Monarch of Death

Chapter 66 – The Royal Family’s Struggle (4)

The cultists dragged the tied Lloyd out of the stone chamber. They exited the basement, went into the corridor, and went upstairs. Lloyd looked up and asked a few questions.

“What do you mean?”

“What have you done, Alford?”

“Do you think you can safely go over even if you do this to the prince of a country?”

There was no answer. Contrary to the lengthy explanation of the situation a while ago, he was only consistent with silence from beginning to end. He was being dragged along like that. Suddenly, a laugh came out.

‘This is very convenient.’

Was it comfortable when he was tied up with a rope and being dragged like a cow? It had to be nonsense. But it was really comfortable. There was just no pain itself. My feet were so light, and my body moved so easily.

‘Well, if you think about it, it was like that when I woke up.’

It was he who had fallen asleep in a comfortable pajama on soft bedding. But when he woke up, he was lying face down on the cold stone floor, with his arms tied tightly in cumbersome everyday clothes. Even so, he woke up feeling more comfortable and refreshed than ever before.

“So, Alford always lived like this?”

He realize once again how messed up his original body was. When he went up to the second floor of the mansion, a group of men were waiting for him. There was a familiar face among them, and Lloyd made an impression.

“Sir Sebastian.”

He was one of Prince Alford’s henchmen.

“Surprised. I never thought you would betray Alford.”

Sebastian laughed at the fume. It was the expression of hearing an absurd sound.

“Do you think I betrayed Alford?”

“Otherwise, why did you put Alford in my junk body?”

“Well, I can’t deny that it looks that way.”

In response, Lloyd smiled inwardly. With this, it was confirmed that Alford led the situation. He still didn’t understand.

‘What benefit would that guy have by taking over my body?’

Sebastian gestured to the men behind him. A thick door on one side of the hallway opened. Inside was a gorgeous bedroom. A comfortable and relaxed space enough for a country’s prince to live in. The only difference was that all the windows had thick iron bars.

“Come in.”

There was no point in resisting in this situation. Obediently following, Lloyd threw a word.

“What do you want from me?”

Unlike the cultists, Sebastian didn’t reply.

“You mean what we want?”

He shook his head at Lloyd, who entered the room.

“There is nothing.”

The men pulled back the rope that bound Lloyd. They had no intention of leaving it tied up.

“The prince just needs to be healthy and stay here quietly.”

The thick door closed firmly, and the sound of the lock resounded.

»»————-　★　————-««
Looking around Karnak and the others, Lloyd continued.

“After being locked up for the night, I did what I had to do first.”

What the imprisoned should do, of course, was to find a way to escape.

“I shook the grates on the windows, checked every corner of the room, and looked over the door. It wasn’t too difficult since they let my arms go free.”

And came to the same conclusion as most of the incarcerated.

“There was no way to escape. I was expecting it, so I’m not disappointed.”

In fact, the joy was greater than the disappointment.

“It may not be something a person who has lost his body and is trapped in an unidentified place would do…….”

After being imprisoned all the time in the prison of a weak body, he obtained Alford’s body. Just walking around the room made him realize what freedom meant.

“To be honest, I thought it would be nice if I could just live like this with a changed body.”

The treatment wasn’t bad either. He wasn’t particularly tied up, the bed was soft, and there were books to read separately in case he was bored while imprisoned.

“The meal was also of the highest quality that a country’s prince would eat.”

Even though they were the same prince, Lloyd had never tasted delicious food in his life.

“It’s not because I don’t have money or because I’m discriminated against, but I get sick right away when I eat too much stimulating food.”

For the first time in his life, he experienced how spicy, salty, and sweet food could bring happiness. Lloyd made a vague expression as he stared into space for a moment.

“Ah, I liked it back then.”

Karnak and Barros nodded sincerely.

“Oh, it can be.”

“It makes perfect sense.”

“……Why do you guys understand that?”

After a moment of puzzlement, Lloyd continued his explanation.

“There’s been no contact since. He just brought me food for every meal.”

A thick visit that only opened for meals. That would be the only chance for trapped Lloyd to escape. But things weren’t going well. Sebastian was no fool either, and four heavily armed first-class knights accompanied the maid whenever she brought his meals.

Even Alford himself was the elite of the elite who could not win one-on-one. Since such people were watching with sad eyes, it was difficult to use one’s hands during meals.

“Uh, then…”

After hearing the story, Serati was puzzled. Right now, Lloyd had escaped the mansion and was sitting in front of them like this.

“How did you escape?”

“That’s what you mean…”

Prince Lloyd laughed incredulously.

“Those friends had a serious misunderstanding.”

***

Locked in the room, Lloyd calmly organized the situation.

‘First of all, let’s figure out what I know in the current situation.’

At this point, there was no way to know what the hell Alford was up to. What was certain was that the bodies of the two had changed and that Lloyd himself was imprisoned.

‘Not killing me right now means that I have a reason to stay alive.’

If he looked at his surroundings, he would be more confident. It was too comfortable to be a prison, and it was a thoroughly prepared space. The meals were top-notch, and the toilet was attached to the room, so he was able to handle the toilet with dignity.

At least it was clear that he was very concerned about Alford’s ‘body’. If so, wouldn’t it be possible to try to escape by using the meal time?

‘Anyway, the opponent won’t be able to harm this body, so I’ll use that loophole……?’

‘It’s like I care about my health unintentionally.’

