“What nonsense are you talking about? Brother, are you very sick? Please, let’s go to your room and rest.”

By this point, Crusis forcibly pulled Elios along. Elios shook off Crusis’s arm with force and leaned unsteadily against the wall.

It was true. Someone like him was not qualified to be Crown Prince.

Until now, he had been persuading Crusis by elaborately talking about the confusion among nobles and the importance of uncovering the truth, but in reality, none of that mattered. The temple’s independence? That hardly resonated with Elios in the current situation.

Only Snow’s safety mattered.

Elios didn’t have much time. If Snow came to his father again, neither his father nor Snow would be safe. This time, it would either be his father truly assassinated by Snow’s hands, or Snow being captured. And Elios considered the latter possibility far more likely.

He had to do something before that. He had to save her.

“Crusis. As time passes, messengers will inform each house in the capital about the assassination attempt on the Emperor, and the nobles will immediately find some way to come to the palace. This is that significant a matter. With Father bedridden, one of the princes needs to gather them and consolidate opinions.”

Elios’s casual statement was deeply meaningful. Crusis, thinking this person might be about to say something crazy due to his fever, cut him off preemptively.

“That’s your job. You may not have been officially invested yet, but you’re essentially the Crown Prince.”

“No, it won’t be me but you who will do it.”

Elios said firmly. By this point, Crusis wondered if Elios had truly lost his mind.

“Why should I do that?”

Crusis’s tone was sharp as a thorn. Elios thought for a moment, then deliberately leaned unsteadily against the wall.

“Well, I’m not feeling well enough to lead the nobles’ meeting.”

“You’re talking to me just fine right now. If it were truly necessary, you wouldn’t back out with the excuse of being sick. Just like you’re forcing yourself to stand now. Don’t push your work onto me. I understand you’re sick, but that’s not something I or anyone else can do for you.”

Crusis, who had been anxious to let Elios rest until just now, suddenly turned cold. Elios tried to respond. Crusis continued without giving Elios time to answer.

“Only the Crown Prince can take the Emperor’s place in his absence, meaning only ‘Elios Riman Akelan’ who has been designated as Crown Prince. Another prince absolutely must not take that place.”

Elios stared for a while at his brother’s unwavering, fiery eyes.

‘Indeed, Crusis is more suited for it.’

Crusis, more than me. What had started as an impulsive thought was gradually becoming his sincere belief.

A proper ‘Crown Prince’ wouldn’t ask another grown prince to take his place in such matters. That was obvious.

“Crusis, you’re right. If it were truly something I needed to handle, I would have stepped up even with bleeding wounds, not just a fever like this.”

“No, but why on earth—”

“Because I’ve judged that I shouldn’t be the one to step forward. No matter what, someone else needs to handle this.”

“…What?”

Elios decided to reveal his true feelings. After all, this was his brother. There was nothing more to hide.

“I don’t trust myself to remain unemotional while standing before the nobles discussing the Saint’s fate.”

Crusis was momentarily stunned but soon calmly refuted:

“No, you would actually handle it better. Until just now, I was so angry at the culprit who tried to assassinate Father that my mind was dizzy with rage. Yet you, having witnessed the scene firsthand, are calmly thinking of countermeasures. When you argued that we should cover up the incident for now, I nearly struck you, my own brother. So you’re more rational than I am.”

“That’s not what I meant. Crusis, you’re misunderstanding.”

Crusis thought that Elios couldn’t trust himself to remain unemotional because he couldn’t dare forgive the Saint who had tried to assassinate his father.

“You’re thinking the opposite.”

“The opposite?”

“Crusis, I…”

The words didn’t come easily. But Elios spoke anyway.

“I love her.”

There was no response.

“I love the Saint.”

He said it once more, but still there was no response.

“I don’t trust myself to maintain my rationality in front of nobles who might demand that the criminal be put on the scaffold.”

Only then did a response come.

“No, I don’t understand what you’re saying at all…”

‘Is it actually me who’s sick, not my brother? Am I collapsed somewhere having a terrible dream?’ Crusis muttered to himself. Elios calmly continued:

“We had a connection from a very young age. We started meeting again around the time of her coming-of-age ceremony, and now my feelings are beyond even my own control. So you, who has no relationship with the Saint, should go and persuade the nobles rationally and correctly. Even if it’s an excuse I’ve found because I love Saint Bernadette, the fact that we need to hide her identity as the true culprit right now is true. Even thinking rationally, that’s correct, isn’t it?”

