Chapter 5

Chapter 5 | He and I Will be the Only Ones Left

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Thwack—

A strong but short sound rang out into the air. The man slowly opened his mouth, drawing the attention of the others.

[???] “Quiet.”

It was a humble voice, and yet despite that, it commanded everyone’s respect. With a single word from him, they were all rendered completely speechless.

The man looked down at the dregs below him in silence, viewing them in contempt as if they were mere insects before him.

[???] “There is a will left in his wake, so we must obey the will of the King.”

As he gestured behind him, the figure of the Crown Prince appeared from the shadows. His eyes were dim and out of focus, but he obeyed this man’s gestures. This mage’s gestures.

The mage seated the Crown Prince in front of him, placing his hands upon his shoulders as he turned the chair around, speaking once more.

[Mage] “The situation is urgent, so we will keep the coronation simple. Since there is no doubt the Crown Prince will become the next King of Nordian, he will rule the country proper.”

When the mage finished speaking, he tapped the chair with his fingertips. The moment he did, the Crown Prince spoke with blank eyes.

[Crown Prince] “As he said!”

Those who gathered in the royal palace nodded as if they were being possessed by something, immediately leaving the hall without another word.

This was a meeting of officials and yet it was being dominated by a single man.

The king died very recently, so the idea of putting forth a three-year-old child up for succession was a very strange sight, and yet no one felt uncomfortable.

This man’s face and name were entirely unknown, and no one knew when, where, or how he came to be by the king’s side. And yet no one, not even the king himself, doubted him. Instead, their strange trust in him only grew with every passing day.

Just like magic.

This man, pale complexion, left the meeting hall, looking out the window from the king’s bedroom with a glimmer in his eyes.

Then, a young woman appeared silently behind him.

[Greta] “Father.”

[Mage] “Ah, Greta. You’ve come.”

[Greta] “Yes. It won’t be much longer now.”

The mage turned to his daughter, spreading out his arms with a smile like his face was about to tear in two.

[Mage] “Yes. The day has finally come.”

[Greta] “It’s been a while. If it were the Empire instead…..I know things might not have gone this way had it be a slightly larger country, rather than a kingdom like this.”

[Mage] “A long time indeed, but the day will soon come. The day this wretched world will finally be cleansed!”

[Greta] “Such a wretched world.”

With a pale complexion and a faint but eerie smile, Greta took a step towards the mage.

[Greta] “Still, there are those who are pure.”

[Mage] “What?”

[Greta] “The man chosen by the ancient gods.”

[Mage] “You mean the slave?”

[Greta] “A slave to god alone. As one who died and was resurrected, is he not the only one among us who is pure?”

[Mage] “Perhaps. But he cannot cleanse this world in fire—“

But before the mage could even finish speaking—

Schwick—

The old mage’s eyes widened as the sound of his own flesh being toward by a blade echoed out into the air, resounding with the sensation of his gut being torn apart.

Even as it was happening, there was doubt in the mage’s eyes. Without hesitating, Greta twisted the blade that was piercing his stomach. She could hear the sound of the sharp edge scraping across his bones and it irritated her, but even so—Greta was smiling.

Satisfied with what she’d done.

[Mage] “Agh…..You!”

As he tried to speak, blood splattered across Greta’s face, but she didn’t blink. She peered right into his eyes, her gaze steady and unyielding.

A groan left him just as profusely as the blood flowing from him did.

[Mage] “Why……?”

All the mage could do was look at Greta with a shocked expression, right until the moment his heart stopped.

[Greta] “Why?”

Greta gave a kind smile, slowly dragging the blade from him and tossing it to the ground. From Greta’s hand, it rolled across the white carpet, drawing a red line through the room.

With the mage in her arms, she sat in the pool of blood as he bled from his stomach. Holding his face, she rubbed the crimson blood across his lips and chin.

[Greta] “You are a part of this filthy world, too. I must purify you with death…….”

Greta held the mage in her arms as he coughed up blood. Her fingers, stained red with the blood from his lips, pulled the crimson color across his cheek.

[Greta] “Farewell, father.”

Greta’s voice was filled with eerie euphoria as she spoke her final words to the mage.

The King of Nordian was assassinated and his death was posed as an accident.

