Home/I Saved the Villain and Fell Asleep/ch 60

Chapter 60

The footsteps grew closer. I was about to drag the now-calm Kali and slip away before being caught when one of the many doors slid open.

"Huh?"

A hand reached out, groping through the air. Before I could react, it grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. We were dragged in just as the knights arrived, tumbling to the floor. As we stumbled to regain our balance, a familiar voice scolded us.

"Are you insane?! Do you know where you are to be using magic so recklessly? This is the Imperial Palace! You could have been accused of treason! Do I have to explain all of this to you? Why are you wandering around here during the ball? Do you have any idea how dangerous the palace is...!"

I stared blankly at the blond man, my mouth agape. His peculiar violet eyes shot daggers at me as he pounded his chest in frustration.

I've seen this face somewhere before...

"Ph-Philip?"

Though his hair and eye color were different, his features and voice were unmistakably Philip's.

Didn't they say this was the Crown Prince's detached palace? Then why is Philip here?

His endless scolding abruptly stopped. In the sudden silence, Kali, who had come to his senses, let out a dry laugh.

"...So Philip was an alias."

"What?! An alias? No, what do you mean? Really??"

"The Crown Prince disguised as a hunter's son."

"Crown Prince? W-wait a minute. Don't rush ahead like this! I can't keep up!"

Philip is the Crown Prince? The one who had a thing with the female protagonist in the original?

Wait—if Philip is the Crown Prince, then Uncle Joseph, who I've been body-slamming every time we meet... he's not the Emperor, is he...?

"I'm going to faint. Someone catch me."

With that, my legs gave out. Am I the only one feeling this absurdity...?

Philip and Kali quickly caught me as I stumbled backward.

"You, you!!"

"Shh."

Philip brought his index finger to his lips. The voices of the knights from earlier began to drift in from outside.

"We should trace the remnants."

"But this is the Crown Prince's palace..."

Hearing the troubled voices, Philip urged me.

"Stay quiet and stay here for now. Don't come out, no matter what."

I nodded and covered my mouth with my hand. Philip tousled his hair messily and flung open the door with a disheveled appearance.

I crept behind the door with Kali and eavesdropped.

"Who is it?"

"Ah! Y-your Highness."

"How dare you set foot in my palace uninvited? Do you wish to die?"

"N-no, Your Highness. We suspected there was an intruder..."

"We detected mana here and were searching, Your Highness."

"Ha! There are still fools who don't know why this is called a detached palace."

So what does that mean? What's special about the Crown Prince's detached palace?

At Philip's words, the knights gasped in horror. Their trembling voices suggested they were afraid of him.

"Your Highness! That's not all—we also found scorch marks."

"I was already in a foul mood today, so I voluntarily confined myself here. Don't you think making such a racket will only upset me further?"

The moment Philip finished speaking, thunder roared from the sky. As the sudden thunder ceased, Philip muttered in an irritated voice.

"Is this what you heard?"

A heavy thud shook the entire palace, followed by sparks—the same sparks I'd seen at the lake.

I should have realized then! That wasn't static electricity—it was lightning so bright you couldn't keep your eyes open. The unique magic belonging only to those of imperial blood.

The moment the sparks flew, the alarm for unauthorized magic sounded. Since the Crown Prince couldn't be unauthorized, the fact that it went off meant something was wrong with the palace's magic detection system. That's why the knights had come to search. I felt bad for them, but we couldn't let them find out Kali had used magic.

Sorry, but please let Philip handle the scolding...!

"How dare you...!"

"W-we apologize, Your Highness."

Philip dismissed them with a tired wave, then slammed the door shut. He looked down at me, still crouched behind the door with an exhausted face.

"So what's the deal with the detached palace?"

"Ha... That's the first thing you ask?"

"I'm also curious if you're really the Philip I knew, and if Joseph really is His Majesty the Emperor, and why you're not at the ball!"

Philip laughed incredulously, then sat on the sofa and tapped the table.

"Both of you, sit down."

Ah, he's back to that strange tone!

