I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother Chapter 27

Hmm? I tilted my head, rubbed my ears a little, and asked again.

“What did you say?”

“I’m the Prime Minister of the Quizzen Empire. Haha. It’s a little embarrassing to talk about myself like this in front of you, Cilia.”

The Prime Minister of the Empire…?

The highest-ranking official in the Imperial Court, the Prime Minister?

Suddenly, I remembered the time when I had been drinking juice with Scarlett at a café in the capital.

‘It was a fascinating negotiation. It reminded me of the heated debate two years ago between the Prime Minister of the Empire and a minister from the Kingdom of Adrin over the Tishen River.’

Oh, uh.

I narrowed my eyes and slowly looked him up and down.

Cedric had a gentle-looking appearance thanks to his fluffy pink hair and round glasses.

But now that I looked at him closely, he was actually pretty tall… and the eyes visible behind his round glasses were quite sharp.

“So you were the one who argued with the minister from the Kingdom of Adrin two years ago?”

“Ah, that? Yeah. I was.”

Huh. That sounds familiar. I desperately searched through my memories of the original novel.

Prime Minister of the Quizzen Empire. Tishen River. Pink hair. Round glasses.

And finally, I remembered.

“……The ‘unprecedented genius’ or whatever?”

“Ah! Don’t say that, Cilia. You’ve always been more talented than me. I don’t want to hear a nickname like that from you.”

Cedric scratched his head shyly.

I blinked in shock.

I had finally realized exactly who the man standing before me was.

If Dazar, currently one of the leading figures of the Imperial faction, was responsible for military affairs as her right hand,

then her left hand was this key figure in the political world.

The scholar whom Axion deeply respected before he went mad, and the man who, alongside Emperor Scarlett—who was basically the Sejong the Great of this world—led the Quizzen Empire toward a bright future.

‘Marquis Seidreig Eiharts.’

Cedric just his nickname?

No, more importantly. My childhood friend was someone this freaking incredible?

While I was standing there dumbfounded, he laughed.

“Uh, I’m taking a bit of a break right now. You could call it a sabbatical. I basically handed most of my work over to my aides and came here.”

And yet, I never expected to meet Cilia here, either, he added.

‘What is this place? The Emperor’s left and right hands are both here!’

A sense of unease suddenly struck the back of my neck.

I also experienced a slight existential crisis.

Cilia, you idiot. While your friend was climbing all the way to the top, you were just farming!

“Ahem. Anyway, I thought we should talk about the Day of the Rift, Cilia.”

While I was lost in my existential crisis, Cedric spoke with a serious expression.

“I think it would be best for you to leave this place for a while that day.”

 

***

 

The ‘Day of the Rift’ was the day when the barrier surrounding this continent became weaker.

Because of that, demonic energy would seep through the barrier surrounding the continent, and monsters would escape from the ‘Rifts’ through those openings.

That was why, when the ‘Day of the Rift’ arrived, the Transcendents would each eliminate the monsters leaking out of the ‘Rift’ they were responsible for and prevent the ‘Rift’ from widening any further.

The reason ordinary people didn’t know about this day was because the Transcendents would establish powerful barriers around the ‘Rifts’ in advance.

They believed that if ordinary people knew that monsters poured out of the Demon Realm every year, anxiety and fear would inevitably consume them.

“Ah, yes, that’s right. The ‘Day of the Rift’ is coming soon, isn’t it?”

Elston spoke while repeatedly shaking a golden rattle. Whenever he came here to teach Vanilla, he would also stop by to see Axion.

Hey, hey.

No matter how cute Axion was, wasn’t it a little rude to not look at his conversation partner even once from beginning to end?

I turned Axion around so that his face was facing me.

“Ah!”

Ignoring Elston’s flustered reaction, I rubbed my face against Axion’s adorable cheek. Envy appeared on Elston’s face.

I pretended not to notice and spoke.

“So Elston knows about the Day of the Rift too.”

“Ahem. Of course. I’m a mage from the Magic Tower, after all.”

More like because he was the Tower Master. Perhaps feeling guilty about lying, he gave an awkward smile.

I completely ignored him and kissed the tip of Axion’s nose.

“Kyah.”

Axion giggled and his eyes curved beautifully.

Oh, my baby. So pretty, so pretty.

I pretended not to notice the envy in Elston’s eyes growing even stronger and asked,

“The Day of the Rift… It’s dangerous, right?”

“Hmm.”

Elston’s eyes rolled around.

What was there to think about? Of course it was dangerous!

Monsters were going to appear!

I glared at him slightly, thinking that, but…

Elston still looked troubled.

“Why? Isn’t it obviously dangerous?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Elston twirled a strand of hair around his index finger before clasping both hands together and leaning back against the sofa.

He looked a little dim-witted when he was twirling his hair, but with his fingers interlocked like that, he actually looked quite a bit like the Tower Master.

“Did you know that the Siastor family has never had guests until now?”

“Hmm…”

Judging by the way he was talking, it didn’t sound like this was simply a place where guests came for a short visit.

“No. I didn’t know.”

