Chapter 102

“How… did you get here…”

I approached Dante without a word.

The gruesome sight left me speechless, as if my throat had closed up.

“As…tell.”

“Be quiet.”

Just hearing his dry, cracked voice was painful.

Looking around, I saw a thick book—completely out of place here—and a bucket full of water. There was nothing to scoop the water with.

I went to the bucket, scooped a little water with my hands, and tasted it. It didn’t seem to be salted or poisoned.

“Ha, it’s ice water.”

To have a bucket of ice water ready in a place so cold you could see your breath even in midsummer.

The purpose was obvious. It was for dousing him to wake him up if he fainted.

I forced down the bile rising in my throat. Then, I cupped my hands and scooped up some water.

“Drink.”

As I brought my hands to his lips, Dante drank greedily. He must have been thirsty, because he began coughing after drinking too quickly.

“Cough! Ugh!”

When he coughed, bright red blood splattered onto my hand.

“Don’t tell me you have internal injuries.”

“No… my tongue…”

“…You hurt your tongue?”

It seemed suspicious, but I had no time to examine him closely. Getting out of here was the priority.

I quickly checked the shackles on Dante’s wrists.

Strange symbols were engraved on the hard, silver-white material.

Are those magic formulas? No matter how I looked at them, these were no ordinary shackles.

*That crazy bastard!*

The emperor was truly insane.

You couldn’t restrain a swordmaster with ordinary shackles, but still, this was his own son.

To create special shackles just to restrain his child.

*What is wrong with his head?*

The skin on Dante’s wrists was rubbed raw, exposing the red flesh beneath. It looked like he had tried to escape several times, all in vain.

“Can’t you break these?”

“It’s fine…”

“What do you mean, it’s fine? If I’d been even a little later, you might have died, Your Highness!”

“I… won’t die.”

He said that with a face that looked like he could stop breathing at any moment.

“Why? Because you’re a monster?”

“…”

Astell was a classic victim of gaslighting, but Dante’s case was far more severe.

How much must he have been brainwashed since childhood to believe he was a monster?

“Why would he do this? What reason could a parent possibly have to be so cruel to their own child!”

“…”

Dante didn’t answer, but I could guess well enough.

There was only one reason the emperor would do something like this to Dante right now.

“Did His Majesty tell you to give up on being the Crown Prince? And when you refused, he did this to you, didn’t he?”

“…No.”

“You say no while hanging here in this state? Do I look stupid enough to believe that?”

“Astell…”

No matter how hard I tried to hold it in, I couldn’t suppress the surging anger.

The fact that Dante was in this state because of me made my vision turn red.

“Are you an idiot? You should have just said you’d give up! Why did you endure this? I won’t fall apart even if you don’t become the Crown Prince! We could have found another way!”

My voice echoed in the confined space.

I knew. It wasn’t Dante’s fault.

I also knew he had endured it for my sake, worried that it would hinder me.

That’s what made me even angrier.

*Who am I that you would endure this? So what if you broke a promise to me!*

If we were truly in love, I might have understood, but that wasn’t the case.

*We only met a few months ago.*

Dante stared at me blankly before speaking in an exhausted voice.

“Go… now.”

“I will. With you.”

“Astell…”

“Do you want me to get caught here too? Do you want me to be thrown in prison again?”

“…”

“If that’s not what you want, then cooperate, Your Highness.”

Without waiting for Dante’s reply, I checked my points.

The points from the post ‘likes’ had come in, and there were more than I expected.

*This should be enough.*

I closed my eyes and entered the Unhae Shop.

White text filled my blackened vision. I took a deep breath, enduring the familiar sense of nausea.

“Hoo…”

First, I didn’t need a formula. I couldn’t control mana according to formulas.

In that case…

“Sort, Item, Magic Nullification.”

The letters all moved at once, creating a list.

As expected, countless items were sorted, and I had to choose the one I needed.

“Do you know who made those restraints?”

“…I don’t know.”

“You’re not just refusing to tell me, are you?”

“It’s… a family heirloom…”

I opened my eyes, dumbfounded.

What kind of family passes down restraints as an heirloom?

