I Will Fulfill the Role of the Villain-Chapter 159

“Only a few more days, and the Hainere delegation will be leaving.”

Heath said it while clenching the knife in his hand. Watching his brother eat the blood-tinged meat, Cailern responded flatly, as if confirming that the time had already come.

The two princes sat facing each other in the palace’s private dining room under a warm light. It was a habit that had started even before Heath had changed. No matter how busy they were, they always had dinner together. It felt like just yesterday that Cailern had been moved by Heath’s desire to cherish that time with his younger brother. The thought made him feel a little melancholic.

“The palace will fall silent again.”

“......”

“Cailern, you’re not eating much tonight.”

“I’m fine.”

Cailern shook his head with his usual polite smile.

“Oh, are you feeling down about the delegation leaving?”

“...Pardon?”

Cailern flinched. When he looked up, Heath was resting his chin on his hand, smiling faintly at him.

“You’ve always been frail, so you can’t go outside easily. I figured you were happy to have visitors after so long.”

“...Yes. Now that the day has come, I do feel a little empty. I had pleasant conversations with the delegation members.”

Heath laughed heartily, nodding. Cailern focused all his energy on keeping his expression composed. At the very least, Heath didn’t seem suspicious of him. That was because Cailern had behaved obediently, unable to act otherwise until now. Which meant he had to be even more careful.

He couldn’t allow Heath to harbor the slightest suspicion toward him—not until Luke had gone to Hainere to ask for help.

“Well, don’t be too sad. I’m sure we’ll see them again soon.”

“......”

Somehow, those words, which could’ve passed for a mere formality, sounded different. “We’ll see them again soon”—Cailern didn’t believe Heath was just referring to the two nations being treaty partners.

“Yes.”

He nodded lightly, watching the upward curl of Heath’s lips.

“Anyway, today’s the day we go to see His Majesty.”

“That’s right.”

Together with Heath and Dante, Cailern would go up to the top floor to see their father, who hovered on the edge of life and death. It was something they did once a week, right after dinner.

Cailern tried his best to act exactly as he always did.

He matched his eating pace and timing to what he’d done in the past. He even left the usual portion of food on his plate. When a person was nervous, they often did things out of character—this was to avoid that.

“Shall we go?”

As soon as Heath spoke, the attendants slowly entered. While they cleared the table behind them, Cailern walked out of the dining room alongside his brother.

“You’ve arrived.”

As expected, Dante was already waiting at the staircase. Standing beside him was the Emperor’s personal physician.

Dante bowed to the two princes and stepped aside to clear the path to the stairs. Heath took the lead, and Cailern followed a step behind. Listening to the footsteps of Dante and the doctor behind him, Cailern looked up at the top floor once more.

Just seeing the long corridor made his stomach churn. It happened every time he set foot here. It always felt heavy, like a massive stone was pressing down on his shoulders.

There were only two doors on this floor. The first door one saw upon coming up the stairs led to the Emperor’s bedchamber. Further down the hall was the second door.

“Let’s go in.”

“Yes, Brother.”

Avoiding even a glance at that second door, Cailern entered the bedchamber through the one Dante opened.

The spacious room held only a single bed. Lying there was the aged Emperor of Welharun, Oden Ferid. Once hailed as one of the greatest sovereigns in the empire’s history, loved and respected by the people, the grand monarch now lay silent, his face drawn and lifeless.

From a distance, he looked like a corpse. Every time Cailern entered this room, he had to steel himself not to let his heart sink.

“See to His Majesty’s condition.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

At Heath’s order, the doctor stepped slowly toward the bed and began his checkup. But it was °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° only a formality. The physician had to appear to be doing something—but this was not a condition any ordinary doctor could cure.

With unclean mana corrupting the Emperor’s body, how could he possibly recover?

“Cailern.”

A sudden chill crept down his shoulder. But Cailern didn’t flinch. He simply looked up at Heath, who had placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry too much. Everything will turn out fine.”

“...Yes. I believe that, too.

***

Luke stood quietly in front of the staircase. A few seconds later, Brett came down from above. He hadn’t made a single sound—so maybe he really did have the stealth skills he claimed.

“I’ve checked. The two princes just entered His Majesty’s room with Dante.”

“So no one else is around?”

When Brett nodded, Luke began ascending the stairs without hesitation. Brett warned him to be careful from behind, but Luke didn’t bother to look back.

Taking in the stretch of hallway at the top, Luke scanned the two doors along the wall. According to Cailern, the first was the Emperor’s bedchamber—and the second was the room Heath occasionally used for personal reasons.

Luke pulled his robe up over his head. It wouldn’t help much, but just in case, he had asked Brett to prepare it.

‘I ran my mouth in front of the others. I’d better find something.’

Luke silenced his presence and stepped lightly, making no sound as he approached the second door. After his conversation with Cailern, he had shared the situation with the members of his unit. The revelation had shocked them—none of them spoke for a long while.

All three had expressed concern about the risks. Of course, he understood that better than anyone. But when he told them that this one success might be enough to unravel everything, none could argue.

They had even insisted on coming with him, but he refused—he could do this alone.

He knew how dangerous this was. That’s why he didn’t want to involve them. Still, he wanted to ensure they had a way out if things went wrong.

His original plan had been to infiltrate as a lone delegate. He’d always worked better alone. But Theo had strongly opposed that and personally assembled the unit.

He probably couldn’t relax unless he had them watch Luke’s back.

‘This must be the room.’

Luke glanced around instinctively and laid his hand on the door. Immediately, he felt a faint trace of magic.

‘A barrier spell.’

Of course a suspicious room like this wouldn’t be left unguarded. If he triggered the spell carelessly, the caster would know. He’d have to disable it properly using a dispelling technique.

He regretted not paying more attention during the barrier classes at the academy. He’d never been confident in this area. Cursing his younger self, Luke began tracing the threads of mana slowly.

Thankfully, it wasn’t as strong as he’d feared. It was within his ability to dispel. Still, being careful took longer than expected.

After wrestling with it for three of his precious ten minutes, the barrier finally came undone. Luke let out a breath of relief.

“......”

He reached for the doorknob slowly. Checking around once more, he opened the door just wide enough to slip through, and slipped inside.

Click—

As the door closed behind him, Luke reflexively swallowed hard. Every hair on his body stood on end. The aura inside this room was so intense it chilled him to the bone.

He had dealt with monsters before. He had encountered unclean mana plenty of times—like with Benzie and Hays. But this was something else entirely. The pressure of the magic weighed on his whole body, making his insides churn.

“Any weak mage would’ve fainted the moment they stepped inside.”

This energy was overwhelming. Luke grimaced and took a cautious step forward. The room was pitch black, and he dared not take large strides. Judging by the air, it wasn’t a particularly big room.

“Urgh—”

Then it hit.

A searing pain tore through his right hand, as if it were burning from the inside. Luke bit down on his lip and stared straight ahead.

There was something here.

Steeling himself, he flicked his fingers. A soft glow rose from a small, floating crystal orb, illuminating the room.

And when he finally saw the space around him, Luke’s eyes began to tremble.

“...What is this?”