TAPGB - Chapter 115
The Abandoned Prince's Ghost Bride
"Why did you ask about His Majesty Emperor Julius? I wonder if you are suffering from something."
"I think he knew I was in the mansion while he was alive."
"But wasn't His Majesty's existence a top secret? I only found out about it recently..."
When Sebastian asked in surprise, Lucian nodded.
"Yes, my father completely hid my existence. In particular, he worked harder to prevent Emperor Julius from knowing about my existence. But, father didn't know about the tragedy taking place in the mansion. Sebastian, don't you know better?"
Only after being recruited by Lucian did Sebastian learn of the existence of the warlock and all the secrets surrounding the temple and the imperial family. And that was only half a year ago.
"Then how did the priests know that I was in the mansion? Father has no ties to the old school."
"Ah... that's right. The Bishop at that time was aware of His Majesty's presence. He didn't know exactly that His Majesty was a hidden Prince, but..."
Javier, recalling his first visit to the basement, agreed.
"When they went to offer the sacrifice, the higher-ups must have said something about me. Do you understand why I am suspicious of Emperor Julius?"
"It makes sense... No, other than that, there is no way to explain the temple's actions in trying to mess with His Majesty."
It's already been 5 years since Julius died, and Lucian hasn't even thought about looking for him or researching him.
'For a moment. How did Julius die?'
He died after suffering from a chronic disease. It wasn't long before Lucian accepted to be Leopold's double.
Before that, Julius was like LeopoId!
"Your Majesty!"
"Hmm?"
"I think it's Prime Minister Harry."
They heard Harry calling for Lucian outside. Lucian stopped his thoughts for a moment and came out.
"Your Majesty!"
Harry, who was wandering nearby. approached Lucian urgently.
"What's going on?"
"Now, now Leopold...!"
Lucian's eyes gradually widened as Harey continued to speak. Soon, he threw away his dignity as an Emperor and ran to the room where Leopold was.
***
"There's no sign of Leah waking up."
Age and Caesar were looking at the materials placed in the living room from yesterday evening until this. But for some reason, even after a full day, Leah did not wake up.
As Caesar poked Leah's cheek, Age took off the glasses he was wearing.
"Leave her as is. She might be getting her memories back."
"But I woke up right away."
"Not like you. There is nothing wrong, so it will happen when the time comes. Rather, did you say that all the humans here were sacrificed?"
Caesar looked away from Leah and nodded
"When I looked into it, I saw that there was someone I knew everything about."
"Really?!"
Caesar didn't know it at first, but when he looked at the names and the footprints they left behind, it definitely came to mind.
"They were rare geniuses but unfortunate people."
For example, Ivan, a musician.
First of all, Ivan was an ordinary musician, just like Lia said. He just had a talent that was superior to others.
"I have heard him play before, but he was so talented that no one could imitate him. He was so impressed with his performance that people fainted."
"I heard that the 3rd Prince died of a heart attack after hearing him play. Is it true?"
"Yes. But the 3rd Prince was weak even before that. He was unable to move and was lying in a hospital bed every day. "It's no wonder he dies at any time, but unfortunately, he collapsed while Ivan was playing."
"So, you're saying he didn't die after listening to his music?"
"Of course. Does anyone believe such stupid things?"
Age snorted in astonishment.
"Well, whatever the reason, after the 3rd Prince died, there were all kinds of strange rumors going around about Ivan selling his soul to the devil or making a contract with the devil."
In other words, the 3rd Prince was a promising musician until just before his death.
Caesar somehow had a premonition that the rumor was created by the imperial family to strangle Ivan.
"And I never expected to see this person here."
The person Age was talking about was Ravio, an archaeologist.
"I tried to ask for help because I heard there was a good archaeologist, but by the time I approached him, he had already been sentenced to death."
It was after the 100th year of the Imperial Calendar that Age began searching for Carcerine in earnest. Quite a long time had passed before it was possible to investigate the period when Carserine interacted with humans.
"I can't believe I discovered this important information only now that I found Carcerine."
"I guess he was quite a smart guy. He wrote down everything he saw by hand?"
Since he was suddenly kicked out of the mansion while digging into history, there was no way he could have left behind any data. This is Ravio rewriting everything he knows.
That means...
It is said that traces of the first Emperor that could not be found in the imperial library or archives may be found.
In particular, Ravio focused on digging into the history from the 1st year of the kingdom calendar to the 10th year of the imperial calendar and determined that there were serious historical distortions in between.
"It's a distortion of the founding myth..."
"They say history wasn't distorted until at least 6 years later. It would be natural since the first Emperor did not find the empire on his own. However, from then on he stopped distributing children's books containing the founding myth throughout the Empire. And in 15 years of empire calendar, a distorted version of the founding myth spread again."
