Gawain spoke coldly.

"What exactly do you want from me?"

Yohan's change in attitude left him deeply bewildered. The boy who had always treated him warmly had suddenly turned cold. He was like those old monsters in the royal capital, their masks cast aside.

Yohan slowly began to speak.

"I merely wish to help you, Your Highness."

Wariness crept into Gawain's expression.

"You joined hands with the Count despite knowing the full truth behind the attack on the Third Prince's palace. You threw in your lot with my sworn enemy. And now you say you want to help me? That makes no sense at all."

Yohan remained composed.

"Your Highness, as I said, there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics. The Count and I are merely using each other. Our relationship will fall apart eventually."

Gawain gave a hollow laugh.

"In short, you lied about wanting to help me. I imagine you merely want to use me as political leverage against the Count."

The Count had attacked royalty—a terrible crime. The moment the truth became public, House Staviana would inevitably fall. Gawain himself was the evidence of that crime. Handled properly, he would make pressuring the Count easy.

Yohan's lips curved upward.

"Precisely. It truly is easy to make myself understood with you, Your Highness. I need you, and someday my power will be of great help to you as well. Please, join me."

Gawain spoke stiffly.

"I understand why you need me. But what about the reverse? What can you offer me?"

"A good question. I shall help you take your revenge. And beyond that, I shall restore the position of power you lost."

"The position I lost? Surely you don't mean..."

Yohan nodded.

"You will become Crown Prince again, and one day reign as king."

Bewilderment spread across Gawain's face. He fell silent for a moment, then spoke, bringing his agitation under control.

"I have no intention of becoming king. Besides, what gives you the confidence to make all these grand, empty promises about helping me take revenge and making me Crown Prince? I never knew you were such a braggart."

Yohan's expression settled into calm. He spoke in a low voice.

"Your Highness, do my words truly sound like empty boasts?"

There was an indefinable force behind his expression and tone.

"Well, anyone would—"

"Look at what I have accomplished. I achieved a great deal as soon as I arrived at this castle. I protected the baronial house from the Count, and now I have secured its admission to the Kingdom's Council. I restored a fallen house in less than a year. Does that make me a braggart in your eyes?"

By any measure, Yohan was exceptionally gifted. Not yet twenty, he already had considerable achievements to his name. One needed only to speak with him to recognize how extraordinary he was. Even Gawain could hardly deny his abilities.

Gawain spoke.

"Yes, you're right. Given what you've shown me, I must acknowledge your abilities. But trust is another matter. I cannot trust you. I feel as though the moment I take your hand, you'll pull me over a cliff."

Yohan replied.

"If we cannot trust each other, we need only use each other."

"As you said yourself, such relationships inevitably fall apart. I would rather not begin one at all."

"You're afraid of me, then. Afraid I'll use you and throw you away."

Gawain nodded.

"That's right. People like you warrant the greatest caution. You act solely out of self-interest."

Yohan clicked his tongue.

"Do you want only loyal followers? Then I beg you to wake from your dream. This world is no fairy tale. It is full of bastards like me. Exclude them all, and you will achieve nothing. Never mind revenge—you won't even be able to keep yourself alive."

Gawain answered calmly.

"I'll take your advice to heart, but I have my own way of doing things. I don't think we can work together. It has been a pleasant conversation. I should be going."

He had no wish to continue the conversation. Gawain rose from his seat, and a shadow fell across Yohan's face.

"You will certainly regret leaving now."

Gawain gave a hollow laugh.

"Why? Will you send assassins after me like the Count did, Sir Yohan?"

"There would be no need to go to such trouble. The Church will execute you soon enough."

Gawain was being consumed by the fell spear Turabak's encroachment. If the Church learned of it, he would never survive. Discovery was only a matter of time.

Gawain frowned.

"... Sir Yohan, what are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"Before long, you will become a Demon. You have contracted an affliction that will turn you into one. Only I can help you."

Gawain was dumbfounded.

"Ha! So you really are a pathological liar. I was wrong about you."

Unfazed, Yohan continued.

"Please remain in this castle and receive treatment. It is the only way you can survive."

Anger rose in Gawain's face. Forcing it down with difficulty, he spoke.

"Sir Yohan, let us never meet again. I'm leaving. There is no need to see me out."

Gawain turned toward the door, only to stop abruptly. His expression went rigid.

Yohan wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood.

"You may not leave this castle, Your Highness."

Gawain's head turned slowly toward him.

CREAK. GROAN.

The movement was utterly unnatural, like machinery that had not been oiled.

With difficulty, Gawain opened his mouth.

"Wh-what have you done to me..."

The dining-room door slowly opened, and a silver-haired girl walked in with a smile.

"I put a little something in your soup."

