Chapter 151
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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 151
Jenath's body was crumbling like grains of sand. And soon, swept up by the wind, it was being absorbed into Kaiden's body.
As Jenath was absorbed into Kaiden's body, Kaiden's vision grew increasingly blurred.
It appeared that Jenath was fragmenting his soul like sand to seize control of his body.
'Damn it, who the hell gave me this cursed earring?'
Ah, right. I remembered. It was a gift from Herald, my half-brother who had been persecuted by the Rohade Family as tainted blood.
I had thought Herald would have nothing to do with the people of the Rohade Family.
'I was careless.'
Kaiden clenched his teeth and swallowed his rage.
'I won't die until I've destroyed every last one of those bastards.'
I would have my revenge. My life could not begin and end with the Rohade Family.
'They say even in a tiger's den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.'
Margaret's voice echoed in my ears.
Yes. I just need to keep my wits. Let me stay sharp and find a way out.
At some point, the light faded from Kaiden's crimson eyes.
* * *
The last thing I remembered was the nonsense Jenath had spouted.
'I wanted to have a proper conversation with you in my true form, but circumstances don't permit. Shall we slip away somewhere private?'
That bastard and his ridiculous schemes.
Jenath must have kidnapped me. So I'm inside his Cabin now?
Or perhaps I've been trapped in the Room of Rest where Anata was once sealed.
I lay on the floor, staring up at the dark ceiling. I couldn't even tell if what I was seeing was actually a ceiling. It was just darkness—an endless, abyssal darkness.
My body wouldn't move. It seemed I was bound by magic.
But I had lost even the will to solve the problem, so I lay there helplessly.
I'm exhausted.
All I had ever wanted was to survive.
Ever since I opened my eyes in Margaret's body on this Island, I had acted as though 'survival' was the greatest goal of my life.
But now, looking back, it all seemed futile.
'What will I do after surviving?'
Everything felt meaningless. A deep, overwhelming helplessness washed over me, stealing away my will to live.
Yuanna had the key, so Anata must have used it to open the sealed door and escape, right?
Either way, I'm grateful. This brings us one step closer to escape. I just hope that trying to save me alone doesn't ruin everything.
Hisss— hisss—
I tilted my head slightly from where I lay. The Silver Earthworm was coiled up and sleeping on my stomach.
"That snake is really something, no matter how many times I see it. A Monster imprinted on a human."
Then a quiet voice came from the darkness.
"You scared me."
The voice wasn't unfamiliar. But it wasn't Jenath's—it was Kaiden's voice, and it was unmistakably his.
'What's happening?'
Thump, thump. I heard footsteps approaching me.
Damn it. Don't come. Don't come.
"Ah. Your body must be quite uncomfortable."
Snap.
With the sound of someone snapping their fingers, flames suddenly erupted from the ground around me. It seemed candles had been arranged in a circle surrounding where I lay.
"Get up. You should be able to move now."
The moment those words reached my ears, my body suddenly felt at ease.
Just as he said, I could finally move my limbs properly. As I slowly pushed myself up, I realized I had been lying on top of a magical circle.
Candles were densely arranged around the magical circle, matching exactly the description Kaiden had once given me of the Room of Rest.
Surely not....
"This is a place called the Room of Rest. Cozy, isn't it?"
Cozy my ass. It's eerie.
Only then did I lift my head and look at the man standing before me.
I had naturally assumed it would be Jenath mimicking Kaiden's voice, but standing before me was truly Kaiden himself.
"Kaiden?"
As I expressed my shock with a questioning look, he placed a chair in front of the magical circle. Then he sat down with his legs crossed and looked down at me arrogantly with his arms folded.
"Ah, let me introduce myself properly. I am Jenas Igran Rohade. The founder of the Rohade Family and the great mage who created this Island a thousand years ago."
That wasn't what I was curious about.
"What did you do to Kaiden!?"
"I consumed him."
"What!?"
"More precisely, he's sleeping here. He probably won't wake up. Ever."
Jenath—no, Jenath wearing Kaiden's face—answered while pressing his finger firmly against his chest.
This must be what they meant by one's thoughts coming to a complete halt. Like a broken machine, my hands trembled and I let out a scream.
