As Luke’s fist flew, not a single one of the nearly hundred knights moved. All of them froze in place, eyes wide in shock. None of them had expected soone would actually throw a punch at a prince of an empire.
“Ah...”
Heath slowly rose to his feet, wiping the spot where he’d been struck. Then, with a casual spit, he let the blood pooled in his mouth splatter to the dirt below. At that mont, the knights snapped back to their senses and all at once raised their swords toward Luke. The blades, catching the moonlight, glead nacingly with a deadly edge.
But Luke didn’t so much as blink. He simply fixed a hard, unwavering gaze on Heath as he casually brushed the dirt off his clothes.
The mont Luke took a step forward, one of the knights shouted at him not to move. Glancing briefly at the sword aid at him, Luke turned his eyes toward the man who had spoken. Judging from the distinct design of his armor, he seed to be soone of fairly high rank among them.
“Are you the commander of this unit?”
“I am! You’ve just committed the heinous cri of laying a hand on His Highness, the Prince of the Welharun Empire!”
“The Empire’s prince?”
Hearing that only made it more laughable. Part of him wanted to whistle in astonishnt—just how ticulous had that bastard been, to even fool the knights sworn to guard the royal palace?
Luke let out a short scoff. The man claiming to be the commander gripped his sword tighter, visibly bristling.
Luke was about to speak again when, suddenly, Heath—who had been sent flying with a single strike—kicked off the ground and leapt forward. It wasn’t until he was already lunging straight toward him that Luke realized the charge. Heath reached out, grabbed Luke by the throat, and slamd him to the ground.
“......”
The earthy scent of soil rose from where his back hit the dirt. Luke glanced briefly at the hand gripping his neck, then turned his gaze toward the man straddling his body.
Heath was smiling. But the twisted curve of his lips reeked of madness. The spot where Luke had punched him was visibly indented in a grotesque way, and Luke couldn’t help but frown at the sight.
“Your Highness...!”
The knight commander tried to rush in, but Heath stretched out a hand as if to stop him. At his silent gesture to hold position, the commander and the rest of the knights took several steps back.
“You... you know sothing, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about? That you’re not Prince Heath, but Felix?”
Luke spoke with a mocking tone, and Heath’s grin only widened. He pressed his thumb firmly against Luke’s throat.
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that na. Was it Hays who told you? By the way—how are my boys doing? Benzie’s always been a timid one, so I worry about him.”
Felix.
The na of NOX’s leader, as revealed by Hays. And now, the man wearing Heath’s face before him—he was that man.
When Luke had visited Hays and Benzie in prison, he’d asked them to sketch the leader’s face. At the ti, Hays warned him that their leader was a master ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) of disguise magic, and that a portrait might be aningless.
It had been a mistake not to recall that warning sooner. Luke had assud the NOX leader was hiding sowhere in Welharun, pulling the strings behind the scenes and manipulating Heath.
He never imagined the bastard was playing Heath himself.
“They’re doing well. Better than they ever did under your thumb.”
“No gratitude for the food and shelter I gave them, huh? So? How did you figure out I’m not the real Heath? My magic should’ve been flawless.”
To that, Luke answered with silence—an acknowledgnt in itself. He had to admit the man was a master of disguise magic. Even Luke hadn’t realized until he discovered the hidden room.
“...What happened to the real Prince Heath?”
“What do you think?”
Luke didn’t want to ask. But this was sothing he had to know—for Cailern’s sake, if nothing else.
“Did you kill him?”
At those words, Felix’s face twisted with madness once again. Even though he was still wearing Heath’s face, it felt like Luke was looking at soone else entirely. It wasn’t just that the man could alter his appearance—he perfectly mimicked the voice, behavior, gestures, expressions, and even the smallest habits.
Not even the royal knights, nor Prince Heath’s younger brother Cailern, had noticed.
“Why would you think that? Heath and I were such close companions.”
“Because that Heath opposed the plan to invade Hainere.”
According to Cailern, Heath had been a prince of gentle character, much like their father. Even if he’d accepted NOX’s help, it had been out of desperation—to stop the suffering of his people caused by monsters. But Heath, raised by a righteous father hailed as a wise ruler, couldn’t bring himself to invade their ally, Hainere.
