ATPL 52

“The Blue Dragon Knights have been running things far too complacently.”

“It’s an order that has protected humanity for four hundred years.”

“And yet, you’ve been leading it for quite some time now, haven’t you?”

Cesar took a few steps forward. Elliott, who had been holding a sword to his throat, instinctively backed away.

Cesar reached behind and locked the door.

Click. The room where Anais slept returned to silence and darkness.

Then, Cesar leaned in, his face nearly touching the sword. But Elliot didn’t flinch. He didn’t lower the blade either.

Cesar stopped just a paper’s thickness away, as Elliot had expected, and looked him in the eye across the sword.

“What are you going to do with me? Are you going to arrest me now?”

Elliot hadn’t thought that far ahead. He had sensed someone sneaking into the mansion and followed, only to witness what had happened just moments earlier.

The servant had clearly tried to set the place on fire. Elliot would’ve stopped her the moment she struck the tinder, but Cesar was faster. And now, Elliot didn’t know what to do.

More precisely, he didn’t know how to handle this kind of situation.

Cesar studied him for a moment, then spoke.

“Shall I tell you something? Why she died.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Because minor characters like her always die.”

Elliot’s eyes widened. He didn’t even have time to process what that meant before Cesar continued.

“My master used to say it all the time, like a habit. ‘People like that are always supporting characters—whether in books or anywhere else. They’ll never be main characters.’”

“…”

“‘And the nasty ones with no character always meet bad ends. But I’m kind, so I just watch.’”

Elliott frowned. These weren’t Cesar’s words, they sounded like something Number 33 would say.

Cesar had returned, supposedly under orders from the dragon lord, to bring the world back in line with the so-called contents of the book.

But no one knew exactly what those contents were. Not even the dragon lord, who had searched Anais’s diary in hopes of finding answers.

Even the diary only hinted at typical romantic tropes, like the crown prince’s first love or the northern duke’s contract marriage.

But if what Cesar said was true… did that mean he knew the book’s original contents? That he knew what Number 33 had once known?

Cesar kept talking.

“Still, she should have died. She was too arrogant and nasty, she said once.”

So Judy, now reduced to nothing but ashes, was meant to die all along?

Was that her predetermined role in the story? A disposable side character meant to vanish at just such a moment?

The tip of Elliot’s sword trembled slightly.

“Duke Rezaie. What do you know?”

“What do I know?”

Cesar’s pink eyes sparkled with something strange, excitement? Madness?

“I know nothing. My master always said I wasn’t the most innocent or lovable child, but she liked me because I was blindly ignorant. So Cesar knows nothing.”

“Duke Rezaie.”

“…”

Cesar fell silent for a moment, then glanced toward the room where Anais lay sleeping.

After a pause, he spoke again.

“Yes. My master is no longer in this world.”

“…”

“I wasn’t thinking straight yesterday because of that grief. But this morning, I listened to what all of you were saying. And I remembered what she once told me. Aren’t you curious?”

Normally, Elliot would’ve dismissed this rambling as the delusion of a lunatic. But now, he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt.

There might be a clue buried in Cesar’s madness, some hint about how to restore the world.

Especially now that they knew the crown prince’s first love wasn’t going to happen.

“My master said she was the protagonist of this world. And that I was a candidate for the male lead. I don’t know what it means, but maybe this is a clue for Lord Resaloniki to bring the world back to its original state.”

Elliot’s grip tightened on his sword. Cesar was voicing every thought he’d been struggling to keep buried.

“If my mistress was the protagonist, then who were the other male leads? I haven’t seen any men besides myself. So who is the true male lead? And more importantly, did the book my mistress read even have a happy ending?”

Elliot wanted to respond, but he couldn’t. He just stared at Cesar in silence.

Cesar smiled darkly.

“Take me with you.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“I could be the male protagonist, you know.”

His pink eyes glowed, beautiful and eerie in the moonlight.

“Without a protagonist, the book won’t end. The world will grow dull. Eventually, everyone will perish together.”

Elliott said nothing.

* * *

“Anais shouted.

“What is this?! Why is he here?!”

Cesar, elegantly sipping his tea, smiled in the morning sunlight.

“Good morning, my lady. What a lovely day.”

It was the morning of their departure.

When Anais came down to the dining room for an early breakfast, she found two familiar faces and one she knew all too well in the worst way.

Cesar. Dressed in a flowing, fairy-like white outfit.

Not today of all days. Anais turned to Elliot with disbelief.

But Elliot only avoided her gaze, hiding behind his teacup.

“From today, Cesar will be assisting and serving you, my lady.”

“Anais doesn’t like it!”

She shrieked. But the pretty magician clasped both fists over his mouth in delight, thrilled by her reaction.

“I love it…”

“AAARGH! Anais is NOT your mistress!”

“Please, say you hate it again.”

Anais yanked a chair and slammed it down in front of Elliott, giving him a silent meaningful look.

Elliot finally looked up, voice barely above a whisper.

“That’s… how it is.”

“What do you mean by ‘that’s how it is’? Why is Duke Rezaie suddenly part of Anais’s party?! The dragon lord never mentioned him!”

“Oh, come on. You’re too loud.”

Abelard cut in casually, chewing on a chunk of meat he’d just stabbed.

“If it’s already decided, yelling won’t help. Let’s just go.”

“That man is creepy! He’s a pervert!”

“My goodness, now you’re openly insulting me…”

Anais cried through the entire meal. Literally sobbed over how much she hated Cesar.

Elliot sighed and promised to explain later, but she was too upset to listen.

When she sulked and refused to eat, Cesar, sitting beside her, cheerfully popped something into her mouth.

It was a carrot with cream cheese. Her favorite.

That only made her angrier.

“At least he’s eye candy. What’s the problem?”

Abelard was, by far, the least sensitive of them all. He even tilted his head at Cesar, marveling at his appearance.

“Are you really a man? If you were a woman, that face would have been great.”

Naturally, Cesar responded with a gentle smile.

“I don’t think I’d enjoy that at all.”

In contrast to the noisy dining room, a gloom hung over two people, Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, the caretakers.

Anais tilted her head. Mrs. Baldwin served breakfast with a dark expression throughout the meal.

When she briefly stepped away, Abelard leaned in and whispered.

“Hey. That girl ran away.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. They say she slipped out last night. You think it’s because of you?”

Anais’s face darkened. She had demanded compensation from Judy.

Was this her way of avoiding responsibility?

Did Judy think Anais would be too polite to push the issue if only the Baldwins remained?

Or had she simply chosen to disappear, thinking she could escape the debt and start fresh?

With Judy gone, there was no way to know.

“I’ll repay it myself, no matter what it takes…”

Mr. Baldwin said this quietly after breakfast, removing his worn hat and bowing several times as he apologized.