*What a family of lowborn trash.*

Since I didn’t know how much mana was imbued in the shackles, choosing the most expensive item would lower the chance of failure.

I chewed on my lip and sorted the list again.

“Resort, One-Time Use Item, Magic Nullification, by highest points.”

Something changed, but the list didn’t seem to have gotten any shorter. I checked the item list from the very top.

[System: <One-Time Use Item – Magic Nullification> can be exchanged for 500,000 points.]

[Exchange] / [Decline]

A one-time use shield was 500 points, but this was 500,000. It was an incredibly expensive item.

But it was fine. What I wanted was something that would exert the most powerful force, just once.

It’s not like I’d ever use it twice.

*Because I’m going to destroy it.*

“Exchange.”

[System: You have acquired <One-Time Use Item – Magic Nullification>.]

The magic nullification item I took out of my inventory was a thick, large silver coin. Though I doubted it was a real silver coin.

When I touched the coin to Dante’s shackles, sparks flew.

A moment later.

*What, why is there no reaction?*

The moment I thought that, the shackles split in half on their own, and Dante collapsed.

I hurriedly caught him and gave him more water. A blazing heat radiated from his skin where we touched.

“Drink slowly. Slowly.”

“Cough! Haa…”

After a few more coughs, Dante’s expression seemed to relax a little.

I helped him to his feet.

“We’re breaking out now, so keep your wits about you. As strong as I am, I can’t carry an unconscious, tall man out of the imperial palace without being seen.”

“How… are you planning to do that.”

I had a one-time use teleportation scroll from a sponsor, but it was useless here.

Teleportation magic was blocked in the imperial palace for security reasons.

“We’ll have to walk. Our goal is the Gray Forest behind the imperial palace.”

* * *

Escaping through the main gate of the imperial palace was obviously impossible.

Climbing the wall was out of the question given Dante’s condition.

The only exit was the Gray Forest, which connected to the imperial hunting grounds.

A forest shrouded by a massive floating spire, dark even in broad daylight. It was the perfect place to hide.

We used the darkness to our advantage, passing through the hunting grounds and entering the Gray Forest.

Unfortunately, a heavy downpour the day before had turned the mountain path into a mess.

My feet sank with every step. It was difficult even for me in my healthy state, so it was naturally much harder for Dante.

“Hoo, hooh…”

Dante’s breathing grew increasingly ragged.

I was worried, but we had no time to rest.

We didn’t know when the emperor would find out about Dante’s escape, so we had to put as much distance between us and the palace as possible.

We walked without a word until we were under the shadow of the spire.

“Haa, we’ve reached the safe zone. We can walk more slowly now.”

“Where… are we…”

“Beneath the spire.”

Dante’s voice sounded terrible.

I tried to check his complexion, but I could only see a faint outline; his features were indistinguishable. It was because of the massive spire blocking out the moonlight.

Having no other choice, I touched his forehead. He was burning up.

This wasn’t just a fever from being beaten. When you’re beaten, the fever is usually localized to the injured areas.

“Ugh!”

Just then, Dante coughed and covered his mouth. Something trickled between his fingers.

*This smell… is it blood?*

The image of the bright red liquid that had splattered on my hand earlier flashed through my mind.

I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again.

“So you were lying about injuring your tongue. You have internal injuries.”

To think he walked all this way in a state that would have made anyone else pass out…

“This won’t do. Let’s get under that tree over there for now.”

I supported Dante’s arm and started walking.

We had only taken two or three steps when…

Suddenly, the ground gave way beneath my feet, and my body pitched forward.

The heavy rain had caused a landslide, but it was too dark for me to have noticed.

*I’m falling!*

We were about to fall together. I quickly pushed Dante’s arm away.

“Astell!”

But Dante refused to let go of my hand. Instead, he pulled me closer, holding me tight in his arms.

“Are you crazy? We’ll both die…!”

He cupped the back of my head and pressed me into his chest.

And then we fell.

Thwack!

The sound of dirt flying everywhere and branches snapping echoed.

I struggled to break free from Dante’s embrace, but it was no use.

I don’t know where a man on the verge of death found such strength, but Dante held on to me tightly.

Thud!

A powerful shock coursed through my body. At the same time, the world went dark.