The Scoundrel Prince Sold Out the Empire - Chapter 6

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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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Episode 6: Acquiring the Blank Attribute (2)
A small flame dancing in the palm of my hand.
This is the Imperial Secret Repository of the Empire.
A constrained place where even trivial magic cannot manifest.
Tick-tick. Tick. Tick.
I gazed at the small flame.
Silence.
Only stillness hung in the air, and no sound reached my ears.
‘I cannot even sense the flow of Mana within myself.’
It exists, and yet does not exist simultaneously—like a sheet densely covered in text that has been erased by a rubber.
Yes, I could describe it this way.
‘If I had to name the characteristic of the transformed Mana…’
Blank. I could say that my Mana had become the Blank Attribute.
Suddenly, I recalled the moment I had fallen into a trap during an assassination attempt.
If the detection sensor had not caught my magical manifestation.
I could have assassinated Zion and escaped without incident.
‘From now on, my magical manifestation will never be detected. Moreover, even after magic is released, the caster cannot be identified as me.’
The times are in the midst of upheaval. In this era, magic is not a mystery but a subject of analysis.
Is not the very existence of Magical Engineering proof of that?
‘Nowadays, there are almost no one who painstakingly learn magic.’
The emergence of mass-production factories for Magical Devices. It is a natural change—now anyone with money can wield magic.
“Magic has become not even a subject of understanding and analysis, but a relic of the past or an anachronism.”
That is what magic has become.
But…
‘In front, the identity of a Prince. Behind, the magic of Blank.’
That changes the story considerably.
Exhilarating. Thump-thump.
“To wield magic without it being detected, exactly as I please.”
I turned my head sharply.
Since I had only just begun two days ago, my body could not yet produce magic worthy of the name.
But immediately, I wanted to experiment with the Blank magic as soon as possible.
“The Polaris Branch…”
A magical staff—one of the two great sacred treasures of the Royal House of Deber.
I took the staff from the display case.
With a soft click, the cool touch of crystal slipped pleasantly through my hand.
“Quere Stellam Orbita.”
I began constructing the magic by reciting the incantation.
My body, only two days into apprenticeship, did not yet possess sufficient Mana to generate magic and channel it through the circuit.
That was fine.
Click.
For a Prince, even each button on the clothes worn daily is a Mana Stone.
“Consume it. Activate.”
Though my blood runs with the Imperial Household’s essence, the magic I have learned follows the system of Deber.
The Polaris Branch began to respond to my Mana and glow.
Hummmmm!
One reason the staff bears the name Polaris Branch.
Since ancient times, Polaris has served as a guiding star that finds direction.
In other words, this staff is a clever thing that finds its way home even when lost.
“Quere Stellam Orbita. Delay. Accumulate. Wait for the moment, interlock and release.”
The pathway of Mana drawn in empty space.
Mana traces circuits, and these soon transform into a single formation.
A Magic Circle. An aid to magical manifestation through external structuring.
An enchantment and a technique for delayed magical release.
‘I’ve managed one. Regrettably, this is as far as… wait?’
“…It can go this far?”
The Polaris Branch. Like the Guide Ring, an artifact that only those of the Royal House of Deber’s bloodline can use.
Yet the Guide Ring, even now that I wear Liobert’s body, responded to me, Zion, declaring a new covenant fulfilled.
The result was the acquisition of the Blank Attribute.
“I never thought the Polaris Branch would grant me its functions as well.”
The Polaris Branch possesses a total of three functions.
Beyond the basic Magic Enhancement, there were two additional functions, one of which was…
Click!
The staff’s circuit connected with the Mana pathways coursing through Zion’s body.
The manifestation of Binding Magic.
The Polaris Branch. The kingdom’s most supreme magical staff—a symbol of Deber itself, worthy of that designation alone.
Such a national treasure of an artifact had just become bound to Zion.
Forever.
‘Late King, I have reclaimed the sacred relic you were robbed of.’
His grip tightened around the staff.
“So I went pheasant hunting, ate the pheasant and its eggs, caught the fox that was chasing it, and made a stole from its fur all in one go.”
He set the staff back down on the display stand. Carrying it out would only get it confiscated anyway.
Yet he felt no regret whatsoever.
Thinking of the staff’s third function—its final function—the staff was already as good as his own.
‘To avoid suspicion as the culprit, I should space things out by several days.’
He set a generous delay on the spell’s activation.
His business in the Imperial Secret Repository was now complete.
‘A week from now should be perfect. Go on, eat some candy. It’ll be so sweet your teeth will rot and fall out.’
Ahh. Just thinking about it is sweet. My teeth won’t rot, will they?
In truth, his mind was already melting from the sweetness of it all.
He’d actually cast magic in the Imperial Secret Repository and no one had caught him?!
“Ahhhhh! This is real magic.”
He walked toward the exit, humming a cheerful tune.
The moment he stepped outside.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!
A blaring alarm. Before the repository stood a dozen guards and the Captain of the Guard.
‘The Captain of the Guard held a rank equal to a duke, didn’t he? Same standing as a prince.’
