The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 135

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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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The Forsaken Prince’s Ghost Bride — Episode 135

“So what’s the situation now?”
At the low voice drifting from ahead, Habier’s expression turned grave.
“It was a trap. The First Emperor has been deceiving us this whole time and impersonating Leopold.”
“……Do Lucian and Lia know about this?”
“No. I only found out after falling into the trap myself, so I need to inform them right away. And just a moment ago, I heard that multiple Dark Mages are heading toward the Imperial Palace.”
The information had been leaked by those who had been interrogating Habier, meant to break his resolve and force a confession.
“Damn it!”
Kaiser cursed and cast Teleportation.
Thump—
But the magic failed to work. Instead, he felt a repulsive force as if bouncing off something, and Kaiser’s brow furrowed.
He tried again several times, but Teleportation would not go through. It was as if someone was blocking entry into the Imperial Palace itself.
“The fact that Teleportation won’t work suggests the Dark Mages may have already arrived and established a Barrier.”
“A Barrier, then…….”
It wasn’t wrong. The repulsive sensation was similar to trying to enter a Lair with a Barrier deployed.
“We’re running out of time, and this is infuriating……!”
If the Barrier was already in place, it was safe to assume the Imperial Palace had fallen into Leon’s hands.
‘Lucian and Lia are in danger.’
An ominous feeling kept brushing against the back of his neck. Kaiser resolved that if all else failed, he would break through the Barrier with his true form. Of course, that would mean exposing the existence of a Dragon to countless humans.
“Kaiser, this way.”
Habier pulled Kaiser’s arm. As they emerged outside, a group of Dark Mages came into view.
“What——!”
“An intruder! Send reinforcements at once——!”
Kaiser dispatched those Dark Mages in a single stroke. The two of them slipped into the Underground Prison to avoid prying eyes.
“What is this place?”
“The entrance to the Underground Tunnels. The Barrier shouldn’t interfere with the underground passages.”
Habier hastily handed Kaiser a map of the underground he had drawn.
“Just follow along as marked. Go now!”
“Thank you.”
Kaiser offered a brief nod of gratitude and hurried into the Underground Tunnels. The moment he vanished into the distance, Habier turned back.
“Habier!”
One of the New Faction priests, hearing the commotion, approached Habier.
“Summon a mage at once. We need Sebastian!”
Sebastian, who had been away on regional assignment due to the Old Faction’s interference, was the only one who could counter the Dark Mages with Holy Power.
With him present, the tide of battle would surely turn completely.
“The Dark Mages are on the move! In the place of the Sovereign, I proclaim a state of war! Gather the priests at once!”
“Yes!”
Habier began his own preparations to stand against the Dark Mages here.

* * *

“……Something feels off.”
After Leopold departed, Lia wandered the Garden waiting for Lucian’s return.
But something about the mood of the entire Imperial Palace seemed to have changed just moments ago.
It remained as quiet as always, yet tension hung in the air throughout the Palace like the calm before a storm.
“Is it just my imagination?”
Perhaps her anxiety was creating the sensation. But the unease lingered, and she wanted nothing more than to leave this place the moment Lucian arrived.
“Lia, you haven’t been waiting long, have you?”
Lucian’s voice came at precisely that moment. Lia smiled and turned.
“You’re back?”
Lia naturally wrapped her arms around Lucian’s waist and leaned into him.
Lucian smiled warmly and pulled her close. Then, brushing aside her hair, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
Lia’s eyes, which had been closed, suddenly registered a wave of revulsion.
‘Revulsion?’
This was their usual affection, yet she couldn’t understand why it felt so repugnant now.
She wondered if it was because they were in such an open place, but even as she remained in Lucian’s embrace, the unpleasant sensation crept up her legs.
It felt as though a serpent were coiling around her entire body, raising her skin in gooseflesh.
Lia’s spine went rigid, and she reflexively pulled away from Lucian.
“Lia?”
The hands around her shoulders felt tacky and wrong.
It was an unfamiliar sensation—and yet deeply familiar. She had experienced it once before, three hundred years ago.
Lia’s eyes grew cold.
“You.”
At her sudden harsh tone, Lucian’s eyes widened in shock as he looked at Lia.
“What are you, exactly?”
Lia’s hair rippled in the still air, and a violet Mana surged from her body—a torrent vastly incomparable to anything Lucian possessed.
Lucian’s lips twitched at the sight, though his expression soon shifted to one of bewilderment.
“What are you talking about? I’m Lucian.”
“As if I wouldn’t recognize my own lover. What have you done to Lucian?”
The golden eyes that had gleamed in the sunlight changed color as clouds obscured the sun. Leon then curved his lips into a twisted smile.
“You really do have irritatingly sharp instincts. This time wasn’t as sloppy as before—how did you figure it out?”
Lia’s eyes widened, and in an instant, she hurled a spear of Mana at him.
Leon chuckled and reduced it to dust with a wave of his hand.
“If you so much as touch a single finger of Lucian’s body, I will kill you.”
“Aria, have you forgotten? This body belongs to the older brother Lucian cherishes. Yet you would kill me?”
“If Lucian is safe, it doesn’t matter what happens to Leopold.”
Her answer came without the slightest hesitation, and Leon’s expression hardened.
‘She means it.’
Leopold was important to her, certainly, but Lucian was her absolute priority.
If she could save Lucian, nothing else mattered—no one else mattered.
Feeling the full weight of her resolve, Leon found long-forgotten memories beginning to surface, one by one.

