The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

Meanwhile, the first prince Luinel, who had volunteered to take full responsibility for the imperial army in place of the emperor and came to arrest Cyan, ultimately failed to execute the emperor’s orders, causing his prestige to plummet to the ground.

Like Arin, he too ended up in unwanted solitary confinement.

“Open this at once! Do you really think you can imprison a prince and get away with it?!”

Despite his constant banging on the iron door and screaming, no one came to the prince’s aid.

Luinel finally clutched his head, denying reality.

“Aschel! Where in the world are you? You can’t really be dead, can you? A man like you can’t just die so easily! That’s impossible! Yes! You must be carrying out a new plan for me!”

Eventually, he murmured to himself, looking at the ceiling as if he had lost his mind.

“But I can’t stand it any longer! I can’t bear to see that old raccoon-like chancellor and the red fox Violet eyeing my position! So, come and save me!”

-Creak!

Just then, the locked iron door opened, and a man entered.

“You’ve had a tough time, Prince Luinel.”

It was Boris.

Though it wasn’t the much-anticipated appearance of Aschel, the prince’s face blossomed with a smile.

“Bo- Boris! Yes! You’ve come to save me in Aschel’s stead!”

“Well, that’s not entirely wrong. After all, I’ve come to get you out of here.”

Boris spoke calmly, stopping the approaching prince with a hand.

Then, he held out two fingers.

“Now, I will give you two options, Prince.”

“Options? What kind of boring joke is that?”

“Will you choose to take responsibility for failing to carry out the emperor’s orders and honorably commit suicide, or will you choose to not return to the imperial palace and go to a place where no one knows you to live in seclusion for the rest of your life? Please make your choice, Prince Luinel.”

Luinel’s face instantly turned as red as a volcano about to erupt.

“How dare you, a man of no origin, not know the grace that was bestowed upon you and…”

-Creak

Then, once again, the iron door opened, and this time a woman appeared.

Seeing her face, Luinel’s face immediately turned pale.

“Vi- Violet? Why are you here?”

Violet shook her head with a smile.

“Don’t ask me, brother. I wouldn’t have come here if it weren’t for Boris~!”

“You vermin! You’ve conspired to exclude me! Do you really think you can be safe after doing this?”

“Well said, brother.”

As Violet approached with a stern face, Luinel unwittingly stepped back.

“Do you really think, brother, that you could commit such atrocities with the authority of the royal family behind you and remain unscathed?”

“Atrocities? How dare you make such baseless claims…!”

Luinel, attempting to feign innocence, flinched at that moment.

In contrast, Violet, now smug, pointed at Boris.

“Did you know, brother, that Boris here has recorded all the evidence of you secretly taking the royal family’s wealth and using it in several unsavory places? It seems you’ve indulged more than I had anticipated.”

If Aschel was the one Luinel trusted and kept by his side the most,

Then Boris was the one Aschel had entrusted with the most work and spent more time with.

At this point, Boris was the only person who held all of Luinel’s vulnerabilities that could not escape severe punishment if known by the emperor.

“Ha! Things won’t go as you pests plan! Do you think our grandfather, no, Chancellor Kundel, will just sit by and watch?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you. I’ve already reached an agreement with grandfather!”

“What?!”

“He said it seems best to choose the lesser of two evils now, even giving an open rebuke. I was surprised too. I never thought grandfather would give up on you so easily.”

Luinel’s face soon twisted as if crumpled paper.

No more words came out.

Born a prince and wielding absolute power, he had always been confident he’d never reach the depths of despair.

It was a horror beyond expression with even the word ‘worst’.

Luinel, having finally lost his grip, blankly stared at the ceiling.

With that, Boris turned away without hesitation.

“I’ll leave the rest to the princess.”

“In exchange for disowning the prince, grandfather laid out one condition.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t touch Arin.”

“So it shall be.”

“Is there anything else I should do?”

