Chapter 160

"A face I've seen somewhere......."

Cornelius Merhes had no more time to think. It was because Shion had cut him off as if to dig in.

"To talk about that, there's something we need first."

He took a candy case out from his bosom.

At first glance, it looked like a simple metal box, but Cornelius smelled a thick scent of mana.

It was proof that the case was a considerable artifact.

"As you've noticed, it's no ordinary object. I used three chunks of gold to make this."

When the candy case was opened, a rattling sound was made.

Like that, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle.

After opening and closing it four times, he put his hand inside the container.

He felt a small protrusion that wasn't there before.

When he pressed it firmly, a scent of mana spread out and enveloped them.

The mustached mage felt that a kind of barrier had been activated.

He reflexively generated a verdigris light to protect himself.

He could have attacked Shion if he had wanted to, but he didn't, as it didn't feel harmful.

Shion smiled brightly.

"It has no other functions, but the performance of its shielding magic is incredible. I had it specially made since I often have secret conversations."

A kind tone, yet a smile that did not feel kind.

That sly grin that seemed to hide something under the tongue, even as he approached affably, was familiar.

Cornelius felt an ominous premonition.

The man named Shion of Verchello had blond hair and blue eyes.

It was a common combination in the Cordis Empire.

But was such brilliant blond hair, such azure blue eyes, common?

A face from a long-lost memory flashed by.

The youthful appearance from back then shimmered and rose up.

"Do you still not know, Dean Cornelius?"

Shion chuckled.

Only then did Cornelius Merhes realize who Shion was.

At the same time, he also realized that he had recognized Shion from the beginning but had been trying to ignore it.

"You can't tell even when you see me this close?"

"Good heavens......."

The mustached mage could utter nothing but a sigh.

Shion, not caring, revealed himself.

"I am Zionis."

***

Zionis, the Fifth Prince.

A name engraved on a tombstone seven years ago.

One who should not be here.

"How, how......!"

Cornelius's mustache trembled.

A shock bordering on terror shook him.

Shion understood his bewilderment.

It was understandable that his head would be overloaded, thinking a dead man was alive and well.

"Oh, Your Highness, Your Highness Zionis......!"

Ordinarily, he would have flared up, asking how he dared to impersonate a member of the imperial family, but he couldn't.

Looking closely at the man named Shion, he was Zionis.

He was so much Zionis that it was a wonder why he had only noticed now.

The slyly smiling child had grown into a slyly smiling young man.

He should have been dead, the entire empire knew it so, yet he had appeared before his eyes after seven years.

"I can't believe it......."

Cornelius slowly stood up and approached Shion.

It was to check if he was not an illusion.

Shion allowed him to take his hand.

The moment he held his hand, Cornelius could also tell that Shion was not using any magic to change his appearance.

He immediately knelt on one knee.

It was the proper etiquette to show to a member of the Cordis imperial family.

Cornelius trembled as he opened his mouth.

"...I attended your funeral. And I was there at the Sobel Mountain Range, where Your Highness's body was recovered......."

"It's understandable to be confused."

Shion chuckled.

"Because Nebulo's body was real."

The Fourth Prince, Nebulo Le Etier.

A name he hadn't called in a long time.

"Thanks to that, I escaped without arousing much suspicion. I deceived the entire empire."

"......."

Cornelius almost asked if he was the one who killed Nebulo without realizing it.

But it was not an important question.

Also, if Shion had really killed Nebulo, it was something that should never be uttered.

He was a man skilled in navigating the world.

It was just that his greed for wealth was so excessive that he sometimes made fatal mistakes.

"My head... hurts......."

The mustached mage clutched his head.

Shion made a gesture as if to say he could ache as much as he wanted.

His tongue often caused confusion in the hearts of others.

It wasn't a hobby, but it was a specialty.

The mustached mage who clutched his head began to think desperately.

The position of Dean of the Imperial Academy of Magic was not to be taken lightly.

He was also a very brilliant scholar.

Numerous questions arose in an instant, but he began to sort them out one by one.

The man before him is Zionis.

The prince who was thought to be dead.

How did he survive?

What has he been doing for seven years?

Is he real? He is definitely real.

No, more than that, why?

"...What are you plotting?"

Cornelius got straight to the point.

Shion felt like applauding.

As expected of Hermai Merhes's top disciple.

His mind worked unusually fast.

Though it was somewhat sad to think that with such a brain, he had been pushed this far.

"If you survived like that, you should have remained in hiding. Why did you appear before me, Your Highness?"

"Would it be strange to say I missed the luxurious life of the palace, the treatment of a prince?"

"It would be strange, since you seem to have established yourself here."

"I thought so too, right?"

Shion wore a faint smile.

"Your Highness Zionis, you remember the Succession War, don't you?"

"How could I forget?"

"This Cornelius has mulled over and over that Succession War for the past seven years."

Since his life had plummeted, it was always full of regrets.

He lived looking only at the past.

What he especially mulled over was the Succession War, the point where his life began to twist.

"What if I had done this, what if I had done that... As I kept thinking such thoughts, I began to see things others could not."

"What did you see?"

