Bloodline is a Cheat Code - Chapter 12

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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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Chapter 12
Even in the first timeline where Serpina Rosena lived, the Crown Prince’s faction and the Magic Tower had never been on good terms.
But when these so-called nobles began exchanging with the Magic Tower and importing magical artifacts indiscriminately, they must have been desperate to find any pretext to crack down.
Magic couldn’t be allowed to sway public sentiment and strengthen the Magic Tower’s influence.
Besides, the Magic Tower was a force completely opposed to the Crown Prince. If they could bring that faction over to their side, all the better.
Serpina Rosena opened her mouth with determination.
“I’ll have to visit the Magic Tower.”
“You, directly?”
In this life, she was someone who had abandoned the magic she loved so dearly to wield a sword in order to protect me.
If she went to the Magic Tower, she’d surely develop lingering attachments.
Had I made too much of this situation and burdened her?
As if reading my heart, Serpina Rosena gently stroked my hair.
“If I can help you by going to the Violet Family and the Magic Tower, then it doesn’t matter. In return, promise me you’ll be extremely careful during this time.”
“I promise.”
“A promise alone won’t be enough. I think you’ll need someone else to protect you.”
Minabell looked at Serpina Rosena with an expression that seemed to say, “Finally, is it my turn?”
But Serpina Rosena paid her no attention whatsoever and summoned parchment from nowhere, immediately inscribing a letter with magic and sending it off.
* * *
What is this?
“So we meet like this?”
“…I’m not sure how I should respond in this situation.”
“How could a powerless prince refuse when the Viscount of Rosena himself affixes his seal and makes such a courteous request?”
Was he being sarcastic? Or was he joking? Either way, my head was spinning.
For reference, this was the Third Prince’s Palace.
Today, Lucian Advein with his blue eyes was casually offering me the seat across from him.
“You should sit. Your health isn’t particularly robust either. While the Viscount is away, you’ll need to remain under my protection here.”
‘It was wise not to mention that his only title is the sickly youngest princess….’
I recalled the words Minabell had muttered not long ago.
‘The sickly youngest princess.’ Suddenly, that phrase struck me as oddly piercing.
“Ah….”
The problem right now isn’t my body, but my peace of mind….
When Serpina Rosena said she’d found me a safe place, I thought it would be a mansion somewhere other than the Capital, where I could stay for a few days.
Even if it seemed excessive for just a brief absence, I believed she was capable of arranging such a thing.
But what on earth is this?
“What’s wrong? Doesn’t the tea suit your palate?”
The location and company don’t seem to suit me.
But the prince tilted his head, seemingly unable to understand what the problem was.
He appeared regretful that I didn’t enjoy the tea he usually preferred.
“No, I apologize. I was startled by the sudden private audience and committed a rudeness.”
“There’s nothing you could do that I would call rude. Looking at your expression, it seems the Viscount didn’t tell you anything separately? Your sisterly bond seemed quite touching. This puts me in a difficult position—it makes me look like I’ve kidnapped you.”
“Is that so? Well then, you should explain things to me before you go!”
I had no choice but to sit across from him.
After taking a sip of tea from the cup I’d lifted, I managed to pull my lips up into a smile, and he let out a small laugh in response.
“The fragrance is quite lovely.”
“Before the young lady drinks her tea, she always asks me to inspect it with a silver teaspoon to check for poison, so I took some care with this. I hope you find it to your liking.”
“Ah….”
It seemed Serpina Rosena and Lucian Advein had conducted quite an extensive conversation without me.
The subject was naturally me.
Yet I hadn’t heard a single thing I actually needed to know—how unreasonable could this be?
I just want to go home!
Inside, I was screaming at the top of my lungs, but of course, I showed nothing on the surface.
No matter how sheltered my upbringing had been, I’d long since learned the bearing expected of a Duke’s daughter.
“Of course, I myself take poison prevention quite seriously as well, so I understand that sentiment. But yours is remarkably particular, even by those standards.”
“My health is not particularly robust. What is merely sweet to others can sometimes become a fatal poison to me.”
