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Chapter : 1
The disgrace of the Sayers family. A freak. A bastard. The family’s only Beta.
Those were the words that defined me.
Some of those labels had followed me from the moment I was born, while others were attached to me as I grew older. But I never cared much about them. They were all true, so I simply accepted them as a matter of course.
Still, when a single person told me that none of those things were something I should naturally accept, there was no stopping my soul from being captivated.
The day I first met him, I felt as though my entire body melted away and was remade into something completely new.
Even now, I remember that day vividly.
“I don’t understand why the family’s power descended upon someone so undeserving.”
My older brother, Darian, looked at me as though I were an enormous headache.
Apart from mana, every noble family in the Empire possessed a unique hereditary ability known as a Power. Normally, it was inherited by the eldest legitimate heir. The Sayers family’s immense influence had been built largely upon that very Power.
“In one week’s time, Prince Gide will be ambushed during a hunting expedition. However, I believe the attack will merely be for show. One of the faces among those who intended to kidnap him belonged to a servant of the Noble Faction.”
Pretending not to notice Darian’s disapproving gaze, I calmly reported the future I had seen yesterday.
The Sayers family possessed the Power of foresight—the ability to see the future. Among the nobility, knowing the future was an authority beyond measure.
Before the current Emperor ascended the throne by seizing absolute imperial power through war, it had been openly said that no one could become Emperor without first gaining the support of the Sayers family.
“I see. We’ll prepare a response and inform His Highness the Crown Prince as well. You’ll accompany me to the palace today.”
As always, I expected the usual, perfunctory response of, “You’ve done well. You may leave now.”
Instead, an order I had never imagined fell upon me.
Even I, a child who rarely disobeyed my brother, could only stare at him with wide eyes and ask foolishly,
“…Pardon?”
“You turned twelve last week. It’s about time you began showing your face as a member of House Sayers. You’ll be entering the Academy next year, so now is the perfect opportunity.”
Darian spoke those astonishing words as though they were nothing.
Introducing an illegitimate child like me to the Crown Prince was practically a declaration that he intended to fully acknowledge me as a member of the family.
I may have been young and foolish, but even I understood how extraordinary that was.
“…Would it truly be acceptable… for someone like me?”
“I should at least offer you a carrot if I expect you to continue fulfilling your role.”
Pressing his fingers against his temple, Darian looked down at me.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of emotion in his eyes.
Without realizing it, I lowered my head to the floor.
“Brother! Is it true you’re taking that Tienas brat to the Imperial Palace?”
The person who burst into the room without knocking was, unsurprisingly, my older brother Kaian.
He had recently returned home for the Academy break, and every time he saw me, he’d twist his face in disgust and spit out insults like, “You filthy bastard.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d experienced something like this.
To be honest, he was still easier to deal with than my older sister, who behaved as though I didn’t exist at all.
“The decision has already been made. Don’t argue with it.”
“But, Brother!”
Instead of replying to Kaian’s protest, Darian simply closed the book he had been reading and stood.
The furious Kaian immediately snapped his mouth shut.
By the time Darian walked up until they were face to-face, it looked as though he’d even stopped breathing.
Even my own heart pounded loudly.
“Kaian. Since when have you started talking back to me? Did the Academy teach you such bad habits?”
“I-I’m… sorry.”
Kaian clearly had much more he wanted to say, but in the end, all he could do was apologize.
Standing beside him, I bowed my head as well, as though I too were asking forgiveness.
It wasn’t merely to match the mood.
I truly believed all of this had happened because of me.
The thought made it difficult to breathe.
I was always causing trouble for the family.
The shame of it never faded.
“Kaian, leave. Tienas, prepare yourself. We’re departing for the palace.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Perhaps Darian had already instructed them beforehand.
The servants brought out the finest clothes I owned, dressed me, and meticulously groomed me.
Even so, I couldn’t help wondering whether they could really hide what everyone called my “innate vulgarity.”
I didn’t know exactly what that phrase meant.
But I knew it wasn’t meant kindly.
Standing before the gates of the Imperial Palace only made that anxiety grow.
The Sayers estate in the capital was famous for its grandeur, yet it couldn’t compare to the palace.
I had to fight with all my might to keep myself from looking around in awe and instead maintain proper etiquette.
“Carry yourself properly.”
As though he had read my thoughts, Darian whispered quietly.
Unlike me, he walked through the palace with effortless grace, completely at ease.
Compared to him, I hurried along on my short legs, barely managing to keep up.
“Please announce our audience with His Highness.”
After walking for quite some time, Darian addressed the knights standing before an elaborately gilded door.
In measured voices, they announced our arrival.
Standing stiffly, I took a deep breath.
The clothes I’d thought looked respectable now somehow felt pitifully plain.
“His Highness will receive you.”
As the doors opened, the first thing that caught my eye was a head of brilliant golden hair.
For some reason, my heart began pounding wildly.
They say he’s unbelievably beautiful… Could it really be true?
