Chapter 225

Get a grip, Ceryl. That’s King Laskar.

Instead of smashing my own head in, I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head hard.

Just like Morpha had warned me, I forced myself to stop doing pointless things.

At my somewhat frantic behavior, the surrounding gazes briefly flicked toward me before drifting away again.

Meanwhile, Morpha packed up their bag.

Since they had already judged that staying here any longer wouldn’t yield any useful information, it seemed they intended to leave quickly.

Honestly, I felt the same way.

More than anything, if I kept looking into those eyes that looked exactly like Berry’s, I really felt like I was going to lose my mind.

“Your Majesty, we shall take our leave now.”

“Very well. Thank you for coming.”

A brief farewell passed between them.

Eager to leave as soon as possible, I turned around without hesitation.

But before I could even take a single step, I froze in place.

A strange vibration slowly crept upward through the floor beneath my feet.

Maybe I’d experienced [N O V E L I G H T] too many life-threatening situations by now.

It almost felt like I had developed some kind of danger sensor.

A cold shiver prickled down the back of my neck.

And before I could properly grasp what was happening—

a deafening roar exploded through the palace.

KWA-AAAAANG!!!

“AAAAH!!”

Everyone screamed instinctively and dropped flat to the floor, covering their heads.

Something had clearly exploded underground.

The vibration that had been lightly tickling beneath our feet transformed into a violent shockwave that began shaking the entire building.

While everyone else struggled desperately to keep their balance as if an earthquake had struck, the only person still standing firmly on two feet was Varen.

“Ceryl!”

Varen clearly wasn’t in his right mind either.

Despite being disguised as the second son of the Litmus family, he had just shouted my real name aloud.

But now wasn’t the time to point out trivial mistakes like that.

The quake tearing through the building intensified in an instant.

The furniture inside the bedroom rocked violently, while the chandelier hanging from the ceiling creaked ominously overhead.

Beyond the tall windows, thick black smoke billowed upward.

A sharp burning smell seeped through the cracks in the windows.

Another explosion erupted.

The massive stone palace shook violently, and screams bursting out from every direction tore at my ears.

Held tightly against Varen’s body with one arm wrapped around me, I shouted over the chaos.

“The underground level! Something happened underground!”

Raising my voice as loudly as possible to cut through the noise, I saw Varen nod grimly.

With his support, I managed to stagger shakily to my feet.

Even standing still made me feel nauseous from the violently trembling floor.

“Hah... Is everyone alright?!”

First, I checked whether the others who had come with us were safe.

Despite the chaotic situation, the rebels quickly regained their composure.

And contrary to expectations, the one most shaken by the explosion was Morpha.

They remained crouched down, clutching both hands over their head.

Morpha—

the same Morpha who always played the role of the unshakable problem-solver no matter the situation—

had collapsed into confusion.

The sight filled me with even greater dread.

Startled, I hurried toward them.

Up close, their body was trembling so violently it was almost pitiful.

There was no way a dragon would be shaken by nothing more than an explosion like this.

For a split second, I feared they had been struck by some kind of magic humans couldn’t perceive.

“Hey! Get it together! Hey!!”

This sudden terrorist attack inside the royal palace had clearly shattered my own judgment too.

Though I was disguised as Morpha’s son, the moment I opened my mouth, my usual tone slipped out instinctively.

Fortunately, everyone was too overwhelmed by the chaos to notice.

I grabbed Morpha’s shoulders and shook them roughly.

If even Morpha—the most dependable person among us—fell into a panic...

“You damned humans... honestly...”

Then I heard the sound of teeth grinding together viciously.

Not understanding what they were muttering about, I crouched lower to check their condition.

The expression on Morpha’s face was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

“Honestly unbearable. Humans truly are...”

Morpha wasn’t trembling from fear or shock.

They were drowning in pure rage.

I slowly straightened and looked at them again.

Morpha hadn’t been covering their head to protect themselves from danger.

They had been yanking violently at their silver hair.

The palace remained in utter chaos from the sudden catastrophe.

But with a growing sense of dread, I lightly patted their shoulder.

“Uh... I understand how you feel, but...”

“Why in the world—why! Why do humans never behave according to the plan?!”

“...Just stand up first.”

Morpha was suffering because humans kept ruining plans over and over again.

Since I myself contributed heavily to that stress, I quietly avoided their gaze.

After ending their brief panic, Morpha abruptly lifted their head.

