Content warning: graphic violence, blood

Joseph stepped back as he met the red eyes glaring at him with murderous intent. He felt his drunkenness vanish instantly.

“H-how did that bastard get here…!”

The man who should have been leisurely inspecting his territory in Tezever – why was he here in Alfarano? And how did he know Joseph was here?

‘Could it be that he came here pretending to inspect territories just to kill me…?’

As Joseph’s eyes darted back and forth after this thought, the knight who couldn’t stand watching anymore pulled his arm.

“This is no time to be standing around! We must flee quickly! Hurry!”

Joseph’s body swayed at the knight’s urgent touch. His survival instinct suppressed his drunkenness and made his feet move.

“Damn it…!”

Joseph gritted his teeth as he followed the knight.

It was humiliating. To have to flee like this from Carlos again. He never dreamed he would have to taste such humiliation again.

Whether aware of Joseph’s feelings or not, the knight briefly explained their escape route.

“Unfortunately, there are no secret passages in this castle. But fortunately, they don’t seem to have enough troops to block the back gate. Others are waiting for Your Majesty at the back gate.”

Fierce fighting was taking place at the main gate. Currently, neither side had sufficient troops – it was now a battle against time.

It was frustrating that a place calling itself a lord’s castle didn’t even have a single secret passage, but now wasn’t the time to voice complaints. He had to survive somehow and plan for the future.

Thus Joseph hurriedly escaped the castle and immediately rode away with several knights who had been waiting at the back gate.

Joseph fixed his body tightly to the swaying horse’s back and looked behind.

‘I will surely repay today’s humiliation.’

Just as he was grinding his teeth thinking of Carlos’s face, the knight spoke to Joseph.

“First, we must head straight for the royal palace. They won’t dare attack Your Majesty all the way to the palace. So, we’ll cross over the Kinos Mountains from here.”

Joseph furrowed his brow at the mention of mountains.

“But it’ll be difficult to ride horses there. Didn’t we come here by river the first time?”

“Yes. But the river’s current is slow and there’s a high risk of exposure to the enemy. We would surely be caught up to quickly. So even though it may be harder, crossing the mountains to the palace is the safest route.”

Joseph bit his lip. Though he knew it was an unavoidable choice, he felt irritated at the thought of having to flee on foot across the mountains.

“I don’t like any of this.”

He didn’t like having his throne stolen by his half-brother, nor did he like this situation of having to flee from that bastard at dawn.

How long had they ridden? The castle was already far enough to be out of sight.

The taut tension began to loosen slightly.

Contrary to their concerns, it seemed there were no pursuers chasing them. Joseph, who had let out a sigh of relief, began to organize his thoughts.

‘If I can just make it to the capital…’

He would somehow repay this humiliation to Carlos. Perhaps he could try asking the King of Brillant for help with rebellion again.

Just as he was inwardly vowing revenge against Carlos.

One of the knights riding beside him shouted.

“En-enemy troops!”

“What?”

Joseph quickly turned around at the knight’s cry. Then he saw a group pursuing them from afar.

“How did they get here so quickly…!”

Hadn’t he just been relieved that no one was following them? His voice grew urgent at the suddenly reversed situation.

“Increase speed!”

The horse picked up speed as soon as he struck the reins. Every time he looked back while riding, he had the unsettling feeling that the distance was gradually closing.

Just as he struck the horse’s reins again in his anxiety, a rope suddenly appeared in their path and was pulled taut. It was an ambush.

The knight who spotted it first shouted.

“Watch out ahead!”

But it was already too late when they noticed the rope. Unable to slow down in time, the horse’s hooves caught on the rope. At the same time, as the horse tumbled forward heavily, Joseph was thrown to the ground.

“Arghh!”

Joseph, covered in dirt, writhed on the ground. His arm had been dislocated from the impact of falling from the horse.

“My, my arm! My arm…!”

As Joseph screamed from the pain he had never experienced before in his life, after a while.

The knight who belatedly came to his senses approached him.

“You must get up first, the enemy will soon… Ugh.”

However, the knight never reached Joseph. The knight’s body collapsed with a death cry.

