# Chapter 104
When he released the hand gripping the back of the knight’s head, the large-bodied knight slumped down along the wall.
“Why, why, why are you doing this?”
“Are there only two?”
The man’s voice felt chillingly cold. The guard’s whole body froze as if facing a predator. Then, with a scream, the remaining knight had his head grabbed. The man slammed him against the iron bars. Arden had to watch the knight’s face being crushed head-on.
Arden’s heart raced. It was Seirios. Before he could assess the situation, instinctive fear took over. The screaming knight also collapsed to the floor. Seirios’ gleaming eyes slowly rolled and fixed on Arden through the bars.
“All the other kids are running around protecting the palace and His Majesty, but you must have been bored, stuck in here. Right? His Majesty, really.”
A refreshing smile appeared on his previously expressionless face. It wasn’t the expression someone who had just harmed others should wear. He swept back his unkempt curly hair and waved his hand.
“Hello. Did you sleep well? It’s a bit cold in here, isn’t it?”
It’s because there are many ghosts, ghosts. Muttering, Seirios reached for the heavy lock. After turning it this way and that, he grabbed the lock with both hands and pulled it apart.
“…”
Arden thought frantically about why this person had come here, why he had mercilessly struck down his subordinate’s head, and what purpose he had for Arden.
The lock came undone without a key. The heavy noise it made as it fell to the floor reminded him that the lock was made of iron, not rubber.
“I really didn’t know. I couldn’t believe our Emperor would deceive even me.”
“…”
“Since you were captured because of my mistake, I came to rescue you. So please speak well of me to Eden.”
“…I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“It’s a knight’s duty to save his lover’s friend, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Didn’t Eden tell you? We’re engaged.”
Ta-da! Seirios showed his left hand. A ring was on his fourth finger. Arden’s face, which hadn’t contorted even in fear, now became distorted with shock.
* * *
Arden still couldn’t quite understand Seirios’ explanation. It felt like hearing the most difficult sentences of his life.
“Was it really… necessary to go this far?”
Arden asked, looking at the two knights collapsed at his feet. Fortunately, their faces were pressed to the floor and not clearly visible.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll report it as summary execution for insubordination.”
Arden was too preoccupied with how to respond to give an answer.
“I cleared the entrance before coming here, so I’m still feeling excited.”
“What did you clear?”
“The entrance. You know, that guy. Purple eyes. Oh, they might be yellow now. Anyway, I cleared everything to make it easier for him to enter.”
“…”
“Do you know how much Eden doubted me? I was deceived too. I finally persuaded him by agreeing to clear the entrance as punishment.”
Whatever Seirios was chattering about, it didn’t register in Arden’s ears. He was just beginning to understand the situation. So to summarize:
“You’re saying you’re helping Rite?”
“Well… you could say that.”
One of the heaviest burdens in Arden’s heart disappeared. Whatever the reason, if the captain of the knights was an ally, reaching the Emperor wouldn’t be difficult.
Just as Arden, filled with joy, was about to say something, Seirios shattered that expectation.
“But it’ll be hard for me to help much.”
“…I suppose so.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to help—it’s that it would be difficult even if I wanted to.”
Seirios pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and held it out. Arden hastily unfolded it, but couldn’t see it clearly in the darkness. Moving to stand directly under the lantern, he could tell it was a map of the palace. Bright red X marks were visible in various places on the map.
“This place is more like a fortress than a palace now. The problem is that nobody knows the structure of this fortress—not me, not His Majesty, nobody.”
“That doesn’t make…”
“Sense? Yes, it does. His Majesty is so obsessed with security that he created a labyrinth that even he doesn’t understand.”
A labyrinth that really no-no-nobody knows, Seirios added with a smile.
“I’ve never heard about this from Eden.”
“Of course not. I just saw it for the first time today.”
No matter how he thought about it, it was strange. The captain of the knights didn’t know the structure and had only learned of its existence today? Arden looked at Seirios with suspicious eyes.