“9th Prince. What have you taken with you?”
Omitting ritual bows and using a half-formal tone—it seemed he’d guessed correctly.
In other words, even as a prince, Zion couldn’t treat the Captain of the Guard carelessly… though that wasn’t really his concern.
‘Not my problem. I’m a disgrace anyway.’
A royal scoundrel who’d beaten a governor to death not long ago—that was him.
“Should you have questions for this prince, show proper respect.”
“9th Prince. Put down everything you’ve taken. If you refuse, I shall deal with you harshly under imperial decree.”
“Annoyingly strict, aren’t you?”
“I merely uphold the sanctity of law.”
“Fine, then. Go ahead and try to take it.”
With a flourish, he thrust out the Guide Ring—or rather, his middle finger wearing the ring.
“9th Prince… that is far enough.”
The Captain of the Guard flushed with indignation, his brow furrowing.
“You should be looking at the ring, not my finger. I tried it on in there and couldn’t get it off.”
“Is that so?”
The Captain seized his hand and struggled for some time, but the ring wouldn’t budge an inch.
“So what now? Going to cut the finger off?”
Zion smirked.
* * *
The 3rd Prince gazed at the Chamberlain as he made his report.
“So. The ring won’t come off.”
“My apologies. Unless we sever the 9th Prince’s finger, recovery of the artifact appears impossible—”
“Enough. Let me read it myself.”
The 3rd Prince cut off the Chamberlain and turned the pages of the report one by one.
「Cause of position lock: Unknown.」
「No changes beyond the lock itself.」
「Given the anomalies that occurred, the artifact’s grade remains at the lowest. No revision is anticipated.」
Since this was analysis from the Imperial Household’s direct department, even if they called it an estimate, it should be read as fact.
‘The Guide Ring… a treasure only from the perspective of the Royal House of Deber, but in truth, worthless garbage with no place in the Imperial Secret Repository.’
In the past, the Empire had raided Deber’s artifacts indiscriminately.
The Guide Ring was one piece of junk that had gotten mixed in among them.
…which meant it bore no comparison to ‘that artifact’—the very reason the Empire had swept up Deber’s relics in the first place.
‘In the end, even ‘that artifact’ was never found.’
The Kingdom of Deber was said to possess an artifact touched by the divine.
A common founding legend—that a kingdom’s relic blazes with power when the realm faces ruin.
The information’s source was credible enough that the Empire had believed in the artifact’s existence.
‘We devoured the kingdom and tore through it for decades. We poured vast resources into the search and found not a single lead.’
It had been a fabrication. Much as the Imperial House spread the propaganda that its bloodline descended from divinity.
Or perhaps the royal strain, which produced a genius mage once every generation, was the origin of the legend itself.
Half in jest, yet watching Zion Blizera’s monstrosity come into being lent it a certain credibility.
The 3rd Prince’s jaw tightened.
‘Zion Blizera. Zion Blizera.’
Zion Riobelt—when he had dangled that bloodline’s disgrace as bait and hooked the great catch, the Raven of Deber, the 3rd Prince had leapt with joy despite his usual impassivity.
Zion Blizera was a harvest unto himself, a universal card to be wielded like the queen in chess.
And yet the creature had vanished.
‘How in the name of divinity did he break through such stringent surveillance and escape?’
The Raven, Zion Blizera—symbol and hope of the Deber Liberation Army.
For roughly a year after his capture, there had not been a single day the Imperial papers failed to carry news of him.
After such a massive propaganda campaign, to announce his escape now?
No shame compared to this. The Empire’s honor would be trampled in the dirt.
‘In the current climate, I cannot waste resources on a 9th Prince. Besides… even the most lowborn 9th Prince outshines the detritus of a fallen realm in nobility.’
The 3rd Prince turned his gaze toward the Main Palace, even within the sprawling Imperial Palace. His father, the Emperor, would surely reach the same conclusion.
The greatness of Divine Bloodline was that exalted, that precious.
“We do not retrieve the ring.”
The Chamberlain exhaled a breath of relief.
The 3rd Prince was so ruthlessly pragmatic that he tolerated no shortcoming in those who served him, and would never keep by his side one who had failed in judgment and chosen wrongly.
“What matters is the treatment of that worthless wretch.”
A stain on the Imperial Household. Filth whose very designation as a brother made one’s skin crawl.
Zion Riobelt was already destined for imprisonment, yet had committed two additional grave crimes.
“How has the 1st Prince reacted?”
“Still quiet, Your Highness.”
On the surface, Zion Riobelt belonged to the 3rd Prince’s faction.
It was a farce of casting him out from the Imperial Palace and then taking him back in, all to use him as bait.
“It’s obvious the 1st Prince will attempt political retaliation. Devise a countermeasure.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I shall gather all the strategists and forge schemes to turn this into opportunity. Without fail.”
A presentable reply, yet the 3rd Prince studied the Chamberlain intently.
“How many hours have passed since he acted?”
“…Five hours, Your Highness.”
Which meant five hours without devising a way to contain the damage.
