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Brought to you by Valir Scans! ‌‌‌‌To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 1
Prologue
Rhythmic footsteps echoed through ‌‌‌the darkness. I turned from the Garden bench where I'd been gazing at the Pond and looked toward the corridor.
Barcas emerged from the long Arcade connected to the Garden, his Imperial Guard uniform immaculate and precise. His gait reminded me of a serpent gliding slowly through deep, dark water.
I sometimes wondered ‌‌why that was.
Faded linen-colored pale blonde hair, silver-tinged blue eyes, skin like plaster....
How could a man composed entirely of such muted, aged-parchment hues emanate such an ominous presence?
Whenever I faced him, my spine would inexplicably grow cold.
"Your Highness, the ‌Crown Prince."
The man placed his hand over his chest in salute. I waved him off irritably with a crude gesture.
"Spare me the unnecessary formalities."
Though he served in the Imperial Guard Corps, this man would soon inherit the Eastern Region from Grand Duke Sierchan. He was hardly someone I could treat ‌‌as a mere subordinate. Yet I gestured to him with my chin as if he were beneath my notice.
"How long do you intend to make me look up at you? Sit."
My rudeness elicited no change in his expression. He showed neither displeasure nor servile obedience—only an indifferent countenance as he settled onto the marble chair.
I examined his refined, inhuman features carefully. At first glance he seemed unchanged, yet I could easily discern he was in a foul mood.
Had matters not gone as planned? I narrowed my eyes and pressed him with a question.
"How did the interrogation go? Don't tell me you failed to uncover the conspirators behind this?"
"I uncovered everything that could be uncovered."
The man pulled down the top of his snugly fitted coat with one hand and answered in a monotone voice.
"But it likely isn't the answer Your Highness desired."
I raised one eyebrow.
"Explain in detail."
"The substance in the Princess's wine cup did not originate from the Empress Palace."
"Then where?"
"The Imperial physician prescribed it to a maidservant working in the Main Palace. Apparently, it wasn't even classified as a poison. It merely causes nausea and abdominal pain when taken in large quantities at once, so it wasn't subject to strict ‌‌‌‌regulation."
"Are you telling me a maidservant from the Main Palace suddenly lost her mind and poisoned my sister's cup?"
I let out a bitter laugh at the absurdity. Yet the tendons in my thick ‌‌‌‌neck stood taut—a sign of my fury reaching its peak.
But Barcas's gaze ‌‌‌remained utterly detached as he watched my face flush with rage.
"The maidservant did not administer the substance directly."
"Then who is the culprit!"
I lost patience and ‌‌raised my voice.
"Stop dragging this out and give me the conclusion! If it wasn't the Empress scheming and it wasn't the maidservant's accident, then who dared tamper with my sister's cup?"
"The Second Princess committed the act."
At his matter-of-fact reply, my sputtering ceased abruptly.
"That woman?"
My face ‌twisted savagely. When I spoke of the Empress, I became ‌like roiling lava. ‌‌‌‌But when I mentioned that woman's bastard daughter, I became like someone ‌with the filthiest thing imaginable in my mouth. My clenched jaw produced an audible grinding of teeth.
"That mad wretch would do it without hesitation. If it concerns my sister, that jealous bitch would lose all reason and judgment...."
Barcas showed no reaction to my vulgar curses—the sort of language fit only for street rabble. I stared at him intently, then, unable to let ‌‌‌‌it go, pressed further about the Empress.
"Still, can we truly be certain Senebier's influence didn't play a role in this? There's every possibility that woman incited her daughter...."
"If that were the case, she would have used a proper deadly poison, not this trivial concoction."
Barcas spoke ‌‌in a measured tone. His pale eyes gleamed faintly in the darkness.
"Had it been the Empress, she would never have bungled the cleanup so ineptly and left herself exposed."
Gareth found no words to counter and closed his mouth. Though it irritated me that he'd cut off my words mid-sentence, ‌‌the contempt woven through his voice satisfied me deeply.
This youth, indifferent to all things, ‌‌showed his claws only when it came to ‌‌Talia Roem Guerta, the stain upon the imperial house. It was supremely gratifying to confirm once again that this man stood with me—with us. I felt the reassurance of having an ally.
"You're right. Senebier would never have ‌‌been foolish enough to jeopardize her own position with such ‌‌‌a blunder."
Gareth, his mood somewhat lifted, spoke with renewed ‌‌vigor.
"Talia shot herself in the foot. I always knew she'd slip up eventually."
He flashed a mischievous smile, like the rogue he'd been when he ‌swept through the Academy.
"She must have lost her mind when you were taken from her and given to my sister instead. How long did that bastard girl lord her position over the heir of the Grand ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌Duke's house, treating the Imperial Guard like her personal ‌‌‌plaything? Now that her toy is about to become the consort of the true Princess, her vicious nature has finally snapped."
The man offered no response. Barcas Laedgo Sierchan was someone who spoke no more than absolutely necessary. ‌His silence was hardly unusual.
Yet Gareth sometimes found this man's taciturnity unbearably irritating. Now was one of those moments. He fixed Barcas with an unwavering stare, demanding an answer.
"In any case, this time she won't escape punishment. If we play this right, ‌‌‌we could even pin it on her as an attempted poisoning..."
"It won't unfold ‌‌as you wish."
