The Emperor Who Was Chapter 4 : Chapter 4

Chapter . 4

Since I can bury him alive later, let's first think about the enemy's exact intentions. There might be sothing more than what I've guessed.

The ingredients for Lasilex are rare, so even in the past, it cost a fortune to manufacture. Especially now that the manufacturing thod is lost, its value is beyond imagination.

‘Feeding such expensive dicine to , the one with the least prospect of inheriting the throne? Not to Maximilian, who is a stronger competitor than Desmond?’

…Of course, they probably wanted to check if I had magic power and use

as a scapegoat if Desmond failed to contract with the dragon. I'm also easier to dispose of than Maximilian.

However, I couldn't shake the hunch that there was sothing more. I know what kind of person the Empress is.

The Empress, who even restored the Lasilex that I found out about through investigation, couldn't be unaware of the facts.

‘The Empress must also know the cases of those who drank Lasilex and beca Emperor.’

But even if she wanted to prepare Desmond for the dragon contract, there are more people who died after drinking Lasilex than those who beca Emperor.

So she must have had

drink it first.

If she secretly fed it to the first prince and his magic power increased, it would be a huge loss.

On the other hand, since I have no power, even if my magic power increases, they can just eliminate

before I contract with the dragon.

My master would have pointed out that due to the difference in the amount of magic power, the result from

couldn't be the sa as Desmond’s.

But, if the purpose was to modify Lasilex depending on the result…….

Before regressing, since the result was so bad, she probably had to discard it thinking Desmond might end up like …….

Ultimately, neither I nor the Empress are scholars like my master. Politicians who sotis choose a gamble over logic even if there is only a faint possibility.

Above all, it was the Empress who branded , a human, with the dragon's brand. This was also sothing that had been impossible.

However, a person who knew no magic and had no magic power, relentlessly abused magic by any ans necessary, and eventually grasped the power of the throne.

‘So I was the test subject for the Empress’s Lasilex human experint.’

It was a perfect plan. Except for the fact that I am now a wizard.

It was just when I reached the conclusion.

“Your Highness, I saw earlier that you had symptoms, so I brought so good dicine.”

The court physician pressed .

“What symptoms are you talking about?”

“Didn't you fail to recognize , swat away my hand, and struggle?”

He was as shaless as his face looked.

“It slls terrible.”

“What do you an? It doesn't sll like anything. That might also be a symptom―”

“Your breath slls terrible. It makes

not want to drink your dicine either, so shut that mouth.”

Amidst the quiet, I fell into thought again.

I could sll Lasilex, so I could avoid it even if they secretly mixed it in my food.

I could also pretend to eat it with magic and secretly discard the contents.

‘But what if I drink it as is and test my hypothesis?’

My hypothesis that if I use magic while drinking Lasilex, I can turn the poison that kills magic power into a dicine that increases magic power.

Moreover, since I already know how to use magic, I don't need to rely on instinct like past Emperors. Perhaps so who were renowned as heroes secretly learned magic like .

But…….

‘I thought I was dying…….’

The pain when I drank Lasilex was still vivid. Above all, if my hypothesis was wrong, I might lose my magic power again.

Could I endure that twice?

But I absolutely had to save Michelon. A dragon’s growth takes ti. In the case of an Emperor who handled dragons exceptionally well, it is said there was record-breaking rapid growth.

‘The words sound plausible, but in reality, it must have been magic.’

Before regressing, all sorts of magic were mobilized to brand Michelon like a preliminary contract as soon as he hatched, and then to make him grow rapidly. It was a miracle that our contract succeeded even with such a cruel thod.

I cannot let Michelon go through such a thing again. I have to hatch him, hide him with magic, and take care of him until he grows up. Still, since they grow faster than humans, by the ti I co of age, Michelon will also be an adult dragon.

‘But Maximilian cos of age before .’

Only adults can attempt a contract with a dragon. Of course, there were exceptions throughout long history, but the results were never good. Especially if I have a brother rumored to have assassinated our father to get his hands on a dragon egg before regressing, I had to move from now.

The problem was , who had just started using magic. To beco stronger than the competitors’ wizards, I had to increase my magic power significantly.

