“T-The King…!”
“Your Majesty!”
People gasped in unison.
At that moment, the Agema, who had been lying in wait, revealed themselves. Their shining armor was engraved with the running horse crest, the symbol of the Agema.
“Sweep them all away. Do not leave a single one alive.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
With that command, Peleus’s elite unit ascended the Castle Walls in an instant. As if they had been waiting, they began to cut down the Regent Duke’s private soldiers.
The top of the Castle Walls transformed into a gruesome battlefield in a heartbeat.
It was a scene of pandemonium, filled with screams and death.
Arrows rained down upon the Regent Duke’s forces, soaring over the Agema who were swinging their swords.
The aiming and hit rate were precise.
The sharp tips pierced only the members of the Claudio Duke Family's faction.
Those who died without even being able to let out a groan fell over the Castle Walls.
‘How is that brat here! To think so many of the Agema are still alive!’
The Regent Duke stared at the scene, barely prying one eye open. It was a shock more vivid than the pain radiating from his eye.
Samon also turned pale with fright and urgently grabbed his father’s sleeve.
“Father! Did you not say the Agema were dealt with on the plains?!”
*How should I know!*
A message had clearly arrived from Pavello, the Agema vice-captain, stating that they had been successfully disposed of on the plains according to instructions.
“Block them! Stop them from coming up!”
The Regent Duke raved, desperately urging his private soldiers.
However, the Agema was a top-tier legion that even the Empire could not easily touch. There was no way the complacent knights of the Royal Capital could stop men who had lived and breathed on the front lines of war.
With a single swing of the Agema’s hands, three or four men were sent flying.
*Clang, clang!*
“Aargh! Aaaagh! Save me!”
Like a sweeping tide, the Regent Duke’s soldiers and faction—who had completely controlled the Castle Walls just moments ago—were washed away.
The Regent Duke’s followers fell into a state of panic at the sight of such overwhelming martial force. To say they were terrified was an understatement.
“Your Majesty, we were only doing as we were told. It was the Regent Duke who threatened us…!”
“P-Please, just spare our lives!”
They dropped their swords and bowed their heads.
They knew instinctively.
Now that the King and the Agema had returned, the outcome of this battle was already decided.
This was no longer a stage for revolution where Claudio’s ambitions would be realized.
It was merely a site of overwhelming slaughter to purge the long-festering traitors.
*Clank, clank.* Dianzel, fully armed, strode forward and kicked the Regent Duke’s knees.
The Regent Duke tumbled disgracefully. Whether he had hit his face on the stone floor, blood streamed from both his eye and his gashed forehead.
“Urgh, you scoundrel! H-How dare you…!”
“Show the proper etiquette to receive His Majesty, traitor.”
Dianzel’s voice, lowered to suppress his killing intent, sounded like the growl of Cerberus from hell, making even the bystanders flinch.
“Let go! Let go! Father! Mother!”
Meanwhile, other Agema members dragged Samon over and threw him to the ground.
Enraged, Samon tried to draw his sword, only to be sent flying by a single kick from an Agema.
He shrieked while clutching his broken arm.
“Aargh! My arm! You beasts! You murderers! Do you know nothing but breaking and killing?!”
A hurried sound of footsteps reached the ears of Medeia, who was watching the scene indifferently.
A strange sense of déjà vu.
Before she could even shrink back, a shadow fell over her head.
“Dea.”
Medeia’s body froze.
Uncharacteristic of her usual composure, her fingertips trembled slightly.
Medeia lifted her head, clenching her teeth so hard it left pits in her jaw.
“Peleus?”
Deep blue eyes. Brilliant silver hair just like hers.
Her brother was standing before her.
Medeia widened her eyes, struggling to hold back the tears that threatened to spill.
“Is it… really you?”
A trembling voice escaped her. She reached out her hand haltingly.
But in the end, she could not touch the Peleus before her. As if she shouldn't, as if she couldn't, her fingertips curled back.
*“The water is already spilled. As the King of Baldina, I must fulfill my duty. But you, live freely. Forget the duties, forget the sorrow, and forget even this brother of yours.”*
Peleus, who had embraced even the younger sister who stole the Philosopher’s Stone and fled—
*“Dea, you must live. That is enough; I do not resent you.”*
*“Only, when you are sorrowful, do not forget the blood that flows through your body, and that you had a family that cherished you.”*
Even until the final moment as he rode out to face the pack of demonic beasts, he had worried for her safety.
