“This is where the wizards are gathered, are you going to use a knife on me here?”

Harrid said to Killian, conscious of the blade just inches from his throat.

It was his way of saying that if he cut his throat, Killian would be in danger as well.

Harrid smiled at Killian, but somehow the corners of his mouth seemed to twitch.

“Harrid! Please refrain from speaking carelessly to Your Highness. Be steady, Your Highness, He is still young and has difficulty discerning between right and wrong. Please take away that sword… … .”

“Father, I no longer wish to beg for my life from anyone in the royal family anymore!”

Harrid was indignant, letting out the hostility he had been harboring until Baron made a soft request to Killian.

True to his word, Killian had brought only a chamberlain, a coachman, and two servants to come and go quietly.

If the downstairs contained students learning magic under Baron,no one could guarantee what would happen the moment Killian slit Harrid’s throat.

The Empire had already restricted magic to a minimum of activity, and the mages were not happy about it.

“Even with this…… you’re going to cut me with this sword?”

Harrid asked, showing Killian.

As he said, Killian didn’t know what would happen to all of their lives if Killian swung his sword here.

“If I want to. Maybe?”

Killian replied, flashing a meaningful smile.

Crazy!

My heart sank as I suddenly realized he wasn’t the man I’d seen yesterday and a while ago.

“You tried to touch what belongs to me.”

He still seemed amused by the situation.

Harrid, standing there at a loss for words, looked down at me and gritted his teeth.

“Are you saying that this cat is yours, Your Highness? The Oracle says that cat will bring an empire to ruin, and you’re the crown prince!”

Even for the crown prince of an empire, ignoring an oracle and keeping a cat with him was clearly a dangerous act.

At Harrid’s exclamation, Killian looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke up.

“…… it’s mine.”

“!”

Harrid’s face contorted even more, and he clenched his fists.

“Then you’re going to have a lot more trouble if you’re going to kill me because of that one cat, and you’re going to have to deal with a whole bunch of wizards down there!”

“We’ll see.”

At that moment, Killian spoke up with a wry smile.

“I wonder if you’ll be quick to draw your magic circle.”

A sharp flash of light flashed in his eyes.

“How fast you can spread fire.”

“!”

Before he could finish, a red auror flashed across the blade.

Oh, an Auror?

“Your Highness!”

Baron’s eyes bulged even more than they had before as he was confronted by the fire-elemental Auror.

Harrid was just as shocked.

The Crown Prince, of all people, had an Auror!

Just as the Huppert Empire had curtailed magic to strengthen the imperial power along with its nations, it had also demoted or disabled all Aurors, causing most of them to go insane and commit suicide or disappear.

The Empire was wary of those whose abilities might pose a threat to the imperial power and vested interests.

Wasn’t that why mages were relegated to working with herbs and gems?

“…….”

I suddenly remembered a scene from “Souls Encroached by Darkness,” which I had easily skipped over.

?Killian began by pulling on his gloves before gripping his sword.

It was a ritual, a habit that had been ingrained over time.

It would break his mother’s heart if he were injured.

It all started when Empress Dowager Elyse put on gloves for young Killian and said to him on the first day he held a sword.

Instead of saying out loud that he would return from the brutal battlefield alive, Killian always signaled his promise by taking the gloves his mother had embroidered and left on his desk.?

Gloves!

But there were no gloves on Killian’s hands.

I thought it was just an action to reassure my mother.

Wait, what’s going on here?

This was not a recognizable reference in the original.

If they’re only referring to it indirectly like that, how much more is being hidden?

My head was completely messed up.

“……You can’t possibly think that…… is…….”

Harrid, even more stunned than I was, stared at the Auror, unable to finish his sentence, as if the fear he’d been suppressing had grown.

It was the crown prince, and none other, who held the power that should have been lost to the Empire.

“Right.”

Killian leisurely twisted his head and looked this way.

“Are we done?”

When I made eye contact with his bright red eyes, I got goosebumps all over my body.

* * *

Killian hadn’t brought me to the Duchsens simply to check on me.

The fact that he had revealed his secrets to a mage family with whom he had a near-hostile relationship meant that he must have another purpose.

As the circle hovered in the air, I couldn’t take my eyes off it, seeing it for the first time in my life.

I was half curious, half afraid, and half excited about what was about to happen to me.

Killian watched me and kept his mouth shut.

His red eyes, covered in a deep shadow, had turned redder than blood.

Harrid, standing at a distance, still in shock from seeing Killian’s Auror, glanced at me and then at Killian’s back.

Pow!

Baron reaches out to me, and the circle snaps off and disappears into thin air.

The magic circle he’d drawn for me was gone, too.

What happened?

With a look of bewilderment in his eyes, Baron slowly knelt down and stared at me at the table.

I slowly began to realize that Baron’s eyes were not the same.

His eyes were turning blue like a glacier and then changing colors one after another into five colors like a prism.

