Tiltia, Queen of Hitais, clutched her cushion tightly as her body shook uncontrollably. Her husband was dead. Poisoned, no less. The moment she heard the news, Antor’s face flashed through her mind like lightning.

She had continuously urged the king to firmly establish Achilleon as his successor. She learned later that at the time, Antor had been waiting to have an audience with the king. Shortly after that, the king’s will had disappeared.

This incident reminded her strongly of the deputy priest who had been executed for leaking sacred fruit.

She had no time to properly mourn her husband’s death. Before the hectic day of the funeral had even ended, Tiltia locked her door and began frantically searching her room. However, no matter how thoroughly she searched, the will the king had left was nowhere to be found.

It was Antor. Surely that boy knew about it and had stolen it.

The queen trembled with fear. Knowing that she supported Achilleon, he might target her next. Tiltia tried to compose her expression calmly before leaving her bedroom. First, she would go find Antor and…

“Gasp…!”

However, the moment she opened the door, Tiltia froze. Right in front of her bedroom, Antor stood motionless like a ghost, though she had no idea when he had arrived.

“Mother.”

“Antor….”

“Why are you so startled?”

“You… why. What brings you here.”

“Is there a problem with a son coming to see his mother because he missed her?”

Tiltia reflexively looked around the corridor. However, there were no guards who should have been protecting the bedroom, no maids, not a single person in sight. The corridor with its red carpet spread out like blood was terrifyingly silent.

“Where are you going?”

“I was just about to come see you. You cried so much at the funeral… so I was worried about you.”

Her son’s expression, which had been filled with grief at the funeral, was now chillingly dry, making the word “worried” seem meaningless. There was no trace of the figure who had wept while embracing his father’s coffin. It was hard to believe this was the same person – to Antor, the king’s death seemed no different from the death of a stray dog.

“Are you perhaps looking for this?”

Antor smiled as he lightly waved a piece of paper. Confirming it was the will Mempion had left, the queen squeezed her eyes shut. Antor scanned the will he had already read more than a dozen times. Just like Hari had said, only Achilleon’s name was written there.

“Mother, please change this. Burn the will so it’s like it never existed, and declare before everyone that you will pass the throne to me in accordance with the king’s wishes. That one statement will be enough.”

For you to have any value in staying alive.

His gently folded eyes stared intently at his trembling mother.

“Ah.”

If that happened, what would follow was obvious. Antor would kill Achilleon. When the queen turned pale and couldn’t answer, Antor sadly drooped his eyebrows.

“I’m your son too, aren’t I? You said you didn’t want to leave the flaw of being a servant’s child, so you took me from my birth mother and raised me yourself.”

“……”

“Although I lived without knowing my birth mother existed until I was fifteen, I never resented you even after that. Rather, I’m very grateful to you, Mother, for changing my half-blood origins. So Mother, you are truly my real mother, and I will live my entire life offering you respect and love. If you do as I say.”

It was a threat disguised as persuasion. In other words, it was also a warning that if she didn’t follow his wishes, she would meet the same fate as Achilleon. The queen, who had been trembling while biting her lips, clenched her fists.

“I can’t do that, Antor. Hand over that will right now.”

“Mother. Is that your will?”

Antor sighed sorrowfully.

“How truly foolish. My eldest brother, who took after you, was the same way. That’s why I took care of him. Stupid people only cause harm by staying alive.”

“You, what are you saying now….”

Ignoring the queen who had frozen in shock, he gestured, and soldiers came rushing in.

“Take her away.”

“Antor, wait! What is this behavior? Let go of me right now! What do you mean you took care of Dictys? What are you talking about! Do you think you can seek God’s forgiveness after doing such things? How could you…!”

“How did you, Mother, cunningly wag your tongue to Father? You must be greatly distressed that your plan to secretly pass the throne to the Third Prince while thoroughly excluding me has failed.”

