Fairy Trap

As Yi-Gyeol said, Seth, who was standing still in front of the cave, looked around with his eyes. 

‘It doesn’t seem like there’s anyone here.’ 

Even when he followed the ghost’s words through the hills and entered the forest, all of Seth’s senses were keen as to not miss a single little thing.

Seth assumed in his mind that the ghost was one with those who wanted to kill him. It was only a bait that he gave information about the ambush and used that as an excuse to make him believe and drag him to the place where the real trap was in. It was quite predictable from Seth’s point of view.

So he decided to be dragged away by him on purpose. If it was really a trap, it was an opportunity to know what the trap was and who was trying to kill him, even resorting to using a ghost. He never thought that he was going to die or something big would happen. 

However, contrary to expectations, he did not feel anyone’s presence while coming here. He thought that they might be hiding and killing their presence, but so far, there were only a handful of talented people that could hide from him and there were none of them here. 

He thought there might be something devised in the cave. However, seeing that his necklace that could detect magic was quiet, it seemed that was not the case. 

‘Is he genuinely trying to help me?’ 

Thinking about it that way made him snicker. 

‘Who is helping whom when he’s the one who’s already dead?’ 

He’s afraid of ghost topics and is sensitive to someone’s death. Since he’s already dead, he probably won’t die anymore, but Seth wonders why he cares so much about others living and dying, and he also doesn’t understand why this ghost cares so much about other people’s situation who doesn’t even worry about it on their own. 

‘Ghosts….’

It was the first time he had met or talked to a ghost, but it was definitely different from what was written in the soul magic book. Ghosts were said that after a person dies, the soul remains in order to fulfill their overlooked grudges or resentment after the person dies. If he had such a purpose, he would have asked him to do something, but he acted the other way around.

Seth recalled what the ghost said during the surprise attack earlier.

−I’m not dead.

‘How did he become a ghost when he wasn’t dead? Does he simply want to believe he’s not dead yet, or is he really alive and just a soul that came out?’

Three days ago, the afternoon after he encountered the ghost for the first time, Seth stopped by the Magic Tower and read all of the few soul magic books available. Since soul magic itself was designated as a golden technique for several generations, only the emperor and the owner of the tower could read the actual magic book, and all that remained were mere thesis on ghosts and spirits.

In the book of soul magic, along with the information containing details about ghosts, there was a record of forcibly taking the soul out of a living person and killing the body. The content of making a new body based on the soul that was drawn out and making it a slave really piqued his interest. 

‘If the body is alive but only the soul is out, I don’t know how much chaos the researchers in the tower would be once they know it.’ 

If you take the soul out of the body, it will die shortly thereafter. That was the Magic Tower’s claim, and if this ghost wasn’t really dead, but freely moving in and out of the body, it would be enough to shock those old men. 

He thought that information about this ghost could be a good trading material with the Magic Tower. In fact, even now, if he says he met a ghost and heard his voice, he was sure that they would come to him desperately from the tower and ask him to tell more details about it.

Apart from that, there was also his personal interest.

‘I never thought I’d be so interested in a ghost.’

Before, he only guessed that ghosts could really exist, but he didn’t know that the day he would actually meet them would come. Seth, who knows that it’s extremely difficult to find anyone who’s seen them in their lifetime, was greatly interested in the ghost that piqued his curiosity for the first time in a long time. Rather than tossing it to the Magic Tower to study it on their own, he feels like he wanted to keep him close by his side and watch over him personally instead. 

It was an unusual kind of interest that he hadn’t felt in a while.

If you were just a living person, I would’ve cut off your legs to prevent you from running away, and observed you every day.

A cruel smile suddenly appeared on Seth’s face.[1]

Those who stay in the ‘Emerald Castle’ of the 4th Prince already know. That he has a cruel and merciless nature. 

The emperor, lying on the sickbed, was also well aware of this. 

Although Seth was the fourth prince, he was the only son of the deceased empress. As a result, there were talks about him taking the position of the crown prince’s position early on, but the emperor withheld his decision on the appointment of the crown prince without revealing any specific reason. This has continued until now, three years after Seth has become an adult.

