The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 38

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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 38
But that was not all.
“Wait.”
“….”
I pushed Rotar Eisenrit’s body away slowly and drew closer to the Belgrum.
Then I examined the bandages wound tightly around his left hand—the one with only two fingers remaining.
I reached out my hand.
“Elise.”
I heard Rotar Eisenrit’s voice of protest, but my hand moved faster.
The moment I unwound the bandages, what came into view was a palm crushed nearly beyond recognition. It looked so grotesque that healing seemed impossible.
‘Completely mangled.’
A shattered hand.
I could not discern the reason. Whether in Belgrum society or in the Snowy Mountains, something had happened that cost him his hand.
In that state, starving, he sensed human presence and devised a plan to steal provisions.
“….”
I understood. There was no need to project myself onto him because of this strange parallel.
Struggling to survive by any means was the instinct of existence itself, and a broken hand was merely coincidence.
And yet.
“For now, let us keep him alive.”
“…Elise.”
“He does not even know how to wield a blade properly. Starving as he is, he can barely move.”
I lifted my gaze to meet Rotar Eisenrit’s eyes.
His face bore the expression of one suppressing something. How could I persuade this man?
I resorted to words bordering on recklessness.
“What if we die the moment we enter Drakenloch? This might be our only chance to gain something.”
“….”
Regression. A better life beginning with abundant knowledge.
These were words only Rotar Eisenrit and Wolfgang Lichtenbrun could understand in this place.
‘It was not long ago that I told Wolfgang to focus on surviving this life.’
I deliberately avoided Wolfgang’s gaze. My feelings then remained unchanged. I simply lacked the confidence to persuade Rotar Eisenrit otherwise.
I watched Rotar Eisenrit’s deep green eyes waver. I saw his lips part as if to speak, only for him to remain silent.
After a moment of silence, he replied.
“Do as you wish.”
Then he turned and walked toward the tent. I could say nothing in response.
One thing was certain.
‘…I have wounded him.’
This time, it was I who had been greedy.
***
It was several dozen minutes after my encounter with Rotar Eisenrit that the Belgrum finally regained consciousness.
“Ssshhh, wh…?”
The creature’s dark, bead-like eyes snapped open, and immediately it surveyed its surroundings.
The cramped tent felt suffocating. Inside were three people in total: myself, the Belgrum, and.
“Oh, thank goodness you’ve awakened. If you’d died from malnutrition, all that fighting between the Holy Maiden and the Prince would have been for nothing.”
“Shut your mouth.”
Wolfgang Lichtenbrun—that fool.
“Ssshhh, shaaaa, ssshhh!”
The moment the Belgrum realized it was bound, its entire body convulsed as it emitted those grating sounds.
In such situations, the method to silence an opponent was simple.
Bang—
“….”
A single bullet fired past its head.
The tent fell silent once more. Yet the creature’s gaze remained fixed upon the firearm in my hand.
“It seems this creature also finds the Holy Maiden’s weapons fascinating.”
“Just watch. Since I can’t read its expression, what else can I do?”
I tucked the gun away and instead grasped an apple.
“Hey.”
I waved the apple before the Belgrum’s eyes.
“Are you hungry?”
The creature did not respond. Yet that was fine—its pupils tracked the apple’s movement while saliva pooled at the corners of its mouth.
“Do you want to eat?”
“Ssshhh.”
“You must want to. You came all this way because you were starving.”
Wolfgang’s murmured comment about how villainous I sounded was ignored.
“Now, we’re going to have what you might call a conversation.”
I withdrew a scroll of parchment from my pocket and laid it between myself and the Belgrum.
“One slash mark for yes, two for no.”
This was now an art lesson.
I sketched an apple upon the paper. Beside it, I placed an actual apple and a chunk of bread.
One slash mark next to the apple, two next to the bread.
“This is an apple—one slash. This is not an apple—two slashes.”
“You’re going through quite the effort.”
“Shut your mouth.”
