Chapter 67
Yuriene imprisoned her in the Azure Knights headquarters' underground prison. He filled it with sealing tools, chained her limbs, and installed double doors.
The Emperor, enraged, ordered the immediate release of the demon. For the first time, Yuriene directly defied the Emperor's command. The Emperor raged, but the Empire, critically damaged by the annihilation of the subjugation force, could not touch Ajenka.
At least, not for the time being.
Tension simmered between Ajenka and the Empire. Letters flew back and forth incessantly, and many things happened beneath the surface.
For now, the Azure Knights were regarded as saviors who had rescued the Empire from the demon, so things were quiet, but as time passed, the grievances of the victims would grow. The discontent over why the demon was not executed.
Yuriene visited the underground prison whenever he had time. He could not approach her. He always watched her from beyond the iron door. Inside, her body writhed like a caged Monster.
But to him, with True Sight open, something else was visible.
Amidst the seething black malice, glimpses of light. What had started as a tiny spark had become a flame, growing stronger little by little. Precarious, as if it would vanish at any moment, yet a fire that never went out. He watched her pathetic and desperate struggle the entire time.
[I thought she had the potential to become a sun when I first saw her, but the probability of that actually happening was extremely low. Frankly, it's a miracle she hasn't gone mad.]
"She will overcome it."
Yuriene murmured softly. She was someone he had never even exchanged a word with. He had never properly made eye contact with her. He didn't even know her name.
Nevertheless, the more he watched, the more he cheered her on. He wanted to see her victorious. He hoped she would overcome it.
What kind of person would she be, having overcome that malice and regained her body? He wanted to know. The real her.
The flame flickering beyond the malice wavered precariously again. Sparks flew like blood. It seemed to die down, then surged up again. It writhed under the crushing malice.
From that undulating figure, he read an unheard scream. Yuriene gritted his teeth. He wanted to help her. If there was a way to help, somehow.
But there was no way for him to help her. It was a trial she had to overcome on her own.
Yuriene quietly placed his hand on the iron door. He couldn't reach out beyond it, so he merely touched the door. The metal that touched his fingertips was cold.
"I need to prepare."
[Prepare what?]
"So that she... can live again."
He began to prepare so that she could live when she regained her body. All he could do for her, fighting alone, was that much.
He compensated those who had been harmed by the demon and held ceremonies for the deceased. He erected memorial stones and cooperated in the recovery efforts.
Then, he attempted to negotiate with the Empire. Since negotiation with the Emperor was impossible, the negotiations proceeded with Crown Prince Kruen. Documents were exchanged several times, and secret meetings took place.
In the meantime, he never revealed that she was a young lady from an aristocratic family with pink hair. Nor did he dig into her identity.
Because there was no benefit to revealing her family, which had become an enemy of the Empire. If anyone related to her remained, they would suffer tremendous damage if her identity was revealed.
In fact, he desperately wanted to know her name.
He wanted to know what to call her. But he endured. When she triumphed over that malice and regained her body, he could hear her name directly from her then.
More than half a year passed like that.
In the autumn of 1632, Yuriene left Ajenka and secretly met with Crown Prince Kruen in the Imperial capital. Now, the balance of power had clearly shifted to the Crown Prince. The Emperor had become a figurehead.
"You've been a great help. The remaining Second Prince faction and His Majesty the Emperor are pushing my young nephew. That suckling infant, ha."
The Harden Imperial family of the Kyrie Empire, symbolized by the white lion, mostly had silver hair. Crown Prince Kruen also had silver hair and blue eyes like Yuriene. Eyes inherited from the Emperor.
Second Prince Kareem had inherited green eyes from the Empress, and Kareem's young son had also inherited those eyes.
The Emperor loved those green eyes, the same as the Empress. Much more than his sons with blue eyes like his.
"My father-in-law still sees you as the most dangerous and is wary of you, but I trust you. You have no interest in the throne, do you?"
Kruen smiled faintly. Yuriene was expressionless. The Crown Prince shrugged and continued.
"It's time to end Father's era. Cooperate."
"...What cooperation do you want?"
"Dispatch the Azure Knights. I will strike the Imperial Palace."
Yuriene frowned. Before he could utter a word of refusal, the Crown Prince presented a document.
"Do you think I would proceed without justification? Here is a sufficient reason for the Azure Knights to step in. You just need to be my sword."
"What is this?"
"The circumstances of the Imperial family acquiring and using the Demon Sword Bardelgiosa."
Yuriene's eyes widened. As he hurriedly picked up the document, Kruen's smile deepened. The Crown Prince leisurely clasped his hands and watched Yuriene read the document.
The single document clearly outlined the plan to enhance the reputation of the Imperial family, specifically the Second Prince, by using the Demon Sword Bardelgiosa.
