A pale-faced knight and priest burst into the room, shouting about larks invading the Holy City. The barely calmed crowd stirred again, filling the audience hall to capacity. The din of voices, overlapping and echoing, created a deafening cacophony. Even the bustling festival market couldn’t match this chaos.
“These insufferable fools,” Sang-je muttered under his breath.
Only after claiming to have received a divine oracle did he manage to disperse the crowd, finally finding himself alone. Never before had he been so besieged, so overwhelmed, that he understood the human phrase “exhaustion.” He had been on the brink of shouting, “I am not your savior!”
Larks have entered? The barrier spell is active. How did they get in? he wondered.
Even if the situation had been exaggerated, the chaos outside suggested that more than just a few dozen larks had appeared. And it wasn’t even the rainy season. Where had these larks come from? A series of inexplicable events left him feeling bewildered.
Did I make a mistake when casting the spell?
There was no way to determine the exact cause of the error. The only solution was to discard everything he had deciphered about the spell so far and start anew.
He couldn’t seek advice from Alber. This spell had been his secret weapon, painstakingly crafted over many years while deceiving Alber’s gaze. Now that such a critical flaw had surfaced, he felt a deep bitterness. It was as if the universe was telling him that he was not yet ready to break free from Alber and stand on his own.
I should check if someone tampered with the spell…
Just as he was about to summon a priest, Sang-je, overly focused on the barrier spell, realized an obvious inconsistency.
“How did they get in?” he muttered to himself. The Holy City was his domain. It was illogical for larks, who should be cowering in fear, to invade his territory so brazenly. “Why can’t I sense them?”
Even sealed, an invasion of his domain should have triggered the larks’ innate survival instinct. Perhaps a lone, weak lark might slip through unnoticed, just as a predator wouldn’t mind a single mouse entering its territory. But if the larks were swarming in, as the humans claimed, he should have detected them long ago.
“Alber!” he growled, a savage glint flashing in his crimson eyes.
It had to be Alber’s deceit, manipulating the spell to completely block his senses.
His body vanished from his current position. He even forgot the principle that he would never leave the Holy Palace except for the prayer chamber. Half-visible, Sang-je appeared in the underground prison.
“Alber!” he roared, his voice echoing through the chamber.
The moment he saw her sitting with her head bowed, he demanded, “What have you done?!”
His hoarse voice echoed through the prison, reverberating off the walls. Alber slowly lifted her head. Though he was consumed by anxiety, she seemed entirely unperturbed. His fury surged, and he barked at her menacingly.
“What are you playing at?” he demanded.
“What do you mean?” she replied, feigning innocence.
“Don’t play dumb!” he snarled.
Alber chuckled softly before responding. “There are so many things that could make you lose your temper like this. I’m not sure which one you’re referring to,” she said, a hint of mockery in her voice.
“What?” he sputtered.
“The larks broke through the barrier spell and swarmed in? And you couldn’t even detect them?” she taunted, feeding him false information as if she had orchestrated everything.
“You… you…!” Sang-je was so shocked he couldn’t speak, gasping for air. The fact that Alber knew about the barrier was astonishing! It was suspicious that she still had the strength to act behind his back, yet he also believed that Alber might possess hidden abilities.
Though he despised humans, he couldn’t shake a certain awe for them. It was too simplistic to think of Alber as merely human—she was an insurmountable obstacle. Even though he had bound her tightly and imprisoned her in the underground cell, he had never felt at ease. Perhaps he feared her more than he feared the kings.
“What did you do? What the hell did you do? Do you think this will change anything? I’ll wipe out every last one of your kin! Every member of Muen’s bloodline, even the dogs they raise, will meet the most excruciating deaths!”
Sang-je’s voice was venomous as he screamed. At that moment, a cold voice interrupted him.
“I can’t listen to this anymore,” a man said, rising from the dark corner of the prison. As he stepped forward, his outline became visible in the light of the spell inscribed on the floor.
“I must be quite fortunate to witness this scene. You’ve hidden your grotesque true nature so well behind your sanctimonious facade, fooling everyone,” he continued, his voice laced with contempt.
The only light in the dark prison came from the spellwork on the floor, so Sang-je didn’t recognize the man at first. Only when he saw the soft glow from the man’s eyes did he take a step back in shock.
“…Myung King?” he stammered.
“When I think of the years I’ve been toyed with by a monster like you, tearing you to pieces wouldn’t even begin to satisfy my anger,” Myung King replied, his voice filled with a chilling intensity.
Had Sang-je been in his true form, his legs would have buckled right there. Faced with someone he never imagined meeting, his mind went blank.
“How… how is the King here…?”
Nicholas smiled coldly.
“Did you think you could deceive the world forever?” he asked.
Sang-je recalled that the four kings were outside the Holy City. If that were true, then the others were probably with him. The kings hadn’t retreated. They might already be inside the city.
Sang-je, who had felt secure in the most fortified stronghold, realized the reality was far from what he had believed. A profound terror overwhelmed him as his form grew fainter, eventually disappearing altogether.
Nicholas looked around, confirming no presence remained, and then spoke.
“Do you think he went to the Holy Palace?” he asked.
“Most likely,” Alber replied.
“Then, just as the Elder predicted, he will try to break the seal and escape,” Nicholas said.
Alber nodded. “I intend to do everything in my power to stop him until the kings arrive,” she declared.
After finishing her sentence, Alber turned her head and looked at Nicholas. He spoke firmly in response. “As I mentioned before, I’m not leaving this place. I’ll stay by your side until you’re safe,” he said.
