The Tyrant Won’t Let Me Go Chapter 99

If I just sit back and stay locked up in this prison, I might not be able to be by Cedric’s side when he’s in danger again.  

 

“Yeah, I knew you’d say that.”  

 

Finally, Cedric smiled as he spoke.  

 

Though it was fainter than his usual smile, it was still beautiful and endearing.  

 

“Promise me. I’ll definitely find a way to stabilize your mana—”  

 

He extended his pinky finger through the bars.  

 

“When you get out of here, you have to spend the whole day with me, okay?”  

 

I nodded and smiled back. 

 

Then, I raised my right hand and stuck out my pinky finger.  

 

Though our fingers didn’t touch, that promise was etched deeper into our hearts than any words could ever be.  

 

💫

 

Two days had passed since Cedric woke up.  

 

“Duke?”  

 

I was talking to the knights who had come to visit me when I saw Kashuel, his face flushed and breathing heavily as if he had run here, and I stood up in surprise.  

 

“What brings you here…”  

 

He looked at me and urgently spoke.  

 

“Captain.”  

 

His voice was filled with desperation—or perhaps hope—as he held out a silver chain.  

 

“This… this might be able to heal you.”

 

“What…?”

 

“You know those shackles you’re wearing?”

 

Kashuel said, eyeing my ankle.

 

“I made something similar to that.”

 

As he said that, I saw a shadow beneath Kashuel’s gaze.

 

‘No wonder you stayed up all night making that.’ 

 

Since I’ve been in prison, Kashuel has visited me here in between his duties, checking in on me and asking if I was doing okay.

 

Sometimes Rukia or the Marquis of Loren would stop by to measure my mana levels.  

 

I could feel how much they cared, but I hadn’t realized they were putting this much effort into solving my mana overflow.  

 

“Duke, will that really be enough to heal our Captain…?”  

 

Sera, standing outside the door, asked Kashuel in a voice mixed with hope and worry.  

 

Kashuel, turning to her, bit his lip and answered in a low, somber tone.  

 

“I’m hoping it will.”  

 

“Ah…”  

 

“Even if it fails, it’s better than not trying at all.”  

 

His resolute emerald eyes turned to me.  

 

“So, Captain, could you stick out your arm for a moment?”  

 

“Ah, even with gloves on, sparks still fly out sometimes. Could you call the guard for me?”  

 

I thought it would be too dangerous for Kashuel to put the chain on me himself.  

 

So, I asked him to call the guard to open the door for a moment. Then, I told Kashuel to leave the chain by the door while I stayed far back against the wall, and then to leave.  

 

At first, Kashuel seemed displeased with my request, but he quickly wiped the expression from his face and did as I asked.  

 

With Kashuel watching through the bars, I fastened the chain he had left to my wrist.  

 

Even as I did so, sparks flew out from under my gloves a few times.  

 

‘I’ll have to ask Rukia for another pair of gloves later.’  

 

With a click, the chain locked into place, and at the same time, the sparks flying from my gloves quieted down.  

 

It felt as if something boiling inside me had suddenly calmed. I couldn’t tell if my mana was truly being suppressed or if it was just my imagination.  

 

“Captain, how is it?”  

 

Kashuel asked nervously from outside.  

 

“…It seems like the sparks have calmed down a bit.”  

 

“Really? Let me check your mana levels quickly.”  

 

As Kashuel prepared the mana measuring device, Caliberne’s voice echoed in my mind.  

 

[Ciel. This… it won’t last long.]  

 

Startled by Caliberne’s words, I asked her in my mind.  

 

‘What? But it seems to have calmed down…’  

 

[No. This chain has the highest suppression power of any equipment we’ve used so far, but it’s still not enough to suppress your mana.]  

 

Caliberne spoke in a serious tone.  

 

[In fact, it seems like the backlash is causing your mana output to increase even more, wait—]  

 

‘Why?’  

 

[Hey, take that off, quick!]  

 

Only then did I feel the chain growing warm.  

 

And sparks, which had been invisible just moments ago, began to fly again.  

