episode_0184

Late at night, dim moonlight illuminates the wall.

widely!

There, a black shadow could be seen climbing over the wall, which would have been unnoticeable if it weren’t for the faint moonlight.

The movements were extremely secretive, and since they didn’t make even the slightest sound, there was a high chance that no one would notice them.

“Who are you!”

Unfortunately, they were discovered by a guard who happened to be patrolling the area.

“Oh my, I guess I’m going to get nagged by that uncle again?”

“Woman?!”

The guard, who was trying to stop the intruder alone while his fellow guards were on the other side conducting a brief inspection, was startled by the voice he heard.

It was because the intruder’s voice sounded like a woman’s, and a young woman’s.

but,

‘That’s not the point. An assassin? How dare you sneak into the palace!’

Imperial Guard Chrome gripped the spear he was holding even tighter.

Even though he didn’t know how the intruder had managed to break through the palace’s security barriers, he knew that they certainly couldn’t have come in with good intentions, so Chrome was determined to stop them at all costs.

‘All for the Emperor’s sake.’

Chrome, who was selected as an Imperial Guard this year, was prepared to give his life for the Emperor even before being selected.

It was an incident that had already occurred 10 years ago, but he had participated in the fight against the Abyss Cult, an evil black magic organization that had tried to put the old empire in danger.

Chrome, who was selected as a territory guard because of his large size, fought against the Abyss Cult’s underground snakes together with Crown Prince Alex, who was recruiting troops at the time.

And he, who was still immature and timid, was about to lose his life after being attacked by a serpent.

‘It’s okay. Don’t worry about anything anymore.’

The image of Crown Prince Alex sacrificing his arm to protect Chrome was still vivid in his memory.

Since then, Chrome has vowed to live the rest of his life solely for Alex, and has been steadily improving his skills by attending a swordsmanship dojo.

Finally, I was able to achieve that goal by passing the imperial guard selection exam, which only the best of the best can apply for.

He could only see Alex, the Emperor, from a distance, but it didn’t matter to him.

Because my sole purpose was to protect Alex.

“Can’t you just let me pass?”

“Nonsense! This is where His Majesty the Emperor resides. Intruders dare not set foot in this place!”

Chrome knew his comrades would arrive soon, so he tried to tie up the intruder’s feet somehow.

Chrome, now a fairly experienced soldier, attempted to slash at the intruder with his spear for that purpose, and the spear he swung struck his opponent with considerable force.

however,

Pot!

‘What? It’s gone!’

An intruder who moved so fast that he appeared to have disappeared into Chrome’s eyes.

And then

Bam.

The intruder moved behind Chrome in an instant and knocked him unconscious with a slight blow to his neck.

“Is our uncle popular?”

The intruder was smiling happily as he looked at the fallen Chrome.

***

“Ada, I’ve told you over and over again, but what happens when you enter the palace gates?”

“Hey, then people will find out and it’ll be so uncomfortable.”

“Oh, I haven’t changed since I was little.”

Alex burst out laughing at the sight of Ada lying in front of him with her arms crossed on the chair as if it were her own living room.

Considering that the place you are currently in is the residence of the Emperor of the Empire, there is probably only one person in the Empire who can stand here in such a posture, Ada.

“But, if the Duke finds you, he asked me to tie you up and hold you tight. What’s going on?”

“Brother? Oh! I guess it’s because you caused an accident last time, sir.”

“Accident?”

Alex flinched at Ada’s words.

It was forbidden to have the easygoing complacency of wondering how much damage could be done if an 18-year-old girl got into an accident.

Even just a moment ago, Ada had committed the serious crime of trespassing into the palace.

If it had been someone else, it would have been chaos right away, or it would have been chaos a hundred times over.

“But isn’t that guy popular?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Well! The soldier who was patrolling earlier… .”

In response to Alex’s question, Ada was so excited that she repeated the exact words of the soldier she had seen earlier.

“Oh, that’s a happy thing.”

“Right?”

“It would have been better if you hadn’t knocked that soldier out.”

“Let’s skip the small stuff, sir!”

Alex was thrilled.

‘Sir, there’s an elixir in the warehouse?!’

How many people would believe that someone would come into the palace as if it were their playground and raid the storeroom, or whine for a tasty snack?

Thanks to Ada’s antics, strange rumors began to circulate among the imperial guards.

‘Beware of the blonde girl.’

The soldier who was hit this time was probably a new recruit.

The guards with some experience would just ignore Ada if they happened to see her.

