I’m in Trouble Because The Emperor Thinks My Time is Limited - Chapter 76

“Are you saying I smell like a corpse?”

The priest tilted his head as if he found the accusation odd. He appeared excessively composed, despite the sudden confrontation that should have startled or flustered him.

A clear voice directed a question at Melaine. “How could a living priest like me smell of the dead?”

“Because you’re dead, of course.”

“…What a strange thing to say. As you can see, I am alive and moving, am I not?”

The priest spread his arms wide as if to emphasize his point. However, Melaine snorted again at the sight, his eyes narrowing as if he’d just witnessed something laughable.

“That’s precisely my point. You’re dead, yet moving around. It’s absolutely repulsive.”

“What—”

“It must be inconvenient for you, us showing up out of nowhere like this. You were just about ready to claim your host body, and now you’ve missed your chance.”

Melaine’s gentle tone and kind demeanor only heightened the sarcasm directed at the priest before him.

It was then that Ascal spoke up. Melaine’s words contained something that could not be ignored.

“What do you mean, ‘claim a host body’?”

“If you were planning to bring in a stray dog, you should have looked more closely before bringing it in.” Melaine’s expression, as he turned to face Ascal, was icy. “What would you have done if you couldn’t distinguish whether the one before you was a priest or a sorcerer?”

Sorcerer!

At that one word, the expressions of everyone present froze. Even the priest, who had maintained his relaxed demeanor, changed the moment the word “sorcerer” was mentioned.

-Schrng!

With a swift motion, Schrein drew his sword, threatening the priest—no, the sorcerer—at the neck. In this critical moment, a loud burst of laughter erupted from the sorcerer.

“Hahaha!”

Seeing the sorcerer laughing maniacally, I instinctively placed my hand on the sword at my waist.

“Ah, so this is how it turns out. I had put so much effort into this, but I never thought it would unravel in such a manner.”

The sorcerer, who had been looking at us with amusement, turned to Melaine and asked, “How did you know I was a sorcerer?”

“Because only a sorcerer would play such tricks on someone’s soul.”

“Wow… So, the rumor about the priest of Lute who follows Lindel Bodebachne being able to see souls is true?”

The sorcerer grinned, his lips stretching unnaturally wide. Then, with a venomous smile, he turned his gaze to me.

“It’s been a while, Lindel.”

At that moment, the sorcerer’s voice, which had unmistakably been male, changed into a female’s.

“You haven’t changed a bit, Lindel.”

The sickly sweet tone of voice felt uncomfortably familiar. From the sorcerer’s peculiar manner of speaking, I realized who this was.

“You… at the ball—”

“Correct. I’m honored that you remember me.”

The woman who had manipulated monsters during the ball at the Founding Festival was now standing before me in a completely different form. Only her sinister yellow eyes, radiating an ominous energy, bore resemblance to her previous appearance.

“My name is Muros, the greatest sorceress.”

Though her appearance had changed, the smirk on her face was still chilling.

“I was planning to use this man to summon you. Though my plans have gone awry, you’ve saved me some trouble.”

“…What have you done?”

Without hesitation, I drew my sword. Fortunately, I’d carried it with me after the recent string of attacks, though I hadn’t expected to use it in this manner.

“The palace is too heavily guarded to get in. So, I intended to lure you out, to a place where no one could protect you.”

Muros shrugged lightly and gestured toward Schrein, feigning regret.

“It would’ve been better if this guy weren’t here. A Swordmaster, huh? That’s dangerous.”

Despite her words, Muros didn’t seem particularly wary of Schrein. Perhaps sensing this, Schrein’s expression grew sharper.

“Don’t glare at me so intensely. The fun is just beginning, after all.”

With those words, Muros clapped her hands together.

-Clap!

-Fwshh!

As if triggered by the sound, dazzling lights erupted throughout the mansion. The light was so blindingly bright that we instinctively faltered.

“……!”

It was magic equipment. This wasn’t something created through sorcery. The intensity of the light and the movement of mana made it clear that magic tools had been employed.

Before I could process this revelation, Melaine reached out toward me, but his hand never made contact. Just before his hand could reach me, the light enveloped each of us.

The light consumed the entire background in an instant.

“Lindel-!”

The last thing I heard was Melaine calling my name before I closed my eyes tightly.

***

“What is this place?”

When I reopened my eyes, I found myself in an unfamiliar space. Darkness surrounded me on all sides. Neither Melaine nor Schrein was anywhere to be seen, and nothing was visible in the thick shadows.

