MPBAGS Chapter 115

In the midst of descending darkness, only scattered torchlight floated through the air here and there.

The crowd guarding the prison had disappeared. Most had been deployed to search for the escaped Tenebrae, leaving few personnel remaining at the prison. Antenor counted the remaining heads and suddenly spoke up.

"I'll go down and check the underground area. With all the commotion outside, the prisoners must be getting restless."

Of course, it was merely an excuse to go see Evangeline. Hearing this, one of his fellow knights snorted and sneered.

"It's not even your shift to stand guard. I guess those of low birth are different after all. Even in this situation, all you can think about is wagging your tail at the prisoners to get bribes?"

The words were accurate. Even in this situation, Antenor's first thought was to grovel before Evangeline Rohanson. But after witnessing such overwhelming marvel before his very eyes, how many people would refuse to submit? Especially when the other party was dangling a carrot right in front of his nose, promising to fulfill what Antenor desired.

"I'll go with him."

"Polus!"

Just as the argument was escalating with no sign of letting Antenor go, Polus stepped forward.

"I'll take good care of Ante, so what's there to worry about?"

Polus slapped Antenor's shoulder and pulled him along. The knight who had been watching this scene strangely curled up his lips. He had caught on that Polus's meaning of "taking care of" involved violence. Go get beaten to a pulp in the underground away from prying eyes. All of this was Antenor's own doing.

"Right. With you there, I can rest easy. Since Antenor's leg is uncomfortable, take good care of him."

No one pointed out that it was Polus who had made Antenor's leg lame. Polus led Antenor down to the underground. The knights standing guard underground looked puzzled seeing the two who had returned even though their shift had ended.

"Polus, why are you back again?"

Antenor answered instead.

"Tenebrae Reverdi, the assassin of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, has escaped. His Majesty commanded us to capture Tenebrae, so everyone is helping with the search."

"What?"

"So why don't you go up and join them? If we catch Princess Tenebrae, we're sure to receive tremendous rewards, and it's not an opportunity that comes often."

"You'll stand guard in our place?"

They pondered for a moment, then readily agreed.

"Alright. With Polus here, it should be fine."

As soon as the knights left and the presence of people disappeared, Polus's body collapsed. Antenor kicked the corpse over with his foot. As if questioning when it had ever moved and spoken so vividly, Polus's body moved helplessly even under the lame man's weak kicks.

"What? Surprised?"

A voice whispering very close to his ear made his skin crawl. When Antenor startled and turned around, Jelly giggled as if he had witnessed an unexpected trick.

"That's understandable. I'm probably the only one who can move corpses this precisely."

When Jelly flicked his finger, Polus rose to his feet again. Unlike before, only the corpse was lifted into the air, making it look exactly like watching a puppet show without strings.

"Flauros broke his neck, so it's a bit tricky to move. If only he had cut it cleanly like I do, how much better would that be?"

"You are...?"

Antenor asked warily of the unfamiliar figure. Had a prisoner escaped taking advantage of the commotion? However, in Antenor's memory, he had never seen such a criminal in the underground prison.

"Me? I'm Jelly."

Andras enjoyed the other's fear as he told him his name.

"Are you perhaps someone employed by Lady Rohanson?"

"Something like that."

The man laughed heartily, showing his teeth clearly at those words. Indeed, if not Evangeline Rohanson, who else could command such a monster? Jelly threw Polus's corpse back down on the ground and walked with Antenor toward Evangeline's prison cell.

"Oh, what interesting events have unfolded? That's why I came to deliver the news to my master."

"Yes, yes."

"How obedient and commendable."

Letting the superficial praise go in one ear and out the other, Antenor picked up the key hanging on the wall and opened the prison door. At the sound of metal scraping, Evangeline Rohanson rolled her eyes from her reading position to look at Antenor. It was like watching the eyes of a portrait painting move, making it eerie. Though ominous and unsettling, with Jelly pressing down with strong force right behind him, he couldn't even run away.

Seeing Antenor, Evangeline closed her book and rose from her seat. The unusually long hem of her dress dragged along the floor as she approached. Though the fabric rustled, strangely there was no sound of footsteps.

When Evangeline came right up to Antenor's nose and lowered her head to meet his gaze, thin, long strands fell below her shoulders. Only after Evangeline lowered her gaze did Antenor belatedly realize he had collapsed and was kneeling. He hadn't even properly noticed when the strength had left his legs.

