Chapter 327
Unashamedly
The first person to appear beyond the open door was…
“Deok-Sung! Are you okay?”
It was Rin still dressed in a MIRA outfit.
Her worried expression was evident.
Following her was Eri, dressed as a ghost.
“Master! There’s nothing wrong, right? Eri was super worried about you!”
“Deok-Sung oppa! What’s happening? Haru sprinted here first because she was worried about you! Did I do well?”
Next came Haru.
Her outfit was that of a typical high school girl ghost, wearing a black sailor uniform.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. What was that magic wave just now? What happened?”
“Junior, I came worried about the bad guy Junior… Hiiik! Who is that girl? Another girl for Junior?”
“Master! I’m here!”
Following Haru were Aris, Kasumi, and Makoto.
All the heroines barged in.
“…”
Wilhelmina’s brows furrowed, suddenly exposed to everyone.
Olivia’s face turned bright red.
She covered her revealing neckline with her hands and shrank her shoulders.
[Partner, what do we do? Should we keep explaining? There are others here?]
The voice of the Black Prince echoed in his head.
Others, huh.
This is a light novel world, after all.
If the heroines are those who naively trust others and keep secrets, there’s really no need to stop the explanation.
‘Continue.’
More than anything, they have the right to know this much of a secret.
[Okay.]
The Black Prince responded in his mind.
[Hmm. Looks like we have a lot of new ladies arriving.]
As the Black Prince cleared his throat and gestured, his magic surged towards the door.
The open door slammed shut.
[Ah, where did I leave off? Did I explain up to the point where this Black Prince didn’t die but became a spirit?]
“Yeah.”
At the Black Prince’s words, Wilhelmina nodded with a blank expression and half-closed, drowsy eyes.
“…I had speculated that my brother might still be alive. Perhaps he became the spirit of Durandal and helped that fool. But I never thought it would be true…”
Then Olivia, surprisingly serious, turned to the Black Prince and spoke.
Unlike her earlier shocked expression, she was quite composed now.
So she had a hunch.
“The Black Prince… was alive?”
“Indeed… Was Deok-Sung using the Black Light Sword thanks to the Black Prince?”
“Was using this Black Sword Technique thanks to the help of the Black Prince?”
Aris exclaimed with a shocked expression, and Rin nodded her head.
The heroines, who heard this late, whispered among themselves.
“But Your Highness, who is that person?”
A flinch.
The Undertaker, pointed at by Eri, trembled.
For the other heroines, except for Haru and Rin, it was their first time meeting the Undertaker.
It’s natural for them not to know who she is.
“This person is······.”
Just when Olivia was about to say something.
“My name······. Wilhelmina Heisenberg.”
Wilhelmina interjected, cutting off her words.
“Damian, sister······.” “So you’re the Heisenberg who went missing ten years ago······?”
Wilhelmina spoke with a deadpan expression, prompting Rin to react.
Given that they were both from the Five Crowns family, it wouldn’t be unusual for them to at least recognize each other.
That was the case in the original work, too.
Wilhelmina nodded.
“Nyahaha. Why did you only show up now, big sister? Where have you been all this time?”
Just as Haru stepped in to ask.
“······Everyone, be quiet.”
Wilhelmina spoke with a cold voice, releasing ivory-colored magic power.
The overwhelming aura and pressure emanating from an EX-rank powerhouse froze the faces of all the heroines.
“I haven’t finished talking with Raul yet······. My conversation partner······. Black Beast and Black Prince······. You guys······. No.”
Wilhelmina’s golden eyes glimmered ominously.
Currently, Wilhelmina was a dangerous EX-rank villain.
She disliked being interrupted like this.
But that’s that.
It was a bit uncomfortable to see her pressuring people I knew, even if they were complete strangers.
Immediately, I raised my own magic to counter Wilhelmina.
Whummm!
Durandal trembled and black magic rose from my body, opposing Wilhelmina’s magic pressure.
“Puhaha.”
The faces of the heroines, which had turned pale, regained some color.
They exhaled.
[Big sis. What are you doing to the kids? It’s no wonder you’re still single with that kind of social skills.]
Wilhelmina’s brows furrowed at the Black Prince’s words.
She spoke, her hands trembling slightly.
“I······. I am not······. single······.”
Sssssssss.
Wilhelmina withdrew her magic.
The pressure that filled the lobby melted away like snow.
Seriously, was that really what she was sensitive about?
It was ridiculous.
I confirmed that she had withdrawn her magic and followed suit.
The lobby fell silent like a dead mouse.
Seeing this, Wilhelmina looked at the Black Prince and said,
“Everyone······. Quiet······. Good. Continue what you have to say······. Raul······.”
[It’s true that I was killed by the Omega-rank interdimensional species Pafnir ten years ago. But the state of the Pafnir I faced was······. a bit strange. It was bizarrely strong compared to other Omega-rank interdimensional species and seemed to have lost its reason.]
At the Black Prince’s words, Olivia’s expression stiffened slightly.
[Anyway, just before I died, I used Golden Magic to seal my soul in Durandal. The success rate was only 10%, but this Black Prince here is a prodigious lucky child, so it succeeded! That’s how I became a spirit. Hahahahahaha!]
Success! So I’ve become a spirit, huh? Hahaha!
The Black Prince laughs.
Upon hearing this, Wilhelmina’s eyes sink heavily.
“Is that… it…?”
[My story ends here…]
Just as the Black Prince was about to answer Wilhelmina’s question.
