Although they didn’t think they had much time, Gideon had been driven out of the castle. They thought it would be a fight with clear advantages and disadvantages.

However, in the meantime, Gideon’s side had secured statements of support not only from the Central Army but also from the Magic Tower and the Kingdom of Fullman.

They had quickly resolved the monster situation that no one else wanted to touch, and even had the principality’s army behind them.

Everything flowed naturally and happened in an instant. As if they had been planning this for a very long time.

“Your Majesty the Queen, you must evacuate.”

“Brother, how can we abandon the castle? If we go outside, we will have nothing left.”

“It’s the only way to plan for the future. We must survive first.”

Prince Vaikal, who was present at the meeting, gritted his teeth.

He had felt a wall between his mother and maternal uncle for a long time, but never had he felt such a fire rising inside him as today.

“Future? What future are you planning to pursue from here?!”

“……”

“Please let it go now. The way to survive is not to flee but to surrender! Don’t you know my brother at all?”

The Queen stared at Vaikal, who was desperately shouting.

The King, her husband, had already passed away. If her son had sat in his place instead of her dead husband and held a coronation ceremony, she could have undoubtedly gained the support of more nobles.

Suspicion and distrust are temporary. Everyone is destined to kneel before the crown anyway. So why doesn’t her son listen to his mother?

Resentment flowed through her lips like breath.

“If you had worn the crown……”

Vaikal’s face twisted violently. Even at this moment, his mother was blaming her child’s inadequacy.

“If I had worn it? How many days do you think that would have lasted! Should I wear it now?! Would you be satisfied if I wore the crown and died?”

“……”

“Just surrender now. Only innocent soldiers are dying!”

But the Queen shook her head with a helpless smile.

“Vaikal, how could I bow…… How could I kneel before that man……”

“Yes, you couldn’t. I understand well. So I will end this for you.”

Vaikal sprang up from the council table. The Queen’s advisors grabbed his arms and shoulders to calm him down, but at that moment, a spark flew from Vaikal’s body.

The startled advisors removed their hands from the Second Prince and stepped back.

The Queen, who knew her son had magical power but never thought he could create such flames instantaneously, froze.

Vaikal glared at his mother and the assembly before striding out.

“Vaikal? Vaikal!”

The Queen, belatedly sensing something ominous, chased him into the corridor and called his name loudly.

However, only an empty echo returned in response.

* * *

Assassins were thoroughly searching the castle for the Queen and the Second Prince. The Queen’s Palace, the Second Prince’s Palace, even the stables.

Their eyes and feet rummaged through all sorts of places.

However, the main forces led by Gideon and Tatiana were heading toward the council chamber. It was the place where the leadership was most likely to be gathered in a war situation.

Tatiana, who had been cutting down countless soldiers to break through the defense line, heaved a deep sigh.

“Huu……”

A swordsman shouldn’t think too much during battle. If the person holding the sword loses focus, the tip of the sword wavers as well.

But honestly, Tatiana’s mind was complicated right now.

Even swordsmen are human, and they cannot always approach combat with a cool and resolute attitude.

Sometimes it feels like a meaningless fight. Especially when victory is obvious and the opponent clearly fears you.

The soldiers, terrified, neither dared to rush forward nor retreat. They were wavering between their survival instinct and their superior’s orders.

Would people know how much effort Gideon had put in behind the scenes to minimize this bloodshed?

‘Of course they wouldn’t know. How could they know?’

If they had known even a little, the Queen should have surrendered long ago.

But Tatiana’s real concern was something else.

It would be too easy to annihilate these soldiers. But would that help Gideon’s future reign?

Civil war inevitably involves the sacrifice of one’s own citizens, but this one-sided battle didn’t seem like it would remain particularly honorable.

Don’t people want their king to be flawless? However, they couldn’t back down as if conceding a point.

As she pondered, a past memory suddenly came to her mind.

It was shortly after they got married. Gideon had said that if anyone stood in her way, he would be willing to deal with up to three people on her behalf.

Though he said three, in reality, he would have been willing to deal with all of them. That was the kind of man he was.

What had Tatiana thought to herself then? She had thought she wasn’t someone who needed protection. But now she suddenly understood his feelings.

He hadn’t said those words because he thought Tatiana was weak or unable to take care of herself. If there was darkness that one inevitably had to shoulder to stand in a certain position, he thought it would be better if he bore that darkness, that yoke and blame instead.

If blood must inevitably be spilled, better it be on his hands.

That was exactly her conclusion now.

She would bear this weight as a swordsman and as his sword. Having decided, she would proceed accordingly.

A sword made of magic power rose in Tatiana’s left hand. She prepared to wield dual swords against multiple soldiers.

The soldiers hesitated, even more frightened than before. The princess consort’s eyes and aura were infinitely resolute, like someone who had made a decision.

But then Gideon sighed lightly and lowered his sword, saying,

“Come out. I don’t have time to deal with all of you.”

“……”

“Isn’t my wife getting tired because of you right now?”

“No, I’m not tired……”

I just felt sorry for everyone. With their fear visibly making them tremble rather than showing any fighting spirit, should I really have to take their lives too? Well, mental fatigue is also a branch of exhaustion.

And the soldiers, listening to the exchange between the First Prince and his consort, instinctively felt,

If they dropped their weapons now, they could live.

Though pointing a sword at royalty was a crime that couldn’t be washed away even with one’s life, the prince’s words were as good as a hint that he wouldn’t punish them.

The soldiers dropped their weapons one by one. They all knelt down in an instant.

Everyone keeps it quiet, but they actually knew. The King was dead, and now Gideon was the real king.

With nothing more in their way, Gideon and Tatiana hurried on.

However, an unexpected commotion arose among the soldiers following them at that moment.

People stopped walking, and everyone’s gaze was directed somewhere in the air.

“It’s the Second Prince!”

“Your Highness! Prince Vaikal is over there!”

The place where Vaikal appeared was the very top floor of the building where the council chamber was located.

In some ways, it should have been welcome that the person they had been searching for had appeared on his own. But the soldiers’ eyes were filled only with bewilderment. This was because flames were flickering at the Second Prince’s fingertips.

By now, no one here was unaware that this was a sign of magic.

And judging from the princess consort’s example, those flames seemed very likely to be directed at their heads soon.

“Ma, ma……”

Tatiana couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud and only thought to herself.

Is he mad? You madman, you madman.

However, her shock wasn’t for the same reason as the soldiers. To her eyes, which could read the flow of magic power, it was very clear.

Vaikal’s magic power was directed at himself, not at Gideon’s soldiers. It was boiling inside him.

What happens if you can’t expel magic power that has been raised to its limit? Tatiana had experienced this firsthand.

She had been lucky, and with the help of the head of the Magic Tower and the mages, she had recovered without difficulty, but normally, doing that would kill you.

And that was exactly Vaikal’s purpose.

He was trying to display his death in front of everyone.

Vaikal, having created a spark at his fingertips, chanted another spell as if it wasn’t enough.

“Fire, blaze up. My magic will always fulfill its duty. I…… shall blaze where I want to.”

Tatiana watched with a hardened expression.

That spell sounded different from usual, and she felt extremely conflicted.

But she soon thought,

‘If that’s your decision……’

……I can help.