“Aaaargh!”

A belated scream rang out and blood sprayed in every direction. Vivid red blood spattered across Ajean’s pale face.

“Are you unharmed?”

Bistel mounted the fallen assassin and pinned his limbs to the ground, and knights who came running immediately after surrounded them on all sides.

“Ze…… Zella.”

Ajean tried to rise to check on Zella’s condition but sank back down as the tension left her body.

Her fingers were numb, and looking down she found she had never loosened her grip on the stone. Her knuckles had gone white.

She had played the witch without showing her fear, but Ajean had been trembling with terror the entire time. Terrified that Zella might die.

Ajean crawled on all fours toward the girl. Milla, too, ran to Zella with tears streaming down her face.

Confirming that Zella was still breathing, Ajean lost consciousness on the spot.

❀❀❀

An assassin’s attack. The news reached Kaiden’s ears at once.

Kaiden set aside all official duties and ran to Belrang Castle. The stronger the sense of dread that gripped him, the faster his steps became.

Ajean Turandeus.

The blazing red sunset dyed the sky the color of blood.

The beautiful witch of Aisha.

The dreadfully beautiful sunset, as ominous as his foreboding, deepened Kaiden’s fury further.

Kaiden arrived at Ajean’s room to find a scene before him that snapped the thread of his reason.

“…… What is this.”

The one lying in the bed was not Ajean but the maid. And Ajean had not even wiped the bloodstains from her face, her eyes fixed only on the child.

“Your Highness, please stop. You need to see the physician.”

Beside her stood Milla and Netty, trying to persuade Ajean, and an imperial physician who could do nothing but pace in helpless distress.

“Y…… Your Highness.”

The physician noticed Kaiden and recoiled in shock, bowing low. The killing intent between the Crown Prince’s brows was unmistakable. Terrified, the physician began to report the situation of his own accord.

“Th…… the thing is, Lady Ajean refuses to be examined until the maid girl regains consciousness…… she simply will not yield……”

A short, furious laugh escaped Kaiden’s mouth. The situation was exactly as he had expected.

“Ha…… unbelievable.”

Even with the Crown Prince present, Ajean remained completely vacant.

Her face was pale as a snowflake.

Her black eyes against her white skin formed a stark contrast, like ink marks left on a blank white page.

It was beautiful in a way that contradicted the grief, but that very beauty made her seem all the more devoid of human warmth.

A self-mocking lament slipped from her lips.

“…… In Aisha, I sacrificed the Montezo family. In Decan, I offered up Zella. I always survive like this…… always.”

A child who had just turned ten, small for her age from not eating enough, Zella had bitten the assassin’s arm and protected her.

Had Zella not stepped forward, she might have been struck down in a single blow before she even had the chance to intimidate the assassin. Her body had been frozen with fear.

The guilt that surged in was a gaping red maw that swallowed Ajean whole without effort. She was crumbling helplessly before the wretched, cowardly life she had lived.

“Incompetent fools.”

A cold rebuke fell from Kaiden’s mouth. Everyone in the room could only assume it was directed at them.

It was no one’s fault, yet no one argued the point.

Bistel, having failed in his duty to protect, felt so wretched he could have offered his own neck. Keeping his distance simply because Ajean had refused him was a clear dereliction of duty.

“Ajean, lift your head.”

Only then did Ajean turn her head, and Kaiden looked directly at the wretched sight before him. Dried blood and tears were smeared across her pale face, and her black eyes held nothing but a sinking darkness.

He had known he would see this someday.

Something inside Kaiden’s chest twisted and exploded.

“Quite a sight. Thinking of facing an assassin. Did playing the hero suit your taste, imperial princess?”

Listening to Kaiden’s merciless words, Ajean turned over the enormous blunder she had made today.

She had acted as though she were the cleverest person in the world, yet in reality she had forcibly dismissed Sir Bistel’s protection and walked willingly into the jaws of danger.

