chapter 11
“You don’t need to know.”
I had been through all kinds of hardships while changing the original story.
But after killing Nox Glaston, I had finally gotten used to a completely peaceful life. To end up in a situation like this again was the absolute worst.
As I wet my dry lips with my tongue, he slowly stepped out of the shadows.
Under the dim light of the underground prison, Prince Leonard looked far more terrifying than any villain I had seen so far.
So he had been hiding his true nature all along, that bastard!
...I wanted to curse him out properly, but unfortunately I was a delicate princess with only one life.
Besides, someone who used to be directionally challenged and timid suddenly doing a complete one-eighty in personality was naturally terrifying.
I quickly switched to a submissive attitude and spoke cautiously.
“Y-Your Highness, please calm down. If you keep me tied up like this, it’ll definitely cause a diplomatic incident. Why don’t we solve this through conversation?”
“A conversation?”
He—that is, Leonard Blake—slowly approached me.
Step. Step.
The sound of his heels echoed ominously through the empty space.
Soon, he bent down, grabbed my chin, and brought his face close to mine.
“Princess, how did you decipher my code?”
“Ah, the code?”
“The information written on this paper was encoded. Yet you recited it perfectly. Does Syncaster possess some sacred artifact capable of deciphering any code?”
“That’s not it!”
“Then explain how you know it.”
Leonard gripped my chin tightly and pulled me even closer.
His strength was so overwhelming that tears welled up in my eyes, but he didn’t look like the type of man who would care about that.
He stared down at me with cold eyes before reaching toward his waist.
Gasp.
A dagger.
“If you won’t speak, then it can’t be helped. Your neck—”
“A-Alright! Alright!! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”
For the record, I valued my life very highly, and my mouth was a hundred times lighter than a feather.
“A code? Of course I know it!”
“Of course? How?”
“Well…”
After hesitating, I muttered in a shrinking voice.
“Because you didn’t create it... It’s the great script created by King Sejong!”
Hangul.
The moment I said that, he froze.
I let out a long sigh.
Should I have pretended not to know?
But it seemed he already knew I had deciphered the secret message, so denying it was pointless.
And claiming I had used a sacred artifact wouldn’t work either. I couldn’t use divine power, and even Sara, a powerful mage, had only barely managed to break through the protective magic surrounding it.
Being honest seemed safer.
More importantly, I was incredibly curious about this man’s identity.
“I answered your question, so now it’s your turn. Leonard Blake, how can you use this language?”
“……”
Leonard remained silent for a long time.
But even in the dim light, I could clearly see that his face had gone rigid.
In stories, anyone who knew Hangul was usually special, even if they weren’t a transmigrator.
I waited nervously to hear what he would say.
Then—
“King Sejong, you say? I don’t know who that is. This is a code my adjutant created.”
That was the sort of statement that would make the scholars of the Hall of Worthies leap out of their graves.
Absolutely unacceptable.
“Did your adjutant happen to work in the Hall of Worthies? Maybe he even borrowed His Highness’s cloak while sleeping?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Any Korean would know! Korean history was a required subject in high school!”
It had been about ten years since I transmigrated.
For a brief moment, I wondered if the curriculum had changed by now, but regardless, I carefully watched the suspicious man before me.
Yet he remained silent.
What? Is he really not Korean?
But there had definitely been no Sixth Prince in the original story.
And now someone who knew Hangul had appeared.
Not only that, but creating a code using an entirely new script—not symbols, not letters, not even something simple like Morse code?
As far as I knew, languages weren’t something you created overnight.
Nor were they something people could learn and use so quickly.
“Stop lying! Even if you transmigrated, how can you claim someone else’s script as your own? King Sejong and the scholars are probably crying tears of blood in their graves—”
“Alright, so be quiet already.”
Once again, my mouth was covered.
Unlike before, he wasn’t being rough, so I tried to bite his hand.
Startled by my sudden ferocity, Leonard took a step back.
“Are you a dog? Calm down.”
“If anyone could stay calm in this situation, they’d be a robot, not a person.”
“What exactly triggered you? The part where I said my adjutant created Hangul? Or the part where I covered your mouth?”
“Both.”
Perhaps deciding resistance was futile, Leonard let out a sigh.
Straightening up, he stepped back.
“Fine. You were right. I’m a transmigrator too.”
“...!”
At last, the answer I had been waiting for.
Ordinarily, meeting someone from the same world in another universe should have been comforting.
But after seeing that secret message earlier, I didn’t feel happy at all.
And more importantly—
I was currently tied up.
Come to think of it, I wasn’t exactly in a position to be shouting.
I cautiously wiggled my bound hands behind my back.
“Um... are you going to untie me now? We’re both transmigrators, after all.”
“There are three problems.”
Leonard showed no pity whatsoever and lazily held up three fingers.
“First, I’ve already committed the crime of kidnapping you.”
“Well, at least you’re aware of that.”
“Second, I truly need Aurora the Saintess.”
“Maybe you could just give up on that?”
“Third, if I release you, there’s a possibility you’ll attack and kill me.”
I almost screamed.
I was, without question, a pacifist.
Judging by my appearance alone, I couldn’t even kill an ant. And by nature, I was lazy—no, delicate.
Sure, I had eliminated villains for the sake of justice and the original story’s happy ending, but I had only given orders. My subordinates were the ones who acted.
Well, the truth was that even if I had wanted to fight, I lacked the ability.
In any case, the conclusion was clear:
I neither wanted nor was capable of beating up the man in front of me.
“I’m not that violent! Besides, I don’t even have any magic items right now—”
“...After killing Nox Glaston?”
“!!”
How did he know that?
The moment I heard those words, my mouth snapped shut.
“As you know, Nox Glaston had influence over not only Syncaster but the entire underworld of the Elysium continent. He died earlier than he did in the timeline I knew, so I investigated what happened and discovered that you were the one who killed him.”
With every word he spoke, a chill ran down my spine.
Those details had been kept top secret.
Yet Leonard was revealing them as casually as if he were listing discounted items at a marketplace.
“So in conclusion, because of those three factors, I can’t easily let you go.”
“T-Then what are you going to do with me? You’re not actually going to kill me, are you?”
I asked while desperately suppressing a tiny seed of anxiety.
Leonard crossed his arms and tilted his head.
“Why do you think I can’t kill you?”
“Then... do you really intend to kill me?”
A cold shiver ran down my back, and I immediately began pleading.
“Think about it carefully. You said you wanted to become emperor, right?”
“……”
“If I die, my brother will search for the culprit to the very end. To become the ruler of a nation on this continent, you need the approval of my brother, the Pope. If it’s revealed that you killed me, you’ll never become emperor. And there’ll be a war between Syncaster and Blake!”
At last, Leonard seemed to consider it and fell silent.
At this point, I found myself grateful that this transmigrator apparently had such grand ambitions.
Seriously, who dreams of becoming emperor in a place like this?
Was he a politician in his previous life or something?
“Very well.”
He walked behind me and grabbed the handcuffs binding my wrists.
A burst of force rang out.
The shattered pieces of metal scraped against my wrists before clattering to the floor.
Honestly, the sharp sensation scared me.
But showing fear would make me look pathetic, so I stood up from the chair with a calm expression.
As I rubbed my aching wrists, a voice as sharp as a blade cut through the air.
“Still, don’t even think about escaping. This prison is built from barrier stones that prevent both magic and divine power from being used.”
Then Leonard gripped the dagger at his waist once more.
“I’m sorry, but if you try anything suspicious, I’ll kill you.”
His expression remained utterly indifferent.
“After all, I’ve buried plenty of murders before. I’m confident I won’t get caught.”
