The Emperor walked thump thump down the corridor of the Inner Palace, flanked by his loyal guards.
His aide was noticeably troubled.
Due to the accident with the twin princesses, the Emperor’s schedule had already been delayed multiple days.
Today, he’d heard news that the older twin, Princess Gesa, was suffering from aftereffects.
If the Emperor saw that situation, there was no doubt he would postpone his plans yet again to worry about them.
“Priest Livio.”
“I am honored to meet you.”
Livio, waiting for the Emperor, offered a formal greeting, but his expression was grave.
“I wish to see Gesa.”
The Emperor entered the hospital room.
For a moment, he felt relief seeing a person who seemed like they could die at any moment sitting peacefully on their sickbed.
However, when Gesa reacted with surprise upon seeing him, his mood soured.
“Could it be my brother?”
He had already heard about her symptoms.
It was said that due to the side effects of healing, she had lost part of her memory.
“Yes. It is I, Gesa.”
“Hehe, I recognized you because your face hasn’t changed at all. What a strange thing.”
She then forced a bitter smile.
“I remember yesterday clearly. I hiked up the back mountain with Wanda and got lost, and you came to find me… I felt so relieved.”
“Gesa.”
The Emperor swallowed the bitter taste rising in his throat and spoke to her.
“That’s an incident from 40 years ago.”
After finishing his visit, the Emperor stepped outside and stood in front of Livio.
“Gunter’s attending physician.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Is there no chance she could regain her memory?”
“…I’m sorry, but unfortunately not.”
The Emperor glared sharply at him.
“I’ve heard the situation. It was a miracle that Gesa’s life was saved when she could have died.”
“That’s correct.”
“I commend the effort. However, there will be no reward. Gesa has lost her entire life. Under these circumstances, one cannot even say it’s better than death.”
“You speak justly.”
“Yet Wanda is fine.”
The Emperor shook his head.
“Gothberg is indeed different.”
Upon hearing that name, Livio’s face tightened.
Bowing his head, the Emperor did not notice his fierce expression.
“Hmm.”
After finishing work, Livio returned to his home and entered the basement, flipping through his healing records.
He reviewed the previous entries, detailing the process of healing the princess with a quill.
While mulling over the Emperor’s words from earlier, his hand suddenly froze.
Crack!
Unknowingly squeezing too hard, the pen snapped.
Suddenly, he grabbed a hammer and swung it at an egg in the room.
Smash!
Out poured a chick on the verge of hatching from the helplessly broken egg.
He felt no thrill whatsoever.
“Gothberg.”
Livio muttered with an expression void of emotion.
His plans to become the co-attending physician under the Emperor had turned to dust.
After the incident where he lost his previous opportunity, he had now completely fallen out of the Emperor’s favor.
“The Empire folks are ungrateful.”
To think something as trivial as memory could undermine someone as skilled as himself!
Healers finish their roles once they heal a patient.
Did he really have to tend to the needs of a senile old fool?
Of course, Gesa’s symptoms were not dementia.
Restoring a fractured skull was far easier if he cleanly cut the wreckage so it wouldn’t warp before reassembling it.
In the process, he had to cut and restore part of Gesa’s brain.
He was the only healer with the divine power needed to keep the patient alive through such extensive work, Livio thought.
No one else in the Inner Palace could have saved a person nearly lifeless.
Except for one.
“Two defeats are not coincidence, but fate.”
Livio admitted.
Gothberg had originally been an insignificant figure in his view.
Just a rookie healer with few accomplishments. Killing him would bring no satisfaction.
Even if his anger was sated by revenge, it surely wouldn’t match the thrill of killing the Emperor, so Livio coldly judged.
“Despite being the best in the Kingdom of Law, here in the Empire, I am beneath Gothberg.”
As long as he existed, the chances of contacting the Emperor would grow slimmer with time.
“I must act swiftly.”
The Emperor aims to choose the best successor, completing his legacy as a perfect success story.
If he dies before that, the Empire would fall into chaos, ruined at its most beautiful moment.
That was the obsession Livio held.
He opened the locked drawer he had secured tightly and pulled out a bottle.
Inside the transparent glass, something black and ominous writhed unpleasantly.
“The curse of the Dark Priest.”
It’s a high-level curse, extremely dangerous if mishandled.
The effects are simple.
Anyone bearing this curse takes damage from any healing spell instead.
Since the curse continuously drains the host’s life force, if they are subjected to it, there’d be no way to save them.
Initially, Livio had planned to become the Emperor’s co-attending physician and slip this into his food.
“If only the inquisition from the Kingdom of Law were here, they wouldn’t understand this curse in the Empire.”
This curse was a taboo developed by black magicians, so few possessed proper knowledge of it.
It would be impossible to reveal its grade, effect, or the fact that he had given it to him.
“Yet, I still have my means.”
The next day, Livio immediately began to act.
Every morning, he offered purification and blessings to his responsibility, Gunter.
Thanks to that, Gunter had been overflowing with vitality recently, to the point of being unable to contain it.
After the consultation, Livio spoke to Gunter.
“You’re looking splendid. Truly befitting one who is the next Emperor.”
“Uh? Well, I suppose…”
Gunter answered apathetically as usual, and Livio began to slowly release his poison.
“Is something troubling you?”
“No, not really.”
“Is it because the third princess from Moonlight Palace declared her intention to participate in the succession?”
“…Tch.”
Gunter’s expression twisted.