I drove my fist into Wolfgang’s ribs as he chuckled mockingly. I ignored his exaggerated whimper.
In truth, he wasn’t wrong. I was indeed going through considerable effort. Had the language systems been even remotely similar, I would have chosen an easier method.
‘But the Belgrum’s oral structure appears fundamentally different.’
The thin, elongated tongue visible each time it opened its mouth, not to mention the hissing sounds it produced like wind escaping—all of it made this clear.
The Belgrum stared intently at the slash marks I had drawn.
Did it understand? Without believing it did, I could not proceed to the next step.
I picked up the quill once more.
“Look carefully now.”
Tracing through hazy memories, I drew a curve. Soon, what emerged upon the paper was—
“This. You know it, don’t you?”
A circular symbol.
It was the massive emblem I had witnessed while scaling that sheer cliff face.
The cliff’s symbol, the blizzard that poured down with terrifying ferocity, the corpse of a knight moving about like a zombie.
Surely all of it was connected.
I pointed once at the symbol drawing, then once at the Belgrum. And I asked.
“Does this symbol relate to your race?”
One slash if yes, two if no.
I signaled Wolfgang. He immediately untied the rope that had bound the Belgrum’s arms.
The Belgrum regained freedom in its arms in an instant, but that was all. With its torso and legs still bound, escape from this place would be impossible.
Aware of this fact, the Belgrum showed no sign of excitement. It merely stared down at the symbol I had drawn from memory.
“….”
“….”
Silence settled within the tent for a moment.
“You understood, didn’t you?”
“Be quiet.”
“It doesn’t seem to understand. May I eat that apple? It’s truly rare at this time of year.”
So irritating. I was contemplating whether to shove my gun barrel into Wolfgang’s rambling mouth.
“Shh.”
With that brief sound, the Belgrum’s fingers moved with fluid grace. And—
“…!”
Its finger pressed upon the paper. Precisely on the side where one slash had been drawn.
It meant the symbol and the Belgrum were connected in some manner.
“Good.”
The corners of my mouth lifted. I handed the apple on the paper to the Belgrum.
“Shh.”
The creature accepted the apple.
Then I saw it. A mouth gaping wide open, within which two sharp fangs had grown prominently.
The apple vanished entirely into that cavernous maw. Soon, without even the sound of chewing, came a gulp. As the apple traveled down its throat, a round shape slid smoothly down beneath its elongated neck.
Was it a fairy tale I had read in early childhood? The image of a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant flashed briefly through my mind.
“Did you just see that?”
“Yes.”
“I think it could swallow a Saint whole without much trouble. Should we seal its mouth shut?”
“Then how would we feed it?”
A chill ran through me, though that was all. Ever since the bullet had grazed past my head, the Belgrum had shown no further signs of resistance.
“Now, next.”
While the creature licked around its mouth with its cleft tongue, I picked up the quill and began drawing the second sketch.
However, from this point onward, things became considerably more difficult.
“Saint, what is this? The descent of angels?”
“….”
Fireballs falling from the sky.
“And what about that? Children tormenting animals with sticks?”
Mages wielding staffs to strike down monsters.
“So then… these are Pelmira’s messengers descending to punish fallen children. I had no idea you would be conducting missionary work here.”
“Please, just stay quiet before I start holding scripture study meetings every day.”
“Yes.”
I ignored Wolfgang’s deliberate misinterpretation and observed the Belgrum carefully.
Magic. This abstract ability had its limits when expressed through my meager drawing skills.
Especially when I didn’t even know what magic the Belgrum wielded.
‘All I know is Harry X ter.’
Still, I had to try. I pointed once at my drawing, then once at the Belgrum.
“You all can use magic, right?”
If the symbols were related to the Belgrum, then magic would be as well.
Rotar Eisenrit had said the ancient Mages destroyed themselves. But new seeds always sprouted atop the ashes left by wildfire.
The Belgrum stared down at my drawing for quite some time.
At last, its finger touched the paper.
“…!”
One slash. Two slashes.
Its finger pointed to the space between them.

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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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