They Say an Age Gap Like This Doesn’t Even Need Matching - Chapter 79

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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 backlash from forcibly breaking the contract struck the Crown Prince directly.
Something scalding surged up from deep within his throat and reversed course.
The Crown Prince, his face drained of color, spat blood profusely and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Then he slowly turned his body.
The Crown Princess trembled violently upon meeting the Crown Prince’s expressionless gaze.
“O-older brother… I….”
“Older brother? Whose older brother?”
Thud.
The Crown Prince stepped toward the Crown Princess.
“I’m sorry… I made a mistake….”
“You should have done well when given the chance.”
As the distance narrowed, terror consumed the Crown Princess.
She felt as though she too would be slaughtered as brutally as the Emperor at any moment.
Now only one step remained.
The Crown Princess squeezed her eyes shut.
The Crown Prince, tilting his head at an odd angle as he gazed down at her indifferently, pressed something into her hand.
“Hold it tight. Then I’ll let you live.”
Without even knowing what it was, the Crown Princess nodded frantically.
Tears streamed down her face.
The Crown Prince abandoned the Crown Princess and opened the bedroom door.
Then he shouted toward the outside.
“His Majesty has been slain by the Crown Princess!”
The Crown Princess’s eyes flew open.
Only then did she confirm what lay in her hand.
It was a blade still wet with blood.
The Crown Princess’s hand trembled at the slick sensation flowing down the hilt.
Red liquid dripped down the back of her hand.
“This… this can’t….”
Her words wouldn’t come together properly.
The Crown Princess’s gaze slowly turned backward.
The Emperor’s corpse sprawled across the floor.
And his severed neck and scattered limbs.
The moment reality registered, her throat constricted as though she couldn’t breathe.
“No… it wasn’t me….”
Denial was meaningless.
In this room right now, she alone held the blade.
The instant this truth dawned on her, the Crown Princess cried out as though screaming.
“No! I was only…!”
Just as she convulsively tried to hurl the blade away, the Crown Prince’s cold gaze fixed upon her.
“…!”
The moment our eyes met, the Crown Prince’s warning echoed in my mind.
That I would be spared if I didn’t release what I held in my hand.
The Crown Princess trembled so violently her teeth chattered, yet she couldn’t release the sword from her grip.
The knights who arrived at that precise moment witnessed the scene.
“Your Highness!”
“What is this…!”
Soon their gazes turned toward the pool of blood spreading behind the Crown Princess.
“Gasp!”
“Your Majesty!”
Amid the shocked cries of the knights and the surging crowd, the Crown Prince smiled quietly.
Yes, this was better than expected.
Now I no longer needed to concern myself with anyone’s opinion.
‘Ser….’
All that remained was to find Iserna.
I would find her, bearing all those wounds, and hold her in my arms to comfort her.
That was my resolve.
The Crown Prince staggered through the crowd and left the bedchamber.
“Bind the Crown Princess! Lock her in the dungeon!”
“How could she commit such a heinous act!”
The enraged knights would imprison the Crown Princess of their own accord.
After all, everyone had witnessed the Crown Princess holding the sword, so the culprit could be no one else.
There would be suspicions about how a powerless Crown Princess could have slashed the Emperor so brutally, but even if they interrogated her, they would find no answers.
The Crown Princess would only cling to the desire to survive and wouldn’t reveal the truth.
The real problem for me now was the aftermath of the contract breach that hadn’t been part of the plan.
‘This recovery will take some time.’
It seemed I would need to increase the output of the life force absorption device slightly.
I had to recover quickly to conduct both the coronation and the state marriage ceremony at once.
The stewards and maids who witnessed him passing by with a face so pale he looked ready to collapse at any moment gasped and stepped aside in alarm.
“Oh!”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince…!”
The Crown Prince ignored the commotion around him and walked forward in silence.
Thus, permitting no interference from anyone, I left the Imperial Palace.
‘Where should I find Ser.’
Perhaps she had shut herself away in the Separate Palace.
Or perhaps…
It could be the Crown Prince’s Palace.
That place was surely the safest location for her, wasn’t it.
By now, she might be hiding there and waiting for my return.
‘Ser.’
With that thought, the Crown Prince’s pace quickened.
Despite my grave condition causing me to stagger, I refused to slow my pace.
‘I’ll be there soon, just wait a little longer.’
It was when I had traveled far from the Imperial Palace.
Boom!
A sudden deafening roar shook the very earth.
“What…?!”
The Crown Prince, startled, stopped in his tracks and turned his head.
A pillar of light descended directly upon the Imperial Palace, precisely where the Emperor’s Bedchamber lay.
“…!”
And that was merely the beginning.
Boom-boom-boom!
Light struck down across the Imperial Palace.
Brilliant flashes pounded the ground accompanied by terrifying explosions.
The sight resembled divine punishment descending from an enraged goddess upon the earth.
The Crown Prince’s eyes, which had been vacant, gradually widened.
“Surely not…?”
A pale, brilliant blue light.
The way it struck with precise accuracy.
And the flow of mana beneath it.
Only then did I comprehend what this was, what it was destroying.
“No…!”
Boom! Crash-boom!
The explosions continued relentlessly.
The apparatus infusing Mikhail’s body with life force, the magical circles absorbing the life force of countless people—all were being destroyed simultaneously.
“No!”
My mind felt as though it were burning away from rage and despair.
“Raern!!”
It was him.
Of all times, he appeared now, methodically obliterating everything I had built.
“How dare you! How dare…!!”
Crash!
My cry, nearly a shriek, was swallowed futilely by the deafening explosions.
As I attempted to move, I coughed up blood once more.
“Cough…!”
Only then did I regain my senses.
This was no time to be consumed by rage and act recklessly.
If this was Raern, who had disapproved of me even three hundred years ago, I could not predict what he might do upon encountering me.
That mad mage’s nature was far too destructive and impulsive.
‘I must think clearly.’
My current condition was the worst it could possibly be.
Even taking a single step was difficult, and my lungs felt as though they might tear apart.
The mana I had been handling so effortlessly moments before now refused to obey me at all.
No—I couldn’t feel it at all.
What should have filled my entire body was completely hollow.
That emptiness screamed like a living thing.
I couldn’t face Raern in this condition.
‘First… I need to hide my body.’
This thought only occurred to me after I had coughed up blood twice more.
Fortunately, this place was the Stronghold where I had laid foundations over a long time.
A hideout existed here, perfectly sealed off from the outside world.
I pushed my blood-soaked hand into my robe.
A teleportation scroll with the hideout’s coordinates stored within it caught on my trembling fingertips.
I tore it without hesitation.
The mana contained within surged forth, dyeing my vision white.
And in the next moment.
A powerful pulling force released with a snap, dropping me in a different place.
“Gasp… gasp….”
I clutched my chest, breathing in ragged gasps.
Fortunately, I had succeeded in escaping to the hideout.
Now that safety was secured, all that remained was to recover my body.
However.
‘Ser….’
I hadn’t brought Iserna with me.
Of course, she would be fine.
Raern, that mad Mage, was someone who played docile in her presence.
But he would certainly lure her away with honeyed words and take her to Bardia.
The despair of losing her again, when she had been so close I could almost grasp her, tore through my chest.
“I will….”
I opened my mouth, where bloody foam bubbled over, and spoke through gritted teeth.
“I will… come for her.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I thought of her, waiting for me without knowing anything, blurring my vision.
When we meet again next time, there will be no parting.
“No matter what….”
We will be together forever.
Even if I must destroy everything that stands in the way.

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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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