“Your Highness, are you really not going to take the dicine?”

The court physician, who had been silent for a mont, asked anxiously.

I silently reached out and took it.

“Your hands are trembling. I will hold it for you, so just put your lips to it.”

Even though I managed to survive before regressing, forcing an experint with an uncertain hypothesis now might kill . Even if I don't die, losing my magic power is irreversible.

But the opportunity to gain the power to save Michelon was also irreversible. It would be difficult to find Michelon, and even if I found him, if I couldn't protect him, a situation more terrible than before regression could occur.

To do that, I had to beco stronger than now.

‘I can save Michelon, Master, and those who saved … Drink it, coward.’

Even so, when the fear of losing the barely gained power persistently held

back, a question suddenly arose in my mind.

‘Did Michelon know? That the regression would succeed?’

A question no one knows the answer to.

But he carried it out. Even betting the freedom he barely gained.

I swatted away the hand the court physician offered and gripped the cup tightly. I brought it straight to my mouth.

Like that, I drank the poison that had hard

again.

As I emptied the poisoned cup in one gulp, terrible pain swallowed .

“Y-Your Highness?”

Blood gushed from my throat. The unique thick floral scent of Larsil beca stronger. Invisible flas burned .

I wanted to give up and let go of all my magic power……. Thinking I could overco the toxicity of Lasilex by using magic was a delusion.

Using magic amidst the pain of burning to death alive, the attempt itself was impossible…….

‘So I die like this. Without saving anyone.’

I wanted to save Master too, before she suffered tragedy…….

Sadness swallowed . Enough to make

forget even the pain for a mont.

Ultimately, no matter how great the pain of the poison, my sadness was greater.

In that case, I was stronger than the poison.

The mont I realized, the poison rooted in every vein flowing through my body ignited all at once.

‘Now.’

If I don't succeed now, the pain I overca until now will be in vain. As I gathered the burning pain throughout my body to my heart, a flow was created. Like a river of fire.

Fire, river, and magic power are all energies overflowing in the world, but if I move them with my will, they beco my power.

It was a solitary belief. One that no one hears.

But soon, it was the new beginning of my magic.

How much ti had passed?

While I died and woke up about a hundred tis alone, I stood enduring with my whole body against the world that flowed like a river leaving

behind. Expressing my will to that world.

Either sweep

away, or be swept away by .

Finally, the river of fire changed its course according to my command.

Using my scar as a starting point, tracing its shape.

Pushing out from the heart it had flowed into, it circled around.

Like a snake biting its own tail with the poisonous fangs that bit . Generating magic power with every turn.

‘Still not enough…….’

No matter how painful, I couldn't stop.

The mont I cut this flow of magic power, Lasilex would beco a deadly poison and swallow my body.

After enduring and enduring, finally, magic power began to fill my whole body where the dragon’s poison had spread.

It felt like being struck by lightning, and that lightning running down my spine.

The mont that lightning struck my heart directly with surging power, a thrill ran from head to toe.

I had never felt the sensation of being alive penetrate deep into my bones as much as now.

Before manifesting outwardly, a new magic transforming

from within.

Feeling the mighty magic power swirling inside , I closed my eyes. A faint smile naturally appeared on my lips.

Like that, I was reborn from a victim of the enemy's conspiracy to a wizard who would defeat the enemy.

A room so shabby it was hard to believe it was a prince’s residence.

The boy lying on the bed looked like an alabaster statue carved from a dead person at first glance. If not for the stream of blood that flowed down from the corner of his mouth to his neck, dyeing his upper garnt red.

‘He is breathing, but there is no hope.’

The court physician thought.

A prince who was originally frail and then struck by illness, dying despite using good dicine and doing the best to treat him…….

‘He received no attention while alive, but perhaps he will receive sympathy in death.’

He didn't know exactly what dicine it was, but he heard that one could die after taking it if they weren't of the Balaska imperial bloodline.

If so, the suspicion regarding his birth that always followed Prince Leontes turned out to be true, and the court physician did nothing wrong.

‘I only gave it knowing him to be a royal.’

The court physician tried to leave the room, leaving the prince as he was.

