Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 149

Episode 149

The Emperor stumbled back at the sight of Kassel approaching, emitting a savage and violent aura, unlike his leisurely demeanor from moments before.

"St, stay back!"

"..."

"Cr, Crown Prince! Do you intend to disobey my command!"

"..."

"Kassel Ludwig!"

Kassel, sword drawn, seemed oblivious to everything, Emperor included. The Emperor, sensing this too, urgently called out to him. But seeing no reply, it seemed our Male Lead was seriously pissed.

"What are you all doing! Stop him at once!"

"Ye, yes! Ka, Karuna Seloi...!"

The mages, who had also been hesitantly backing away, haltingly chanted another magic spell at the Emperor's urgent command. But naturally, it didn't work. The Emperor's face grew increasingly pale as he stared at Kassel walking toward him, unharmed.

'I know that feeling well.'

How anxious I'd been in Hailey, worrying that bastard would tear off his chains, come over, and strangle me. For a moment, glancing sideways at the large combat boot that brushed past my head, I completely understood the Emperor's feelings. To think even footsteps could carry killing intent. He was no different from a human weapon.

Thud.

It was then. For some reason, that bastard stopped dead in his tracks toward the Emperor. He was really only a short distance from the unconscious Elaine's head. Startled, I hurriedly curled up tighter.

'Don't tell me... he didn't see me, did he?'

Impossible. It was dark all around, and I was hidden within Elaine's hair, thumb-sized. Unless that bastard's eyesight was as good as a magnifying glass, or he had attached a tracking device to me, there was no way he could notice.

But, why?

As I held my breath, staring at the motionless giant foot, an uneasy premonition kept creeping in.

"D, damn you! Didn't I tell you not to come closer!"

However, the momentary chill I felt quickly vanished due to the Emperor's impulsive action. Perhaps sensing danger from Kassel, who kept getting closer with sword drawn, ignoring even the mages' attempts to stop him. The Emperor suddenly shouted as if in a desperate struggle and quickly took something from his breast, flinging it at Kassel.

Chwaak!

I thought he might be attacking with a hidden weapon, but all I heard was the sound of liquid splashing. A moment of silence fell over the lakeside.

Drip, drip.

I heard the sound of water droplets falling from somewhere. Right at Kassel's feet. I roughly pushed aside Elaine's hair obscuring my vision and cautiously raised my head to look. Kassel's head and face were soaked with the unknown liquid the Emperor had flung.

"...What is this?"

He roughly wiped away the dripping moisture with one gauntleted hand and muttered lowly. Kassel's voice, echoing softly across the quiet lakeside, carried a different kind of eeriness.

'Now you're screwed, Emperor.'

Seeing Kassel's expression, which had gone beyond expressionless to savagely contorted, I clicked my tongue in dread and pitied the Emperor. Despite having done it himself, the Emperor stared at Kassel with startled eyes. Then he stammered.

"I, I didn't want to go this far...!"

"Ha."

Kassel let out a dry laugh, as if finding it utterly absurd. At that, the Emperor's eyes shot up.

"I can no longer stand by and watch your insolent attitude!"

"..."

"There's a limit to insulting me, how dare you draw your sword and threaten me?!"

"So. Did you just splash Your Majesty's piss on me or something?"

Even while not knowing what the Emperor had done, Kassel retorted coldly. At the utterly vulgar tone, not just the Emperor, but even I frowned.

"Th, that vulgar bastard being the Crown Prince...!"

The Emperor, seemingly shocked, briefly grabbed the back of his neck, suppressing his anger, then suddenly threw something he was holding at Kassel.

"Piss? Humph!"

Thud, clatter clatter clatter...

It seemed he threw it with all his might to hit Kassel. Unfortunately, perhaps lacking strength due to old age, it didn't even hit Kassel, instead falling at his feet and rolling away.

It was an empty bottle. It seemed to be the bottle that held the unknown liquid splashed on Kassel moments before. However, seeing the faint purple liquid remaining inside, my eyes shot wide open.

'That's... an insomnia potion?!'

I urgently looked at Kassel. But he, seemingly not recognizing the bottle's identity right away, glared at the Emperor with the same annoyed expression as before.

"What is this?"

"Did you think there was anything about you I didn't know!"

The Emperor shouted, his attitude suddenly becoming much more arrogant.

"As soon as you returned to the Imperial Palace, you sought the royal physician and ordered them to make an antidote for potion addiction, didn't you?"

"..."

"But why hasn't there been any improvement yet? You foolish boy."

At those words, my eyes widened even further than before.

'Still... hasn't been treated?'

The potions I gave him in Hailey were just a temporary measure.

If an antidote wasn't taken quickly, the addiction symptoms would gradually worsen, eventually leading to a severe condition where even the antidote wouldn't work.

