Chapter 21

All the nobles, knights, and servants looked at Lu Havre vacantly. Soon, they looked at the other royals. As vassals, there was nothing they could do, but the mothers of princes and princesses felt uneasy to speak as well.

The royal children’s faces were shaded. Bergen held his forehead in his hand. The youngest children seemed to burst into tears. The darkness that they could not see but could only feel opened its mouth as if it would soon swallow everyone.

In that frozen atmosphere, Lu Harve strode off.

“So, as a true son of His Majesty, I decided to punish them for their tremendous sins. Right here.” He stabbed Bergen’s stomach with a sword.

Some screamed. Blood spilled as Lu Harve pulled the sword out. Bergen staggered. Lu Harve swung the sword again. Bergen was embarrassed by Lu Harve’s tremendous power. Was he always this strong?

Bergen vomited blood. Tarenoa screamed.

“Do you have any idea who you are killing? Lu Harve!”

Bergen grabbed his bloody stomach and barely stood with help of Tarenoa. His legs were shaking. All he could do was speak.

“How dare you!”

But Lu Harve looked unconcerned. Bergen ground his teeth. He was stunned by the pain. But there was something even stronger than pain driving his focus. <> He seethed with rage.

“If you are truly a man or if you are truly a knight on the battlefield, shouldn’t you do what is right and honor us?” he shouted. Other princes and princesses added their own words or nodded. Their voices and faces were filled with resentment, anger, and contempt.

Still, Lu Harve knew this: here were not only royals, but also nobles, servants, and knights, but there was nothing they could do. The only member of the court who could do anything was Etutu.

With an expressionless face and a subdued voice, he didn’t show them any respect.

“Chivalry? An honor to royals? Bergen, you expect too much! You all have insulted me so much. Do you want to say you don’t know how other royals treated me?”

It was clear criticism. He was too sarcastic and they felt like he was not the same prince they had known. How was he able to speak like that?

But the vivid hostility that they could feel on their skin was the result of their own actions. Everyone knew that.

Lativasa trembled next to Bergen. She had tears in her eyes.

Before anyone could speak, Lu Harve pointed her out.

“Your majesty, please tell us. How was the king’s fourth concubine, my mother Tara, treated in this palace?”

Everybody knew what Tara was in the royal family.

“Wasn’t she treated like a cheap prostitute?” Lu Harve sneered. “And how was I treated? Did you forget that as well?”

It was the voice of a victim questioning the perpetrator who seemed to forget everything. The unusual thing was that the victim had a bloodied sword and pointed that sword at the perpetrators.

“Should I still respect these people?”

The queen’s noble conscience spoke. One could not refute this. The queen clenched her jaw.

“He is the true Nantes,” Karbala said. That was the end. No further explanation was needed.

More than half of the nobles in the banquet hall were supporting Lu Harve. His side was already prepared, including the Duke of Moncheta and almost every founding contributor family.

Most of the nobles who had thought they supported him just stood by and watched. Now, Karbala, who had said nothing so far, confessed to Lu Harve. Bergen finally realized what happened.

“What more do I have to say? I am confirmed by Etutu. Stop trying so hard not to die. It is ugly, Bergan.”

A scowl crossed Lu Harve’s face. He waited this whole time for this perfect revenge. He threw his last insult to Bergen’s face.

“You know what the battlefield is like. So, die like a knight.”

But Bergen laughed.

It was just funny. It was not just an act of revenge to pay off twenty-seven years of humiliation. Bergen recognized this. Lu Harve’s face did not reveal that he felt relieved to have revenge by killing people who looked down on him. Those bright red eyes said that it was not just vengeance and exhilaration — there was a more fundamental emotion.

Inside Lu Harve, there was an arrogance that there was nobody more suitable to be king than he was, but it was not excessive pride.

<>

That face of Lu Harve’s. What was it? How did he look so dignified? It was like the king had come back to life. Really, how did he hide it so that everyone failed to recognize it? His stupidity was funny, their dullness was funny, and Lu Harve’s speech pretending it was a matter of revenge was funny. Pretending he didn’t know anything, pretending to hide, pretending it was not true — it was all very funny.

The darkness swallowed Bergen’s world.

There was a lot of screaming and crying. Without a moment of hesitation, Lu Harve pointed his sword at the second prince.

“After you, everybody will die from Etutu’s sword.”

“…Should I say it is an honor?”

“Don’t say unnecessary things.”

Tarenoa bowed his head in a panic, then breathed out.

“My sisters are innocent. It was me and my brother who made the decision. Neither older sister nor younger sister knew.”

Lu Harve erased his smile. Then, he took a stack of papers from Karbala. He skimmed them over with a blank face and stopped at one document. He started reading it out indifferently.

“Brother. I can’t see the end of the war. I’m thirty next year. It is a real problem. Brother, father said he will send the youngest one to the battlefield.”

Tarenoa frowned. He knitted his brows awfully. The first princess turned pale.

“No. The third prince didn’t go to the battlefield yet. Brother, are you going back to war, too? Please, don’t go. I won’t let it happen. I heard father is taking powerful drugs.”

The seventh royal, who was most tenderhearted, eventually burst into tears.