“It seems Eden has been marked by His Majesty for some time. He was friends with you, so how much worse must it be?”
The same goes for me, who’s engaged to Eden. He pointed at himself with his thumb and grinned. At the mention of it being because of him, Arden lowered his gaze.
“I wondered why he wouldn’t let me go home. But I’m not the type to be stopped from seeing my lover. While being so wary of me but underestimating me, this is what happens. Talking about replacing me with mechanical soldiers.”
Seirios kept rambling, but his words didn’t reach Arden’s ears. The thought that he had caused harm to both of them weighed heavily on his mind.
“Once the labyrinth is activated, you can’t easily exit or go where you want.”
“Did engineers make it? Then there must be blueprints somewhere.”
“This fortress wasn’t made by just one or two people. Since he didn’t know whom to trust, he assigned small parts to many people. There are no blueprints left, and we don’t know whose design was accepted or who designed what. The Emperor’s obsession ultimately created a labyrinth that no one can penetrate. Thanks to that, the knights are also on high alert. How are we supposed to find intruders and protect His Majesty when we don’t know the way ourselves?”
“Is it possible…”
Arden cautiously opened his mouth. Seirios tilted his head slightly and leaned forward. It was a bit embarrassing to ask such a question, but he needed to confirm.
“Has the Emperor been replaced in the meantime?”
“Ahahaha!”
Seirios threw his head back and laughed loudly. Arden looked at him with disapproval and then turned away. It was a foolish question, even by his own admission. It was like asking who the Emperor of his own country was.
“He has changed a bit since you disappeared.”
His personality has mellowed a lot, right? Seirios looked more like someone talking about an old dog they kept at home rather than discussing the Emperor.
“It seems like more than a bit.”
“You know about this, right? The rumor that a child who would kill the Emperor was born.”
Arden slowly nodded. It was impossible not to know. He was the one who had raised that child from the rumor.
“The astrologer who made that prophecy recently made another prediction.”
“…”
“The Emperor will die soon.”
Arden inhaled sharply. He couldn’t help but think of Rite. Would Rite end up killing the Emperor after all?
“He’ll die by the destruction he brought upon himself, or something like that. That astrologer has been sentenced to death.”
“…Death?”
“That guy, really. Knowing how sensitive His Majesty is these days, why make such a prophecy? He should know when to keep his mouth shut.”
The prophecy was ambiguous. Arden couldn’t understand the relationship between the destruction the Emperor had brought upon himself and Rite.
“Do you know who the executioner is?”
“…”
“His Majesty himself.”
“He… executes people himself?”
“Having gone mad, he no longer trusts anyone around him. The only thing His Majesty trusts now is machines.”
“…”
“After giving up on being human, he no longer trusts humans at all.”
Seirios’ finger tapped on the marks on the map Arden was holding. Arden’s eyes quickly scanned the map. Twenty-three. There were quite a number of them.
“The only information shared with us is the location of these traps. It means if you enter these areas, you’ll die, so be careful.”
“That means…”
“Other traps have ways to escape from them.”
Arden tried to identify the closest trap, but it wasn’t easy to recognize. There were differences from the map Arden and Eden had made together. The structure of the palace as Arden knew it might differ from the current structure, but it was strange that it differed from what Eden knew.
It was just as Arden raised his head to ask Seirios. Simultaneously, a loud roar shook the entire underground. Among the noise, the faint sound of machinery running could be heard. The palace shook violently as if it were about to collapse.
“Wow…”
Arden hurriedly grabbed the wall and looked up. It was difficult to maintain balance. In contrast, Seirios calmly exclaimed in admiration, his eyes gleaming.
“I think your dragon or whatever just entered.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you hear it just now? This is the signal announcing his return.”
Seirios’ excited voice mixed with the loud noise. He looked like a child going to buy a new toy.
“It means someone with magical power has entered. There are no more magicians in the palace, and in this situation, there’s only one magician who would enter, right?”
“…”
“The labyrinth has been activated.”
