Chapter 193: Part 2 – Prologue
As I passed through the dark passageway, I hummed a tune.
For my happiness, my joy, was behind these iron gates.
-Squeak.
A shiver ran down my spine as I pushed the door open.
Then I saw a head in the snow, dark hair hanging down, a white bandage like a symbol.
“Ahhh…”
Ecstasy envelops me.
No more annoying ‘distractions’.
It’s just him and me, in our own paradise.
Even those who return from paradise will not be able to escape it.
“…Miss Aizel…”
His voice is weak.
“Zetto, are you awake?”
I bow my head and smile in response.
I hear the clanking of chains and the crunching of limbs. Zetto is sitting in a chair, his arms tied behind him.
“This is…”
“You’d better stay put. If you try to force it, it’ll just tighten up even more and break your arm.”
It was obvious that his prosthesis was no ordinary prosthesis, and it took something a little special to keep him tied up properly.
“So it was Miss Aizel who stole the ‘Conqueror’s Knot’ from the East.”
Zetto immediately recognized the object.
The Conqueror’s Knot is a legendary chain that, if unlocked, could make one the King of the East.
The chain was said to contain mystical powers and could never be untied unless the wearer was worthy of the title.
The funny thing is that there have been many kings in the East, but none of them have been able to untie the knot.
I, too, was able to break it, though not in the normal way.
But what good is knowing about the knot?
It’s too late.
There was no way Zetto could break these chains.
There was no way he could escape my arms.
“I’m sorry…? But if I don’t do this, you’ll leave my arms again.”
I cupped his cheek.
“You can’t get away.”
His breath on my face.
“Accept it.”
The corner of Zetto’s mouth twitches upward.
“You were meant to be with me.”
For a moment, the faces of the interlopers flash through his mind. Just thinking about it makes my anger boil over.
“And what happened to Zetto…It’s all their fault. They don’t know what they’re doing, and they want my Zetto…”
“……”
Zetto shakes his head, pulling away from my touch.
“Hah… I’m sorry, Zetto. I was being a bitch for a second.”
Sadly, Zetto hasn’t recovered yet.
He reacts like that, as if he’s repulsed by my cursing at them.
He hasn’t escaped the brainwashing of the abominable saboteurs but it doesn’t matter. If he stays here with me long enough, he’ll figure it out.
Zetto is mine and I belong to Zetto.
We were inextricably linked.
“…Zetto, are you hungry?”
I held the bowl in one hand in front of his nose.
“It’s fried rice today. I’m getting better at cooking, because everything that goes into your mouth from now on has to go through my hands.”
“……”
Zetto didn’t answer.
Maybe he was tired but it didn’t matter. The only way to make him lose his mind was to use a blitzkrieg.
The old trick of sneaking him alcohol didn’t work anymore.
I’d tried many times, but this was the closest I’d ever come to a complete success.
There was no looking back now and I’m not giving up.
With a secret hiding place not easily found and a knot that will never be untied, the fruits of my labor were in front of me.
I was so ecstatic that I was overcome with joy.
Suddenly, I heard the clanking of metal against metal from the prosthetic arm on his left side.
“…Zetto?”
A questioning voice echoes through the room as a large amount of white smoke billows from his prosthetic hand.
What are you trying to do again?
Are you trying to escape my arms again?
The unrecognizable smoke made me drop the bowl to the floor and put some distance between me and him.
I was holding my breath.
Even so, my vision continues to blur.
Thud.
The next thing I know, all my strength is gone.
Even as I collapsed to the floor and my eyes closed, I could still make out Zetto’s form.
I reached out to him with all my strength but I couldn’t reach him.
***
“…Ugh.”
I barely regained my senses.
On the other side, I could see Aizel lying on the ground, unable to wake up.
My head felt dizzy as I was still feeling the effects of the sleeping gas.
I naturally tried to push myself up.
Clang!
The sound of chains rang in my ears.
‘I was tied up…’
The Conqueror’s Knot.
In any case, Aizel seemed to have gone to great lengths to keep me in this ‘cage’.
