5 AM in the morning, it was shift change time, and I returned to the knights’ quarters with heavy steps. It wasn’t just because I had worked longer than usual due to the event.
‘Wouldn’t it be better to just let the corpse be stolen?’
It felt like the best choice would be to capture the evidence while letting them take the corpse. Right now he kept it by his side out of lingering attachment, but once it disappeared from before his eyes, his feelings might gradually fade. I was tormented by the recurring thought of wanting to go against his orders.
Previously, I would move according to His Highness’s words without deep contemplation, and choosing death was one of the few things I did according to my own thinking. But if that ultimately turned out to be the wrong conclusion, wouldn’t this time be the same?
‘I should just sleep for now.’
When tired and exhausted, it was natural to feel negative. Once I quickly washed and lay down on the bed, contrary to my worry about whether I could sleep, drowsiness came rushing in immediately.
But perhaps because I kept worrying about it, the worries continued even in my dreams. Inside a dark bedroom, knights were busily moving around with somewhat flustered expressions.
[Sir Heming! It’s an intrusion! They seem to be using C Route and F Route simultaneously.]
[Block them as much as possible. Since many personnel were deployed due to the sudden solar eclipse, prioritize protecting the corpse above all!]
Around then, I slowly realized this wasn’t just a simple dream. Prophecies often appeared vividly and at length like this, borrowing the form of dreams.
[These bastards’ swords are coated with poison! Everyone be careful!]
The guard knights’ combat abilities were far superior, but they couldn’t unconditionally gain the upper hand either. That was because the weapon called poison that the other side possessed prevented them from easily closing the distance. Even grazing it was dangerous.
‘And if that poison is made with an ability, they might not be able to find an antidote while alive. The knights aren’t imperial family members with poison resistance.’
If there had been enough personnel, they could have easily taken them down with one person restraining and one person attacking, but they didn’t have those numbers. Still, as the battle continued, the knights who had figured out which weapons the assassins had coated with poison began to seize the upper hand.
[Catch them so they can’t escape! We can’t let anyone get away!]
I was about to feel relieved that the knights had subdued the enemies without getting hurt. Light slightly entered the pitch-dark room. The solar eclipse that astronomers hadn’t predicted had ended. It seemed the strength of one knight who faced the suddenly entering light had weakened slightly.
[All die!]
One of the assassins suddenly muttered incomprehensible words and lunged forward.
‘A mage!’
The knights immediately tried to subdue him, but it was already too late. Among them, someone who looked like a knight but was actually a mage quickly cast a defensive spell, but the bed was already engulfed in flames. The corpse inside the barrier seemed to endure for a moment, but soon couldn’t overcome the strong fire and burned up.
“Water! Use water magic!”
* * *
“Huk!”
I woke up on the bed, startled with a gasp. The last scene I saw still vividly came to mind, making my hair stand on end. I hastily drank water and checked the time—it was 1 PM. Perhaps because I had a prophetic dream, I woke up a bit late. There wasn’t even two hours left until shift change. I mechanically took off my clothes while recalling the prophecy I just saw.
‘When exactly is that prophetic dream?’
I knew it was a day when a solar eclipse occurred, but if astronomers hadn’t predicted it, there was no way to know when it was. Usually, if I reported all the scenes I saw as I remembered them, His Highness would perfectly understand the exact date and time the incident would occur and even the mastermind behind it, but that wouldn’t work now.
‘I can’t even reveal that I use prophecy, so what’s the point of worrying about this.’
Thinking that, I soon shook my head. There was no need to try to do more. Anyway, that mage would clearly be subdued right away. Then, as I wanted, the forces threatening His Highness would be caught and the corpse would completely disappear.
‘Right. No need to panic.’
I just needed to pretend to be fine as I had been doing. It wasn’t like I directly disobeyed His Highness’s orders either. If I didn’t intervene, things would just flow as desired, wouldn’t they?
After washing and even equipping the sword at my side, my mind was completely settled. It was the first time pretending not to know what was going to happen, so I didn’t feel great about it, but I wasn’t as confused as yesterday.
“You’re here.”
“Yes. Your Highness.”
It would be a lie to say I was completely fine until the moment I saw His Highness, but I was composed enough to hide my expression.
“Today’s referee is the Vice Captain of the Second Knight Order.”
“So I’ve heard.”
The person standing in the middle of the tournament grounds was a very familiar face.
‘Kaeun hyung-nim.’
It seemed to be the first time seeing him since I saw him crying at the funeral. This time, it was the hyung-nim I knew well, doing his work normally. There was nothing unusual except that he looked a bit gaunt.
“How do you feel about seeing Sir Kaeun?”
It was a strange question. As Tienas, I felt a bit glad and relieved that he looked healthy. However, Aila had no reason to fall into any particular sentiment seeing Kaeun. Even setting aside that they weren’t family, they had no connection at all.
“Well… I’ve heard he’s a strong knight. I very much want to follow his example and……”
“You know that’s not the kind of sentiment I’m asking about, don’t you?”
His Highness’s eyes, slightly turning his head to look at me, seemed to see through the invisible. As I was wavering about what to say, His Highness suddenly laughed lowly.
“I’m asking if that knight is also your type. Didn’t I ask you plenty yesterday?”
“Ah, oh… N-no. Absolutely not.”
A breathing hole opened up. Well, it was more natural to see this as a continuation of yesterday’s conversation rather than anything else. I had strange delusions because I had something to hide.
“Why? Doesn’t the Sayus Family have the best face? That one looks better than the knights you saw yesterday.”
No matter how much I tried to imitate Aila, I couldn’t possibly say with a torn mouth that a blood-related brother was my type.
“That yesterday was a slip of the tongue. I will never speak such vulgar words again, so please withdraw your anger.”
“Yes. Do so.”
His Highness turned his body again to look at the arena. The bracket was decided, and one by one they came forward and were introduced to the audience.
“We will begin the match between Sir Senton and Sir Jebaras!”
Kaeun hyung-nim announced the start of the match with a heavy voice. The battle ignited from the start, and cheers supporting them spread noisily. His Highness, who had been silently looking ahead with a bored face, suddenly spoke to me again this time too.
“Has Sir Aila looked closely at Tienas’s corpse?”
But this time, it was by no means a light topic.
“I haven’t looked closely.”
“It’s very lovely, yet it’s unfortunate you couldn’t look closely.”
“Yes.”
The conversation that seemed like it would end didn’t end easily.
“When he was alive, he was even more lovely. His eyes were especially pretty, but it’s painful that I can’t see them anymore.”
It was a plain tone, but perhaps because of that, I felt the earnest pain.
“I think it’s an unfortunate matter.”
“No, it’s not an unfortunate matter but something that shouldn’t have happened. How comfortable it would have been if I could have died together and been preserved together.”
Behind His Highness’s voice that seemed like it would crumble, tremendous cheers burst out. It was because Sir Jebaras succeeded in taking down Sir Senton. Everyone else was cheering for the victor, but I only captured in my eyes His Highness who looked defeated despite winning all wars.
‘What should I do.’
I had heard genuine feelings I shouldn’t have heard. The prophecy I saw at night flickered in my head. Moreover, as if unable to give me time to ponder for long, god gave a warning.
“Oh! A solar eclipse! It’s a solar eclipse!”
Darkness that hadn’t been predicted covered the sky. The arena that had been full of vitality just moments ago became noisy with fear.
