As I floundered, bewildered by this utterly unexpected turn of events, the king pulled me into an even tighter embrace. Unable to do anything, I merely fidgeted with my fingers. Then I quietly let my body relax.

There was nothing I could do about this. I was only holding still because I could not coldly shake off a king who had finally returned after braving one deadly battlefield after another. That was all. Truly.

That was the only reason I slowly raised the arms hanging awkwardly at my sides, too. If I kept standing there so stiffly, he would feel awkward as well.

But as I reached out, I flinched. An unfamiliar scent assailed my nose: medicine, not quite masked by the dry bodily scent characteristic of Northerners or the smell of dust.

Just then, the king smoothly released my shoulders and stepped back.

"You have worked hard. You have done very well indeed."

The sudden embrace, the affectionate words—neither was something the king would ordinarily have offered. Something about it unsettled me, and I narrowed my eyes to study him.

Hair gone white since the queen's death. Wrinkles that had doubled in just a few years. His eyes shone brightly, but even that brilliance troubled me now.

I sniffed, my nostrils flaring. Beneath the smell of medicine lurked a faint stench.

"Ah..."

I froze.

"Your Ma—"

"Your Highness."

Just as I was about to voice the questions filling my head, someone called to me. It was Count Sturmhilde Stuttgart, Commander of the Royal Knights, who had accompanied the king to the Empire.

He quietly shook his head. Not now, his somber eyes told me.

"Let us go inside."

The king took my hand and drew me along.

"Honor to His Majesty the King, safely returned at last from his expedition!"

"Honor to the victory won by His Majesty and the Eastern Legion!"

Listening to the cheers of Maximilian, the kingdom's nobles, and the knights and soldiers, I simply followed the king.

* * *

"I must rest a while."

No sooner had the king crossed the capital's main avenue and entered the palace than he retired straight to his chambers, citing the fatigue of his journey.

Neither Maximilian nor the grand marshal nor Siorin questioned his behavior. They seemed to think he was merely tired after returning from a long campaign.

"Now that His Majesty has returned, the negotiations with Teuton should soon reach their conclusion."

"You cannot imagine how reassuring it is to have His Majesty back."

As Marquis Bielefeld and Siorin conversed, I quietly slipped away.

"Brother...?"

Maximilian noticed my departure with uncanny speed and called after me, but I turned without answering. I headed straight for the king's bedchamber.

"Your Highness. His Majesty is weary from his long expedition and has only just retired."

The Royal Knights barred my way.

"Stand aside. I have come to speak with His Majesty."

Though they looked troubled, the Royal Knights showed no sign of letting me pass.

"His Majesty ordered us to admit no—Your Highness!"

While the knight was still talking, I even drew on my mana to force my way through their restraint and flung open the bedchamber door.

Inside, the king sat on the edge of his bed. His upper garments were off, his torso swathed completely in white bandages. As I stared at him, the royal physician caught sight of me and looked aghast.

"Y-Your Highness...!"

Ignoring him, I strode straight toward the maid beside him. I roughly snatched the basket from her hands and opened its lid.

A wave of stench struck my nose. It was the very smell I had detected before the city gates.

But that stench was hardly what mattered now. The basket was filled with bandages caked in black, dead blood and pus.

"Explain."

I turned my head.

"What are these bandages? And this pus and dead blood?"

Pale as a sheet, the physician trembled as he looked at me.

"What good will it do to torment an innocent physician?"

The king's voice reached me. Unlike at the gates, it sounded utterly weary and exhausted. His face was as worn as his voice, and he waved a hand.

"Everyone, leave."

The physician bowed hastily and all but fled. The Royal Knights hovering helplessly at the entrance also withdrew, shutting the door behind them.

All the while, I was still staring at the bandages covering the king's body.

"How could I venture into the heart of enemy territory without being prepared to suffer wounds? I was quite prepared for this much."

He spoke calmly as he watched me.

"Did you say you were quite prepared for this?"

"My appearance seems to have startled you."

He smiled gently, utterly at odds with the circumstances.

"The wounds were somewhat serious, but they are improving. There is no need to worry so."