“Sometimes, it is a sin to shut your eyes to the fact. If it is about poisoning the king, it is a more heavy sin. Etutu revealed all the king’s sons and daughters except me joined this crime. Tell me, third princess. Is it unfair?” Lu Harve asked.

Teresia gritted her teeth. Her face twisted uneasily and it was not clear if she was crying or not crying.

“…No. I don’t want cheap sympathy, brother.”

“Teresia!” the second concubine shouted bitterly. Her face was covered with tears. Soon, she collapsed, exhausted. A few maids barely supported her.

“At least you are wise.”

“…The youngest and the mother.”

“You, sinner, want too much.”

“She really didn’t know!”

“They are the ones who gave birth to you all. Do you have any idea how cruel and dirty your crime is?”

Lu Harve continued on as if it was not worth his time to hear the answer.

“You will die and hang on the walls. I will cover you with cloth, considering you are royal. All families who are related to you will not escape your sentence. The head of the families will be executed, and all others will dare to step on Otoi Monvixo.”

The fourth princess shook her body and screamed with a bitter face.

“We did not approve of the poisoning!”

“What an interesting way to object, but you dare deny Etutu’s findings? Are you still not sure what Etutu means in this country?”

“Pell. Stop. It is true.”

“But sister!”

“I’ve been discussing it with our brother. Don’t argue. Keep your dignity as a princess.”

“You… You really to Your Majesty…”

The third concubine was no longer able to open her eyes; they turned red and she finally fainted. Passau stumbled.

“Your Majesty!”

Lu Harve gave an order without expression and with a voice that exuded boredom, unbothered by trivial matters.

“Let’s just end this. It is pointless. Karbala.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Kill everyone except the second prince.”

“No!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do it neatly and without pain. A fitting death for the royal family.”

“As you wish.”

Etutu wielded his sword.

After a short time, all the princes and princesses died, except the second prince. Lu Harve laughed curiously.

“You are the last.”

He tapped the floor with a sword.

“I have the last word. Don’t try to get out of trouble.”

“I will not.”

Lu Harve looked away from Tarenoa and looked around the banquet hall. He spoke with indifference.

“I will listen to you with my last bit of mercy.”

“…We never meant to.”

“That is bullsh*t, again.”

“But the king… Mother… We… Oh…”

Passau finally fell.

Lu Harve brandished his sword.

The most sacred place of the royal palace, the banquet hall, was the golden room where the crowning ceremony took place. Blood seeped along the lines of royal crests. A strange red pattern was quickly painted on the floor.

It was just disgusting. It was hard to breathe with the smell of death and blood. The maids shivered with fear, the chamberlains shut their eyes tight, and the nobles who gathered had a hard time managing their faces. The knights pretended to be careless. The concubines passed out. Only the queen had stood with the help of a knight, but her face was so pale that it would not have been strange for her to fall at that moment.

She was already in the fires of hell. She was choked up but barely opened her mouth.

“…You… How… You… How dare… You…”

Her words were more like the mumblings of a child who had not yet learned to speak. Neither her meaning nor pronunciation was clear.

“Your majesties are all my mothers. So, even though your children committed terrible sins, I will not dare ask you. I am not a thankless child.” Lu Harve smiled eerily.

“Is it right that you are not related to them? Mother?” Lativasa frothed at the mouth and tilted her head back.

Lu Harve made a strange face and gave another calm order.

“I will suspend the coronation for a moment with the authority of the only prince. The knights will clear this place and collect the sinners’ bodies. Then we will have our coronation again. Etutu and Karbala will follow me and the rest will manage the situation here. Over.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I receive your order.”

That evening, Del Monte III ascended the throne.

Passau later suffered from a mental illness. Lativasa and the other concubines threw tremendous hatred at Lu Havre and did not come out of their palaces. The only remaining royal family was the king, former queens, and former concubines.

The king did not kill all the nobles who supported the dead siblings. He also drew them to his side with fear or remorse. He had sent his siblings’ children to his low-ranking nobles to adopt them. He wanted to have them at his side since they were young. Monterobis was slowly becoming the kingdom of Del Monte III.

A few days later, the king entrusted Etutu with his affairs and entered the battlefield with Karbala and the first troops. He swung his sword, never letting a loser or prisoner get away. A bloody victory continued. He heard that two concubines had died during the war, but the king remained on the battlefield. Soon, the war would over.

Skara eventually surrendered when they pushed up to the capital. It was less than two years after the accession of Del Monte III. The war of Skara and Monterobis, which lasted for thirty years, ended. There was a peace treaty between Delg Alchevs’k and Del Monte III.

And the princess of Skara came to stay with Ottoinette.

Lu Havre, of course, did not pay attention to her because she was just colorless to him. He was a king who needed to uphold his cause. He knew her personal information and the fact that she came from Skara. As always, he treated others like that. Perfectly colorless.

But there were words he heard when he met her by chance. She went to Wroclaw. He started to get interested in her. She was willing to learn. Her etiquette professor said she was a pretty good learner, too. Was she talented? If not, she had to be quite smart. It was important to him.

To a king who had no interest in anything but talent and the revival of the country and throne, she was seen as a worthy person. He often ate with her and talked about Wroclaw.

Slowly, time went by and it eventually became summer.