“…Yes, it is.”

Crusis answered faintly. Only then did Elios show a slight smile.

He thought it fortunate. The excuse he had come up with emotionally also made sense rationally. If it hadn’t aligned with rational judgment, Crusis wouldn’t have stepped forward, and he would have become the most unfilial son in the world, valuing the woman he loved more than his father.

He weakly patted Crusis’s shoulder.

“Good. Crusis. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Ah, wait, brother!”

“Sorry. I don’t have time.”

He couldn’t afford to be held back by his brother any longer. His intelligent brother had properly understood what he meant, and would fulfill Elios’s intentions better than if he had stepped forward himself.

Elios intended to find out why Snow was acting like this and somehow try to bring her back. He briefly wondered what difference he alone could make, but it was a pointless concern. If even a tiny change could be expected, and there was nothing to lose if he failed, it was better to act directly.

Snow’s rampage was clearly related to the Emperor. Elios was the Emperor’s son and Snow’s… friend. He was perhaps the only person who had a deep connection with both of them. If he couldn’t change something, who could?

Crusis couldn’t bring himself to stop his brother and could only watch as Elios staggered away, delirious with fever. He had a mountain of questions to ask him. But for now, dealing with the incoming nobles was the priority.

He still wasn’t confident if he should dare stand before the nobles in his brother’s place, but if his brother’s claim of loving the Saint was sincere, putting him in that position would be inhumane.

“D*mn it.”

Crusis tore at his hair. Somehow, even his brother, whom he had thought was his only ally, seemed to be rapidly distancing himself. They say life is lived alone, and that saying seemed exactly right.

♣ ♣ ♣

The Emperor was resting in bed. The Empress sat by his side, nursing him. Elios entered the Emperor’s bedroom. The Empress, Elios’s mother, called to her son.

“Elios.”

His mother was extremely introverted and rarely left her room. The Emperor didn’t visit the Empress very often. Some people disgracefully whispered that it was quite surprising that four children were born from the couple.

The Empress was a person who quietly made tea, did embroidery, or painted in her room, living for the joy of seeing her children. She took the greatest pride in her three princes and youngest princess all growing up properly without any rough edges.

The Empress had a face full of worry, but when Elios entered, her expression suddenly brightened. Elios’s fever hadn’t subsided at all, but he tried his best to appear fine. The first reason was that he didn’t want to cause more concern to his mother, who was already considerably shocked by his father’s near-assassination.

He concentrated on each step he took. Whenever his vision blurred, he refocused, and he kept his posture straight to prevent his body from swaying.

If he showed any more signs of illness, he might be confined to bed. Not wanting that was his second reason. Once a doctor was assigned, along with nurses and various servants and maids, he would no longer be able to do anything. He would become powerless.

Also, d*mn it all, even in this situation, he didn’t want to appear weak in front of his father.

‘I’m truly garbage’, Elios cursed himself.

“Mother. I have urgent matters to discuss with Father.”

“Elios, His Majesty needs to rest a bit more.”

“It’s a matter that cannot be delayed even for a moment.”

When Elios insisted firmly, the Empress said no more and rose from her seat. The Empress gave one last look at the Emperor.

“You may go. I have matters to discuss with Elios.”

The Emperor answered. His voice was barely audible. The inside of his throat must have swollen from being strangled. The Empress simply bowed deeply to the Emperor and left the room. It resembled more a relationship between ruler and subject than between husband and wife.

“Father.”

A silk cloth with medicine applied to it was wrapped around his father’s neck. Before going outside to search for Snow, Elios had seen the bright red handprints that had coiled around that neck like a snake. His father had truly almost died, strangled by the Saint. Moreover, from what he had seen, his father hadn’t even resisted, just hanging limply.

In Elios’s daring estimation, perhaps his father held all the clues to this matter.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

The Emperor replied plainly. The dislike of showing weakness was a trait shared between father and son. Elios didn’t like that either.