The prince’s nanny died when he was young, and there had been no one since. A servant or maid would co only if he pulled the calling cord.

Since he had no exclusive attendants, be it knights or valets, no one knew the court physician had co, and the prince couldn't pull the cord in that state.

‘If I leave him like this, there will be no witnesses.’

A prince who fell ill suddenly when no one was around, vomited blood alone, and died a lonely death. That would be better for the boy too. Rather than rumors circulating even after death that he was an illegitimate child born from the late Empress’s affair and not a royal.

‘Ah, I must take the cup the prince drank from.’

Just before leaving the room, when the court physician looked back to destroy the evidence.

The long eyelashes cast on the pale cheeks lifted, and blue-gray eyes opened twinklingly.

“Y-Your Highness?”

“Court Physician.”

The boy’s voice rang clear and distinct.

-It is regrettable. If not for the insidious gray of the Roncer Imperial Family mixed in, they would have been the unique deep blue eyes of the Balaska Imperial Family.

-Compared to the First Prince’s eyes, they look muddy. It is no wonder rumors circulated questioning if they are really brothers.

-Indeed. If they were a completely different color like Prince Desmond’s, we would have just accepted it.

The boy’s appearance was gossip in the court. Saying he looked gloomy and dark.

Since the boy always had a shadowed complexion and wore shabby clothes unlike a prince, he beca a target for the courtiers. Because there was no restraint whatsoever even if they openly enjoyed slandering a royal.

However, facing the eyes like a snowy winter sea, all those slanderous words vanished from the court physician’s mind as if washed away.

“Court Physician.”

When the prince called again, the court physician flinched. Because he didn't realize he had been staring blankly.

“Show proper manners.”

“…Yes, Your Highness.”

The court physician unwittingly closed his mouth, which had been gaping open in front of a royal, and bowed politely.

“Yes, you should.”

Even if he was a prince, being treated like a child by a boy was unpleasant. Ultimately, even if he is a prince, he is powerless―

“I drank the dicine you gave and vomited blood. Do you have anything to say?”

At the prince’s following words, the court physician swallowed dry saliva.

He wasn't like the boy who usually walked with his head bowed low, unable to even make eye contact. If he had rather felt even a little anger, his chest wouldn't have tightened this much. However, he was the Empress’s man, not a novice unable to cope when things went wrong.

“…But Your Highness has woken up safely. If it were poison, you wouldn't have been able to. Your Highness vomited blood because you were expelling the toxins accumulated in your body all at once with that dicine.”

“A plausible inference.”

The prince nodded with a gentle face, far from showing signs of anger.

A greenhorn after all. It was when the court physician smiled in triumph.

“In that case, you could drink the dicine I drank to prove your words.”

You want , a commoner, to drink dicine that nearly killed a royal?

After seeing this ss, I wouldn't want to drink it even if I knew the dicine well.

The court physician bit his lip but soon smiled.

“I prepared the best dicine for the sick Prince, and it can be said that Your Highness, who has been weak all this ti, survived because of that dicine.”

“Is that so?”

“…It is. Yet, since Your Highness does not believe , how could I not follow your words?”

The court physician continued speaking without hesitation, with a look of injustice.

“But unfortunately, what Your Highness drank was the last of that dicine.”

It was a lie.

The court physician kept the remaining dicine in his bosom. The order was to return any leftovers imdiately.

“I can make the dicine again, but the ingredients are so rare that obtaining them again would exceed the budget. Of course, if Your Highness grants the cost, I will gladly make it again and drink it directly in front of Your Highness.”

Another lie.

The budget for royals was overflowing.

However, taking advantage of the Emperor’s neglect of his children, the Empress blocked expenses for Prince Leontes with all sorts of excuses.

‘If he is really smart, he will realize on his own that continuing to act like a prince here will only be disadvantageous.’

The prince asked back in a resonant voice.

“Did you say there is no dicine?”

“Yes, as I ntioned earlier, unfortunately, all the dicine was offered to Your Highness―”

At that mont, the court physician felt sothing strange. His chest suddenly felt hot and his heart beat faster, while conversely, a chill ran down his spine.

It felt unpleasant. As if an invisible hand was groping inside his clothes.