Why Is Everyone Hiding Everything? - chapter 05

Chapter 5

“Tie.”

“Just a moment.”

I stopped my sister, who looked ready to step forward and end things quickly, and kept my eyes fixed ahead.

“Why? If we don’t hurry, it’ll be time for your medicine.”

“That’s not what matters right now.”

The movements of the people around the gambling table were strange.

Men pretending to roll dice while concealing blades.

Even the bartender was offering a suspicious drink to the prince.

They were openly plotting something—and nobody noticed?

“Take down the men playing poker over there.”

“And you?”

“I’ll handle that drink.”

I tightly grabbed Minabel’s hand and approached the prince.

“Excuse me.”

I slipped off the silver ring I was wearing and dropped it into his glass.

“What are you—”

The prince stopped mid-sentence.

The ring was turning black.

At the same moment, a violent gust of wind exploded behind us.

My sister’s wind magic overturned every table at once, and blades came spilling chaotically from the clothes of the men crashing onto the floor.

Lucian calmly observed the situation before turning his gaze toward me.

“I think this calls for an explanation.”

“I don’t believe this is the right place for a detailed conversation. Would you come with us? It’s rather noisy here.”

Since it was such a sudden proposal, I had already prepared myself to be rejected.

My goal was simply to spark curiosity.

She caused all this chaos herself and then complains the place is noisy? What kind of person is she?

That level of interest alone would be enough.

“Very well. My instincts tell me it should be safe enough to follow you.”

I was expecting rejection—wait, what?

My eyes widened without me realizing it.

Was it really okay for things to proceed this easily?

Thankfully my face was hidden behind a veil, or my expression would have been completely exposed.

“We’ll guide you somewhere more comfortable.”

“I wouldn’t mind an uncomfortable place either. Who would bother treating me with such respect? At best, I’m nothing more than a lowly wandering knight.”

At some point, his blue eyes had settled quietly on me.

And I knew the red hidden beneath that blue.

“Our lady is very frail. Please show mercy.”

At that moment, Lucian’s gaze shifted from me to Minabel.

“S-sword master…”

Sword master?

Thinking about it, despite my sister’s powerful magic earlier, he hadn’t moved an inch from his seat.

Meanwhile, my own head was already spinning slightly.

Maybe I staggered a little, because someone suddenly supported me.

“Right. This isn’t empty politeness—you genuinely look unwell. Let’s walk and talk.”

It was Lucian.

He carried a cool, refreshing scent.

Strong enough to completely overpower the stench of that place.

I barely managed to steady my voice.

“Thank you…”

* * *

“I didn’t know a place like this existed.”

“It’s a place where no conversation can leak outside.”

“That sounds rather terrifying.”

The place we arrived at by carriage was an old mansion hidden deep in the forest.

According to Minabel, the mansion was protected by a spell that prevented anything spoken inside from being revealed outside.

Lucian looked at us before speaking calmly.

“You seem to know who I am, so perhaps it’s time for you to reveal your own identities.”

Despite his casual tone, subtle displeasure and caution lingered beneath it.

My sister started to speak first, but I stopped her with an outstretched hand and slightly lifted my veil.

After all, the face beneath it was magically altered anyway.

“I am simply someone who knows the truth. Thanks to an extremely fortunate coincidence.”

“The truth?”

“Yes. In a way, perhaps I know the future as well. Enough to commit the discourtesy of bringing Your Highness to a place like this.”

Lucian’s intentions in following us so obediently were obvious.

He probably believed three people were easy enough to subdue.

After all, he was a sword master.

“So you still don’t intend to reveal who you are. Well… whatever. Even if you were spies sent by someone, I don’t particularly care.”

As expected, Lucian still looked completely relaxed.

Meanwhile, following Minabel’s lead, we arrived at a room in the far corner of the second floor.

“This is my first time visiting a place like this in the capital.”

“My apologies for bringing you somewhere so improper.”

Once everyone sat down, a maid whose face was strangely difficult to discern appeared from nowhere and arranged tea for us.

Minabel traced words into my palm with her finger.

