Free Web NovelChapter 230: The Spider and the Empress (7)
Professor Baldwin and I again arrived at the same place where we had first entered the underground, the entrance to the Imperial Palace’s hidden underground. In other words, we were back at the starting point.
“It’s here?” I asked.
“Yes. The Ember’s energy leads in this direction.”
The ember wasn’t inside the underground section, after all.
Following the lead, we passed back through the hidden wall. However, the path led back to the palace corridor.
I frowned, scanning the area. What’s going on?
Professor Baldwin quietly moved ahead, then said, “I had a suspicion earlier.”
“What kind of suspicion?”
“That underground chamber, it didn’t have just one passage.”
“Right.”
As she said, the cavern where we had encountered the Church of Eternity, Mephisto, and the Apostles of Ruin was formed by multiple paths converging into one. It was almost like an ant nest.
“Isn’t that strange? If the place was truly meant as an emergency escape route for the Imperial Family, having multiple entrances would be risky. A fleeing royal could end up running straight into a pursuer.”
“Now that you mention it, that does seem odd.”
“My guess is that the underground we saw was a diversion, a decoy, meant to fool anyone who thought they’d found the escape route and lead them astray.”
“Then the real escape route... is somewhere else?” I replied.
“Most likely.”
Professor Baldwin closed her eyes. She took in a quiet breath and spread her arms. “Bind.”
Threads of spider silk shot from all her fingers, blanketing the palace corridor. Gritting her teeth, she forced more mana into the spell. The ten threads multiplied, snaking along the walls, the ceiling, the floors, until, eventually, her web covered the entire palace. Astonished, I watched as near-invisible spider silk filled every corner of the Imperial Palace.
“This is...”
It was odd. I had never seen her weave her web across such a large area before. It made me wonder if the Primordial Flame’s influence had strengthened her abilities during our kiss. No, that couldn’t be it. The Primordial Flame wasn’t a buff spell that empowered others by passing it along. Even when Laneige grew stronger thanks to the Primordial Flame, what increased wasn’t her raw strength; rather, it was her control over the Blessing of the Frost that improved.
Moreover, Professor Baldwin hadn’t even taken my blood; all she took was a bit of saliva from the kiss. The Primordial Flame residing in me didn’t mean that every fluid in my body carried its power. So, the reason she had become so much stronger was her own efforts.
Seeing me stare at her, she asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s just that you seem much stronger than before.”
She smiled faintly and shrugged. “Is that so? There’s an old saying.”
“What saying?” I asked out of curiosity.
“Women grow stronger when they’re in love.”
Brushing my cheek with her fingertips, she continued with an amused smile, “I used to think it was nonsense, but experiencing it myself... I understand now.”
She chuckled softly. “My younger sisters have been growing stronger every day recently. As their older sister, I can’t just fall behind, can I?”
The unexpected “older sister” title made me laugh without thinking.
“So, we’re using ‘older sister and younger sisters’ as terms now?” I muttered.
“Of course, but only after you graduate. As of now, I still have to uphold my duties as a professor.”
“Hmmm. Sister Elisha, huh.”
Her smile turned playful. “Heh. It has a charming ring to it, doesn’t it? So, Dale, will you also call me Sister Elisha?”
“By age, I’m actually much older,” I said firmly.
“Then should I call you Dale Oppa[1] instead?”
“Let’s discuss that another time.”
Having Professor Baldwin call me Oppa was something to be discussed in the future. I had experienced it once before, and it had felt just as unsettling then as it felt now.
“Very well.” She nodded and began walking again. “Follow me.”
“Did you find the path?”
“Yes.”
After walking down a long corridor, she stopped before one of the countless doors in the palace, but this one was decorated far more lavishly than the others. Two knights with unmistakably powerful auras stood guard before it.
I stared at the door. “That’s...”
“Empress Camellia’s chamber, it seems.”
“So, the real escape route is inside that room?”
“That’s what my webs tell me.”
“Hmm.”
If a secret escape route existed to protect the Imperial Family during an attack, placing it within the Empress’s private quarters was logical.
“At least, it seems the Empress is not inside.”
“The problem is those guards.”
Camellia had granted us a sort of free passage to move within the palace, but whether that permission extended to entering the personal chambers of the Imperial Family was another matter.
“Let’s check first,” I said.
“And if they say we can’t?”
“Well, then we don’t have much choice.”
We would have to force our way in if necessary.
“Haa! I hope this doesn’t turn into a diplomatic incident.”
“If we fail to stop the Ember, it’ll escalate into something far worse than a diplomatic conflict.”
Leaving the hesitant Professor Baldwin behind, I stepped toward the Empress’s door. Seven-colored aura rose faintly from my body.
