CHAPTER 48: EDMUND TRANSFORMATION

After that, Eva entered the cave. Ard immediately greeted her, but Eva shifted her gaze toward Cecilia, who was still unconscious and tied up, avoiding Ard’s eyes. This made Ard, who was sitting on top of Edmund’s body, a little confused. Eva read the files on the table, and the color instantly drained from her face. The document she was looking at was a detailed plan for an internal coup to overthrow Emperor Ellard III, Eva’s father.

Their plan was to influence the Emperor’s mind, gradually weaken him by poisoning him, instruct him to murder loyal nobles, palace staff, or congress members, and then have the Emperor hand the throne over to Edmund. But on the next page, it was written: replace Edmund, then marry Eva to control her, and frame Edmund for the Emperor’s murder—all in order to make Eva the Empress of the Orthus Empire.

The second plan was clearly written by Baalbel, who had his own separate agenda beyond Edmund’s initial plan, which ended after marrying Eva. With trembling hands, Eva placed the documents back on the table, then she looked down, her hands clenched into fists on the tabletop. Ard, who was still sitting on Edmund, turned to see Eva silent and trembling, becoming worried.

"Eva, are you okay?" Ard asked.

Eva flinched slightly, then she turned and walked toward Ard, who was sitting on Edmund, who looked up at Eva with pleading eyes, though his mouth was gagged. Suddenly, "Thwack," Eva strongly kicked Edmund in the face, sending his head snapping slightly to the side.

"Nggg... nggg,"

Edmund’s face became red and looked either furious or pained, it was unclear. "Thwack," seeing Edmund’s face, Eva kicked him one more time, and this time harder, until blood started dripping from Edmund’s nose. Edmund’s face turned even redder, accompanied by tears beginning to stream down his face. Ard, seeing Eva standing there, then got up, stepped behind Eva, and put both hands on her shoulders from behind to try and calm her down.

"Stop, stop! Don’t kill him now. He has to be judged for his crimes and his plans. Control yourself," Ard whispered into Eva’s ear.

"Huuu," Eva turned around and hugged Ard, burying her face in his chest.

Ard raised his hand and stroked Eva’s hair. His eyes directed a very sharp glare at Edmund, whose face was very red, tears streaming down, surprised, and wearing the expression of someone who was utterly defeated. A moment later, after Eva calmed down,

"Thank you, Ard... my Prince," Eva said slowly.

"Hey... don’t start sounding like Alicia," Ard replied cheerfully.

"Shut up," Eva responded with a smile.

The two immediately shared an intimate kiss. Edmund, seeing the two kiss, reluctantly lowered his head and swallowed his defeat, unable to say anything or stop them. Eva hugged Ard tightly and vice versa. Suddenly, "Pyaaash," Ard and Eva stopped kissing and turned around, their eyes wide as they saw the two crystals in the center of the dried-up lake shatter into pieces. The crystal fragments falling to the ground looked beautiful, like a rain of light, making Ard and Eva smile.

"It’s all over, Eva. This time we won’t die again at the age of 31," Ard said, smiling.

"Yes, we did it, Ard," Eva replied, smiling.

Then they turned back to each other and pressed their foreheads together, closing their eyes, still smiling. Suddenly, "Ahem," Ard and Eva turned to see Cecilia, who was now conscious next to the table.

"Um... sorry to interrupt you two, but could you untie me first? Then please continue," said Cecilia, who was wearing an eye patch.

"Oh... sorry," Ard replied, breaking the embrace, then walked over to Cecilia.

"Y-Yeah, sorry," Eva replied, turning her back to Cecilia and kicking Edmund one more time until he passed out, just so no one would see her red face.

Ard freed Cecilia and helped her stand up. Cecilia immediately stretched her body, then turned to look right and left as if searching for someone.

"Did you guys see Daniel?" Cecilia asked.

Without any preamble, Ard told her everything about Daniel and who he really was. Cecilia’s face looked very shocked and seemed to be processing all of Ard’s story in her head. Then she started thinking, crossing her arms and resting one hand on her chin.

"So the leader of the dark cult hiding in the student council was Daniel... but I was always with him, and I didn’t know at all," Cecilia said.

"How were you captured and switched with Xeria?" Eva asked, suddenly walking over.

"Oh, hello Princess Eva... if I’m honest, I don’t really remember. The last thing in my memory is Daniel bringing me to this room... then suddenly someone hit me from behind, and when I woke up, I saw you two kissing," Cecilia said frankly.

