chapter 06
It looked like an ordinary white pebble, but the sacred aura surrounding it revealed it was no ordinary object.
A stone imbued with divine prophecy—an oracle stone.
The moment the stone touched Lennox’s hand, it emitted a blue glow and began drawing a string of characters in the air.
They were in a strange script, not used anywhere on this continent.
The short message was completed in no time.
Instead of trying to understand the unfamiliar letters, Edwin focused on observing the only person who could interpret them.
That was both the recipient of this mysterious oracle and the only one capable of interpreting it—none other than the Duke before him.
But Lennox merely stared at the floating letters with his usual expressionless face.
After a short while, the characters drawn in the air scattered into blue dust and vanished.
At the same time, the stone that had been exuding a mysterious energy became an ordinary white pebble.
“What did the oracle say?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“It’s about Ephure awakening, isn’t it?”
Lennox didn’t respond. But to Edwin, that silence was as good as a confirmation.
“I knew it! The moment I heard an oracle had descended, I had a feeling! That’s why I immediately sent out an article—”
“An article?”
“Oops!”
Caught up in excitement, Edwin let something slip and hastily shut his mouth.
Lennox pressed his fingers firmly against his temple as a headache began to set in.
“So that’s the reason behind this ridiculous scheme of yours.”
“It’s not like I did it just for my own amusement!”
Lennox ignored him completely and sneered.
“A crown prince with such poor judgment—how promising for the future of the Empire.”
“What other surefire method is there? Were you planning to go door to door asking every woman in the Empire, ‘Excuse me, have you seen blue smoke swirling around your hand?’”
“So you went with the vague phrase ‘special ability’? Now every dog and pig will claim they have one and shove their faces in?”
Lennox’s scathing and blunt words landed squarely.
But Edwin wasn’t one to back down easily.
“Oh? Is the great name of the Krabant family so easily trampled?”
“…”
“Was the Duke’s residence always so open to stray dogs and pigs walking in and out?”
“…”
Irritating.
Lennox said nothing further.
The future emperor sitting across from him knew far too much about him.
Even when Edwin was just a little boy whose head barely reached Lennox’s waist, he hadn’t been ordinary.
He had a cunning mind and a quick sense for things.
He also had the uncanny talent of irritating Lennox just enough—never crossing the line.
And he was a master at saying just enough, then backing off.
“I’ll admit the method wasn’t refined. But if we don’t find Ephure now, what were you planning to do?”
Lennox remained silent.
“And besides, maybe this is a chance for you to get married…”
“Edwin Roam Barkhan.”
“Yeah?”
“Did the palace physician say there’s nothing wrong with your brain?”
“They said I’m in perfect physical and mental health.”
Even after being hit with a brutal verbal blow, Edwin just playfully responded.
But then, his face suddenly turned serious.
Because now came the real reason he was here.
“But Duke. You need Ephure, don’t you?”
Edwin’s voice lowered significantly.
“Desperately.”
“….”
Lennox clenched his fist tightly, thinking of the divine stone in his inner pocket.
It was similar in size to the oracle stone, but more like a blue gem than a regular rock.
That stone, which had remained dormant until now, had begun to change for the first time last night.
It started to glow faintly with a blue light, as if it had come to life.
In truth, what Edwin had done was a secondary concern—Lennox’s real reason for rushing to the capital was this.
‘Ephure.’
He had come to confirm whether his hunch was right.
And it was. At last, Ephure had begun to awaken.
It had been a long wait.
But to his surprise, Lennox found himself feeling strangely calm.
Noticing this, Edwin tilted his head in confusion.
“Didn’t you wait all this time for Ephure? Is it not sinking in yet?”
Lennox inwardly scoffed at the question he ignored.
He had longed for her appearance for so long, yet now that she was finally here, he felt nothing.
In fact, he felt no expectations at all.
What meaning did it have now?
Hope, anticipation, excitement—he had long since been eroded of those feelings by time.
“I don’t care about Ephure or whatever.”
Edwin’s eyes widened in shock.
“What? Why?”