A lie even a child would not believe. I had seen it with my own eyes. Bandages could never be so thickly coated in black blood and pus from healing wounds. Those could only come from flesh that had thoroughly rotted.

"Your Majesty..."

"These paltry wounds will soon disappear without a trace."

"Your Majesty."

"So there is no need for you to make a fuss."

"Your Majesty!"

My voice rose before I knew it. Yet the king did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.

"So many have died. How could they rest in peace if their own king whined over a few minor wounds?"

Fury burned inside me as I stared at his unruffled face.

"These are not minor wounds!"

Unable to bear it any longer, I shouted.

"I survived. That is what matters. I have returned, and that is enough."

What mattered? What was enough? I could only feel stifled with frustration.

"Your Majesty..."

"I am weary. I must rest now. Leave me."

With that, the king lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. Soon his breathing grew even.

I lingered for a long time. Then I left his bedchamber, drained.

"Your Highness."

Outside, Sturmhilde Stuttgart, Commander of the Royal Knights, was waiting for me.

"I believe we should speak elsewhere."

That was precisely what I wanted. I led him straight to my palace.

"From this moment on, allow no one near this place."

At the old knight's words, Karl Ulrich looked at me. I nodded, and Karl immediately led the Royal Knights in sealing off my palace.

"Your Highness knows this better than anyone, but he has all the talent required of the next Commander of the Royal Knights."

Ordinarily, I would never tire of hearing praise for my knight. Not now. Instead of agreeing, I locked the door, then asked the old knight a question.

"The wyvern rider explicitly told me His Majesty was unharmed. Did he lie to me?"

Jin Katrin had repeatedly assured me that both the king and the Eastern Legion were well and that I need not worry. Yet the supposedly unharmed king had returned with wounds so bad they could not even be touched, all but rotting away. What could I think except that Jin Katrin had lied?

"The wyvern rider did not lie. His Majesty sustained his injuries afterward."

With a grave expression, the commander explained what had happened.

Immediately after slaying the First Imperial Prince, the kingdom's army and the Azure Sky Knights had decided they had achieved more than their original objective and begun to withdraw.

But at that very moment, the emperor had mobilized the elite legions and knightly orders directly under the imperial household. The Imperial House of Bourgogne's strength was indeed formidable, and fierce fighting had ensued.

Thanks to the extraordinary prowess of the Azure Sky Knights and the King of Dotrin, they had somehow managed to open a path. But a sudden change in circumstances had forced the Azure Sky Knights to separate from the kingdom's main force.

"Intelligence arrived that the imperial fleet, which had preserved its strength through the Fire Dragon's rampage, was moving to strike our warships. One wrong move, and the Eastern Legion would have been stranded on imperial soil."

Lure the enemy deep inside, then cut off their retreat to force losses upon them. The Imperial Army's tactics had not changed in four hundred years.

"The Azure Sky Knights and Dotrin's sovereign hurriedly split off from the main force to intercept the imperial fleet."

The one difference was that the wyvern riders were fighting alongside the kingdom. But after suffering such immense losses at their hands, there was no way the Empire had failed to account for their presence.

"It was a trap."

"Precisely, Your Highness. Not long after the Azure Sky Knights departed, the Imperial Army's assault grew even more intense."

Just as I had expected.

"It was not that we failed to anticipate it. But returning to the kingdom without our ships was impossible, so we had no choice but to walk into it knowingly. The fighting was desperate. It is hard to believe so many of our troops returned alive."

The commander paused, looking at me with conflicting emotions on his face.

"It would have been impossible without His Majesty."

As he spoke, the old knight's gaze grew distant.

* * *

The Imperial Army had descended on them that morning and battered the kingdom's troops without respite. Now they had finally driven within a stone's throw of the headquarters where the king and his command staff stood.

["Your Majesty! It is time to withdraw!"]

["If we hold out any longer, the enemy will surround us!"]

The nobles screamed incessantly. Terror filled their eyes as they watched the troops surrounding headquarters furiously cross swords with the Imperial Army.

["Not yet!"]