“The king commands you, knot, to withdraw your power.”
My voice echoes through the room and the chains around my wrists slip off and fall to the floor.
Finally free of my bonds, I pushed myself up from the chair and twirled my throbbing wrists.
The Conqueror’s Knot, a chain that could only be unlocked by the true King of the East.
The chains are said to be unbreakable by superhuman strength, to withstand any impact, and to be a knot that every scholar on the continent can’t untie, even if they wrap their heads around it and roll it together.
Even Aizel, who knows me best, could not have predicted that the Conqueror’s Knot was an object that was connected to my ‘past life’.
‘How did Aizel steal it, anyway?’
I almost asked.
“Dangerous items are confiscated.”
I picked up the Conqueror’s Knot from the floor and put it straight into my subspace pocket.
As I reached into my subspace pouch, I pulled out a communicator and stuck it in my ear.
I tapped the tiny communicator, and with a crackling noise, it connected.
“Geppeti, do you copy?”
A moment later, Geppeti’s voice came through the comm.
[Zetto, you must be awake.]
“I’m awake, but…What if the sleeping gas got to me too?”
[You were able to wake up thanks to the inhibitor, so that’s okay, the headache will pass in a bit.]
“Inhibitors? I don’t remember being given anything like that…”
[I gave you one while you were sleeping.]
“……”
At the very least, if you did something like that in my sleep, you should have let me know.
Maybe it’s Geppeti who’s the most dangerous.
“Oh, and this time it worked even though I held my breath. What happened to that?”
[Apparently, it was similar to the last time, so I changed it up so that it would penetrate the body through the skin.]
“…I see.”
I gingerly picked up Aizel from the cold floor.
I pushed open the iron gate and walked down a long hallway into a living room.
The whole place was shabby and dilapidated. It didn’t look like a love nest.
However, there wasn’t a speck of dust, and it was well organized. I could see that Aizel had worked hard to create a cozy atmosphere.
I laid her down on a nearby couch and searched around for a blanket to drape over her.
“…Zetto…”
Aizel mumbled as she tossed and turned.
“I’ll be back, Miss Aizel.”
I whispered, kissing her forehead.
I wonder if this is what they mean when they say you look your best when you’re sleeping.
As I walked out of the house, I remembered what I’d forgotten, so I grabbed it, opened the door, and stepped outside.
I saw a dense forest and I wondered where I was.
I stood there, looking at the forest, and took a bite of fried rice with the spoon in my hand.
“Mmm…It’s good even when it’s cold.”
She said her cooking has improved and it must have.
“Geppeti, what’s the situation?”
[I sent Keraf ahead, but he hasn’t moved since earlier. Can’t you feel his aura nearby?]
At Geppeti’s next words, I immediately scattered my energy. The waves spread out, swallowing up the entire forest.
“Ah, I can feel it. There it is. But…”
[What’s going on?]
“…a bunch of uninvited guests.”
[Hah… you’ve been caught.]
Geppeti sighed deeply.
“Well, Keraf is…”
[…weak, to the point of absurdity.]
I smiled slightly at Geppeti’s next words.
I couldn’t agree with her more so I immediately set out to find where I could sense Keraf stirrings.
After a short walk, I saw him on his knees, completely surrounded.
“Lord Zetto…!!!”
Keraf, who had his head down, spotted me and called out.
“Keraf.”
In response, I smiled and waved.
“Lord Zetto…! I, Keraf…I’ve been captured…”
“Well, it looks like it happened.”
“I’m sorry, Lord Zetto…”
“It’s okay, it’s not like you haven’t been caught once or twice… It’s just a routine now, right?”
I said as if it was no big deal and took a bite of fried rice.
At this, Keraf looks at me curiously and asks.
“But…What are you eating…?”
“Fried rice with the love of Ms. Aizel.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but were you kidnapped…?”
“Kidnapped… such a murderous word… It’s just an ordinary act of love. Would you like a bite, Keraf, it’s quite delicious…”
“…I must respectfully decline.”
“That’s a shame, then…”
I turned the bowl around and asked them, who were still hiding in the forest.
