"Mm, all right, then~"
Although Hela didn't think she stood a chance against an ancient dragon,
Rhine seemed confident.
Since Rhine planned to go to battle alongside her, surely he wouldn't sabotage himself.
Besides, the hunt for the ancient dragon was the result of a deal between Rhine and Evil Dragon Olivia. The dragon must have prepared a way for Prince Rhine to defeat it.
Yes, that had to be it.
Hela had made up her mind. Now there was only one question.
"Then, Your Highness..."
Hela smiled as she asked, "When do you plan to lead your loyal subject out?"
The answer was—
Right now.
Rhine said, "I'll go let Her Majesty know, then we'll set off immediately."
Hela agreed with a smile. She should also report to the Sanctuary.
Of course,
she wouldn't say she was going to hunt an ancient dragon.
So the two of them went their separate ways. Hela told Rhine that once he was done, he could summon her at any time.
After saying goodbye to Hela, Rhine headed for the Empress's chambers.
Up to this point, everything had gone exactly as Rhine had planned.
Hela's response and the Prince's response had both been precisely what Rhine expected.
Rhine had indeed deliberately let the Prince off the hook.
But unlike what Hela imagined,
Rhine had no intention of blackmailing the Prince.
There was no point.
The Prince and the other Prince were rivals for the throne. Nothing was more valuable than having no rival at all.⁷
And so,
logic dictated that the Prince should use this leverage without hesitation and put his rival to death.
But as far as Rhine was concerned,
that was far too crude.
The Prince was the first enemy Rhine had ever faced, and Rhine had already figured him out completely.²
Getting rid of him was easy. Easier than easy.
But manipulating him, luring him into creating even greater value for Rhine—that was an art.³
As a politician, the Prince was hopeless. He was a loser whose own sister had once snatched the throne from him. Even after living for decades longer, he was still adorably stupid.⁴
After being toyed with by his nephew, the pressure in his heart was already enough to make him break.
From here on,
his anger, his anxiety, and his hatred of Rhine would all become things Rhine could use—one link in a chain of consequences.
For now, there was no need to concern himself with him.
Rhine arrived at the Empress's chambers.
After all, Rhine was an imperial prince. Before going out, he still needed to ask his mother's permission.
But today, Rhine had come at an inopportune time.
When he opened the door, Rhine saw the sleeping Empress,
and Thea Constance beside her, using magic to treat her.
"Your Highness."
Constance's voice came softly.
32. The Curse of the Crystal Throne
The woman sleeping peacefully was Rhine's mother, the Emperor of the Hain Empire.
As the mother of an Imperial Guard, the Empress possessed the most exalted goddess bloodline in the empire apart from the Imperial Guards.¹
Twenty years of rule had left no mark on her. Judging by her appearance alone, she could have passed for Constance's sister.
Rhine had always felt warmly toward his imperial mother.
It wasn't only because she was the mother who had given birth to and raised him.
It was also because Rhine admired her.
Rhine respected her bloodline and her abilities alike. She was a capable emperor.
Under her leadership, Hain had not gone on to another golden age, but the empire had developed steadily and peacefully over the decades. Its dealings with other nations had been gentle and restrained, and at home it had upheld benevolent rule from beginning to end.
She also got along with the Imperial Guards, who were as close to her as sisters.⁴
She was a devoted believer, and she had always diligently fulfilled her duty, using peaceful means on behalf of her goddess to maintain order in the mortal world.
Unfortunately,
this emperor would die less than two years from now.
The cause of her death would not be the lung disease officially announced.
It would be a curse.
A curse laid by hundreds of the most accomplished mages in the mortal world.
Hain's strength had made it the undisputed target of the entire mortal world.⁴
Admiration, awe, fear, hatred... The name Hain had been branded in different colors into the hearts of every civilization in the mortal world.
Countless people and groups harbored hostility toward the Hain Empire.
And as the empire's symbol, the Empress drew the bulk of their malice.
In this high-magic world, assassination by curse was common, and the countermeasures against it had long since been perfected.
On that day, mages from every corner of the mortal world joined forces to cast a curse. It pierced the protection of the goddess bloodline and nearly killed the Empress on the spot.
But that very same day,
the empire analyzed the curse on the Empress and quickly compiled a list of the casters.
The empire showed no mercy in response to this assassination attempt against its ruler.
The Imperial Guards appeared. Using spatial teleportation, they slaughtered more than a hundred master spellcasters scattered across the mortal world in a single night. And that wasn't all. To warn the nations of the mortal world, the Imperial Guards exacted brutal retribution on every country where those mages had lived.
One caster, one City-Destroying Curse.
It was a catastrophe.
It was also the largest, bloodiest, and most frenzied act of aggression Hain had carried out during the Empress's reign.
The next morning, Hain announced that the Empress's curse had been lifted, and the incident was declared over.
But that wasn't what had happened.
The Imperial Guards had intended to break the curse crudely by killing its casters.
They had almost succeeded.
But while hunting down the last mage, they met their match.
One of the casters turned out to be a Demigod.
An Elf Demigod.
When the Imperial Guards arrived before him, he seemed to have been waiting for them all along.
Then, right before their eyes, he calmly activated the forbidden spell he had prepared, unraveling his own existence and merging with the earth forever.⁷
He destroyed himself, yet would endure forever.
He would become an undying anchor, cursing the empire's Crystal Throne until the world was destroyed.
From then on, every Emperor of Hain would suffer his boundless malice.
Life would wither, bloodlines would fade, and Laita's wrath would never die out until the sinful blood of the Crystal God had been completely severed from the mortal world.⁰
When the Empress died, Rhine would inherit the curse upon taking the throne.
When Rhine died, the next Emperor of Hain would still be plagued by the curse.⁸
Now, after years of torment from the curse, the Empress had to spend half of every day receiving magical treatment from the Demigod Imperial Guard.
And one day,
the curse would come to Rhine, too.⁹
"Tell Her Majesty for me that I'm going out."
"I understand."
Rhine and Constance's conversation was still brief. After passing on his message, Rhine left at once.
After leaving the chambers, Rhine spoke Hela's name.
A rift in space opened in response, and Hela, who had been waiting for him, appeared before Rhine with a smile.
"Setting off now?"
"That's right."
"Then our destination is...?"
"Laita."
"The elves' territory?"
"Yes."
"Then we can only teleport to the border."
"Mm."
"Is this your first time teleporting, Your Highness?"
"Not exactly."
"Then this will be easy. Here, take my hand, Your Highness, and don't let go."
Space tore apart again. Hela gently took Rhine's hand and led him into the dark rift.²
33. Inhabitants of the Dimensional World
Laita.
It was the last remaining elven kingdom on the surface of the mortal world.
The Demigods' rampage had forced the elves to use magic to flee the earth and seek refuge in the clouds.
But Laita was the last bastion of the elves to remain on the ground and stubbornly resist the Demigods. It stood as a symbol of the elves' final glory.
Although it was still no match for the Hain Empire, this nation had fought the Demigods for a thousand years and was certainly no stranger to war.
If they didn't want to provoke a war,
Hela and Rhine had better not use Teleportation Magic within Laita's borders.
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