Dolan collapsed onto the floor, clutching his blood-soaked head with both hands. The future he had envisioned, in which his son, who had always disregarded him, would kneel before him and admit that his judgment was foolish, was now crumbling before his eyes.
Despite believing that he could get his revenge on those who always pointed fingers at him for being foolish and greedy, his efforts ended with just a lump of flesh in his embrace.
It couldn’t be. This just couldn’t be. Feltyon looked down coldly at Dolan’s cries of despair and declared sharply,
“Prince Beorantz Ditrod Daidalontz is to be executed immediately for the crimes of regicide and attempted royal murder. The empress, as his accomplice, will be dethroned and confined to the imperial harem pending trial. And…”
His usually warm, auburn eyes now swept across those present like the sharp blade of a knife.
“Everyone present here is sufficiently suspected of having partaken in His Imperial Majesty’s assassination. They will be detained and interrogated.”
“We are innocent!” people cried out desperately from all sides, but the knights in gray armor began to seize them, forcing them to kneel as if they were corralling feeble animals.
Nox watched the chaotic scene with an unreal expression in the midst of it all. There were many trying to escape to the terrace, but nobody reached out to him as he stood motionless.
Surveying the surroundings with detachment, Nox’s eyes suddenly met Feltyon’s. A faint disgust flickered in Feltyon’s gaze. In that moment, Nox furrowed his brow, sensing that something was terribly wrong.
“And for those against whom there is concrete evidence of involvement in the assassination of His Imperial Majesty.”
Two knights approached Nox from behind and grabbed his arms. The black suit that had been enveloping his body got wrinkled in an instant.
Nox was dragged to the front and forced to kneel before Feltyon. Next to him, his father still clutched the head of the crown prince. Nox, rather than begging for mercy, lifted his head and stared straight into Feltyon’s auburn eyes.
“You cannot do this to me.”
Nox gritted his teeth. The emperor had wished to pass the throne to the second prince, not the crown prince. Nox had known this fact all along. But starting with his father, the patriarch, all the foolish elders of the family only saw what was in front of them and supported the crown prince with their power.
The emperor was physically frail but was by no means lacking in intelligence. Believing it could somehow be overturned—after all, the second prince was far superior to the crown prince—the Nox consistently provided information to the spy that the second prince had planted within their family.
‘I didn’t know about the assassination of the emperor, but I was the one who passed on the information about the attack on the second prince…’
He had thought he might not be able to save his family, but at least his life could be spared. However, given the current situation, Nox could not precisely gauge Feltyon’s intentions. Nox recalled the last letter Feltyon had sent him.
[A new dawn will soon rise. Just endure a little longer. Even though a false sun will ascend, it shall fall struck by an arrow. I have received the message that came as a bird. My thanks.]
And in that interval, Feltyon’s firm voice cut through like a knife.
“The crime of attempting to assassinate the sun of the empire is grave; therefore, you shall be executed here and now.”
Nox’s brow crumpled. Could it be, was he thinking of discarding Nox after use? He had thought only his foolish father was to blame.
Yet even so, no voice escaped him begging for his life. Just a sense of futility, thinking, so this is how it ends.
Even as Feltyon’s dark green eyes pierced him like daggers, he maintained a numb expression and raised his hand.
The knights standing beside Dolan and Nox did not hesitate to lift their swords. The cool sensation of the blade touching momentarily, assessing where to strike. And then, at that moment.
“Your Highness, I have a request.”
An unfamiliar voice interjected. Nox raised his gaze to look beside the second prince. A knight in gray armor, the one who had arrived with the crown prince’s head, was looking down at Nox from Feltyon’s side.
Hearing that strange voice, Nox felt an eerie sensation.
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