"There is a gap of nine years."
"Obviously, they were trying to somehow erase traces of Carcerine and Arya in the meantime. Looking at the period. It seems to be divided into before and after Arya was sealed."
Age discovered one thing while in vestigating Dragon Heart.
That is the time of sealing. It was in the 7th year of the Imperial Calendar that Carserine sacrificed his life to seal Arya.
"..."
Caesar was speechless.
Should he call this a shock?
Actually, he kind of expected it.
In the original children's book, the first Emperor and the witch were depicted as strong comrades in arms and even lovers who shared love for each other.
But why is it not enough to erase the witch at this point and treat her as a villain?
There was no need to look far to find the answer.
"... Is there anything more than the first Emperor?"
Informing history to future generations and distributing children's books throughout the empire were both possible only if the Emperor was an Emperor.
"The reason that only Arya was turned into a villainess in the tale is probably because Carcerine is a red dragon, so it is harder to erase the impression that has been imprinted on him compared to a witch."
"Maybe they left it as is because of the symbolism of the dragon."
In any case, the fact remains that the first Emperor betrayed Arya.
"That's not the only problem. The first Emperor issued an order to the entire empire."
"What is that?"
"Hunt the witch."
For a moment, a shiver ran down Caesar's spine.
"In the past, you could still see witches occasionally, but now the number of witches has drastically decreased. No, maybe there's no one else but Leah anymore."
Looking back, Caesar had never seen a witch before. So wasn't he amazed when he found out that Leah was a witch?
"But what exactly is a witch? How is it different from ordinary people?"
"A wizard has qualities, and only by honing them can he use magic. However, it is said that witches can freely manipulate mana without any effort as if they were one body with mana from the beginning. If a dragon can command mana, then a witch can be considered blessed by mana."
"Is it possible that Leah was able to use magic even when she was a ghost because she was a witch?"
"I guess that's very likely."
Caesar looked at the sleeping Leab with new eyes. Even when she was a ghost, even now, she would draw on her natural mana to use magic.
"But other than that, there is no way to distinguish between witches and ordinary people. Because they are no different from humans except that they are blessed with mana."
"Then how do you catch a witch?"
"What can they do? They just catch them at random and kill them."
Unless they are dragons, there is no way for humans to distinguish between witches. This is something you can only find out if you say you are a witch.
So, if humans even suspect that the other person is a witch, they capture them, torture them mercilessly, and eventually force them to confess.
No one knows whether it is true or false except the person involved. Caesar frowned reflexively.
"Dirty human bastards."
"This is probably why Ravio refuted the Emperor. If he just corrects history, he can reduce the sacrifices caused by witch hunts."
The reason Ravio was definitively punished was because he stood up to the Emperor.
He risked his life to correct distorted history, but the imperial family regarded it as an attempt to undermine imperial authority and imprisoned him.
"What kind of restraint is this bastard?"
"How do I know? If you want to know, the only way is for you to quickly regain your memories."
Caesar gritted his teeth.
When he calmed down to some extent, Caesar looked at the data on other people.
"Tsk, I feel sorry for him too."
"Ah, you mean that alchemist?"
Dadan Groot was accused of trying to poison the Emperor and sentenced to death.
"After looking into her, I found out that instead of poisoning the Emperor, he really just made an elixir."
"Elixir does not exist in this world in the first place. It's an imaginary drug created by humans blinded by greed. Even our dragons only live for 1,500 years, so how can humans live forever?"
The Emperor wanted immortality, and Dadan Groot created an elixir to respond.
However, the Emperor who ate it vomited blood, and Dadan Groot, who was detained, came here.
Out of frustration and to prove that his research was not wrong, he opened the elixir from the beginning and examined it. As a result, he realized that although the elixir he created may have some rejuvenating effect, it is not an elixir of immortality.
"But that's not the problem. It's a side effect."
July 12, 207.
There is only one case where elixir can cause side effects. If the elixir has lived for too long then it can handle.
That means His Majesty the Emperor has long since surpassed the age of 60...
Does this make sense?
The Majesty I saw was no older than 30. This is absolutely impossible! I wish someone would tell me that I came to the wrong conclusion.
However, if His Majesty's soul is over 60, or even 100 years old side effects may occur.
Then who on earth is this Majesty I saw? No, is he really human? It's just confusing.
It was July 14, 207 when Dadan Groot was sacrificed and disappeared.
It was only when he was about to die that he finally discovered the cause of the elixir's side effects.
"In 207... Not much different from Francis. Is it possible that the Emperor is the same person?"
"Francis?"
"Yes. Well, they said he participated in a rebellion with the second Princess, and he was arrested for treason."
He frowned at Caesar's story and looked at Francis' diary.
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