Chapter 15

Inside the house, there was a baby. And Ethea and Javir were having a tense confrontation over the baby. Whenever Javir asked about the baby’s birth, Ethea kept her lips tightly shut.

Only those who knew could see it, but the baby unmistakably resembled Lyle. Apparently, only Javir didn’t realize this, as he kept pressuring his daughter.

Seisil wanted to tell Lyle this news. So, this time, he didn’t send a proxy but went himself. Incidentally, the surveillance was looser than expected.

The Lyle he saw for the first time since imprisonment was barely recognizable as a person. He hadn’t eaten properly and had been tortured by the guards, so his body was covered with whip marks and bruises. He’d been harshly interrogated about what power he’d used to turn Ophel’s eyes black. Fortunately, he hadn’t been tortured recently, so his wounds were starting to heal.

Lyle greeted Seisil with a bright smile as soon as he saw him. With that face, Seisil was afraid to deliver the dark news he carried.  

He wondered how Lyle would react if he told him that the grotesque, bloody, fleshy Homunclepet was now living as a boy. The disaster of marriage with the Garental royal family had been avoided, but an even greater misfortune was now tormenting Ethea, and Seisil had no idea how to convey this.  

Strictly speaking, Seisil’s mistake had been fatal. A mage should never neglect delicacy and caution. Yet, he had done the most careless and reckless thing, burdening his friend with a human-shaped Homunclepet.  

What would Lyle do if he learned that a child had been born?  

“Have you been well?”  

Seisil could say nothing else but a greeting.  

But Lyle barely acknowledged Seisil’s greeting and began to speak his mind. He didn’t seem to care about the guards, nor did he lower his confident voice. His expression was full of confidence, as if he had discovered some miracle.  

“Seisil. I finally figured it out.”  

“What did you figure out?”  

“You remember I said my eyes sometimes turn red?”  

“Ah, yes. But… please, lower your voice.”  

“They’re not always red. There are times. Once, I was sleeping and a bug was bothering me, so I glared at it. It burned up on the spot. Not only bugs, but I experimented on mice and bats too. They shriveled up and died, or scratched themselves to death.”  

Later, he even experimented through the guards. During interrogation, he glared at a guard who cruelly enjoyed t*rture, and, just like Ophel, the whites of his eyes turned black, he gasped for breath, and died.  

He could not only kill but also control at will. Stop the t*rture, bring water, quietly dispose of the corpse, don’t listen to my conversation with my friend, be quiet—any command could be fulfilled.  

“I could run out of here right now if I wanted, but I thought I should be careful. I can’t guarantee how long the red-eye phenomenon will last, or how many I can kill.”  

Seisil looked at Lyle with frightened eyes. When Lyle said he didn’t know how many he could kill, there was a chilling sense that he almost anticipated m*rder.  

“Your Highness…”  

Only then did Lyle notice Seisil’s fearful gaze and sweep his face with both hands.  

“Sorry. I must have shown too much excitement.”  

“What on earth happened to you, Your Highness?”  

Seisil felt responsible for all of this. Something strange had happened during the creation of the Homunclepet, and it had clearly ruined Lyle.  

“Anyway, I’ve become someone who can kill people with these eyes. It’s terrible, but that’s how it is.”  

“Please say it’s not true…”  

“At first, I couldn’t stand how repulsive I was.”  

Seisil nervously bit his lips.  

The Lyle he knew was not a fool who would delight in the power to control and kill people at will. He should naturally feel disgusted with himself—and he did. Seisil thought that was at least a relief.  

“I felt like a monster. But wasting time feeling that way only hurts me. Ethea once said we might have more options than we think. If we try, we’ll become stronger. I finally found what I can do here.”  

“What can you do here?”  

Lyle’s golden eyes seemed to burn red for a moment.  

“It’s simple. I just have to become stronger. If I’m weak, I’ll always be swept away by the waves, helplessly carried off. I don’t want that anymore. Neither I nor she should live that way. So, Seisil, from now on, I’ll be the one to create the waves.”  

His whisper grew quieter, but the passion inside him intensified.  

“I’m going to wear the Crown of Orodium. With this power.”  

To wear the Crown of Orodium meant to become Emperor. At those shocking words, Seisil forgot all his previous respect for the prince and called him by name.  

“Lyle! Are you insane?”  

It didn’t matter if he was. What mattered to Lyle was Ethea.  

“Then I’ll be able to see her again. Proudly… I’ll be able to face her.”  

As Lyle steeled his resolve, Seisil’s heart began to pound as well.  

Was this anxiety, or perhaps the exhilaration of feeling that it might actually be possible?  

Seisil nodded to Lyle. His meaningful eyes were making a vow.  

Then I will help you, Lyle. I must help you.  

The first thing Lyle ordered Seisil to do after making his decision was to summon the Emperor.  

“No matter how many children he has, it’s too much to not even show his face when his son is imprisoned. So… call my father. There’s something I have to do.”  

***

Since ancient times, the mages of the Mage Tower had sworn an oath of loyalty to the Emperor of the Hillus Empire. The reason was that powerful mages wielding their power independently could cause great chaos or rebellion, so they pledged loyalty to the Emperor to prevent disasters. It was called loyalty, but in reality, the Orodium spirit watched over the mages of the Mage Tower, and they had no choice but to work for the Emperor.  

Seisil, too, had sworn loyalty to the Emperor. But after conspiring with Lyle, he secretly erased his name from the Mage Tower’s list of mages. That way, he could escape the Orodium spirit’s surveillance, and the oath became void.  

The Orodium spirit was not so easily fooled, so it would soon notice Seisil’s deviation, and before that, Seisil had to act. Seisil cast a mind-control spell on the Emperor to make him visit Lyle.  

Even as he did it, he was afraid.  

“Ah, Father. Why did you teach me magic? I don’t know. I really don’t.”  

Should he be doing this? Without even consulting his father, daring to cast a mind-control spell on the Emperor was a crime deserving of disownment and execution.  

But Seisil wanted to try. He wanted to see where this reckless adventure would lead.  

“Now, I want to walk my own path.”  

The mind-control worked perfectly. Seisil pierced several shields surrounding the Emperor’s ego and invaded his mind. After a long while, the Emperor, in a half-soulless state, met Lyle, and Lyle controlled him.  

Afterward, the Emperor made a proclamation to everyone.  

He announced that the Crown Prince and other heirs would fight in duels, that the duels would continue until only one survived, and that the victor would inherit the throne. He further declared that he would swear this to Orodium, the guardian spirit of the Empire.  

Hearing the news, the Crown Prince was furious.  

“Father has lost his mind! No sane person would give such an order!”  

He gathered the royal guards to seize control of the palace.  

But those waiting for him were already there: Lyle, Seisil, and young mages.  

Lyle no longer looked human. Covered in blood from head to toe, he greeted the Crown Prince like a demon. He had already finished the duels between siblings.  

“The first to go was Brother Ophel.”  

“Lyle, Lyle, you…!”  

The Crown Prince thought Lyle’s eyes were strange. No matter how much blood he was covered in, his eyes shouldn’t look so red. It wasn’t just red; it was an evil red glow radiating out.  

“I don’t want to fight you, Brother.”  

That was Lyle’s last words to the Crown Prince.  

At first, the Crown Prince looked incredulous, then suddenly began banging his head against the wall. He did it until he died, his face covered in blood. People believed the Crown Prince had committed s*icide.  

Soon after, the Emperor died of a heart attack.  

Thus, Lyle ascended to the throne as the legitimate heir. He killed nineteen siblings and seized the world.