It was an absurd story. This meant that Lloyd, who couldn’t even deal with a single soldier, subdued all four first-class knights that even Alford himself couldn’t deal with, and after taking care of all the guards around the mansion, he escaped from the mansion where he didn’t even know where he was. Didn’t that mean danger is out of his grasp?

“It’s nonsense.”

Exhausted, Lloyd habitually warmed up. Since he was the owner of such a messed up body because his body did not move properly unless he released his joints and muscles from time to time.

He was in the middle of that. He simply warmed up his body, but he felt an amazing sense of vitality and energy throughout his whole body.

“What?”

For a moment, Lloyd blinked.

“……Will it work?”

»»————-　★　————-««
Prince Alford certainly possessed outstanding military talent. Showing the skills of a first-class knight at the age of less than twenty was not an ordinary talent.

However, to put it in reverse, it could be said that even so, he was only the skill of one first-class knight. The person now in Alford’s body was the first prince, Lloyd, like a tree with no strength.

It was a situation where even 2-3 ordinary soldiers could be enough to subdue him. Even so, Sebastian selected the most outstanding among his knights and attached them as watchers.

As the matter was so serious, they were vigilant enough to prepare for an emergency. Each of them was far stronger than Alford, and as many as four of them were attached, so no one could blame them for poor preparation. But now those four knights were lying on the floor like corpses.

“Thaak……”

“Thaaaaaaak……”

It happened in an instant. After accepting the meal, Lloyd suddenly jumped up and hit the lead knight’s neck with a sharp blow. A rivalry was like a flash war that followed.

Of course, the knights responded immediately, but Lloyd’s sword was faster. All the attacks flew towards the exact target at the exact time, and the knights couldn’t handle the attack. Amid the blurred consciousness, one knight made an expression of disbelief.

“How……Even Prince Alford himself wasn’t this strong…….”

Taking a breath, Lloyd shook his head.

“It seems that you had no idea how weak my original body was.”

He was fragile. Even though he learned the best swordsmanship under the best teacher, he could only deal with one soldier. But was this proof that there was no strength?

Instead, it was the opposite. He learned the best swordsmanship under the best teacher and, with ‘that rubbish body,’ showed incompetence equivalent to that of a ‘normal soldier.’

He overcame the overwhelming stamina, energy, and muscle strength gap with minimal strength, minimal movement, and only numbers and skills. What would happen if such a Lloyd obtained a healthy, even strong body?

“You son of a bitch, Alford. Can’t you do all of this with such a blessed body? Aren’t you too lazy?”

Lloyd clicked his tongue and heard the maid’s terrified moan from behind.

“Ah, Ahhhhh……”

With a smile, he left the door.

“Don’t worry. I won’t harm you.”

There was no need to harm the maid.

“All you have to do is keep them locked up here for a while. Fortunately, it’s easy to lock them up. This is the room they built for me to be locked up in the first place.”

»»————-　★　————-««
“Unexpectedly, I was able to get out of the mansion after that easily.”

Lloyd’s prediction that there would be an impenetrable surveillance network was wrong. Of course, there were guards everywhere, but even when they saw him, they didn’t want to catch him.

“They just politely saluted.”

Then he realized.

“Coming to think of it, there was no way I would have informed the general soldiers of my situation. Isn’t it an incident involving a cult?”

In the eyes of the guards, he was still Prince Alford. So, he confidently headed to the garden, saying that he would just take a walk in moderation. Of course, he couldn’t leave the mansion completely.

“Even the real Alford himself won’t let him out alone.”

Since Lloyd was also a prince, he knew the situation. If it was dangerous, they would try to attach an escort, then the upper management would be contacted, and then Sebastian would come after him with his knights.

“So, after aiming for a place where there were no people, I jumped over the fence.”

Luckily, he succeeded in escaping from the mansion. However, there were too many dangers to return to the palace immediately.

The 2nd Prince’s side must have guessed that much. They would take control from the corner of the road, and there was a high possibility that they would be caught again before they even reached the royal palace.

However, it was also challenging to find other henchmen. There was no certainty that people would believe the words that the cultists changed the body.

What if they didn’t believe it? With Alford’s body alone, it was like falling under Lloyd’s power. No matter how much the enemy was, he was the country’s prince, so they would wonder if he was killed right away…

“Wasn’t it too long to conclude that it wasn’t?”

They had been aiming at each other’s necks for over 10 years. Could they be sure that there were no henchmen who considered it true loyalty to post an after-action report after committing an arbitrary act?

“It’s not like there hasn’t been a similar case in reality.”

Life was not something to gamble recklessly.

“It was an unprecedented situation, and I couldn’t decide what to do.”

It was the King’s Order that came to mind then.

“I expected that those familiar with necromancy would be able to communicate. The enemy would be less likely to anticipate my movements.”

So, he wrote a handwritten letter and secretly sent it to Captain Erantel. Since he had an existing acquaintance with Lloyd, he thought he would know enough about his handwriting.

“It’s just that there’s an unexpected problem here. I’m sure I typed normally, but Alford’s handwriting came out.”

Handwriting and habits were subject to the body, not the soul.

“But it’s originally my handwriting, right? After some practice, I was able to use my original handwriting.”

Prince Lloyd joked, saying that forging his own handwriting was also quite a strange experience. Afterward, he hid himself in a slum and waited for an answer. And three days later, he met Karnak and his party.

“This is what the past five days have been.”

As he finished his explanation, Lloyd narrowed his eyes.

“Fortunately, I have contacted you, so I want to ask you now.”

If you were a King’s Order who had dealt with necromancers professionally, you would be familiar with it.

“Now, how am I supposed to move?”

[To be continued.]