That was incompetence.
“One hour. That’s all you have.”
“Y-yes, Your Highness. I understand.”
The 3rd Prince, watching the Chamberlain sweat, pressed his fingertips to his temples.
‘That scoundrel’s conduct will continue to bleed resources from me.’
Even a worthless card could be given utility, but once its use expired, it should be discarded without mercy.
Zion Riobelt, stripped of his sole raison d’être as bait, was nothing but refuse—rotting refuse.
Filth that fouled the air merely by being near.
The 3rd Prince’s expression shifted.
‘If his mere presence causes damage, why keep him at my side instead of placing him at my enemy’s?’
A scheme of two-fold cunning crystallized.
The 1st Prince’s domain. How the 1st Prince would react upon receiving that refuse.
The additional profit to be drawn from the gap thus created in his focus.
He had decided.
“Chamberlain. I have determined the 9th Prince’s sentence. This is how you shall proceed.”
Looking at Zion Blizera’s wanted poster on the desk—the face of the Empire’s worst criminal—the 3rd Prince continued.
“I shall gift him to the 1st Prince. Compile a report anticipating the aftereffects and submit it.”
And so Zion Riobelt’s fate was sealed.
* * *
Three days had passed since Zion was dragged from the Imperial Secret Repository.
He had undergone more than ten interrogations and experiments, and in the end, the Guide Ring was unable to exercise any function, but proved inseparable from Zion’s finger.
‘The Imperial Household’s mages were quite bruised in their pride over their inability to undo the Binding Magic.’
Flushed crimson and seething—a sight pleasing to behold.
In any case, since there was no function to the useless Magical Device and they could not risk bleeding Divine Bloodline to investigate further, the Guide Ring became Zion’s property.
Though he did have to pay a substantial fine in compensation.
‘I’ve caused quite a scandal, and yet I haven’t laid eyes on the Emperor once.’
Then again, the Empire’s Emperor had always been famous for his mystique.
The Imperial bloodline was venerated as divine, and the Emperor at the very apex cultivated an image of mystery itself, transforming into something unknowable and sacrosanct.
It also served as a precaution against assassination threats, no doubt.
‘It’s a shame, but even if I were granted a private audience, assassination would be impossible.’
Not unless I regained the rank of Grand Mage—and right now, no matter how much I’ve acquired the Blank Attribute, striking down the Emperor is absolutely out of reach.
So I’d better keep my mind fixed on what truly matters at this moment.
“Exile to Deber. Exile to Deber. Sigh…….”
I need to change the Imprisonment Sentence into an Exile Sentence.
And I must make sure the place of exile is Deber, no other.
The problem is the how.
‘If I just raised my hand and said I’d like to go to Deber, they’d never grant it.’
It’s been three days since I caused the incident, and I still haven’t landed on any workable method.
I’ve got some cleverness to my name, but I’ve always left the real strategy work to Kairo—that coward.
I should’ve practiced thinking harder when I had the chance.
‘Damn it, what use is thinking when I do best what I’m good at?’
Would the 3rd Prince report to his elder through normal channels this time? Should I slip in some Brainwashing Magic when he does?
But if I use Brainwashing Magic at my current level, it’ll cost me decades of life. Hmm.
Is it worth that price?
Knock, knock, knock!
“Come in.”
“Your Highness. The 3rd Prince has summoned you.”
I rose at the Old Steward’s message.
“I still haven’t thought of a method. Well, something will work out.”
“A method, sir? What sort of—”
“Never mind.”
“My apologies, Your Highness.”
The Old Steward moved to kneel and kowtow. I grabbed his shoulder and lifted him up instead.
“……?”
I said nothing in reply, simply brushed past him.
This would be the last time I’d see that face.
‘Now comes the climax.’
The word for the peak of a play.
Ever since this consciousness awakened in Zion Liobelt’s body, everything I’ve set in motion reaches its crescendo right now.
‘Whatever comes next, I’ll finish it without regret—make it unforgettable.’
I will go to Deber. That is certain.
Even if it means using Brainwashing Magic on the 3rd Prince.
* * *
“Choose,” the 3rd Prince said without preamble.
He spoke at once.
“Will you be locked away in prison, or will you accept exile to Deber?”
“Pardon?”
Zion, who had just entered the office and was lowering himself into a chair, froze mid-descent, knees half-bent.
‘Is this… happening this easily?’
I’d spent the entire day wondering how to extract an exile sentence, and it falls into my hands like this?
“Exile to… Deber…?”
Laughter threatened to bubble up. I swallowed it with all my strength.
‘If I laugh now, it’s all ruined. I have to hold it together.’
The chance to live as Deber’s only divine-blooded prince.
In other words, the chance to become the highest authority in the land and help liberate my homeland.
And I’d grasp it without lifting a single finger.
‘Now I’m actually starting to feel a little guilty.’
I’d come here certain things wouldn’t go my way, so I’d hidden something big in the Imperial Secret Repository before I left.
But whatever chaos erupts among the Empire’s rulers, it’s no concern of mine anymore.

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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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