“Stupid thing. You couldn’t even figure out something that simple, so you finally contacted me?”
Viscount Havigael, who was inside the communication device, frowned with annoyance.
He never expected that his useless son would be able to find out why the light attribute disappeared just because he went to the Grand Duke’s castle.
He had simply sent Edrion to the Grand Duke’s castle to secretly contact the black magician who had fed his son plants from the Monster Forest to manifest the light attribute.
Of course, now that he was at the Great Temple, there was no need to send him to the Grand Duke’s castle.
However, since he had to seduce all five attribute users anyway, he hoped Edrion would take this opportunity to start with Teore, whom he had known since childhood.
“Well, I didn’t expect much anyway.”
“……I’m sorry, Father.”
Edrion said in a shrinking voice, bowing his head like a sinner.
For some reason, it was always like this.
It might be because his father had been frighteningly strict since he was young, making him feel so weak before him—even though he wasn’t his biological father—but it was also likely due to his own timid nature.
Whether it was when he was forced to drink a potion made from strange herbs, or when he was forced to have black smoke-like energy injected into his body to manifest the light attribute, he felt he could never say he didn’t want to.
In any case, he never suffered a loss by listening to his father.
Becoming a High Priest, something he had never even dreamed of, being able to heal the five attribute users, and even sharing his first intimate moments with the Crown Prince, whom he had never imagined—it was all thanks to him.
As expected, he thought everything his father told him to do was helpful to him.
“I didn’t think you’d figure it out even after a year if I left it to you, so I looked into it myself. You haven’t been able to use your light attribute since the day after you spent the night with the Crown Prince, right?”
“……Uh, that’s right.”
“Your light attribute wasn’t something you were born with, like the High Priest’s, so if you perform runaway suppression therapy through excessive physical contact, all the light attribute inside your body will be taken away.”
“……!”
“That must be why. Through your contact with the Crown Prince, all the light attribute you possessed was swept into him. That’s why there is no light attribute left in your body now.”
At Viscount Havigael’s words, the blood slowly drained from Edrion’s face.
“Then, what should I do? Should I go back home now and get the tea…”
“It is the time when the Monster Flowers in the center of the Monster Forest enter their spawning season. During this period, all monsters in the Monster Forest forbid the intrusion of outside life forms.”
Once a year, the Monster Flowers in the center of the forest spit out new monsters.
Because the number of monsters spawned over a long period of about two weeks amounts to half the population of the forest, the number of monsters didn’t decrease no matter how many humans caught them.
Some might ask why they didn’t just get rid of the flowers living in the forest, but the Monster Flowers were like existing yet non-living beings, so they couldn’t be destroyed.
They were shaped like flowers, but it was more appropriate to call them a space rather than a plant; they felt like doors connected to other places.
No matter how much the Empire’s previous generation of attribute users tried to eliminate them, they never once skipped a spawning season.
“Th, then I…”
“The High Priest’s blood.”
At his father’s words, Edrion’s eyes widened so much they almost popped out.
“It is said that light attributes are concentrated in the High Priest’s blood. You must drink the High Priest’s blood.”
“Bl, blood…?”
As the color drained from Edrion’s face, Viscount Havigael immediately wore a displeased expression and clicked his tongue, “Tsk.”
“You’re afraid of even a small thing like this—what kind of great work do you expect to accomplish?”
“You must know how much effort I have put in for a weakling like you.”
“……I know.”
“I have told you over and over that there is only one thing you can do for this father.”
“Yes, to put the five attribute users under my feet…”
It was something he had heard until his ears grew calluses.
To put the attribute users, who had the power to shake the Empire, under his feet, making his father, Viscount Havigael, the real power behind the nobility, and eventually even gaining the power to shake the Imperial Family from behind.
That was the only reason Viscount Havigael had forced his son to manifest the light attribute artificially by brewing and feeding him monster plants.
Edrion also thought it was a dream-like thing if the five attribute users, including Teore, became his, so he was trying his best to achieve it.
At that moment, he suddenly thought that he could only fulfill his father’s ambition if Raha disappeared.
“The High Priest is interfering with that. Just this time, he is at Teore’s castle, so…”
I heard. They say the Grand Duke went to the Great Temple and took the High Priest himself.
“Yes…”
Did you find out why he took him?
In the first place, Teore had strong distrust of humans and did not allow anyone by his side except Edrion and the four attribute users.
Viscount Havigael knew that well, so he thought Teore would be the easiest target among the five attribute users to conquer.
He had thought Teore was so infatuated with his son that he almost killed the High Priest who bullied him with his own hands, but it seemed he was mistaken.
“That is…”
Tsk, tsk. Is there anything you can do besides stuffing food into your mouth?
I didn’t even have expectations, but to be this pathetic.
“……”
That’s enough, so think about getting the High Priest’s blood.
Since you are staying at the Grand Duke’s castle, it should be easy to obtain his blood and inject it into your body.
At those words, Edrion’s eyes widened.
Viscount Havigael said that it was the best method for now since they couldn’t enter the Monster Forest until the spawning season of the Monster Flowers was over.
Of course, even after the spawning season ended, it was difficult to enter because the Marquis had been guarding the entrance of the forest as if protecting it to keep monsters from coming out.
Therefore, he said that currently, getting Raha’s blood and injecting it into Edrion’s body to mix the two was the best way to replenish the drained light attribute.
In the end, Edrion couldn’t even say he couldn’t do it and cut off contact with the Viscount.
‘Blood…’
To suddenly obtain someone’s blood and inject it into his own body.
He felt a sense of fear, wondering if his father was finally trying to turn him into a monster.
However, even so, all he could do was follow orders. He had never disobeyed his father’s words until now.
In any case, he had to follow whatever came out of his father’s mouth, so he had to get Raha’s blood by any means necessary.
Even though the idea of putting someone else’s blood into his body still felt uncomfortable, he felt that if he couldn’t re-manifest the light attribute for several days, Raha would surely destroy his standing.
‘Yes, because everything Father says is right.’
Edrion began to rack his brain to come up with a plan to obtain Raha’s blood.
