“The Emperor tried to kill the Grand Duke.”
At Vera's words, Iana looked surprised and asked,
“What do you mean?”
Vera glanced around before leaning in closer to whisper.
“During the audience, the Emperor pointed his sword at the Grand Duke's neck. That's why the Grand Duke is wearing a bandage around his neck.”
“Why on earth? Did he ask for a wizard to be sent to Ervin?”
“I don't know about that. But apparently, during the last audience, the Grand Duke was imprisoned.”
“Imprisoned?”
Iana recalled what Charles had said at the Ervin banquet.
“I handle the politics. Even if I suffer again, it is only my burden…”
‘So that was the hardship he mentioned back then.’
“Lady, please pretend you don't know. The Grand Duke instructed the knights to keep this matter quiet.”
“He risked his life to obtain them. The wizards…”
Iana muttered to herself.
After a moment, Vera bid farewell and returned with the knights of the Lachels family.
Clatter-.
The carriage moved, and the procession began to gallop forward in unison.
Iana looked out the carriage window.
In the distance, she could see Charles galloping at the front.
‘If I have a father, then the Grand Duke has his brother, the Emperor.’
There are things in this world that one can never know without experiencing them.
The sorrow of having one's life threatened by family.
That dreadful feeling, which one cannot fully hate or forgive, was something that could not be understood.
It was the pain of a being shattering into pieces.
In contrast to Iana's complicated feelings, the scenery outside the window was only peaceful.
The sky was clear, and the sunlight resting on the earth sparkled.
The procession sped through the beautiful landscape.
* * *
That night, darkness fell over the city where Riel was staying.
‘How should I effectively spread the rumor about Iana and the Grand Duke's affair?’
Riel paced around the house, then suddenly stopped in her tracks.
‘But why hasn’t Zion come yet?’
Zion was a delicate man who would even take care of her nightgown.
According to his nature, no matter how busy he was, he would have stopped by at least once, and he would have come to see her as early as possible in the evening.
A person whose behavior has changed should be approached with caution.
Riel looked out the window with sharp eyes.
A silent street with no passersby.
How much time had passed? Zion was walking towards her from ahead.
She hid behind the curtain and scrutinized Zion's face as he approached.
His expression was dark.
It was not the face of a man rushing towards the woman he liked, filled with excitement.
At that moment, Riel noticed the candle on the table in front of the window flickering greedily.
‘I need to check. Zion, what are your true intentions…’
She walked to the back, opened the window, and checked her surroundings.
A narrow railing, barely wide enough for one foot, stretched out long.
Knock knock.
A moment later, she heard a knock on the front door.
“Riel, it’s me. Zion.”
Riel approached and opened the front door.
Unlike before, Zion stood there with a bright smile. But to Riel, his smile felt awkward.
As Zion stepped inside, Riel wrapped her arms around his neck and pouted.
“Zion, why are you so late? I’ve been waiting for you all day.”
“...I was busy with a lot of carriages to repair today.”
“Did you find out what I asked you to?”
After finishing her sentence, Riel carefully observed Zion's expression.
“I tried to find out, but no matter what I did, my father wouldn’t tell me. I’m sorry.”
Zion spoke naturally, but his gaze could not meet hers.
Riel released her arms from around his neck and walked to the window. She began to touch the candlestick in front of her with slow movements.
“Zion, you know, you’re the only one for me.”
“Then, I know, I know.”
The moment Zion replied, Riel's gaze turned icy.
“But it seems you’re not.”
“Uh?”
Zion's eyes, filled with confusion, shook. Riel did not turn away and delivered the decisive words.
“It seems the Marquis of Lachels is behind you.”
“W-What do you mean?”
“You’ll find out if you check. Whether I’m the only one for you, or if the Marquis of Lachels is…”
Riel lifted the candlestick from the table and brought it to the curtain by the window.
The bright red flame quickly engulfed the curtain.
“Riel, what are you doing?!”
Zion shouted in shock.
Riel quickly opened the window and shouted loudly.
“Fire! Help me!”
At that moment.
Two sturdy men appeared between the buildings ahead.
They were nimble like knights but sturdier than ordinary men. They had the characteristics of informants she had seen from the Lachels family.
Moments later, startled people began to emerge onto the street.
While Zion hurried to the kitchen to grab a water jug, Riel picked up a dagger from the fruit basket.
