TAPGB - Chapter 66

TAPGB - Chapter 66

The Abandoned Prince's Ghost Bride

"We are ready!"

"Good. From now on, I will carry Your Majesty's soul."

Deep inside the great temple Hall.

There, Julius... No, he was conducting a ceremony to transfer the soul of the first Emperor, Leon, to Leopold.

Temple of Infinity. The high-ranking priests here are not faithful messengers of God, but warlocks. They have had a symbiotic relationship with Leon for 300 years.

Before the creation of the Oddrian Empire, warlocks were persecuted by people and had to live in hiding. However, as Leon brought a new revolution to the continent and cooperated with them, the warlocks were able to gradually regain their authority.

Then one day, the leader of the warlocks found a gap between Leon and his colleagues and squeezed in.

'We will make Leon's wish come true. Instead, please help us settle in this country.'

That's how the two held hands.

Warlocks created virtual Gods, established temples, and lived by disguising themselves as priests. In return for protecting them, Leon continued his life by using the power of a warlock to pass through the bodies of his descendants.

The infinite power of God that believers believe in. This was practically black magic. This fact is known only to the temple leaders, Leon, and a few people. Even the current Emperor, Ruber, probably cannot imagine that something like this exists behind the Empire.

8th Pope, Peter. No, it's Peter, the head of the 8th warlock.

He will faithfully carry out the orders of the first Emperor to maintain the temple.

A complex black magic formula was drawn on Peter's hand. At the same time as extracting the soul, he must quickly transfer it to another body.

Peter pushed Leon's soul into Leopold's body. At the same time, another warlock extracted Leopold's soul.

Zrrrt

"Hmm? What?"

The warlock who was extracting Leopold's soul paused for a moment when he felt an electric current at his fingertips.

Just when he thought it was an illusion, changes began to occur in Leopold's body. An unidentified force repelled the black magic.

"Ugh! Shit! What are you doing now?"

"Well, I didn't do anything! Suddenly, a repulsive force arose...!"

Paaaat!

Blue light leaked from Leopold's left wrist, and soon a huge magic circle began to cover his entire body. 

"Oh, no!"

Peter shouted urgently. Leopold's soul has not been taken out yet, and only about half of Leon's soul has been put into it. If this continues, the soul injection will fail and Leon will die.

'We can never leave it like that!'

If we lose sight of him like this, the existence of black magicians will soon become known to the world and they will be persecuted like in the distant past.

"I give up extracting the Crown Prince's soul! Insert His Majesty's soul somehow!"

"Yes!"

When two souls reside in one body, a repulsive force occurs and the souls collide. Only strong souls will take over the body, but for now, there is no other way than this.

'Your Majesty is an immortal who has lived for over 300 years. The soul will be just as powerful.'

Peter took a gamble. Before the magic circle covering Leopold's body was completed, he hurriedly forced Leon's soul into it.

'Please, just a little more...!'

As Leon's soul was pushed to the limit, the blue light became stronger and pushed away everything around him.

Kwaaaaaaaa

All the other warlocks, including Peter, were lying on the floor.

Gooooo-

The blue light buzzed and soon faded away.

Crack-

The bracelet Leopold was wearing was cracked.

"... Was it successful?"

Peter suddenly came to his senses at the mutterings of a warlock.

"Check His Majesty right now!"

The warlocks looked at Leopold, who had entered Leon's soul, and Julius, who was now an empty shell. A person does not die immediately just because the soul escapes. It slowly loses its vitality and eventually dies after about a month.

Now that Julius' body has exhausted its usefulness, it is of no importance.

The most important thing now is...

"It's easy to breathe!"

This is Leopold.

Ha...

Sighs of relief came from everywhere. However, it is not yet time to relax.

Leopold lay like a dead man.

If it weren't for the faint sound of breathing, you would have thought he was really dead.

Peter's eyes caught the bracelet Leopold was wearing. For a moment, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Who on earth is the bastard who helped him get his clothes back?!  He was wearing a magic tool!"

"I'm sorry, Peter. I asked a new person to do the work and he stopped."

"Everyone, come to your senses! If His Majesty dies, we are the ones who will be hit the hardest! Ruber. Do you think that bastard will just watch us like this?!"

He doesn't know if Ruber knew it, but he attracted priests, not warlocks, to his side. If Leon doesn't become Leopold and protect them, Ruber, that rat, will reach the temple at once.

'On the subject of a mere mortal...  I can never let that happen.' 

"Usually they come to consciousness within 10 minutes, so we monitor the situation. For the rest of you, take care of Julius' body."

The low-ranking warlocks raised Julius' soulless body. The empty shell with its soul gone was just staggering around with unfocused eyes.

 "Ahhh..."

Like a child, he couldn't even speak proper language. However, if he controls that appearance with black magic, it will be quickly resolved. Peter quickly loses his attention on Julius' empty body.

As Peter waited for Leopold to come to his senses, 10 minutes passed. 

"Why is nothing happening?" 

But there was no change.

They waited for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and over 20 minutes just to be sure, but Leopold was still unconscious as if he was dead.

Peter hurriedly placed his hand on Leopold's head. Then he closed his eyes and tried to read the soul within.

Bang! Bang bang!

Deep within Leopold's body, the two souls clashed fiercely.

