The Tyrant Won’t Let Me Go – Chapter 96

Author: Nikss

And they subtly hoped for Persephine and Cedric to grow closer.

At the time, I thought it was just to secure the Empire’s protection.

But if Cedric’s hypothesis is true…

‘The closer Persephine gets to Cedric, the more opportunities she would have to assassinate him…’

The thought of Persephine killing Cedric made my head spin. I really didn’t want to imagine it.

“Fortunately, the poison itself is harmful but not strong enough to kill someone outright. However, it would have been fatal to the Princess, given her already poor condition.”

“But the antidote has been administered, right?”

“Yes, of course. We were able to neutralize it without much trouble, since it was discovered early.”

Rukia explained, looking at the brown bottle that had contained the poison Persephine ingested.

“But if we had been even a little later, it might have been difficult to save her life.”

Fortunately, thanks to the quick treatment, Persephine would regain consciousness after recovering in a few days.

‘When Persephine wakes up…’

Will we be able to hear it from her lips?

What exactly happened, and why she ended up drinking the poison herself?

💫

It was a dark night, with everyone asleep.

A profound silence enveloped the entire palace, so deep that the commotion of the day seemed like a distant memory.

And in that silence, a shadow slipped into someone’s bedroom.

The shadow, tearing through a mass of black mana that appeared in the middle of the room, slowly moved toward the bed.

It stared intently at the black-haired man sleeping soundly.

Confirming that Cedric Deamant, the Emperor of the Deamant Empire, was indeed asleep, the intruder drew a sharp dagger.

The goal was to silently cut off the Emperor’s breath.

In one swift motion, the dagger was thrust toward the Emperor’s heart. But at that very moment, the dagger, which had been slicing through the air, was blocked by a sudden flash of silver.

With a clang, the two blades collided, and I spoke to the intruder, who hastily retreated.

“I knew you’d come.”

Cedric, who had been pretending to sleep, opened his eyes and spoke in an icy tone.

“Sir Flithia, drop that sword.”

I, too, pointed my sword at Felix and took a combat stance.

‘Good thing we hid.’

I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword, thinking to myself.

Suspecting that Persephine might have been pressured to assassinate Cedric, we had reached this conclusion.

It was highly likely that Ackeleta was the one pressuring Persephine. And there were still two Ackeletans remaining in the palace.

Given that a communication gem, previously undetected, had been found in Persephine’s belongings, it was likely that the other two also had the means to report the situation here to Ackeleta.

And since Persephine had failed in her assassination attempt, Ackeleta would likely use other means to assassinate Cedric.

We didn’t know when it would happen, but it would probably be soon.

Given that they were willing to use the Princess to kill Cedric, it was clear they were in a hurry.

So, for the time being, I had decided to stand guard in Cedric’s bedroom to prepare for a sudden attack, and sure enough, an intruder appeared on the very first night.

‘To think spatial movement is possible even in the palace. That mana truly defies common sense.’

The mass of black mana that had appeared in the darkness looked exactly like what we had witnessed in the temple.

Unlike the temple, the palace had spells in place to restrict spatial movement, yet Felix had moved through it effortlessly.

It was something that shouldn’t have been possible under normal circumstances.

‘That mana… its potential applications are impossible to predict.’

If we could anticipate where and how it would be used, we could prepare adequately, but that wasn’t the case, making it all the more troublesome.

And now, with Felix having arrived through that mana, it was hard to predict what he would do next.

“Felix Flithia. Can’t you hear me? Drop that sword.”

I pushed my sword further forward as a warning, but Felix didn’t budge. His once lively eyes had lost their spark, now empty and lifeless.

Like those of a dead man.

‘Could he be under mind control?’

Whether he was brainwashed or being controlled, it seemed Felix wasn’t acting of his own will.

Moving jerkily, like a puppet on strings, he gripped his dagger and lunged toward Cedric. In that instant, I swung my sword.

The clash of metal rang out, and Felix’s dagger fell to the floor.

Then, Felix’s tightly sealed lips began to tremble slightly.

“No… don’t…”

Felix muttered in a faint, broken voice.

I kicked the dagger far away, and in the meantime, Cedric drew the sword he had been hiding and pointed it at Felix’s neck.

“It seems he’s been brainwashed.”

Cedric said, carefully examining Felix’s eyes.

“That’s what I thought, too. I’ll restrain him for now.”

“Do it.”

Felix, now disarmed, seemed to have no other weapons. He wasn’t carrying the longsword he usually wore at his side, likely because it wasn’t suitable for an assassination attempt.

Confirming that he was unarmed, I bound him with the prepared rope, and Cedric grabbed a water bottle from the cabinet and poured it all over Felix.

“Ugh!”

At the same time, the light returned to Felix’s previously empty eyes.

“Y-Your Majesty?”

“Yes, Sir Flithia.”

“Why am I here… Huh?”

Felix, acting as if he couldn’t comprehend the situation, froze when he saw the dagger pushed into the corner.

Then, as if recalling everything, his face turned pale, and he began to sweat profusely.

“Y-Your Majesty, please save our Princess, I beg you.”

Bound and writhing, Felix bowed deeply toward Cedric.

“If I don’t bring the sword back to Your Majesty…”

One word from his sentence stuck in my mind.

‘Sword?’

A sword so valuable that Ackeleta would send spies to covet it. There could only be one such sword in this world.

“O-Our Princess… they’ll kill her—”

At that moment, something sharp, like a needle, flew toward Cedric and Felix from somewhere.

Cedric and I both threw ourselves toward the bed to avoid the needles, but Felix, still bound, couldn’t dodge.

He fell forward, his mouth agape.

“Mana again…!”

Another mass of black mana floated in the middle of the room. It was clear that the needles had come from that mass.

Then Cedric reached for the cord connected to the ceiling of the bedroom.

It was a cord linked to the servants outside. But before Cedric could pull it, a dagger flew in and severed the cord.

“Even if you contact the outside, it’ll be difficult for anyone to come here.”

A woman’s voice, laced with mockery, spoke. I immediately gripped my sword.

“I cast an illusion spell at the entrance before coming. No one will be able to find this place.”

The maid of Persephine, who had emerged from the mass of black mana, spoke.

‘No wonder. We searched the entire palace but couldn’t find her.’

She must have been hiding using that black mana.

And now, she’s here to kill Cedric.

Cedric glared at her with furious crimson eyes, pointing his sword at her. She, too, held a longsword in her right hand, though I had no idea where she got it.

‘Definitely. She’s not a swordsman.’

Just by observing her stance, I could immediately tell she wasn’t a swordsman.

From the way she handled mana, she seemed more like a mage.

Meaning, she was likely vulnerable to sword attacks. I quickly closed the distance between us and swung my sword.

The blade slicing through the air was enveloped in blue sparks.

As expected, a look of panic flashed across the maid’s face.

If I struck her now, it would be over.

But…

“…Go ahead and die.”

A dangerous-looking purple mist began to spread hazily before my eyes.

“Poison mist. Only I am unaffected by it.”

The maid smiled wickedly at me through the purple haze.