They let out a long, narrow sigh, as though trying to calm the boiling fury inside them.

This wasn’t the first time I’d seen Morpha sigh.

But today, the breath leaving the dragon’s mouth felt unusually hot.

“Hoo... I only told them to confirm the location. And yet they still caused an incident.”

Morpha muttered through clenched teeth.

The irritation dripping from their voice sounded so familiar that, strangely enough, it reassured me.

Meeting their eyes almost gratefully, I asked,

“Morpha, what happened underground?”

“It seems the barrier imprisoning Kaldrok’s child exploded. I didn’t realize there was someone among the rebels heading underground capable of doing something like that.”

“What? Who the hell could’ve...”

“That’s exactly what I’d like to know.”

Morpha dragged a tired hand down their face.

They looked too exhausted to say anything further.

Using the fragmented information I had, I tried piecing together the situation unfolding below us.

The mission of the group led by Crow—the rebel informant—had only been to determine the precise location and condition of the young dragon.

Just as Varen had once been chained with massive restraints inside the Fifth Magical Creature Management Facility, we needed information on exactly how Kaldrok’s child was being confined.

And yet a catastrophe violent enough to shake the entire palace was exploding directly beneath our feet.

I’d only met Crow twice, but he hadn’t seemed like someone reckless enough to act impulsively.

He had survived for years as an informant for the rebels.

And his main territory had been the back alleys of the streets.

Despite his blunt way of speaking, I’d thought he was an extremely cautious and careful man...

“AAAH!”

The quake intensified so violently that I couldn’t continue thinking.

As I staggered with a scream, Varen caught me firmly.

Then—

a weak, strained voice reached my ears.

“Ugh... what in the world is happening...”

Instinctively, I turned toward the sound.

Before my mind even processed the situation rationally, my body reacted first.

Pain throbbed sharply through the left side of my chest, and tears instantly welled in my eyes.

I couldn’t even identify my own emotions.

“What... in the world...”

Berius had crawled beneath the bed and curled himself tightly into a ball.

Fear filled his wide brown eyes as they darted frantically around.

And once again, the sight overlapped perfectly with Berry.

My dog had always been terrified of loud noises.

Whenever thunder struck, he would crawl under the bed too.

Curling himself into a tight little ball. Tucking his tail in. Watching his surroundings nervously with frightened eyes.

“...Berry.”

The name slipped from my mouth like a groan.

At once, Berius looked directly at me.

There was no way he should have heard that soft, breathless voice amidst the roaring collapse of the palace.

Whether our eyes met because he somehow heard the name “Berry” in the chaos—

or whether it was simply another one of these unbearable coincidences—

I couldn’t tell.

Berius and I stared silently at each other.

Those clear brown eyes held only me.

“......”

For a moment, it felt as though something possessed me.

I rose slowly to my feet.

I felt someone grab my shoulder, but I shoved the hand away and staggered forward anyway.

The explosions below ground still hadn’t stopped.

Now I could even hear the roar of beasts and the violent spread of flames.

And yet none of those sounds reached my ears anymore.

It felt as though only Berius and I existed in this entire world.

Maybe I only managed two steps.

I hadn’t even gotten particularly close to him yet when the massive palace lurched violently again, and a loud crack split through the floor beneath my feet.

“Ugh...!”

Barely maintaining my balance until then, I lost footing completely from the impact and crashed to the ground.

At once, my gaze broke away from Berius.

And strangely enough—

the moment that happened, my senses abruptly returned.

It felt like waking from some kind of trance.

Everything suddenly seemed unreal.

“Hah... ha... why am I...”

Even on the first day I’d transmigrated into this fantasy novel, I had never felt this detached from reality.

Breathing hard, I looked around wildly.

Beside me, as always, Varen remained at my side.

Even though I had shoved his hand away earlier, he had followed after me immediately.

Now he knelt on one knee beside me, staring down at me with an icy expression.

Then he asked coldly,

“Ceryl, did you know King Laskar?”

“...What?”

Not understanding the question at first, I answered in a stupid, blank voice.

Varen’s face twisted sharply in frustration.

Grabbing my shoulders firmly and forcing me to face him directly, he repeated the question slowly and clearly.

“You. Are you acquainted with King Laskar?”

At his interrogating tone, I couldn’t answer this time.

I merely opened and closed my lips soundlessly, like a mute fool.