In the Kinellian Empire, it was established that the prince or princess born by the empress was the owner of the crown from generation to generation. This has remained unchanged for hundreds of years, so those who thought that Seth would sit as the crown prince were puzzled by the emperor’s suspension. Nevertheless, feeling that the time for choosing the throne’s successor had come, those vassals began to attach themselves to other princes and princesses. 

If the emperor left the Crown Prince’s position vacant for several years, there were plenty of opportunities for other members of the royal family other than Seth. And although they had increased their power early on in order to succeed the throne, they still regarded Seth as a thorn in the eyes for being one step ahead with legitimacy. 

Thanks to that, even until now he was constantly being threatened with assassination. 

Seth didn’t really care about them. It was annoying, but it didn’t mean he was going to kill them or ascend the throne right away. That was the most troublesome thing for Seth.

The reason why Seth did not aim for the throne was simple. 

He’s not interested.

A very simple and insignificant reason. But just in case, he took all the classes needed to become an emperor from a young age. It was not because he coveted the emperor’s throne, but to avoid being swayed by the next emperor. The martial arts he learned because of the threats of assassination and the knights he raised himself were in order to avoid being trampled on by the next emperor. 

In fact, if he wanted to succeed the throne, Seth would have been the object of fear for all the imperial members by now. It was a fact known only to those close to him, but Seth had earlier joined hands with gigantic guilds, and through this, he had long secured the weaknesses and corruptions of all the imperial family members from the beginning. The amount and quality were never to a level that one could laugh at, and it was enough to cut their power in half if he just put his mind to it. 

The reason why he didn’t bother to reveal it and remove them one by one was because he had no intention of becoming an emperor.

And another reason is that he’s enjoying the situation right now. It was fascinating to see the assassins rush to take their own lives and die after suffering desperately, and it was also funny to see how the imperial family struggled to assassinate him.

Others may not understand, but Seth liked all the tension that comes from having his life threatened and the sense of building up the opponent’s weaknesses one by one. For Seth, who had lived a life of no desire and without anything he wanted to do, such stimulation has been a great pleasure.

And at that moment, a ghost that appeared out of the blue drew a new interest in Seth. 

It was only then that Yi-Gyeol, who led Seth into a cave that was not that deep, was able to put down his anxiety. 

−I’ll go see how it’s going.

“It won’t be sorted out soon anyway. Take a break first.”

Seth dissuaded, who had his eyes set on a small portable lamp with a radius of about 1 meter. Then, leaning his back against the wall of the cave, he asked a question. 

“Do you have a name or something?”

−Yes. It’s Joo Yi-Gyeol.

“It’s an unusual name, but if it’s an alias, tell me your real name. If that was your real name, then you should be cautious.”

As soon as Yi-Gyeol answered without any hesitation, he heard a scolding from Seth.

−What’s the point of using an alias? It’s my real name. Cautious… I don’t know why I should do that.

“Do you even know what kind of person I am?”

−But you still listened to my words.

Saying that, he murmured, ‘If you only had done that much earlier, we could have avoided the ambush.’

“They weren’t the type of people who would turn around just because we avoided them for a while. It’s better to face them sooner rather than later.”

It was as if he’s been through this countless times. And it was also quite amazing that even though he said such a thing, he didn’t lose the casual expression on his face.

−…Why is everyone trying to kill you? Is it because you’re a prince?

“It seems like you’re not that stupid.”

Although Yi-Gyeol was choked up by Seth’s words, he felt mixed up by the expression on the young man’s face that was tantamount to acceptance.

Yi-Gyeol, who watched historical dramas with interest when he was a student, has seen various tricks surrounding the fight for the throne. It would be irrelevant if it was a democratic country, but since this is an imperial country, it was understandable that such a thing would happen like a scene from a historical drama.

−It would’ve been nice if this was also a democratic country.

If that was only the case, there would have been no attempts to become the emperor by dying and killing each other. 

“Democratic Country? Is it the name of the country where you came from?”

Yi-Gyeol was speechless at Seth’s question. What do you mean, name of the country? Don’t tell me he also doesn’t know what it means?