[She’s the mansion ghost. But she’s nice.]

Right.

At this point, even a living mansion no longer surprised me.

“Now that we’re here, why don’t you finally tell me your real purpose?”

Lucian didn’t even touch his teacup.

Even after my sister drank from it first to prove there was no poison.

Fine.

At this stage, it was better to speak directly.

Without hesitation, I went straight to the point.

“If Your Highness does not ascend the throne, this Empire will fall.”

“And you expect me to believe that—”

Distrust dripped from his voice.

I glanced briefly toward my sister, and she delivered the words we had prepared beforehand.

“I came from the future. The last thing I saw there was the Empire destroyed as the prophecy came true. I won’t pretend I turned back time for innocent reasons either.”

As she spoke, my sister revealed the traces of forbidden magic left upon her body.

The brand placed upon sinners who reversed time.

Only then did Lucian’s expression finally change as he saw her exposing such a shameful mark without hesitation.

“What exactly are you—”

But this was Minabel’s territory.

Nothing seen here could ever be spoken of outside.

“And I know the divine will that Your Highness has concealed.”

His killing intent crashed down on me.

I barely suppressed the nausea rising inside me and continued speaking.

“Heed the will of the gods, owner of the red eyes.”

Clang!

It happened in an instant.

Just before his sword could strike my neck, my sister’s powerful protective magic enveloped me.

Even so, the mere pressure of the attack already touching me was enough to make my vision spin.

While checking my condition, Minabel whispered urgently:

“Let’s run. If you collapse, I’ll carry you.”

I desperately clung to my fading consciousness and answered:

“No. I won’t run. You said it yourself. My sister is strong.”

“…If you die here, then what’s the point of any of this?!”

Minabel was overreacting.

It really wasn’t that severe.

Lucian had deliberately stopped at the absolute last possible moment.

He probably never intended to separate my head from my body in the first place.

Proof of that was the fact that Lucian had already sheathed his sword again and was staring not at my sister—

—but at me behind her.

Of course, even that alone was enough to leave me swaying unsteadily.

Though that was my own problem.

Not long afterward, his blue eyes slowly began turning red, like paint bleeding through water.

“You’ll have to explain how you found out. Didn’t you just claim you saw it with your own eyes?”

This was where it truly began.

To prove I was speaking the truth, I opened my mouth while holding a magical artifact that compelled only truth from its user.

Do you know how difficult it had been to obtain this thing?

My sister had barely managed to secure it by tracing connections she made with the Mage Tower in her previous life.

Especially now, when acquiring magical tools had become far more difficult due to the Mage Tower’s conflict with the Crown Prince.

“By coincidence… I saw it.”

“By coincidence?”

“Yes. When your magic wore off while you were passing by. Coincidentally. Haven’t you recently passed near House Rosena’s estate?”

“…I did pass nearby.”

His tone was full of disbelief.

But what could he do when it was the undeniable truth?

“The magic wore off at that moment?”

My sister stepped forward after subtly checking my reaction.

“There are dispelling wards surrounding the ducal estate. They exist to prepare for assassins or infiltrators. Because multiple layers of ancient magic are woven together, they are normally difficult to detect.”

For a second, I nearly forgot we were hiding our identities and almost blurted out:

Unni, you know ancient magic too?!

Though honestly, the moment we mentioned House Rosena by name, hiding our affiliation became impossible anyway.

“So someone familiar with the Rosena dispelling wards and highly knowledgeable in ancient magic is serving merely as a guard?”

I knew.

We couldn’t keep everything hidden forever.

If we wanted to properly persuade Lucian, then it was time to show him that I could become a reliable ally.

“And when Rosena’s dispelling magic activated, you happened to see me?”

But this genuinely was coincidence!

I hadn’t even been the one snooping around—he was the one wandering past and getting exposed!

And now he was pressuring me over it!

“At this point, why not simply reveal who you are? If I find you interesting enough, I might even let you leave here with your heads attached.”

Suppressing the many rude responses rising in my throat, I let out a long sigh.

The problem isn’t that I notice these things.

The real problem is that nobody else in this world notices anything at all.