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Chapter : 2
Light seeped into the darkness behind my closed eyelids. For some reason, my eyelids felt unbearably heavy, and I couldn’t bring myself to open them, so I simply kept my eyes shut. At least one thing was fortunate—my head felt heavy, but my mind was still working.
Where is this? I was definitely tracking the Second Prince under His Highness’s orders. Then… I think I entered the enemy camp first…
The prince, cornered politically, had even had his desperate last attempt exposed. Knowing full well he could never silence me, he ordered his men to attack. His followers charged at me with swords drawn. Pretending to defend against the incoming blades, I calmly accepted the death that approached.
Something’s strange.
Instead of the sounds of battle, however, organ music echoed around me, occasionally interrupted by someone’s muffled sniffles. Every now and then, voices reciting prayers joined in, making everything feel even more surreal. Compared to the battlefield I had been standing on only moments ago, this place was so peaceful that the contrast felt unreal.
What happened? I should have died.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, my eyes snapped open.
Sunlight poured through stained-glass windows, scattering brilliant colors throughout the room. At the center of that dazzling light stood a single coffin.
There was no mistaking it.
It was a funeral.
What in the world…
The problem was that I had absolutely no business attending the funeral of someone I didn’t even know.
Because the dead…
couldn’t attend funerals.
Am I dreaming? Or did the plan fail?
I barely stopped myself from jolting upright and hurriedly looked around. As reality slowly settled in, my dulled senses gradually returned, allowing the priest’s voice to become clear.
“Let us begin the prayer for Tienas del Seyers, who met a noble death.”
My breath caught in my throat.
It had to.
Because Tienas…
was me.
“Young Master! Don’t tell me you actually fell asleep? Please, just for today, behave yourself. This is the funeral of that Sir Tienas, arranged personally by His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince!”
As unbelievable as it sounded…
I was witnessing my own funeral.
“His Imperial Highness devoted an unprecedented amount of attention to this ceremony. Even House Seyers spared no effort preparing it together. So today, absolutely, absolutely do not cause any trouble! This time they’ll really chop your head off.”
The person beside me, someone I didn’t even recognize, paid no attention whatsoever to my confusion as he rapidly whispered into my ear.
It was the loudest whisper I had ever heard.
If this was the last thing I was seeing before death, it was an awfully unpleasant sight.
And if it was the last voice I would ever hear, it was incredibly frivolous.
“Young Master, answer me. Young Master Aila!”
At the name Aila, my eyes widened once again.
Intimidated by the servant’s insistence, I nodded reflexively, but I couldn’t understand a single thing that was happening.
If they’re calling me Young Master Aila… they mean that good-for-nothing Aila, don’t they?
He possessed a face as sweet as honey and a voice smoother than any songbird’s.
His personality, however, was just as filthy and vulgar.
We had been classmates at the Academy for about a year, and even back then he had been an outrageously troublesome fellow. Even after that, anyone with functioning ears couldn’t avoid hearing one scandal after another involving him.
But they’re calling me Aila?
Glancing down, I saw soft, callus-free hands—completely unlike those of a knight—and extravagant clothing that no one in their right mind would wear to a funeral.
It was exactly the sort of thing Aila would do.
The Omega Knights were always complaining,
“Aila ruins the reputation of every Omega Knight. I don’t even know why he became a knight.”
Looking at these elegant hands and flashy attire, I understood why.
In other words, he was the complete opposite of me, who looked every bit the conventional knight.
I’m not Aila. I’m Tienas.
This must either be a terrible dream… or God’s way of forcing me to watch my own miserable funeral before letting me abandon this life completely.
If that was the case, then God truly had a cruel side.
Considering He resembled so closely the Crown Prince whom I served and admired, perhaps those who were exalted and noble were destined to possess a measure of cruelty.
Feeling oddly relieved, I decided to quietly endure this funeral that surely no one would genuinely mourn.
“Guh… Hngh… Sob…”
Before I could finish my thought, a loud burst of crying rang through the hall.
