WMT | Chapter 26

Wiss was just as dumbfounded.

“He insulted me. Why is the duke the one punishing him?”

“Because if you keep hitting him, Your Highness, your wrist will give out.”

“……”

“My wrist is probably sturdier than yours. Didn’t I tell you to use me?”

Wiss had nothing to say.

Using someone doesn’t literally mean treating them like a tool… right?

Theodore spoke nonchalantly as he grabbed Count Morre by the collar.

He swung his fist.

There was a solid thud, and the count’s head snapped back.

“……”

Wiss couldn’t believe his eyes. Did he faint from just one punch?

Theodore slapped the count’s cheek. The sound of skin hitting skin was like a whip cracking on leather.

“Ugh, ugh……”

The count opened his eyes, unable to withstand the pain.

Theodore slapped his cheek again with his large hand. There was a smack, and the count’s head whipped back again.

Even as he repeatedly woke the man up and knocked him out without a word, Theodore’s expression didn’t change.

Wiss felt his anger, which had risen to the top of his head, start to cool down.

“……Stop.”

“Are you satisfied? It seems insufficient.”

Even so, Theodore let go of the count. As he released the collar, the count’s body fell to the floor with a thud.

Theodore was glaring at the count who had fallen to the floor. It seemed like Theodore was the one who wasn’t satisfied.

“……From where did you hear?”

“From the beginning.”

“Did you follow me?”

Wiss didn’t hide his feeling of disbelief. Theodore tilted his head.

“I heard someone as frail as you was going to meet a criminal, so I followed out of concern. Is that considered following these days?”

“……”

It seemed like there should be something to argue, but nothing came to mind. It was logically correct.

Looking closely, Theodore seemed slightly out of breath. Even when he caught the golem, he didn’t break a sweat, but now there was a bit of sweat on his forehead.

Theodore took Wiss’s hand and sighed.

“I was worried. You should have called me.”

‘Why would I?’

But it wasn’t something to say to someone who was worried.

Wiss spoke awkwardly.

“Count Morre wouldn’t harm me.”

“Yes. That’s not what I was worried about.”

“……?”

“I was worried that Your Highness might still have lingering feelings for an old lover.”

Theodore gently rubbed Wiss’s palm.

“Didn’t you promise me? That you would fulfill the role of a wife in exchange for using me.”

“……?”

‘What does that have to do with anything?’

Wiss looked confused, and Theodore sighed.

“You shouldn’t meet other men. Isn’t there a duty to keep faith between a couple……?”

“No, what is this……”

“What did you do alone in the same space?”

Theodore changed his expression and interrogated.

What did they do, indeed?

‘I was just listening to him say let’s sleep together, damn it.’

“Didn’t you say you heard everything?”

“I heard the insulting things he said to Your Highness. But I still don’t know why you sought him out.”

Theodore looked at Wiss with eyes that seemed to ask if there were lingering feelings.

Wiss could tolerate anything—anything but that kind of misunderstanding.

“I was trying to find out who’s behind it.”

“The attack?”

They both knew it was the King of Palatine. But that wasn’t what Wiss wanted to know.

“The executor. ……The mage.”

“……!”

“If they can place a golem as decoration in someone else’s castle, there’s nothing they can’t do. Shouldn’t we at least know what they’re up to?”

Theodore’s eyes widened.

“That’s true.”

“It would be a waste to leave them under the King of Palatine. If possible, we should recruit them.”

“…Sounds good.”

Theodore’s expression grew subtle.

“It doesn’t seem like this guy knows anything. Have you seen any mages near the King of Palatine?”

“Well, the last time I stayed in the capital was two years ago. I’m sure there weren’t any back then.”

‘That’s vague.’

Two years is quite a long time.

In fact, Wiss knew almost nothing about the mages of this era. Even in Wiss’s time, finding a mage was like plucking a star from the sky, and now it was said to be even harder.

‘How did the King of Palatine find one?’

“Ah! Here you are.”

At that moment, Jessen came up, panting.

“You need to come down now. A guest has arrived.”

“A guest?”

“Yes. ……They say they’re from the Mage Tower.”

Theodore and Wiss exchanged glances.

── .✦

The mages from the Mage Tower looked just like mages. There were five of them in total, and they were covered in robes from head to toe.

‘Is their brain cooked from the heat?’

No sane person would dress like that. Wiss realized these were no ordinary people.

The representative stepped forward and asked.

“Are you Duke Akazel?”

“Yes.”

“We’ve come to retrieve the golem. We ask for your cooperation.”

“……?”

‘Did they leave it with us?’

Wiss was impressed by their confident attitude.

But the duke turned to Jessen.

“Guide the guests to where the broken golem is.”

“Yes, Your Grace. Guests, please follow me this way……”

Despite the polite guidance, the representative was not satisfied.