Rumors about the Crown Prince were endless.
People claimed he possessed such breathtaking beauty that he hardly seemed human.
There were even songs written solely to praise his appearance.
Secret portraits of His Highness circulated among the nobility, though they all looked unreal—as if the artists were competing to paint the most beautiful being imaginable.
No matter what… someone that beautiful can’t possibly exist.
Swallowing nervously, I waited for His Highness to turn around.
Bathed in sunlight before the window, he slowly turned with such elegance that it resembled the beginning of a graceful dance.
In reality, he had merely turned around.
Yet that was how it appeared to me.
“So, you’ve come.”
His eyes curved into crescents as he approached me.
The sunlight gathered behind him like a halo created solely for his sake.
Speechless, I could only blink.
It didn’t take long for me to realize the portraits I’d seen weren’t exaggerations at all.
If anything, the artists had simply lacked the skill to capture even a fraction of His Highness’s beauty.
“Tienas.”
Only when Darian quietly urged me did I come back to my senses.
“I-I am Tienas, third son of House Sayers. I greet Your Highness.”
“My, he’s young, and quite clever too. Darian, there’s no need to pressure the child so much.”
His voice was as sweet as melted sugar.
As he looked into my eyes, his hand reached toward me.
Instinctively, I squeezed my eyes shut.
But instead of striking me or doing anything threatening…
He simply stroked my hair.
“So, this is the child who sees the future.”
“Yes.”
Without thinking, I whipped my head toward Darian.
Only my father and Darian knew that secret within the family.
“There is no need to worry. I’m simply a little more perceptive than most people.”
His warm hand continued to pat my head.
It never withdrew.
The unfamiliar kindness threatened to bring tears flooding to my eyes.
“You are the Sayers family’s greatest treasure. Continue growing up just as precious and beautiful as you are now.”
As though entranced, I looked up at him.
He smiled gently once more.
I forgot to answer, completely captivated by that smile.
Even Darian said nothing about my rude behavior.
Then another flash burst across my vision.
For an instant, I saw His Highness and Darian speaking together in the palace garden.
“It would be even better if you came to visit from time to time and kept me company. Time would surely fly by with such a lovely child as you.”
I wasn’t beautiful.
Nor was I really a child anymore.
Yet the moment he said those words…
I became exactly that.
Instinctively, I knew he was someone who could never be wrong.
“Thank you… Your Highness.”
Even I could feel my face burning red.
I didn’t realize it then.
That was the moment I fell in love for the very first time.
“Mm. ‘Tienas’ is rather long. Would it be all right if I called you Tiel instead?”
“Y-Yes! Of course, Your Highness!”
From that day onward, Tienas of House Sayers became Tiel—the devoted servant of Crown Prince Kyren.
And so, deciding that I would die for him was only natural.
“You mongrel slave! How dare you show your face here! Have you lost your mind? Do you want to die that badly?!”
Being called a slave was almost an honor.
After all, my master was none other than the most noble man in the world—His Highness Kyren.
That life was far better than drifting through the world as a wanderer who belonged nowhere.
“I know you intend to start the war today.”
“So it’s another one of House Sayers’ precious prophecies! Then Kyren must have sent you here to die.”
“As if he would.”
My master regarded me as one of the pieces on his chessboard.
Even so, he had never considered me a piece that could simply be discarded.
The one who should originally have come here today was another knight—Aile.
He was the least useful among us, while secretly courting the Noble Faction and preparing to betray us.
His Highness knew that.
Yet he deliberately kept Aile close for the sake of today.
The death of the Crown Prince’s personal knight would make it undeniable that the Second Prince’s side had started the war.
That was why someone expendable had to be sent.
“You’d like to believe that. Haven’t I told you over and over? Kyren must be sick and tired of you. The way he looks at you is disgusting enough to prove it.”
“And yet… he still kept me by his side because he needed me.”
But everything had changed beginning last summer.
The Power I had once been able to use dozens of times a day had begun to weaken.
By last month, I could no longer invoke prophecy even once.
Without my gift of foresight…
I had become the most useless person in the Royal Guard.
At least Aile still possessed information about the Noble Faction.
Yesterday, I wrote every prophecy that had yet to come true onto sheets of parchment.
Alongside them, I left behind my plan…
And my farewell.
I had hidden them in my room.
Once the war ended, His Highness would surely find them.
The one thing I could never bear was telling my master to his face that I was no longer useful.
In the end, this had been the better choice.
It was time for me to step down from the chessboard.
“Kyren even assigned you to guard his fiancée so you’d finally learn your place, yet you still didn’t understand. As his younger brother, I suppose it’s only right that I help my dear brother get what he wants. Dane, cut off that stupid dog’s head!”
That one… hurt.
Cruel words mixed with truth always wounded far more deeply than complete lies.
“Die!”
Blades rained down upon me.
I did not dodge.
For the briefest moment…
I wished that my death truly was what he desired.
Because if it was…
Then I would have remained useful to him until my very last breath.
