I had a dream.
In the dream, I was looking down at a pond reflecting my face. Technically speaking, it wasn’t my face but Ash Serpent’s face.
What had clearly been my face at first gradually took on a different form, and before I knew it, it had become Deus’s face. But something was strange. The face was definitely Deus’s, but the atmosphere was oddly different. That face, showing no laziness or composure, was filled only with murderous intent.
…I’ll abandon you.
Just as I was about to step back, sensing danger, an arm that shot out from the pond grabbed my nape. At Deus’s eerie voice that followed, my hair stood on end.
I’ll kill you.
“Ash-nim!”
I snapped my eyes open at the voice calling my name. I gasped for breath as if I’d emerged from deep water. The Head Butler, who had been looking at me with a surprised expression, spoke apologetically.
“My apologies, you seemed to be having a nightmare. I have committed a discourtesy.”
“Where is this…”
In a confused state, I looked around. If my eyes weren’t wrong, this was definitely the Detached Palace. Just as I was relieved to have escaped from the Void, I urgently shouted at the face that suddenly came to mind.
“D-Deus… no, where is Deus-nim right now?”
The Head Butler, who had paused for a moment, cleared his throat.
“First, please get properly dressed…”
“Did Deus-nim also escape from the Void with me? He didn’t get trapped there alone again like an idiot, did he? What about Kiss-nim? Did he receive proper treatment?”
At my urgent voice, the Head Butler, who had only been smiling gently, buttoned up my shirt.
“Kiss-nim has safely completed treatment, and Deus-nim is also safe. While you were asleep, the entire Empire was in an uproar.”
“…”
“Not only did Deus-nim, who couldn’t even achieve beastification due to madness, successfully achieve proper beastification… but his madness also showed signs of improvement.”
My expression unconsciously brightened at the welcome news. It was a development that had definitely changed from the original work. In the original, Deus not only failed to achieve beastification, but couldn’t take even a single step out of the dark, damp Underground Prison. The Head Butler added as he watched me gripping the bed sheets in joy.
“Kiss-nim departed for the Imperial Palace to report on the battle that occurred in the Void, but His Highness Deus is currently granting audiences to nobles in turn.”
“Audiences?”
“That’s correct, they’ve gathered to congratulate His Highness the Crown Prince on the improvement of his condition. Originally it would be proper to conduct this at the Imperial Palace, but…”
The Head Butler, who had hesitated to speak for a moment, cleared his throat once more.
“Since he firmly declared he wouldn’t leave the Detached Palace until Ash-nim awakened…”
“…”
“For several days, visits from nobles to this remote Detached Palace haven’t ceased, haha.”
So a Crown Prince is a Crown Prince after all. To think he could make nobles travel all the way to this remote place just because his condition improved.
Well, either way, it was good that Deus had safely escaped from the Void. I got up from the bed and approached the window. I could see carriages and nobles lined up densely.
‘Well, everyone would be scrambling to form connections.’
Now that Deus’s mind was sound, there was no one in the current Imperial family with a higher succession order than Deus. Of course, Deus was still lacking in many ways to become Emperor. But with his innate magical power and stamina, if proper management was put in place, he would surely possess the qualities of a monarch in no time.
‘…Perhaps I might be able to prevent Kiss’s coup d’état.’
Strength entered my hand gripping the curtain. The moment Kiss, successful in his coup, ascended to the throne, the Serpent family would be annihilated just like in the original. To prevent that, I felt I needed to somehow make Deus the Emperor. After taking a deep breath, I turned to the Head Butler. And asked a question.
“By any chance, is there a separate library in this Detached Palace?”
* * *
I declined the Head Butler’s kindness to guide me personally and set out to find the study alone. Although I’d possessed Ash’s body, perhaps it was because the person inside was from modern times. It felt oddly uncomfortable dealing with an old man using excessive honorifics to me when I was so much younger.
‘I think he said it was around this area…’
For a mere Detached Palace rather than the main palace, it was damn spacious. By the time I’d circled the same place about three times, I felt like just jumping out a window. I wiped the beaded sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand.
‘Is it here?’
An unusually large door caught my eye. It seemed similar to the door the Head Butler had described, so I carefully opened the door and entered, when the cold air emanating from inside the room made my feet unconsciously freeze.
“Whatever, just show me the next one.”
An irritated voice pierced my ears. Deus came into view, sitting in the seat of honor wearing only a black fur coat with his muscular upper body fully exposed. The noble gentleman standing facing Deus, who was sitting arrogantly with his legs crossed, introduced his tribute in a trembling voice.
