Emperor of Steel

Chapter 497: Karen Disappears 1

The east wing of the Royal Palace.

With the late dark night passed, the time was heading for dawn, however, there was light in one room.

“Haa, haaa

“Be strong. It will be okay.”

Erwin was trying to cool down Karen’s body with a cold towel by placing it on her forehead.

She stayed up all night as she was worried about Karen.

Karen was going through severe high fever and body pain of an unknown cause, and her symptoms were too serious for a child’s body to handle.

She herself tried a lot, she even went to Zegal Soha and even the Court Medic and tried all kinds of treatments, but it was useless.

Whenever Luke gave her Aether, Karen seemed to be fine.

“This can’t go on. I’ll bring His Majesty here.”

‘Teacher…’

Karen mumbled in her mind as she saw Erwin leaving the room.

The heat which was building up in her body was strong enough to crack the delicate fingers on her body.

It wasn’t just her body which was sore. It seemed like her mind and soul were being torn.

The pain began to start after she treated Luke, and began to turn worst over time.

‘This, this is God’s Punishment.’

The punishment which would be given for taking a path that was against the fate and order of the universe.

Except for Aether, she had already lost all her strength and vitality, even the locket which she inherited from her mother, however, it seemed like she still didn’t pay the right price.

However, the space and time of an entire period had disappeared because of her.

No matter what the cause was, even for saving the world lost in crisis, she couldn’t pass the fact that she made the loss of an entire time.

‘Huu! I have already come prepared for this so…!’

As a woman with excellent skills in magic, sword, divine power, and Aether, she was strong enough to endure the sickness.

Nevertheless, she was staying there patiently and stubbornly as she didn’t want to make her father, Luke worry.

Apart from that, Karen didn’t seem to have any other concerns.

‘Will Uncle Hwang Bo-sung tell the truth?’

The Hwang Bo-sung from the future had come to save her father and disappeared in the process.

But before disappearing, he seemed to have made contact with his present self.

If not, Hwang Bo-sung, who came in to visit her a while ago and looked at her with a sad expression.

‘Please don’t say it! You can never do that!’

She didn’t want Luke to know her identity. It was because she was worried that if her father learns the truth about her, things would change.

Think about it. When a daughter from the future comes back to the past and finds out that it was to save his life, how would a father’s heart feel?

Originally, Karen only planned to complete the mission and then disappear silently.

However, the Hwang Bo-sung from the future had disappeared, and she was in a weak state where her Aether’s mana circle couldn’t be used.

Which was why she wasn’t able to escape from the Royal Palace, and she was being cared for in her father’s arms and Erwin, who would end up being her teacher in the future.

‘I can’t be here like this forever. I shall never make father cry because of me.’

Karen, bit her lip as she got down from the bed even as the pain was tearing her.

Even though she was weak, she moved her lean limbs and crawled to the door.

After struggling for some time, she managed to get close to the door.

However, even if she wanted to, she wasn’t tall enough to reach the doorknob.

Maybe people would find the body of a kid on her knees trying to open the door as cute, but Karen wanted to cry.

“Kid, where are you going to?”

A sudden voice from a being startled Karen, making her turn her head.

In front of the window in her room, was a bald-headed old man who stood under the light of the dawn.

With his yellowish skin and the unusual grey clothing, he looked more like a southerner than a Rhodesian.

‘This, this man is…!’

Karen, who looked at the man’s face was shocked. It was because she had seen him in the future a number of times.

He was the one who saved her numerous times from Arsene’s and the Undead’s hands during her early days.

But she never knew about his identity.

After saving her, the man always disappeared.

But to meet that same man in the room!

“Wh, who are you? And how did you get in here?”

When Karen asked the man, the old man smiled softly and replied, “Oh my, there’s no need to be so wary of an old man like me. Rather, seeing you suffer from God’s Punishment, you must be the one who broke the thread of fate.”

“Huh?!”

Karen could feel her heart sink.

It was because she never thought that she would meet a man who knew about the time travel.

‘Maybe a dragon? No, dragons were long extinct. Then a demon or Lich King Arsene?’

In the future where she lived, Arsene had the Undead Legion which terrorized the world, which earned him the title, Lich King.

However, the body felt from the old man was gentle and warm, so he couldn’t be called an Undead or a demon.

Moreover, if he was a demon of the Lich King, there was no reason for them to save her.

When Karen was trying to figure it out, the old man spoke.

“You have come to save Luke’s life, and Luke is fine but the child is being punished in his stead. My bad, maybe this is a relationship that the Lord didn’t want!”

The old man who spoke out with resilience and incomprehensible words reached to Karen.

Woong!

The warm wind around the old man’s body was soon absorbed by Karen.

‘Aether. No, it was…’

It was a warm energy which she always felt from her mother, Reina, when she was a kid.

But rather than the surprising sense of mystery around the old man, was the power he held.

Along with her body filling up with vitality, Karen could feel the pain disappear.

‘Uh, how can humans have the will to remove…?’

No matter how much Aether they absorbed, a human was still a creature created by God himself, and could never wield God’s power.

That was the same for the dragons or the apostle of the gods or any strong creatures on the middle earth.

The old man smiled while stroking Karen’s head.

“It should be fine now. However, this is just a temporary measure. I will teach you how to protect yourself from the punishment, so why not come with this old man?”

‘Protect myself from God’s Punishment?’

Was that something that was even possible?

Karen was well aware of the punishment.

When she discovered the ruins related to the power of time, she managed to get the materials that were collected by Rudolf’s men, which talked about the fairy wizard’s fate who tried to twist fate in the past.

Even those who failed to change the time had to go through with the punishment.

Then, how could one themselves avoid it?

Thinking it to be impossible, Karen was shaking her head.

“If you stay like this, your body won’t even last one week and you’ll die. Even then, you’ll stay here?”

At those words, Karen tilted.

She couldn’t cause pain to her father by staying like that.

‘I am going to disappear anyway. In addition, Lich King Arsene, who failed to kill dad this time will have some new evil plot…’

History has already been changed.

It wasn’t sure when she would go away, but she was willing to take responsibility for the history that she changed and fight against those who were still planning to destroy the world.

Karen decided to take the man’s hand.

~Grab.

Shortly, the two people disappeared and Erwin entered the room.

“Haa! His Majesty too, how can he be out of the palace at this time…”

Luke was asleep, but when he heard that an accident had occurred in the Gigant workshop of Katarina Magic Tower, he left.

Still, she tried to get in touch with him, hoping he wouldn’t waste time.

“Huh?”

Erwin looked around with a sad face for Karen.

“Karen? Karen! Where are you?”

Although Erwin searched the entire east wing after the room, she couldn’t find Karen anywhere.