I answered carefully, selecting words that would leave no room for criticism, and a smile that was neither quite knowing nor quite ignorant flickered across his face.
“Ah, I nearly forgot while listening to the young lady’s story. Allow me to introduce you. This is Haeston, my most trusted aide—he serves as my attendant, knight, steward, chef, and handles various other duties.”
He naturally shifted the topic of conversation, gesturing toward the man who had stood silently behind the prince until now.
“If you speak of me that way, Your Highness, it makes it sound as though no one else exists in the Prince’s Palace.”
Haeston replied with a tone that was gentle yet unmistakably sharp.
Was it really acceptable to speak to one’s master that way?
“You’re not entirely wrong. Ever since my elder brother ordered everyone to stay away, this place has become little more than a tomb where only corpses come and go.”
“Your Highness.”
“Wait—do corpses come and go, or do they only leave?”
He appeared outwardly to be a delicate gentleman, yet his gaze was remarkably piercing.
If I had to compare it to something, it resembled Serpina Rosena’s eyes when she looked at others.
The gaze of someone who believed I harbored hidden intentions and never relaxed their suspicion and vigilance for even a moment.
Perhaps noticing my scrutinizing gaze, Haeston quickly broke into a full smile, offered me a respectful greeting, and then turned to address the prince.
“Your Highness, if you tell too many lies, you will surely be struck by divine punishment the moment you enter the Temple.”
“Ha, then I’ll have to embrace you tightly and take the blow together. Come with me.”
“I prefer to live, Your Highness. And I’m afraid I have someone else who occupies my heart.”
“I dislike you as well.”
“….”
I slowly blinked, suddenly finding myself cast as a supporting player in their banter.
Certainly, the Third Prince’s Palace was so quiet it was hard to believe it was where the prince resided—as if the Imperial Palace itself wished to erase this place from existence.
The silence was so profound that an assassin could be apprehended immediately upon arrival.
Of course, the Prince’s Palace had not always been this isolated.
Once, this place had been visited by young nobles selected as Lucian Advein’s playmates, hosted tea parties, and saw a steady stream of visitors.
Everything changed after the Emperor ceased all external activities and Vincent, the eldest son, began acting as though he held the Crown Prince’s position in his stead.
“From this moment forward, no one shall visit Prince Lucian Advein’s palace without my permission. This is the physician’s recommendation to minimize contact with outsiders due to the prince’s poor health, so take heed of this order.”
“But why would they even dismiss the nursemaid who has served the prince since childhood….”
‘His attitude is lax, and his spending is reckless—he’s been squandering the Prince’s Palace’s resources as he pleases. I’ve personally reviewed the ledgers and confirmed it myself. Do you doubt me?’
‘…That’s not it.’
‘Be careful yourself. If you visit Lucian Advein behind my back, you won’t return unscathed.’
Vincent declared this in a chilling voice, right there where Lucian Advein could hear him.
That’s when the Prince’s Palace became so quiet. I, who had spent most of my time in a quiet bedroom with few visitors, only belatedly realized how strange this silence had become.
“Your Highness, don’t you notice how the young lady is looking at us strangely?”
“If you hadn’t brought that up, the atmosphere wouldn’t have become awkward in the first place.”
At the same moment, Elian, who stood beside me, bent slightly at the waist and brought her lips close to my ear.
“Young lady, shall I say you’re feeling unwell?”
Even to Elian’s eyes, the sight of me sitting here seemed decidedly out of place.
A plausible excuse would make it easy to move to somewhere I could rest. Yet I expressed my refusal subtly, so it wouldn’t be obvious.
I still hadn’t learned anything from this place. Serpina Rosena wouldn’t have sent me here with ill intent, but….
Objectively speaking, the Prince’s Palace wasn’t a place where I could entrust myself to it without knowing anything, was it?
“You two seem remarkably close.”
Thinking that interrupting the conversation between the Prince and Haeston might resolve something, I spoke up cautiously.
As if to prove their bickering had been merely for show, both of them stopped abruptly and turned their gaze toward me.
“The young lady doesn’t seem interested in conversing with me at all.”
You made your discomfort quite obvious.

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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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