Bloodline is a Cheat Code - Chapter 85

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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 85
So that’s what it meant—my body was so fragile that if I were cursed the way past Empresses and Empress Consorts had been, I would simply die.
Whoever had done this to me likely never imagined they would need to modify the curse for such an absurd reason.
“Tiae, it’s fortunate you’re delicate.”
Yet even in this situation, Serpina Rosena tried to take my side—or perhaps the shock had simply left her grasping for words.
“Right.”
Wasn’t it admirable how she struggled to find something positive to say?
I was so dumbfounded that she seemed to lack even the energy to rage about the curse itself.
“You got caught up in this because of me.”
As Serpina Rosena and I exchanged an awkward glance, Lucian Advein’s murmur reached my ears.
He spoke in a tone of utter disbelief, as if he couldn’t fathom why he’d overlooked such an obvious fact.
“Right. If you stay by my side, you’ll keep getting dragged into things like this. And I was just going to enjoy it all without a care.”
Minabell’s words suddenly echoed in my mind again.
Her warning to be wary of days that went too smoothly—perhaps it wasn’t just advice for me, but a truth that applied to all of us.
Cruide unconsciously released his magic, and with his freed hand, he scratched his cheek.
“In any case, the Rosena Family would have been utterly destroyed long ago if Seri hadn’t been running about so frantically. That youngest lady would have suffered all manner of schemes regardless of whether Your Highness was involved.”
“That’s true enough.”
I quickly agreed, hoping to soothe Lucian Advein’s heart even a little, but my poor prince only grew darker in expression.
And worse, as Serpina Rosena seemed to recall the time when the Rosena Family was destroyed, her face too began to darken.
“My love, don’t torment yourself thinking of timelines that have vanished.”
“You just said something inauspicious.”
“Inauspicious, not impure. Seri, no matter how long you’ve lived, don’t people get hurt by such sharp words?”
“I’m not even a person.”
Cruide, who had been pretending to cry for a moment, looked back at Lucian Advein.
A smile of indeterminate meaning played across his face—dangerous in a way different from Asteron.
I’d heard this man was actually far older than Asteron, the Magic Tower Master, and suddenly that made me uneasy.
“Your Highness, the foundation of any magic is the same. The moment you twist what is fixed, it becomes forbidden.”
“Right. And right beside you stands one who openly twisted the fixed flow of time and committed that transgression.”
The regressor had no time to brood—I’d already turned his attention elsewhere. Sometimes being put on the defensive helped soothe Serpina Rosena’s mood.
I sharpened my focus, thinking I should study Cruide’s method if he succeeded in soothing Lucian Advein’s heart this time.
“Humans die. This too is fixed.”
“Yes.”
“For this Empire to endure, one with red eyes must ascend the throne. This too approaches a fixed principle.”
Cruide smiled so wide his eyes disappeared, then raised his index finger. The way he said it made everything seem to click into place.
For one without red eyes to seize the throne was to twist what was fixed, making it forbidden—and thus bringing ruin as the consequence.
“I don’t know what you’re getting at. If I didn’t know that, would I be sitting here? So should I just burst into my brother’s chambers, kill everyone, and steal the Crown Prince’s seat? There’s nothing stopping me.”
The anxiety that I might be cursed to death sharpened his tone.
But Cruide continued calmly, as if even this harsh rebuke left no mark.
“Flotie Rosena being born delicate is also a fixed fact.”
“Hey.”
I had been listening quietly when suddenly I felt as though struck by a curse. I widened my eyes and looked toward Serpina Rosena, silently pleading for her help.
Say something on my behalf.
“Tiae was born frail, it’s true. Even while she was in our mother’s womb, the child barely moved, and Mother worried constantly about it.”
“Wasn’t that just because little Flotie was unusually docile?”
“Mother fretted over what might happen in the womb, but after birth, the child suffered through every illness an infant could contract and survived every crisis that threatened her life.”
“Sister, you’re on my side, aren’t you?”