Eva’s face turned red again, and she immediately turned her back to Cecilia, while Ard, standing next to her, seemed to be thinking. Then Ard glanced to the side, seeing a box full of potions on the table. He immediately went over to the box, then took a bottle of potion out of it. He opened the cap and smelled it, but immediately recoiled, his face showing that the potion’s aroma was very unpleasant.

"No doubt about it, this is a potion to make us have the power of demon essence. This potion can change a person’s personality, give them extraordinary power, and allow them to control demon troops and monsters," Ard muttered.

"How do you know that, Ard?" Eva asked.

"Mirea in the seventh life told me," Ard answered.

"Hmm? Mirea in the seventh life?" Cecilia asked, confused.

"Ah, sorry, don’t worry about it. I was just rambling," Ard replied.

"That means... during the attack at the camp yesterday," Eva murmured.

"Yes, Julius drank this potion, and I suspect your brother did too," Ard replied.

Eva immediately turned to look at Edmund, who was unconscious behind her. Then she returned to examining the liquid in the potion bottle Ard was holding. Seeing Edmund unconscious, Ard looked over at the box. He saw that there were three empty potion bottles. Ard’s eyes widened. He immediately put the potion bottle down and pulled Eva and Cecilia behind him.

"What’s wrong?" Cecilia asked, confused.

"Yeah, why are you pulling us back?" Eva asked, confused.

"Look, because he’s unconscious, he can’t control this potion inside him. I saw it from the start—he was trembling and unfocused when I captured him," Ard replied, pointing toward Edmund and then toward the three empty potion bottles in the box.

Eva and Cecilia immediately turned to look at Edmund, whose body was now emitting black smoke, and his face was becoming increasingly red, even though he was asleep. "Crack," the ropes binding Edmund’s body snapped. His pants ripped because his legs grew huge. A curved horn appeared on his forehead and jutted backward, as if his head had been stabbed by a crescent moon. His body grew even larger and more muscular, like a gym rat who never leaves the gym.

Because his body grew so large, his skin stretched and broke apart, displaying only muscle fibers and veins. Edmund’s face became plump and swollen, his forehead full of veins, and his hair thinned. He opened his red eyes, then turned to look at Ard, Eva, and Cecilia. Ard and Eva immediately drew Exgrandal and Exelion from their dimensional storage.

"Grek," Edmund, who had transformed into a giant human monster with a massive, dense, muscular, and large body, stood towering over them, forcing Ard, Eva, and Cecilia to crane their necks.

"Graaaaaaah,"

Edmund roared loudly at Ard, Eva, and Cecilia, who had drawn their swords and prepared their stances. Suddenly, a commotion was heard from the stairs. Mirea, Nikolai, Oliver, and Claudia ran down. When they saw Edmund, they gasped and immediately went to Ard, Eva, and Cecilia. Ard’s classmates followed close behind the student council members. Ard observed the monster Edmund, who appeared to have lost consciousness and was ready to rampage.

"Hoo boy, it finally turned out like this... that means he has to be killed so that no demon essence remains in his body... but killing the Crown Prince of the Orthus Empire? Wouldn’t that cause trouble? What will Eva do about this unexpected development?" Ard muttered to himself, glancing at Eva, whose hands were trembling and her brows furrowed, even though she had adopted her sword stance. Ard looked back at the uncontrollable monster in front of them.

"Get ready... he’s coming," Eva shouted.

"Yeah," everyone replied, except Ard, who was already prepared.

"Graah,"

Edmund ran forward, his footsteps shaking the ground. He swung a punch from top to bottom, as if intending to crush an ant. "Clang," Geoffrey blocked Edmund’s fist by crossing his swords above him, supporting them with both hands. Behemoth, standing beside him, stomped the ground repeatedly, causing the earth around the monster to tremble beneath it. Geoffrey immediately chanted his spell.

"Earthquake,"

The vibrations beneath the monster’s feet intensified, and little by little, the monster’s huge legs began to sink into the ground until it was half-buried.

"Graaaaaaah,"

The monster Edmund immediately roared loudly, its voice echoing through the quiet, dark cave. Seeing Edmund successfully immobilized by Geoffrey, Ard, Eva, and the others, naturally, prepared to attack. But before they could move,

"Wait!"

A shout echoed through the cave. Several shadows immediately darted toward Edmund. Ard’s eyes widened as he saw Abel, who had arrived with two Raven Corps, standing in front of Edmund, spreading both his arms toward Ard, Eva, and the others, as if to protect the monster Edmund.

"Brother?" Ard asked.

"Leave him to me. We shouldn’t kill him," Abel replied with a serious look.