Since quite some time had passed since Kassel arrived at the Imperial Palace, ignoring the scenario and moving ahead, I naturally assumed he had received much better treatment.

However,

"Then hand over all the health potions and antidote potions you have."

"Offer them daily while you are in the temple from now on."

'Then it wasn't just to screw with me, but really...'

It was when I was recalling the moment in the temple when he had bought potions from me as if robbing me.

"Tsk tsk. The Crown Prince, getting sick from relying on mere potions..."

"..."

"Weak and useless since childhood, I showed you mercy and let you be! You dare run wild, not knowing your place!"

"..."

"A bastard like you, branded with the infamy of bringing a curse upon the Imperial Palace, is not qualified to be Crown Prince!"

The Emperor mocked Kassel to his heart's content. I couldn't quite understand that sight.

'Why? Isn't he still his biological son?'

Even when he exiled him, branding him the 'Lord of Nightmares,' I thought there might have been unavoidable circumstances...

Looking at it now, it seemed the Emperor hadn't liked Kassel before. Seeing how easily he spoke of qualifications as Crown Prince.

But if he had seen his state in the Hailey prison, no one could say such things to him.

He, who had endured several nights without a wink of sleep, his eyes shot with burst capillaries.

Not only gulping down the insomnia-inducing awakening potions, the cause of his current addiction, like water without rest.

If he had seen him trying so hard not to fall asleep, even digging into his own flesh with shards of a broken bottle...

"..."

I looked anxiously at Kassel, who had been standing silently for some time. It was at that moment. Thud.

His head, which had been held rigidly towards the Emperor, limply dropped downwards.

And.

[Crown Prince Kassel Ludwig is currently incapacitated due to a status abnormality.]

Sometimes, just like a single drop of water can make a full cup overflow.

For Kassel, already suffering from potion addiction, even a single bottle of insomnia potion was fatal.

Unbelievably, Kassel, who hadn't flinched even under the magic attacks poured by the Imperial Mages, was disarmed almost anticlimactically by the potion the Emperor had splashed.

Extremely flustered, I looked back and forth between the motionless Kassel, afflicted by the status abnormality, and the Emperor.

"...A bastard like you would be better off disappearing for the sake of the Empire!"

"M, my lord!"

"Yo, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

His subordinates, sensing something was seriously wrong with their superior, repeatedly called out to Kassel from behind.

However, Kassel, afflicted by the 'status abnormality,' remained motionless, his head hung low.

The Emperor, smiling slyly at his son, soon raised the horn he held in one hand and blew.

Bwooooooooo!

The sound of the horn echoed once.

"Kkieeeeeeeek..."

And behind it, a giant shadow slowly rising.

"Ooh, Shadow of the Magic Dragon and Abyss! You have resurrected!"

The Emperor turned towards the lake and shouted in a voice filled with emotion towards the Chimera, which had rapidly recovered from its wounds.

"I offer that bastard who dared to attack you disrespectfully as a sacrifice! Please take that bastard and release your anger...!"

The senile old man didn't even need to point his finger to indicate the new sacrifice. Because the high-level Chimera knew very well who had attacked it.

The moment it's cold, yellow eyes are fixed precisely on Kassel's form. The monster, which had stretched its long neck out over the water's surface, suddenly coiled its body like a spring.

It was the stance the Chimera, slow outside of water, took to prepare for a strike.

The Crown Prince's retainers, who had been struggling with the non-functioning cannon until the last moment, shouted desperately.

"Yo, Your Highness! Dodge!"

"Yo, Your Highness! Aaaargh!"

"Kkieeeeeeeek!"

However, like a coiled snake leaping at its enemy, the moment the Chimera, mouth gaping wide, shot forward like an arrow.

They began to scream and run away as if on cue. The Emperor, needless to say, was already retreating far away much earlier.

Now, the only ones left by the lakeside were Elaine, Kassel, and me, hidden in my rat-turd size.

I held my breath, staring endlessly at the back of the man who remained utterly still, even with the monster's maw barely an inch away.

What would happen if I saved that bastard here?

Even though my head knew this was the chance to use a teleport scroll and escape with Elaine. I couldn't tear my eyes away from him, dammit.

[Crown Prince Kassel Ludwig is currently incapacitated due to a status abnormality.]

It's all because of that damn system window. That damned system window, unnecessarily reminding me of our first meeting. Reminding me of that bastard, helplessly swallowing the potions I poured, his limbs bound in chains...

"Kkueeeeeeeek!"

Crunch!

Around the time the monster, using recoil to launch itself forward, bit into Kassel's armored torso and lifted him up.

I found myself already out from between Elaine's hair, desperately clinging to the laces of Kassel's combat boot.

My body whipped violently through the air, incomparable to when the cannon was fired at the Chimera.

I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed in a daze.

"Aaaaaaaack... Oobuboop!"

And soon, ice-cold water forcibly silenced my scream.