Chapter 3 – The Crisis of the Imperial Family (Part 6)

“Please help, Crown Princess.”

Montrey knelt before Seia.

“Prince Kyle is innocent. If this continues, he will die bearing false charges.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

Seia asked coldly.

“Is he not an enemy since he is accused of assassinating your master?”

“My master is Prince Kyle.”

Montrey replied.

Seia stopped pacing in front of the window and looked down at Montrey.

“Do you only swear loyalty to Kyle Hellis? Even if that blade reaches the Emperor or the Crown Prince?”

At the sharp question, Montrey emphasized again.

“It’s a false accusation. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Seia was disheartened by the firm belief in his eyes.

She couldn’t understand how he could so easily abandon his family and Aden but be so determined to protect the Prince as if it were his own life.

“In that case, confess in his place.”

Seia said.

Montrey looked up in surprise.

“If the real culprit is not found, Prince Kyle will take the fall anyway, so why don’t you give your life instead?”

The cold words pierced like a dagger.

Montrey eventually lowered his head again and uttered words of remorse he had buried deep in his heart.

“…I regretted it.”

At those words, Seia’s gaze turned back to Montrey.

“It was my fault for not anticipating that they would be so cruel to Lord Perseus.”

“Don’t speak that name.”

Montrey flinched at Seia’s voice.

It was the same voice filled with murderous intent as when she vowed revenge against Luke Haisen ten years ago.

“I know no words can atone for it, Your Highness.”

“A traitor sure has a long tongue.”

Seia retorted.

“Did the taste of power seem that sweet?”

“That’s not why I surrendered, Your Highness.”

Montrey bowed his head even lower, though there was no place left to lower it.

“Then do you have a reasonable justification for betraying your family?”

Seia asked in a stern voice.

“That’s not what I meant, Your Highness. You were young at the time, but even you knew there was no other choice but to surrender, didn’t you?”

Seia hesitated.

“Aden had almost no chance of victory.”

“That’s a decision for the head of the family to make, not a knight. Isn’t a knight’s role to follow their lord to the end?”

“That’s right, Your Highness. It was my arrogance and disloyalty.”

As Seia turned to leave, Montrey spoke again.

“But, Your Highness, the people of Aden had to survive.”

“…What?”

“If we didn’t surrender, our homes would continue to be destroyed, our families would be conscripted, young and old alike, and die… What about those who followed their lord’s will and died silently?”

Montrey continued with difficulty.

“Among them were my family, Your Highness.”

Seia looked down at him for a moment before speaking again.

“Rise.”

Montrey lifted his head.

At Seia’s signal, he stood up and knelt on one knee before her.

“You must have already noticed that Prince Kyle and I are plotting something different, right?”

“…Yes, Your Highness.”

“That’s why you came to me first, not anyone else.”

“I believed you wouldn’t just stand by.”

Seia looked at Montrey with a different expression than before.

“Why do you trust me?”

“I am guilty of failing to serve the Crown Princess’s father. However, I can swear on my soul that I did not betray Aden’s will.”

Seia stood firmly in front of Montrey.

“Then offer me your sword and your life.”

Montrey’s eyes widened at Seia’s words.

For a knight to offer their sword meant swearing infinite loyalty to that person.

“I don’t know if I can forgive you for not protecting my father. But if you serve me, you can atone by offering the loyalty you couldn’t give him to his successor, can’t you?”

Tears slowly welled up in Montrey’s eyes.

Days filled with guilt, rationalizing that his choice was never wrong, flashed before him like a lantern.

He wanted to atone.

“Swear that you will be the sword of Seia Aden, not the Hellis Empire.”

Montrey briefly kissed Seia’s gloved hand.

Tears slowly streamed down the old knight’s cheeks as he drew his sword from his waist and offered it to the young master standing before him.

“I will be your sword.”

Seia received the sword with both hands.

It was a bit heavy for her to hold, but she maintained her dignity and slowly bestowed a blessing on Montrey’s shoulder.

“Now rise.”

As Seia returned the sword, Montrey quickly stood before her.

Seia looked into his eyes and spoke calmly.

“I have a plan.”

***

The trial was formal and swift.

Ruby’s testimony was the main focus, and she put on a tearful performance until she fainted in the witness stand.