“Y-Yes! Th-this famous painting, speaking of it, is the posthumous work of the late Impressionist artist Boring Gormehr…”
Deus, who had been listening apathetically with his chin resting on the armrest, frowned. At Deus’s following voice full of ridicule, the noble’s face turned deathly pale.
“A posthumous work? Why would you bring such an ominous thing? Aha, you wish I had died. Does it mean you’re disappointed I didn’t die?”
“What? Th-that’s… n-no! It’s not that meaning… I-I apologize for disturbing Your Highness’s mood with my oversight.”
“Yeah, apology not accepted. If you stab someone with a knife and say ‘I’m sorry,’ is that the end? If I stab you and say ‘I’m sorry,’ will you also say ‘Ah, I see. Your Highness is sorry’?”
Wh…what is this vulgar way of speaking that doesn’t suit his noble status at all?
In a confused state, I examined the other nobles waiting their turn. Somehow the atmosphere was like high school boys waiting for the dean’s punishment rather than an audience. Deus, who had let out a deep sigh, waved his hand dismissively.
“If you don’t think it’ll work, get out quickly, hm? It’s not like I’m doing this because I enjoy it.”
Eventually the dejected noble gentleman ran out of the room sobbing while clutching his painting. Deus, who had been looking over the waiting nobles, discovered someone and snapped his fingers.
“You there… were you called Baron Gong of the Serpent family?”
At Deus’s words, I unconsciously stopped breathing with a gasp.
‘To think Baron was here too.’
Well, there’s no way Baron, the king of flattery and tact, would just leave a big fish on the free agent market alone. Baron, who had briefly made a troubled expression at Deus’s action of specifically pointing him out, came forward with a deliberately relaxed smile. He who acted like a tyrant at home was now playing the role of a good-natured noble young master here.
“Yes, I am Baron Serpent, the eldest son of the Serpent family. It is an indescribable honor to meet Your Highness the Crown Prince like this…”
“Whatever, what did you prepare?”
Deus, who had cut him off mid-sentence, tapped his shoulder with a pipe adorned with jewels. He was using that expensive tribute like some kind of massager. Deus grinned.
“I believe without doubt that you will make me very happy.”
“…”
“What did you bring? One of your youngest brother’s baby teeth, your youngest brother’s underwear, or your youngest brother’s diary?”
At the crazy talk continuing as naturally as breathing, the atmosphere dropped chillingly. Baron, who showed signs of confusion for a moment, laughed “haha” and said:
“I couldn’t possibly offer such filthy items to the noble Crown Prince Your Highness. The tribute I’ve prepared is a much more precious item than those.”
“…Filthy, you say.”
“Speaking of this jewel, it’s a pink diamond that can only be mined in the Simendella Islands… an impressive gem with a sharply and uniformly cut surface…”
“Baron Gong.”
Deus, who had been looking down at Baron crookedly, interrupted again. And spoke with eyes gleaming with madness.
“I think the sight of you swallowing that sharp diamond in one bite and vomiting blood would make me happier instead.”
“…”
“Would you do that for me?”
Baron’s face turned deathly pale. At Baron’s reaction, Deus, who quickly became indifferent again, rested his chin on the throne’s armrest.
“I can’t even joke for fear of making you cry.”
“Ha, haha…”
Deus’s gaze, after letting out a deep sigh, reached me quietly watching the situation from behind a pillar. Deus, who had paused, pointed at me expressionlessly. And asked in a voice tinged with laughter:
“What did you there prepare for me?”
At Deus’s action specifically pointing me out, the nobles’ gazes also focused on me. I could see Deus’s face blatantly enjoying my flustered appearance.
‘Prepare what? I just came in by mistake while looking for the library.’
Seeing me empty-handed unlike the nobles holding something in both hands, Baron chuckled. His eyes seemed to say ‘What would someone like you have anyway.’ I awkwardly sniffled and searched my pants pockets on the off chance.
‘There’s no way there’d be anything…’
I froze, pausing at something I felt in my hand. I opened my hand to check the object’s identity.
It was a used tissue.
A moment of silence passed. I broke out in a cold sweat in the frozen atmosphere. A used tissue as a tribute—it was a situation where it wouldn’t be strange to go to prison for insulting royalty.
Deus, who had been quietly watching the situation, stood up abruptly with a stiff expression.
Clap, clap, clap.
Deus’s resounding applause rang throughout the audience chamber. Hearing that sound, I thought expressionlessly. Honestly, I’d vaguely thought Deus’s madness was just because of the Void. That even a normal person would go crazy if trapped in such a place for a lifetime. I believed without doubt that once we just got out of the Void, Deus’s madness would subside to some degree.
“Nobles, behold.”
Naive me failed to realize.
“There will never be a more perfect tribute than this.”
The fact that a crazy bastard who rampages at home also rampages outside.