In order to purify this stained world, the mage forcibly resurrected Cryer and bound him with a contract of the ancient gods, burning their seal into him. But this mage had now lost his name and his life.

At the hands of his own daughter, and no one else.

[Greta] “He and I will be the only ones left in this world, purified by the ancient gods. It will be a perfect and clean world, just as you wanted, father.”

With a sickly bright smile, Greta kicked aside her father’s body with no remorse.

The old, dead mage was no longer visible to her.

Within her mind’s eye, the only thing she could see now was Cryer, who would be the one to look down at the worm-like humans with her. Like all those who would be purified at the meeting hall in the Empire.

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The death of King Nordian was an unfortunate accident.

No one suggested any other possibility for his death, especially not assassination.

Or rather, they simply couldn’t.

A foreign king, murdered in the Imperial Palace? The moment anyone even whispered that, even a monkey could see what kind of thin ice they’d be treading on.

Besides, Nordian was a nation with very little influence across the continent. Even those with a profitable relationship with them did not question the king’s death. Or maybe it would be better to say they simply didn’t pay enough attention to be asking questions.

Because everyone in the hall was too busy staring at Olivia with eyes as wide as plates, far too aware of how she had Cryer standing next to her.

[Olivia] “—We send our deepest condolences to Nordian—“

For the rest of the meeting, the Princess spoke her sincerest condolences to those who had come from Nordian before quickly sending them on their way.

[Olivia] “For the sake of future congresses—“

Everyone from Nordian had already been sent home, so why?

Why was this Nordian knight the only one being left with the Imperial Princess? It was a question that was burning in everyone’s minds.

[—] “Yo….Your Highness….You don’t……”

But a single person, barely whispering out a question, was enough of a contagion for the confusion to spread. After all, seeing the two of them, there was one particular conclusion that one would naturally come to.

And like they’d never heard of curiosity killing the cat, one person eventually opened his mouth, unable to withstand the words tickling his mouth.

[—] “Your Highness!”

[Olivia] “Yes?”

[—] “You…….Why hasn’t the knight returned yet?”

Olivia’s lips twitched lightly as he very obviously and rudely pointed at Cryer.

You shouldn’t point at him like that. You know he can make you disappear like a mouse or a bird, right? No one would ever be able to find you.

But she swallowed those words, simply smiling.

Between her kind and calm smile was a short answer.

[Olivia] “He will be staying in the Empire for the sake of smooth communication between our two nations.”

[—] “Excuse me?”

[—] “What…..? No, our knights are perfectly capable!”

[—] “What are you talking about!? Our knights are far superior……..!”

They were like a swarm of bees.

As soon as Olivia was finished speaking, the leaders still gathered in the meeting hall kept bragging about the capabilities of their knights. They were almost tripping over each other just to get their words out fast enough.

[Cryer] “Communication between two nations?”

Hearing Cryer lowly whisper towards her, Olivia looked up at him.

[Olivia] “What, it’s not like I said, ‘Oh, I want to take him as a lover because I just can’t let him go! I fell in love at first sight~!’ But they’ll naturally take it that way anyway, regardless of what I say.”

She was an unmarried young lady and Princess of the Empire, keeping a man by her side for the first time. And it wasn’t just any man, but a knight from another country, picked while so many people were watching her.

[Cryer] “A branch to support the relationship between nations.”

[Olivia] “Basically. I didn’t fall in love with you at first sight, but I thought if I had spread that story, then I wouldn’t have to shudder in fear of you when we spoke. I thought, at the time…..”

[Cryer] “That I wouldn’t be able to immediately kill a woman who was whispering her love to me, even if I hated it.”

[Olivia] “……….It seemed like a smart answer to a ridiculous question at the time.”

[Cryer] “And what are you planning on doing about that?”

Cryer gestured with his head towards the masses as the people in the crowd tried to put forth the knights they had brought with them—a strange sense of madness in their eyes. Olivia’s response was brief.

[Olivia] “I should take in some knights from other countries. Just a few at a time.”

Olivia saw this coming. After the mess she had caused, she knew exactly what would be swirling in the imagination of these people, and what kind of desperation they’d feel after the fact.

