Bloodline is a Cheat Code - Chapter 5
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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 5
“Tiae.”
“Just a moment.”
I held back Serpina Rosena, who was eager to resolve matters swiftly, and kept my gaze fixed ahead.
“Why? If we don’t hurry, you’ll miss the time for your medicine.”
“That’s not what matters right now.”
The movements of those running the gambling game seemed off.
Men pretending to throw dice while concealing blades, a bartender offering a cup of something burnt to the prince—it was all there.
They were plotting openly in broad daylight, yet no one seemed to notice?
“Subdue those people playing poker over there.”
“What about you?”
“I need to handle that drink.”
I grasped Minabell’s hand firmly and approached the prince.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
I slipped the silver ring from my finger and dropped it into his cup.
“What are you—”
He froze mid-complaint. The ring was turning black.
At that same moment, a tremendous gust of wind erupted from behind.
Serpina Rosena’s wind magic overturned every table at once, and blades spilled pathetically from the pockets of those sprawled across the floor.
Lucian surveyed the situation calmly, then turned his gaze to me.
“I think an explanation is in order.”
“A detailed conversation would be difficult here. Would you accompany us? This place has become rather chaotic.”
I was already prepared to be refused for such an abrupt proposal.
My intention was simply to pique his curiosity. After all, I was the one who caused this mess—what kind of person would call it chaotic? That much should suffice.
“Very well. My instincts tell me it should be safe to follow along.”
I expected a refusal, but—wait, what? My eyes widened before I could stop myself. Could it really be this easy?
Fortunately, the veil concealed my face, or my expression would have been completely exposed.
“I shall guide you to a more comfortable location.”
“Comfortable or not, it doesn’t matter. Who would have thought someone would treat me with such courtesy? I’m just a wandering knight, after all—nothing more than a common vagabond.”
His blue eyes had begun studying me intently.
I knew the crimson light hidden within that gaze.
“The young lady’s health is quite fragile. Please show her mercy.”
Then Lucian’s attention shifted from me to Minabell.
“A… a Sword Master…”
A Sword Master?
Now that I think about it, she didn’t even flinch when Serpina Rosena unleashed that powerful magic. My head is spinning a bit.
Perhaps I swayed. Someone steadied me.
“Yes, you’re not exaggerating—you really do look unwell. Let’s talk as we go.”
It was Lucian.
A cool fragrance emanated from him, so intense it completely masked the stench of this place.
I barely managed to steady my voice.
“Thank you….”
* * *
“I had no idea such a place existed.”
“It is a space where nothing spoken here will leak to the outside world.”
“That sounds rather unsettling.”
The carriage had brought us to an old mansion nestled deep within the forest.
According to Minabell, the mansion’s owner, this place was bound by a spell that prevented any knowledge of what transpired here from reaching the outside world.
Lucian regarded us both before speaking with measured calm.
“Since you seem to know who I am, perhaps it’s time you revealed your identities as well.”
Beneath the evenness of his tone, I detected a subtle displeasure and wariness.
I reached out to stop Serpina Rosena before she could speak, lifting my veil slightly.
After all, this face was nothing but an elaborate fabrication.
“I am merely someone who knows the truth. A remarkably fortunate coincidence, you might say.”
“The truth?”
“Yes, one could even say I know the future. Enough to commit the rudeness of bringing Your Highness to such a place.”
Lucian’s reason for following us so obediently was transparent.
He believed three people would be easily subdued. After all, he was a Sword Master.
“So you have no intention of revealing who you are or where you’re from. Well… fine. I have no interest in whether you’re a spy sent by someone or not.”
Lucian’s expression remained utterly composed.
Following Minabell, who had been leading us from the front, we arrived at a room in the corner of the second floor.
“I’ve never seen a place like this in the Capital before.”
“Yes, I apologize for bringing you to such an unusual location.”
Once everyone had taken their seats, a maid whose features were difficult to discern appeared from somewhere and set out teacups.
Minabell’s finger traced letters across my palm.
[ A ghost who lives in the mansion, but she’s kind. ]
Right, by now a mansion that moved of its own accord hardly surprised me.
“Now that we’re here, why don’t you get to the point.”
