A Blend of Romance and Fantasy - Chapter 75

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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75.
Approximately a month had passed.
The moment my eyes opened, the familiar crest carved into the ceiling greeted me.
As the jet-black forests flanking either side and the great sword planted at the center stared down at me alongside the ashen wolf’s emblem—as if ready to swallow me whole—a splitting headache descended upon me.
This was Blackwood.
Not Blue Heart, where Demian resided.
Yet it was ruled by one of his blood relatives, making it more than sufficient as a target for vengeance.
Even through the fog of consciousness, Leonard managed to locate a suitable blade and concealed himself within the shadows.
“He’s disappeared!”
“Protect the Duke and the Princesses!”
“Don’t let him reach Lethe Tower!”
Fools. Telling them not to let him reach Lethe Tower was the same as pointing him toward it, wasn’t it?
Leonard pressed forward with all his might and arrived at that place called Lethe Tower.
The tower, constructed entirely of ashen stone, emanated a profound emptiness—as though it had been built solely to imprison someone.
In that moment, I sensed multiple presences approaching from behind.
Spinning around with heightened tension, I found several figures mounted on horseback, looking down at Leonard.
All of them were clad in armor bearing the Blackwood crest.
The brown-haired man at their center bore a striking resemblance to the Second Empress I had once seen in ancient royal portraits.
Yet his demeanor was entirely different.
Despite his attendants’ protests, he urged his horse forward toward Leonard.
“Remarkable—to move with such capability mere moments after awakening.”
“…Who are you? I know all the Blackwood bloodline. I’ve never seen your face before.”
“That is…”
The man hesitated briefly before answering.
I had no intention of waiting for his response with any courtesy.
I had always planned to kill them all. There was no one left in this world who stood with me anymore.
“Your, Your Highness!?”
“Lord James!!”
Leonard leaped onto the horse with lightning speed, seized the brown-haired man, and dragged him to the ground.
Unexpectedly, he could only cough and struggle helplessly. He seemed like a sheltered young nobleman who didn’t know the first thing about combat.
“Ha, so it was just some pampered lord in shiny armor? How convenient!”
As Leonard twisted his lips into a sneer and raised his blade high, the man spoke.
“…You cannot kill me.”
At that calm voice, the raised blade wavered and stilled.
“Leonard, no human can ever kill me.”
“How do you know my name…?”
No—more than that, how could he remain so composed?
The man was not merely accepting death; he was serene in the face of it.
This was different from resignation.
He spoke with absolute certainty that he truly would not die. For the first time, a chill ran down the back of my neck.
Yet Leonard could not stop here. He gritted his teeth and adjusted his grip on his sword.
“…So what? But what can you do about it?! What stands before your eyes is no human—it’s a cursed demon spawn!!”
“Your Highness!”
Leonard moved faster than his adjutants.
In an instant, the man’s head separated from his body, and blood sprayed in all directions.
Leonard, drenched in warm blood across his entire frame, rose to his feet, breathing heavily.
Then, something unbelievable happened.
Flames erupted from the severed neck as a face regenerated, while the head that had rolled to the ground and the flowing blood turned to ash and vanished.
“What in the hell…is this insanity?”
As Leonard stood frozen, a massive blade hurtled toward him.
The Purple-haired Man wielded a greatsword, while the Silver-haired Man hurled a dagger.
In that moment, a realization struck Leonard like lightning.
This world was the novel “The Song of Sky, Fire, and Moon.”
The protagonist, James Blackwood, had been confined to Lethe Tower since childhood, and the reason was—
that he possessed the ability of immortality.
“Could you possibly be the Sixth Prince James?”
The moment Leonard spoke, he was pinned to the ground and restrained.
* * *
No matter how many times he was killed, he returned to life.
That ability forced even Leonard, who could slay dozens in a single strike, to submit.
In the end, Leonard was imprisoned in Lethe Tower, and he believed he would die there.
