Chapter 67
Chapter 67
“Milena.” Amelie called over the fence.
“Yes, Miss Amelie.”
“Did all of this happen overnight?”
“Yes, according to the knight patrolling the area, it was fine until the day before. He took a break from patrolling on a foggy day, and when he came the next day, it was like this.”
“I see.”
Amelie touched the soil. The black soil smelled of dirt but the soil itself was completely dead, and lacked nutrition.
‘It’s land that can’t be used anymore.’
Amelie looked around the empty lot in every nook and cranny and was then convinced.
“This is a sign of disaster. It can never be like this naturally.”
‘On a foggy day, disaster failed to cling to Renia. Then the fog and disaster are closely related—’
“People go crazy every day when it is a foggy day, right?”
“Yes.”
“It means that those people, like Renia, were manipulated or badly affected by disaster—”
The disaster seemed to be able to affect the outside even while being sealed inside of Serwin.
‘Does Serwin know about this? If he knew, he would have done something, right?’
Amelie was convinced that Serwin was unaware of this. If he knew, he wouldn’t have let innocent people be sacrificed.
‘I should make sure there are no more victims.’
Not knowing when the disaster would cause another incident, Amelie was lost in thought.
‘Maybe there are days when the energy of disaster becomes exceptionally strong? Nothing else happened the other day.’
There were a lot of unusual phenomena only on foggy days.
“Milena, can I get a record of abnormalities in the imperial palace? I want to know when it started and how often it happened.”
“Well, there must be a record of that in the Ministry of Internal Affairs— but I can’t request data with my authority.”
“Oh, you said you don’t have the authority. All right. I’ll tell His Majesty.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Milena did her best. By the way—.”
‘Will the purification magic work again?’
The last time she fell into the lake with Renia, the energy of disaster dragged them down to the bottom of the lake. No matter how much she struggled, the energy of disaster did not let her out of the water like a ghost.
At that time, the use of purification magic was purely coincidental. The water that entered her mouth tasted like poison and she used purification magic desperately trying to cling to life, and she was able to fight off the energy of disaster and escape the lake.
‘It was so chaotic that I couldn’t tell what I was doing exactly.’
The moment the magic was cast, it was as if she had seen a glimpse of the darkness that had been stagnant like the darkness of the deep sea disappearing and the red light of the sunset spreading beneath the surface of the water.
A few days later, she wanted to check in person whether the lake was really purified, but Serwin strongly opposed it, so she couldn’t go directly and had a maid check the lake. As expected, the water was clean. In addition, according to people around her, the lake used to be so polluted that people could get sick if they fell in.
‘It is clear that the magic of purification is effective in purifying the energy of disaster.’
It was clear that if the energy of the disaster could be purified, it would be of great help to help Serwin deal with the disaster.
‘Let’s use this as a test!’
Amelie made up her mind.
“Millena, is there anyone around you?”
“No. There’s no one.”
“Okay. I’m going to use magic, but let me know if someone comes.”
“I understand.”
Amelie went to the center of the vacant lot and stood. It smelled disgusting, but she held it in.
‘I can do what I usually do, right?’
Fortunately, purification magic was the most natural magic for Amelie. It was because she improved her skills a lot by making medicine every day for Mrs Enard’s daughter.
‘My other magic skills don’t improve even if I practice, but purification magic does. Is it the difference in the amount of practice?’
Next time, she thought it would be good to set a date aside to practice transformation skills to death.
“Phew.”
Amelie sighed briefly. She was slightly nervous. She stretched out her arms as she cast a spell. A much lower voice rang in the garden. Little by little, a black haze rose from the soil, and black smoke gathered in her hands, causing a small storm. It felt somewhat similar to when making magic potion.
“Hmm.”
Amelie repeated the same order over and over again. Black smoke constantly rose from the ground. The amount was so large that she couldn’t tell if it was being purified.
‘Until when do I have to do this? Is it working?’
All the strength drained out of her body. Considering that the spell was memorized only once to make one potion, and now she was essentially making several potions in a row without rest. Eventually, Amelie stopped her spell.
“Ugh.”
Amelie, who felt dizzy for a moment, staggered. The magic force she used was far greater than she thought. Amelie barely leaned her body against the fence. She was short of breath, as if she had run for a long time, and sweat was running down her forehead.
‘What has changed—’
The garden was still black, and there was a strange smell. It seemed to be a little better than before, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
“Miss Amelie? Are you okay?”
“It’s okay. Let’s go for now.”
Amelie turned into a hamster and escaped under the fence.
