“I-I have a way! Please take me with you!”

Catherine’s desperate cry, almost like a scream, made the emperor stop in his tracks.

He turned his head, gazing at her as one might glance at a piece of furniture nearby. Then, his eyes gleamed slyly.

The more shields he had, the better.

Even if the current Marchioness of Sillion died, he could always install a collateral bloodline in his place if necessary.

Having finished his calculations, the emperor spoke.

“I will give you one last chance.”

Catherine swallowed dryly at the final decree but did not back down.

“I am deeply grateful.”

The emperor turned his head sharply and disappeared into the darkness beyond, and Catherine followed close behind.

This had happened barely ten minutes before the emperor and Catherine would meet Aiger and Raylin at the other end of the secret passage.

***

Tap, tatatat, tatatatat.

The sound of footsteps echoed through the passage leading from the underground of the palace to the surface.

Though two people were moving, only one set of footsteps could be heard—because Aiger was carrying Raylin in his arms as he ran.

Both had agreed that, at a time when they needed to capture the emperor and Catherine as quickly as possible, her pace would never be fast enough.

There had been a brief debate over whether he should carry her on his back or in his arms, but in the end, Raylin found herself in Aiger’s grasp, clinging tightly to his neck as she endured the wind slapping against her cheek.

They had been ambushed several times in the darker areas of the passage, but Aiger did not hesitate for even a moment. Without ever setting Raylin down, he cut down their attackers in a single stroke and pressed forward.

Passing by the emperor’s knights and spies who collapsed like straw without so much as a final cry, the two finally reached the end of the passage.

“The emperor is ahead.”

“Then I will stay behind. Is there a place where I won’t be in their line of sight?”

Raylin asked, trying to hide her trembling fingertips.

She knew he was strong.

Even Theron, the male lead, had admitted it outright.

“If I were to fight His Highness, I would lose.”

“What if it were multiple opponents instead of just one?”

“My Lady, even I can handle an entire knight order of the empire on my own. And yet, against His Highness, I see no chance of winning…”

Even so, her throat was dry, and her hands shook with nerves.

Aiger silently watched her for a moment, then reached for the hand she had hidden in the folds of her dress.

“It will be fine.”

It was just one sentence.

But with that single reassurance, the trembling in her fingertips stopped.

She found herself frustrated with how easily she was reassured, but still, she clasped the hand of the man before her—so much larger, rougher, and shaped by a life completely different from her own.

“Yes. It will be fine.”

***

Creeeak.

Despite the imperial palace’s grandeur, the sound of rusted hinges scraping against metal grated on the ears.

Aiger opened the door at the entrance to the secret passage—the one the emperor had used—and stepped into a massive chamber just beyond.

Originally, this room had been a storage space for various supplies meant for the evacuation of the imperial family in times of crisis.

But now, it was no longer so.

Instead of preserved provisions, worn-out clothes, or easily pawned jewels, the room was filled with people.

The knights standing there were not clad in cumbersome full-plate armor that would restrict movement in such a confined space. Instead, they wore only practical protective gear.

Rather than offering the crown prince a show of respect, their eyes gleamed with hostility as they stepped aside.

A path opened between them, and from the back of the room, the emperor strode forward.

At last, Aiger and the emperor stood face to face.

“So, you came this way after all,” the emperor mused, curling his lips as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“It has been a long time, Crown Prince.”

“I’m relieved you didn’t run away,” Aiger replied.

At that, the emperor burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! Wasn’t it always you who ran away? And now, you’ve finally come to see me.”

Aiger bared his teeth in a fierce grin, matching the emperor’s amused expression.

“I expected a grand welcome, but it looks like you’ve really gathered everyone you could.”

His gaze swept over the knights packed tightly around the emperor.

Even though he had taken down quite a few on his way here, there were still at least dozens remaining.

“This much is only fitting to welcome a crown prince guilty of treason. Don’t you agree?”

“Who do you think will believe such nonsense?”

“Believe? Does it matter who believes it? Once you’re dead, it will all be over.”

“No. The one dying today won’t be me.”

As Aiger growled and took a step forward, the knight commander—who had been guarding the emperor’s side like a shadow—immediately stepped in front of him.

Srrng.

He drew his sword as he closed the distance between them.

“You will go no further.”

“It’s been a long time. Though I can’t say I’m happy to see you.”

Aiger raised his own sword in response.

The knight commander was just as much of a long-standing adversary as the emperor himself.

“You’d be better off dying now.”

In his youth, before he had fully matured, he was handed a steel sword and pushed onto the battlefield. Yet now, he could no longer remember the expression on the knight commander’s face from that day.

Aiger tilted his sword slightly toward him.

“Come.”

However, instead of charging at him, the knight commander stepped back, shielding the emperor, and shouted:

“Strike!”

As soon as his command fell, the knights who had been silently surrounding Aiger all moved at once.

“Seize him!”

“Corner him!”

“We got h—ugh, aaaargh!”

Aiger quickly grabbed the arm of a knight who had attempted to twist his own from behind and wrenched it in the opposite direction, snapping it at an angle it was never meant to bend.

Slash.

But the knights did not seem to care about their comrade’s safety. Without hesitation, they cut down the very knight Aiger had grabbed, and in the brief moment that followed, blades flew toward him—one toward his side, another toward his thigh, and an even shorter dagger, nearly invisible, aimed at him as well.

Clang, clang, clang!

Planting his foot firmly, Aiger shifted his center of gravity, deflecting all of them in a single motion. Then, in an instant, he grabbed the neck of the knight lunging at him from the left and threw him aside before surging forward.

“Block him!”

The knight commander’s thunderous order rang out, and suddenly, the entire chamber was filled with the sound of clashing swords, piercing shouts, and the deafening crashes of things breaking.

The emperor believed he was leading a hunting party. But in truth, Aiger was no helpless prey—he was a wolf tearing through the flock.

At a glance, it seemed like a chaotic battle with no clear victor, but the tightening expression on the knight commander’s face told a different story.

He could see it.

The delicate balance of the fight would soon collapse, and the scales would tip in Aiger’s favor.

And so, while pushing his subordinates toward their deaths, the knight commander braced himself for what was to come next.

***

While Aiger and the emperor’s knights were locked in a blood-soaked battle—

Raylin crouched in a spot outside of their line of sight, her eyes fixed on the unfolding scene without so much as a blink.

The emperor. And Catherine.

Two people she had never imagined she would see in such a position before her regression.

In 『Re.Vil.Bre』, she had been among them, standing beside them, watching Aiger from a completely different place, with a completely different gaze.

Watching…

Raylin let out a quiet sigh.

In truth, there wasn’t much she could see.

All she could catch were brief glimpses of Aiger’s hair amid the swarm of knights.

She bit the inside of her cheek anxiously and unknowingly leaned forward before suddenly freezing.

“That is…”

Behind the emperor, unnoticed until now, stood the chamberlain and a group of palace servants and maids, their heads bowed low, their bodies stiff with fear.

Raylin clenched her lower lip between her teeth.

She had followed the secret passage specifically to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, yet the emperor was now preparing to toss away innocent lives without a second thought.

‘What… What should I do?’

Whether it was misfortune or luck, the chamberlain soon approached the emperor, and Catherine, lost in a daze, seemed to have no interest in them.

Raylin hesitated for a brief moment—then made her decision.

She knew she would be safe if she simply stayed put.

She knew she might only end up being a burden to Aiger.

And yet—

Raylin held her breath, carefully scanning her surroundings before beginning to move toward the servants and maids.

***