But something unexpected occurred.
James came to him.
Lethe Tower was no place for human habitation.
No light penetrated its depths, and worse, monsters roamed within.
Escape was difficult, infiltration was difficult. Spend more than a few days inside, and one might lose their mind.
Yet Leonard, confined behind iron bars, regarded James with perfect composure.
James observed him quietly, then asked in a low voice.
“Why did you try to kill me? Wasn’t it obvious that I had saved your life?”
“Are you now asking me to remember the debt of gratitude you’ve given me? If so, haven’t you made a grave miscalculation? Surely you know who I am. Or are you, like Demian, trying to persuade me to become your subordinate?”
Leonard then spat beyond the iron bars.
“I never asked to be saved. But I am grateful! Thanks to you, I gained the chance to kill that damned royal bloodline!!”
“…I know the truth about the Berhem Fortress Valley incident.”
“!!”
Leonard clenched his fists, the shackles around his wrists rattling.
“If I release you, what will you do once you escape from here?”
“That’s obvious.”
“Revenge? Throwing an egg at a rock…is that what you call such a trivial act?”
“Trivial?”
For a moment, I could not breathe.
Leonard Blake recalled the many souls trapped within those eyes. Comrades sprawled in pools of blood beneath their horses. Cavalry soldiers charred by dragon’s breath. A commander torn in half while protecting his subordinates….
Death held no consequence for him at any moment.
It was the fate of the Punishment Unit, and so the death that would eventually arrive was just.
Yet if God were truly impartial, why did the nobles who so cruelly abandoned them sip wine in the Marble Palace, living well-fed, well-rested, and prosperous?
From the depths of his chest, a voice that had cowered untouched in the darkness for so long finally erupted.
“Could you… possibly understand me?”
No—no one could dare judge his life.
He had arrived from another world, crawled through a hellish existence, and lost those he had come to think of as comrades to creatures far more monstrous than any beast.
Who could possibly understand a life lived so far from ordinary?
And even if someone could, it would never be royalty.
Seething rage and despair crashed over him, blurring his vision. He gritted his teeth and held back tears, his lips torn raw from clenching, his fists so tightly wound that his skin split.
Then James silently knelt on one knee to meet his gaze.
The nobles had always looked down upon him. Whether mounted on horseback, seated upon a dais, or commanding him to kneel—they always looked down.
Yet now he knelt and met his eyes directly.
Caught off guard, his strength momentarily drained, Leonard saw eyes that were upright and warm.
“You’re right—I cannot understand you. But tell me, Leonard, is the saying about throwing an egg at a stone truly wrong?”
“….”
“Taking Demian’s life will solve nothing.”
So this was what it meant for a simple truth to strike with violence. Leonard could offer no response.
“I am the hidden Sixth Prince. And I wish to become Emperor for a peaceful Empire.”
“….”
“I cannot understand you. And you cannot understand me. So help me. In the new Empire I will build, I need someone like you.”
In that moment, Demian flashed through his mind.
-Become my subordinate.
-As you said, I am Demian, the Emperor’s firstborn son and the one destined to become Emperor of this Empire.
-Is that not reason enough to be worth saving?
Demian demanding he become a subordinate, and James asking for his aid. Despite sharing the same blood, their ideologies were worlds apart.
That difference was surely possible only because he was the protagonist. Fiction and fantasy created by an author.
Yet that very thing was the virtuous hero that readers loved in this weary reality. So how could he not be the protagonist of this novel?
[ A Song of Sky and Fire and Moon.
In a world where greed and hypocrisy swirl, we sing a song of peace and love upon an endless death. ]
The work’s synopsis suddenly came to mind with perfect clarity. Even God is cruel—in this moment, nothing from his past life surfaced, yet only this useless thing struck his heart and passed through.
“….”
Leonard Blake slowly closed his eyes. From that distant place, at last, a flood of information began to pour forth.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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