“This is…”

Aiger fell silent at the sight that filled his vision.

Children.

A staggering number of children.

From infants who had only just been weaned to, at most, ten-year-olds.

Unlike the previous prisoners, who had at least groaned and whimpered, these children lay strewn about, their vacant eyes as lifeless as dead fish.

It was impossible to tell if they were even breathing.

Beside them lay an assortment of tools and chemicals, their purpose unthinkable.

Not a single child had an intact body.

Though their chests still rose and fell, some had been cut open, their bellies slashed. Others had limbs attached in the wrong places.

It was an indescribably grotesque scene—one that Aiger took in without blinking.

His stomach churned, bile rising in his throat, but he refused to look away.

No one needed to tell him.

He already knew.

These were the people he was responsible for.

Aiger had never once forgotten that he was a member of the imperial family.

The highest in the empire, yet also those who supported its lowest.

People bowed their heads and paid their respects because the imperial family stood at the very front, facing dangers and securing prosperity for their people.

Aiger had never forgotten that he was a member of the imperial family, even while enduring persecution beyond mere oppression from the emperor.

The horrors before him were truly… repulsive. Not only was the emperor’s blind conviction—that his pursuit of immortality was for the boundless glory of the empire rather than personal gain—utterly nauseating, but his willingness to casually seize and slaughter the very people who made up the empire itself was even more detestable.

Aiger looked down at a child who appeared no older than three or four, breathing faintly, as if their mind had already left them. He gently closed the child’s eyes. As though waiting for permission, the child’s eyelids obediently fell shut, and their breath gradually weakened. Aiger clenched his jaw.

Even livestock raised for slaughter were not treated this cruelly.

His twisted expression soon smoothed into an unreadable mask. He did not scream in anger, nor did he shed tears in grief. He simply absorbed the scene with glassy eyes, burying a fury hotter than fire and deeper than the abyss within himself.

Who knows how much time had passed? As he pulled a syringe, thicker than an infant’s forearm, from the body of a newborn who had barely entered this world—

Thud. Rumble, rumble.

The weighty sound of a wall shifting was followed by the echo of several approaching footsteps.

Tat-tat-tat.

“Hurry!”

“Here, over here!”

The ones who had been absent had returned.

“Who’s there?!”

A rough voice rang out from behind him, accompanied by the menacing glint of a sword drawing close, stopping just two paces away. Yet Aiger remained where he was, watching the infant’s final moments.

“You there! Turn around and state your identity! I’ll count to three! Three!”

Slowly, Aiger rose to his feet. His silhouette, entirely wrapped in a black robe, flickered like a ghost in the uneven lighting.

Since he still had his back turned, now was the perfect chance for them to charge in and subdue him.

However, not a single one of them moved.

It wasn’t just the armed guards. Even the mages and alchemists, who had spent the entire journey here cursing the muscle-headed fools for failing to do their jobs properly, were frozen in place, their mouths shut tight.

At last, Aiger fully straightened, and from his waist, a sword slid out with seamless grace.

Shrrng.

The faint tremor of the blade reverberated eerily through the air.

Faced with the overwhelming force surging in the hushed darkness, none of them could even think of retreating. It was as if a razor-sharp blade hovered just below their throats, as if their limbs were shackled by invisible chains.

Aiger, his mask pulled up high enough to cover his nose, pushed back his hood and scanned the surroundings.

Three minutes. Five, at most.

He estimated the time it would take to deal with the dozen or so enemies. Then he closed his eyes briefly before reopening them.

Fire?

One of them rubbed their eyes in disbelief. Had they just seen flames flicker in this man’s gaze?

But no—it was real.

A dark blue blaze flashed, and in the blink of an eye, the head of the self-important knight at the front vanished.

The moment the familiar stench of blood lodged itself deep in their noses, the mage who had met Aiger’s gaze, seeing something beyond human comprehension, lost the light in his eyes.

There was no clash of blades, no sound of bodies collapsing or slamming against walls.

Aiger moved like a phantom, and none of these so-called knights—mere guard dogs for a wretched laboratory—stood a chance of halting him, even for a moment.

“Hh… Huhk… Hahh…”

Now, only one remained.