As I sat across from him, Philip brushed his bangs back and spoke casually.

"The detached palace is nothing special. It's only been about two years since I started properly using the imperial inherited magic."

Two years—the same period Philip and Joseph hadn't visited the ducal house.

"It was hard to control. Back then, as you know, it was just static electricity."

"Oh, static electricity."

When I first met Philip, his unique magic was just static electricity—the kind that only made your fingers tingle.

"My mana still goes wild depending on my mood. This detached palace is my sanctuary for when that happens. Today, I just didn't feel like going to the ball, so I used that as an excuse to hide."

"It wasn't because you didn't want to see me?"

"Ahem."

Philip looked away. Maybe it was lucky he hadn't come to the ball—if we'd met there, I might have pointed and shouted "Philip!"

"And Joseph is... His Majesty."

"...Please tell me it's not true."

My face crumpled. No matter how you look at it, pretending to be a hunter is too much, Your Majesty!! How many years did you deceive us?!

"The Duke must be an accomplice too."

So this is what he meant when he said I'd meet them at the Founding Festival?!

"Not just His Majesty, but you too! Why did you come pretending to be a shabby hunter?"

"The Emperor couldn't come in person. He visited as the Duke's friend, not as the Emperor. The ducal house had closed its doors—what else could he do? When you want to see someone, you move."

Ah, so my father didn't go even when the Emperor called?

"Actually, the main reason was me."

"You mean because of the Crown Prince?"

"...Hariella. When we're alone, just speak casually."

"Because of you?"

Philip nodded with a reluctant expression. If he says speak casually, I'll gladly do it!

"When I was young, I was slower than other kids in everything—not just magic manifestation. I was timid too. Back then, I hated meeting people, whether they were kids or adults."

Philip half-lay on the sofa, recalling the past.

"I kept hearing things like 'lacking' and 'inadequate.' That's when it started—my father started dressing me in commoner clothes and secretly taking me to the ducal house."

"He just dropped you in front of me to play."

"Back then, Hariella was really prickly and fierce. You don't remember?"

Suddenly, the arrow turned toward Kali, who had been listening with his arms crossed. His eyebrow twitched.

"She's still plenty prickly and fierce."

"The prickly and fierce one is you, Kali! Like earlier—why did you act like that?"

"...I don't know. My head suddenly hurt like it was splitting. Ever since I met Isaac."

"What? Who did you meet just now?"

At Kali's words, Philip shot up from his seat.

"Isaac. Grand Duke Czerban Isaac."

Philip stared at Kali with wide eyes.

"I felt someone following us, so we ducked into the nearest building—and it turned out to be the detached palace. Then this idiot charged out to see who was following us... and Isaac was there."

Philip let out a hollow laugh and slumped back down. He seemed to know what kind of man Grand Duke Isaac was.

"...That was extremely dangerous. You two."

"Your Highness, how much do you know about Grand Duke Isaac?"

Since we'd come this far, I decided to milk Philip for all the information he had on Isaac.

After hesitating a few times, Philip sighed and infused mana into the armrest of the sofa. A translucent dome enveloped us.

"It's a silence spell, so don't worry."

After a moment of thought, Philip continued in a low voice.

"Father, the Duke of Algenprina, and the Grand Duke of Czerban were close friends from childhood. Their futures seemed flawless—wealthy families, marriages to their beloved, and like-minded friends..."

"Until the Czerban Grand Ducal house burned."

"Yes."

Kali's cold eyes fixed on Philip. Philip met his gaze with an unusually troubled look.

"Isaac started coming and going frequently from the palace. Father began watching them out of unease. Isaac was deeply resentful that his younger brother had inherited the title over him."

It was clear that everything stemmed from the former Emperor and Isaac.

"Then one night—news came that the Grand Duke of Czerban had gone berserk and that his entire family was dead. I vaguely remember Father's face when he heard that news..."

"What did it look like?"

I sent Philip a silent signal: "Please don't say he smiled like a villain and said 'just as planned'—this guy will turn against the imperial family too!"

Whether he understood or not, I wasn't sure.

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