Overpowered Archmage Doesn’t Hide His Talent

Chapter 177:

Chapter 177 It was already decided.

“What…?”

Aurora staggered, losing her balance. 

She leaned on the crimson barrier with her hand, barely standing. 

Dusk watched her leisurely, savoring her reaction.

It was so much fun to tell her everything, one by one. But he didn’t want to ruin it too soon, so he paused for a moment.

No, on second thought, it didn’t matter if she broke down. He had already achieved his goal, or was about to.

He opened his mouth again.

“It’s a simple and easy fact, isn’t it? A Vampire wouldn’t attack another Vampire. And a human wouldn’t have the ability to foresee the future. Isn’t that right?”

Vampire.

That was the key word. 

Dusk was saying that Aurora’s origin was a Vampire.

“You became suspicious and chose humans more carefully than anyone else. You were interested in those who were strong and rare. But was it really a coincidence that you became like this? Did you really do it with your own enlightenment?”

Dusk laughed out loud, making a loud sound.

“No. You were made like this. I put a lot of effort into designing you.”

“Why. Why…”

“Are you asking for a reason? It’s simple.”

Dusk shrugged, as if asking why she was asking the obvious.

“Because the princess wanted it. Because the princess ordered it. And because she ordered it.”

He continued, tapping Aurora’s temple with the tip of his index finger.

“Didn’t you have a device implanted from the beginning? Didn’t you feel it? When you met a human who was strong and interesting, when you found a human who suited the princess’s taste, you had no choice but to react.”

Dusk closed his mouth tightly after saying that. He hummed a tune, as if telling her to guess the rest.

Aurora started to rack her brain, which was stretched tight. 

Soon, a dull response came out of her lips.

“…Flan?”

The only person she could think of was him.

Yes, if there was a device that she could feel, it was only that. 

The only man who gave her a sense of foreignness in her life was Flan.

As she listened to Dusk’s story, the fragments of thoughts that floated in her head began to fit together. She felt goosebumps on her back.

Dusk understood what Aurora had realized by looking at her reaction. 

He smiled, as if he was pleased.

“It seems you finally understand. Yes. It’s Flan. You couldn’t see his future, could you?”

Dusk patted Aurora’s shoulder, as if he understood. 

Aurora’s face hardened in real time, but the more it did, the more Dusk smiled.

“Flan Udit. You were a doll designed to find and bring in such a human. Do you understand?”

Dusk didn’t stop humming. He started to ponder happily.

“How should I proceed to make the next picture beautiful? That’s the problem. Every doll has an end, and I’m currently estimating your expiration date.”

Aurora wanted to argue, but she had no chance. She was busy fighting with countless question marks and struggling in her head.

Aurora slowly touched her face.

A Vampire, me?

It was absurd. 

What had become of her deeds, who had lived to despise Vampires and reign at the pinnacle of humanity? 

What had become of her enlightenment and conviction that she had felt all along?

“It can’t be.”

Aurora clenched her face.

“I’m human, human…”

Dusk’s words were part of a deception.

She had to think that way. 

She was human and had parents. 

There was no way a Vampire could plant something in the noble bloodline of the royal family.

“…There’s no way a Vampire could hide in the royal family.”

“Does it feel impossible?”

Dusk whispered in Aurora’s ear.

“Why do you think the Vampires were quiet all this time? Why did they let the barrier be built? Why didn’t they try to break through the barrier? Weren’t there too many clues?”

“Shut up. Shut your mouth!”

“They had already planted a Vampire in the center of humanity. They didn’t need to move.”

Dusk bit Aurora’s ear lightly.

“…Why did you break the barrier on Reheln Hill? That was already decided, too.”

“Ugh…!”

Aurora grabbed her head. She couldn’t bear the pain that attacked her. 

The thoughts that came to her mind didn’t stop there, but ate away at her head.

Of course, each of those reactions was nothing but a delightful amusement for Dusk.

​

“Your Highness is such a person. The one who makes the impossible possible.”​“No. No….”​Aurora wrapped her head with both hands. Dusk gently comforted the princess.​“Did you break down? It’s okay. I’ll take over your role for a while. I’m sure I can act as a better princess than you. Don’t be foolish.”​But then.​Snap─!​Dusk’s head turned around. He blinked his eyes a few times, unable to understand the situation. It took a while for his twisted head to return to its place.​Aurora’s defiant face, her wide eyes, her ragged breath, her outstretched hand….

The clues combined to reveal what had happened.​“….”​Dusk rubbed his face with his palm.

Aurora shouted at the Vampire.​“I am─!”​A vein popped on the princess’s forehead.​“I am the princess, and the owner of this continent. You are not worthy of mentioning my bloodline!”​“….”​Dusk still rubbed his face with his palm.

He closed and opened his eyes faster and faster, until he blinked like crazy.​He muttered quietly.​“Don’t touch my mask….”​The next moment.​“Cough…!”​Before he could realize it, Dusk’s fist hit Aurora’s vital point.

The princess collapsed weakly. She couldn’t stand or endure the force.​Dusk grabbed the fallen Aurora’s hair. He lifted it up to match his eye level and whispered.​“I’ll peel off your face. And I’ll cover it with another one. The ugliest one in the world.”​Dusk spread his palm as wide as possible and placed his nails on Aurora’s face.

It was a different sensation from a human’s touch, since he had no body temperature.​It felt like a scalpel was placed on her. Aurora shivered at the coldness. She couldn’t blink her eyes as she faced the fear of death.​Aurora repeated the same words with tears in her eyes.​“I am not a Vampire…. I am, I am….”​A tear dropped.​She wanted to deny everything.​She felt empty and vain, thinking that the paths she had walked with conviction were all someone else’s schemes.​The despair I felt when I was young, the eight years I spent underground, the things I did on the surface….​Scratch─.​His nails dug in slightly.

Blood flowed from her forehead and stained Aurora’s face.

At that moment.​Bang, a sound echoed and Dusk’s head exploded.​There was no sign of something flying. It was an explosion that seemed to happen by itself in an instant.​Bang─! Crash─!​Explosions occurred one after another from Dusk’s body. Upper body, arms, legs…. The flesh became mere chunks until the explosions stopped.​“….!”​Aurora finally wiped the blood off her face with her sleeve. She couldn’t understand what had happened until now.​But the situation didn’t give Aurora much time.

Soon, Dusk’s body parts stuck together and quickly regained their original shape.​“No….”​Aurora muttered at that moment.​“It would be better not to regenerate.”​A low voice resonated in the barrier.​The world seemed to brighten up a bit.

No, it might not have been an illusion.

The bright mana shone from the man who appeared, leading his body.​He walked slowly.

Aurora’s waist was bent, but he still held his head stiffly.​“Even if you didn’t die, you should have pretended to be dead and stayed away.”​It was an incomprehensible thing.​It was a barrier that even the palace magicians hadn’t finished deciphering yet, but there was a gap in the shape of a door behind the man in the crimson barrier.​The man adjusted his clothes once and looked at Dusk, who was nothing but a lump of flesh.​“I need to talk about butterflies for a while.”​Flan.​He, who had darkened Aurora’s future.​Finally became ‘present’ and appeared.