Cruide observed us with an amused expression, as though watching a performance, before turning his gaze back to Lucian Advein.
“Yet it is hardly ordinary that the women of the Imperial Household—who should occupy the most exalted positions—have been dying one after another since this Emperor’s ascension. Were they all as delicate as that youngest princess?”
Lucian Advein regarded the dark mage with suspicion yet answered immediately.
“Pertona Empress was on the frail side, but our mother was not.”
That was right. The Third Empress had been a renowned Sword Master.
Though she was the eldest daughter of a Count’s house, she had single-handedly repelled monsters crossing into the Empire’s territories, earned distinction through her deeds, elevated her family to Marquis status, and became the Third Empress.
She was remarkably strong-willed and steadfast—even after entering the Palace, she continued to wield her blade, evading the Emperor’s notice.
I knew this so well because our mother’s family had been somewhat close to hers.
“The sword I wield now was inherited from her as well.”
“Precisely. Does it not all feel suspiciously twisted, as though logic itself has been inverted?”
Cruide seemed less inclined to offer answers outright and more inclined to pose riddles, waiting for him to solve them.
He seemed fully aware that he alone was enjoying this situation. And yet he speaks of improving perceptions toward dark magic.
Absurd. It felt as though I were holding a hundred serpents in my bare hands.
“If you mean to say that my brother becoming Vincent Crown Prince was contrary to logic…”
“Your Highness, is the timing truly so?”
I wanted to read the meaning in his expression, but his eyes, narrowed in a smile, offered no opening whatsoever.
The boy, who had been sinking deeper into despair with the thought that ‘I caused Flotie to fall under a death curse,’ finally lifted his head.
“Say it plainly. What else is there?”
“The women of the Imperial Household died before Vincent Advein became Vincent Crown Prince, did they not?”
“That is…”
He seemed to realize the fact he had overlooked, his eyes widening slightly.
“You weren’t trying to inform me—you were trying to make the people of Rosena aware of the truth?”
Cruide deliberately lowered his body and spoke in a whisper.
“I have confirmed that Your Highness bears a Silencing Curse upon him. Yes, I also understand that you wish to reveal the truth through another’s voice instead of your own.”
“A Silencing Curse?”
Serpina Rosena looked between me and Lucian Advein as though hearing this for the first time.
I could not speak carelessly of another’s matter. Lucian Advein had no opportunity to speak alone with her. It had become a forced secret between us.
Cruide turned toward Serpina Rosena.
“The Current Emperor has already rejected his destined death and maintains his position by draining the blood of the Imperial line. Life force is consumed in a specific order—first parents, then siblings, then spouses.”
Cruide, counting on his fingers, made a sound of realization.
“Now all the spouses are dead? Then it descends to the children next.”
“…”
Both Serpina Rosena’s gaze and mine naturally turned toward Lucian Advein. In the midst of this, she seemed to recall Aden.
And as he folded down his remaining finger, he pointed directly at me.
“If the curse has already drained all of your child’s life force, then it will begin targeting those closest to that child. That’s what a curse truly is.”
“Then….”
He smiled and caressed Serpina Rosena’s cheek, whispering softly.
“If Aden had remained in the Palace, you would have been the sacrifice. Now, the next candidate would be that maid.”
If the child were discovered, then the child would be next.
But Cruide spoke with a sharp whisper, his laughing face showing he didn’t care about such things at all.
“The mere possibility that he dared to curse you is reason enough for me to kill that dark mage, my love.”
Oh. How terrifying.
Lucian Advein glanced at me as if he’d forgotten when to be angry.
“I kept silent about this curse because speaking of it would bring consequences upon me. I never intended to hide it forever, though.”
“I understand your position—you couldn’t speak of it directly, so there’s no need to explain yourself. First, let me consult with him about how to break the curse…. Oh dear, at this rate we’ll end up kissing. Should I run away?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go, Elian.”
“Yes, miss.”
His anger seems to have cooled, but I still can’t quite relax about this.

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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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