“Oh, my. Are you okay?”
Milena quickly picked up Amelie and carefully put it in her pocket. Her fluffy hair was damp with sweat.
“Should we go back? Shouldn’t you rest?”
Amelie shook her head. In addition, it would be difficult to use purification magic, but she was able to look around the imperial palace in Milena’s pocket.
“If you’re having a hard time, tell me right away, okay?”
Milena moved on to the next place only after she had been promised many times. Milena continued to be worried, but Amelie looked around the place with anomalies from her apron pocket.
‘Hamsters aren’t always bad either.’
Amelie really liked the apron pockets. Because she was able to move without her strength. In the end, Amelie went back to the palace after completing one lap in that state.
*****
Upon returning to the palace, Amelie was the first to wash herself. Mrs Enard was freaked out and washed Amelie thoroughly to get rid of the smell of rot still clinging to her hair. After she had bathed, she was changing her clothes in the dressing room, when a quarrel was heard outside her room.
“What’s going on”?
“Wait a moment.”
Mrs Enard left the room for a while and returned.
“Baron Avery rushed in and said that he had to meet Miss Amelie, causing a fight. Miss Amelie, I think you should go to the Imperial Palace right now.”
“Has something happened to His Majesty?”
Amelie jumped up. Did the disaster cause another problem?
“Let’s listen to the Baron on the way.”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
As Amelie hurried out of the study, Chad and Milena quickly followed behind her.
*****
Amelie went to the Imperial Palace and asked Baron Avery what happened. The reason he visited Amelie was, of course, because of Serwin.
Serwin has been under a lot of pressure these days. He scared people by being restless when he came to the Imperial Palace. As if they had caused his work, his aides felt worse day by day because he were tied up here.
Today, Serwin tried to quickly handle only urgent tasks and go back. But suddenly, a meeting was scheduled, and his plan went wrong.
‘No wonder he didn’t come even though it was past the time to come back.’
Moreover, especially today, Marquis Lewin was arguing with Serwin’s words one by one. The argument between the two grew fiercer, and Baron Avery thought that this would cause a sword fight.
“Other people may not know, but it’s Marquis Lewin. His Majesty won’t have to kill him, but even a small wound would be a mess. It’s not a Marquis to miss that opportunity. The balance of power that His Majesty has worked hard on may be broken.”
But Serwin was not someone to stop arguing either. Once he was excited, he didn’t listen to anyone. At that short moment, Baron Avery agonized like crazy. Then he thought of Amelie and ran straight to Amelie’s Palace.
“I thought Miss Amelie could stop His Majesty. His Majesty is in a bad mood because he is separated from Miss Amelie.”
Amelie’s cheeks reddened at Baron Avery’s calm words.
“I don’t intend to blame Miss Amelie. I’m just saying that’s the truth.”
“Ah, yes.”
“We’re here now. You can follow me to the meeting room.”
He fiddled with the door even before the carriage opened, refuting his words that made him seem so calm earlier.
——————–
Marquis Lewin wrung his fingers, but in fact, he knew well that Serwin couldn’t hurt him. This was because he was forming the greatest power among the imperial nobles, and he was essential to Serwin for the balance of power.
He had faith in that, and so he did not hesitate to provoke Serwin at every meeting, and he enjoyed watching Serwin, who had fallen for the provocation, take his anger out on others.
Marquis Lewin and the nobles expected today’s meeting to take place similarly.
‘Let’s get out of sight from His Majesty for now.’
The nobles closed their mouths and lowered their eyes so that they would not make eye contact with Serwin. Serwin’s anger was mostly directed at the imperial servants, so it didn’t matter how the meeting went unless they were caught by the Emperor. Besides, it was surprising that Serwin responded sp aggressively to Marquis Lewin’s provocation today, but the nobles did not think too much about it.
Clank.
The moment Serwin pulled out his sword, the conference room became deathly quiet. His blade touched Marquis Lewin’s neck. Marquis Lewin closed his little mouth. Serwin was the only one who could open his mouth in an atmosphere where no one else could even breathe comfortably.
“You seem to have a lot of complaints about me.”
Surprisingly, his voice was calm. It was more frightening because it was not the tone of a person who lost his reason in anger.
“There’s no way. It’s all for the Empire.”
Marquis Lewin smiled brightly. Although he was surprised by Serwin for a moment, he was not a man to be discouraged.
“You have to take care of yourself while taking care of your heart. Huh?”
Unable to tolerate it any longer, Serwin cut Marquis Lewin’s neck with the tip of his sword.