Perhaps she was quick-witted. Perhaps she was simply lucky. Either way, by virtue of having been positioned near the center of the group, the woman had survived until the end.

She gasped and exhaled meaningless sounds, her legs giving out beneath her.

Aiger pressed down on the hem of her robe with his boot, gazing down at her.

“W-why… Why are you doing this…?”

The woman’s voice was sincere. She truly wanted to know—why was this happening to her?

Aiger remained silent.

The only ones who could truly answer that question were the victims, those who had been dragged here without reason, unable to die or to live.

As the blood-drenched sword, still glistening with deep blue flames, drew near, the woman panted frantically, fumbling for something in her robes.

“T-this medicine… It can bring you back to life even after death! I’ll give it to you! At first, it may seem like you’re dead, but you’ll come back to li—ugh!”

It was the alchemist’s final desperate struggle. She flung an unidentified vial toward Aiger just as his blade pierced her heart in a single, swift thrust.

Clang!

He instinctively swatted it away, but the moment the glass shattered, the substance inside vaporized rapidly, dissipating like smoke. Aiger couldn’t help but inhale a small amount of it.

After that, he had fought off the swarm of enemies alone, rampaging through them until he had reached this point.

Those opponents hadn’t been a problem. The real trouble had begun after leaving the mansion.

Aiger exhaled unconsciously as he sensed the presence of the emperor’s personal knights—those filthy hounds raised solely for carrying out his dirty work.

“Haa…”

A heated breath escaped his lips.

Leaning against the cold stone wall, Aiger closed his eyes tightly for a moment before forcing himself to stand.

He had no idea what kind of drug he had inhaled, but he was certain of one thing—sitting here wouldn’t solve anything.

Having been subjected to countless assassination attempts by poison since childhood, his body had long since developed an immunity to most toxins and drugs.

Thanks to his natural talent for swordsmanship, he had risen to become one of the top three strongest fighters in the empire. By now, there were hardly any substances capable of harming him.

This one wouldn’t kill him either.

It simply needed time for his body to neutralize it.

Aiger stood without stumbling, appearing perfectly fine on the outside.

And he himself believed that, while not in peak condition, he wasn’t in particularly bad shape either.

But he was wrong.

The drug was slowly but surely creeping through his body and mind—too subtly for him to notice.

“For now… I need to find a safe place.”

Wiping the sweat trickling down his cheek, he kicked off the ground.

***

“Your Highness?”

Aiger blinked in surprise.

Raylin was standing right in front of him, gazing at him with wide eyes.

Only then did he realize—he had come to Greuga Manor.

How had he ended up here? He had no memory of the journey, yet somehow, he was standing before Raylin.

“When… did I get here?”

His voice was barely above a whisper, more like a murmur to himself, but Raylin answered nonetheless.

“A moment ago. Would you like to sit down first?”

Sensing that something was off about him, she carefully took hold of his fingertips.

Aiger looked down at her hand—soft as down, as if barely touching his own, yet unnaturally warm, as if she had a fever.

After a brief hesitation, he gave a small nod.

Like a docile lamb, he allowed himself to be led by her.

Raylin, meanwhile, quickly examined him from the side, her mind racing.

Confusion, stability… and haziness.

What on earth happened?

Aiger dropping by unannounced was nothing new, but he had never startled her by standing motionless on the balcony before.

If she hadn’t stepped out to get some fresh air and open the window, she might not have noticed his arrival at all.

His condition seemed different than usual… or was it just her imagination?

Last time he had come looking for her, she had also sensed ‘confusion’ in him.

‘Stability’ made sense since they were in Greuga Manor, but ‘hazy’?

Was he sleepy?

While Raylin mulled over this, Aiger’s mind was struggling as well.

He needed to find a safe place—so why had he come here?

Under normal circumstances, he would have gone straight to one of the safe houses he had prepared in advance.

Then he would have contacted his subordinates… Contact…

But his thoughts refused to connect properly.

As the cold air outside thawed his frozen body, it felt as though his mind was melting along with it.

Aiger slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again.

Shimmering golden hair filled his vision.

Moments later, emerald green eyes locked onto his own.

“What brings you here?”