Chapter 119
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 119
Kibon continued speaking in his usual calm manner.
"You don't even know how to use your body properly, so what exactly are you trying to have me do...? It seems you have absolutely no aptitude in that direction."
"I couldn't help it. I never learned how during childhood. How can anyone be good at everything?"
I laughed sheepishly and scratched my cheek.
"My father was also far removed from that sort of thing..."
"Ah."
Kibon's eyes gleamed for a moment. Despite his composed expression, his interest was unmistakable.
"What's with that scheming look on your face?"
"I'm curious."
"About what?"
"Everything."
Kibon spoke with a smile in his eyes.
"I'm curious about everything regarding you, Minister. Of course, including stories from your childhood."
To be honest, in terms of sheer beauty alone, he fell short of Crown Prince Kiaros.
Yet the fact that Kibon was smiling with his eyes was quite remarkable.
Especially...that genuine expression of interest made my heart flutter slightly.
"Well...there's nothing special. My father was tall and lean, with a thin build. He had no muscle at all, but his skin was incredibly pale...no matter how much manual labor he did outside, he never tanned."
I found myself drawn into the story without realizing it.
"It seems my father's body type just didn't build muscle easily. I think I inherited that from him. I'm not suited for exercise either."
After speaking, I realized it was really nothing special.
Yet Kibon was gazing at me as though he were listening to the most fascinating story in the world.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because it's cute."
"Ah, okay."
"Aren't you going to ask what's cute about it?"
Kibon chuckled softly and rested his chin on his hand. I mirrored him, meeting his gaze.
Somewhere along the way, the original reason I'd called him had faded into the background.
As I created a leisurely, teasing atmosphere, Kibon's ears flushed red in an instant. Adorably so.
"You tell me something too."
"Pardon?"
"A story from your childhood. If you don't want to share that, tell me something else."
I offered him options out of consideration, in case there were complicated family circumstances involved.
"A story about you that I don't know."
But in that moment, Kibon's expression hardened immediately.
"Well...if that's the case."
What was this? His hesitant tone and expression seemed unusual.
Even the normally composed atmosphere he exuded had become rigid.
I'd thrown out the words lightly, but his voice had grown far too serious, and I found myself tensing as well.
"I apologize, but I'm about to say something that might disappoint you, Minister."
"Then don't. That's an order."
"I, well, that is... actually something Crown Prince Kiaros wished to convey as well."
Kibon took a deep breath and spoke in one hurried rush, his formal speech mangled and awkward.
"The truth is, Crown Prince Kiaros harbored some suspicion of you, Minister."
Ugh, what?
I relaxed my shoulders, my earlier tension dissolving into something lighter, and answered.
"Ah, I see."
"He thought you might be connected to the Gaejo Faction..."
"Ah, I see."
"...You're not surprised?"
Kibon seemed more startled by my composed response than anything else. I answered honestly because I'd already considered such a possibility long ago.
"Crown Prince Kiaros is thorough by nature, so it's only natural he trusts no one. I've always assumed that placing you beside me was a form of surveillance."
"Doesn't that hurt your feelings? Aren't you wounded, disappointed...?"
"Not at all."
It was a genuinely sincere answer. After all, I harbored secrets from Kiaros as well.
The sudden knowledge of the future that came to me one day, and that monstrous ability the Tower Master had urged me to conceal.
"I see."
Kibon's expression grew more forlorn, and he added with a bitter smile.
"You already knew I was assigned to watch you?"
"Once I came to the Imperial Palace and realized your connection to Crown Prince Kiaros. Before that, I never suspected a thing."
"Does that disappoint you?"
"No, you were simply doing what you were ordered to do. As a member of the Organization myself, I naturally understand. It wasn't your choice anyway."
At my composed words, Kibon exhaled softly. Then he continued.
"In any case, Crown Prince Kiaros has... well, decided. If the High Priest truly is an accomplice of the Gaejo Faction, then he will no longer harbor suspicion of you going forward."
"Ah, really? Though there was no need to explain it so kindly..."
I murmured with a hint of reluctance.
He was a ruler, and there was no necessity for such declarations. He could harbor suspicion alone and withdraw it alone without anyone saying a word.
"But then again, if you're in a position where you can relay Crown Prince Kiaros's words like this..."
Still, it was a meaningful statement in its own way.
Kibon had revealed his own close relationship with Kiaros.
So at this juncture, there was something I was genuinely curious about.
"Then perhaps... if the opportunity arises, could you tell me more about the Gaejo Faction? It's my father's matter too, so I'm curious. I'd be grateful if you could share what Crown Prince Kiaros permits."
Kiaros commanded numerous sources of intelligence. He could possess far more information than I, who knew the original story.
I couldn't brazenly demand information directly from Kiaros. But Kibon might be able to share certain details with me.
Kibon answered immediately.
"It seems he's already disclosed most of the important details... In any case, from the moment you began suspecting the High Priest, the Ravens were dispatched to all Imperial Temples. Until now, we refrained from interfering within the temples themselves out of religious courtesy."
Hm? Right now, just like that?
Without even getting permission, he's just spilling everything?
I thought I'd need to coordinate with Kiaros later and ask him to relay information...
"And..."
While I hesitated, Kibon continued speaking.
"The Minister of Education's interrogation was conducted by His Majesty the Emperor himself. I received the results not long ago."
I nodded without much tension. At this point in time, the Minister of Education wouldn't know much of anything anyway.
"The Gaejo Faction apparently knows the future."
But at Kibon's next words, I felt as though I'd been struck hard on the back of my head.
"They perceive this world as a single book, as though they were reincarnated within its pages...."
Wait. That's not me?
I too suddenly came to perceive this world as a book one day!
"It's supposedly the result of some experiment... but since they've already learned the future and altered that flow, wouldn't the original work become useless anyway?"
But the fact that it was the result of an 'experiment'.
In that instant, all the blood drained from my head.
"In any case, after consolidating various pieces of information, it appears they're conducting strange experiments using the blood of those with special abilities as material, just as you deduced, Minister."
Kibon's explanation continued.
"Just as they secured a pregnant demonic creature test subject before, they're doing the same with humans."
The pregnant demonic creature test subject... I had already heard the results of that from Kiaros.
[The mother who underwent the experiment showed no changes, but the newborn fetus displayed unusual traits... when drugs were administered to the mother, the offspring showed a reaction.]
Even after birth, when experiments were conducted on the mother, reactions appeared in the offspring, he had said.
A hypothesis suddenly came to mind, and my heart began pounding.
"Probably the Tower Master's Daughter cooperated because she wanted to use magic better. She treated her inability to use magic like a complex, after all."
In that moment.
Something I had found slightly odd at the banquet flashed through my mind again.
My father had definitely said the Tower Master's Daughter was very skilled at magic. That she would succeed the Tower Master. He said he heard that from my mother who came from the Capital.
'But from my time spent in the Capital... people don't know much about the Magic Tower! If someone had no connection to the Magic Tower whatsoever, there'd be no reason for them to spread such a lie!'
An ordinary person from the Capital couldn't have heard such rumors. And when I mentioned something similar to the Tower Master, he wore quite a peculiar expression.
Then he seemed to have learned something more about his daughter and immediately departed for the Southern Region.
'Good heavens.'
The puzzle pieces fitting together so quickly left me in a daze.
'Could it be... that hopeless woman is my mother?'
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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