[29]
“…Your Majesty. I think it’s time for you to step outside.”
A face hidden in the shadows.
Granz spoke, prostrating before the person.
“Chris Pertian will not have the strength to recover for a while.”
“But he’s still alive.”
A frail but venomous voice was heard.
“Neither the attending physician nor the guardian knight. Nothing has changed.”
“The former has collapsed, and the latter is dying.”
“Do you intend to repeat the failure from ten years ago?”
“…”
“First, finish off Chris Pertian. Then, there will be no one left to threaten us.”
“Your Majesty.”
“It is an order, Lord Granz.”
At the chilling voice, Granz could only bow his head deeply.
“Make up for the disloyalty of not protecting me back then, this time for sure.”
**
First, he wrote down the plan in the notebook.
Two weeks to his hometown of Rendel. But if he detours through the Birkender estate, it would take three weeks.
There was almost no time left.
The problem was physical condition. At the moment, even walking properly was difficult. It was a sigh-inducing situation.
“…Will it get better if more time passes?”
Whatever Cruyff did, thanks to these bandages, his strength was gradually improving.
But still, time was short. At this rate, returning to his hometown would be physically impossible.
‘No. I must return to my hometown.’
Sena put down the pen. Giving up was not an option. The place where he closes his eyes for the last time had to be his hometown.
“Senior.”
Sylvia quietly closed the door and came in. Sena asked urgently.
“Did you check?”
Sylvia shook her head.
“Slipping out unnoticed is impossible. Orders reaching near-martial law have been given to the entire knight order. It might be possible if we kill a few, but…”
“That’s not an option. I can’t kill someone else just to save myself.”
“I knew you would say that, Senior.”
Sylvia looked at Sena.
Originally, he was cute with some amount of fat on him, but now he had become quite gaunt. The boyish charm he once had was gone, making him look like a frail young girl.
“……Is your body okay?”
“Aside from not being able to walk well?”
“That sounds like it’s not okay at all.”
“Ahaha.”
Sena laughed thoughtlessly. But it wasn’t as if he had no thoughts at all.
‘Chris is nowhere to be seen.’
Isabella, the leader of Labella and former Guardian Knight of the Empress, had once told Sena how she became the guardian knight.
-There are differences in skill even among masters. But not significantly. Even so, I was chosen because I was the strongest in one-on-one duels.
It is said that the superiority among masters is subtle. However, each has their own strengths. For example, Chris is the best at defensive swordsmanship. No one can endure like him. Moreover, Chris’s magic detection is excellent. Isabella admitted she was poor in that area.
In other words, it was impossible for Isabella to assassinate Astria without Chris noticing. But back then, she appeared perfectly fine.
It meant she could enter the royal palace without any interference.
“What’s the current ranking of the knights? Chris was second, right?”
“…Excluding Her Majesty, Duke Granz Kairos is first.”
“Duke Granz. He was one of Her Majesty’s political opponents.”
Sena muttered while drawing lines in the relationship chart.
‘Isabella wouldn’t suddenly attack Her Majesty.’
‘Chris wouldn’t allow it either.’
‘For this to happen, a third party’s intervention is necessary. Someone stronger than Chris and powerful enough to deceive Astria.’
Let’s make a simple assumption. Granz, who doesn’t get along well with Astria, planned this.
First, to sow discord between Astria and Isabella, he did something terrible to Labella.
Simultaneously, he dealt with Chris, who would be the biggest obstacle to assassinating Astria. And the only person capable of this was Duke Granz Kairos.
But this was just speculation. Evidence was needed.
“To lift the martial law, we need to find Chris.”
Sylvia’s eyes widened.
“How did you know? That Senior Chris is missing.”
Sena bowed his head bitterly.
It would have been better if it were just a delusion.
So he really is missing.
“He wouldn’t be absent in such a situation.”
Sena staggered to his feet. Sylvia, surprised, supported him.
“I need to meet Duke Granz.”
**
“You insisted so much that I brought you out, but I still think it’s best to return.”
Sylvia said as she pushed the wheelchair.
“There’s no certainty that Duke Granz is in the palace. They said he didn’t appear in the conference room.”
“No, Sylvia. Duke Granz is in the palace right now.”
Sena whispered, “Please stop here.” After the wheelchair halted, he carefully stood up.
He thought he could walk around for about five minutes.
‘If Duke Granz is indeed behind this, he will come to check on the palace situation himself.’
The culprit always returns to the scene. There’s a reason that saying exists.
The problem was whether he was somewhere in this vast palace. Sena thought of two possible locations.
One was the observatory, where one could oversee the entire palace.