“We don’t need a guide. Just allow us to move freely inside and outside the castle. It would be nice if you could issue us passes. There are five of us, so five passes would be sufficient.”

‘Are they crazy?’

They were demanding free passes in someone else’s territory. As Wiss stared at the representative, the duke responded again.

“Jessen.”

“Yes. ……Prince Wissmia, is it alright to issue the passes?”

Though phrased as a question, it was clear he expected a ‘yes.’ The representative looked at Wiss as if wondering why they even needed permission.

“Alright.”

Wiss answered for now.

Jessen led the Mage Tower group out. As soon as they disappeared, Wiss asked,

“What is this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you agreeing to everything they say?”

Theodore was an intriguing fool, but he wasn’t someone to be underestimated. If he were easygoing, he wouldn’t have beaten Count Morre like that.

“Because they’re mages from the Mage Tower.”

“And?”

“…Don’t you know?”

Theodore seemed surprised.

“Should I?”

“Not necessarily, but……”

“I hit my head while climbing over a wall, so my memory is spotty.”

“……?”

Theodore reached out and touched Wiss’s head. He was gently feeling the back of Wiss’s head, making Wiss wonder what he was doing.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Isn’t the usual question what were you doing climbing over a wall?”

“What happened?”

There was a hint of amusement in Theodore’s eyes. He looked at Wiss as if he were a mischievous child.

“……There was a reason.”

Wiss closed his mouth. Come to think of it, hitting his head while eloping wasn’t something to brag about.

The hand that had been touching the back of Wiss’s head began to stroke his hair. Theodore started to explain, stroking his hair as if it were a habit. His gaze was fixed on Wiss, creating an unexpectedly intimate atmosphere.

“Mages from the Mage Tower don’t ask for permission when they do something. No, they do ask, but they aren’t refused.”

Wiss felt uncomfortable and shifted slightly.

“Why?”

“Because the Tower Master is a Seer.”

‘That’s impressive.’

Prophecy was a rare ability. Even a mage as skilled as Wiss couldn’t touch that realm, as it was a completely different type of ability from destruction.

However, the fate of Seers was often not good. Knowing the future made it difficult for a person to live a proper life.

‘And yet they managed to become the Tower Master?’

“Do they treat the Mage Tower well to hear prophecies?”

“Ah. No. The Tower Master doesn’t prophesy just because someone asks.”

Wiss was puzzled.

“Then what’s the use of being a Seer?”

“Because they make unwanted prophecies.”

“……?”

“Two hundred years ago, the Tower Master made a prophecy. It was about the birth of the Seed of Destruction. A king was identified as that ‘Seed of Destruction.’ That king died horribly, but no one could touch the Mage Tower. The knights who set out to avenge the king never returned.”

‘What is that?’

There were many questions, but the first one to ask was clear.

“Was the Tower Master 200 years ago also a Seer?”

“Ah, the Tower Masters have always been Seers.”

“……?”

“They also use the same name. From the first Tower Master who built the Mage Tower, the name of the Tower Master has always been Samuel. It seems to be some kind of rule among mages.”

Theodore laughed lightly.

‘That can’t be true.’

At least in the time Wiss lived, there was no such creepy tradition.

Mages, who lived scattered and hidden to avoid threats of assassination, couldn’t possibly maintain such a leisurely culture of passing down names.

Wiss sighed. In any case, it was a name he missed.

‘Samuel, huh.’

Wiss’s close mage also had that name.

He suddenly became suspicious.

“When was the Mage Tower built?”

“Three hundred years ago. It’s a famous story even in the Kingdom of Summer, that the great mage Samuel, a close aide to King Wiss, left the secular world after the king’s death and built the Mage Tower.”

“……I forgot.”

It was indeed that Samuel.

“There are still doubts about whether that prophecy was true. There’s a theory that the Tower Master made it up to get rid of a king they didn’t like. But the Tower Master’s ability to prophesy is real. They sometimes warn of major crop failures or natural disasters.”

In short, they flaunted their prophetic abilities to raise the Mage Tower’s reputation.

Wiss was familiar with this method.

It was Samuel’s way.

“And actually…… there was another prophecy twenty years ago.”

Theodore continued to stroke Wiss’s hair as he spoke.

“The Seed of Destruction was born again. Countries with royalty around the age of maturity are probably holding their breath right now. Because they don’t know who will be identified as the Seed of Destruction. ……It’s best not to catch the Mage Tower’s eye.”

Theodore looked into Wiss’s eyes.

Wiss understood the meaning of those words.

The person who shouldn’t catch their eye was Wissmia—a young royal around twenty years old.

Wiss felt his anger rise to the top of his head.

‘So these bastards are threatening me to my face?’