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Chapter 49: The Forbidden Prince (2)
Pharos, and a promise.
The combination of those two words wasn’t unfamiliar to me in the slightest.
Rather, the more things I experienced, the more suspicious those words became.
And for good reason—just how much of a role had that damned Sacred Tree played in resolving matters up to now?
I even heard it was said to be a branch of a god, and anything related to it was supposedly going to be explained after the succession ceremony.
So the words house and promise had become immensely significant to me.
Even so, I hadn’t tried to dig deeper right away—because it didn’t feel like straining myself to figure it out now would yield anything new.
As the Elven Elder had said, it was something I would come to know in time.
But now, such an opportunity had presented itself.
A trap?
That was certainly possible, but the odds seemed extremely low.
Up until now, only the Elven Elder knew about Pharos and the promise.
And just like him, the Forbidden Archive had also existed a thousand years ago—it wasn’t some mere mystery.
There was a common thread between them.
There was no need to hesitate further.
Even if things turned south, as long as someone knew I had come to see the crown prince, help would eventually arrive if I could just buy enough time.
I stood up and spoke.
“Let’s go. To the Forbidden Archive.”
“Yes! Then, will you follow me?”
The third prince stood from his seat.
I followed him, starting to walk slowly behind.
* * *
The Forbidden Archive was located in an annex in the northern part of the Imperial Castle.
It was an underground space, with the old archive building constructed on top, making its location fairly familiar.
“This way.”
I followed the third prince past the bows of the archivists.
Deep within the old archive, through a locked door—we finally arrived in front of the Forbidden Archive.
The massive door was engraved with metaphysical symbols.
If one examined them closely, you could make out representations of angels and demons, and also of humans.
A chilling atmosphere—it stirred a certain curiosity within me.
‘Am I the first?’
No, surely the founder of the house who made the promise would have come here before me.
So maybe not the first.
Regardless, my interest was piqued.
There were rumors, after all.
That the will of the Forbidden Archive was the ghost of a long-dead librarian.
Or a mad mage who sealed himself within a forbidden tome.
Or perhaps, a collective of the souls of all past contract holders.
So many rumors, yet no concrete answers—because every contractor was cursed along with their companion.
But now, I was about to find out.
Creak!
The door to the Forbidden Archive opened.
I took a deep breath and looked ahead.
At first glance, it was just a regular archive.
But the being standing at its center made it unmistakably clear this was no ordinary place.
“Fried!”
A young girl, who looked no older than ten, ran toward the third prince.
Black hair, crimson eyes, dressed in a black dress.
She had sharp features, yet when she blushed upon seeing the prince, she wore the expression of a girl in love.
She threw herself into his arms.
The prince caught her with a gentle smile.
“Dea, we have a guest.”
“I don’t care! I’ve been waiting for you all day!”
She buried her face into his chest and sniffed him, giggling afterward.
The prince gave me an apologetic glance.
“Uh… yeah. Sorry. Dea can be a bit much.”
What could I say?
I could roughly grasp their relationship.
‘Lovers?’
My gaze returned to the girl.
He had called her ‘Dea’, so this was the Forbidden Archive.
She clung to the third prince like a cat in human form, rubbing against him.
Despite her lack of solemnity, the feeling of absurdity quickly dissipated—
Because of what I saw in her eyes.
‘…A spirit.’
She was a spirit.
Not a ghost, not a will, not a collective, but a singular spiritual entity.
And not just any spirit—her mana carried the weight of vast ages.
Layered atop that were metaphysical abilities beyond ordinary classification.
She had transcended species and elements.
I knew what such beings were called.
‘…Ancient.’
In other words, an ancient spirit.
One that existed independently without a contract and could ascend to godhood through training.
It wasn’t that their power was overwhelming.
It was that the presence of their being was on another level.
To think such a being was hidden in the Imperial Castle—it made me let out a laugh.
And that emotion soon intensified.
“Hey, stop staring.”
I flinched.
I immediately understood what she meant by ‘staring.’
‘My eyes…’
…She saw through them.
I stood with my mouth slightly open.
The Forbidden Archive glared at me with a sulky expression.
The absurdity I’d felt earlier vanished in an instant.
And then came the words that confirmed I was right to come here.
