I Captured the Enemy Who Tried to Kill Me - Chapter 54
‘There was another magician with a dual identity like me here?’
It was shocking in many ways.
Wasn’t I supposed to be unique?
How could there be another case like this?
‘Is that even possible?’
Ah, I see. If it’s a healer type, it might be possible.
When mixed with a magician’s mana, even Awakened Ones would find it difficult to identify the presence of such abilities.
Of course, most Guides here can’t control their abilities well, so cases where they can hide are rare.
‘Healing types tend to blend smoothly with their surroundings. Unless someone is extremely sensitive, they might not notice. He used that to his advantage. Being both a magician and an Awakened One.’
So he just needs to avoid the Emperor’s eyes.
I should keep him among the magicians as much as possible.
Ah, what a headache.
‘I already feel like my head is about to explode with my own issues.’
With that level of energy, he probably won’t discover that I’m a Guide, but he might instinctively feel better when near me.
‘Maybe that’s why he’s grinning like that?’
I had the biggest bomb right beside me and didn’t even know it.
I instantly became disgruntled.
I need to send him away right now.
Plus, that status window appeared too.
[You have discovered a candidate Awakened One, but the conditions for the Multi-Imprint Quest have not been met.
Quest generation failed.
Please try again next time.]
That’s fortunate for now, but somehow it feels ominous.
Multi-Imprint or whatever, I don’t need that sort of thing.
The Emperor alone is difficult enough to handle; why would I want to involve someone else?
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“Family Heeeead. Assistant magician…”
“Hah.”
But this youngest one was persistent.
Most people automatically leave when I glare at them, but perhaps trusting his pretty face, he smiled even more brightly.
I hardened my expression coldly.
“I told you to leave. Are you deaf? I have a lot to do, and you’re disrupting it right now.”
“Assistant, magician… I worked so hard on research too…”
That obsession with being an assistant magician!
Seeing him persistently clinging with teary eyes, I couldn’t help but sigh.
‘Why do all magicians look at me with those eyes?’
Is there some manual circulating among magicians called “How to Deal with Duke Ariel”?
“I’ll…”
“Yes, yes!”
Anyway, he did bring research results, so I couldn’t just chase him away too harshly.
“Consider it.”
“Kyaah, Family Head!”
“So leave now. You’re noisy.”
“Yes! I’m going!”
Seeing him squeal like a child made me dumbfounded, and I gestured toward the door.
Only when the door finally closed did I exhale weakly.
‘That felt like a lot to deal with.’
With so many documents piled up, I needed to handle those first.
Just as I was trying to refocus on my work, there was another knock.
Irritation flooded my face. Why is today so chaotic?
“Um, Family Head.”
“What now?”
The one who opened the door and entered was my assistant with a pale face.
Though he lives with stomach pain due to excessive work, he’s my excellent assistant who best responds to my cold remarks.
I had never seen him with such an expression before.
“Speak. What’s the matter?”
Raising my eyebrow irritably while finishing a report, my assistant stroked his stomach.
And with an extremely uncomfortable and awkward expression, he said:
“That person has arrived.”
That person? Who is that person?
Ah, could Luias have come to visit?
But my assistant doesn’t refer to him that way.
“What—”
But this is strange.
Why is my heart racing like this?
Beyond that closed door behind my assistant, why do I feel a familiar energy?
‘No way.’
As I stared wide-eyed in disbelief, my frightened assistant added:
“His Majesty the Emperor has arrived.”
I frowned deeply.
Why would that person come here?
***
Kaisis knew well the nature of his relationship with the Duke.
He was fully aware that visiting Duke Ariel without invitation, without any official business, would certainly cause a significant reaction.
But he couldn’t bear it anymore.
Day and night. All was quiet.
Even if they met during the day, he knew that with all the magicians around and that busy woman’s schedule, there would be no proper time to talk, which was another reason for his visit.
So, because of that hair.