“You probably started your plan by releasing your controlled monsters across Welharun to put pressure on Heath. If the number of monsters increased drastically, soone like Heath—burdened by responsibility—wouldn’t have been able to ignore your offer of help.”
The sudden surge in monsters across Welharun had been a staged act by NOX. To Heath, suffocating under pressure, NOX’s assistance in subjugating those threats would have seed like salvation.
Humans are imperfect creatures. No matter how strong soone may appear, they always have weaknesses. And if soone finds and exploits those weaknesses, it’s only natural to lean on them.
“You probably thought things were going just as planned. But Heath’s refusal to invade Hainere—that was the one thing you didn’t anticipate.”
Felix lightly stroked Luke’s neck, listening with interest.
“To remove that obstacle, you must’ve done sothing to Prince Heath. And now, using your magic, you’re pretending to be him and pushing forward with the invasion.”
“What else did you see in that room, besides the magic circle?”
Luke recalled the letter he’d found after copying the summoning circle onto paper. It had been written by none other than Heath.
The letter contained a detailed account of his relationship with NOX and what they were plotting. At first, Luke had been confused—why would Heath, who had joined forces with NOX, leave behind such a letter exposing their cris?
But once he finished reading, the answer beca clear. Heath had realized NOX was overstepping, manipulating Welharun for their own ends, and targeting Hainere. He had written that letter to request help—from none other than Cedric Loelard, Emperor of Hainere.
Luke didn’t know why the letter had ended up there, but it had clearly been ant for Cedric.
Only then did Luke understand: Heath had cast aside his pride as a prince to reach out to Hainere for help.
From there, the rest was easy to deduce. A rift had ford between Heath and NOX, and Heath had opposed their invasion plan. But Felix hadn’t backed down. And in the end, he eliminated Heath—one way or another.
After that, he shalessly impersonated Heath, deceived even Cailern, the ministers, and the palace itself, and continued executing his plan.
“So let ask you. Was it at the banquet that you sensed my body was tainted with unclean mana?”
Now that he understood the full picture, Luke couldn’t help but think of the one mistake he’d made.
That mont before he made contact with Cailern—at the banquet. Back then, he’d faked being unwell to slip away. Heath had co up and asked if he was all right. There had been brief physical contact.
Among mages, physical touch could allow them to sense each other’s mana to so extent. Just as Cailern had sensed Luke’s potent mana from a single handshake.
“That mont—when I touched you—it was pure luck. I had no idea you were a mage. Just as you were completely fooled by my disguise as Heath, I didn’t expect you to be a magician. But the mont I sensed my own mana within you, I had a hunch. That Hainere was up to sothing.”
Felix laughed again, saying that while he figured Hainere wouldn’t stay idle, he never expected them to use the sa thod—sending soone in under disguise.
“Luke, was it? You’ve figured out quite a lot. Truly impressive. I’ll give you that. But you do know, right? No matter how skilled you are, no matter how perfect your plan is—if you fail at the very end, it all crumbles.”
Heath’s—no, Felix’s—grip tightened. Luke furrowed his brow at the constriction on his throat.
“All your cards have failed. From what I see, you were trying to smuggle the evidence you found back to Hainere—but I can’t allow that. And you’re clearly in no shape to fight or the knights.”
Felix’s gaze dropped, landing on Luke’s right hand.
“The more you use magic, the more my corrupted mana will spread through your body. Unless I, the owner of that mana, personally cast a purification spell on you, you’ll live the rest of your life tainted by it. Your days as a mage are over. You should accept that.”
“Yeah, and that’s exactly why I ca looking for you.”
Luke slowly raised his hand. As he grabbed the arm choking him, a light smile curved on his lips.
Suddenly, a chill spread through the air, and Felix’s eyes widened in surprise. The area around where Luke touched began to freeze.
Felix leapt back quickly, jumping off Luke’s body. A portion of his right arm was visibly frozen. With a flick of that arm in the air, a faint black smoke rose, and the ice shattered and fell away in shards.
“You...”
“I gave it so thought. But no matter how politely I ask, there’s no way you’d purify the mana inside , right?”
Luke casually rolled his neck as he spoke.
“Aren’t you curious? Whether your corrupted mana will completely take over my body first... or whether I’ll beat you down and force you to purify it.”
At that mont, the clouds parted, and the moon fully erged in the sky. The silver hair cascading under the moonlight glead even more brilliantly than before.
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