Half of the people truly believed that Kyle was the culprit who assassinated the Emperor, while the other half were too scared to oppose it.

There was no one willing to protect Kyle by overturning Ruby Haisen’s testimony and opposing the Crown Prince.

Kyle also hadn’t expected anything different.

He didn’t say a word until he was transferred to the underground prison of the palace after the childish trial concluded.

“The Crown Princess sent me.”

A woman in a robe whispered as she leaned against the iron bars.

Kyle was handcuffed with his hands bound together.

The woman slipped a small object through the bars.

Kyle picked it up with his handcuffed hands.

It was a ring.

“When the morning star sets, the knights will come to kill you.”

With those words, the woman disappeared from Kyle’s sight.

Kyle looked down at the ring in his hand.

“Seia.”

Kyle murmured her name in a subdued voice.

What he held was none other than the ring of the head of the Aden family, bearing their seal.

‘So my role is to deliver this to Perseus Aden.’

Kyle slowly visualized Seia’s plan in his mind.

Tristan wouldn’t leave Kyle quietly in the underground prison.

With Emperor Catheon dead, Tristan would no longer have to worry about anyone.

Therefore, the best scenario for Tristan was for Kyle to die accidentally in the underground prison.

That way, he could deal with both the culprit who assassinated the Emperor and the prince with questionable lineage without staining his hands with blood.

‘When the morning star sets. That means just before dawn.’

At the break of dawn, when the night is over and the guards change shifts, they will launch a surprise attack.

They will attack Kyle and kill him, then cover up all the evidence.

In the morning, the new guards will announce Kyle’s death, and there will be only one bloodline of Catheon left in the empire.

‘Since I know the enemy’s attack in advance, I can prepare.’

Kyle looked down at his handcuffs and slowly clenched his hand.

***

“Four knights will attack, and you think you can handle all four if I just remove the handcuffs?”

“They won’t be able to use swords anyway. The wounds would reveal whose swords they are.”

Seia still looked doubtful.

No matter how skilled he was, it wouldn’t be easy for one person to handle multiple opponents and escape.

“Are you worried, Your Highness?”

Montrey asked.

Seia glanced at him briefly and just sighed.

“I’ll just trust you since you know better than I do.”

Seia had neatly tied her hair up, wore a wig, and hid her face under a robe, dressed as a monastery priest.

Her appearance made it impossible to guess her gender.

“It’s the innermost cell.”

Montrey guided Seia.

He had formally requested a visit and was on his way to see Kyle, so there was no need to be nervous or rush.

Seia, disguised as a priest to hear a prisoner’s confession, followed Montrey, who planned to persuade Kyle to confess.

Seia kept silent in the echoing underground.

As Montrey approached the innermost solitary cell, the guards saluted and stepped aside.

Seia took a deep breath.

“Master.”

Kyle’s cracked, hoarse voice spoke.

“Confess your sins, Your Highness.”

Montrey said.

“Only a confession before the Sun God can save you.”

Seia stepped forward and revealed her face beyond the iron bars.

“My salvation has arrived.”

Kyle said upon seeing Seia’s face.

Seia barely restrained herself from snapping at him for making jokes in such a situation.

Her mind was complicated with unnecessary worries.

“Priest, please pray.”

At Montrey’s words, Seia began to recite a prayer in a whisper, barely audible.

As Kyle leaned closer, Seia slipped a small glass bottle into his hand.

“Only repentance can free you from your sins.”

Kyle recognized what it was.

It was a potion that could loosen and corrode the joints of the handcuffs.

If left on the joints for several hours, it would be easy to break them with force.

It was a tool often used by Northerners to escape, causing headaches for their captors.

‘Brings back many memories.’

Kyle smiled at Montrey.

That smile made Seia strangely want to sigh.

She couldn’t understand the man who smiled reassuringly even with wounded eyes.

“An opportunity for atonement will come before dawn.”

Seia whispered.

Of course, she was referring to the knights who would come to attack him.

“I will pay for my sins.”

Kyle murmured.

Their hands brushed through the iron bars.

As Seia leaned closer, their faces came near each other.

“I will go to Aden.”

Kyle whispered to Seia.

“I will meet your brother and come back for you.”

Kyle looked into Seia’s eyes as if making a promise.

A feeling of longing, as if he had missed her for a long time.

That indescribable feeling seized Seia once again.