beside him. He hurried his steps, predicting that he didn’t have much time left. However, the place he was heading to wasn’t the Silver Bird Room. There was somewhere he had to stop by before returning to Sasha.

 

✦

The sound of rain could be heard. Even through my dazed mind, I thought it was strange. It wasn’t the indirect sound of raindrops tapping against a window. The refreshing sound of droplets wetting leaves came directly into my ears. Along with it, the fresh scent of grass circulated through my lungs with the humid air.

 

Only after my ears and nose had first sensed that this was an unfamiliar place did I open my eyes. As expected, what filled my vision was not the familiar ceiling of my room, but a natural roof woven densely from leaves.

 

“An oak tree…?”

 

Puzzled, I sat up. When had I entered Regen’s mental realm? I couldn’t remember at all what I had been doing or how I had ended up here. I decided to wait for my dazed, heavy head to start functioning properly.

 

Crouching beside the trunk of the oak tree, I hugged my knees. Even though the rain was pouring down, the dense leaves served as a roof, so I didn’t get wet at all. It had been a long time since I had watched the rain. Beneath the blue-gray sky, the world of greenery drank in the water.

 

The scenery, the sound, the scent, everything had an atmosphere to it. But why? Why did I feel so sad?

 

“Ah.”

 

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind. The last scenery I had seen when I came to the mental realm was a field drenched in brilliant sunlight. Since this environment reflected Regen’s mental state, I had felt overwhelmed with emotion when I saw that clear blue sky back then. Then, right now, what emotion of his was resonating with this rain?

 

“Regen… Don’t tell me something happened to Regen…”

 

I sprang to my feet. I thought I had to return to reality immediately. But even when I closed my eyes and concentrated, I couldn’t feel an exit opening. I assumed my worry was making me impatient and concentrated again. But no matter how many times I tried, it was the same.

 

“Why? Just why?”

 

Every time I willed myself to leave, it even felt as though an invisible wall was enclosing me from all sides. I was bewildered, but I calmly thought of another method.

 

I remembered that when I first entered the mental realm, I had walked for quite a while before discovering the oak tree. If I went to that starting point, perhaps I might find a passage connected to reality. With my back facing the oak tree, I began to walk. But then, all of a sudden, the rain intensified, and muddy water began pooling around me. It was an unmistakable encirclement.

 

I whipped my head around. “Is this your doing, Regen?”

 

The oak tree merely stood there, getting rained upon.

 

“Why are you stopping me from leaving?”

 

It didn’t even respond, as though it intended to imitate an ordinary tree. Then I would simply have to do things my way as well.

 

“I have to leave. I’m going to leave.”

 

I lifted the hem of my skirt, stepped barefoot into the muddy water without hesitation, and moved forward. But before I had taken three steps, I turned around again. It was because my sleeve had caught on a long, outstretched branch. It felt like a hand affectionately holding me back.

 

“…”

 

Why was he going this far? How powerful could the reason be that he couldn’t let me leave?

 

The rain was still falling from the sky without stopping.

 

“I’m going to leave.”

 

My resolve was firm.

 

“I need to know what happened to Regen. What if he’s crying outside, too?”

 

The branch caught on my sleeve and snapped with a crack. Rather than feeling like it had let me go, it felt more like it had simply lost its grip.

 

Without hesitation, I closed my eyes. As though answering my will, an entrance leading to reality opened.