Livio had already seen through Gunter’s insecurities.
Though he was a prince, he lagged behind his brothers in abilities.
At nearly thirty, he had no achievements like Heike or wealth like George, nor special talents like Acella.
Because of this, he was always full of inferiority complex.
“Clearly, only you are worthy of ruling the Empire, and yet other claimants are being too unruly.”
“My thoughts exactly!”
Gunter, feeling his pride wounded, raised his voice.
“The crown prince was decided to be me from the start. Heike and George forget that fact and stir things up, and now Acella totally disregards me? Cursed bastards.”
Gunter grumbled by himself.
Livio blessed him once more, and he seemed to feel a bit more at ease.
“Well, at least you acknowledge me.”
“I’m just a mere healer. The one who should recognize Your Majesty’s true worth is someone else.”
“Who?”
“Of course, it’s the Emperor, Your Majesty.”
Gunter nodded in agreement with Livio’s words.
Perhaps his father had no intention of handing the throne to him. Gunter had started to entertain such doubts recently.
“Father is too busy, too…”
“In such times, wouldn’t it be better to visit him and uplift his spirits?”
“I have no idea how.”
Just then, Livio had a thought and signaled for a servant to bring him an item from the waiting room.
The servant returned with a bottle of liquor.
“This is a drink crafted by the fairies of the Middle World.”
“Oh? Really? This is incredibly rare. I heard you can’t even buy it with money.”
“If you can have an opportunity to have a hearty conversation with the Emperor, I would be exceedingly pleased.”
Gunter took the bottle of liquor and smiled.
“Thanks, Livio. I like you.”
“Loyalty to my lord is the duty of an attending physician. I find fulfillment in your happiness as well, Your Majesty.”
Livio spoke robotically without a hint of emotion, but Gunter couldn’t discern it and remained joyfully oblivious.
But Gunter had no chance to have a private audience with the Emperor.
“I only consume food and water that have been strictly verified. Drink from who-knows-where, enjoy yourself, Gunter.”
Running with the bottle to the Imperial Palace, Gunter returned only to receive the Emperor’s cold reaction.
At this point, Gunter was also upset.
“Verification? I, the crown prince, have brought a tribute from myself! You don’t trust that?”
“The two are unrelated, Gunter. Besides, that drink was expressly prohibited by Gothberg.”
At the mention of that name, Gunter’s face flushed with anger.
“Isn’t Gothberg Acella’s attending physician? You trust Acella now, but not me?”
The Emperor sighed.
“Gunter, lower your voice. Even with age, you still do not improve. That badge on your chest seems ill-placed.”
The garnet brooch hanging on Gunter’s chest like a medal.
It was a gift from the Emperor when he was appointed as crown prince.
A legendary artifact containing refined phoenix feathers that grants immense vitality to the wearer.
Since Gunter had always been weak since childhood, the Emperor had specially gifted this royal treasure to him.
“If you say that much, I shall prove it. No matter how much Moonlight Palace has grown, Acella is still beneath my level!”
Gunter felt the simmering disappointment and resentment toward the Emperor bubble over.
He had always shouldered the duties of a crown prince and worked hard since childhood.
Yet, with no recognition from the Emperor for his efforts, he had grown increasingly listless in state affairs.
He had no particular feelings toward Acella. He needed an outlet for his frustration directed at the Emperor.
“Father is the one who designated me as the crown prince! I am the worthy one to become the next Emperor!”
Gunter slammed the liquor bottle onto the floor and stormed out angrily.
The Emperor shook his head watching him leave.
*
“The crown prince has requested a strategic mock battle with Princess Acella.”
Tanya, who had come in for the afternoon shift, informed me as she swapped places with Bruno.
“Gunter? He visited Moonlight Palace?”
“Yes. Could it be his intention to keep the princess, who is participating in the succession battle, in check?”
“Seems like that’s the case.”
A strategic mock battle. It’s like a war game.
Two commanders fight each other with a limited force of about a hundred men according to the rules.
It’s like playing chess with actual knights.
Though it brims with more excitement than chess.
“However, about Gunter…”
He isn’t a fight-seeking or belligerent type by nature.
In history, he had quietly been dethroned as crown prince, overshadowed by other claimants.
‘The shy Gunter showing such a bold action must have been due to…’
Livio surely manipulated him.
He must have scratched and prodded Gunter to move him.
‘Seeing that he’s shifted tactics to approach the Emperor using Gunter, he likely judged it was hard to gain traction in the Inner Palace.’
This matter needs thorough response.
Livio’s actions grow bolder. If I keep a watch on his moves, this time I might obtain evidence that he is the assassin and get him expelled.
“What about the princess? Isn’t she in the afternoon treatment?”
“She’s still in the training grounds.”
“It’s already time for magic practice. Let’s go fetch her.”
I moved with Tanya to find Acella.
Upon spotting Acella, she was concentrating on her magic with her eyes closed.
Five magic circles floated above her head.
The circles rotated calmly and steadily as she cast her spells.
At such a young age, mastering level five, Acella truly is impressive.
“Hm?”
At that moment, a message popped up on my status window.
―――――――――――
· Medicine has ranked up to B rank.
· Due to the talent ranking increase, the debuff [Continuous Health Reduction C] has ranked up to [Continuous Health Reduction and Anemia B].
―――――――――――
“Well, that’s both pleasant and not so much.”
In an instant, my head spun.
Lars!!
I fainted as I heard Acella’s urgent voice calling out to me.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.