Chapter 82
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Chapter 82
Itar burst into laughter at the sight of Karha drawing his sword.
"Are you suggesting we fight now?"
Karha said nothing, merely swinging his blade.
The sword traced its arc so swiftly that the eye could scarcely follow its path.
With a soft scraping sound, the iron bars were sliced through as cleanly as pound cake.
As Karha carved his way out of the Prison,
Theo, who had been standing dumbfounded at this absurd turn of events, rushed forward and cried out.
"Regardless of your royal status, you cannot abduct an Imperial citizen!"
"Abduct?"
Itar protested vehemently.
"I intend to lavish her with every comfort. Think about it—wouldn't it be far better to live as a princess of the royal house than as the daughter of some mere noble family?"
Karha let out a short, bitter laugh.
His crimson eyes burned even brighter.
In a situation where death seemed imminent for one of them,
Chesa suddenly raised her hand and shouted.
"I'll do it! I'll be your princess!"
"Hmm?"
"What?"
"Pardon?"
Before the men, each offering their own bewildered response, Chesa spoke with deliberate clarity.
"Please make me your princess."
Karha let the sword he had raised fall to his side.
Chesa caught a glimpse of the stunned Silver-haired Boy's expression before turning her gaze back to Itar.
Itar smiled with genuine delight.
"Excellent. I shall treat you with all the honor befitting a princess. You'll love the Skaya Kingdom, little one. Have you ever seen the sea?"
He seemed to relish how perfectly the situation was unfolding.
Chesa seized the moment when Itar's guard had relaxed in his pleasure and spoke.
"If I'm to be your princess, please send me home first. I must say goodbye to my father, and I need to pack my things."
"Of course. I shall provide your family with generous compensation."
Itar smiled warmly.
Chesa returned his smile with one of her own.
Itar carried himself as though Chesa already belonged to him entirely.
He spoke intimately, tapping her cheek playfully with his finger.
"Little one, I'll escort you home. I'll have a carriage prepared, so take your time coming out."
He told her to come with her brother, then set her down.
He departed first to give orders to his subordinates.
Only Theo, Karha, and Chesa remained in the Prison.
Karha asked in a voice thick with shock.
"You... actually wanted to be a princess...?"
Chesa shook her head.
She waved frantically at the two men.
Theo and Karha instinctively bowed at the waist.
Chesa whispered softly.
"We're running away right now...!"
It was a suggestion to slip away without Itar knowing.
A princess, of all things.
Of course, she had no intention whatsoever of following along to the Skaya Kingdom.
But the reason she lied was because she understood Itar's nature all too well.
He was the type who would break what wouldn't bend.
If Karha had charged forward, blood would have been spilled here, and he would have dragged her away by force.
Theo, the Security Force officers, and Karha too.
They would all have suffered considerable casualties.
That's why she chose to lie and flee instead.
She'd already thought through roughly how to clean up the mess afterward.
Karha was deeply moved by Chesa's declaration of running away together.
"I thought the baby was abandoning us. Because she wanted to be a princess...."
After muttering a brief sentiment, Karha swiftly scooped Chesa into his arms.
"Security Chief. There's a back door here, isn't there?"
"Ah, yes. There is. It's classified Security Force information, but given the circumstances, there's no helping it."
Theo displayed movements surprisingly nimble for his massive frame.
He pressed his hand against an otherwise empty wall.
As he tapped a few bricks inward, a wooden door slid smoothly into view.
"It has an illusion spell cast on it."
Theo explained as he pushed the door open.
'So the teddy bear really is the young master of the Nemea Marquis Family.'
There was no reason to cast expensive magic on a mere Security Station.
It must have been set up so that if any emergency arose, the precious young master could make a quick escape.
Thanks to that, it was being put to excellent use now.
The three of them emerged into the alley behind the Security Station and immediately began running.
They hadn't run far when an angry shout echoed behind them.
Timid Theo flinched and glanced back, only to receive a rebuke from Karha.
"Don't get distracted—keep running!"
"My apologies...."
Running side by side, Theo and Karha asked Chesa a question.
