ICETKM 06

Chapter 6 . Will You Make a Choice?

According to the original story, today was the day.

The emperor, driven into a frenzy by the reckless actions of some foolish young ladies who drugged him out of their desperate desire to become his Guide, would lose control.

And unfortunately, a young royal—who had followed his older brother into an area where no one should have been—was present when tragedy struck.

Before the carnage of blood and torn flesh could come to an end, the original heroine would appear bravely at the end of that path and lull him into a silent, peaceful slumber.

That night, having lost all memory of the incident, the emperor would be tormented. In the end, he would lose his weakened younger brother and fall into bitter conflict with the duke who had sent that child alone to the banquet hall.

“There’s no way I’m letting it unfold like that.”

I was here to save Louisas.

As for the emperor, well—somewhere in this banquet hall, the original heroine would appear like magic and rescue him.

I was burning with a dangerous excitement at the thought of seeing my beloved sunbeam heroine again, but sadly, I couldn’t move my body freely right now.

And now wasn’t the time anyway.

“What a waste of time.”

“Thank you for saying exactly what I wanted to say, Your Majesty.”

At that moment—

The deadly standoff finally ended!

I saw several noble young ladies approaching, their cheeks flushed with anticipation.

They were probably noble-born Guides.

‘Ah, I haven’t seen the Guides of this world before.’

The term “Guide” still felt unfamiliar to me. And frankly, I felt a little sorry for those young ladies.

Later, when everything came to light, they would meet a rather horrific end.

‘If an SSS-rank Esper loses control, not just the palace but the entire capital could be blown away. These girls were way too naive.’

Judging by their aura, they were maybe B-rank at best—perhaps even C-rank. What kind of confidence made them think they could handle this?

In fiction, sure—but in reality, for a B-rank to calm an S-rank, they’d need an absurdly perfect compatibility granted by the heavens.

‘Like our heroine.’

These girls all believed they were special.

They romanticized the idea that the emperor’s inability to find a suitable partner meant he was still searching for them.

How pitiful.

It’s not like that, ladies. Run! That’s a wild beast!

Anyway, I turned around—and at that moment, control of my body returned to me.

“Puh!”

Without realizing it, I let out the breath I’d been holding. The child whose hand I was still gripping flinched in surprise.

Oops. My bad.

I bit my lip, but I had a strange feeling the emperor’s steps behind me had come to a halt.

No, no. Just go. I didn’t do anything. I just breathed. That’s it.

I swallowed dryly.

Fortunately, I soon heard the emperor’s presence moving away again.

The love-struck young ladies were calling to him.

Although cold to Guides and Espers alike, the emperor wasn’t so cruel as to ignore a direct address.

‘Phew, good.’

I let out a big sigh of relief and looked down.

The child was gazing up at me with uncertain, wavering eyes. Ignoring the whispers around me, I knelt slightly to meet his gaze.

“Louias.”

His head nodded eagerly—so round and adorable.

“You’ve seen your brother. Now, it’s time for you to return. I’ll send some mages with you.”

His green eyes trembled. He seemed to want to say no—but that wasn’t an option.

If you don’t leave, this whole heart-pounding trip here will have been for nothing, sweetie.

“You have to listen.”

His head drooped sadly, and though he looked pitiful, there was no other way.

The mages I had ordered earlier approached swiftly and gently led the child away.

As I straightened up, I noticed people murmuring as if they’d seen something extraordinary.

Seriously? What’s so surprising about meeting a child’s eyes? Even Duke Ariel could manage that.

I stared at them silently, and their gazes scattered like dust.

A cold face, looking furious even when doing nothing, was the best weapon at times like these.

And then—

“To think I’d meet the Duke here, of all places. What a surprise.”

A clear, bell-like voice rang out.

When I saw the woman’s face, I flinched internally.

Why is she picking a fight with me?

Black hair. Red eyes. A seductive black beauty mark near her lips.

I couldn’t recall her name exactly.

‘Eu—something, Euroche?’

She was a villainess-type supporting character, who first appears by bullying the heroine at a banquet.

‘Our heroine should be nearby, then. Wait—is she here already?’

Gasp. Maybe…!

My heart pounded.

I nearly broke my poker face with a stupidly delighted expression.

‘Wait a minute.’

But disappointment soon set in.

She wasn’t here. This villainess wasn’t with her. So why the hell was she coming at me?

I instinctively shifted into my usual Hilaria-style sharp tongue.

“I’m curious when proper etiquette in high society fell to such disgrace. Did I greet you first, young lady?”

It was a blatant mockery—how dare she speak first to a duke who hadn’t even acknowledged her?

Hilaria’s terrifyingly sharp presence, enough to freeze someone with a mere expression, seemed to strike true.

The woman’s face paled.

“Everyone knows you’re not even a Guide, yet you enjoy drawing the emperor’s attention!”

Yeah, okay. Whoever “everyone” is, they’ve got it all wrong.

Enjoy whose attention? Are you insane?

Rage surged inside me, but I held it in.

The cold, noble Duke of the Magic Tower, Ariel, would never explode or curse.

I couldn’t risk revealing my identity over some background character.

Recalling Hilaria’s venomous attitude from the novel—how she always drove the emperor mad—I mimicked her tone.

“That’s ridiculous. If you have something to say, take it to your beloved emperor. Do I look like I have time to entertain your whining? Move.”

Hmm. The way I said that kind of sounded like that jerk Kaisis. Depressing.

Though she trembled in fear, she didn’t dare pour wine on me or shove me like she did with the heroine.

‘Tch, weak to the strong, strong to the weak.’

If only this cleared a bit of the hardship awaiting our sunbeam heroine…

After brushing her off like dust, I told the mages behind me to enjoy the banquet and began wandering the hall alone.

Cold sweat formed on my back.

‘Strange. Why can’t I see her?’

The emperor still didn’t know what was coming. Surrounded by sycophants, he wore a stiff, arrogant expression.

But I knew what was in that wine glass of his.

And now I felt like someone cradling a ticking time bomb.

‘Where is our sunbeam heroine?!’

Her bright yellow dress was supposed to be impossible to miss.

The reason?

She was a B-rank Guide with no power or backing—but had the misfortune of being pretty. Earlier, those girls bullied her, poured wine on her, and forced her into a different outfit.

That dress was sunflower yellow, dazzlingly bright, and it suited her so well that it caught the emperor’s eye instantly—just like the novel described.

But then why?

Why was she nowhere to be seen?

Wait—

Right then, I felt it.

I had been pretending not to notice, but now the emperor’s energy flared so clearly that it was impossible to ignore.

‘Oh, hell. Shit.’

Just as in the original story, things were moving forward.

The emperor’s unstable aura—already fragile—was now swelling as if he was about to bite someone.

An Esper’s rampage.

It was caused by a new drug—something reckless fools had started spreading among Espers to provoke their powers. Someone had fed it to the emperor.

At one point, I had considered erasing the entire event.

But that plan had one fatal flaw—it required getting too close to the emperor.