Chapter 192 : Chapter 192
Chapter 192. Invitation from the Esven Marquisate (1)
“……I am tired.”
Armandy left the dormitory with a haggard face.
It was because he had exhausted his energy until late at night due to the follower meeting.
In fact, it was not a meeting that was supposed to take that long.
However, as they started talking about points Radel needed to fix, he ended up getting excited without realizing it.
‘The problem is that the Prince sometimes takes unexpected actions!’
‘Hmm, I admit it. It is not normal.’
It just so happened that he connected very well with a second-year student named Tarun.
Tarun also agreed and empathized with Armandy’s words.
‘He has the skill. However, when he shows unpredictable behavior, he is incredibly reckless.’
‘That is what I am saying!’
Armandy almost cried tears of joy at finally meeting someone he could communicate with.
Furthermore, to meet such a person at none other than the 8th Prince’s follower gathering!
However, if there were people he agreed with, there were bound to be those he did not.
It was none other than Gusto, the apprentice holy knight.
‘That cannot be. The Prince’s problem is that his heart is too broad.’
Gusto denied Armandy’s words at every turn.
‘If you find it difficult to understand the Prince, please look back at yourself. Doubt often sprouts the seed of distrust in one’s heart.’
Gusto’s blind faith ended up fueling Armandy’s anger even more.
They had a heated conversation about Radel.
‘What needs to be guarded against more than distrust is blind faith. Shouldn’t the closest aides be the ones to apply strict standards and give the Prince necessary advice?’
‘I wonder if the mindset that you are superior to the Prince is what invites unnecessary advice?’
It was truly a close battle without an inch of concession.
The follower gathering could only end when curfew was approaching.
Even after that, Armandy, whose anger had not subsided, tossed and turned all night.
“Oh, Armandy! You were out early.”
Radel spotted Armandy and approached.
Seeing Radel, the subject of the previous day’s discussion, Armandy ended up wiping his face.
That easygoing Prince would not even dream that there was a fierce debate about his future last night.
‘I was crazy. Why did I go to the follower gathering?’
Armandy blamed himself for a moment but soon pulled himself together.
Today was a day with an important mission.
The day of visiting the Esven Marquisate, the maternal family of the 5th Prince.
This mission was also a long-cherished desire of the Ability Management Bureau.
Because even the Empire’s best secret agents had repeatedly failed to infiltrate the Esven Marquisate.
The Esven Marquisate was a historic Mage family that had existed since the founding of the Empire.
The magic research they had passed down for generations was so closed off that even fellow Mages could not understand it.
Was it because interaction with the outside was extremely minimal?
The rumor that if an outsider stepped into the Esven Marquisate wrongly, they would disappear without a trace was famous.
Radel had obtained permission to visit such a place with a friend.
He had kept his promise to Ivan to infiltrate an Ability Management Bureau agent into the Esven Marquisate.
“It is a pity. It would have been nice if Pirenzo went too.”
“It is exceptional for me to go with the Prince as well.”
Since Armandy had the status of an Academy student, he could join under the pretext of being Radel’s friend.
Until now, he had envied Pirenzo who infiltrated as a professor, but not this time.
This was a golden opportunity for Armandy to build a track record in the Ability Management Bureau.
Recalling Pirenzo’s face, which was filled with frustration upon hearing this news, Armandy felt his mood improve a little.
“Are we going to the Esven Marquisate now?”
“Yeah, I decided to meet the Senior and go together.”
“You are going with Prince Venus?”
Armandy asked in surprise.
For the 5th Prince, who rarely built friendships with people, to show such favor.
Do strange people recognize strange people?
Armandy was dumbfounded, but Radel seemed unbothered.
“They say the Esven Marquisate is sending a carriage. Thanks to that, we can go comfortably.”
Radel was calm, not knowing what it meant to visit the Esven Marquisate, which did not admit outsiders.
“……You came out early.”
Soon, Venus appeared at the meeting place.
It was an expression where one could not tell what he was thinking, no matter when one looked at him.
Before long, the carriage sent by the Esven Marquisate also arrived in front of the Academy.
Like Radel’s carriage, it was entirely black, but it had antique decorations attached.
Looking closely, they were all carvings of dragons.
NEIGH!
SNORT!
Furthermore, the horses pulling the carriage were also extraordinary.
Radel’s eyes shone as he asked Venus.
“Senior, these magical beasts are……?”
“Right. They are Bicorns.”
At first glance, they looked like black horses, but they were magical beasts with two horns on their foreheads.
When Radel showed interest, Venus also explained about the Bicorns like a cryptozoology major.
“You might have seen them in the stable, but even though they look similar to Unicorns, their temperaments are very different. Their diet is different too.”
“I see. Then the point to be careful about when taming is…….”
The two chatted for a long time with conversations related to magical beasts.
“Look. This part is cute.”
“It is really cute.”
SNORT!
The Bicorn, snorting roughly, had a combative appearance that anyone could see was fitting for a magical beast.
If they said it was dignified, that might be understandable, but just where on earth was it cute……?
Armandy stared only at the distant mountains, not even daring to join their conversation.
* * *
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
The carriage carrying the three people soon arrived at the territory of the Esven Marquisate.
‘Don’t tell me that place on top of that hill is the Esven Marquisate?’
Armandy got goosebumps looking at the castle with a desolate atmosphere visible through the window.