I jerked my head up.
Who’s crying that loudly at someone else’s funeral? Did something happen?
But the source of the noisy sobbing was someone I never expected.
Brother?
My younger elder brother, Kaion, had always treated me like a thorn in his side.
When we were children, he picked fights with me every chance he got, calling me,
“A bastard who couldn’t even awaken as an Alpha.”
It was true, so the insults themselves didn’t hurt very much.
Still, other people’s hostility was always exhausting.
He stopped provoking me at some point… but I don’t remember him ever caring enough to mourn my death.
I couldn’t understand it.
Still, remembering that Kaion was softer-hearted than he appeared, I tried to make sense of it.
Even if he had never accepted me as family, perhaps it was possible for him to shed tears over the death of someone he had known.
“Even Lady Jane is showing her grief. Sir Tienas must really have been loved.”
At the whispered remark beside me, I shifted my gaze slightly.
My older sister was patting Kaion’s back while bowing her head.
But that man clearly had no idea what he was talking about.
It looks like a comforting gesture… but she’s probably just telling him to maintain his dignity.
Before her marriage, Lady Jane had always been a strict woman who openly disliked me for being an illegitimate child.
She and Kaion weren’t particularly close either, but there had always been a clear difference between how she treated him and how she treated me.
“Look. She’s crying.”
Unbelievably…
My sister wiped tears from her eyes with a handkerchief while softly reciting a prayer.
She wasn’t pretending.
She was genuinely crying.
It was something I had never witnessed even once in my life.
I almost rubbed my eyes in disbelief.
Come to think of it, they said House Seyers put tremendous effort into preparing this funeral. Are they putting on a show of grief for the noble faction?
No.
Reason told me that couldn’t be true.
Among the nobility, deaths like mine were considered honorable.
Besides, House Seyers had nothing to gain by publicly displaying overwhelming sorrow over my death.
They were already the greatest supporters of the Crown Prince.
Did something happen to the family?
Cold sweat ran down my back.
Unable to believe they were sincerely grieving my death, another possibility occurred to me.
Surely not…
My suspicions only grew stronger when I saw Duke Darian—my eldest brother and the head of our house—with his head lowered and his shoulders trembling.
He was someone who regarded me as nothing more than the one who had stolen the power of prophecy despite lacking any qualification.
There was no way he would cry at my funeral.
If something had happened to the family…
then it was directly connected to His Highness the Crown Prince.
I slowly lifted my gaze toward the highest seat, which I had been deliberately avoiding.
Your Highness!
Silken golden hair.
Brilliant crimson eyes like rubies melted into crystal.
His beauty, as though sculpted solely from the blessings of the gods, remained unchanged.
Yet…
this wasn’t the man I remembered.
He looked as though he had lost at least ten pounds.
Dark shadows lay beneath his eyes.
His lips, always perfectly cared for, were cracked.
Even his immaculate attire was disheveled.
Why…?
Judging by the position he occupied, the plan must have succeeded.
He would have dealt with his political enemies with honor.
Soon afterward, he would have ascended the imperial throne.
He achieved everything he wished for…
Then why…
Why does he look so utterly miserable?
I had gladly given my life…
because all I ever wanted was for him to be happy.
“We will now offer flowers.”
At the priest’s announcement, he moved first.
My master.
My god.
My hero.
My revelation.
He slowly approached my coffin.
Lowering himself, he gently placed a flower upon it.
That single act alone possessed the solemnity of a sacred rite.
It was the moment my death gained meaning.
For an instant, I even wondered if I had been granted these final moments of life solely so I could witness this.
Then…
he bent down even farther.
And pressed his lips against mine.
Against my corpse.
That alone was shocking enough.
But it wasn’t a brief, gentle kiss.
He forced apart my motionless lips.
Slipped his tongue inside.
And moved with relentless insistence.
It was a raw, intimate kiss—as though he were making love.
The surrounding air turned deathly cold.
