* * *

“It seems you were waiting for me, Your Majesty.”

The king, still wearing his nightgown, leaned against the window frame, looking outside.

In the dim room, he looked very comfortable and warm in the only spot where sunlight entered.

Seeing him like that made Landers’s insides twist even more.

To think he could be so leisurely while throwing his family into this kind of cesspool.

The king took a sip of the wine he was holding and muttered lightly as if talking to himself.

“I saw you through the window. Running as if your tail was on fire.”

Blue flames sparked in Landers’s eyes.

He took a moment to regulate his breathing and calm himself, then immediately got to the point.

“What do you want? Do you wish for Tartien’s downfall?”

Karl turned to look at Landers with a light smile.

Today, Landers thought the king’s face in the sunlight didn’t look that hideous.

The pus and burn marks seemed to have faded……

“You think that’s all?”

No way. It must be my imagination.

Landers felt even more uneasy at the king’s words.

The king he thought was in the palm of his hand—somehow, he felt completely deceived.

When he realized he couldn’t read the king’s thoughts at all, a strange anxiety coiled within him.

He demanded in an even harder voice, hiding his anxiety:

“Please tell me directly what you want, Your Majesty.”

Karl stared at Landers quietly, then pulled a bell cord to summon someone.

Brook, who had been waiting, immediately rushed in.

“You called, Your Majesty.”

“Wait there.”

Why suddenly call the royal physician?

Did his health worsen?

If so, good riddance.

Landers stared directly at the king approaching him slowly, thinking fiercely.

Just then, words he never expected came from the king’s mouth.

“Landers, what kind of superior officer were you in the army?”

Landers furrowed his brow irritably and replied,

“Average. Not a good superior, but not bad.”

“Interesting. That you know that.”

“……”

The king laughed softly, finding it amusing.

“Why do you ask that suddenly?”

“I heard that day, when you were dispatched to the border area, you pushed for infiltration despite knowing there was a bomb in the room with the hostages. And you received recognition for your military service after saving those hostages. That was rare for a nobleman.”

Why bring up his military service when he asked what the king wanted?

Landers stared at him with furrowed brows.

“Do you remember the sergeant you used as a shield then?”

“……”

“I heard he looked a lot like me.”

“……I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You even tormented that sergeant for a very long time, didn’t you? What happened afterward? To that sergeant who almost died to save you.”

“I heard he was given appropriate compensation and discharged.”

“Appropriate compensation. I’m really curious what kind of compensation would be appropriate for someone who lost both his life and youth.”

“Why are you bringing this up now……!”

“Here, in this room, is that sergeant’s father.”

“……!”

Landers widened his eyes in surprise.

The only other person in this room besides the king and himself,

……Was the king’s royal physician, Brook Vales.

He remained frozen, only moving his eyeballs to look at Brook.

The royal physician kept his head bowed and said nothing.

Suddenly, Landers felt a chill.

……How much did the king know, and how long had he been crouching in wait?

He had thought the king was like filth stuck to the palace floor.

But now he saw that wasn’t the case.

The king had merely been crouching.

Until his time came, until his moment arrived, curling his body into a ball and hiding his presence as much as possible……

“I heard he never received an apology. Do you intend to apologize?”

Landers gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

His heart raced chaotically as if overloaded.

Karl burst into laughter while staring at Landers’s stiffened face.

“Think carefully, Landers. Even if I overturn the marriage with Maria Tartien now, no one will blame me. But what will happen to Tartien?”

Blue flames sparked in Landers Tartien’s eyes.

The king openly saying he could throw Tartien into the mud seemed so unfamiliar.

“Now then. Have you figured out what you need to do?”

It was humiliating.

But if Tartien were to fall, he would suffer humiliation incomparable to this moment’s indignity.

He didn’t want to be thrown from this highest position to that below, rock bottom.

Landers’s fist with the prosthetic hand trembled.

This is nothing. It’s nothing at all.

This couldn’t even be called humiliation compared to what he would face if he lost his power.

