Chapter 296 - Black and White

The man was struggling to get up from the floor when Anfey rushed into the room. Anfey kicked the man in the face and the man fell back, his head smashing against the floor. Blood splattered across the floor. Anfey waved his hand, summoning wind blades and sending them after the two servants who were crouching on the floor. The third servant dashed towards Anfey, who waved his sword and slit the man’s throat. The servant shook and fell to the ground.

The door on the other side of the room was pushed open. Three men appeared, and as soon as they did, the wind blades attacked them. The third man ducked behind his companions, whose bodies were mangled and bloodied. With a flash of silver, the third man fell down as well, dead.

Anfey turned to the last door. Rodhart had two teachers. One was dead and the other was supposedly in his room, resting. How did this chaos not wake him?

Anfey walked over and pushed open the door, but did not enter immediately. He waited for a few seconds then slipped in silently. The room was silent and empty, the window wide open. A long rope made from curtains draped down from the open window. It was shaking.

Anfey walked over and looked down. The old man was clearly not familiar with this way of escape. He spent too much time making the rope and left too little time for himself to get away.

Anfey reached down, grabbed the old man, and dragged him back into the room. He dragged his sword across the man’s neck and dropped the body onto the ground.

Anfey did not make a lot of noise, so he could hear clearly all the sounds Suzanna was making. As Anfey was leaving the room, the house returned to silence. Suzanna must have finished her mission as well.

Suzanna jumped through a large hole in the wall and greeted Anfey.

"We aren’t the demolition crew, you know," Anfey said with a smile.

Suzanna turned and saw the destruction she had done. The hall was filled with rubble, the magic lamps on the walls were gone. The wall to their left had already fallen, and the hole in the wall was wide enough for three cows to walk through. Suzanna shrugged. This was simply the way of swordsmen.

"Hopefully His Majesty won’t make us pay for this destruction," Anfey said, shaking his head.

"How’s Christian doing?" Suzanna asked. "Is he alright?"

"Don’t worry about him," Anfey said, sitting down on the stairs. "He will be alright. All we have to do is wait."

"I can go…"

"No," Anfey said, shaking his head. "This is none of our business."

Suzanna sighed and sat down next to Anfey.

Time ticked by slowly, but Christian still did not appear. The palace guards appeared several times and disappeared quickly when they saw Suzanna and Anfey. The leader of the guards frowned when he saw the two. He thought they would leave as soon as they finished the job instead sitting there and talking.

The stench in the air grew stronger. Anfey glanced at the bodies and saw large patches on the skin. They must have been there at least two hours.

Just then, the two heard soft footsteps and saw Christian walking down the stairs.

"Is everything taken care of?" Anfey asked, standing up.

"I…" Christian opened his mouth but was interrupted by the faint sound of crying from upstairs.

Anfey frowned. He knew that Christian not only spared the children, but also some of the grownups. Otherwise the kids would not stop crying so quickly.

"I killed Rodhart," Christian said slowly. "But I can’t kill the kids. They did nothing wrong."

"Neither did Rodhart," Anfey said.

"Are you saying that I am weak?" Christian asked, staring at Anfey.

"That isn’t what I said."

"I should have stayed here," Christian said, shaking his head. He had killed before, like when they attacked the orcs. However, the orcs had attacked them first, and Christian could somewhat justify their actions. He could not bring himself to murder defenseless women and children. Christian had been determined on his way upstairs, but he began doubting himself as soon as he saw those people. He would rather face Rodhart’s servants or the swordsmen.

"You can’t hide behind others forever," Anfey said.

"I’m not you," Christian said, shaking his head. They had been working together for a long time now, and they knew each other very well. He knew that Anfey would not care if his target was a defenseless young child.

"You are not," Anfey agreed. "If it was me, I would not keep them alive."

The sound of faint crying started again. Christian frowned, tempted to go upstairs and finish the job. Of course, the urge disappeared quickly.

"Your decision is not wrong," Anfey said. "It is your attitude that is wrong. You should not regret what you did. It doesn’t matter if you wanted to fight for the throne or just wanted a peaceful life. Indecisiveness will hinder you. If you choose not to harm the innocent, that is your decision and I respect it. Our business here is finished. We should not linger here any longer. You can’t change anything by staying here."

"Will you think I’m weak?"

"That’s not important," Anfey said. "I will not use my standards to measure you. You are you. I am me."

Christian smiled and nodded, feeling relieved by Anfey’s words. "Alright," he said with a soft sigh. "I see. Let’s go home now."

—

A shocking story began spreading through the streets of Sacred City. After the third prince Rodhart was born, a few Ellisen spies in the Maho court made a despicable plan. They secretly brought the bastard of Ellisen Empire’s king to Maho Empire and replaced the prince with the bastard. They wanted to put the bastard on the throne, therefore taking the most powerful position in the empire for themselves. The men tried to smuggle the real prince out of the city when they ran into the former head of the palace guards, Baery. The men aroused Baery’s suspicion and were killed. Baery did not know what to do with a strange child, but he did not have the time to take care of children, so he took the kid to Saul. Saul named the child Christian.

After the Dark Moon Magic Legion was defeated by Saul, Maho Empire discovered a large amount of information not available to them before. The plan was among the information exposed after the war. Yolanthe ordered the situation to be thoroughly investigated. The investigators found the midwife, who recalled a snake-like birthmark on the back of the prince’s neck. This proved Christian’s true identity.

Yolanthe ordered the arrest of all involved personnel. The fake Rodhart knew that he was exposed. In a moment of desperation he fought against the palace guards and was slain.

The story had its plot holes and mistakes, like how sneaking a child into the palace was possible, why it was necessary to take the real prince out of the city, why those men did not kill the prince, how it was possible that the midwife was the only one who knew about the birthmark. Of course, people did not care about those inconsistencies. They only wanted a thrilling story.

Anfey, on the other hand, was more touched by the story. He knew how cruel the reality of the royal court was. Speaking objectively, even though the fake Rodhart was an incompetent man, it was not his fault. He had been created by Yolanthe. He had done nothing wrong, but the king was still set on wiping away his existence.