Several years ago, an incident occurred in which a village near the Emperor's villa was annihilated. The Emperor, who happened to be staying at the villa, dispatched the royal guard to capture the murderer and discovered the Demon Sword Bardelgiosa in the murderer's possession.
It was unclear how a man who was merely a common herbalist had obtained the Demon Sword. In any case, the royal guard easily dealt with the herbalist who had been tainted by the Demon Sword. Seeing this, the Emperor devised a plan to enhance the reputation of the Second Prince using the Demon Sword.
The plan required victims of the Demon Sword who would make people, especially nobles, feel a sense of crisis.
The Emperor meticulously calculated. He looked for a family that could be eliminated without much consequence, was easy to manipulate, and could create a sense of crisis that the Demon Sword had appeared.
Families with talent in swordsmanship were excluded from the beginning. The Demon Sword could not become too strong. Several candidates were narrowed down in this way.
It seemed that they had not been able to track down which one of the candidates was ultimately chosen. The document simply stated that the Second Prince had chosen one of the candidate families. The Second Prince had directly ordered his subordinates to place Bardelgiosa in that family.
What the Emperor and the Second Prince had failed to realize was that the family they had chosen happened to have an unknown genius of the sword. That was their downfall.
The herbalist wielding the Demon Sword was easy, but the peerless genius wielding the Demon Sword became a disaster.
Yuriene stared blankly at the document. The Second Prince had chosen. Brother Kareem. At that moment, the events of the birthday banquet came to mind.
"...A woman? It's the first time you've shown interest in a woman."
The malice that was so clear in Kareem's soul as he said that. It was too coincidental to be a mere coincidence.
Could it be. Could it be.
That Kareem had chosen one of the candidate families, could it be. That she had come to wield the Demon Sword, could it be.
'Because I, saw her...'
His vision blurred. Something nauseating surged from within. Yuriene covered his mouth with his hand.
"Well, as the Azure Knights who protect Giosa, isn't it natural to step in?"
Kruen, unaware of what had shocked him, spoke nonchalantly. Yuriene clenched the document so hard it crumpled. And then he stood up from his seat.
"Yuriene?"
"I... I will give you an answer later."
He barely managed to reply and left the room where the secret meeting had taken place. His steps faltered precariously as he left.
Throughout his return to Ajenka, Yuriene was in extreme turmoil. No matter how much he thought about it, he could not shake off the guilt that it was his fault.
When it came down to it, the culprits were his father and brother. But the reason they plotted that scheme and chose her as the sacrifice was entirely because of him.
That the opportunity for a woman who had thought she would live a peaceful life to fall into hell was merely the gaze he had given her. Moreover, he had not placed much significance on the matter and had quickly forgotten about it.
While he had been forgetting, the woman who had been made miserable because of him had lived in hell for three years, three years, as a demon. And she was still in hell. Without even knowing who had made her that way.
Feeling like he was going insane, he did not take a carriage or train but rode a horse. He drove the horse to the point of exhaustion. After riding until the horse was exhausted and collapsed, he spent the night almost sleeplessly, and when the sun rose, he rode again. The Holy Sword spoke softly to him, who could not sleep.
[I understand your feelings, but it is not your fault. It is the judgment I made, created by the justice that humans feel and think. You have done nothing wrong.]
"...Then what about her?"
Tainted by the Demon Sword, committing unwanted massacres, losing everything, and yet still unable to be released, struggling alone in that swamp-like malice, what did she do wrong? And what did the people who were sacrificed at her hands do wrong?
The innocent were caught up in an irreversible tragedy, and the guilty were alive and well, enjoying their power.
Yuriene's clenched knuckles turned white with force. His fingernails dug into his flesh, but he did not feel the pain.
The Holy Sword, which had been silent for a long time, replied.
[...That woman is also innocent. Those who must pay the price are separate. But master, that man died at that woman's hands. He has already been punished for his sins.]
"One remains."
Madness flickered in Yuriene's eyes as he quietly replied. Rangiosa continued soothingly.
[Yes, your father is alive. But that man is your father. Unless he tried to kill you, if you touch him, it is patricide. Justice is judgment, not revenge.]
"So, because I shouldn't commit patricide, I should just endure it? Is that what you call justice?"
Yuriene's voice, as he retorted, was calm, unlike the content. The Holy Sword noticed what was boiling beneath that calmness. The Holy Sword sighed and said.
[I'm not saying endure it. I mean follow the procedure. Rather, accept the Crown Prince's proposal. Expose the Demon Sword's conspiracy and officially depose and execute the Emperor. That is a just thing to do.]
Yuriene did not answer. He watched the sunrise without sleeping a wink, then mounted his horse again.
As soon as he returned to Ajenka, he intended to visit her in the underground prison. Even though there was nothing he could do by visiting her, he needed to meet her now.
He needed to confirm that it was not too late, that there was still something that could be reversed, that she was alive. All decisions were postponed until after that.
However, the fate that awaited him was more cruel than ever.
