CH 87

“Huff, huff, huff…”

Rupert was seized with fear and ended up running. Then his breath rose to the tip of his chin, and he felt as if his lungs would explode, so he grabbed a tree and caught his breath.

He still couldn’t believe it.

Rupert stretched out his hands and looked at them in disgust.

“I, Erin…”

He was furious that she was divorcing him, and the next moment, he had lost his temper. Perhaps, if he had applied a little more strength, then he would have snapped her delicate neck.

What made it even crazier was that the memory of that moment was still vivid.

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He hit the trunk with his clenched fist. But no matter how hard he tried, this nasty feeling wouldn’t disappear.

Rupert looked around to try to come to his senses. Before he knew it, he was already deep in the forest.

He shook his head and began to search for his way. As he walked, he was lost in thought.

Erin was determined to go through with the divorce. Finally, he tried to use Enoch as bait, and while she wavered for a moment, she didn’t bite.

If he hadn’t seen her hesitate, he wouldn’t have been so angry.

As he thought about it, he laughed self-deprecatingly.

‘So, what do I do now?’

Prince Breiman said he could free Rupert from the blood oath and go to a certain place when he made up his mind. It was a beach not far from the capital.

“Mennesia Beach, area twenty…”

A strong knight would take about a day to go on foot. Rupert looked at the sun, guessed his direction, and turned.

‘If only I could break free from the bondage.’

He reached a proper forest road after walking for a while, and since quite a bit of time had passed, the sun was setting.

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Rupert walked, thinking endlessly, and suddenly stopped on his way. Right now, he couldn’t betray Enoch because of the blood oath. But aside from that, did he really want to rebel against Enoch?

Rupert had been feeling inferior to him for a long time now. And after getting entangled with Erin, it added to his jealousy, and he hated him even more.

However, he never thought he shouldn’t be emperor. Rupert was also a knight in his own way, learning the knight’s beliefs and way of life. His personal loyalty to Enoch aside, his loyalty to the Calix Empire remained.

Enoch was the crown prince of the Calix Empire and the next emperor.

Rupert stood by the side of the road and sat down, unable to go either way. Gradually, his chest tightened and heat boiled over in his head.

‘No, not again.’

It was a symptom he felt before losing reason. Rupert tried to control his emotions by evening his breath, but it wasn’t as easy as he thought.

Meanwhile, two people walked out at the end of the road in the direction Rupert was looking at. As he stared, his vision blurry, a familiar face gradually grew closer.

“Chloe…”

It was Chloe and Prince Breiman. How did they show up here?

“What an idiot. If he got angry, he should have killed them on the spot. Why did he hesitate?”

It was Chloe.

Rupert looked at her in bewilderment. The Chloe he knew was someone who wouldn’t say such words.

“It’s unfortunate. We would have been able to get the magic stone mine more easily.”

Prince Breiman covered his mouth with his hand and laughed, while Chloe shook her head.

“Unfortunately, we can’t take more time. Since the Crown Prince has noticed, he will interfere earnestly,” Chloe spoke casually to Prince Breimanm then pointed toward Rupert. “Samael’s slave, let’s collect the sacrifice now.”

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“Chloe, what are you talking about?”

Rupert got up and walked towards them, trying to keep himself together. He instinctively looked for the sword by his wait, but he had dropped it earlier and didn’t have it.

Chloe didn’t even pretend to hear Rupert’s question; instead, Prince Breiman stood before him and asked, “Well, have you thought about it?”

“What are you talking about?”

Breiman smiled, looking curiously into Rupert’s eyes.

“I asked you to help me. Then I said I would free you from your bond.”

The blue eyes started to tremble aimlessly.

“Don’t worry, I just need you to help me. Then we will definitely win.”

“What will happen if I don’t help?”

“Then it’ll be a little difficult to win.”

“…So, are you confident you’ll win?” Rupert frowned and looked Breiman in the eye. He was barely holding on. A whirlwind of boiling emotions had been ordering them to kill those in front of them.

In front of him, Briman waved his hand.

“Yes. Whoops, you look very tired.”

“What…speak.”

