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Chapter : 30
Neither of them was wrong.
But the answer to this problem had already been decided.
Felix’s actions were the correct answer, and Kaiden was wrong.
Felix wiped his younger brother’s face and stood up without saying a word.
Sensing that this was the end, Kaiden grabbed his brother’s arm. His gaze dropped downward.
Felix noticed the wounds on Kaiden’s neck and hands.
At the thought that his little brother must have stood against knights with those small hands to save their mother, he couldn’t bring himself to raise his head in shame.
While his brother was blocking them, he himself had been supporting their father, calling it the “right decision.”
It was humiliating.
Afraid that he might break down and cry in front of his brother, he only let out a short sigh and issued a curt order to the attendant.
“…Move Kaiden to another room.”
Then he hurriedly turned away and left the room.
Kaiden stared blankly at the closed door.
No.
His vision gradually blurred with tears.
My brother wouldn’t do this to me.
Felix had always been his most reliable support after their parents.
Even if, because of royal blood, their relationship would someday change from brothers to ruler and subject, it didn’t matter. Serving Felix as his brother—or as emperor—would both be the greatest honor to him.
But after the empress was taken away, cracks had begun to form in that belief.
* * *
Kaiden was released from confinement about a week later.
Supported by knights—guarded as well—he arrived before the emperor’s audience chamber.
At the news that the emperor had summoned him, Kaiden felt a quiet joy bloom in his chest.
Felix had said it was impossible, but since Father had called for him separately, it must mean he planned to deal gently with Mother.
Don’t get excited.
Hadn’t he made a mistake last time by letting his emotions get the better of him when he begged Felix? This time, he couldn’t afford to fail.
He steadied his breathing and entered.
Guided by the chief attendant, he saw Arthur IV sitting firmly upon the imperial throne. Upon seeing his son, the emperor gestured for the attendant to leave, and the man disappeared swiftly.
A heavy silence settled between father and son.
The unexplained chill made Kaiden uneasy, but he hid it and maintained proper decorum.
Time passed like that for quite a while.
Kaiden did not move at all, waiting only for the emperor to speak. If the emperor did not begin, he could never leave.
At last, the emperor opened his mouth.
“Is it true that you asked Felix to release the empress?”
The question was blunt and cold, unlike his usual tone.
Kaiden thought his father was suffering because of the empress.
Rather than the dark expression before him now, he recalled the kind father he had known—who cared for nothing but Mother.
No matter how painful things became, Kaiden believed his father would never make a foolish decision.
Even if Kaiden himself had to be sacrificed in the process, he didn’t mind.
“Yes, it’s true.”
“And is it also true that you blasphemed the gods?”
A few days earlier, before Felix, Kaiden’s words dismissing the prophecy had indeed constituted blasphemy. Realizing his mistake deeply, he answered.
“…Yes, that is also true.”
His reply echoed heavily through the chamber.
The emperor looked down at his second son with an emotionless face. His facial muscles didn’t twitch at all—he looked less like a living man and more like a wax figure.
“I was wrong. Though I am nothing but a lowly being, I denied the gods.”
Kaiden prostrated himself flat on the floor.
“I will die in Mother’s place and take responsibility.”
It wasn’t something a ten-year-old should be saying, but Kaiden believed that was what royalty was supposed to do.
He recalled what Felix had said to him a few days earlier.
If only we suffer. If only we are sacrificed.
“I will die to protect the imperial family.”
He was desperate to save his mother.
His brother was already the heir to the empire. Even if Kaiden died, there would be no crisis of succession, and by offering up a criminal from within the royal family, they wouldn’t earn the pope’s hatred either.
But the words that came from Arthur IV were unexpected.
“No.”
“The beast mentioned in the prophecy is me. Then shouldn’t it be enough if I alone disappear?”
When Kaiden asked in confusion, the emperor replied with a devastated expression.
“If that happens, our empire will be excommunicated once again.”
During the reign of Arthur III—before Arthur IV—the emperor had once incurred the hatred of Pope Gregory VII and was excommunicated.
The Arden Empire was a nation of faith. For its ruler to be excommunicated was unthinkable.
To protect the imperial family, Arthur III had gone to Betheas and knelt before the temple for days.
“The pope wants the empress dead.”
After that humiliating incident, the Arden Empire lived in constant fear of angering the pope again.
“And now you want me to defy his will?”
Empress Aria, Arthur IV’s wife, was of commoner origin and hated both by the papal state and by the nobility.
They all knew the truth.
That divine prophecies held no real power.
Those who once claimed to serve the people had fallen into corruption, becoming monsters driven only by selfish desire.
After understanding everything, Kaiden stared at the emperor with a hollow expression.
Arthur IV continued.
“Do you know how I feel, enduring all of this?”
The hand that had once seemed as immovable as a mountain was trembling visibly.
“And in front of such a father, you say you’ll die?”
“……”
“The empress said this. That what they want is her—that Kaiden, at least, should be spared. That since you have the emperor’s blood, you might survive!”
Arthur IV exhaled shakily and murmured on.
“Live. Never die. If it hurts, hide it. Live—for your mother’s sake.”
The father Kaiden had thought invincible—equal even to the gods—collapsed.
“Never die…”
Faced with such an unfamiliar sight, Kaiden was left speechless.
The sound of sobbing gradually filled the audience chamber.
Without even thinking to maintain decorum, Kaiden fled the chamber as if escaping. He barely acknowledged the chief attendant’s greeting, stumbled, and fell. The knights rushed to help him, but he shook them off and kept running.
After shaking off even his personal attendant and reaching his room first, he locked the door.
Sliding down the wall, Kaiden stared blankly into space.
This isn’t real.
Even the father he had trusted had fallen.
Father would never do this.
Kaiden denied everything he had seen.
It was a dream. A terrible nightmare.
But contrary to his wishes, the nightmare continued.
* * *
From that day on, Kaiden stopped eating and spent his time in a daze, occasionally reading the fairy tales he had once read with the empress.
The attendants pleaded desperately with Felix to save the prince, but Kaiden no longer listened even to the brother he had always obeyed so well.
Even when he saw him—
“Go away.”
—that was all he said, pulling the blanket over his head.
Felix knew all of his brother’s actions were a form of protest, but he couldn’t grant his request. Their father would never change his decision.
Days passed like that.
Felix’s visits became less frequent, and the life slowly disappeared from Kaiden’s room.
The more this continued, the more anxious Kaiden’s attendant became.
As a prince, Kaiden couldn’t be force-fed. If he collapsed from malnutrition, it would be a disaster.
In the end, the attendant knelt before Kaiden and begged desperately.
“Please, Your Highness, just take one spoonful!”
“……”
“If you don’t, I’ll die! I want to live a long life and stay by Your Highness’s side!”
Though the prince had become sensitive lately, the attendant knew well that Kaiden was kind-hearted.
Kaiden looked at the attendant pleading earnestly before him. Just as Kaiden wished for the empress’s release, the attendant wished for the prince not to starve to death.
With a short sigh, Kaiden murmured quietly.
“I’ll eat. But grant me one request.”
The attendant’s eyes widened as he asked urgently.
“W-What request is it?”
“Let me see my mother.”