[Cryer] “Better a knight than a lover.”

[Olivia] “Just forget that. Erase it from your memory.”

[Cryer] “If Your Imperial Highness wills it.”

[Olivia] “So creepy. Never speak like that again.”

Shaking her head, Olivia ran her hands up and down her trembling arms, rubbing away the goosebumps.

[Olivia] “If I take in a few knights from other countries and place them within the Empire, I’ll be able to silence their concerns all at once.”

[Cryer] “And by concerns, you mean who will take the place of the Princess’ lover?”

[Olivia] “Why do you keep mentioning that? That’s not really…..Well, it could be part of it, but the real concern here is the potential for war. War.”

[Cryer] “But those people wouldn’t know I was the one who started the Continental War. You were the only one who returned, not them.”

[Olivia] “Not the war you caused, but the one the Empire could.”

[Cryer] “Oh, right. The subject of this congress was world peace, wasn’t it?”

[Olivia] “Yes. After being called here, it’s only natural they be worried that the Empire could be planning something. The subject of the meeting was suddenly changed to world peace and it was held months in advance from the original date.”

[Cryer] “So, you will allow each country to have watchful knights within your Empire for the sake of peace?”

[Olivia] “Yes, that is my intent.”

[Cryer] “Though, by the way, Princess…”

[Olivia] “What is it?”

[Cryer] “I think you’re more liable to receive potential lovers than knights.”

Seeing the venom spewing from Cryer’s mouth, Olivia slowly turned her head, narrowing her eyes.

As if everyone in the room noticed that they were conversing, the commotion seemed to have quieted down a bit across the meeting hall. New faces were being seated right next to each of the gathered leaders.

Olivia scanned their faces, speaking again with a voice so low and lips barely moving that no one noticed she was talking. No one except for Cryer.

[Olivia] “How many of them do you think have actually been knighted?”

At her question, Cryer leaned over and whispered into Olivia’s ear.

[Cryer] “If we’re just talking titles, probably all of them. But if you asked them to actually act like a knight, I doubt they’re any good. They all seem to care more about the position of the Princess’ lover than a war.”

[Olivia] “Dammit.”

There were too many people in this world who counted their chickens before they hatched. Such were words that formulated from the lessons passed down from all Bolshek ancestors, and there was nothing wrong with those words. They were good reminders.

That was why she forced this meeting in a rush, all for the sake of world peace. But instead, now all the attention was being geared towards Olivia’s potential wedding, so it was a little irritating.

[Cryer] “Why not start a war and put an end to those glimmering eyes of theirs?”

[Olivia] “Absolutely not. There can be no war, under any circumstances.”

Whether it was a small battle, or even a scuffle between a few small factions, too many times had she seen such seemingly meaningless conflicts become an excuse for the Continental War.

No, peace needed to be maintained no matter what.

So that she wouldn’t have to die again.

[Cryer] “Because you’re a dove of peace?”

[Olivia] “Yes, I’m a dove. Coo, coo. Are you satisfied now? Ah…..Don’t laugh. Don’t you dare laugh.”

When she looked over at him, Cryer’s shoulders were shaking as he turned his head away, but the second she told him not to laugh, the shaking intensified. Olivia grumpily clenched her teeth.

She wanted to grab him by the collar and throttle him right now, but that definitely wouldn’t work…..Rather than throttling him, she’d just end up hanging off him like a cicada hangs off the side of a tree.

But she was already angry and so she wanted to do something about it. Thinking that, Olivia pulled her hand away from gripping her fluffy skirt.

[Cryer] “What are you doing?”

[Olivia] “I’m hitting you.”

[Cryer] “I thought for a second I got bit by a mosquito.”

[Olivia] “Would it kill you to at least act like it hurts……Well, whatever. This isn’t the time.”

Olivia unclenched her fist, posed like a sledgehammer, yet dealing just as little of an effect than if she’d grabbed him by the collar.

[Olivia] “We still have some things we need to discuss, don’t we?”

[Cryer] “Like what?”

[Olivia] “Like the specifics of your contract…..or about the mage who did this to you.”

[Cryer] “Fine. But we should handle this mess first.”

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Pride and Sanctimony C18December 22, 2021In “PAS”