“Even without Ephure, Krabant and the Empire have continued to stand.”
“But, Duke—”
“Enough. It’s not your concern.”
Lennox cut him off sharply.
“In any case, stop this nonsense. The newspapers should be getting corrections now, so by tomorrow, a retraction will be published.”
Lennox stood as if the conversation were over.
Just then, Edwin threw out one last question.
“Do you really not care?”
“What?”
“If you don’t want her, I’m going to meet Ephure.”
Lennox’s straight brow twitched.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You know—the position of crown princess is still vacant. I don’t have a fiancée.”
Snap.
In an instant, Lennox grabbed the crown prince by the collar.
His powerful grip lifted Edwin halfway off the ground, but Edwin wasn’t the least bit shaken.
“See? You say you don’t care, but clearly, you do.”
“…”
“You’re worried because of the curse, right?”
At the spot-on question, Lennox clenched his jaw silently.
Edwin continued.
“You never know—maybe, just maybe, Ephure could find a way to break it.”
“If you don’t want to die, keep talking.”
Lennox’s voice was icy as he tightened his grip.
Seeing the deadly seriousness in Lennox’s eyes, Edwin shut his mouth.
Only then did Lennox let go.
Edwin flopped back onto the sofa.
With a heavy sigh, he shook his head and asked,
“So what are you going to do?”
“Leave her alone. Don’t do anything.”
What?
Edwin stared at him in disbelief, but Lennox didn’t even glance back as he turned away.
“You’d better remember what I said. Even you won’t get a second warning.”
Being shackled to a wretched fate was punishment enough for himself.
Even if she was a purifier, no one could endure the stench of such filth.
Perhaps it would be a blessing if the unnamed woman never discovered her awakening.
With a bitter smile, Lennox walked toward the door. Edwin called after him urgently.
“You know! If we let this chance slip, who knows when the next one will come!”
A slight crack appeared in Lennox’s otherwise stoic face.
Another chance… might never come again.
But wasn’t that exactly the ending the divine, cruel gods would want?
So be it.
He returned to his usual blank expression, curled his lips into a cold smile, and said,
“I don’t care.”
* * *
It took an entire day to set the plan into motion.
The inside of the space was damp from the rain last night and reeked of an unpleasant mustiness. Ash wrinkled his beak in disgust.
[Olivia, no matter how I think about it, this doesn’t feel right.]
“There’s no other way. This is the only method to leave the viscount’s estate without being noticed.”
It wasn’t as if she didn’t know how to ride in style and elegance.
The place they were hiding in was a large freight wagon.
It had wooden planks enclosing all four sides, and sturdy cloth stretched over thin rods serving as a frame—crude and rough.
Inside, cluttered goods were scattered everywhere without any order.
She brushed off some of the dust from a sack leaning in the corner and sat down.
“It’s not a long journey. Even if it’s uncomfortable, just bear with it a little.”
She wasn’t particularly bothered by riding in a rental freight wagon. Dust could be brushed off, and the smell—well, she could tolerate it.
…That’s what she thought.
But an unexpected enemy had been lying in wait.
“Ugh!”
[Olivia, are you okay?]
“No, I feel like I’m going to die… Ugh!”
Inside the wildly swaying freight wagon, she kept dry-heaving again and again.
She hadn’t realized just how vicious the vibrations of a cheap wagon could be.
‘How on earth did the original Olivia ride this thing around?’
The reason she chose this method of escape was simple.
It was the same method the original Olivia used in the novel whenever she snuck out.
Not that she trusted the novel, which had smacked her with plenty of twists before.
But everything was exactly as described—the wagon behind the barn, the messy piles of tools and firewood scraps.
That’s why she believed it. Never suspecting such a hidden trap.
Thanks to that, she was now being pummeled by brutal motion sickness.
[Olivia! You can’t throw up!]
If there was one small mercy, it was that the wagon’s constant rattling drowned out any sound, so no one outside could hear her.
…Or so she thought.
The leftovers from lunch—meant to be calmly digested in her stomach—kept trying to escape.
In the wrong direction.