 

Instinctively, I knew the chain was about to break. The people watching me from outside seemed to sense it too, as they shouted through the bars.  

 

“Captain!”  

 

“Captain, take that chain off, quick!”  

 

I quickly searched for the key to the chain and tried to insert it into the lock.  

 

But my hands were too slippery, and it wasn’t working.  

 

[Ciel, if you leave it like that, it’s going to explode—]  

 

Sure enough, with a sharp crack, a blinding blue flash erupted.  

 

When the light faded and the cell returned to its usual dimness, I opened my eyes.  

 

“Captain!!”  

 

Kashuel shouted, shaking the barred door.  

 

“Tell the guard to open the door right now!”  

 

Fortunately, aside from a minor injury on my right hand, I seemed unharmed.  

 

Though my mana had surged wildly, like when I faced the Emissary of Nemesis, I didn’t seem to have suffered any external injuries.  

 

The chain that had been fastened around my right wrist had completely melted away.  

 

Only the left side of the chain, now blackened and charred, barely retained its original silver color.  

 

Seeing the guard and Kashuel rushing in through the open door, I pressed myself against the wall and shouted at them.  

 

“Don’t come any closer!”  

 

My shout echoed through the cell, making the guard and Kashuel freeze.  

 

“But Captain, you need treatment right now. We can’t just leave you like this—”  

 

“I’m fine. Look, aside from a little bleeding on my right hand, I’m perfectly fine.”  

 

“Captain, still…”  

 

“I can disinfect and treat this wound myself, really, I’m fine. I’ll take the chain off and give it back to you…”  

 

Only then did I realize that the key I had been holding had been blown away by the explosion.  

 

“Ah, the key…”  

 

“Captain, it’s okay.”  

 

Kashuel took another step closer, refusing to give up.  

 

“I brought insulated gloves just in case. I’ll use magic to remove the chain, so don’t worry too much.”  

 

“No, for magic to work, you’d have to get really close.”  

 

I shook my head, backing further into the corner, afraid Kashuel might come closer. I tried to see if I could remove the chain without the key by using some force, but it didn’t work.  

 

Unable to bear it, Kashuel tried to persuade me again.  

 

“Captain, I promise. I’ll keep my distance and make sure not to touch you.”  

 

“But…”  

 

[Ciel, just do as the Duke says.]  

 

Caliberne said in a pitiful voice.  

 

[I understand your feelings, and I know you don’t want to see anyone else get hurt.]  

 

‘Caliberne…’  

 

[But if even one part of the chain remains on your wrist, there’s no telling when it might explode again. The mana suppression function in that metal seems to still be active.]

 

Caliberne’s calm voice echoed in my mind.  

 

[So just this once, could you do as the Duke says…?]  

 

It was a simple request, but I could sense the earnestness in her words.  

 

Knowing Caliberne’s personality, I understood that she was speaking so plainly because she was truly desperate.  

 

In the end, I had no choice but to follow Kashuel’s persistent attempts to convince me that everything would be fine.  

 

“Alright, I’ll do it.”  

 

Though much closer than before, I kept a reasonable distance and extended the arm with the chain wrapped around it.  

 

Soon, a mass of pale green light flowed from Kashuel’s fingertips, and the chain binding my wrist snapped.  

 

The broken chain floated in the air, drifting toward Kashuel, while I rubbed my wrist, now marked with a red trace.  

 

Just as I was relieved that nothing had happened, a sharp pain shot through my right fingertips.  

 

“Ah!”  

 

In less than a second, a blue spark shot out toward Kashuel.  

 

As he was retrieving the chain with magic, he winced in pain, clutching the hand struck by the spark, and the chain floating in the air fell to the ground with a clatter.  

 

“Duke!!”  

 

“Ah…”  

 

A trickle of blood seeped through Kashuel’s fingers.  

 

‘The spark hit him without even touching…’  

 

I urgently told the guard and the knights outside to call the medical team.  

 

Meanwhile, Kashuel, clutching his hand, hung his head low and muttered in a devastated voice.  

 

“No, it’s just a scratch—”  

 

In the end, the day’s attempt ended in failure.