“How did this happen?…….”

“What’s wrong, Father?”

“Quiet!”

Baron, who had been speaking softly, spoke to his son with an impatient look, then looked back at me.

Soon his eyes returned to their original blue color.

“It wasn’t done by humans.”

He took a deep breath and spoke his first rhyme.

“The curse is a very powerful thing…….”

Baron narrowed his eyes at me, like someone trying to find something related to me.

“No one will be able to break it easily, except-“

Baron trailed off, and Killian took a step closer.

Baron took a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly.

“This doesn’t sound like the oracle I’ve known before…… It’s different.”

His eyes widened in assertion, and the hairs on my body stood up on end.

“This is…….”

Baron turned to look at Killian, his eyes shaking.

“God’s blessing.”

Killian stared at me in disbelief.

“God’s protection. He’s with us.”

I couldn’t understand what he meant, and my whole body swelled with tension like my heart was about to burst.

Baron closed and opened his eyes again and again, still unconvinced by his words

I could see his jaw trembling slightly.

“Explain it to me.”

Killian looked down at me, his red eyes flashing.

I felt a shudder run through me, near my heart.

Confused, Baron swallowed dryly and spoke again.

“The trust is. That’s all I learned from what was handed down a long time ago. As you know, and as the entire people of this empire have learned, the interpretation was that cats would bring about the downfall of this empire. Because of this, all cats were slaughtered, and not a single cat lived in this land for hundreds of years. but… … .”

Baron reached out a hand in the air, and Killian growled unexpectedly, stepping closer.

“Didn’t I tell you not to hurt her?”

“I’m not hurting her.”

Baron replied quickly, spreading his hands over the top of my head.

My whole body felt weak, and my mind became dull, as if my soul was floating in my head.

“Your Highness, a moment…….”

As I opened my eyes and fell to the side, Killian stepped forward as if to take me away in a flash, but Baron held up his other hand as if to ask him to wait.

Soon after, a bright light, as thin as a thread, exited my body and then stretched out into thin air like a thread.

The tangled threads gradually took on the shape of a spinning wheel.

“It is clear that it is cursed, as interpreted by the oracle. But the essence is different. The proof can be found in the fact that this cat did not suddenly come into existence on its own.”

The spinning wheel continued to wind at a slow but steady pace, spinning an endless stream of thread.

“It’s been around for generations, and it’s survived when everyone else has tried to kill it, this cannot happen without God’s protection. When the cats were being exterminated, there was no place for them to hide in this empire, because before their powers were curtailed, the wizards were mobilized to find everything that existed.”

Baron ran his tongue over his dry lips and looked at the spinning wheel in the air.

“And yet. You’ve survived all these years, all these centuries, even though there must have been no place beyond your power. It was protected by the gods so that it could survive undetected.”

Baron withdrew his outstretched hand.

“I can’t believe I’ve seen a cat with my own eyes, but it’s even more amazing that the power of the gods is protecting this tiny creature is even more amazing.”

Killian narrowed his eyes as the spinning wheel disappeared.

“You mean it has …… parents.”

“It appears so. If Your Majesty would grant me permission to use this cat to confirm the existence of her parents…….”

“In a way that won’t hurt her.”

“I swear. She will not be hurt.”

Baron looked at Harrid, who stood as still as ever.

“Harrid. Come here.”

Baron called out to him, and he came to me, quickly hiding his surprise.

I have parents? I’m not just a kitten that popped out of nowhere.

“Check her memory.”

“This cat? I’ve never used my magic on an animal before.”

“Didn’t I teach you that all living things are the same?”

Harrid glanced down at me, uncomfortable with Baron’s reprimand.

He hesitantly glanced back at Killian when Baron glared at him once more.

“I’m supposed to hold her hand, but he’s the crown prince’s cat. Can I grab its front paws instead?”

Killian’s words about not touching it seemed to have stuck.

Killian’s face hardened, he lunged forward, picked me up, and held me.

“Just hold her toes.”

In response to his order, He grabbed one of her front paws, knowing that he hated doing this, but not caring.

He closed his eyes and I could feel Killian’s strength pulling me even closer into his arms.

My toes got cold and the lingering energy rushed in like a tide and then pulled me back like an ebb tide.

If I had parents, who would they be?

What memories would he see?

I’m suddenly terrified of where the memories of this body which I couldn’t even guess, would take me in the future.

Harrid who was holding my front paw, slowly opened his eyes.

“What did you see?”

“I saw something, but…….”

“Then. Get your hands off her.”

At Killian’s stern command, Harrid froze and relaxed his grip.

“Hah.”

Harrid looked at me and Killian in unconvincing eyes, then looked at his father.

“What happened to her memory?”

Baron asked, his tone grave.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this cat’s oldest memory.”

Harrid looked back down at me, wondering if this could be possible.

“and It’s a little weird.”