I Captured the Enemy Who Tried to Kill Me - Chapter 34
I felt the familiar sensation of powerlessness.
My body no longer being mine, the cold feeling of being pushed out to become an audience outside the stage.
And then I heard Hillaria’s voice, which had become quite familiar by now.
“Am I responsible for the friction in the Imperial Palace?”
“What?”
“It sounds like you’re saying all friction between the two groups in the Imperial Palace is my responsibility.”
“That’s not what I’m saying right now!”
“How is it different?”
Ah. I’m doomed.
I inwardly squeezed my eyes shut.
How is this any different from fanning the flames of a burning house?!
As the words left my mouth, I could see the Emperor’s gaze, which had retained a small spark, turning ice cold.
“So, that’s what was in your heart, Duke?”
I could see his twisted lips, the ice spreading without hiding his displeasure, the veins bulging in his forearms ready to burst.
Whether I felt dizzy or not, my body, robbed of control, shot out cold words that Hillaria would likely say, like arrows.
“I feel wronged, Your Majesty. I don’t understand how an unfortunate accident that could have injured my disciple becomes me driving Luias to his death. The actual accident was…”
My eyes swept over the Awakened Ones frozen while watching the situation, the Indojas who had rushed out urgently, and the magicians who had been caught up in this without finding their reason.
“Everyone’s responsibility. Isn’t it?”
I could see everyone who received my gaze either turning away with a guilt-stricken conscience or clicking their tongues in obvious irritation at my attitude.
Excuse me, I didn’t want to speak like this either…
“Moreover, if we’re going to argue like this, it would be Your Majesty’s fault, not mine.”
Kaisis, who had been glaring silently, let out a hollow laugh.
“With the Duke’s magic, you could dispel such energy with a mere gesture. From the beginning, you had no intention of moving. Isn’t that right? And yet you feel wronged?”
He ran his hand through his hair in extreme frustration and ground his teeth.
“Is this the responsibility you speak of? It’s so disgustingly light that I can’t even feel its weight.”
The Emperor’s gaze seemed to have reached Luias.
I couldn’t turn my head, so I could only stomp my feet inwardly.
What expression would he be making?
Kaisis, who had been looking somewhere with a bitter gaze for a moment, glared at me again.
“If you had no intention of protecting him, you shouldn’t have brought that child.”
It had been my request.
I wanted to show him the Imperial Palace, so it was indeed my responsibility.
But the cold-hearted Duke Ariel said nothing.
I could see Kaisis’s face gradually distorting.
Like someone who had waited for an excuse and was disappointed.
He clenched his fist so hard it made a cracking sound.
“It seems I have been out of my mind all this time.”
His red lips spat out words with a contemptuous tone that resembled hurled insults.
“You were always this kind of person. That annoying way of speaking that makes others sick—I had forgotten it for a while.”
“Your Majesty’s delusion is entirely a freedom you can enjoy. I don’t know what you saw in me or what expectations you had, but I would like to express my regret.”
“Duke! You really—!”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Please speak.”
“Ha……”
In truth, I was more worried about the child who was hearing all this directly than about the Emperor’s anger.
I wanted to run to him right away, grab his small shoulders, pull him into my arms, and pat his back.
No. That’s not it at all.
I wasn’t trying to blame you, and this didn’t happen because of you.
But Hillaria’s body, no longer mine, far from looking after her young disciple, was only throwing cold words at the Emperor who was glaring at her with reproach.
“Duke.”
The process of that cool gaze losing all its warmth was not pleasant.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
I knew how affectionately that gaze could curve, how dream-like and soft it could become.
“I mean, thank you so damn much for making me fully realize that it was all my delusion.”
Because I also thoroughly realized in this moment that it wasn’t mine.
I am his political opponent, the villain.
The enemy and rival of the Awakened Ones.
That was my position.
“Duke, you may leave now. I don’t want to see anything that belongs to you. Your voice, your gestures, even your shadow!”
“Is that so?”
“I’ll skip today’s report. It seems I can’t proceed with the nobles’ meeting with this kind of mood either.”
I could see him turning his back firmly and walking away after saying only what he wanted to say.
As I blankly stared at his retreating figure, I felt something aching somewhere in my heart, but my body stolen by the system, calmly replied.
“Yes. Then I shall return with the magicians.”
The Emperor’s back seemed to pause for a moment as he walked away, or was it my imagination?
He muttered curses quietly and led the way.
I could see the Awakened Ones and Indojas, who had been hesitating in that ominous atmosphere, hurriedly following him.
As I blankly watched them, my eyes met with the Awakened One who had first approached me and picked a fight.
For some reason, he hesitated instead of following the Emperor.
Regardless, I was too tired to think about it.
Despite fighting fiercely with the Emperor and throwing sharp words being a daily occurrence.
‘It’s hard. I’m really tired.’
As I thought this, control of my body gradually returned.
The strange feeling of blood flowing back into my stiff limbs.
“Ha.”
Taking a deep breath, I turned and walked toward Luias.
I could see his round head bowed deeply, unable to even raise his eyes.
“Luias.”
“…!”
When I called him coldly with a voice devoid of warmth, I could see his small shoulders jump.
It made my insides crumble.
Because I, too, was once a Guide who had to watch others’ reactions in that nauseating way.
However, for the sake of my life’s safety, I was still in a cautious position where I couldn’t offer the child comfort or a warm touch.
‘I’m sorry for being a cowardly adult.’
There was clearly a troublemaker.
If schemes had grades, embarrassingly, we had fallen for a low-grade one.
But because the two groups were in such bad terms, the accumulated resentment would burst out like today with just a little friction.
‘My relationship with the Emperor had improved compared to the original work. That’s why he talked about disappointment and such.’
When I recalled the few descriptions of the Emperor and Duke Ariel in the original work, they were truly savage and cold, behaving like sworn mortal enemies.
Contempt and disdain flew like arrows in their conversations.
The reason the Emperor didn’t associate me with the night’s opponent, whom he believed was connected to the magicians, was based on such contempt.
‘He would believe that I would rather let him die than treat him.’
That relationship changed when I, who had possessed Hillaria, intervened.
As I, who remembered the night’s events, began to treat the Emperor more comfortably in subtle ways, their exchanges even began to include some jokes.
Expecting, and being disappointed.
Had this child felt the same toward me?
“Luias.”
I should at least do this much.
I slowly knelt in front of the child and met his eyes.
Somehow, I thought I heard a gasp of shock from somewhere other than the magicians, but I didn’t look back.
I placed one hand on the shoulder of the child who had his head bowed deeply.
At that moment, I noticed my hand, clearly torn by the Emperor’s ice, and the blood still flowing thickly.
Even the pain I had forgotten.
‘It really hurts like hell.’
The child slowly raised his head.
Tears welled up and flowed down like a broken faucet, and I almost forgot the situation and laughed.
Looking at his small nose that had turned bright red, I asked.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
He shook his head.
Luias, who couldn’t speak, quickly shook his small head in a pitiful manner.
I reflexively raised my bleeding hand to stroke the child’s hair, but stopped.
The blood would stain him.
At that moment, the child who saw my hesitation hurriedly grabbed both my hands.
Holding my injured hand gently, the child scribbled something.
—Because of me.
Guessing it was an apology, I clenched my fist.
I lowered my bleeding hand and stroked the child’s hair with an indifferent gesture using my other hand.
“No.”
Thud.
Seeing his startled eyes, I rose from my seat.
“Let’s go back home.”
“…!”
It was annoyingly frustrating, but this was the best comfort I could offer right now.
Today, I realized painfully.
How powerless I am before the system.
