Light streamed through what had been complete darkness. My eyelids felt strangely heavy, and I couldn’t muster the will to lift them, so I kept my eyes closed. At least one fortunate thing was that while my head felt heavy, it was still functioning.
‘Where am I? I was definitely following His Highness’s orders to track the Second Prince, and I had entered enemy territory first…’
The politically cornered prince’s preparations for a final desperate struggle had all been exposed. Even knowing he couldn’t silence me, he ordered an attack, and his lackeys rushed at me with their swords drawn. While pretending to block the incoming swords, I humbly accepted the approaching death.
‘Something’s strange.’
But now, the surroundings were filled with music created by an organ interspersed with intermittent sounds of someone sniffling. Occasionally, what sounded like recitations of prayers were added, doubling my bewilderment. Considering I had just been in a place no different from a battlefield, it was peaceful enough to feel jarring.
‘What happened? I should definitely be dead.’
Having thought that far, I snapped my eyes open. The light streaming through the stained glass concealed its original colors, dyed in brilliant five-colored light. And in the center where those lights gathered, a coffin was placed. Without needing to see more, it was a funeral.
‘What on earth…’
The problem was that I shouldn’t be at this funeral for someone I didn’t know. Because the dead.
Couldn’t come to funerals.
‘Am I dreaming? Or did the plan fail?’
I barely stopped my body from lurching forward and hastily looked around. As I grasped reality, my deadened five senses slowly began to move, and the priest’s voice became clear.
“We will begin prayers for Tienas del Sayers, who met a noble death.”
My breath stopped short. It had to. Because Tienas was me.
“Young master! Don’t tell me you dozed off and just woke up? Please, just for today, stay still. Isn’t this the funeral for ‘that’ Sir Tienas that His Highness the Crown Prince arranged?”
Hard to believe, but right now, I was essentially witnessing my own funeral.
“His Highness the Crown Prince paid an unprecedented amount of attention. Plus, the Sayers family prepared the funeral together and put in so much effort. Just for today, absolutely, absolutely! You mustn’t cause any trouble. This time your head will really fly off.”
Beside me, someone I didn’t know paid no attention to my confusion and rapidly whispered only what they wanted to say. It was the first time I’d encountered such noisy whispering. It was quite terrible to be the last scene before death, and considerably frivolous to be the last voice.
“Young master, answer me. Young Master Aila!”
At the name ‘Aila,’ I opened my eyes wide once more. The servant’s momentum was considerable, so I nodded, but I didn’t understand even one thing about what this situation was.
‘If they’re saying Young Master Aila, they must be talking about that scoundrel Aila, right?’
He was famous for having a sweet appearance as if coated with honey and a voice smoother than most larks, but a personality exactly that much dirtier and more vulgar. We were in the same class for about a year during academy days, and even back then he was quite a noisy fellow. And after that too, if you had ears, you couldn’t help but hear the scandals related to him.
‘But they’re calling me Aila?’
When I glanced down, I saw hands smooth without a single callus despite being a knight, and flashy clothing that you could never imagine someone attending a funeral would wear. It was exactly the kind of thing that Aila would do.
The omega knights would shudder greatly, saying ‘Aila drags down the reputation of all omega knights. I don’t know why he even applied to be a knight.’ Just looking at this outfit and delicate hands, I understood. In other words, outwardly, he was 180 degrees different from me, a typical knight.
‘I’m not Aila, I’m Tienas. This is either a terrible dream, or God’s will for me to completely let go of life by showing me my miserable funeral before death.’
Thinking that way, God was quite a cruel being. Seeing how similar He was to His Highness the Crown Prince whom I served and admired, it seemed those who were high and noble had to possess cruelty.
With a lighter heart, I decided to quietly endure the funeral that no one would grieve.
“Kheung-heung, heuup. Huk.”
Before I could even finish my thoughts, I snapped my head up at the loud crying I heard.
‘Who cries that loudly at someone else’s funeral? Is something wrong?’
However, the source of that noisy crying was a truly unexpected person.
‘Hyung-nim?’
My youngest older brother Kaeun was someone who always regarded me as a thorn in his side. When we were young, he would pick one-sided fights whenever we met, calling me ‘a bastard child who’s too stunted to even manifest as an alpha.’ Since it was true, I wasn’t particularly hurt, but others’ hostility was always tiresome.
‘At some point he stopped picking fights, but I didn’t think he’d grieve my death to this extent.’
I couldn’t understand it at all, but recalling that Hyung-nim Kaeun had a weak side contrary to appearances, I tried to convince myself in my own way. Even if he didn’t accept me as family, it might be possible to shed tears that someone around him had died.
“For Lady Jane to show such sad emotions, Sir Tienas must have been truly loved.”
Hearing the man whisper beside me, I slightly shifted my gaze to see my older sister patting Hyung-nim Kaeun’s back with her head bowed. But that was really something said in complete ignorance.
‘It looks like an affectionate touch, but it’s definitely a gesture telling him to maintain decorum.’
Lady Jane had been a very strict person even before marriage, and always thought poorly of me, a bastard child. Her relationship with Hyung-nim Kaeun wasn’t particularly good either, but there was a clear difference from how she treated me.
“Look. She’s shedding tears.”
But incredibly, my sister was wiping tears with a handkerchief while murmuring prayers. It wasn’t just for show—she was really shedding tears. At a sight I had never seen even once in my life, I almost rubbed my eyes.
‘Come to think of it, didn’t they say the Sayers family put great effort into preparing the funeral? Are they acting sad to show the aristocratic faction?’
No, I knew rationally that couldn’t be it. The nobles thought proudly of this kind of death. Moreover, the Sayers family had nothing great to gain by publicly announcing to the world that they felt tremendous grief over my death. They were already the largest faction supporting the Crown Prince.
‘Did something major happen to the family?’
Sweat ran down my spine. Thinking there was no way they’d truly grieve my death, other possibilities came to mind.
‘No way.’
This suspicion grew even more when I witnessed the eldest brother and head of our family, Duke Darian, bowing his head with his back heaving. There was no way he, who only thought of me as ‘one who stole the power of prophecy without even being qualified,’ would show tears at my funeral.
A family crisis would be directly connected to His Highness the Crown Prince’s wellbeing. I consciously turned my eyes to the highest place I had been avoiding looking at.
‘Your Highness!’
Silk-like golden hair and brilliant crimson eyes like melted ruby mixed with blood and placed in crystal. His beauty, as if sculpted only by God’s blessing, was unchanged, but it wasn’t the appearance I knew.
He seemed to have lost a good ten pounds, and deep darkness hung around his eyes. Not only that, but his lips, which were always perfectly maintained, were cracked, and his clothing was disheveled.
‘Why on earth?’
Seeing him in the highest seat, the plan must have been carried out as intended. He must have dealt with his political enemies honorably, and before long would ascend to the emperor’s throne as well.
‘He should have achieved everything he desired…’
So why did he have such an unhappy face? I had gladly died hoping only for his happiness.
“We will offer flowers.”
The priest’s words fell. First, he—my master, my god, my hero and revelation—approached my coffin. He slowly bent down and laid down the flower. That action alone was a solemn ceremony. It was the moment my death gained value, and the moment I even thought perhaps I’d been granted life briefly just to see this.
His Highness bent down further and kissed my lips. That is, my corpse’s lips. That alone was something to gasp at, but he wasn’t simply giving a light kiss. He forcibly opened my unmoving lips, inserted his tongue, and moved it persistently. It was a blatant kiss as if engaging in intercourse.
The surrounding air sank coldly.