“You’re annoying. The Pharos clan always is.”
“……”
“What’s with those eyes? Why do they keep getting passed down? Just disappear already.”
She was talking about my eyes.
And that made me think even deeper.
‘So the Sacred Tree wasn’t the end of it?’
I had known there was some greater plan.
The founder of our house had more secrets than I’d thought.
But the eyes… that was different.
‘Because I was born with them…’
That’s why I had never imagined they were part of some grand scheme.
It seemed like I would gain a lot of information here.
That thought lifted my spirits.
I clenched and unclenched my fist, then bowed my head.
“I greet the Forbidden Archive.”
“My name is Dea, you idiot.”
“……”
Her attitude was so rude that a certain thought crossed my mind for a moment—
‘Can I punch her?’
Despite being seen through, I could still read her pattern.
I knew she was strong, but I didn’t think I’d lose.
Spirits are beings of supernatural abilities.
And with my eyes, I naturally had the advantage.
I stared at her, analyzing her aura.
“W-What! Why are you looking at me like that?! Fried! Stop him!”
“Uh, huh?”
“Ugh! This is why I hate Pharos!”
Dea shrieked and hid behind the third prince.
At that moment, a realization struck me.
‘She’s been hit before, huh?’
That reaction only comes from experience.
* * *
Things calmed down quickly.
The third prince was surprisingly mature and composed.
A sofa in the middle of the Forbidden Archive.
He served us tea, and I sat while the Archive—Dea—glared at me from his lap.
Given her capricious nature and status as an ancient spirit, I had expected difficult negotiations, but she faced me more nervously than anticipated.
It was probably because of my eyes and the Sacred Tree.
Especially when she looked at the tree—her distorted expression confirmed it.
She clearly had been beaten before.
Her behavior grew respectful whenever her gaze landed there.
Just how terrible was my ancestor’s personality?
How powerful was he?
The thought made me chuckle.
Still, it all worked in my favor.
“So, can I hear the story now?”
Whether she was an ancient spirit or they were having a love affair—it didn’t matter.
What mattered to me was what the founder had planned that necessitated all this preparation.
“I’m surprised. You know about the house, and the heirloom. More than that—you seem to know the founder personally.”
“We’re not close.”
“Then what is it?”
“……”
Dea pouted, then finally spoke.
“…It was just a deal.”
“Can’t I know what kind of deal it was?”
“You don’t need to. It’s not important.”
As I furrowed my brows, the Forbidden Library immediately reacted.
“R-Really, the contents of the deal have nothing to do with you! You just need to take what you're given and disappear!”
“What I’m given?”
“Seriously… If it weren’t for the promise, I wouldn’t even let you in. This is Freid and my sanctuary…!”
The Forbidden Library whimpered and clung to the 3rd prince’s arm.
When the prince embraced it back, it seemed to calm down quickly.
I wish it had done that after I’d left.
As I was thinking that, the Forbidden Library pouted and finally got to the point.
“…Anyway, Pharos said so. One day, someone would appear who holds both the ‘Tongkwean’ and the Sacred Tree.”
“Tongkwean?”
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“Your eyes. I don’t really know what it is either. That’s just what he called it.”
I heard the name of my eyes.
My focus sharpened.
“Do you know what the ancestor was thinking? Why he prepared for all this… and about the Sacred Tree and the eyes. I want to hear what you know.”
I was starting to get a little impatient.
But—
“I don’t know. I didn’t really get to talk to him much. I only met him once, to begin with.”
The reply was a complete letdown.
“There’s only one thing I know. He said to give a book to the person who shows up.”
“…?”
“…That’s really it.”
As the Forbidden Library waved its arm, a book flew out from a shelf.
I narrowed my eyes.
‘A grimoire?’
It was a book inscribed with magic.
The Forbidden Library hugged the grimoire with a dull expression.
It muttered something.
Then the grimoire glowed, and the Forbidden Library spoke.
“Anyway, I kept my promise. No taking it back later, okay?”
I had no idea what it meant.
Then it added one more line.
“Oh, and Pharos said to pass this message along too.”
The Forbidden Library suddenly stood upright and crossed its arms.
“Ahem! AHEM!”
After a forced cough, it gave a smug, annoyingly familiar smile.
Like it was imitating someone.
