* * *
Right now, fear was nudging public opinion toward halting the abdication demands.
But once the culprit was caught, everything would shift.
The murderer was clearly against the abdication.
If we could get them to say, even once, “I did it for His Majesty,” then fear would turn into rage, and the call for abdication would grow stronger than ever.
I checked my progress gauge and summoned Cloden.
“I’m going to the Fourth Prince’s palace.”
“You mean right now?”
I nodded, and Cloden made the arrangements without another word.
When we arrived at Ateol’s palace, I briefly thought of Siwoo.
But I didn’t have the luxury to focus on him right now.
His route would have to wait.
Ateol had already received word of my arrival and was waiting outside.
“Is it wise for you to be here? Things are unstable right now.”
“That’s exactly why I’m here.”
At the very least, we weren’t under suspicion.
The ones struggling right now were the Emperor, the Empress, and their close allies.
There were even rumors about them being seen covered in blood—they were the ones who really had it rough.
“I’m solving this tonight.”
As soon as the servants withdrew after serving tea, I spoke.
Ateol raised an eyebrow.
“You’re personally handling it?”
“It’s the fastest and surest way.”
“Well, no argument there… But may I ask how you intend to do it?”
I shrugged, just like Ateol.
Everything that happened in this world felt too difficult for me, yet at the same time, it was all too easy to resolve.
Late at night, I once again stood at the very tip of the tallest spire in the city, balancing on my toes.
This time, of course, it was the top of the Magic Tower—the tallest structure not only in the capital and the empire but across the entire continent.
From this vantage point, where tall buildings were rare, I could see as far as the distant mountain ridges and the dark ribbon of the river.
Standing there, I spread my magic thin like a spider’s web, just as I had when I first tracked down the demonic creature.
The delicate strands of mana spread rapidly throughout the entire capital.
I had already examined all the bodies under investigation.
Just as demonic creatures left behind traces of their energy, humans, too, left behind remnants of their presence after intense actions.
All the corpses found so far carried the same lingering energy.
That was why I had climbed up here—to find it.
Ever since I started examining the bodies, my gauge had been steadily depleting, but there was nothing I could do.
I decided to set my limit at 10% and take a few days to recover.
The web of mana expanded further and further.
The strong winds at this altitude blew back my hood and sent my hair into disarray.
The gauge was dropping in real time.
The sound of wind mixed with the faint clinking of something metallic.
Then, something got caught in my web.
Of course, it had to. There was no way it wouldn’t.
I leapt from the top of the tower.
It was so high that it took a considerable amount of time before I finally reached the ground.
Ateol, standing right below, looked at me again with that strange gaze.
At least, I think he did.
My head was spinning too much to be sure.
Ugh.
I think I’m going to throw up.
“District 23, Lavs Street, Number 14. The third floor of the inn—third room after the stairs. Make sure they don’t escape…”
“Tower Master!”
I checked my gauge one last time.
About 15% left?
My vision flickered black in patches.
The dizziness was unbearable, and the sky spun around me.
Then, I collapsed.
ꔚ
Ateol caught Yuri’s falling body in a rush.
His loyal aides were already running over.
Yuri—or rather, the one who insisted he wasn’t Yuri—was deathly pale, his breath shallow as if it might stop at any moment.
He could use magic, yet there seemed to be some kind of restriction on it.
They carried him to his bedroom.
Ateol was ready to force his way in if anyone tried to stop him, but fortunately, no one did.
As people bustled around Yuri’s bedside, Ateol pulled up a chair and sat beside him.
He tried to appear composed, but in truth, he wasn’t.
Yuri looked like someone who might never wake up again.
His naturally melancholic expression, now coupled with signs of exhaustion, only made him appear even more fragile and beautiful.
It wasn’t the time for such thoughts, but Ateol couldn’t look away.
A fake Tower Master, he had claimed.
Yet he wielded such complex magic with the ease of lifting a finger?
It would have been more believable if he had simply said he lost his memories.
Or perhaps something had happened—something that made him genuinely believe he was an imposter.
It had already been two months since the ball.
Over time, Ateol had grown undeniably closer to him.
Since meeting Yuri at the Solette Memorial, he had been experiencing strange emotions.
Whenever he looked at Yuri, something inside his mind swelled, only to burst like a bubble.
And with each passing day, it became harder to tear his gaze away from him.
Was he simply growing fond of Yuri?
Perhaps.
But it felt different.
This wasn’t just affection.
Something else—something unlike mere fondness—kept circling in his mind, whispering words he couldn’t understand.
He had started dreaming a lot.
And in those dreams, Yuri always appeared.
They would go on outings together or share secret moments in the Tower or the Imperial Palace.
It was frustrating not knowing what it all meant.
And after those dreams, Ateol felt compelled to take Yuri to those exact places in reality.
Like the orchard last time.
In the dream, Yuri had avoided mingling with people and sat on a hill, simply watching the fields.
And when they visited the orchard in real life, he did the exact same thing.
Maybe it was just coincidence—maybe Ateol had dreamed it that way because he knew Yuri’s personality.
But it felt… uncanny.
Like he had already lived through it once before.
It was true that he had grown attached to Yuri.
That much, he could call fondness.
But there was something else—something separate from that feeling—that kept growing inside him whenever they were together.
What was it?
What was Yuri doing to him?
Ateol gazed at his pale face for a long time.
ꔚ
By the time I woke up, the culprit had already been caught—at the exact location I had pointed out.
Staring at my still-depleted gauge, I struggled to remember what I had been doing around this time six years ago.
Nothing, really.
Just lazing around in bed.
And now, after spending a few days doing exactly that, avoiding people and resting, my gauge had recovered significantly.
Meanwhile, the interrogation of the murderer had been continuously postponed.
A debate had erupted over who would conduct the questioning.
The Imperial Tribunal had nine senior judges, who claimed to be perfectly neutral—but, of course, they were divided into factions.
The biggest divide was between the Emperor’s faction and the opposition.
The fight was over which faction’s judge would take the lead in the interrogation, and whether both assistant judges should come from the same faction.
While I had been resting, the suspect had been left in limbo.
Now that I was finally well enough to move, I headed straight for the Imperial Palace’s underground prison.
This wasn’t the time for political squabbles.
The suspect needed protection.
The word “protection” might sound strange, but depending on what they revealed, the entire abdication debate could shift.
And the losing side would surely try to silence them by any means necessary.
As I descended from the Tower, I spotted Ateol waiting for me.
He looked… less than pleased.
* * *