“Wait a second!”
Olivia interjects seriously into their conversation.
Step, step.
With one hand covering her chest, Olivia steps forward, looking at the Black Prince.
“Big brother. That incident ten years ago wasn’t just an accident, was it?”
“Just an accident…? No way?”
This time, Wilhelmina is startled by Olivia’s words.
[………]
The Black Prince also falls silent.
“Honestly, when I caught a glimpse of that fool using your mind projection during the school trip, I started to have my doubts. At that moment, I wondered if the spirit of Durandal I saw in Seoul was possibly you, big brother. If that guess is true, then everything from that scene to that fool using the Black Sword technique of the Bonaparte royal family can all be clearly explained.”
With a serious expression, not in tsundere mode, Olivia looks straight at the Black Prince.
You saw me using the Black Prince’s mind projection during the school trip?
“Hey, did you know Olivia was awake back then?”
[No, I didn’t know either, partner.]
A fact that even the Black Prince wasn’t aware of.
It’s highly likely that both of us were too exhausted from forcing the mind projection at that time to notice Olivia was awake.
“But for someone who cared for me more than anyone else, for someone who lived a heroic and serious life—hiding your identity from me, your family, would be unthinkable. Moreover, if you’re hiding your survival while acting frivolously as the Black Knight… then there must be a reason for it.”
With a serious expression, Olivia stares at the Black Prince.
Everything’s fine, but acting frivolously?
That’s 100% their true self.
“Hey, a serious hero? What’s going on here?”
[Hmm hmm. Partner. Now that you’re a fine gentleman, you should know it’s courteous to act like a gentleman in front of a lady and your lovely younger sister.]
The Black Prince prattles nonsense that doesn’t hold water.
Act like a gentleman? It’s probably just a facade.
“But the former big brother was a hero who lived without shame, elevating the honor of France and the Bonaparte family—a peerless hero who returned after living the most heroic life! He was the savior of humanity and the world, holding the first position of the Five Crowns!”
One step forward.
Olivia steps forward again.
“If there’s a secret big brother can’t hide from me, your family, it must be related to the truth behind the events of ten years ago, hidden from the public regarding your death.”
“Death’s… truth?”
Wilhelmina’s eyes tremble.
The Black Prince’s death ten years ago.
The truth behind it must have been the reason for hiding his identity.
Most guesses were based on the Black Prince’s constructed image and Olivia’s admiration, but surprisingly, her speculation was closest to the truth.
“That’s not all. If there’s a hidden truth about big brother’s death that people don’t know, then I believe there’s also a hidden truth behind the deaths of the other Five Crowns who died ten years ago. For the saviors of the world and humanity, the Five Crowns, to die on the same day… Even if it’s coincidence, it feels too deliberate.”
“Death, if there’s a hidden truth that the world doesn’t know about… I believe the deaths of the other Five Crowns who died ten years ago also hide a truth in the background. For the Five Crowns, the saviors of the world and the messiahs of humanity, to die on the same day… Even if it’s just a coincidence, it’s way too contrived.”
I was slightly taken aback by Olivia’s words that followed.
Did she really figure that out?
So far, it was predictable, but this was truly unexpected.
Olivia, described as a genius in the story, surprised me with her far-reaching thoughts.
Ten years ago.
The deaths of the four members of the Five Crowns.
There exists a hidden truth behind what was called an unfortunate coincidence.
Everyone was stunned by Olivia’s words, which completely overturned what was previously known.
The most shocked of all was Wilhelmina.
“The deaths of the Five Crowns… a hidden truth…?”
Wilhelmina’s golden eyes were shaking.
Her entire body was trembling.
Wilhelmina took a step closer to the Black Prince and spoke.
“Raul. Just now… did Olivia really say… there’s a hidden truth… is there…?”
The vacant focus in Wilhelmina’s golden eyes became sharp.
An unknown fervor ignited in her gaze.
The resurrection of her younger sister, her lifelong goal.
The existence of a hidden truth behind that death was enough to unsettle the Undertaker.
“Ahahaha, th-that’s…”
The Black Prince seemed flustered too, scratching his head.
It was unexpected that Olivia reached this point just based on her own speculation, but it wasn’t a bad situation.
After all, to persuade the Undertaker, I had to let her know the truth of that day ten years ago.
The real problem was how to lead the conversation there, and Olivia just brilliantly handled that for me.
I almost felt like thanking her.
Truly, the tsundere machine number one, what a timely help.
“From here on, I’ll explain. Pass me the baton.”
“Got it, partner.”
After the Black Prince answered in my mind, he said, “The hidden truth of the incident ten years ago does indeed exist. That’s my lovely little sister. So smart.”
Upon hearing the Black Prince, Olivia’s face turned red.
“O-Onii-chan! Wh-why are you saying such embarrassing things?!”
Embarrassed by his foolish remarks, Olivia fanned her flushed face with her hand.
Seeing that, the Black Prince laughed.
“Hahahaha. It’s true my cute Olivia is smart! I’m not embarrassed at all. Anyway, regarding the hidden truth, my partner, Kim Deok-Sung, will explain it from now on. Partner, are you ready?”
As the Black Prince pointed at me, all eyes, including Wilhelmina’s and Olivia’s, focused on me.
Finally, the day to use the recording had come.
As I thought that, I took out my phone and played a video of the Professor’s visit, containing the truth confession I had prepared for this day ten years ago.
And the door of truth opened.
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