Chapter 1 - Chapter 1

Translator: Nox

Episode 1

Prologue

Rhythmic footsteps echoed through the darkness. Gares, who had been staring at the pond from a garden bench, turned his head toward the corridor.

Barkas, dressed impeccably in his Imperial Knight uniform, was walking out from the long arcade that connected to the garden. The sight of him was reminiscent of a snake swimming slowly through deep, dark waters.

Gares occasionally wondered why that was.

With pale flaxen-blonde hair, blue eyes tinged with silver, and skin like plaster…

Why did this man, composed of colors as faded as old parchment, exude such a sinister atmosphere?

Whenever Gares faced him, a chill would run down his spine for no reason.

“Your Imperial Highness.”

The man placed a hand over his chest and bowed. Gares waved a hand dismissively, his expression sour.

“Cut the useless formalities.”

Even if he belonged to the Imperial Guard, this man would soon succeed Duke Siyeokan to rule the Eastern region. He was not of a status Gares could treat lightly. Yet, Gares gestured with his chin as if addressing a lowly subordinate.

“How long are you going to make me look up at you? Sit.”

Despite the rude attitude, there was no change in the man’s face. Neither showing offense nor groveling in submission, he sat on the marble bench with an indifferent expression.

The Crown Prince carefully observed the man’s refined features, which lacked any sense of human warmth. He could easily guess that while Barkas appeared the same as usual, he was not in a particularly good mood.

Had things not gone well? Gares narrowed his eyes and threw out an interrogating question.

“How did the interrogation go? Don’t tell me you failed to find out who’s behind it?”

“I’ve discovered everything there was to find,” the man replied in a flat voice, pulling down the top of his tightly fastened coat with one hand. “But it likely won’t be the answer Your Highness desires.”

Gares cocked an eyebrow.

“Tell me in detail.”

“The drug found in the Princess’s glass did not come from the Empress’s Palace.”

“Then?”

“The imperial apothecary prescribed it to a maid working in the Main Palace. It’s not even classified as a poison. It merely causes side effects like vomiting and stomach pain when taken in large quantities at once, so it isn’t strictly managed.”

“Are you saying a maid from the Main Palace suddenly lost her mind and drugged my sister’s glass?”

The Crown Prince burst into a hollow laugh as if it were absurd. However, the veins on his thick neck were strained and taut. It was a sign that the Crown Prince was furious.

Yet, Barkas’s gaze as he looked at Gares, whose face was flushing with rage, remained utterly dry.

“The maid did not spike the drink herself.”

“Then who is the culprit!”

Losing his patience, Gares raised his voice.

“Stop dragging it out and get to the point! If it wasn’t the Empress’s scheming and it wasn’t an accident by a maid, then who dared to meddle with my sister’s glass?”

“It was the work of the Second Princess.”

Gares, who had been huffing, froze at the calm reply.

“That girl?”

The Crown Prince’s face twisted savagely. When the Empress was mentioned, the Crown Prince was like boiling lava. But when mentioning the illegitimate child that woman had brought with her, he looked like someone who had something utterly filthy in his mouth. The sound of teeth grinding leaked from his tightly set jaw.

“If it’s that crazy girl, she’s more than capable of it. When it comes to my sister, she’s a wench who loses her mind out of jealousy and can’t tell right from wrong…”

Barkas showed no reaction to the vulgar insults that sounded like they belonged to a common thug. Gares, staring intently at the man, couldn’t let go of his suspicions regarding the Empress.

“Even so, isn’t it too early to be sure that Senevia… that woman’s influence wasn’t involved? There’s every possibility she encouraged her daughter…”

“If she had, she would have used a proper deadly poison, not a playful drug like this,” Barkas said coldly. His pale eyes glinted faintly in the darkness. “If it were the Empress, she wouldn’t have been caught by handling the aftermath so clumsily.”

Gares fell silent, unable to find a rebuttal. It was insolent of him to cut him off, but the contempt in the man’s voice satisfied Gares.

It was immensely gratifying to him that this young man, who was indifferent to everything else, showed such edge when it came to the stain on the Imperial Family, Talia Roem Guirta. It felt like a reaffirmation that this man was on his… their side.

“Certainly… Senevia wouldn’t jeopardize her position with such a stupid stunt.”

His mood somewhat lifted, Gares spoke in an excited tone.

“Talia, that wench has dug her own grave. I knew she’d cause trouble eventually.”

He flashed a mischievous smile, much like he did back when he ran wild at the Academy.

“Surely, she lost her mind because she lost you to my sister. How much did that illegitimate girl, who doesn’t know her place, act up while ordering the heir of the Grand Duchy around? Since the Guard Knight she treated like her toy is about to become the ‘real’ Princess’s partner, she must have truly gone mad with that temper of hers.”

The man gave no response. Barkas Raedgo Siyeokan was a person who never said more than was absolutely necessary. Therefore, his silence was not particularly strange.