"That Your Highness was not a simple child. That you secured the maximum profit without attracting the attention of others! You lost your life at the end, but it was certainly like that until then."

Shion did not deny it.

"But now that Your Highness is alive like this, it is proof that you cannot be an ordinary person. You are worthy of the Great Emperor's bloodline."

"Continue."

"It's impossible that such a person would have done nothing in the West for seven years. The only question is......."

"I'll take it from there."

Shion cut him off.

"Why did I appear? If I'm plotting something big, I should have hidden myself more thoroughly. What if you, Cornelius, were to tell Ferbias that Zionis is alive?"

"...Yes, you can probably guess my position, but I'm quite desperate for a lifeline."

"Do you think I appeared because I trust you?"

"How could that be, Your Highness."

There was nothing between Cornelius and Shion.

They were just acquaintances who knew each other's faces and names, with no kind of gain or loss ever exchanged between them.

"But I know you won't tattle."

Shion said with conviction.

"Because you must have realized what kind of person Ferbias is."

"......."

Cornelius remained silent at the words that hit the mark.

If he could rise to power again by revealing that Zionis was alive, he would do so in a heartbeat. But he knew.

His path to success was already blocked.

As long as Ferbias was the emperor.

Ferbias Caseptus never reappointed someone who had fallen out of his favor.

He had always been strict, but he became even stricter after losing his confidant and friend, Amethus.

He would probably end up with a few pennies even if he announced Shion's survival.

No, he might even be accused of insolence for spouting such nonsense in an attempt to rise to power again.

"You have to think carefully, Cornelius. Which rope to grab."

"With all due respect, Your Highness does not seem to be a strong enough rope for me to grab."

"Well, now. Seven years ago, I was eleven. Do you think I escaped the empire and came all the way to the West on my own?"

"......."

Cornelius was at a loss for words.

Shion chuckled.

"Who on earth could have secretly sent me to the West?"

The time for the lie had come.

Until now, he had told the truth.

He had led up to this point by skillfully arranging things that had really happened, what Ferbias was really like.

A lie is most deadly when mixed in with the truth.

Even after seven years, Shion was still a secret-keeper.

"He isn't just blunt, you know. During the Grand Convergence, didn't he put up a curtain to save the princes and princesses who had no will to fight?"

"Your Highness, surely not......!"

Cornelius trembled.

It was a trembling incomparable to before.

Shion was even excited at the thought of continuing his lie. His tongue was particularly smooth today.

"My father sent me here."

***

"Oh......."

Cornelius Merhes let out a groan.

"Your Highness... if you say your father......."

"That's a foolish question, Cornelius. Unfitting for the Dean of the Imperial Academy of Magic."

Shion whispered the old and great name.

"Continua Cordis Magnus. My escape to this West was by the order of the great Emperor Continua."

"Ah, as I thought......!"

The mustached mage was feeling an emotion close to awe.

The name of Emperor Continua was that great.

It was natural, as he had saved the thousand-year empire from the brink of ruin and led it to unprecedented prosperity.

It has been seven years since Emperor Ferbias ascended the throne.

But the people of the empire still miss Emperor Continua. Cornelius Merhes was the same.

He even had tears in his eyes as he bowed his head even deeper.

"Finally......."

Cornelius slowly kissed Shion's hand.

"...Finally, I trust Your Highness. Please forgive the foolish Cornelius."

"Forgive you?"

Shion had to hold back a laugh.

'He's so gullible.'

It was funny, and funny again.

Emperor Continua had no interest in Shion, or in his half-siblings.

Whether they died, whether they fled to the West.

He wondered just how broad a perspective he had to view his own flesh and blood like stones on the roadside.

But the people of the empire seemed to think that since Emperor Continua was perfect, he must have possessed a warm heart for his bloodline.

That because he was so great, he must be human.

Perhaps they were waiting for someone to say what they wanted to hear.

Shion had decided to say the words Cornelius desperately wanted to hear.

Since he had been pushed out of the current emperor's favor, praising the greatness of the former emperor would make him feel as if a new path had opened.

"The Great Emperor... what intentions did he have in sending Your Highness to this West?"

"I cannot say."

It was not a lie.

One cannot speak of things that do not exist.

The real lie was about to begin.

"But he was worried about a few of his sons and daughters. Especially my sister Santia, he had already predicted that she would be pushed out of the political strife due to her kind heart, and that she would be married off as if sold to another country."

"...Ah! The Great Emperor's insight is truly deep. And such great mercy."

"Though that mercy did not extend to all his children."

Cornelius smiled bitterly at Shion's words.

He was talking about Nebulo. Cornelius knew of the fat prince's secret hobby.

If so, it made sense to say that the Great Emperor also knew of his secret hobby and therefore did not show him mercy.

It was a suitable reason for why only Shion survived and Nebulo died when they entered the Sobel Mountain Range together.

"Dean Cornelius."

At Shion's words, Cornelius felt a renewed sense of himself.

Dean, yes, that's right, I was the Dean of the Imperial Academy of Magic.

Shion's words were scratching just the right spots.

"I, Zionis, must see my sister Santia. Right now."