Lucian didn’t even touch his teacup.
Even though Serpina Rosena had taken the first sip to demonstrate it was harmless.
Right, there was no point in hesitation now. I spoke without reservation, diving straight into the matter.
“If His Majesty does not ascend to the throne now, this Empire will fall.”
“And you expect me to believe that….”
Hearing the disbelief in his tone, I glanced toward Serpina Rosena, and she delivered the words we had prepared beforehand.
“I have traveled backward through time. The last thing I witnessed in that world was the Empire’s destruction as the divine prophecy came to pass. I will not claim I reversed time for naive reasons.”
As she spoke, Serpina Rosena revealed the forbidden magic’s mark that remained on her body.
The stigma branded upon those guilty of reversing time.
At the sight of Serpina Rosena laying bare such a secret without hesitation, Lucian’s expression finally shifted.
“What are you saying….”
But this was Minabell’s place, and nothing witnessed here could be revealed to the outside world.
“And I know the divine will that Your Majesty has hidden.”
His fury pressed down on me like a crushing weight.
I barely suppressed the nausea rising in my throat and continued speaking.
“May you honor the divine will, Master of the Crimson Eyes.”
Clang!
It was a matter of inches.
The moment his blade sought my throat, Serpina Rosena’s powerful protective magic enveloped me.
Even so, the residual force that had already touched me left my vision spinning and blurred with dizziness.
Minabell, observing my condition, whispered urgently.
“Let’s run. If you’re about to collapse, I’ll carry you.”
I barely grasped at my fading consciousness and managed to respond.
“No, I won’t run. You said it yourself—my sister is strong.”
“…If you die like this, what good is any of this!”
Minabell was making a fuss, but truthfully, it wasn’t quite that dire.
Just now, Lucian had deliberately restrained his power at the precipice, pulling back at the last moment.
He surely had no intention of actually separating my body from my head.
As proof, Lucian now stood with his blade sheathed, his gaze fixed squarely on me behind Serpina Rosena, not on her.
Of course, I was still reeling from even that much. But that’s my problem.
Soon his blue eyes began to stain crimson, like watercolor bleeding across paper.
“I need to hear how you found out. Didn’t you say you saw it clearly with your own eyes?”
Now it begins. I opened my mouth while gripping the magical artifact that compels only ‘truth’—to prove that I speak truthfully.
How much suffering I endured to obtain this.
A precious magical artifact that Serpina Rosena had painstakingly retrieved by retracing connections made in the Magic Tower during her previous life.
It was all the more difficult because the Magic Tower’s recent conflict with the Crown Prince made acquiring magical artifacts extraordinarily hard.
“By chance… I saw it.”
“By chance?”
“Yes, as you passed by, when the magic was dispelled. By chance. Haven’t you passed near the Rosena Duchy recently?”
“…I did brush past that area.”
His tone was one of disbelief.
But what could I do when this is an undeniable truth?
“The magic was dispelled at that time?”
Serpina Rosena glanced at me cautiously before stepping forward.
“A dispelling incantation is placed around the Duchy to guard against infiltrators such as assassins. Because ancient magic is layered upon it, identification is ordinarily difficult.”
For a moment, I nearly gasped in surprise—forgetting we were supposed to be hiding our identities—thinking, ‘My sister knows ancient magic too?’
But from the moment we mentioned the Rosena Duchy, it became impossible to conceal that we belonged to them.
“So you know the Duchy’s protective incantations and are equally versed in ancient magic, yet you merely serve as a guard?”
I understand. We cannot proceed with everything shrouded in secrecy.
To properly convince Lucian, I needed to demonstrate that my existence could become a reliable force of support for him.
“And you happened to see me when the Rosena dispelling magic activated?”
But this really was pure coincidence!
And she has the audacity to pressure me when she’s the one who got caught sneaking around—I didn’t even witness it myself!
“At this point, why don’t you just reveal your identity? If I find you interesting enough, I might even let you keep your head.”
I suppressed the torrent of cutting remarks threatening to spill forth and exhaled a long, weary sigh.
The problem isn’t that I can see these things—it’s that this world is blind to them entirely.
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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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