“Do you really think the missing Second Prince is dead?”
“Even if he is alive, what could he possibly do?”
“What do you think, how long will the empire last after he becomes the Emperor? Go out and take a look for yourself. Instead of a head of a snake, the place is swarming with tails. It would be a relief if they were even snake tails. You’re trying to accomplish something leading humans who are like insects swarming over rotten flesh, the pinnacle of vermin?”
He sneered without a trace of a smile. As the temperature of Nox’s voice dropped, Dolan’s face twisted with red anger. Nox found him despicable and hateful. The foolish and stupid father. If only his mother hadn’t fallen ill, things wouldn’t have come to this.
“You bastard!”
Nox easily pushed away his father, who rushed at him, trying to grab him by the collar. His body, honed by swordsmanship and training, was incomparable to his skeletal father’s body. Dolan, who barely avoided collapsing in a pitiful heap, pointed at him angrily, unable to hide his fury.
“It’s always the same with you, always pretending to be so clean, so noble!”
His father’s wheezing breath was hot. Nox found it repellent as it reached him. He silently scoffed at his father’s words, countering them in his mind. Well, I discarded that pretense of nobility when I abandoned that child in my youth.
“You will soon realize that my choice was correct! I will stand by the side of His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, who will soon become the Emperor, and share in a glory more resplendent than ever before!”
“Resplendent glory? Are you talking about the glory that allows you to take your fill of defenseless children like trash?”
Nox laughed, his face twisting as if he had seen something filthy. Dolan, face turning scarlet once again, charged at him.
“You bastard!”
At that moment, a scream erupted inside the hall along with his shout. Dolan widened his eyes and turned towards the inner part of the hall. It was an unfortunate disturbance that should not happen in the hall where His Highness the Crown Prince was soon to arrive for a party. He thought he needed to find out what was happening and correct it immediately. But before he could complete his thought, another scream sounded. One, two, three, then more and more overlapped, creating endless noise.
“Glory, huh? I doubt that.”
Dolan didn’t even realize Nox had said something as he rushed out of the terrace. Behind the flapping curtains was chaos. Noblewomen, decked out like peac**ks, scattered and ran towards the corners, chased by knights bearing swords. The knights moved sluggishly as if they were hunters who had started their hunt or predators that had cornered their prey enough.
The armors the knights wore were not the golden armor of the palace guards but old, faded armors. The gray armor, marked with the signs of newly spilled blood over washed-out bloodstains, was itself a daunting threat.
“What is this madness in the palace! This is treason!”
An old man, like a ragged crow, mustered the courage to protest, and a snicker erupted from among the gray armors. The crowd parted like clouds before the rain, and a figure clad in off-white armor strode forward. Old, yet it was the cleanest and brightest among them. The man in the off-white armor did not hesitate to take off his helmet. Simultaneously, chaos erupted in various places.
“The Second Prince…”
The Second Prince, with his brownish-auburn hair and round eyes, folded his gaze with a kind gesture.
“Treason, you say? I wonder whose treason you speak of.”
His face, unfitting for the situation, lit up with a gentle smile. Those who could not understand why the Second Prince, who had disappeared on the night of the Emperor’s death, was here, showed their confusion as they looked around for a way out.
But Nox, following his father, had come out onto the terrace and stood at the very back. Thanks to being a bit taller than the others, he had a good view of the situation. His father, Dolan, who had pledged all loyalty to the Crown Prince, pushed through the crowd and boldly stood before the Second Prince.
“What is this madness! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is due to arrive any moment. By what confidence do you act so recklessly, Second Prince?”
“Ah.”
The Second Prince, Peltion Andras Daedalontz, smiled even more on his gentle face. That face, usually looking kind due to his round eyes, now carried a dark stain.
Instead of replying to Dolan, he stepped aside and raised his arm as if introducing someone.
“Well, there’s been some talk until now, right?”
As Peltion moved aside, someone approached. Clad in the same gray armor but standing a good head taller than the rest, the dark-cloaked figure dripped with something deeply crimson. There was no need to say what it was. As he approached, the scent of blood wafted over, already furious.
Dolan, failing to grasp the situation, looked around in confusion. The Crown Prince, His Highness who was to be elevated by the Emperor. But people’s gazes were fixed on the bloody gray-armored figure, not like Dolan’s.
Specifically, on what he held in his hand. A chilling silence of horror and fear swept over the hall.
“Your Crown Prince is right here.”
With a thud, a sound like a lump of mud dropped. For a moment, Dolan felt a momentary deafness, as if he were old and big noises rendered him temporarily unable to hear.
“No, impossible…”
No, it was perhaps that his mind had started to reject reality, refusing to acknowledge what he saw. The blood-soaked golden hair, the half-open green eyes—it was unmistakably the head of Beolantz, the Crown Prince whom he had devoted his life to serving.
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