A Deal With Nero [1]

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Carl woke up to the sound of the door being opened violently and the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.

But Carl couldn't even open his eyes. His whole body was filled with intense pain as if it were engulfed in scorching flames, and even breathing was difficult.

If he lifts his eyelids now, the dry eyeballs may fall out.

"Treat."

Hearing a voice, Carl felt the heat burning his body quickly subside and realized it was Milton's magic.

"Huh…"

As the heat subsides, Carl barely opens his eyes and a painful groan escapes from his mouth.

Through his heat-blurred eyes, he sees someone quietly looking down at him.

Carl suddenly remembered the moment she first met Azgoth. However, unlike Azgoth, this vaguely visible new type had no terrifying presence.

"Carl."

Only after hearing the voice again with a clearer mind did Carl realize that it was none other than the third prince, Nero.

"… older brother…why…."

Nero quietly looked down at Carl with an expressionless, shadowy face. As if he were concentrating on finding something valuable in his sickly brother overshadowed by death.

"Your maid came to visit me."

"…."

Carl, who was struggling to get up, suddenly stopped. And then he urgently looks around to find Lilly.

But Lilly was not in the room.

"Where is Lilly?"

In response to Carl's urgent voice, Nero spoke calmly.

"Your maid was taken away for breaking the imperial rules."

"what…! Why Lilly?"

"It's because she did something she wasn't allowed to do."

Carl finally realized why Nero had come to see him.

Lilly did something.

"What happens to Lilly?"

"Does it matter?"

Nero coolly dismissed Carl's desperate words. The friendly and smiling young man seen during the day was nowhere to be seen. He truly has the spirit of an emperor's son.

However, Carl did not get scared and freeze like he did when he faced Azgoth.

"Lilly is my… !"

Carl, who was about to shout in rage, trailed off and pursed his lips.

My… What is mine?

To 'Lucas's, Lilly is a nobody.

But, to 'Carl', what kind of person was Lilly?

Nero silently watched Carl's feverish face turn white. he then moved his steps very slowly, taking one step closer to Carl.

"Is it nothing?"

"… … ."

It is nothing.

I'm sure it will.

But that no woman risked her life for Carl.

"… What happens to Lilly?"

"Well, that's not up to me."

"Then what should we do to save Lilly?"

"Do you want to save her?"

"yes."

"why?"

Carl faced the eyes of Ias looking into his directly.

"I don't know, but I want to save it anyway."

In the end, Carl couldn't figure out how to deal with Lilly. But for now, he couldn't bear to see her die.

Nero slowly nodded his head at those words, moved his body that had been casting a shadow over Carl's back, and stood up straight.

"Your maid asked me to get you some medicine. She fell in front of my bedroom and cried out. Even though she was dragged away by the guards."

"…"

"She is currently incarcerated. She has defiled the imperial discipline, so she will be sentenced to death. However, if I cover this up, she will return to you safely without further disturbance, unless His Majesty directly orders it."

Nero spoke in a low voice, calling his father Azgoth dryly 'your majesty.'

"So, what can you give me? What can you give me to save the woman who defiled the royal family's rules and to obtain medicine to cure your illness?"

Carl felt a cold sensation from Nero's strict attitude.

Just as Azgoth is truly a fearful being, unlike the characters in the novel, like Adrian, who is mistaken for someone else even though he knows his identity through the memories of 'The Man in His Highest'.

Nero also stands before him as a living, breathing human being, not a monotonous character in a novel.

Nero asks quietly with burning eyes.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Carl slowly opened his mouth.

"It is a debt of two lives, and I will repay it with two lives."

"…Are you saying you'll spare my life?"

"yes. And one more time."

"By what means?"

"Please save me and Lilly. Then, later, when you need me, I will leave everything behind and come to help you."

"You're still saying absurd things."

"You can't give up, can you?"

Nero grinned at what Carl said again.

"How can I trust you?"

"I will risk my life."

"If you don't have my help, you're going to die anyway, so isn't it already mine?"

"That's all I have, I have nothing more to give and nothing more to give."

"How arrogant. You act like you have everything when you have nothing."

Carl was startled by those words and opened his eyes.

The moment Azgoth first saw Carl, he saw through his alien existence and said these words.

'Nero, who was defeated by Adrian without any help, also has such deep feelings!'

Carl felt fear and worry grab hold of him.

However, that is also a worry that only makes sense if he survives right now.

"Okay, Carl. You owe me two lives at this moment."

However, Nero said that with a soft smile, as if it was a lie that he had pushed Carl so harshly just a moment ago.

"I don't have high expectations but remember. Don't forget that, too."

"yes?"

"Don't you have to pay it back? Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Then, Nero turned around and walked confidently out of the room.

Unlike Azgoth, the sight of him leaving alone without a single attendant looked so big that Carl couldn't take his eyes off him.

Lilly returned less than ten minutes later with a mesmerized look on his face.

Although her hair was dishevelled, dishevelled and unblemished.

"Lilly, are you okay?"

"Ah yes… ."