As I squinted into the void, something appeared before me. It was a door.

“How suspicious,” I muttered, letting out a heavy sigh at the door that seemed to beckon me forward.

‘I’m going to get scolded again when I get back, aren’t I?’

Life seemed to be one endless chain of turbulence. Worry about how I’d explain this to Sionel when I returned to the palace was already weighing on me.

Despite my grievances, I hurried toward the door. More than Melaine or Schrein, I was worried about my father and Ascal, who were ordinary people without any means to defend themselves.

There was no time to hesitate. I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open without a second thought.

“……!”

And then, something astonishing happened. Simply opening the door caused the surrounding darkness to transform.

“Home?”

The new setting was the Bodebachne estate. Yet, everything looked pristine, as though it were brand new. Despite the mansion’s careful maintenance, traces of time that could not be hidden were now absent. The once-worn picture frames looked fresh, and the wallpaper was impeccably clean.

“The door’s gone, too.”

The door I had just entered through had vanished without a trace. I was now left standing alone in an unfamiliar hallway.

“Is it night?”

The view outside the window revealed the world shrouded in darkness. The hallway, too, was dim, lit only by a few candles serving as night lights. An eerie atmosphere lingered in the corridor.

Then, the sound of footsteps echoed.

“Huh?”

At the other end of the hallway appeared Ascal. But something about him was strange.

The Ascal before me was a small child.

“Young Master?” I called out, but he passed by as if he couldn’t see me, walking right past my side.

I followed him. The small feet that had been running with urgency soon stopped in front of a door. Recognizing the door, I frowned slightly.

The room at the end of the hallway. The wooden door, plain and undecorated, was the room I had stayed in within the mansion.

Out of breath from running, the young Ascal hesitated for a moment before cautiously cracking the door open. Peeking through the gap, he seemed to be spying on the scene inside. I mimicked him, looking into the room.

“What is this place…?”

Inside the room was my father. His youthful appearance was unmarred, his skin smooth and unwrinkled. Yet that wasn’t what surprised me. Standing before my father was an unfamiliar woman.

With vibrant emerald eyes and hair of a similar shade, the woman was holding a baby in her arms.

The baby was me.

“Then that woman must be…”

As I muttered to myself in a trembling voice, my father’s voice rang out.

“Was it you?”

The question, trembling with anger, was directed sharply at the woman.

“It wasn’t me.”

The woman was crying. Her beautiful face twisted with sorrow as she pleaded with my father.

“Please believe me, Verdell.”

“You’ve already deceived me. How can I trust you?”

Deceived. What on earth did that mean?

“Approaching me while pretending to be human… Was it just for amusement? To see how far a single human could fall? Answer me, Cordelia!”

“……!”

My suspicions were confirmed. The woman standing before my father, cradling the infant me, was my mother.

“It wasn’t like that! I did it because I loved you. I only did it because I loved you!”

Crying, my mother—no, Cordelia—desperately tried to explain. But my father glared at her with contempt, his gaze cold and unforgiving.

He brushed her hand away in disgust, causing her to collapse to the floor. Disturbed by the commotion, the infant me awoke, crying loudly.

“…How does it feel to kill my wife and take her place? Watching me thank you in ignorance, how much did you laugh at me?”

“…I didn’t kill Isabelle.”

Cordelia, still sitting on the floor, spoke quietly.

Isabelle. It was a name I knew well.

Isabelle Bodebachne. The lady of the Bodebachne family and Ascal’s biological mother. She had died long before I was born.

“Verdell, please believe me. I didn’t kill Isabelle.”

“Don’t ever mention my wife’s name with that filthy mouth again.”

With those chilling words, my father turned toward the door. Startled, Ascal fled, but I remained rooted in place.

Soon, the door opened. Like Ascal, my father walked past me without seeing me.

Instead of following my father, I approached the ones left in the room. Cordelia, still sobbing, cradled the infant me. Her lips trembled as she tried to stifle her cries so as not to startle the baby.

Who would believe that this woman was the great dragon? As she wiped her tears with the back of her hand, she gently patted the infant me.

“It’s okay, my baby. Everything will be fine. Once the misunderstanding is cleared, your father will love you again.”

“……”

“Lindel, my beloved daughter. Everything will be okay.”

Unconsciously, I reached out toward my mother. Just before my hand touched her back, the world around me began to crumble. As the space shattered and disappeared, so too did my mother’s figure slowly fade.

In the end, I couldn’t hold on to her disappearing silhouette.