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At that moment, Chloe, who was standing behind with her arms crossed, leisurely walked over and poked Rupert’s arm and said, “Stop wasting time. Anyway, this is a very strong body. He has good stamina, and his spirit is pure. That’s probably why he struggled for such a long time. But that’s also why he’ll be a great sacrifice to the Demon King.”

“…What the hell do you mean, Chloe!”

Rupert groaned and grabbed Chloe’s wrist, but Chloe smiled and shook off his grip.

Rupert’s body staggered at that simple movement. He couldn’t believe that the power came from Chloe’s slender arms.

Chloe didn’t stop there, grabbing Rupert’s shoulders with both her hands and pressing them down. Unable to withstand the force, Rupert’s knees hit the ground.

“Let’s take him and start.”

“It could be a struggle. He’s not completely brainwashed yet.”

“It doesn’t matter even if he’s only half-brainwashed. If you summon the Demon Lord, Balinos, humans won’t be an issue. Now, slave of Samuel, get ready to go now.”

Briman nodded and hurriedly pulled out his amulet from his breast pocket.

“Demon…Lord…?”

Rupert knew something was wrong and tried to get away, but he couldn’t resist Chloe’s grip.

As Breiman muttered an incantation while burning the amulet in his hand, a black magic circle appeared on the ground where they stood. Then, a black mist rose from the circle.

As if the fog came to life, it wrapped around the three and spun wildly. And soon after the fog lifted, their figures disappeared without a trace.

The masked man watching the scene from the back of the forest looked at the mirror-like instrument in amazement. It was an item that the prince had handed over during the day.

The mirror’s surface was made of magic stone, and a spell was inscribed to capture the scene reflected in the mirror back onto the glass.

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It was a very useful yet incredibly expensive magic tool, and it was only used for very important things because it reached the end of its lifespan after three uses.

The masked man carefully hid the mirror, then ran toward the Imperial palace.

“I thought it was just a prank by some nasty black magician… but they were summoning the Demon Lord. And besides, that woman’s obviously…”

He was well-versed in most things, but the scene he saw now was to the point of regret.

Rupert, who had been unconscious, slowly came to his senses.

Lying on the floor, he barely turned his head to look around him. Inside the dark building, only a few dim lights illuminated the surroundings.

The moment he looked around, Rupert was startled and tried to stand.

But an unknown force was pressing him to the floor, and he couldn’t move. People in black robes stood in a circle around him.

Then, one of them spoke up. It was Chloe’s voice. “You’re awake, human. It would have been less painful if you had agreed, but please don’t blame us. Still, your lover has guided you quite well to get here.”

“What…What nonsense are you talking about, Chloe?”

“Yes, her name was Chloe. Rupert, was it? Your lover was a slave to me, Nivas.

Then Prince Briman’s voice interrupted. It was dark everywhere, so Rupert couldn’t tell where the prince was.

“Nivas, don’t talk nonsense.”

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“Shut up! No matter how much you are Samael’s slave, you are still human. Are you trying to give orders to me, a real devil?”

“…a devil?” Rupert muttered as he lay down, trying to infer the conversation. Nivas was commonly known as the demon of ‘illusion and temptation’.

“Was it black magic?”

“Now that you know, you haven’t noticed you’ve been drinking demon’s blood the whole time. Well, my slave was great at making tea. That was the only thing she was good at.”

While Nivas muttered excitedly, the round magic circle below Rupert began to glow.

The light of the magic circle was dark blue, different from what one usually saw.

“…Ugh.” At the same time, Rupert could clearly feel something foreign trying to occupy his head.

Rupert resisted desperately, even enduring the massive headaches that were coming in.

However, his body was already contaminated with the devil’s blood, and that something quickly and easily consumed Rupert.

While Rupert struggled, Chloe’s voice flowed in like a song. Then she came over and leaned over to caress Rupert’s cheek.

“Don’t worry, human. You’re not going to be a slave. You’ll become our king, the king of kings, Demon Lord Balinos himself. The more you resist, the more painful it will be.”

He was getting more and more out of his mind. And soon, Rupert was trapped in deep darkness.