Just as he was about to splash water on the window, Riel aimed the dagger at Zion's neck.
“R-Riel!”
A frightened Zion coughed due to the thick smoke.
Riel, covering her nose and mouth with a handkerchief, pressed Zion.
“Speak clearly. Or you and I will die here together.”
“T-The Marquis has put a tail on you. I-I only found out today when the informants came to see me.”
Bang bang-.
Someone knocked violently on the front door.
“Zion, this is the price for betraying me.”
Riel stabbed Zion's thigh with the dagger.
“Ah!”
Zion cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground.
The flames grew fiercer. She quickly escaped through the back window and precariously walked along the narrow railing of this floor.
From the front of the building, she could hear the commotion of people.
At that moment, she saw a cart piled with hay below the building.
Without hesitation, Riel jumped down.
“Ugh!”
A sharp pain surged through her leg.
She limped and hid between the buildings. Then, taking advantage of the chaos, she slipped away from the city, making a vow.
‘Brother Marcell, I will repay you for deceiving me. Definitely.’
* * *
In the deep night after midnight, Charles's procession arrived at the Count of Thames's residence.
Since they arrived late, Charles simply greeted the people of the count's household and went up to the guest room.
“Ha…”
After finishing his bath, he slouched on the sofa without turning on the lights.
He wanted to escape the obsession of having to be perfect today.
The strong liquor he had asked the servant for was placed on the table.
He drank the liquor in succession.
A painful night.
He wanted to lean on the alcohol and fall asleep.
But instead, his mind became clearer, and the image of the kind Emperor from his days as the Third Prince came to mind.
“Charles, this book is the treatise on kingship written by King Ronka.”
“Brother, isn’t this a forbidden book? If the Emperor finds out, there will be a decree against it.”
“We can keep it a secret between us.”
The late Emperor was cold.
He ruled with no mercy, only through fear.
The Third Prince, who attended the court school at that time and is now the Emperor, implicitly opposed his father's ruling style.
Instead, he admired the flexible ruling style of the King of Ronka, who endured until the end during the conquest wars of the Rubena Empire.
Charles secretly learned about the treatise on kingship from the Third Prince, believing that he would become a better Emperor than anyone else.
But is knowing different from acting?
Once the Third Prince became Emperor, he began to change, surrounded by sycophants. He became even colder and more brutal than the late Emperor, under the pretext of threatening the throne.
Charles thought that by acting on the beliefs the Emperor had taught him during his time as the Third Prince, he could prove that the past him was right.
Then he believed the Emperor would return.
As his kind brother, his respected teacher, and the young scholar who wished for a better world.
But the more Charles tried, the further he drifted from the Emperor.
“Then die!”
The Emperor's eyes, filled with malice, pierced his heart painfully.
‘Brother, what more must I let go of?’
Hot tears wet Charles's cheeks.
The desperate longing for a person he could neither let go of nor be released from rendered him powerless.
The cold moonlight settled on the deep wound cut by the sword.
After a stormy time passed and his emotions began to settle,
Knock knock.
With the urgent sound of someone knocking on the door, a voice from a senior knight was heard.
“Your Highness the Grand Duke, are you sleeping?”
Charles wiped his face with his large hand and approached to open the door.
“What is it?”
As the senior knight entered the room, he spoke softly.
“The Countess has a high fever…”
“The Countess?”
“Yes. But she asked a maid to call for the Grand Duke. The maid told me instead, thinking that the Grand Duke might be sleeping.”
At the senior knight's words, the warning from Muel before leaving Ervin flashed through Charles's mind.
“When the binding magic is released, it will hurt a lot.”
Charles immediately headed to the room where Iana was staying.
Knock knock.
Charles knocked on her door.
“Countess.”
No sound came from beyond the door.
Charles and the senior knight hurriedly opened the door and entered.
Iana was lying in bed, pulling the blanket up over her head.
Charles approached the side of the bed and asked,
“Countess, what hurts?”
Iana lowered the blanket, her face flushed with fever and her eyes hazy.
“Your Highness the Grand Duke, my body, my body feels strange.”
As she spoke slowly, she pulled her right arm out from under the blanket.
“…!”
Charles and the senior knight looked at Iana's hand with astonished expressions.
A strong blue light was rising from her right hand.