Ajean looked at Zella, who had still not regained consciousness. Her head drooped back toward the floor. At the same moment, Kaiden’s heart plummeted without end.

Was this not the woman who had always talked back, point for point, no matter how poor her hand? That fierce spirit was nowhere to be found.

She was a sinner, so there was nothing to say in return. Everything had been her own doing.

Ajean rose slowly and walked to the table. She began to draw a pattern on a piece of paper.

The fingertips holding the pen trembled. Bitter self-reproach twisted her stomach. But regret could not undo what had been done. Exposing the one behind the assassin and striking back was how she would protect the people who were hers.

The more she steadied her resolve, the more pressure her pen applied. At last, Ajean produced something drawn, or rather something resembling an ancient script, strange and intricate.

Ajean handed it to Bistel. Bistel received it with both hands in haste and asked.

“What is this?”

“…… A curse inscription.”

Bistel’s eyes went wide enough to look as though they might fall out. Almost simultaneously, the physician let out a shriek of horror.

“Aaah!”

In Decan, where the standing of the Grand Temple was supreme, not only mentioning a “curse inscription” but actually drawing one was something that would warrant immediate religious trial.

This went beyond blasphemy. It was serious enough to invite a witch hunt.

The physician muttered reflexively.

“Lord have mercy, watch over us. Goddess Saullemathes.”

Simply having laid eyes on the pattern made his skin crawl, as though the curse might transfer to him. The physician trembled and called upon the gods, momentarily forgetting that the Crown Prince was present.

Kaiden’s cold gaze landed on the physician, and the white-haired old man barely managed to clap a hand over his own mouth.

“No, it’s not like that. Our princess is not a witch.”

Pale as a sheet, Netty stepped forward quickly to defend the princess.

“Her Highness practically lived in the Aisha imperial library from childhood. She read books endlessly, and among them happened to be a book on ancient illusory arts. That is all. Please believe me.”

Netty’s voice trembled in a way anyone could hear.

The ominous silence stretched on, and Netty added through tears.

“It is the truth. She simply remembered it. Does Your Highness not know? How brilliant Her Highness is and how remarkable her memory is.”

Fear still lingered on the physician’s face, and Netty swallowed the end of a sob and continued.

“…… Our princess is not a witch. She is simply a clever woman who knows more than most. What sinister power could a curse inscription drawn from memory have? This is nothing more than a scrap of paper.”

Bistel rested his hand on his sword hilt and fixed his gaze on the physician. The sword energy of a Sword Master filled the room. The physician, wondering what calamity had befallen him, pressed his forehead to the floor and begged.

“I…… I will never open my mouth. Please spare my life. I saw nothing. Nothing at all.”

Bistel looked to Kaiden as though seeking an order, and a cold answer came from his lord’s lips.

“Kill him.”

The startled physician foamed at the mouth and begged in anguish. Over his wailing, Ajean’s voice layered itself.

“…… That man is innocent. The fault of dismissing Sir Bistel is mine. The fault of Zella being hurt is mine. The fault of drawing the curse inscription before the physician’s eyes is mine. You would do better to draw my blood instead.”

Draw her blood? This was not a display of weakness. It was a threat, staking her own life as a card.

Kaiden was furious beyond endurance.

Fine. If that is your wish, I will grant it.

Kaiden strode forward and seized Ajean by the collar.

Her bowed head lifted slowly, and then, from beneath her lashes, tears fell one by one.

The drops that formed at the tip of her delicate chin eventually wet the back of Kaiden’s hand. Her shoulders drooped pitifully, as limp as broken wings.

Kaiden’s fury lost its direction and drifted.

“The only cards you hold are your worthless life and your bluster. Do as you please about your treatment. But remember that the terms of our contract require you to survive. The moment you break that contract……”

Kaiden looked coldly around at her attendants and continued.

“…… I will sl*ughter every last one of them.”

It was something the mad dog of the battlefield was fully capable of. He turned on his heel and walked out of the room.