That red hair.
‘I need to confirm it. In person.’
‘Your Majesty?’
‘Where is the Duke now?’
‘…Sh-she should be at Duke Ariel’s mansion in the capital, surely Your Majesty doesn’t mean—?’
‘I’m going. Make preparations.’
So, despite knowing the shock it would cause, he did something uncharacteristic of himself.
He headed straight to the Duke’s mansion in the capital without any prior notice.
‘Gasp! Y-Your Majesty the Emperor?’
The magicians opened their eyes wide, and someone screamed.
Following the path guided by Duke Ariel’s nearly fainting assistant, he noticed a magician just closing the door of what appeared to be the Duke’s office.
“Eh?”
Though the dumbfounded sound was irritating, the magician had quite a handsome face.
He looked very young, and regardless of what he had been doing, his face was flushed with an unpleasantly deep blush.
Kaisis furrowed his brow.
‘I don’t like his face.’
Coming out of the Duke’s office, why would he make such a face?
Plus, there was something faintly bothersome.
‘Something bothers me.’
But since he had to wait outside as guided by the assistant, he dismissed it as insignificant.
‘I’m already regretting this.’
But there was no choice.
Since she wouldn’t come to him, he had no option but to come himself.
Kaisis twisted his lips over his cold face.
And then, creak, the door opened.
As expected, a woman with an unpleasant and exasperated expression all over her face appeared.
The noble Duke Ariel, who could make such expressions toward the Emperor without it seeming strange.
The enemy, the leader of the magicians.
Someone he could never get close to.
That woman, Hillaria.
‘Duke, I’ll uncover every secret you’re hiding.’
He decided to be shameless.
***
Has this person gone mad?
“Surely you haven’t come to pressure me because I haven’t shown up for two days? I absolutely decline such events.”
Kaisis’s leisurely manner as he sat down seemed excessively brazen.
No, do you have no shame?
Regardless of my bewilderment, he made himself comfortable and even had the audacity to request tea and cookies, looking terribly natural doing so.
“Your Majesty, the Emperor.”
“Yes, I am indeed the Emperor.”
“What exactly is your business here?”
Or perhaps some major problem I’m unaware of has arisen again?
I felt like I might have a heart attack.
Conscious of the quiet status window, I stared intently at the Emperor as he surveyed my office.
“Your Majesty.”
Hey, stop looking around.
When I made a sound to focus his attention, our eyes met.
Those eyes that somehow felt uncomfortable to look into deeply.
“What? Is it not allowed?”
“What did you say?”
But Kaisis seemed completely insane today.
“There’s quite a lot for us to discuss, but since you’re using work as an excuse not to come to the palace, what choice do I have? That’s why I came.”
“Did you say ‘excuse’?”
“Isn’t it?”
No, this is rather infuriating.
Excuse? Did you just say excuse?
A vein popped out.
‘If the magicians who’ve been working overtime for days heard this, they’d pull out all your hair.’
My fist trembled, representing the anger of all magicians, but I couldn’t just stand up and slap the Emperor’s face satisfyingly.
I tried to stay calm and put on Duke Ariel’s mask.
“I am constantly working. In the midst of all this, am I supposed to play along with Your Majesty’s silly jokes?”
But now I’m no longer afraid of the Emperor.
Somehow it had become that way.
The system window no longer forced me to be a mere spectator when facing this man up close.
‘That’s right. It somehow became that way.’
Time is truly frightening.
I had become skilled enough to speak to the Emperor this way, as if I were the real Hillaria.
That was a bit scary and frightening.
“Ah, my business. Of course, I have a clear reason for visiting you.”
So that means.
“First, I’d like to hear about the demonstration, research results, and the venue for the duel.”
You came all this way just to receive a work report from me.
Is that what you’re saying right now?
“You mean right now?”
“Yes, right now. Speak, Duke.”
Haha.
I laughed gently inside.
How should I kill this bastard?