"That's complete nonsense!"
Unable to contain myself, I immediately tried to step out of the magical circle and grab him by the collar, but there was a barrier around the circle as well—an invisible wall blocked my path.
Thump, thump—
Consumed by rage, I pounded against the transparent wall. Jenath observed me with a calm gaze, as if watching a monkey in a zoo.
His face wavered in the firelight. I couldn't begin to fathom what he was thinking.
I knew he was a mage great enough to construct such an incomprehensibly vast Island. But I couldn't believe Kaiden had fallen to him so easily.
"Your magical power is now unsealed. Actually, I had planned to end the Experiment right away. But something felt incomplete about it. Shall we have a conversation? I'm quite curious about many things regarding you."
"Stop your games and give Kaiden back!"
"Your language is quite crude. Not befitting a noble Young Lady. In my time, nobles who uttered curses faced punishment."
"Spare me the thousand-year-old stories!"
"I was joking. Children these days really have no manners."
A slanted smile played at the corners of his mouth as he observed my anger.
"Ah, that's right. Perhaps it's because you're not truly a noble?"
It seemed Jenath had also figured out that I had traveled to another Dimension.
"What are you trying to say?"
"I was quite curious about who this test subject was who could use magical power without ever having it unsealed. I wish I had known it was you from the start."
He gazed at me with an intrigued expression.
I tensed at his every movement and gesture.
"Anata did it too. And you as well. How can you all deceive me so flawlessly? This is quite disappointing."
Disappointing? That was rich coming from him.
"You've been Beyond Dimension, haven't you?"
Jenath asked me.
I hadn't expected him to be ignorant of it. Yet despite that, I wasn't prepared to answer his question, so I closed my mouth without responding.
"In a thousand years, many 'objects' have passed through the Dimension's gate, but never once has a 'living creature' come and gone. To discover that the very person who accomplished this feat was right before my eyes... it's enough to drive me mad."
He wiped his face with a dry hand and scrutinized me methodically, as though determined to unearth every secret I possessed. I felt exactly like a laboratory rat.
A chill ran down my spine.
It was all the more unsettling because it was Kaiden's face—a face so familiar to me, one I cherished. Tears threatened to spill.
What was I supposed to do in this situation?
"I'm going to open the Dimension's gate and destroy the world. Then I'll seize power."
Jenath withdrew the pendants of successive Tower Masters from his pocket. At the center of each pendant, crafted with a sun motif, sat a teardrop-shaped amethyst.
I bit at my nails, turning the problem over in my mind, when I suddenly noticed the shape of the pendant more carefully.
Now that I thought about it, why had Jenath chosen the sun as the object for the pendant?
The sun had always been a symbol of royal authority.
The teardrop symbolizing the Tower was encircled by the sun symbolizing royal power. Did it mean the imperial family embracing the Tower? What could this signify? Could the imperial family have been involved in The Experiment?
Or perhaps it was the opposite—Jenath challenging imperial authority. He certainly possessed the capability for it.
Even when the Ingram Kingdom crumbled, the Rohade Family survived intact. They could have established a new kingdom centered on the Rohade, yet back then they had merely accepted a dukedom.
The notion that his words about opening the Dimension's gate, destroying the world, and seizing power might be connected to his past began to take shape in my mind.
"So Margaret, before that happens, I'd like you to tell me in detail about the world you've seen. Based on the objects that came through from there, it seems to be a world with highly advanced magic. Why didn't they think to open the Dimension and attack our world?"
"If you want an answer, let Kaiden go."
"Hmm. Is this how young people negotiate these days? It's so lacking in tension I could yawn."
"You call that negotiation? Well, if you've seen the objects from that world, you'd understand. That world is dangerous. If you open the Dimension's gate without me, a thousand years of history becomes worthless paper. In an instant."
Jenath stroked his chin and stared intently at my face. After regarding me in silence for a long while, he rose from his seat.
"That's a fair point."
He acquiesced, then looked down at me with leisurely movements, stroking his chin.
"I don't really need to hear your answer. I could simply open your head and read your past. I've been wasting time unnecessarily."
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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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