The knights widened their eyes at this sight.
“That aura...”
“Is that the Empress’s blessing?”
“There was an order stating that anyone bearing Her Majesty’s blessing may freely enter and exit any place!”
Contrary to Professor Baldwin’s concerns, the knights stepped aside so easily that it made me wonder if this was truly allowed.
Was this why Empress Camellia was called the heart of the Empire? An outsider they had never seen before was asking to enter the Empress’s private chambers, yet simply because it was Camellia’s command, they didn’t question a thing. Obeying their monarch’s orders was natural for a knight, sure, but for them to follow it so unconditionally? That kind of obedience was impossible without absolute loyalty.
Anyway, that was how we ended up entering the Empress’s chamber.
“Never thought I’d live long enough to set foot in the Empress’s private rooms.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
As a woman from an unnamed rural village and a backwater hero of little rank, we expected some kind of breathtaking, otherworldly luxury to unfold before us. But unlike the reception hall, which had been filled with furniture and artifacts so valuable I couldn’t even guess their worth, Camellia’s room was surprisingly modest.
“Huh? It’s not as extravagant as I imagined.”
“Indeed. It certainly pales in comparison to the audience chamber.”
“Well, even an empress wants to be comfortable when she sleeps, right?”
“That’s a fair point.”
“For now, let’s find the escape route.”
“Wait a moment.”
Professor Baldwin spread her webs again, thoroughly sweeping the room, and moved toward one spot. It was a wall with no furniture and no decorations.
“There’s a presence coming from behind this,” she said.
I pressed my hand against the wall and closed my eyes. “Let me take a look.”
A faint vibration of mana tingled along my palm. Unlike the decoy passage hidden with illusion magic, the real escape route was indeed sealed with a powerful magic barrier. However, it didn’t matter how strong the barrier was.
I mustered my powers, and Ashen Flames burst from my hand, climbing over the wall. The barrier was swallowed whole within moments, vanishing instantly.
As the hidden passage revealed itself, Professor Baldwin let out a dry laugh. “No matter how many times I see it, it’s unbelievable.”
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
We stepped into the underground passage. A damp, musty smell pierced my nose, and the sticky air clung unpleasantly to my skin. Judging by the thick layers of dust there, I could tell it hadn’t been used in a very long time.
Then, I felt something familiar. The Primordial Flame sleeping inside my heart stirred violently. The sensation was the same as when I had descended into the underground with Grace. The Primordial Ember was here.
Narrowing my eyes, I looked down the long passage stretching deep below. I reached forward and stopped her. “Professor Baldwin.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Please walk behind me.”
“But then I won’t be able to lead the way.”
“From here on, I can sense it too.”
Positioning myself protectively in front of her, I continued downward. The deeper we went, the hotter the air became. Eventually, we reached the end of the passage. There, beneath the Imperial Palace and deep in the underground, a colossal ember burned fiercely before us.
A laugh slipped out of me the moment I saw it. “Well, damn!”
The Primordial Ember blazing beneath the palace was several times larger than the one I had seen in the Termal Region. And that smaller Ember had been powerful enough to turn an entire region into a volcanic wasteland. Just how impossibly strong would this one be?
I clicked my tongue as I approached the Ember. “No wonder the Empress didn’t stand a chance.”
Suddenly, footsteps echoed through the underground chamber. A figure emerged, draped in a black robe. The figure had a slender frame, which hinted that it was a woman. But her face was hidden, covered by a dark fog-like magic beneath her lowered hood.
A magically distorted voice reverberated through the underground. “How did you get in here?”
I clicked my tongue again and turned toward the robed figure. “No need to hide yourself so much.”
“What are you implying?”
“You can cover your face and your voice, but none of that matters. I already know who you are.”
The gloomy voice fell silent.
I continued, “Someone who can freely access a secret passage that only opens through the Empress’s chamber. Someone who has earned enough unquestioning trust to scheme right under the Empress’s nose without raising suspicion. And someone who once had ties, of any kind, to the demons.”
If I didn’t know a Primordial Ember was burning beneath the palace, I would probably hesitate. But now? This wasn’t even a riddle I needed to solve.
“As far as I know, only one person in the entire palace fits that description,” I added.
The black fog hiding her face dispersed. The woman pushed back her hood and pulled a mace from within her robe, its head lined with vicious spikes.
Melina scowled fiercely as she raised her weapon. “I should have crushed your skull back then.”
I smirked, lifting my sword. “Crush my skull, huh. Hmmm, I wonder if that would have been enough to kill me?”
1. Oppa is a Korean term used by a woman to refer to an older brother, but it can also be used to address a boyfriend or any other older male in a familiar context, where it carries an affectionate or flirtatious nuance. ☜