"But where should we go? The Crown Prince of Skaya will begin pursuit, and we can't keep running forever."
"Right. Baby, where are we going?"
Returning to the Luxury Hotel would be pointless without Kieran to resolve the situation.
And it would be the first place they'd search for Basilian.
As for the Nemea Marquis Family... she still didn't know their position within Theo's household.
'I might not be strong enough to fight the Skaya Royal House. Besides, it's not even Kieran's problem—it's his friend's problem.'
Visiting Duchess Ibroyel felt equally complicated.
Knowing she was someone precious to Kieran, I didn't want to drag her into such a troublesome mess.
As Chesa pondered for a moment, a wicked idea came to mind.
It was the kind of thought that would make Itar weep tears of despair.
"I know a place where he could be hiding!"
Chesa spoke the location with a sinister smile.
***
The Skaya Royal House, descended from pirate bloodlines, were aggressive and insatiably greedy.
They made no attempt to hide their predatory nature—if they wanted something, they had to take it or their desires would fester.
Itar was an exemplary member of the Skaya Royal House.
He possessed everything he desired.
If something wasn't given to him, he seized it by force.
The one thing he could never obtain was the enchantress Lichesia.
He had come to the Underworld for leisure when he caught sight of her by chance and fell instantly captivated.
The moment he beheld her—a woman who seemed to be an ideal sent by the gods themselves—Itar immediately proposed.
"Will you become my wife?"
And he nearly had his head cleaved off by an axe.
Any ordinary person would have come to their senses and fled right then.
But after barely escaping with his life that day, Itar became utterly infatuated with Lichesia.
Every resident of the Underworld knew how Itar had frequented the place diligently, repeatedly proposing to the enchantress.
His relentless pursuit and harassment of Lichesia came to an end.
When a Heretic Inquisitor suddenly intervened.
The Heretic Inquisitor, appearing without warning, arrested the innocent Itar under the pretense of heresy.
He attached various charges to Itar and repeatedly interrogated him in the Heresy Interrogation Chamber.
It seemed that because Lichesia was an enchantress, anyone associated with her was deemed heretical.
Itar maintained his innocence.
"I merely pursued her out of love for the enchantress!"
For some reason, the interrogations only grew more intense.
Had he not been of the Skaya Royal House, they would have dismembered him limb by limb—the questioning was that brutal.
Even as Itar endured the interrogations, he stubbornly continued to pursue Lichesia.
But ultimately, the Skaya Royal House, unwilling to antagonize the Holy Empire, forcibly dragged Itar away.
Torn away by force, Itar yearned for Lichesia and began earnestly collecting items related to the enchantress.
Starting lightly with wanted posters bearing her likeness, then flowers she had created, jewelry she had worn, handkerchiefs she had discarded—everything.
He accumulated every object connected to the enchantress, nurturing his aching longing.
Then he found an excuse through the Pure Child Prayer Ceremony to re-enter the Palen Empire.
Having heard that the enchantress had not been seen recently, the Royal House had granted permission for the imperial visit.
Of course, no one could have anticipated that he would become obsessed upon meeting a baby who resembled the enchantress.
"Find her! I won't leave the Capital until I have that child!"
Itar, consumed with rage from head to toe, thrashed about wildly.
How dare he lie to me and flee!
Yet even such behavior bore Lichesia's unmistakable mark, making him covet the child all the more.
House of Basilian was a family name he had never heard of before.
It seemed to be a humble house, and once he found it, there would be no obstacle whatsoever to claiming the child who bore such a striking resemblance to that enchantress.
Fortunately, the skilled mercenaries Itar had hired located the child with remarkable speed.
"We found him!"
Itar's voice brimmed with exultation as he pressed for details.
"Where! Where is he?"
"He's in the most expensive mansion in Pallen District."
"...What?"
At Itar's bewildered question, the mercenary blinked uncertainly as well.
"We investigated, and it has no connection to House of Basilian whatsoever. The mansion's owner remains unknown, but according to what people say, occasionally someone—"
He hesitated for a moment before continuing in an uncertain voice.
"A Holy Knight frequents the place...?"
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