Dark Fantasy: Magical Eye Knight – Chapter 24

Chapter 24: The Black Knight and the Dragon

TL: Potato-tan

Proofreader: Asianpotato

The Hyperion Royal Family’s Imperial Palace has many hidden spaces. Deftly angled light and the illusion of terrain concealed some, while the simultaneous combination of certain elements opened others.

The empire’s foundation had strengthened over the millennia, and the palace had undergone numerous expansions, making its interior as intricate as any labyrinth.

“My grandfather, Emperor Leonard, began the process of tearing down and clearing away useless palace sections. Apparently, it took hours by carriage to go from one end of the palace to the other. Not only was it large, but its paths were incredibly complicated. Can you imagine?”

Even traveling to the court took a considerable amount of time. Even among emperors, Leonard Razenka de Hyperion was a particularly fiery young emperor.

‘Dammit! This is intolerable! Hey! Summon the dwarves, elves, the architects!’

‘Your Majesty, why would you do that?’

‘How can the palace be so big? It’s ridiculous just because it’s big! Why is it so convoluted?’

‘Your Majesty, if only you had begun preparations a little sooner. . .’

‘Is that my fault? Huh?! Why should I, the emperor, have to scurry about to get to the grand hall? I’ll tear it all down and rebuild it! I will rebuild everything from the foundation stones to the roof tiles!’

‘B, But Your Majesty, successive emperors have endured the inconveniences and governed the empire, and therein lies its tradition and history. . .’

‘Enough! I’m now the one who makes tradition and history! Stop your nonsense and summon the architects—!’

After decades of construction, the Imperial Palace of Hippolias, the empire’s capital, became much more streamlined. Of course, even its streamlined size still dwarfed any other royal palace, but at least it had shed its reputation as a labyrinth.

“All the empire’s elves and dwarves meticulously planned and rebuilt the palace, turning it into a space where magic and mystery lurked in every corner. Of course, they didn’t demolish most of the palace but instead knocked down walls and rearranged useless annexes, which untangled the complicated paths and made it much easier to get from building to building and outside. Grandfather ruled the empire with an iron fist, but he cited the palace’s reconstruction project as his favorite achievement in his later years.”

The princess smiled gently, as if reminiscing about the distant past. But her smile soon faded.

“And when I was twelve, I discovered a certain space by accident.”

When she cut her palm during sword practice, it happened. She bled, and her anxious nanny rushed off to fetch a priest. As she waited for her nanny, Julia accidentally touched a wall with her bloody hand, causing a sudden suck in.

“That room was unknown to both my father and grandfather. Only a royal’s blood could unlock the secret room at a specific time and location.

When Julia, who had fallen, stood up and looked around, her first impression of the space was that it was chaotic. The corridor right before her suddenly shot up to the ceiling and split into three or four paths, which then dropped off like cliffs.

And yet, there were doors standing freely without walls, lining the paths. Darkness filled the spaces outside the paths, and there was no way to go there, even if she wanted to.

It was a very strange space.

“I couldn’t tell if the space had always been like that. I wondered if it had become that way during the palace’s reconstruction, or if it had been that way from the start. But somehow, I felt like it had always been that way.”

Julia paused as she followed the path directly in front of her. The path turned at a right angle and continued like a wall. The girl stared blankly for a moment before mustering her courage and placing her foot on the wall-like path.

To her surprise, Julia was able to stand on the wall. No; the wall had become the floor. When the girl looked behind her, the path she had just been walking on had become a wall.

When she stepped back onto her previous path, gravity shifted again, centering around where she stepped. Strangely, the gravity of the space changed depending on which floor she was standing on.

“I explored that amazing space, losing track of time. There was another ceiling-like path above my head, and if I jumped high enough, I would reach a point where gravity would reverse and I would fall. When gravity reversed, I would float for a moment, and I couldn’t get enough of that thrilling feeling.”

The twelve-year-old Julia also tried opening the doors that stood unsupported. The majority of them remained locked, refusing to open. However, a handful managed to open, unveiling the secrets within.

“Then, suddenly, I thought my nanny would be looking for me. I thought I had to get out. But I didn’t know how to get out. The unknown space was so chaotic that I couldn’t even guess where I had come from. But then I saw a door right next to me with the word ‘exit’ on it. It was as if the space itself had read my mind.”

The door marked ‘exit’ opened easily. When Julia stepped inside, she found herself back in the place where she had first touched the wall. And before long, her nanny returned with a priest.

‘Nanny!’

‘Princess Julia, you’ve kept me waiting. I’ve hired a priest. Let me see your palm.’

‘No, Nanny. I didn’t disappear?’

‘Excuse me? Weren’t you just standing here?’

‘. . .No.’

“I became even more engrossed in that secret space. When I had a chance, I went there. Since time seemed to flow strangely in that space, where gravity worked in strange ways, I had no trouble continuing to explore the space even after I had finished my other duties.”

Julia, as a princess, had many lessons, classes, and training sessions to attend, and she had to compete with her siblings.

“Once I understood the principle, I had no problem entering, even if it wasn’t through the training hall’s wall. The important things were my blood and my will. Truthfully, I didn’t like sword training very much, so I thought it would be nice to have a place to hide until my nanny came.”

However, she was still a young girl, and she wasn’t very interested in competition, winning, or losing. This was especially true back then, when her siblings were all on good terms. However, even Julia didn’t want to share the space she had found.