“Is Andre sleeping?”

“Probably so.”

“I wanted to see your face at least once before I left, but it’s too bad.”

“Andre would have been horrified if he had heard that.”

Ada whistled as she tried to avoid Alex’s words, as if she was also offended.

Alex’s son Andre, who is now the Crown Prince and the heir to the empire, was born when he married the current Empress eight years ago.

‘Is this my nephew?!’

Ada was very fond of Andre like that.

As the youngest child at home, she actively expressed her affection for her first younger sibling.

but,

‘Eww!’

‘Why is this kid so scared?’

Because Ada’s way of playing was a bit extreme, Ada became a terror to Andre.

Last time, I took him to the top of the palace to show him a beautiful view, and Andre was so scared that he burst into tears.

“I brought a gift for Andre this time, so you give it to him.”

“Gift?”

“Yeah, this is really precious!”

Alex was wary of Ada’s words and began to carefully examine the object called a gift.

‘Last time it was a golden beetle.’

Alex was surprised more than once by Ada who brought in strange things, wondering where on earth she got them from.

The golden beetle was really cute, and once brought me a suspicious egg.

I once had a bad experience where I just kept it as decoration in my room and didn’t pay much attention to it because it looked so disgusting.

‘Your Majesty, dozens of strange-looking frogs hatched from eggs at the same time…’

‘Ada!!!!’

Alex almost fainted when he saw the baby frogs filling the room.

So naturally, I became wary of anything Ada brought as a gift, and this time too, I opened the package with careful hands.

“Fruit?”

“Yeah! I felt a great energy coming from a tree, so I went to see it, and there was a bird spitting fire from its body.”

“Wait! A bird that breathes fire from its body?!”

“Yeah, I really wanted to catch it, but there was a baby bird behind it, so I was just going to turn around, but the bird brought me some fruit from a tree.”

Alex was shocked as he listened to Ada’s story.

‘Is it the fruit of life?’

The Fruit of Life, a legendary treasure rumored to grant those who eat it near-immortality.

However, those who obtained it were so rare that they could only be found in legends.

Because the Tree of Life, which bears the fruit of life, always has a guardian phoenix guarding the fruit.

There was a story that the Phoenix was a legendary being, just like the dragon, and that it would instantly turn those who approached it with evil intentions into ashes.

It was absurd to even think about capturing such a phoenix, but what was even more surprising was that I received the fruit of life as a gift from such a phoenix.

‘Is this a treasure that only those without any evil intentions can obtain?’

Alex looked at Ada, who was excitedly telling him her adventures.

Ada is the only one who still calls him uncle, even though he is now the emperor.

Since he was a child, Ada was the only person who treated him without formality, so Alex could forget about his duties as emperor and be at ease whenever he was with her.

If it weren’t for Ada, my old self would definitely still be living as a loser.

“By the way, didn’t Rash come with you today?”

Alex, who was recalling memories with Ada, suddenly asked why Ratch, who was always with Ada, was nowhere to be seen.

“Rash, that guy’s been really excited lately.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever leave the Mermaid Kingdom.”

Ada told the story of how Rash was infatuated with the princess of the mermaid kingdom and was restless.

With the help of the grown Ada, Rash can now freely transform into a human.

It is said that Ratch has been lovesick ever since he was invited to the Mermaid Kingdom with Ada.

‘The Mermaid Kingdom… They were once a legendary race.’

Alex recalled what had happened several years ago when they had formally established relations with the Mermaid Kingdom.

-I would like to meet the author of this book.

The mere appearance of the mermaid race in the empire was an incredible and surprising fact, but they were not simply visiting, but had officially dispatched envoys.

Then, the book that the mermaid envoy who was invited to the royal palace was looking for was none other than The Little Mermaid, created by Rupert.

As it turned out, the empire was able to establish relations with the Mermaid Kingdom thanks to the book that Ada had gifted to the mermaid.

That wasn’t all.

Thanks to the efforts of Krun, who became the master of the Summerset workshop, exchanges with the dwarven kingdom began, and thanks to Richard, the eldest son of Summerset and married to an elf, formal exchanges with the elves began again.

Thanks to this, it was now easy to see foreign races in the empire.

It was an empire where a series of events that were once unimaginable took place.

“That’s right! I saw you, oppa.”

“Brother? No way… .”

“Yeah, I met Edric oppa while I was traveling.”

Alex was so startled by Ada’s last words that he got up from his seat.