Rey looked as if she’d been given a second chance at life as she hurried out of the room. She was in such a hurry that she didn’t even acknowledge me. In fact, she seemed to have completely forgotten that I was there.

“What did the card say?” I asked.

“Nothing much. Just a wish for a speedy recovery and…” Zetak paused, picking up the card from the floor and opening it. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

“Seven and twelve.”

“What does that mean?” I questioned.

He showed me the card, and just as he mentioned, there were two small numbers written in the bottom left corner. They were so tiny that no one would notice them unless they looked very closely. Was it a time? A date? Whatever it meant, it seemed like a private signal between Zetak and Rey. Karial was trying to summon Zetak, just like she did five years ago.

I knew that Karial had secretly called Zetak in the past without my knowledge, but seeing it now with my own eyes stirred an uneasy feeling within me. It felt like something was clawing at my insides. What was this sensation?

“Do you know the meaning of these flowers?”

Zetak asked, pulling out one of the purple blossoms. The stem was thick, almost like a small branch, with thorns as sharp as those on a rose. It didn’t seem like an appropriate flower for a get-well gift.

Moreover, sending flowers with untrimmed thorns to a member of royalty—was that an oversight or intentional?

“I don’t know much about flowers. Do you?”

“…It’s called ‘Laria.’ The flower’s meaning is…” Zetak paused before continuing, “A warning.”

His response caught me off guard. I knew Karial’s feelings toward me were complicated, but despite that, she undeniably had some level of affection for me. Whether it was genuine love or projecting feelings for someone else onto me, I expected her to express something more sentimental. Instead, the flower carried the message of “a warning.”

“This flower always blooms in the valley,” Zetak explained. “There’s a belief that if all the flowers suddenly wither, it signals a coming rainstorm. That’s why it symbolizes a warning—to alert people before the rising waters sweep them away.”

“So, the flower’s meaning is a warning? Does that mean she’s trying to warn me about something?”

Zetak’s lips curled into what looked like a mocking smile.

“This wasn’t meant for you, Your Highness. It was disguised as a gift to you, but it’s actually intended for me.”

“How did you know that?”

Zetak crushed the flower in his hand as if it were a piece of trash. The way the petals crumpled and the thorny stem snapped and splintered felt almost unsettling. Despite the sharp edges tearing into his hand, not a drop of blood appeared. The serpent-like scales now covering his hand must have hardened like armor. His red eyes seemed dark, almost hollow.

“How could I not understand?” he said, his voice distant. “I played the role of a human vase, with flowers stuck into my belly.”

For a moment, I was left speechless. My lips parted, but no words came out. A “human vase.” The image of the flower stem flashed through my mind—a stem with sharp, sturdy thorns. But even so, it didn’t seem sharp enough to pierce human flesh and muscle with ease.

They must have added a sharp metal tip to make it work. A ten-year-old boy, tied up and unable to resist, impaled with those flowers. Was it Karial who did it herself, or was it Rey, following her orders?

“I’m not planning to go, even if she’s calling me,” Zetak said, “but… I am curious. What could she be thinking, sending this? Does she believe I’ll obediently show up like before just because of this?”

He took the vase and opened the window. I thought he was just going to throw the flowers out, but instead, he tossed the entire vase with surprising ease. We were five stories up, and the sound of the vase shattering below was loud, followed by a scream.

“…Sounds like someone got hit.”

“Exactly,” he replied calmly, closing the window as if nothing had happened.

Even from five stories up, I could still recognize the voice that had screamed from below—Rey. Was it a coincidence? No, it had to have been timed perfectly with her leaving the building.

She wouldn’t die from it. I could hear the servants below scrambling, shouting for a priest. She was probably hit on the shoulder or another less vulnerable spot instead of the head. Still, a water-filled vase dropped from five stories up would certainly break bones.

“As much as she’s just a servant, that wasn’t the best way to handle things,” I said flatly. “If there were witnesses, someone could report you to the temple.”

Zetak tilted his head slightly, then moved closer and sat beside me. He dipped a cloth into the water and gently placed it over my forehead.

“Seems like you have quite a fever, Your Highness. If you couldn’t even hold onto the vase properly.”