Soon, they decided there was no point in hiding any longer and emerged.
They were the familiar faces of the Moonlight Society.
“…The Lord is looking for you.”
One of the members of the Moonlight Society who had appeared behind my back said.
“Is she here?”
I asked since “she” was no longer on my radar.
“Our Lord…”
He trailed off.
“…Did you look for me?”
She appeared from behind me, no footsteps, no movement, and hugged me.
I didn’t sense her, it was a rather annoying ability to have.
Her pink hair ruffles in my vision, and she kisses my cheek.
“Let’s go home.”
She whispers to me.
“You know there’s no place safer than in my arms, right?”
I smile back at her sweet whisper.
“Wasn’t it Ms. Kaen who was supposed to come back?”
“…”
For a moment, Kaen was silent and Geppeti’s voice rang in her ears.
[…Mr. Zetto… this is getting bad. An unidentified entity with a massive energy reaction is heading towards you. By my calculations, its speed is…]
A ferocious howl echoes through the forest in time with Geppeti’s voice.
KEEEEEE!!!
[…a dragon.]
Kaen heard the cry and clicked her tongue.
“It’s a dragon!!!”
“That redhead is…!”
“Hurry up and protect the master and Lord Zetto!”
The forest is suddenly in chaos due to the sudden appearance of a dragon.
Kugung…
The dragon that had been flying overhead with a gust of wind turned sharply and stepped on the ground.
“Zetto!!!”
The woman standing over the head of the red dragon, whose red scales stood out, shouted.
“What, you were there too! You sullen stalker!”
Her wings flapped, her red hair flying, and she vented her irritation at Kaen.
“How dare you…!”
“…Everyone back off. I’ll go first.”
Suddenly, Kaen, who had been hugging me, let go and stepped forward.
“Master…!”
“I’m fine. It’s only a dragon… It wouldn’t hurt to take this opportunity to slit its throat.”
Kaen drew her sword and let out a burst of killing intent, and the Red Dragon flinched in response.
“I… I don’t want to be decapitated…”
She looks up, clearly frightened, and says the words in a whimpering voice to the woman on top of her.
“What are you talking about, Draco, there’s no way I’m going to get my throat slit by a sullen bitch like that.”
She replied in disbelief.
“Give me Zetto, Kaen.”
“Zetto wants to come to me…! Right, Zetto?”
“……”
Feeling dizzy from the conversation, I decided to remain silent.
“…Look, Zetto wants to come back to the nest with me!”
She exclaimed undeterred.
“Lady Yuri…I didn’t hear anything…”
“Draco, shut up.”
“……”
At the sound of Yuri’s stern voice, the Red Dragon Draco’s mouth clenched shut.
Geppeti was right, things were not looking good.
Kaen leads the entire Moonlighting Society and Yuri rides the Red Dragon but that’s not all.
Though she hadn’t arrived yet, Bernice’s presence could be clearly felt on the other side of the forest.
The Saint was coming here with her knights.
It wouldn’t be long before a chaotic three-way battle would unfold.
Finishing my fried rice in time, I set the bowl on the ground and stepped away from the two arguing women.
The men following me were giving off an air of intent to take me away, even if it meant using physical force.
One way or another, I needed ‘her’ to break the current situation.
“When will she arrive?”
[She is on her way to Lord Zetto with Lord Deidros now ].
“She should be here in time.”
I pictured her face on her way here.
‘…She must be angry.’
Aizel’s slight, perhaps overzealous, ‘affectionate behavior’ had caused me to fall away from her.
I couldn’t carry her around my waist anymore.
As my eyes took in the gory scene of Yuri and Kaen’s confrontation, I finally spoke up.
“You know what, Geppeti?”
[Yes, Lord Zetto.]
“Just in case…”
I trailed off as the situation came to a head.
“…maybe I shouldn’t have said something?”
[I don’t know, but one thing’s for sure, the current situation was way outside of my calculations.]
“……”
I scratched my head.
I knew it wasn’t Geppeti’s fault.
It was my own karma, my own sin to bear.