Antor’s soldiers, armed in steel armor, grabbed the queen’s arms. Despite the extreme humiliation, the queen resisted with a reddened face, but she couldn’t shake off the strong grip dragging her away.

The soldiers dragged the struggling queen to the main tower.

After tearing up the will on the spot, Antor immediately gave orders to his legion commander.

“Split the troops in two. Have one group ambush in the eastern canyon, and the rest surround the main palace. Move swiftly before Achilleon realizes what’s happening.”

* * *

Warmth filled his embrace abundantly. In the bedroom filled with dim dawn light, Achilleon woke up and looked down at Hari in his arms with half-open eyes. Her peaceful breathing melted into the darkness.

He gently stroked the back of Hari’s head as she slept soundly. She used to startle awake at the slightest movement. Now she didn’t wake up, seemingly accustomed to his touch when sleeping. Though she might be awake and just pretending to sleep.

A gentle smile crossed Achilleon’s lips. At first, she had avoided even using his arm as a pillow, saying it would make his arm numb, but now she was fast asleep with her head resting on it and her mouth slightly open.

The woman who used to keep running away saying it was uncomfortable now fell asleep fastest in his embrace. It felt like something hot was rising from within.

‘She seems to be sleeping earlier than usual.’

Is she tired these days? He knew Hari was busy attending various classes.

Achilleon carefully kissed her forehead, cheeks, and nose bridge so as not to wake Hari. Puff. This seemed to bother her a bit, as Hari mumbled with her lips and turned over.

When he could no longer see Hari’s face, Achilleon carefully turned her back to face him and hugged her tightly once more.

Mempion’s poisoning had been a great shock to him as well. Though they hadn’t been close as father and son, blood ties couldn’t be severed even with a sword. The moment he faced his father’s corpse lying in the splendid coffin, Achilleon had to swallow the familiar nausea.

His father’s death reminded him of Dictys’s death. Whenever terrible fragments of memory rushed in like an ambush, Achilleon held Hari even tighter. Her warm, soft body swept away the cold and terrible memories like a corpse’s chill.

‘I can’t fall asleep.’

Achilleon sighed and sat up. He thought he might as well read a book rather than keep tossing and turning and waking Hari. The king’s sudden death had disrupted all his plans. Grief was a matter for later.

With the throne vacant, how would Antor move?

During the funeral period, no conflicts of any kind were permitted in the royal castle, so even someone like Antor, who lacked moral principles, couldn’t act in such circumstances. Above all, the truth of the incident hadn’t been properly investigated yet.

The real culprit who had poisoned the wine sent by Isthmia had vanished without a trace.

They had interrogated the servants in charge of tribute gifts but gained nothing, and a bloodbath had swept through the palace. Poison was suddenly detected in wine that had been confirmed harmless just before being sent to the king?

For this to be possible, they would need to borrow the power of sacred force or something…

‘Antor.’

Achilleon suddenly frowned as he recalled the suspicious hunting festival.

At that moment, he stopped walking abruptly. The cage containing the blue bird was glinting in the darkness. From that cage came a very familiar scent.

“……”

The scent of medicinal herbs. From the bird Hari was raising, there was a faint mixture of the medicinal herb scent that the king burned in his bedroom every night before sleeping. The bird that had flown from the direction of the main palace when he heard news of the king’s death. 

Disturbing scenes flashed through his mind one after another, but he thought it was impossible.

Achilleon approached Hari’s dresser like he was being drawn by something. Various herb bundles and reagents that she had researched and mixed filled the wooden dresser.

However, none of them matched the scent coming from the bird.

“Your Highness….”

At that moment, a small voice rang out in the bedroom. Achilleon, who had been staring blankly at the dresser, flinched and trembled. His steps immediately headed in that direction.

However, before he could check on Hari who had awakened, urgent knocking sounded and someone burst open the bedroom door.

“Your Highness! Disaster has struck! Her Majesty the Queen has been kidnapped! The Second Prince’s army has set up camp around the main palace!”