At Violet’s question, Boris faintly smiled and replied.

“Do as you wish. You may take the prince’s place or pass it on to someone better. I’ll reappear when the princess needs me.”

With those words, Boris walked past Violet.

Violet, watching Boris leave, made a complex expression, then,

“Alright, then.”

She smirked.

* * *

The night was cloaked in darkness as even the moon was obscured by clouds.

Boris, having left the monastery, headed towards the center of Brenu’s streets, still not fully recovered from the aftermath of the incident. It was precisely the spot where Cyan had last disappeared.

Boris sat down at the heart of that location, bending over with his hand emanating magical energy touching the ground, attempting to trace any remaining signs of Cyan through tracking magic.

However, he found no special trace and muttered, “It’s been cleanly erased.”

Disappointed, Boris got up from his spot. Then, the sacred text Hiskrea within his possession spoke up.

[It must have been hidden by the god of the black mist. But even so. Once marked directly by Him, the owner of the cursed sword can no longer live intact in this world.]

“A life of hiding or fleeing has become their fate.”

It was a situation that Boris and Hiskrea didn’t particularly mind. Yet, Boris’s expression remained somber and unrelieved.

“But on the flip side, doesn’t it mean that Cyan Vert is dangerous enough that the god Himself had to intervene?”

[I cannot deny that.]

“It seems it’s not the time for us to sit idly by.”

Boris once again stretched his hand towards the ground. This time, instead of magical energy emanating from his hand, a faint golden light began to emerge from the ground facing his palm. The light gradually spread across the ground, stopping its expansion after a moment, and was soon completely absorbed back into Boris’s palm, which he clenched as if to compress the light.

When Boris spread his hand open again, the jewel had evolved into a familiar form—the same form as the gemstone of the holy sword Durandark, which Cyan had destroyed.

“We must find a new savior to lift the mist covering this light.”

Boris looked at the jewel with a meaningful expression.

* * *

Aer’s subspace formed the hideout of Mist.

Silica faced Aer, who was sitting cross-legged on the altar, with a displeased expression.

“Did you predict that things would turn out this way?”

Aer answered.

[I wasn’t sure. Honestly, I was surprised too. I thought it unlikely that he would personally intervene…]

Aer laughed and shook his head, and Silica rubbed her face.

[There’s no need to worry too much. Lumendel is only wary of my successor. He won’t touch you or anything related to Mist.]

“Even knowing that the successor is everything to us, you still say that?”

Aer, at a loss for words, averted his gaze.

-Whoosh!

Just then, a strange gate formed behind the altar where Aer was sitting.

From beyond the gate, a faint black mist spread out.

The figure who walked through the mist was none other than,

Cyan.

Kaeram followed him.

[It shouldn’t be possible for him to have recovered already?]

“Given that boy’s temperament, it’s been a long wait as it is.”

Cyan was wrapped in bandages in various places except his face.

Clearly not in a normal state, he dragged one leg as he came, and finally, plopped down in front of the altar.

Then, without meeting Silica’s eyes, he said,

“…Tell me.”

“How am I supposed to respond when you cut to the chase and ask me to just tell you?”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s disjointed, just tell me everything. There must be things I need to hear, right?”

His attitude was not just assertive but almost impudent, yet Silica did not mind.

“First off, your seeds have been moved to a safe place.”

“…”

“That dragon kid was crying and making a fuss, saying she missed you. I almost plucked her by the mane but refrained.”

“You did well. Thanks to you, I’m still here.”

“Should have plucked your mane first, huh?”

“You really can’t take a joke.”

“I’m not joking.”

An awkward atmosphere lingered between them, followed by a moment of silence.

After Aer cleared his throat, Cyan asked again.

“What about the others?”

“All the kids who tried to protect you are safe. Set, Luna, and even Arin…”

Only then did Cyan tilt his head back and let out a long sigh.

“Do you remember what you did?”

