Veil’s palm swept across his arm as if dancing. Back then at the desert training ground, in the library, and now. Sometimes the artifact’s power could be felt from Nigel’s body, and sometimes it couldn’t be felt at all. Moreover, Nigel’s body condition was at its worst when the artifact’s power couldn’t be felt.
Frowning, Veil sharply pulled Nigel toward him. A state so close that chest touched chest. Veil’s low voice rumbled in Nigel’s ear.
“Usually, once an artifact awakens, it doesn’t die down on its own. But the power inside you is very peculiarly subsiding and then activating. It’s as if someone is periodically cutting off your artifact’s flow from the outside.”
He continued to murmur lowly as if finding it interesting.
“The artifact inside you keeps reactivating itself each time. It wakes up again while resisting the external pressure trying to forcibly stop it. Do you know what that means? It means this artifact is protecting you from dying.”
Nigel’s eyes widened beneath his mask. Protecting?
This power isn’t attacking me but protecting me? Does that mean it’s not simply a curse that turns people into frogs? It was an incomprehensible analysis.
Nigel had never said a single word to Veil about the transformation he’d experienced. But Veil’s analysis was directly penetrating that phenomenon Nigel most wanted to hide.
Nigel tilted his head to the side as if suspicious.
Protecting? From what?
“Think about it, Prince. If your artifact really reacted several times…”
Veil whispered as if brushing Nigel’s earlobe.
“It means you’ve passed through mortal crises several times. Multiple times, at that.”
In that moment, the moments when the curse had manifested flashed through Nigel’s mind like a panorama. All those moments when, at the end of severe headaches, his vision lowered, his body twisted, and he transformed into a frog.
Does that mean the artifact actually saved him from death?
The slow music grew distant and the brilliant party lights blurred to a cruel degree. Only Veil’s voice stuck clearly like a spike in Nigel’s mind.
‘Multiple times… I almost died?’
Until now, Nigel had considered the curse of turning into a frog to be merely a petty prank or humiliation meant to ruin him.
But if Veil’s words were correct, those moments of transforming into a frog were actually the artifact’s last struggle to keep Nigel from dying.
For a moment, he even forgot he was dancing.
At the same time, his two legs, which had been moving as if dragged by Veil, got tangled.
“Wh-what?”
Veil grabbed Nigel’s waist firmly in surprise.
“Are you okay?”
Let go. Nigel pushed Veil’s hand away.
“…It seems the Prince has something that comes to mind.”
Veil pressed, but Nigel shook his head.
“Unfortunately, I don’t.”
“Liar.”
“……”
Veil Khalid naturally assumed he was lying. He would think that. For two years, Nigel and Veil Khalid had only exchanged conversations looking down on each other, let alone any sincere words.
“I came here to hear an explanation from you, not to do the opposite, Veil Khalid.”
Nigel said with a frown.
“Does that even matter right now? Someone trying to kill you is inside this Academy, and an artifact you don’t even know about is activating in your body. Are you really saying Nigel Kaiserion knows nothing?”
“Stop asking already!”
An irritable response came out. Fortunately it was drowned out by the music reaching its climax, or he would have nearly attracted surrounding attention.
“……”
Veil Khalid’s bright yellow eyes widened. Nigel, who had raised his voice, was equally surprised. I reacted excessively for no reason. But Nigel was unbelievably angry at the fact that he knew nothing.
Nigel took rough breaths and barely regained his balance.
“…Because I don’t know either.”
He lowered his voice conscious of his surroundings, but couldn’t hide the self-deprecating emotion contained within.
“What?”
“Who dares to try to kill me, what the cause is—I don’t know either. If I had something that came to mind, I would have already gone and killed them.”
Is it because of the silver mask completely covering his face? Even though he didn’t want to reveal his true feelings to Veil Khalid, his mouth kept moving.
Damn it, he cursed inwardly. But the urgency didn’t disappear. Nigel didn’t have time.