“As a child, I was just happy to have my own secret space, but I didn’t know the value of that room. But I gradually came to realize it. Over the generations, there were countless records and treasures left behind by the emperors and royalty who had discovered that space. Most of the treasures were antiques or worthless trinkets, but a few had amazing abilities, even by today’s standards.”

One day, Julia opened a door and found a room filled with bookshelves. The books were incredibly diverse. There were books on subjects that had long been out of print: character encyclopedias, novels, common sense, geography, and more. But what interested Julia the most was the bookshelf filled with records left by the royalty who had discovered this space over the generations and illustrated books.

“. . .Don’t look at me like that. Do you think I’m not human?”

The princess coughed awkwardly; her face flushed.

It was only two years ago that she became interested in Ludwig, an ancestor from three hundred years ago.

“That’s because the issue of imperial succession has really started to heat up. I was the eldest daughter, but my mother was not the empress. My younger brother, on the other hand, was the empress’s first son. But since there was a time in the empire’s history when Empress Louise Rapeda de Hyperion ruled, my position wasn’t very precarious. And I became curious about the empress’s older brother, Ludwig.”

However, there was no mention of Ludwig in the imperial genealogy or history. Julia thought of her secret space. After searching through the study, she found a manuscript. The manuscript belonged to Ludwig Dracas de Hyperion.

“The only records of him were a portrait with his face and a brief line stating that he had passed the throne to his younger sister. For some reason, he hated leaving behind any official records of himself. Historians mostly agreed that it was because he was thinking of his younger sister, who would later become empress. And that guess was half right and half wrong.”

Julia sat down and began to read the manuscript. Ludwig’s handwriting adorned the manuscript, detailing his reasons for rejecting the throne and venturing into the wilderness.

“I was completely engrossed in my ancestor’s writing. And then I came to the last words he had written.”

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

The palace was a splendid place, but it was also a cold and unforgiving space. The palace was such a place for Ludwig, the heir who had been designated as the next emperor since birth.

Ludwig had beautiful silver hair and golden eyes, just like other members of the royal family, but he was more attracted to things other than the emperor, power, or the bowing courtiers.

freedom outside the windows. The vast plains, the horizon that met the sky, the snowy mountains, and the great forests were more to his liking. Having enjoyed reading the travelogues and adventure stories of travelers and adventurers since childhood, Ludwig’s yearnings only grew stronger.

His younger sister, Louise, had known her brother’s heart from the beginning.

“Brother, then go out into the world.”

“Then who will become emperor?”

“I will.”

Ludwig was surprised by his younger sister’s declaration. When had Louise made such a decision?

“Is it because of me?”

“Don’t be silly. Just as you have your own aspirations for a free world, I too have my own aspirations for a world where I can do as I please.”

“Then I must make preparations.”

From that day on, Ludwig began to live a dissolute life. He skipped classes and training, snuck out of the palace, and even gambled in the slums, hiding his identity.

The House of Lords ultimately removed Ludwig from his role as crown prince. The House of Lords designated his younger sister, Louise, as the next heir to the emperor.

While Ludwig lived such a life, Louise studied diligently and built relationships with the nobles. The number of lords who supported her far exceeded half.

“Everything is going according to plan, Louise. But I’m worried that I may have burdened you with too much.”

“Please stop smiling and talk. When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Then when can I see you again?”

“If we both live, we will meet again. Farewell, my sister.”

Ludwig left the palace the next day. The emperor, who knew his son’s wishes, saw him off in silence. Ludwig bowed to the palace once, then turned away. The wide world lay spread out before him. He was twenty years old.

Ludwig, who had magically changed his hair color and eye color, reveled in his freedom. And for nine years, he wandered the wilderness. He traversed the Awnhilnar Mountains in the north, the kingdoms in the center, and the vast deserts and forests in the south. Countless races, ruins, and relationships.

There were good relationships, but there were more bad ones. Ludwig didn’t care. He rode his horse and sometimes walked with the sun, moon, and stars above his head, continuing his journey.

Sometimes he smiled when he heard that his younger sister, who had ascended to the throne, was ruling the empire well.

Like this, after traveling west, north, central, and south, and then back up again, Ludwig met a woman in an old city in the northeast.

“Aren’t you the prince who ran away from the palace a long time ago?”

“. . .How did you know?”

The woman who was looking at Ludwig with a smile blinked once, and then her eyes rounded again.

“It is an honor to meet a great being. . .”

“Ugh, stop it.”

“I understand.”

As time passed, he and she became more than lovers; they became husband and wife. However, they did not have any children. Ludwig understood the reason for this and accepted it. But she did not accept it or understand it.

“Is, Is? What are these handcuffs? Why am I tangled up? And what is that magic circle below?”

“There is no such thing as impossible in my dictionary, there is nothing impossible.”

“Oh, that’s a great line. I want to write it down somewhere. First, can you please unlock these handcuffs. . .?!”

“Shut up.”

However, no matter how hard they tried, they could not have children. Fifteen years passed. Ludwig grew old, but she did not. She sometimes muttered to herself.

‘It’s okay for now. It’s still okay.’

Ten more years passed.

She began to dabble in more and more magic and spells. Among them were forgotten ancient spells and dark spells that could reach into other dimensions.

Ludwig couldn’t bring himself to stop her. He just stayed by her side, offering his unchanging love and support.

And then the incident happened.

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