With one hand thrust into his trouser pocket and the other holding a wine bottle, Lexion walked leisurely, radiating light as if he had absorbed all the surrounding aura.

Despite it being midday, not a single ray of sunlight entered the dark corridor, but a soft glow seemed to gather around him thanks to his golden thread-like hair and pure white attire.

At the end of the corridor, Lexion stopped in front of a room where yellow light seeped through the tightly shut door that stood like an iron fortress.

“His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”

The two knights guarding the door bowed their heads upon seeing him, and Lexion arrogantly tilted his chin. Although entry to the room was forbidden by the Emperor’s order and no one was allowed to enter or leave freely, the knights politely opened the door as if they hadn’t heard the imperial command.

An antique but prison-like scene unfolded before Lexion’s eyes. The only light illuminating the place came from candles placed around the room.

A man with a darker golden hair compared to Lexion’s stood in front of a window that had been nailed shut with wooden boards. He was staring blankly at the window, blocked like his future.

The reality of the man who had once been raised as the heir to the Empire was utterly miserable.

“Brother.”

When Lexion called him in a low voice, the man turned as if waking from a dream. His face, once full of blessings, was now covered in long shadows like the room itself.

“Oh……! Lexion……!”

The man was Hector de Herais, known as the ill-fated prince. He had also been the closest to the position of crown prince before Lexion’s special ability manifested.

“I’ve been so busy that I’m only now able to visit you, Brother.”

Lexion moved his long legs to sit on an old chair at the table. When the chair creaked under his weight, Hector sat down across from Lexion with an awkward smile.

“It’s alright, it’s natural for you to be busy! Oh my, such an honored guest has come, but I’m in no state to offer even a cup of tea.”

“It’s fine. I anticipated that and brought something.”

Lexion lightly shook the wine bottle that Hector liked.

“But you do have glasses to drink from, don’t you?”

“Haha, of course. I still have the essentials.”

Hector brought water glasses from the shelf beside his bed to use as wine glasses. Lexion removed the cork from the wine bottle and poured the wine into the two glass cups with a regretful expression. Although it was a wine he enjoyed drinking himself, he didn’t want to put his lips to a glass of unknown origin that might not have been washed in who knows how long.

“What were you looking at?”

“Hmm?”

“Were you admiring the scenery through the window crack like a stray cat?”

“Ah, that.”

Hector burst into hearty laughter, seemingly happy about something.

“What might she be doing now? Is she worried about me? With her fiery temper, I hope she’s not causing trouble… Well, these are the kinds of thoughts I was having.”

Hector’s gray eyes were filled with bright light as he mentioned a woman.

“How can you still speak so comfortably?”

Lexion sighed, stroking the rim of his glass with his finger. To still be spouting romantic love in a place like this—it was ridiculous.

“Brother, wouldn’t it be better to yield your stubbornness now? You know Father Emperor’s temperament.”

“Lexion, you will never understand.”

“……”

[You don’t know anything.]

He hadn’t expected to hear these words again….. Lexion furrowed his brow as he recalled Estelle.

“What don’t I know?”

Hector split his lips into a wide grin, with eyes completely different from Estelle’s at that time.

“Great love!”

He raised one hand in the air, striking a pose like the tragic male protagonist of a romantic comedy.

“Until now, I was merely a foolish soul wasting away, trapped in a predetermined mold! That is, until I met her.”

Lexion pushed the glass of red wine toward Hector, who appeared to be out of his mind as if he had taken some drug. It was a gesture suggesting he should drink and come to his senses.

“She opened a new world to me! She made my once dull life colorful! I was completely captivated by her beauty! Oh……! Her breath breathed new life into me, no different than giving me a new existence!”

“……”

He had thought she was just a half-baked Guardian, but it seemed Cecil Biastes possessed the special ability to turn people into fanatics.

“Before I knew her, I was nothing but a sinner with bound hands and feet and blinded eyes……!”

How long would he have to listen to these noble yet dog-like praises….. Lexion was about to drink his wine out of boredom but flinched and put it back down.

“From my perspective, your current situation looks quite like that of a sinner.”

“Lexion, to your eyes my physical body may appear so, but my heart is no different from that of a liberated prisoner.”

To Lexion, Hector’s eyes, which had lost their sharpness, looked foolish.

‘I want to take it back.’

He felt betrayed even by his past self who had once respected this man. He felt like demanding compensation for his loss.

“I’m going to marry her. When I think about it, the current hardship seems rather sweet, like a process to obtain the fruit.”

“Do you truly… think that makes sense? Cecil is from House Biastes, and she’s a Guardian.”

Hector, who had lost the position of crown prince to Lexion and earned the nickname of the ill-fated prince, had fallen in love with Cecil, the Guardian who ruled the West.

Whether that love was mutual or one-sided was unclear. But given reports that Cecil, who had shown no interest in anything, had deliberately come to the capital to continue meeting him, it would be correct to assume they shared the same feelings.

The problem was that Hector, unable to distinguish right from wrong in his fiery love, had suddenly declared to the Emperor that he would marry her. A marriage no one could approve of. The union of the imperial family, which already possessed two Guardians, with the West.

It would be unwelcome news to the dukes who shared power, and naturally, the Emperor, already anxious about losing his position, would worry that House Biastes might swallow the imperial family whole.

“Such backgrounds mean nothing in love.”

Lexion gave Hector, who was spouting childish nonsense, a look of contempt.

“Is that background something that can be ignored?”

“I believe Father will eventually relent. Even a god cannot break the will of a man in love.”

“If you continue like this, Father will never lift your confinement. Are you saying it’s fine to rot in this dog-like place forever?”

“It’s fine. I would choose a noble death rather than deny my love for her.”

“While you’re here like this, House Biastes hasn’t issued any statement. You’ve simply been abandoned, Brother.”

It seemed Cecil’s feelings were at least different from Hector’s grand love. Whatever the case, in Lexion’s view, she appeared more normal than Hector, who was acting as if he had no brain.

“She’s being considerate, afraid I might get hurt. She knows that while love is important, she doesn’t want me to cause chaos in Valois. Lexion, you don’t know how tender-hearted and kind she is beneath her appearance. That’s my fortune alone to know.”

“I don’t want to know.”

It was clear that love had blinded Hector. Cecil Biastes, the only female duke of Valois, had a terrible personality. There were abundant ominous rumors about her: that she had cut off the important parts of a noble man who had looked down on her for being a female duke right on the spot, or that she had broken about four teeth of her opponent in a duel in front of everyone.

Lexion could bet a fortune that most of those rumors were true. Perhaps thirsty from Hector’s absurd monologue, Lexion tapped his wine glass with his fingertips.

“You’ll understand naturally when you meet such a person. Love isn’t something you can avoid just by trying to avoid it.”

“……”

Lexion didn’t know exactly what kind of love Hector was talking about, but he thought Hector, who had trapped himself, was simply foolish.