But the king dismissed their near-hysterical pleas outright.

["If we leave now, the rear of our retreating army will collapse! That is exactly what the enemy wants!"]

The king nocked an arrow and released it.

WHIZZ!

An Imperial Knight locked in combat with a Royal Knight raised his shield to block the arrow—a swift response worthy of an elite knight of the Imperial House of Bourgogne. But the kingdom's Royal Knight was just as much a battle-hardened veteran.

He seized that fleeting opening and drove his sword home. The Imperial Knight fell in a spray of blood.

The king nocked another arrow. Just as he was about to release it, one of the nobles stepped in front of him and shouted.

["Your Majesty! It is not our retreating troops they want, but you! You are the only one who does not realize it!"]

["Shooting arrows and killing Imperial Knights is not what matters right now!"]

However desperate the situation, those words went too far.

["Mind your tongue!"]

Count Sturmhilde Stuttgart, Commander of the Royal Knights, angrily shouted after cutting down two enemy knights who had penetrated the ranks with a single stroke.

Ordinarily, the nobles would have shrunk back beneath the old knight's rebuke. Not this time.

["If the king's judgment has become clouded, should you not set him straight? Why do you stand by and do nothing?"]

Instead, one of the more influential nobles stepped forward and even berated him.

["Do you truly wish to die?"]

The old knight roared with murderous fury, but the noble shouted back, refusing to yield.

["I am doing this because I wish to live! Do you still not understand? At this rate, we will all be slaughtered! Why can you not see that?"]

Those words were aimed less at the commander than at the king. Only then did the king lower his bow, having continued to loose arrows without regard for the nobles' uproar.

["Your Majesty! We must withdraw! Otherwise we will all die! Never mind our troops—we ourselves are going to die!"]

["Your true nature never does change."]

The king spoke as he watched the nobles bawling at the tops of their voices. His tone was chillingly dry.

["What do you mean by—"]

As the nobles frowned at his unexpected remark, a horn sounded in the distance.

["Your Majesty! That is the signal that Count Walloden and all the Iron Lions have safely left the battlefield!"]

The old knight immediately reported to the king.

["Who remains?"]

["Most have left the battlefield or are about to withdraw!"]

Unable to wait even that long, the nobles interrupted.

["Now only Your Majesty and we need to escape!"]

["If we delay, we will all die!"]

Under their insistent pleas, the king suddenly smiled coldly.

["That would not be so bad, either."]

His voice rang out with unusual clarity even amid the din.

["Y-Your Majesty?"]

["What did you just..."]

The nobles stared blankly at him as they asked.

["I said it would be better for you all to die here, since you will only harm the kingdom if you live."]

["Your Majesty, I simply cannot understand what you are saying..."]

["Did you think your heads remained on your shoulders because you were innocent?"]

The king's voice was cold enough to freeze them.

["It would have been easy to behead you for colluding with the enemy. But that would have left resentment toward the royal family in the hearts of talented men who will live to serve the kingdom. I spared you because I did not want those future pillars of the realm, who must support the crown prince, to bear the burden of their fathers' crimes."]

["Your Majesty, this is hardly the time to bring up the past—"]

["Let us get to safety first! We will all die if we stay here!"]

One noble shouted and turned away. But he could not take even a single step. The commander and his Royal Knights had already surrounded them.

["Rather than live to disgrace your children, fight valiantly and die here. Then your children will be honored as the offspring of loyal subjects."]

Terrified, the nobles cried out.

["Can you not see the Imperial Army right in front of us?"]

["If we remain here, even Your Majesty will not escape unharmed!"]

The king looked at them and said,

["That is precisely what I want."]

The Imperial Army was almost upon them, yet the king was utterly serene.

["Looking back, my reign has been nothing but submission and compromise. If it continues, opportunists will once again rise to power in the kingdom. I have no place in the glorious nation that boy will build."]

But no. He was not serene.

["The only thing I can do for him is to leave the stage along with those who are boils upon the kingdom."]

Ghost-fire blazed in the king's seemingly tranquil eyes.

["Today, you and I will die here for the kingdom's future."]