He tried to shake off Veil’s hand that was still clasped with his, but the bastard instead intertwined his fingers as if trying to hold even tighter.
Hah. After letting out a sigh, Nigel raised his head.
“Whether this is an artifact or whatever, it doesn’t matter. As long as I somehow return my body to its original perfect state before the Emperor visits on the last day of the festival, then it’s over.”
What resided in Nigel’s eyes was clear disgust. Born as the First Imperial Prince of the Empire, he had experienced countless poisoning attempts and power struggles, but he had believed without doubt that this place, Kaiserion Academy, was a safe cage he completely dominated and managed.
But the fact that belief had been completely overturned seemed to mock Nigel’s arrogance.
“……”
Veil stared blankly at Nigel.
Veil had never dreamed that the Crown Prince of the Kaiserion Empire, who always showed only a perfect appearance, actually had such thoughts inside.
The image of Nigel he’d seen in the library a few days ago came to mind. So all that anxious fretting… was just because of the Emperor’s visit?
No matter how much the Emperor held the highest position on the continent, wasn’t she ultimately Nigel Kaiserion’s mother?
The Nigel Kaiserion reflected in Veil’s eyes was not the noble Crown Prince praised by the Empire.
‘Foolish child.’
What is he even saying? Other people were mistaken that Nigel Kaiserion was solid as steel. No—Nigel was showing it that way by working himself to death so they would be mistaken.
“I can’t show myself in this state before that person.”
He could endure being ruined himself, but disappointing his mother was worse than death.
‘Nigel, the seat of the Imperial Throne is always a lonely affair. Are you prepared to endure this?’
The Emperor’s grave voice passed through Nigel’s mind. Kaiserion. It was the only pride supporting Nigel, and also the shackles gnawing at him.
Veil stared blankly at Nigel. With a complexion pale as a corpse, drenched in cold sweat. Yet stubbornly standing while speaking of responsibility. That appearance looked terribly arrogant while simultaneously looking unbearably precarious.
Like a sandcastle that would crumble down with one touch.
“…Ha.”
Veil let out a hollow laugh like a sigh.
“Are you really… an idiot? Even after hearing what state your body is in, that’s what comes out? The Emperor is the problem? When you’re about to die?”
Veil’s hand gripped Nigel’s waist crushingly tight. He was angry. When he should be finding and killing the bastard who ruined him, here he is just fretting about not having time.
Nigel didn’t avoid Veil’s eyes.
“It matters. To me, as much as my life.”
Ha. Suppressing his boiling insides, Veil asked what he needed to confirm.
“Does that Rowen guy know you’re in this state right now?”
“Why does that matter now?”
“Answer. Does he know or not?”
“…He knows.”
“……”
At that answer, Veil’s hardened face softened very slightly. If the bastard keeping watch as a partner didn’t even know Nigel was dying, he wouldn’t deserve to be by his side.
“Then that’s fortunate. If even that bastard didn’t know, I would have gone to the training grounds right now and strangled him.”
Veil was sincere. But the relief was brief, as his eyes sharpened again.
“Then Rowen Ashfield sent you here even while knowing your body’s condition? Is he crazy? When you should be tied to a bed right now, he let you come dance?”
“Of course I came out in secret.”
Nigel said with a shrug.
He blames Rowen so he’s trying to cover for him. Veil Khalid’s eyes narrowed sharply. What’s so precious about that Rowen that he covers for him like that?
‘How unfortunate.’
He should have been born in the Empire after all. Not Brion. Being a close friend who had been by his side from birth—looking at Nigel and Rowen’s relationship now, it seemed to be very significant.
He could imagine what expression Nigel was making beneath the silver mask. Surely a blank face as if asking why he was bringing up useless talk.
“I don’t understand why you go that far. Do you want your epitaph to read <The Perfect Crown Prince of the Empire>?”
“…Shut up.”
“Fine. Do as you please.”
At the answer so typical of Nigel Kaiserion, Veil burst into a hearty laugh.