“Fought like hell with those golden giants. I remember very well that the leader came just before I collapsed and barely managed to rescue me.”

“Good to see your head’s still on straight, at least.”

Bending over, Silica abruptly started to take off Cyan’s coat to check his upper body.

A golden, unfamiliar sentence was engraved precisely above the left chest.

Upon confirming the sentence, Silica gritted her teeth.

“The problem is that my body isn’t well…”

Then, Aer, who had been silent, spoke up.

[It’s a mark of revelation imprinted by Lumendel. Those marked by this symbol are destined to be pursued by Nephilim sent by Lumendel to the human world for their entire lives.]

“How long will this last?”

[Until death.]

Silica’s brows furrowed even more.

Aer continued, looking at Cyan.

[For now, you’re in my subspace, so they won’t roam around the human world. But the moment you set foot back in the human world, Nephilim will appear at any time to kill you.]

“What if I kill those Nephilim?”

[More Nephilim will swarm in.]

“And if I kill all those Nephilim?”

[Even worse ones will come. The mark on your body is like a decree from Lumendel that openly seeks to torment you to death.]

“Heh! I must have been quite a threat?”

Cyan laughed hysterically, looking up at the ceiling as if he had lost his sanity.

Unable to stand it any longer, Silica asked Aer as if demanding.

“Can’t you remove that mark? You are a god after all, surely you know a way?”

[I can’t remove it, but I can neutralize it with my power for a while. During that time, even if you roam the human world, the Nephilim won’t stick to you.]

It was somewhat good news, but it wasn’t a fundamental solution.

In the end, the only way to completely remove the mark was,

“So, the only way is for me to kill Lumendel?”

That was it.

Aer nodded as if to say it was true.

Of course, the possibility of that happening was close to 0%.

During the battle with the Nephilim, Cyan felt a sense of powerlessness for the first time since his regression.

Although Cyan had inherited the blood of a god and fought dragons without difficulty, the battle with the Nephilim was on a completely different level.

The Nephilim weren’t particularly fierce in their attacks; they merely swung swords and spears with their massive bodies. However, the problem was that all the secret techniques and magic Cyan had honed over time didn’t work on the Nephilim at all.

Continuing to fight an opponent against whom attacks don’t work was as meaningless as it gets.

But Cyan did not give up the fight until the moment he nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

If you ask why,

It was because there were beings he had to protect.

[Besides, with your current condition, you’re not fit to neutralize the mark. In other words, you need time before you can go outside.]

“How long?”

[Three years.]

That would make Cyan exactly sixteen years old by then.

“So, I have free time until then. Good.”

Nodding his head, Cyan stood up and faced Silica again.

“My people… I would like to ask for your favor.”

“I can’t promise anything.”

“See you in three years.”

Cyan turned around with a smile, as if that was enough for him.

As he was about to cross over the gate beyond the altar,

“Cyan.”

Silica called Cyan’s name once more.

“The people you want me to protect. How far does that include?”

“…”

“The child you tried to protect from the Nephilim until the end, is she included?”

“…Do as you please.”

With those words, Cyan disappeared beyond the gate.

Kaeram, about to follow, stopped and waved at Silica and Aer.

[Three years will pass in the blink of an eye. Don’t die prematurely and live well, clan leader~!]

“Please wait, Lady Kaeram. I have something I would like to ask.”

Silica stopped her once more.

[Ask quickly.]

“When I extracted Cyan, he was so engrossed in the battle with the Nephilim that he couldn’t control his own rationality, being in a highly excited state. In that mental state, Lady Kaeram, you could have absorbed Cyan’s soul…”

[You’re asking why I didn’t do it?]

Silica responded with silence.

Kaeram shrugged as if it was nothing.

[Because it was fun!]

The answer was surprisingly simple.

[He will make it more fun in the future, so why would I need to consume him?]

With those words, Kaeram followed Cyan through the gate.

(To be continued)