He comforted himself with these thoughts, raised his head, and looked at Brook.

“I didn’t know you were that sergeant’s father. At that time, I thought I had to save everyone……”

“You’re talking too much, Landers.”

Flinching, Landers shook his neck and spoke through gritted teeth, as if swallowing something,

“……I’m sorry.”

“……”

“I regret what happened to the sergeant. I am… sorry.”

Was it because he forced it out? Landers’s voice shook terribly.

Suddenly, Brook looked at the ground and laughed.

Through the elderly man’s mind flashed the image of Landers from several dozen days ago, grabbing his son’s neck and threatening him.

Hadn’t he asked why he was on a sinking ship?

You’re wrong, Landers.

The ship that was sinking wasn’t ours……

“What meaning does this apology have when the person who should hear it can no longer hear anything? Therefore……”

It was your ship.

“I will pretend I didn’t hear that apology.”

“How dare you……!”

Just as Landers bared his teeth and tried to take a step toward Brook, Karl blocked his way and gave him a sharp look.

“Sometimes, certain wrongs cannot be undone with just a few words of apology.”

“……If you have no further business, I will take my leave, Your Majesty.”

Brook brushed past Landers, who could do nothing while blocked by the king.

A cool chill brushed against Landers’s cheek.

His fingernails dug into his palm inside his clenched fist.

Something had gone wrong.

Not knowing what it was made him more afraid.

The chilling thought arose that perhaps it was too late to turn back.

* * *

“……What is everyone planning to do?”

At someone’s casually thrown question, the noble ladies gathered in the salon all closed their mouths at once.

Everyone knew what that one sentence was referring to.

‘Will you attend the royal wedding? If so, which side will you sit on?’

Until last year, this would have been a question that didn’t need asking.

It was the wedding of the king of this country, the father of the nation.

Moreover, the other party was Tartien, who could supposedly make birds fall from the sky.

It should have been a situation where people rushed to send congratulatory gifts and fought to watch the wedding from the closest possible spots.

But……

‘Things are different now, aren’t they?’

The noble ladies glanced out through the salon windows.

The protests that had been quiet until a few days ago had started to intensify again since yesterday.

It all began after the screening of ‘that opera’ ended.

“Sigh, honestly, the Count and I are still contemplating. My husband says we should attend, but I’m too scared. Somehow, I feel like something even more frightening than what’s happening now will occur.”

Countess Latusha, who had been hesitating, spoke first.

Her anxious fingertips fidgeted with the teacup handle.

“Something more frightening? What could that possibly be?”

“……I don’t know. My father is in southern Wales, and he sent an urgent message the day before yesterday. He said not to get involved in royal affairs under any circumstances and to go down to our territory for the time being.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“He said someone is approaching the local powers. I didn’t hear the details, but he mentioned that something might happen in the capital soon. I think it…… will happen at this royal wedding.”

“I heard a similar story. My cousin is the lord of northern Fairloid, and she suddenly sent a letter telling me to be careful. She even offered to take care of my children for a while if I sent them to her. I laughed it off, but yesterday my husband suddenly told me to pack the children’s things because he wanted to send them away.”

“Oh my!”

“This is really strange. Why are they gathering the local powers?”

“It’s not just any local powers. They’re all wealthy regions. Fairloid just had a comprehensive industrial complex built, and southern Wales has the second largest trading port in Levania, right?”

At that moment, similar emotions flashed across the noble ladies’ faces.

Something was happening, but they couldn’t yet see its true nature with their own eyes.

It felt like a monster was right next to them, but they couldn’t see ahead because of the fog.

“This is troublesome. We can’t not go, but if all this turns out to be needless worry, we might face disadvantages later.”

“Exactly. That’s what I’m saying. I can’t just say I don’t want to go because I have a bad feeling.”

Just then, a clear voice cut through the anxious noble ladies.

“I’m going. I’ve already had a new dress made. I plan to watch that wedding from the very front.”

The noble ladies recognized the voice’s owner and nodded with an “ah.”