She snapped her fingers. Immediately, Gawain's heart gave a mighty thump. Blood raced through his body, every vein standing out against his skin. Deep blue mana coursed through his veins along with it, and his body flashed with light.

Agonizing pain struck him. He felt as though he had been engulfed in flames. Unable even to scream, Gawain could only glare at Yohan with hatred in his eyes.

"Ghh, urrrgh."

Yohan spoke.

"Please bear with it a little longer. This is all for your sake, Your Highness."

Gawain slowly raised an arm. Even in such excruciating pain, he was showing his intent to attack.

Ilea looked at Yohan.

"Yohan, His Highness will break free soon. Please leave the dining room before then."

Mere poison in his soup could not subdue Gawain. He would soon shake off its effects. Then he would immediately try to kill Yohan.

Yohan nodded.

"I'll go deal with the Royal Guard. I leave Gawain to you."

Simply getting caught in the battle between Ilea and Gawain could cost him his life. Yohan left the dining room at once.

* * *

Yuri, the knight who commanded the Third Prince's Royal Guard, sat atop a gate tower, looking down at the lord's castle.

The moment night fell, the castle's atmosphere changed completely. The old castle's stately air had given way to something sinister. Moonlight spilled over its weathered spires, spreading distorted shadows across the ground. An icy chill rose from a deep well within the walls, and the wind sounded like the wailing of ghosts.

Goosebumps prickled across Yuri's skin. An inexplicable unease came over her.

"... Hmm."

Her liege, Third Prince Gawain, was staying in that castle. He had walked alone into enemy territory. Knowing full well the relationship between Yohan and the Count, Yuri could not rest easy.

As she fretted, her lieutenant approached.

"Captain, if you were going to worry this much, why did you let His Highness go alone?"

Yuri sighed.

"What could I do? He told us not to accompany him. As if I could get that stubborn man to change his mind."

Gawain always left his Royal Guard behind. He found them a nuisance.

The lieutenant burst out laughing.

"If I recall correctly, His Highness also told us not to watch him."

Yuri looked uncomfortable.

"This isn't surveillance. It's protection. Protection."

"No, it's obsession. Obsession. Frankly, how many beings in this world could actually hurt His Highness?"

Gawain was a monster. He did not truly need protection.

Yuri spoke.

"You idiot. I'm not trying to protect His Highness."

"Then what?"

"I'm protecting that house from him."

"What in the world is that supposed to mean?"

The Count was Gawain's sworn enemy, and Yohan was on the Count's side. One wrong turn could bring Yohan and Gawain into conflict, and that conflict might send Gawain on a rampage. If the worst should happen, the baronial House of Miyatro would be wiped off the map.

Naturally, Gawain would not escape punishment either. He would have to pay for killing the Watcher of the Abyss—and a member of the Council at that. Protecting the baronial house was therefore a way of protecting him.

Yuri waved her lieutenant away.

"I'd only be wasting my breath explaining it. Go back and finish guzzling your booze."

The lieutenant replied with a sly grin.

"You should call it a night too, Captain. His Highness is all grown up now. He's nearly old enough for his coming-of-age ceremony. Must you keep coddling him so?"

Yuri rounded on him with a glare.

"Say one more word."

The lieutenant threw up both hands and backed away.

"Then I'll be off. There are lovely ladies waiting for me in the village. Haha!"

He leaped down from the gate tower. Yuri turned her gaze back to the lord's castle.

The baleful energy enveloping it had grown thicker. The mist clinging to its spires looked like demonic energy.

"Am I imagining things? Why do I feel so uneasy?"

Yuri slapped both her cheeks. It jolted her alert, but did nothing to dispel her unease. Instead, an even greater tension crept over her. The air around her was growing heavy. She had the inexplicable feeling that someone was watching her.

"Haven't you left yet? Stop fooling around."

There was definitely someone there. Yuri whipped her head around, searching in every direction.

"Do you really want to d—"

She could not finish. Her gaze had met a pair of blood-red eyes. An utterly hideous being sat right beside her: a Demon that had been concealed within Night Immersion.

A sinister voice burrowed into her mind.

"Mortal, come at me with all your strength."

Maphel’tan intended to gain an objective measure of his power. Yuri, captain of the Royal Guard, would make a decent test opponent.

Startled, Yuri immediately put distance between herself and Maphel’tan. Her eyes trembled.

"... D-don't tell me. White Horn."

Maphel’tan's mouth stretched into a broad grin.

"Indeed. Here is your chance to kill an Apostle. Draw your sword."

Yuri's gaze darted toward the lord's castle.

"Y-Your Highness!"

She leaped from the gate tower. As a knight of the Royal Guard, she had to see to Gawain's safety first.

Maphel’tan clicked his tongue. Pitch-black demonic energy coalesced in his hand, revealing the fell spear Turabak. He hurled it at Yuri. Turabak tore through the darkness.