However, Gares sometimes found this man’s silence unbearably grating. Just like now. He stared intently at Barkas as if demanding an answer.

“At any rate, she won’t escape punishment this time. If we play it right, we might even frame it as an attempted poisoning…”

“It will not go as you wish.”

He interrupted the Crown Prince for the second time. Gares’s eyes immediately turned fierce. However, the man’s eyes as he looked at the future Emperor of the Empire remained calm.

“First, there is only circumstantial evidence; there is no definitive physical proof. If she decides to deny it, it won’t be easy to prove she is the culprit.”

“We can just bring forward the maid who provided the drug as a witness… !”

“Do you believe you can put Senevia’s eldest daughter on trial with only the testimony of a mere maid?”

While Gares struggled to find a rebuttal, Barkas continued calmly.

“Second, even if it is clearly revealed to be the Second Princess’s doing, it is difficult to impose a harsh punishment for merely spiking a drink with a drug that causes a stomachache. If she insists it was a light prank, it will likely end with nothing more than house arrest.”

“A light prank?”

Gares, who had been listening quietly, finally exploded. He lunged from his seat and grabbed the future Grand Duke by the collar.

“Do you know what kind of humiliation your future wife suffered in front of everyone? A girl who has never shown a disheveled appearance collapsed while vomiting in the banquet hall! Do you know how much Aila suffered? How can you call that a light prank… !”

As if reliving the memories of that day, the Crown Prince’s bronzed face turned red enough to be visible even in the dark. He breathed heavily through gritted teeth.

“Right, I overlooked it then because I was out of my mind with worry, but when Aila collapsed, I clearly saw her, Talia, laughing in the distance! That filthy illegitimate wench deserves to have her limbs torn apart for what she did to my sister… !”

“Your Highness.”

Gares’s hand flinched and let go. Barkas hadn’t even raised his voice, yet a cold sweat broke out on Gares’s back. Gares took a step back, eyeing Barkas warily.

The man straightened his disarrayed clothes with calm hands.

“That woman is not a being worthy of Your Imperial Highness’s concern.”

It was a flat voice, as if stating the obvious fact that night follows sunset.

“All she does is harass people with these spiteful pranks. Should the future ruler of the Empire really be getting worked up over such a trivial trick?”

He spoke as if soothing a child.

Normally, Gares would have fumed, asking how he dared to lecture him, but knowing he was the one who had crossed the line first, he remained silent.

The man slowly rose from his seat. Even though he was committing the rudeness of leaving without the Crown Prince’s permission, his movements were as natural as flowing water.

“I have sent medicinal herbs to the Princess to settle her stomach. Furthermore, I intend to strictly supervise all wine and food served at Her Highness’s table from now on.”

“So, you’re saying we should just drop it and move on?”

“If Your Highness insists on determining the truth of this matter and punishing the Second Princess, I will not stop you. However, I wish to be left out of it.”

Gares flushed at the listless response. Barkas seemed intent on dismissing this incident as nothing more than a mischievous prank by a spoiled girl consumed by jealousy.

As he said, if the Crown Prince and the heir of the Eastern Grand Duchy got worked up over such a trivial incident, it would only damage their own reputations.

However, Gares felt a strong sense of resistance toward his coldness. It wasn’t just because of his indifferent attitude toward his sister. Gares shot him a suspicious look.

“Surely, you aren’t shielding that wench, are you?”

The man, who was turning back toward the way he came, froze and sent a chilling gaze over his shoulder.

Just then, a breeze from the lakeside softly ruffled his ashen-blonde hair. Yet, the man’s impression did not soften in the slightest. A smile like a well-honed blade spread across his lips. It was the first expression to appear on a face that had been as still as a mask.

“Me? Shield her?”

Barkas let out a low laugh as if he had heard something amusing. However, a sharp rage flickered in his blue eyes.

Gares was momentarily speechless. He knew this man loathed Talia. But he hadn’t known he harbored such intense hostility.

Was he not a man whose emotions had been thoroughly excised by the priests? In fact, Gares had never seen him reveal any emotion in over a decade.

Just what had she done to make this stone-like man show his teeth like this?

Gares observed him intently with a look of curiosity.

He had heard stories that this man had endured all sorts of insults from that woman during his time as Talia Roem Guirta’s Guard Knight, but he had never thought Barkas would be affected by it.

Was he not a man far too noble to be swayed by the hysterics of a spoiled girl? Gares had assumed Talia Roem Guirta was merely an annoying and irritating existence to him, nothing more. But it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Barkas spoke as if chewing his words, his blue eyes glinting bleakly without a hint of warmth.

“I simply never wish to be entangled with that woman ever again.”

With that, as if he had nothing more to say, he turned and walked back the way he came.

Gares watched him recede silently, like a water snake crossing a lake, a bitter smile playing on his lips.

‘Talia, I don’t know what you did, but this works out well for me.’

Since the man who should be his strongest supporter hated his enemy, their alliance would only grow stronger.

Gares stood up with a satisfied expression.