He interrupted the Crown Prince a second time. Gareth's eyes turned fierce. Yet the man's gaze remained perfectly calm as he regarded the future Emperor.
"First, there is only circumstantial evidence—no concrete proof. ‌‌‌Should that woman decide to deny everything, proving her culpability will be ‌‌far from simple."
"We can simply call the maidservant who provided the poison as a witness—"
"Do you truly believe the testimony of a single maidservant alone will be ‌‌‌‌enough to place Senebier's ‌‌‌eldest daughter on the stand of judgment?"
As Gareth floundered for a rebuttal, he continued calmly.
"Second, even if it ‌‌‌becomes abundantly clear that the Second Princess was responsible, a mere stomach ailment hardly warrants severe punishment. Should she insist it was merely a prank, she'll likely face nothing more than confinement."
"A prank?"
Gareth, who had been listening in silence, finally exploded. He shot to his feet and ‌‌seized the heir to the Grand Duchy by the collar.
"Do you know what humiliation the woman who will be your wife suffered before all those people? She, who has never once shown a moment of weakness, collapsed and retched in the Banquet Hall! How much pain Ayla endured—and you call that a harmless prank?"
As I dwelled on that day's memory, the Crown Prince's bronzed face flushed a ‌‌‌deep crimson, visible even in the darkness. He gritted his teeth, his voice trembling.
"That's right—I was too frantic to think clearly then, but I ‌‌saw it plainly. I saw ‌‌‌Talia, that wretched girl, laughing from a distance while Ayla ‌‌‌collapsed! That filthy bastard dared to mock my sister—I'd tear her limb from limb and it still ‌‌wouldn't be enough!"
"Your Highness."
Gareth flinched and released his grip. Though Barcas hadn't raised his voice, cold sweat suddenly beaded down my spine. I stepped back, gauging his reaction.
The man adjusted his disheveled clothes with a composed hand.
"That woman is not worthy of the Crown Prince's attention."
His ‌voice was flat and matter-of-fact, as though stating an obvious truth—that night follows day.
"All she does is engage in such petty pranks to torment others. Should the future ruler of the Empire truly waste his energy on such trivial mischief?"
He spoke as though soothing a child.
Under normal circumstances, I would have erupted in indignation at such presumption. But knowing full well that I had overstepped first, I held my silence.
The man rose slowly from his seat. Though he committed the rudeness of leaving without the Crown Prince's permission, his movements flowed as naturally as water.
"I have already sent calming herbs to the Princess. Furthermore, I intend to strictly oversee all food and drink that ‌‌reaches Your Highness's table going forward."
"So you're telling me to ‌‌simply let this go?"
"Should Your Highness insist on determining the truth of this matter and punishing the Second Princess, I will not ‌‌stop you. However, I wish to abstain from involvement."
At his indifferent response, ‌‌‌Gareth's face reddened. Barcas seemed ‌‌‌intent on dismissing the entire affair as nothing more than a spiteful prank by ‌‌a jealous girl.
He was right—if the Crown Prince and the heir to the Eastern ‌‌‌‌‌Region's Grand Duchy made a fuss over such a trivial incident, they would only damage their own dignity.
Yet Gareth felt a strong resistance to his coldness. It wasn't merely his indifferent attitude toward my sister. I fixed him with a suspicious glare.
"You're not... protecting her, are you?"
The man who had turned to retrace his steps paused, sending a glacial gaze over his shoulder. ‌‌‌
A breeze swept up from the Pond at that precise moment, tousling his ashen blonde hair with deceptive gentleness. Yet his expression remained utterly unmoved. A smile sharp as a honed blade stretched across his lips—the first expression to surface upon a face that had worn stillness like a mask.
"Me? That woman?"
Barcas let ‌‌‌‌‌out a low chuckle as though he had heard something amusing. But in his ‌‌blue eyes, a razor-edged ‌‌fury flickered with lethal intensity.
Gareth found himself momentarily speechless. He had known that this man despised Talia Roem Guerta. But he had never realized he harbored such vehement animosity.
Was this not the man whom the priests had thoroughly castrated of all emotion—joy and sorrow alike? In truth, over more than ‌‌‌‌a decade, Gareth had never once witnessed him betray any feeling.
What in the world had she done to provoke this stone-faced man into baring his teeth?
Gareth studied him intently, curiosity blazing in his gaze.
During his time as Talia Roem Guerta's guard knight, he had heard rumors that this man had endured countless indignities at her hands. Yet it had never occurred to him that Barcas would be affected by them.
He was far too noble, too composed to be swayed by the hysteria of a foolish girl. Gareth had believed Talia Roem Guerta to be nothing more than an irritating ‌‌nuisance to him—nothing beyond that. But it seemed otherwise.
Barcas's ‌‌‌‌blue eyes gleamed with a desolate coldness as he spoke through ‌‌‌‌gritted teeth.
"I have no desire to entangle myself with that woman ever again."
With nothing more to say, he turned and retraced his steps into the distance.
Gareth watched him recede in silence, moving like a water snake gliding across the Pond's surface, and a bitter smile played at the corners of his ‌‌‌‌mouth.
'Talia—I don't know what that woman has done, but this works perfectly in my favor.'
If the man who ‌‌should become his powerful ally harbored hatred for his enemy, their alliance would only grow stronger.
Gareth rose from his seat with a satisfied expression.

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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