His spine went cold. The oppressive feeling without iron bars between them was this terrifying. It seemed foolish that he had ever looked down on Evangeline Rohanson, even briefly, trusting in just those iron bars. Was this even human? Was it even a living creature to begin with? Perhaps it was closer to a reanimated corpse, like Polus had been.

Evangeline smiled as radiantly as a painting, just as before.

"You've returned early. Sir Ante, it seems you have something to tell me?"

"...Yes."

Antenor couldn't bear to keep looking at Evangeline, so he lowered his gaze and began explaining the situation outside.

"His Majesty the Emperor has declared that the true culprit is Tenebrae Reverdi, and commanded us to capture the escaped criminal."

"Tenebrae? Not Jeremia?"

Evangeline asked back as if puzzled. It was natural to find it strange, as recent rumors about assassinating the Crown Prince had centered on Jeremia. Hadn't Gabriel also found Jeremia suspicious? However, the Emperor had issued an official document allowing even killing if unavoidable when capturing Tenebrae.

This was not only proof that there was solid evidence of Tenebrae being the culprit, but also an expression that he would no longer treat Tenebrae as royalty.

"If knights have been mobilized, have the holy knights also joined the pursuit?"

"Yes. Probably so."

"Sir Gabriel must also be chasing after Tenebrae."

Antenor nodded. Gabriel had been under house arrest in the imperial palace due to his close ties with Evangeline. Thinking that catching Tenebrae would help prove Evangeline's innocence, he would have definitely joined the pursuit.

Evangeline slightly furrowed her brow before declaring.

"I must find Tenebrae too."

"Will you participate in killing Princess Tenebrae?"

"Quite the opposite."

When Antenor asked, the answer was the complete opposite of what he had expected. Not to kill, but the opposite? Could she possibly be trying to save Tenebrae?

In any case, going outside now was not advisable.

"There are quite a lot of knights outside right now."

"I didn't say I would search myself. I have children who are very good at finding people."

Children? That man called Jelly wouldn't belong to that category, would he?

"Pudding. Can you find him?"

Pudding? Who could that be? Though he didn't know who it was, it would surely be an extraordinary being, but why did they have names of mismatched desserts? It was incomprehensible. Truly poor taste, wasn't it?

The moment Evangeline finished speaking, the air opened its eyes. A strange line that had appeared in mid-air unfolded what had been folded. Giant eyeballs slowly rolled their pupils from behind.

When Antenor was about to scream in surprise, Jelly covered his mouth.

As he struggled and flailed his arms, gasping as if choking, Jelly released his mouth as if he had forgotten he was strangling a person.

"Focus and shush."

It felt like being in a giant clock shop where eyes hung on the walls instead of clocks.

Each blinking at different speeds created an eerie cacophony. There was a wet, squelching sound as if soaked in water. It was so creepy he wanted to scratch out his ears. At that moment, cracks appeared in the eyeballs and they began to shatter, breaking into pieces like crushed candy.

Antenor covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them to see a boy instead of the cluster of sprouting eyeballs. The handsome boy clutched his bleeding eyes.

"Ugh!"

"Pudding."

Uncharacteristically, Evangeline showed worry, and the boy called Pudding explained the situation.

"...I think there was interference."

"You don't need to overdo it."

When Evangeline wiped his eyes, blood instead spread across the soft skin. It felt like something pure had been defiled, so Antenor looked away.

"No. I don't want to feel that helpless feeling of being unable to help Lady Evangeline in any way ever again."

And as the boy concentrated again, the inner walls of the prison suddenly transformed. The floor undulated like flesh, and the torches flickered accordingly, their shadows dancing in bizarre shapes. Antenor almost wished Jelly would cover his mouth again.

"Found him."

The mouths stuck to the ground all chorused in unison with different voices. It sounded as if the same voice was spoken from dozens of mouths, resonating from all directions. No wait, there were no mouths anywhere.

The world returned to normal, and the underground prison floor remained solid as before. The only difference was that the boy called Pudding had disappeared.

Jelly blinked as if bewildered.

"Master, that kid went alone."

"Let's follow."

And then came the sound of fingers snapping. After that, even Evangeline was nowhere to be seen. Antenor was left alone in the underground prison with just Polus's corpse.