"Could it be that His Majesty is being pushed back...?"

"Peter! Someone from the imperial family has arrived!"

To make matters worse, the imperial family sent someone. It was well past the scheduled time for the coming-of-age ceremony.

If things continue like this, the temple will completely blame the reason why Leopold lost consciousness. There's no way that guy Ruber would miss this opportunity.

"Peter! How will we do it... Wow! Wow!"

Peter twisted the neck of a priest who was fidgeting next to him. As he lost his life in an instant, the surroundings became quiet.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and his Majesty the Emperor were attacked by an evil wizard. We got hurt trying to protect two people. Got it?"

In short, we must overcome the current situation by sacrificing one person. Everyone else looked at the corpse swallowed their saliva and nodded.

***

"Leopold!"

"Prince! Prince! Please come to your senses! Prince!"

The news of Leopold's fall quickly spread to the imperial court. Rubber and Serena quickly looked at Leopold. Leopold was lying like a dead man, and Julius' condition was not very good.

Why did something like this happen on a happy day like today?

"Call the doctor right away!"

Ruber set out to resolve this matter as rationally as possible. Serena moved into a room with Leopold, and Ruber, who was left in the chaotic place, could only wipe his dry face.

"... There was an attack?"

"Yes, that's right. As they were receiving the Holy Grail, a criminal hiding among the priests attacked His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Majesty the Former Emperor. We subdued him late, but he had already committed suicide..."

"So. Are you saying that you couldn't find anything behind it and just watched the Crown Prince and the Emperor suffer?"

"I apologize, Your Majesty."

Ruber gritted his teeth as he looked at the top of Peter's head.

 "Treat Leopold at all costs! If you don't, I will never forgive you for what happened!" 

"... I will do my best."

The priests, led by Peter, hurried to Leopold's bedroom. So Ruber prayed and prayed that Leopold would come to his senses. But no matter how much the doctors treated him and the priests prayed, Leopold could not open his eyes.

Ruber, feeling a sense of crisis, gathered people from various fields and had them look at Leopold's physical condition. Among them, the court wizard of the 6th circle said something shocking. 

"It seems that Your Highness has fallen victim to black magic."

"Is that really true!" 

The warlocks disguised as priests, including Peter, watched them nervously.

"Yes, black magic has long since disappeared from the world, and this is my first time actually seeing it... There is something similar to mana in his body, but too strange to be called mana."

"Is there any way to cure Leopold?"

"Sorry. It's impossible with my current strength. There doesn't seem to be any way to cure it unless you are a warlock or a wizard of 8 circles or higher. All we have to do is overcome it by the Crown Prince himself..."

"Ahhh..."

"Her Majesty!"

Serena, shocked, stumbled and fainted, touching her forehead.

The maids around her stepped forward to support her, and Ruber stroked his lower lip and stroked the face of his son, who was lying as if dead.

"Your Majesty...The coming-of-age ceremony begins in three hours."

"What should I do?"

Rubber couldn't just sit back and be sad, even though he didn't know when his son would wake up. 

'Should we announce that Leopold has fallen like this?'

In Ruber's heart, he wants to thoroughly uncover the background of the person who made his son like this and destroyed the three generations. However, today, on his coming-of-age anniversary, people will be talking about him in many ways if they find out that he suffered a disaster.

'Some people may say it's ominous, but the reality is that we don't know when Leopold will wake up.'

"It would be nice to have someone who can represent the Creon Prince..."

At that time, a worker's muttering reached Ruber's ears.

Represent? If it is a representation...

Ruber thought of another son whom he had erased from his mind a long time ago. And at the same time, his self-loathing also rose.

'I never thought about throwing him away until I was in a situation like this...'

But in the current situation, there was no better way than this. Finally, Ruber bit his lips and opened his mouth.

"I give this order to everyone present."

Everyone in the room, including servants, maids, priests, and palace wizards, turned to look at Ruber's voice.

"Nothing happened to Leopold today. The fact that he fell due to black magic should not be revealed to the outside world."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Dane, I have a favor to ask of you."

Ruber whispered something to the chamberlain and Dane. Dane opened his eyes wide and looked at Ruber.

"You've been looking after that child all this time, right?"

"Yes... He has certainly grown up and looks just like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but..."

"The Great Noble Council has already declared that the throne will be handed over to Leopold within five years. At a time like now when we need to solidify our power, there shouldn't be any noise. It's all for Leopold."

"... All right. I will pick him up right away."

Dane immediately moved to carry out Ruber's orders. He led the commander of the knights directly under the Emperor and several knights outside.

'I never thought I'd meet the Prince like this.'

Meanwhile, it was the chamberlain, Dane, who took care of the Prince who had been abandoned in the ghost mansion.

Five years ago, Ruber no longer asked about Lucian or looked for him, so Dane looked after Lucian's convenience on his own.

He had James supply supplies periodically, and once or twice a year he went on a secret inspection to see if Lucian was well.

Dane thought they wouldn't have to see each other again since he ordered James to deliver the last supplies just a few days ago.

'It's truly amazing.'

Dane felt pity for Lucian and looked back at the knights who followed him.

"He is a precious person, so you must not cause him even the slightest harm. Keep it in mind."

"Yes!"

Dane led the knights and headed to the haunted mansion.

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