“…What?”

“Be more careful next time. What if someone got hurt?”

“…”

He really was shameless. Still, I had no intention of criticizing him; it would be troublesome for me if he got dragged off to the temple.

“Yes, I should be more cautious in the future,” I said, knowing it was the only thing I could say. I wondered how Karial would react when her servant returned in such a condition.

Maybe I should just go there at night and kill her. I’d never attempted an assassination before, but if I suppressed my presence enough and approached her quietly, I could pull it off.

“Do not interfere,” Zetak said quietly, as if reading my thoughts. He seemed to want to handle this himself. After all, this was something that had happened to him – he didn’t want anyone else to take revenge.

As I thought about Karial, her words to me surfaced naturally in my mind: the administrative palace records, an orphan’s background, someone’s recommendation. The secret Zetak tried to hide. Karial wanted me to look at the records of the administrative palace.

She probably wanted me to know Zetak’s secret on my own, to make me feel betrayed. If that’s the case, there’s no need to go all the way to the administrative palace. The answer is already quite clear, especially with the way she emphasized that it came from someone’s recommendation.

“I have something to ask you. Will you answer me?”

He was pulling the blanket up to cover me, and when he looked down, his red eyes met mine. Strangely, I found it hard to speak. He had already mentioned that it didn’t matter if Karial found out the secret. So, if I asked, he would likely give me an honest answer.

Whether I discovered it by going to the administrative palace or if he told me directly, the result would be the same. Yet, for some reason, my mouth felt dry.

“What is it you want to ask, something that makes you so hesitant?”

This hesitation wasn’t like me. Maybe he was right. I lifted my right hand and touched his cheek. His red eyes narrowed slightly and I began to speak.

“Five years ago, you were…”

“……”

I wanted to ask whose orders you were following to stay by my side, but the words that came out were far more indirect. Why? I could have just asked, and he would have answered.

“You… why did you stay by my side?”

The hand that had been replacing the wet cloth on my forehead stopped abruptly. Zetak looked at me for a moment, then resumed changing the cloth as if nothing had happened.

“That doesn’t sound like you, Your Highness. You’re usually more direct with your questions.”

“……”

“What did she tell you?”

“Not much. She just seemed to want me to look at your admission records.”

“With that much of a hint, haven’t you already figured it out?” he said quietly. Then, after a brief pause, he confessed, “It was because I was a spy.”

Yes, I had suspected as much. If I were to check the “recommender” section in the administrative palace records, I would likely discover who was behind him. They wouldn’t have been reckless enough to use the crest of an openly hostile faction for his admission, but following the trail would eventually lead to them.

“How do you feel about it?”

“What do you mean?” I replied.

“About the fact that I… betrayed you,” he said, pausing as if carefully selecting his words.

“What do you think about knowing I betrayed you?”

Just as he seemed when speaking with Karial, he didn’t appear to care if I uncovered his past. The fact that he was bringing it up so openly now made that clear. I suppose it makes sense—he must have severed ties with those who were behind him long ago. Now, he’s here with the intent to stay by my side and kill me anyway, so what difference does it make if I knew he used to be a spy?

“Among the four brothers who died in so-called accidents, how many were killed by your hand, Your Highness?”

When I asked Bapharos that question, Zetak’s expression had hardened. At the time, I thought it was simply because he didn’t understand the darker side of palace life. But now, I realize that wasn’t the case—perhaps it was because he had once been a spy leaking my information to someone.

“It’s not really betrayal,” I said. “If that was your intention from the beginning, then there was no trust to betray in the first place. So, calling it a betrayal doesn’t quite fit. It’s just…”

Just that I was foolish enough to be deceived. If I had gone to the administrative palace even once to check the documents back then, I might have figured it out. Or maybe I wouldn’t have noticed anything, even if I had seen them. Unless I was determined to dig deeper, they wouldn’t have left any obvious traces in the records. They probably used a neutral family to bring him into the palace.

“What did you receive in return for selling me out?”

Power? Money? He was still young back then, so it couldn’t have been a woman. It was likely either money or power. Zetak looked at me for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth. What he said was something I hadn’t expected.

“Entrance to the palace.”