‘Aria and I were together seriously. It’s been a year since we started dating.’

That contemptible younger brother, wearing an identical face, now standing at the side of his beloved.
At that moment, Leon had wanted nothing more than to tear him apart—this fool who, knowing nothing, had asked for his blessing on the love he had stolen.
And now, three hundred years later, was he to lose her again?
“Absolutely not.”
The gold had drained from his eyes, replaced by a terror so visceral it made Lia’s skin crawl. She clamped her mouth shut and stepped back.
A deep, pitch-black Mana began seeping from Leon’s form.
“Aria.”
“……Don’t come any closer.”
“I lost you once through my own foolishness, but not this time. After three hundred years, you’ve finally appeared before me—do you really think I’d let you slip away again?”
Leon’s eyes were a churning mass of emotion: obsession, rage, bitter love, longing—a twisted amalgamation of warped affection.
‘Love? That isn’t love at all.’
It was nothing but the desperate clawing of someone grasping at something they could never have.
“That’s exactly why you can’t have me.”
When Lia spoke with genuine sorrow, Leon laughed in a way that made her skin prickle.
“Love means considering the other person, caring for them, waiting for them. It’s not something you squeeze and extort from someone under pressure, like you.”
“If you’re trying to anger me, you’d better stop. Have you forgotten who I just met?”
Lia’s brow furrowed, and at the thought of Lucian, her face twisted in anguish.
“Leon!”
“Ah, it’s been so long since I heard that name.”
Leon took genuine joy in the sound of his name spoken aloud.
The revulsion at his delight was so visceral that Lia unleashed her full Mana.
Leon, as if he had been waiting, released his own Mana in response.
Boom! Boom!!
Black Mana and violet Mana collided. The Garden surrounding them was torn apart, and a violent wind swept across the Palace.
Screech!!
A, an attack! Someone is attacking the Imperial Palace!
Protect the Sovereign at once!
The Palace servants scattered in panic. Knights were arming themselves and rushing to the scene to protect Leon.
To their eyes, Leon still appeared to be Leopold.
“A witch! A witch is attacking the Sovereign!”
Then someone cried out, calling Lia a witch.
Given that witch hunts still ran rampant throughout the Empire, his words sent shockwaves through the area.
Lia noticed that the one who had shouted, despite his frantic tone, wore a calm expression—he was surely one of Leon’s agents.
“Tch, pointless.”
Leon clicked his tongue in displeasure, the accusation not having gone quite as he intended. But neither did he make any effort to suppress the spreading rumor.
“Stop at once!”
“Step away from the Sovereign!”
Knights soon surrounded them both. Lia had no attention to spare for them while contending with Leon.
“Gah!”
The moment Lia’s focus wavered, Leon seized the opening and pressed his attack.
As she began to give ground, Lia refocused. But recovering her concentration once broken proved difficult.
“How do you have such power, when you couldn’t even use magic before!”
Lia cried out in desperation. Leon’s smile softened in response.
“I’ve lived for three hundred years. Don’t assume I’m the same as I was then.”
“Kill the witch!”
A knight, closing the distance, swung his blade at Lia. She bit her lip hard and barely fell back, but she couldn’t dodge completely—her shoulder was grazed.
As her blood stained her clothes, Leon’s eyes widened.
“Who dares touch her!”
Leon’s voice thundered across the Garden and through the entire Imperial Palace.
The knight who had drawn Lia’s blood hesitated in shock. In that moment, Leon drew a single finger across the knight’s throat, and the man’s head severed from his body.
The other knights approaching faltered at the sight of the severed head rolling across the ground.
The, the Sovereign……?
What power was that……?
His neck was severed…….
“If anyone so much as leaves a scratch on Aria’s body, I will not forgive them.”
At Leon’s terrible command, his eyes blazing, the knights felt true fear. Yet, bound by their oath to the Emperor, they could not refuse.
“What are you waiting for? Seize her!”
The knights hesitated, then seized Lia’s hands and arms. Lia struggled with all her might, but against four knights, resistance became impossible.
“Ugh!”
Her hands were bound behind her and she was forced to her knees. Lia gasped in pain. Leon approached the bound woman, then knelt on one knee and looked at her with concern-filled eyes.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. You must be in terrible pain. Let me treat that wound——.”
Spit—
A wad of saliva struck Leon’s cheek.
The knights restraining Lia, Leon who had been spat upon—all stood frozen. Only Lia bared her teeth and glared at him.
“Get away from me.”
“Ha…….”
Leon wiped the spittle from his cheek with a hollow laugh. Then, eyes gone dark, he looked down at Lia.
Leon grabbed the back of Lia’s head. Forced backward, Lia let out a pained moan.

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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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