“A gift for making it this far! Be sure to use it wisely, okay?”
…What was that greasy tone supposed to be?
That was my thought just as—
WHAM!!!
The grimoire flew at an unimaginable speed and struck my head.
Sensing something strange, I reached for my head.
But before I could, the grimoire was already seeping into me.
THUD!
“Guhk…!”
My eyes burned like they were on fire.
My vision flickered, and I lost all sense of awareness.
My teeth clenched tight.
Something was forcibly injected into my mind during the process.
It was—
‘…Magic?’
Some kind of magical knowledge.
* * *
The Forbidden Library's Spirit, Friedeadus.
Nicknamed Dea, the girl grinned as she watched Yuren’s face twist in pain.
Then Freid spoke.
“Dea, are you sure it’s okay?”
“Mmhmm, it should be fine. Probably.”
“…Probably?”
“Well, he wouldn’t have told me to give it to him if it weren’t.”
It might’ve sounded irresponsible, but it was the truth.
Even Dea didn’t know what the grimoire did or how it worked.
That was because she couldn’t even access it.
That damn Pharos had placed so many forbidden seals on it that even Dea, the master of this place, couldn’t read it.
But what she did know for sure was this:
The first Pharos had foreseen everything.
And that grimoire had something to do with the Tongkwean.
Truth be told, none of that really mattered to Dea.
“Heehee…”
Dea felt triumphant.
Seeing the descendant of that wretched Pharos suffer was like a rotting tooth finally being pulled.
Ah, what a long, long time of pain and humiliation it had been.
Now, at last, she could smile as she recalled those years with satisfaction.
―Don’t you need a place to live? Then I’ll provide one.
―It can’t be an ordinary place! It has to be filled with taboos…!
―Well, there is such a place.
She still remembered.
Pharos coming to her, who was wandering to accumulate divine spirit.
Introducing the Forbidden Library, promising a deal.
And then...
―WAHAHA! You’re useless now, so die!
―Oh dear, I thought so.
―Huh? Wh-Why…?
―Bad kids need to be punished, don’t they?
―W-Wait… KYAAAA!!!
…From sunrise to sunset, even as she begged and pleaded, the punishment never stopped.
Her head, shoulders, arms, palms, butt, thighs, calves, and even the soles of her feet.
Dea had never experienced such pain in her entire life.
Everything was vivid.
Everything hurt deeply.
But now, she could finally consider it a thing of the past.
After all, the promise had been kept!
―Just hand over the book. Say the incantation in front of the child who fulfills the conditions.
―T-Then…
―You’ve already been given authority over the Forbidden Library. Ownership will officially transfer that day.
As agreed, by handing over the book, full authority over the Library had transferred.
She could’ve had second thoughts, but Dea didn’t feel the need.
She had something far more important.
“Freid, you’re staying with me today, right?”
“Mm-hmm, until the Grand Master returns in the evening.”
“Hehe…”
Dea had gained a treasure.
Freid was more precious to her than the thousand years she had spent in the imperial palace to ascend to godhood.
She realized it the day the child was born—he was the vessel of a great spirit master.
Had he gone into the outside world, he could have shaken the world with his talent.
That was precisely the qualification Dea needed to become a god.
For a spirit to become a god, it must experience communion with a great soul.
It sounds simple, but it’s incredibly rare—after all, how often does one meet a being who holds fragments of divinity?
She thought it would take an eternity even after filling her divine essence.
Yet here they were, together, before that long process even truly began.
Every moment thrilled her.
Not because of gain.
“Hehe, I want to stay with you forever.”
“No whining.”
“Too bad. I’m going to anyway.”
That warmth, the soul-filling feeling just from a touch—
Even Dea, who had lived for ages, had never experienced this before.
If Freid asked her to, she felt like she could give up on becoming a god.
Now she understood.
To become a god, one needed something to love and obsess over deeply enough to throw oneself away.
That object of obsession becomes the name of the god.
Dea buried her face in Freid’s arms.
He gently patted her back, looking a bit troubled, and said,
“…But Dea, is the Grand Master really going to be okay? He has a dinner appointment with his brother, doesn’t he?”
“He’ll be fine. It’s okay. He can suffer a bit.”
Yuren regained consciousness about 10 minutes later.
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