Elston continued as if he had been waiting for that answer.

“Not only the Siastor family, but the other Transcendent families also do not allow people into their estates. That’s why the nobles think they are arrogant and intentionally keep their distance. But in reality, it has a lot to do with the special nature of these estates.”

The special nature of this estate.

The fact that this very estate was a ‘Rift.’

‘Elston knows too.’

When Cedric came to see me last time, he had told me the same thing.

‘Like I said before, this is the Siastor Duke’s estate. So… this estate—or should I call it a castle? Yeah, this entire castle is a ‘Rift.’’

‘Huh?’

‘This entire place is a ‘Rift.’ So when the Day of the Rift arrives, monsters will appear throughout the castle.’

‘……!’

What?! This place was that dangerous?

There had been no mention of anything like this in the original novel! I thought there was simply a ‘Rift’ somewhere nearby.

But then…

“……But I’m here right now, aren’t I?”

“Yes. That is precisely what I wanted to talk about.”

What did he mean by that?

I stared blankly at him, unable to understand what he was getting at.

Axion seemed to feel the same way as me—or perhaps he was simply copying me—as he puffed out his cheeks.

What a cutie.

Elston somehow noticed that too, and his eyes filled with hearts as he clutched his forehead.

“Phew. What I’m saying is that His Grace must have had a reason for deliberately bringing you into the Rift.”

“Hmmm.”

“Wouldn’t it be best to speak with the Duke first?”

He had a point. It would be faster to talk to the person actually responsible for protecting this place.

Agreeing with Elston, I casually asked another question.

“By the way, Elston. Do you happen to know someone named Ruben?”

“What?”

Pffft.

Elston, who had just taken a sip of tea while gazing lovingly at Axion, spat out a mouthful of tea.

His trousers were thoroughly soaked.

He clearly knew something.

I knew it. I figured the Tower Master would know.

I casually handed him a tissue and asked again.

“You know what Ruben is, right? What is it?”

“W-Where did you hear that name?”

“I just happened to see it in a book in the library here.”

“……Hmm.”

Elston began sweating nervously.

“Well, that’s…… an even more classified subject than the Day of the Rift…”

If it was an even more classified subject, did that mean it was information that ordinary people were even less allowed to know?

I tried pressing him a few more times, but all Elston did was spill tea while providing absolutely no useful information.

As I watched the floor gradually becoming soaked, I decided to give up trying to pry any more information out of him.

‘Hmm. Dazar won’t tell me either, and neither will Elston.’

Since I had to deal with the Day of the Rift first, I left Axion with Karl and went to find Dazar.

 

***

 

“What did you just say?”

Dazar, who had taken a direct uppercut from my soy-sauce egg rice the other day, was looking particularly sour as he stared at me.

His gaze was so murderous that I felt like he could kill someone with his eyes alone.

Even so, his handsome face prevented him from looking intimidating.

When I went to see him, he was sitting on the windowsill again, apparently enjoying the spot, with a long tobacco pipe between his lips.

As always, there were no servants to be seen in his study. He extinguished his pipe and gestured for me to sit on the sofa.

“So, you’re saying you want to leave for about a week.”

He sat down elegantly and leaned back against the sofa.

“Why? Why bother?”

“Why bother? Of course it’s because a dangerous day is coming soon.”

“Hmm. I was going to tell you myself, but I suppose you heard about it from Marquis Seidreig first?”

He probably assumed I had heard about the ‘Day of the Rift’ from Cedric, since ordinary people weren’t supposed to know about it.

When I had first arrived here and mentioned the Eastern Continent, he had treated me like a fraud, so if I claimed that I already knew about the ‘Day of the Rift,’ he would probably start saying strange things again.

Besides, Cedric really had told me about the ‘Day of the Rift,’ so I simply nodded.

‘That day is dangerous, so I think you should stay away from the estate, Cilia.’

In my mind, Cedric had suddenly gone from ‘the childhood friend who used to get pitifully bossed around by this body’ to ‘the Prime Minister of an entire empire.’

Thanks to that, I had gained a little more trust in him.

When I merely nodded without saying anything else, Dazar spoke first.

“Don’t worry. I’ll put up a separate barrier around the annex where you’re staying.”

“……?”

“You’ll be completely safe.”

“…….”

“Don’t trust me?”

“No.”

At my immediate answer, Dazar furrowed his brow.

“Why don’t you trust me?”

“Because Axion has a dragon heart. Isn’t a Demon Dragon’s dragon heart incredibly attractive to monsters? What if the monsters are drawn to it? What if even your barrier can’t stop them?”

I clearly remembered the original novel mentioning that Axion would sometimes become a target for monsters because of the Demon Dragon’s dragon heart.

Dazar then arrogantly raised his chin and crossed his arms.

“What do you take me for?”

“…….”

At that moment, Vanilla’s whispered words suddenly came to mind.

‘He’s a dog bastard.’

When I remained silent, Dazar narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me and twisted his lips.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“You just cursed at me, didn’t you?”

“No?”

At my brazen answer, his eyes narrowed even further.