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Chapter 66: Chapter 65: Royal Family\'s Power Struggle (3)

However, for someone familiar with necromancy, the story would be different.

Karnak frowned.

"Have the two of your souls been switched?"

Alford—more precisely, Prince Lloyd who had taken over Alford\'s body—looked surprised.

"It\'s not really my place to say this, but is this kind of thing really that easy to accept?"

"There\'s a spell in necromancy that can do this. The conditions are very strict, though."

The Prince sighed in relief.

"As expected, choosing you all was the right decision."

This was why he had specifically contacted the King\'s Order.

It\'s not that there aren\'t any mages in the Kingdom of Yustil stronger than the ones in the King\'s Order. But when it comes to matters involving necromancy, there\'s no one more experienced than them.

Why? Because before the Darkness of Doom spread, there was no reason to master high-level necromancy. After all, there weren\'t many necromancers around.

The Prince had hoped that the King\'s Order mages would be able to recognize the necromancy cast on him.

Prince Lloyd asked again, "Could other mages besides the King\'s Order figure this out as easily as you did?"

If so, he might be able to contact the other mages under the First Prince\'s faction.

But Karnak shook his head.

"It seems there\'s been a misunderstanding. It\'s not like I discerned your condition through some magical insight."

In truth, as soon as Karnak saw the Prince, he immediately thought, "Huh? There\'s a different soul inside," but he pretended not to know.

The soul exchange spell currently affecting Prince Lloyd was an extremely advanced form of necromancy. It was so well-hidden that even a necromancer wouldn\'t be able to detect it unless they were the one who cast it.

Karnak only understood it because he was that skilled; normally, people wouldn\'t notice.

\'So I should pretend I didn\'t notice either.\'

Karnak continued speaking with a straight face.

"I simply think that if what you say is true, then soul exchange is the most logical explanation. But it could just as easily be that Prince Alford is deceiving us and pretending to be Prince Lloyd, couldn\'t it?"

In fact, another King\'s Order mage might have come to such a conclusion.

Prince Lloyd frowned.

"So you\'re saying you still don\'t fully trust me?"

"Not exactly. Given the circumstances, it\'s quite likely that you are indeed Prince Lloyd."

"And why do you think that?"

Karnak inwardly clicked his tongue.

\'I know the truth, but I can\'t explain it. How annoying.\'

However, he couldn\'t just openly reveal the truth, so he made up something plausible.

"Because Commander Erantel trusted your letter. If he determined that you were the First Prince, he must have had a good reason."

"What if I deceived Sir Erantel too? Couldn\'t Alford have somehow gotten hold of my handwritten letter and manipulated it?"

"The way you\'re speaking makes it even more likely that you\'re Prince Lloyd."

"Why is that?"

"If you were Prince Alford trying to deceive us, you wouldn\'t speak in that manner."

Subconsciously, you would\'ve said something like "I" obtained Prince Lloyd\'s handwritten letter. If your identity were truly Alford, that is.

"I see... That makes sense."

Prince Lloyd\'s expression softened.

Karnak, sensing the atmosphere, continued.

"Even your current reaction supports this."

"What reaction?"

"Since earlier, you\'ve been insisting that we should be doubting you more."

If Prince Alford were pretending to be Prince Lloyd, there wouldn\'t be a need to keep questioning whether or not he was being suspected.

"It could be that he wants to remove any doubts to gain full trust... No, you\'re right. There\'s even less reason to keep pressing the issue."

"And besides, there\'s nothing to gain from it."

"Nothing to gain?"

"Isn\'t that the case?"

Would Prince Alford, pretending to be Prince Lloyd, accuse himself and his own faction of necromancy?

"I honestly can\'t imagine what Prince Alford would gain by going through all this. Of course, it\'s not impossible that he\'s scheming something so intricate that I can\'t even begin to fathom it..."

But the likelihood of that was extremely low. No matter how strange the scheme, there\'s always some basic framework.

Considering all the circumstances, it\'s highly likely that Lloyd and Alford really did switch bodies.

"This is the conclusion I\'ve come to."

Lloyd\'s expression softened, as if he was finally reassured.

"Truly, it\'s a relief to have met someone as wise as you."

Baros and Serati snorted.

[...Wise?]

[He\'s just piecing together the correct answer after already knowing it.]

[Hey, you two, keep your expressions in check.]

Regardless, it seemed that Prince Lloyd now viewed Karnak as a remarkably wise and quick-witted mage, someone trustworthy.

The Prince asked cautiously, "So, if what you\'re saying is true, does that mean there\'s no way to prove that our bodies were switched through magic?"

"As far as I know, there isn\'t. Of course, the highly skilled mages of the Magic Tower might know differently."

In truth, there is a way.

But it takes a long time to prepare, the catalyst is incredibly hard to come by, and the spell requires an advanced level of magic knowledge.

\'Given the current level of the Yustil Kingdom\'s Magic Tower, I doubt there are any mages capable of performing that.\'

Lloyd nodded in agreement.

"Right, if it could be easily discovered, Alford wouldn\'t have done something like this."

Then he looked worried.

"So, what should I do now? Honestly, I sought out the King\'s Order hoping their mages could prove my identity..."

"First, I\'d like to hear the full story."

Karnak suggested, offering a seat, sensing that the conversation was about to get lengthy.