Joseph, who had been writhing in pain, raised his head with a rigid face. Behind the falling knight, an unwelcome face came into view.

“It’s been a while, brother.”

“You, you…!”

Like someone who had seen a ghost, Joseph clutched his broken arm and crawled backward. Watching this scene, Carlos twisted the corner of his mouth.

“Crawling like a dog.”

After looking down at Joseph crawling on the dirt ground, Carlos burst into laughter as if remembering an amusing anecdote.

“Do you remember, brother?”

Carlos took a step toward Joseph.

“I think I was ten years old. It was when my mother went to the palace to get medicine for her skin disease. My appearance then wasn’t much different from yours now.”

Carlos briefly recalled the past and gazed at the sky. The moon was shining elegantly in the black sky. However, back then, it wasn’t moonlight but the scorching hot sun that had blazed down.

“You took away the medicine I had barely managed to get by begging His Majesty, just for fun.”

“Th-that…”

Unfortunately, Joseph didn’t remember. It wasn’t the only time he had tormented Carlos over such trivial matters.

“You told me then. If I wanted the medicine back, I should crawl on all fours and bark like a dog. So I crawled and barked like a dog as you said.”

As his words continued, Joseph swallowed dryly. An ominous feeling crept over him.

“But now the situation has completely reversed, hasn’t it?”

“…”

“Will you crawl on all fours and bark like a dog as I did?”

“What…?”

“Who knows, I might spare your life just as you showed me mercy then.”

As soon as Carlos finished speaking, Joseph’s face contorted.

“Are you telling me to beg? Me, Joseph? To a lowborn like you?”

Anger was laced in Joseph’s voice as he gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t accept Carlos’s words.

Joseph’s life had been perfect. He was the flawless prince born to a mother who was a princess from a neighboring country and a father who was the legitimate heir of Tezever.

But when Carlos was born, a flaw appeared in his perfect life. A half-brother born from the womb of a lowly gypsy. It was humiliating.

‘There’s a limit to how far a rolling stone can displace a planted one.’

It was laughable how someone who used to grovel at his feet now looked down on him just because he’d grown up a bit. He couldn’t tolerate being looked down upon just because he had stolen the throne.

Joseph clenched his fist.

“Don’t say such ridiculous things! I have nothing to beg from you! Do you think I would beg to an unfilial bastard who stole my position and took my wife?”

His mouth began to run wild, unable to contain his anger.

“Yes, that’s right. How was my wife?”

“…”

“You must have tasted her, how was it? Wasn’t she exceptional just as I said?”

Joseph spoke again to Carlos, who was looking down at him with an unreadable expression.

“Among all the women I’ve had, Ines was top quality. The way she would moan and writhe beneath me was so arousing.”

“…”

“So I’d like to hear about your experience with my wife. Did she writhe like that under you too?”

Joseph continuously provoked Carlos without considering what would happen next. He couldn’t suppress his hot-headed nature that acted without thinking.

After silently listening to Joseph’s words for a while, Carlos let out a snicker and continued.

“I’m relieved. That you haven’t changed.”

“What?”

“I was worried my heart might weaken if you actually begged for your life…”

His red eyes gleamed ominously.

“But there’s no need for that now.”

As soon as those words ended, Carlos brought down his sword. Blood gushed as Joseph’s wrist was severed.

“Aaaaargh!”

Joseph clutched his severed wrist and screamed in agony. Rolling around in the dirt, there was no trace of the dignity of someone who had once been king.

Pointing at the severed hand lying on the ground with his sword tip, Carlos spoke.

“You said before, brother. That you touched my wife’s br*asts with this hand.”

The sword tip pointing at the severed hand moved.

“And what else did you say?”

The blood-dripping sword now touched Joseph’s waistband.

“Did you say you thrust this into Ines’s womanhood?”

His sword tip was pointing precisely at Joseph’s manhood. Only then did the man who had been just screaming turn deathly pale.

He must have realized what would be cut off next after his wrist. Joseph, terrified, shouted.

“It, it was a lie!”

Having thrown away his pride in the face of this unprecedented terror, Joseph confessed.

“Everything I said about sleeping with that woman was a lie!”