Content warning: graphic violence

Carlos’s eyebrow twitched at Joseph’s cry. He slowly opened his mouth as if trying to understand the fallen man’s intention.

“…A lie?”

Seeing that Carlos seemed to be listening to his words, Joseph nodded vigorously.

“Y-yes! It was a lie! I never slept with that woman! R-really!”

“…”

Carlos stared intently at Joseph, who was shouting that he had absolutely never slept with Ines. He looked almost desperate, covered in sweat and dirt.

He withdrew the blade that had been pointing at Joseph’s waistband.

“So you’re saying everything you’ve told me until now was a lie?”

To his question, Joseph affirmed and continued speaking.

“That’s right! Ask Ines when you get back. She won’t say she slept with me either!”

“Then the anonymous letter you sent to the temple was all lies as well.”

“Th-that…!”

Joseph stammered as if he hadn’t thought that far. Cold sweat soaked his spine. When his life hung in the balance, it became difficult to judge what the right response would be.

But misinterpreting Joseph’s reaction, Carlos’s mouth twisted.

“You said you wouldn’t beg me. But seeing you try to survive even through lies has changed my mind.”

“What…?”

Joseph quickly raised his head. The words about changing his mind gave him hope that Carlos might spare him.

“Y-you changed your mind? Then will you spare my…”

“I will send you off without pain.”

However, the low voice mercilessly crushed Joseph’s hope.

Just as Carlos raised his sword to behead him in one stroke, Joseph made his final struggle.

“Who are you to kill me! Are you the only one wronged? I’m more wronged than you! If it weren’t for you, I would still be sitting on the throne now!”

Blood vessels burst in Joseph’s eyes as he screamed.

“You being born a bastard was the mistake, so why are you doing this to me! If you want to vent your anger, do it to our dead father! I’m a victim too!”

Joseph felt wronged. The fact that someone with such lowly blood was his brother left a stain on his noble bloodline. There were nights he stayed awake worrying that this person growing more capable than him by the day might threaten his position. So he had tried to kill him early to nip the threat in the bud.

It was all done for his own survival. Look even now. Because he failed to kill him earlier, he had been driven from the throne and his life was being threatened.

The more he screamed at Carlos, the more the anger buried deep inside burst forth.

“If only you had never been born, everyone would have been happy. Your mother wouldn’t have died like that. And that woman you love so much would have lived well under the protection of the Claudia family.”

“…”

“It’s all because of you! My ending up like this, your mother’s death, it’s all because of you!”

After silently listening to Joseph’s resentment for a while, Carlos lowered his sword.

Then he nodded as if somewhat agreeing with his words.

“You’re right, brother. If I had never been born, perhaps such tragedies wouldn’t have happened. I too think our dead father is the root cause of all this. If father were alive, I would have beheaded him with my own hands. Perhaps both you and I were merely victims. However…”

His red eyes that had been wandering in the air focused on Joseph.

“Unlike me, if you, who were born with everything, had been a king who cared more for his subjects, I wouldn’t have gone this far. When I think about how many people died because of your incompetence, you can never claim to be a victim.”

Carlos took a step closer to Joseph.

“And as long as I lived, you would have continued trying to kill me because I was a threat. So I’m the same. I have no choice but to kill you, brother, as you are a threat to me as king.”

“W-wait… Carl…!”

By the time Joseph, sensing danger in that ice-cold voice, called Carlos’s name.

Carlos’s sword swung high. In the instant Joseph squinted at the moonlight reflecting off the blade’s tip, along with the sound of cutting wind, Joseph’s consciousness ended.

With a dull thud, the head rolled across the ground.

In Joseph’s unseeing eyes remained resentment toward Carlos.

“…”

After staring at his brother’s lifeless face for a while, Carlos whispered softly to Joseph who could no longer hear anything.

“If you’re that wronged, go take your revenge on father yourself.”

He swung his sword through the air to shake off the blood on the blade. Then he picked up Joseph’s hand that lay not far away.

He removed the ring from the index finger. It was the symbol of the Tezever royal family that Joseph had taken when he fled.

As Carlos stared at the ring with an emotionless gaze, Herman approached his side. His breathing was heavy as if he had just arrived.

“Your Majesty, we’ve subdued all the knights in the castle. And…”

Herman held out what he was holding to Carlos.

“We found the gold coins we had sent to the temple as offerings in the basement.”

As expected, Joseph was the culprit who had stolen the offerings. As Carlos quietly looked down at the gold coins, Herman asked.

“What should we do now?”

There were many matters that needed immediate attention. They had to remove the corpses before sunrise and erase all traces that might remain in the castle.

After contemplating briefly, Carlos answered.

“We’ll take back the offerings. Bring all the bodies to the castle and set it on fire.”

“You mean burn everything together with the castle?”

“Those who steal offerings meant for God all died in fire. It would be a fitting end.”

With those words, Carlos moved on.

Soon, a great fire broke out at the castle in Alfarano.

As if cursed by heaven, they all turned to ash and vanished.

* * *

Some time had passed.

On a day when even the midday sun couldn’t warm the cold air.

Carlos, who had left the palace at the end of autumn, returned.

There was an air of dignity about the knights following in line behind their king. It was reminiscent of his bearing when he had returned victorious from war a year ago.

As the knights arrived at the palace amid the admiring gazes of the people, the officials who had been waiting after hearing news of the king’s return bowed before him.

“We are relieved you have returned safely, Your Majesty.”

Carlos, who had immediately dismounted, swept his eyes over those who had come to greet him. His gaze seemed to be searching for someone.

But unable to find the person he was looking for, he finally asked Jeff.

“Where is the Queen?”

“Upon hearing of Your Majesty’s return, she is just now returning to the palace.”

Carlos’s face creased at the news that Ines, whom he had assumed would be in the palace, was out.

“The Queen isn’t in the palace now? I’m sure I told her not to do any charity work.”

“Yes. The Queen hasn’t done any charity work even once since Your Majesty’s order. Today she simply visited Marquis Descartes’s mansion.”

“Marquis Descartes’s mansion?”

As Carlos showed a puzzled expression, Jeff continued.

“Yes. She has become very close with the Marchioness Descartes lately. Saying she felt stifled being alone in the palace, she often visited the Marquis’s mansion.”

“Close with the Marchioness Descartes.”

Carlos’s face softened somewhat at those words. The Marchioness Descartes was quite an influential noblewoman in social circles.

Being close to such a woman wasn’t a bad thing for Ines and their soon-to-be-born child.

After suddenly becoming so devoted to charity work after becoming pregnant, it seemed she had made some worthwhile connections.

As he walked toward the palace, he asked about the palace situation during his absence.

The schedule that was originally planned for about a month had been delayed longer than expected.

“Has anything unusual happened in the palace?”

“No. Nothing special has occurred. The Queen and the baby are both very healthy.”

The sharp-witted Jeff first reported on Ines’s well-being. At Jeff’s words, Carlos let out an inward sigh of relief.

He had been worried about Ines who had been unusually stubborn before he left. But it seemed his concerns were unfounded.

As Carlos’s mind was put at ease by Jeff’s report, someone approached and said,

“The Queen has just arrived at the palace.”