That foolish, cold-hearted version of her from back then.
“Dea, I am here. Your brother has come.”
Peleus felt a surge of pity as he looked at his trembling sister.
He was the first to reach out and take his sister’s shaking hand.
“Peleus, is it… really you? Are you alive?”
Medeia’s green eyes urgently scanned him.
The leg that had been lame from injury was fine, and the chest that had been torn open by a demonic beast was whole.
The hand holding hers was not that of a grey-colored corpse.
It belonged to a living person, warm and filled with a palpable pulse.
“Dea!”
In that moment, Medeia collapsed to the floor. Her face was a mess of tears.
“It’s true, you’re alive. Peleus, you are alive. Right?”
Watching from behind, Neril was startled.
It was the first time she had seen her always resolute master break down like this.
“I’m sorry, Peleus. I was wrong…. Please forgive me.”
Pressing her forehead against the back of her brother’s hand, which she gripped desperately, Medeia wept sorrowfully.
Within every falling teardrop was the atonement of her past life.
“I will… put everything back, Peleus. I promise. I’ll return everything to its proper place… and this time, I will protect you…. So….”
Her words were mixed with sobs that surged up no matter how much she tried to suppress them.
“I’m sorry. I don’t even have the right to dare ask for forgiveness, and I’m far too late, but Peleus, I….”
Medeia bit her lip, trembling violently.
“Forgiveness? That’s absurd….”
Peleus’s handsome brow furrowed slightly. He could not understand what his sister was talking about.
However, he did realize that a burden far too heavy for her to bear was resting on those small, collapsing shoulders.
“Dea.”
He gently took hold of Medeia’s shoulders.
His sister was about a hand’s breadth shorter than the height he had expected.
Beasts seen on the battlefield often stopped growing when in environments where survival was impossible.
The way Medeia appeared so fragile and anxious must also be related to the chaotic environment of the Royal Palace.
“I am sorry. It is my shortcoming that forced you to endure this hardship.”
His younger sister, who had stood alone with life-risking resolve against the Regent Duke’s threats.
How hard must it have been? How afraid must she have felt?
“Do not worry. I will protect you safely so that no one can harm you. Leave it to your brother now.”
He tried his best to reassure her, patting her back with a clumsy hand.
“Your Majesty, the suppression is complete. Fortunately, the Queen Dowager’s life is not in danger.”
Just then, Dianzel approached and reported on the settled situation.
The mercenaries disguised as commoners whom the Regent Duke had planted outside the Castle Walls had also long since been dealt with.
Peleus lifted his head.
“We have gathered all the criminals. They are awaiting Your Majesty’s call.”
Below the Castle Walls, the Regent Duke and his faction were forced to their knees, bound with ropes. Peleus’s eyes took on a chilling light.
He walked toward the Regent Duke.
“Pe—Peleus… how are you here….”
“You have worked very hard for a long time to hide such a grand ambition, Uncle Claudio.”
An authoritative yet cold voice echoed.
The Regent Duke stared at his nephew with his one uninjured eye, his gaze trembling.
In ten years, the battlefield had changed so many things.
The young boy he remembered was gone; the overwhelming killing intent of a predator who had become a full-grown man pressed down heavily on the Regent Duke’s shoulders.
The Regent Duke recalled the spear that had shattered his sword.
Considering that overwhelming power, he might have to be grateful that the fragments only struck one eye.
The Regent Duke trembled as a chill climbed up his spine, realizing that the spear could have pierced his throat.
For the first time, the fear of death became as clear as if he could grasp it in his hand.
“N-No. There has been some misunderstanding. I was only trying to protect Baldina in your stead….”
At this, his grand ambition disgracefully tucked its tail.
“By using an act of abdication extorted through threatening my grandmother and my sister? You say interesting things, Uncle.”
There was no inflection in the chilling voice.
The speech, which did not hide its mockery, somehow resembled Medeia’s.
There was no great agitation on the King’s face, which was cast in shadow with the sun at his back.
However, his eyes—the Regent Duke read a rage from those unfathomably deep eyes that he could not possibly handle.
The Regent Duke’s body began to tremble even more violently.
Just then, the castle gates opened and Giliphos shouted thunderously.
“Your Majesty! We have captured a spy from another country who was attempting to infiltrate the Baldina Royal Capital!”
