The Grand Duke’s Fox Princess

Episode 77: Bait-and-Switch (XI)

The time of the world in Eristella’s memory passed again. Again, time had passed.

The longer they spent locked up, the more strange things were revealed one by one.

And there was nothing to hesitate anymore after saying goodbye to the lingering feelings she couldn’t put down in her past.

“There must be rules.”

With the same amount of magical power, black magic had a greater effect than normal magic, so there was a part that people overlooked.

‘Black magic is not omnipotent.’

There were obviously rules necessary to efficiently control magical power.

So there will be restrictions that maintain this world.

“Even if it’s in my memory, it’s bound to consume a lot of mana since it has to maintain a space.”

If it wasn’t for the world created using hypnosis, it was a situation where a vast amount of magical power and tremendous physical strength would have been consumed to the extent that the caster would have collapsed without lasting even an hour.

“Unless we assimilate ourselves, he cannot confine us here indefinitely.”

Had Eristella decided to stay after seeing her parents, she would have been locked away completely, assimilated into the memories.

At first, she thought it was the black wizard’s goal.

“What is he aiming for? It’s not like he’s locking us up here and attacking us.”

This was the extent of what she could figure out. The role she and Heinricion could play here was also limited.

“Shaking me didn’t work in the end… Why did he maintain this?”

There was a moment when Eristella wanted to stay here, but even after she rejected the temptation, there was no damage to the world of her memories.

“Isn’t the purpose to attack us?”

The face of Heinricion, who was lost in his thoughts, hardened. Hoping his own guess was wrong, he brought it up.

“I guess we are not the target.”

“Then?”

If whatever was happening here wasn’t affecting them, then they had to consider the opposite.

Heinricion calmly organized his thoughts and continued.

“He’s trying to tie our feet here. The real purpose lies elsewhere.”

Everything that was happening here was a trick and a scam.

“If the target is someone else…”

Pondering over the question, Eristella was speechless. But In an instant, a person came to mind.

“…His Majesty.”

It was unknown how the emperor, who was the reason why Eristella was chasing the black wizard, was doing right now.

Even more so the longer they stay here.

“His Majesty now… There is no one to protect him.”

“…This is a great opportunity for them to do whatever they want.”

“…….”

Heinricion also noticed the urgency of the situation.

Now, Eristella was more nervous than ever. It was even frightening.

Even if she got out of hypnosis and caught the black wizard, it meant nothing if she couldn’t save the emperor.

‘Why didn’t I notice right away.’

Regret was always too late. Eristella was already late several times, which resulted in having to say a painful farewell each time.

She never wanted to be late again.

“It’s not too late. For now, let’s focus on getting out of this world.”

Heinricion comforted the trembling Eristella and reassured her.

“We have to go back before it’s really too late.”

It was really dangerous to delay any longer.

The hearts of the two became urgent. They must get out of this hypnosis as soon as possible.

Wouldn’t it be possible to escape from this world by destroying the illusion before their eyes? Thinking so, the two attempted to attack with magic.

However, the world in Eristella’s memory did not break, and more time passed.

“Different memories keep unfolding.”

“What is the way to break this world?”

Eristella thought that if she watched the situation in her memory, a clue would come out, but it seemed that she was wrong.

Up until now, of course, she had assumed that the answer would lie within her memories.

‘But if that doesn’t work at all…’

“I’ll have to try a different approach.”

‘What am I missing now…’

“I was dealing with the hidden black wizard before I was hypnotized. Then we got stuck here…”

While reviewing the situation bit by bit from the beginning, a question popped up.

“Cion.”

“Is there anything strange?”

Eristella muttered as if she had completely forgotten.

“What is he doing while we are stuck here?”

Until now, she had been swayed by the situation unfolding before her eyes, so she hadn’t even thought about it.

The black wizard was definitely in the same space until they were hypnotized.

What about now?

“Is he watching us?”

‘Maybe he’s watching what we’re doing now.’

In what way? It wouldn’t be easy to make one stay hypnotized.

“Even black magic cannot be used indefinitely. He will try to keep us here for a long time with a minimum amount of magical power.”

“To use as little power as possible…”

If he fell into a hypnotic state as well instead of watching from the outside, he could save the maximum amount of magical power.

“Is he actually here?”

Heinricion spat it out as soon as he thought of it. And after he brought it up, both of them couldn’t ignore it.

“Has there been anybody who’s suspicious?”

“Everyone we saw here was someone we had met in the past.”

The young Eristella and Heinricion. And the maids and attendants of the Imperial Palace.

Other than that, there were no foreign beings.

Even now, the ladies-in-waiting passing in front of the two little ones were the usual… 

‘What?’

Eristella tilted her head.

Blink. Blinking slowly, she thought,

‘That person…’

It had been a long time since she had been hypnotized and wandered through her memories.

As a result, the memories she didn’t want to show were stripped away, and now… she seemed to have figured it out.

How to break the hypnosis and return to the real world.

“There’s someone else here besides us.”

Eristella’s eyes flashed.

“Someone else?”

Puzzled, Heinricion turned, scanning the surroundings. 

Obviously, there were many people here. However, there was no shady presence anywhere; there were only the people of the palace that Eristella remembered.

But Eristella continued with confidence.

“This place is based on my memory.”

Everyone who existed in her memory.

“Of course, I don’t remember all the maids in the Imperial Palace, but…”

This point helped her to distinguish.

She didn’t notice what was different at first.

But as she viewed more and more strange things as various situations repeated and time passed in her memory…

‘I think I’ve seen that person before? But something…’

Certain ‘characters’ appeared over and over again in her memory.

This was expected since most of the people working at the Imperial Palace stayed for a long time.

Naturally, their faces changed little by little over time.

Except for one person.

That person looked the same throughout, as if time didn’t pass for him alone.

Like the real Eristella and Heinricion, who were both lost in memories.

“When it comes to the best position to watch us and where he can smoothly blend in, it’ll be either an attendant or a maid.”

“…Is it an attendant?”

“And the surest proof…”

The corner of Eristella’s mouth raised significantly as she directed her gaze toward an attendant.

“…is being able to make eye contact with me.”

That was the moment.

The person who had been perfectly integrated into the gap between the attendants until now suddenly turned his head and looked at the two of them.

“As expected. Right?”

“Yes. You got it right this time.”

The instant Eristella and Heinricion simultaneously moved to attack the black wizard, cracks began to appear in the sky, seemingly shocked by their strike.

“Is it going to break?”

“I guess the way to get out of this world was to find the black wizard here.”

Heinricion’s prediction was correct.

The second the existence of the caster was found, the world of memory could no longer maintain its shape.

It took an instant for the hypnotic world to collapse.

Wajangchang!

The world shattered with a loud sound like a mirror breaking, and fragments poured down.

Heinricion hurriedly wrapped an arm around Eristella and created a protective shield; so the two suffered minimal damage.

“Be careful. That’s real.”

As the world continued to shatter, all the fragments that fell attacked the two.

It was then. A sharp piece suddenly flew in, aiming for Eristella.

Before Eristella could react, Heinricion blocked it first.

He held her hand tightly.

“Step back!”

Heinricion pushed Eristella behind him and continued to block the attacks in her stead.

Eristella tried to help, but the debris raged and she couldn’t even open her eyes properly.

In addition, the hand that she was holding was gradually loosening…