It was definitely midday, but it was a strangely dark place.
CAW, CAW!
Somehow, weren’t crows flying around the vicinity?
Furthermore, as the carriage got closer to the castle, the surrounding scenery became strange.
‘Isn’t this whole area a graveyard?’
Seeing the increasing number of tombstones, Armandy’s face turned pale.
They said people became fewer as one went further, but to think it was for this reason.
No noble of the Empire built a house in a place like this.
Not just a noble, but any ordinary person would not!
However, Radel looked out the window and said this to Venus.
“It is a secluded and atmospheric place.”
“……Is it?”
“Yes. It is quiet and even seems to have a sense of style. My friend will think so too. Don’t you?”
At the sudden question, Armandy trembled the corners of his mouth and nodded.
“Yes, I think so too. It is truly an honor to be invited.”
“……Okay.”
Venus looked at Armandy with indifferent eyes, different from when he looked at Radel.
It was a gaze that seemed to pierce through his insides somehow.
At that moment, the carriage arriving in front of the Esven Marquisate stopped for a moment.
A gate dark as pitch black welcomed them.
High walls and a closed-off gate.
As the gate opened, a somewhat strange garden unfolded.
Armandy was appalled again.
‘No, why are the trees in the garden pitch black?’
At that level, aren’t they dead trees?
Trees twisted pitch black were exuding presence all over the garden.
Radel looked out the window and asked.
“Senior, what are those magnificent trees?”
Magnificent?
Armandy’s eyes widened in shock.
However, perhaps feeling good at Radel’s words, Venus quietly opened his mouth.
“They are a variety improved by the gardener who has been working for our family for 8 generations. Cool, right?”
8 generations…….
With things like this, how could an outsider enter the Esven Marquisate?
Armandy could clearly understand the reason why the Ability Management Bureau had failed infiltration until now.
“Yes, they are cool. Did the gardener improve that pretty plant too?”
Radel pointed to a large plant growing vigorously in one corner of the garden.
Armandy’s eyes widened in shock once again.
Far from pretty, it was a carnivorous plant no matter who looked at it.
“Yeah. It catches bugs well.”
“That is really practical. To the point I want to plant it in my garden too.”
“……I will ask the gardener later.”
At Radel’s eyes that seemed to genuinely covet that bizarre plant, Armandy shut his mouth.
It must be true that strange people recognize strange people…….
* * *
As Radel got off the carriage, the people of the Esven Marquisate came out to meet them.
Venus introduced them one by one.
“This is my maternal uncle.”
An expressionless middle-aged man with sky-blue hair like Venus quietly opened his mouth.
“Nice to meet you, Prince. I am Duplum Esven.”
“Thank you for inviting me.”
Following Marquis Esven’s introduction, the greetings of the Marchioness and the children followed.
Truly surprisingly, even the siblings of the Marquisate, who were Venus’s cousins, were making the exact same expression as Venus.
On top of that, weren’t they all wearing black clothes?
Armandy whispered to Radel.
“Prince, it is somehow strange. Everyone is wearing black clothes as if they are holding a funeral.”
“Stop saying rude things, Armandy. They must just like the color black.”
Radel gave a warning as if asking what kind of rude talk that was.
However, Armandy kept getting an ominous feeling.
The clothes the Esven Marquisate family members wore were one thing.
It felt as if they were preparing for a funeral that would happen soon.
‘Otherwise, who wears clothes like that when welcoming guests!’
The problem was whose funeral they were preparing for.
‘Surely it is not mine, right?’
Goosebumps rose on Armandy’s arms.
He wanted to leave this place quickly once he finished the mission.
Unaware of Armandy’s feelings, Radel asked Venus.
“Is the 6th Imperial Consort at the Imperial Capital?”
“Yeah, Mother doesn’t come out for weeks once she enters the laboratory.”
He heard that Venus’s mother, the 6th Imperial Consort, was also a former Mage and even set up a laboratory in the Imperial Capital.
He heard the explanation that she was full of passion to the point of shutting herself in the laboratory for weeks.
“She has a laboratory? That is cool.”
“Our family members each have a personal laboratory.”
Come to think of it, the other people of the Esven Marquisate also had pale complexions as if they had shut themselves in laboratories and couldn't see the sunlight.
And perhaps because they rarely expressed emotions like Venus, their expressions were faint.
However, Radel could feel the atmosphere welcoming him.
Because no matter where Radel went, the gazes of the Esven Marquisate family members followed.
Noticing that, Armandy spoke to Radel with a trembling voice.
“Prince, it is really strange. Whenever you move, their eyes follow you as if monitoring what you are doing.”
“Monitoring is too harsh of a word, Armandy. They must just have a lot of interest in me.”
“I am telling you it is not that kind of feeling?”
Armandy beat his chest in frustration.
However, it did not feel strange at all to Radel.
Couldn’t it be like that if they were shy?
Since they said there was almost no entry of outsiders, a guest might be fascinating.
Radel thought little of it and looked at the decorations hanging in the Marquisate’s reception room.
Just then, a cool sword hanging in the middle of the wall caught his eye.
“A dragon is carved on the handle.”
Radel muttered inadvertently and examined other decorations.
But everywhere he looked, pictures or carvings of dragons stood out.
Come to think of it, weren’t the carriage decorations and the gate also engraved with dragons……?