They gathered around the shabby table in the room, and he asked again.

"What exactly happened?"

"I have no idea. I just went to sleep and woke up as Alford."

"I mean, could you describe the process in more detail? There might be some clue you overlooked."

"That\'s true."

Lloyd nodded, then began speaking slowly.

"It was five days ago..."

According to the Prince, it was a day just like any other.

"That day too, I went about my usual routine, received the daily healing magic from the priest, and then went to bed."

Baros suddenly asked, "...You receive healing magic daily?"

Lloyd chuckled softly.

"You\'ve probably heard rumors about my weak body, haven\'t you?"

"Well, yes, but still..."

Isn\'t that more than just a weak body? It\'s almost like he\'s a breathing zombie.

Of course, Baros wouldn\'t dare say that aloud in front of the Prince.

Lloyd, seemingly familiar with this reaction, shrugged his shoulders.

"So, it\'s no wonder my father places his hopes on Alford. Anyway, nothing unusual happened until I fell asleep."

Karnak probed further.

"Was there any unfamiliar object in your room, or did a stranger linger around?"

"I can confidently say no."

Even without the threat of necromancy, Prince Lloyd was always vigilant about the security of his quarters. Given the deep rivalry with Alford, he never knew when an attempt on his life, such as poisoning, might occur.

"There are powerful magic and holy barriers not just around my quarters, but throughout the entire palace. That\'s why I can\'t understand this at all. Is necromancy really that powerful?"

"...That part is hard for me to understand as well."

Watching Karnak agree, Serati quietly asked him, [What\'s really going on?]

[I don\'t know. I honestly don\'t understand this either.]

[Oh my, weren\'t you just pretending not to know?]

[Necromancy isn\'t all-powerful. To perform such a ritual, proper preparations are necessary.]

Casting necromancy remotely without even entering the palace of a kingdom that has every conceivable defense in place?

[If that were possible, I wouldn\'t have gone through all that suffering in my past life.]

[How would I know what kind of suffering you went through in your past life, Lord Karnak?]

[It\'s just a figure of speech.]

Ignoring Serati\'s snide remark, Karnak fell into deep thought.

He was reminded of the Trist City incident from a few months ago.

\'Hold on, what\'s this? Is this another method I\'m unaware of?\'

Lloyd continued his explanation.

"...So I fell asleep, and when I opened my eyes, everything around me had changed."

***

The first thing Lloyd felt upon waking was a sense of unease regarding his condition.

\'What\'s going on? Why do I feel so good?\'

The headache that usually hit him the moment he woke up was gone. He didn\'t feel the usual fever that always tormented him. Even his creaky joints felt unusually comfortable.

Puzzled, Lloyd tried to sit up. But in that instant, he froze.

\'What?\'

His entire body was bound by ropes, making it impossible to get up as he normally would.

Feeling a surge of alarm, Lloyd quickly inspected his body. And once again, he was struck by confusion.

\'Whose arm is this?\'

Thick, muscular arms with well-defined forearms—arms that exuded masculinity just by looking at them.

They were nothing like his own arms, which were so thin they could easily be mistaken for a young maiden\'s.

But that wasn\'t the real issue right now.

\'Where the hell am I?\'

He had fallen asleep in his own bed, in his own room, yet now he had awakened in an unfamiliar place.

Lloyd hastily looked around.

It was a small stone chamber.

A plain, dark stone room with no furniture.

Under the dim magical light, a strange red magic circle was drawn on the floor, and he was sitting right in the center of it.

And beyond that, he could see three men in black robes, their faces concealed.

One of the men spoke in a sinister tone.

"Are you awake, Prince Lloyd?"

The words were polite, but the tone was dripping with mockery.

Lloyd calmly regarded the men.

"This is an unfamiliar place, and I don\'t know you."

It was a situation that was more than enough to provoke panic, but he couldn\'t afford to show it.

"You\'ve got some skill. You managed to abduct a prince from deep within the palace of a kingdom?"

Lloyd exaggeratedly looked himself over as he continued speaking.

"And it seems you\'ve done something strange to my body after the abduction. My arms aren\'t this thick, and my body isn\'t this muscular."

In response, one of the other men clicked his tongue.

"You\'re remarkably calm. I expected at least a hint of surprise."

With a cold gaze, Lloyd asked, "So, what have you done to me?"

The man waved his hand in the air.

"Let me show you."

A magical mirror of light appeared in midair, reflecting Lloyd\'s image.

Lloyd\'s face went pale as he stared into the mirror.

"...Alford?"

For a moment, he thought his younger brother was sitting there.

But the sight of the ropes binding him and the expression on his face quickly made him understand the situation.

That "Alford" in the mirror was actually Lloyd himself!

Even someone as composed as Lloyd couldn\'t help but be momentarily stunned.

The man in the black robe continued speaking.

"We\'ve swapped the bodies of you and Prince Alford. This was done by the power of the great Tesranak. Hahaha."

Lloyd was familiar with the name Tesranak.

A look of shock appeared in his eyes.

"...A cultist!"

***

\'Hmm? Something seems off.\'

Halfway through listening to the explanation, Serati felt puzzled.

\'They went out of their way to create a magical mirror to show the Prince his current appearance, and even revealed the situation without being asked? Are necromancers usually so talkative?\'

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