The other was…
“Sylvia, please go to the observatory.”
“I can’t leave you alone, Senior.”
“Knight?”
Sena smiled brightly.
“I won’t leave you behind, so as my knight, please follow my command.”
“…”
After delivering his persuasive words, Sena pointed somewhere with his finger. A large watchtower with a guard keeping watch was visible.
“Check each of the watchtowers one by one and ask if Duke Granz has been there.”
Sylvia responded reluctantly.
“…Got it. What about you, Senior?”
“I’ll go to the garden. I think he’ll be in one of these two places.”
Fortunately, Sena’s guess was correct.
Granz was in the garden.
He was wearing his uniform, inspecting areas that showed signs of a battle.
When Sena entered the garden, Granz turned his head.
“Hello.”
Sena greeted him with a bow. Granz stood up from his crouched position. In a low voice, he asked.
“How did you know I was here?”
“I prayed. Sometimes it lets me know.”
Sena stuck his tongue out slightly.
It was a fresh, playful expression, but Granz didn’t seem to perceive it that way.
“Where is Chris?”
Sena approached Granz carefully, one step at a time.
“The missing guardian knight?”
Sena tilted his head innocently.
“That’s strange. Did I say he was missing?”
“I heard it from Her Majesty.”
“Ah, I heard there were several meetings today. You must have heard it then.”
“…Yes.”
Even though Sena knew Granz was lying, he simply smiled.
Granz’s eyes grew cold, but he soon turned his back and started walking away, waving his hand dismissively as if annoyed.
“I’ll be leaving now. Stay well.”
“Are you injured somewhere?”
At Sena’s bright voice, Granz stopped moving.
“Your right shoulder seems to move unnaturally.”
-Why do you always aim for the right arm? Usually, it’s the neck.
He had once asked Chris that.
-Because for knights, sometimes the right arm is more precious than their life. Often, aiming for the right arm can lead to beheading.
Fearlessly, Sena approached Granz and grabbed his wrist.
“It must hurt a lot. I’ll heal you quickly.”
“…”
For a moment, a murderous intent flickered in Granz’s eyes.
Sena, not paying any attention, infused him with divine power. Not just an ordinary amount, but an excessive one that could even shorten his own lifespan.
[29]
[28]
[27]
“You must have faced a remarkable swordsman.”
Sena faintly smiled.
Chris always scolded him to fix his OCD.
However, the real one with an OCD was Chris.
When he cut something, it was so clean it could truly be called obsessive.
This was Chris’s trace.
“The wound is deep and wide, but it’s straight. You couldn’t react, could you? The top knight of the Empire.”
“No matter how strong, sometimes even the best fall to a blind sword.”
A scene from Sena’s memory flashed by.
The dawn when she left the Academy.
A conversation he had with his then-roommate, Chris.
-I’m going out for a while. This time, it will take longer.
-Anytime. If you need my help, come to that place.
Sena was convinced.
The trade city of Celine.
Chris was there.
He was waiting for him there.
“…I see. The treatment is finished.”
Sena let go of Granz’s arm, bowed once, and walked out of the garden.
Srrng.
Granz quietly drew his sword. Sena stopped walking. Without turning around, he said,
“You can kill me if you want, but if possible, could you make it painless?”
Sena continued walking with a blank expression.
“I really hate pain.”
“…”
In the end, Granz couldn’t strike Sena down.
Killing someone who knows they will die is a boring task.
**
Astria, returning from the meeting, had a hardened expression.
Sena was organizing his belongings in his travel suitcase.
It was easy to understand what that meant.
“Where are you planning to go in that condition?”
However, Sena did not panic.
Instead, he welcomed her as if he had been waiting.
“Hello. Did the meeting go well?”
“Answer my question. Where are you planning to go in that condition?”
It seemed the meeting had not gone well. Astria’s expression was not good. Sena closed the travel bag with a faint smile.
“I have a request.”
“It might be my last request.”
Astria’s expression instantly hardened.
“I have somewhere I must go.”
“…Somewhere you must go.”
“The Birkender estate. My grandfather is critically ill, and I must go check on his condition.”
“….”
That was a reason Astria couldn’t firmly refuse.
However, Astria’s expression remained displeased. No matter how she thought about it, her intuition told her that letting Sena go like this was a bad idea.
Sena, with a bright smile, wrapped his arms around Astria’s neck.
Lovingly, he whispered in Astria’s ear.
‘I am a liar.’
Someday, he will be punished.
“If you grant me this.”
So, Your Majesty.
“After that, you can have me.”
When you learn the whole truth later.
Please, do not forgive me.
