Chapter 319: Into the Abyss, with You (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 319: Into the Abyss, with You (3)
The knights who followed the royal command stood with their backs to the palace.
The birds who followed their master stood facing it.
Some held swords, some held bows, and some held concealed weapons, but in the end, they were all the same. They pointed their weapons at one another for the sake of the one to whom they had dedicated their lives.
“Yellow Robin.”
They had no names.
That was the only thing that set them apart.
From every country on the continent to the Great Desert, they nested wherever they could, diligently gathering information to deliver to their master. They remained loyal to him, deceiving and betraying countless others along the way. They were people who lived to hear their master’s command and died to protect it.
‘If you have any last words, speak them. I will listen.’
‘I have none, Your Highness.’
In that regard, the knights who followed the king and the birds who followed their master were no different. Although many had been forced to fold their wings under suspicion of being connected to Zeon, those who remained were still Chase’s loyal birds.
‘Return to the nest. I will contact you when needed.’
And now, they had gathered before the royal palace.
Not Devlan’s birds, but Chase’s—men who would obey only his word—stood ready.
“Was it Yellow Robin? I believe that was your name.”
“It is Servain Chamberman.”
Those gathered here were no longer nameless birds. With their own names and faces, their own thoughts and wills, they held their swords.
—If the yellow bird delivers my words, please spare him. If he does not, I hope you will trust him.
Yellow Robin, Servain.
He was the one who had disobeyed Chase’s order not to track Euria, following her and Arsen instead. For that, he had nearly lost his life at Chase’s hands, saved only by a single letter from Calian.
The knight commander discreetly moved his hand behind his back, pointing a single finger toward the palace. In response, one of the knights at the very rear quietly turned and vanished into the darkness. He was going to report the situation.
To buy time until Devlan received the news, the knight commander spoke again.
“Servain. Yes, that was it. I thought you would have forgotten it.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you?”
“What business do the birds have here?”
“To protect my master.”
Devlan and Teilan would occasionally select promising individuals from among aspiring knights and train them as spies. Because of this, some birds were acquainted with the knights. Most of them lived and died in foreign lands, as a spy whose face was known had little use in their home country, and providing expensive magical disguise tools to every bird was impractical.
Servain was no exception.
Like Eila, he had once been a knight-aspirant, which was how he knew the commander who now stood defending the inner castle.
“Are the birds so dim-witted that in remembering their own names, they have forgotten who their true master is?”
Though they called Chase their master, wasn't it Devlan who ultimately commanded them? Servain laughed at the jab.
“Perhaps. All the birds gathered here only remember the one who last gave them feed. As you said, we’re a dim-witted flock.”
“You dress your treason in pretty words.”
“Aren’t you the ones calling our actions treason? You attacked His Highness’s people first. How can this be treason? Raising a blade to block an incoming one is defense, not rebellion.”
“No. It is treason. Unless you are ignorant of the fate that awaits traitors, stop before it is too late.”
“I know the price of disobeying a command all too well.”
The Yellow Robin, who had succeeded the White Eagle—the one who betrayed Chase and lost his sight, hearing, and speech—continued, “But it seems you are the one who is ignorant, not me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t even know how many birds there are, do you?”
Servain raised his hand.
With a sharp gesture, he signaled them to take their positions.
Rustle!
As if they had been waiting, the sound of feet stepping on shadows echoed in unison. From all corners of the darkness, figures clad in black emerged, surrounding Legian’s private soldiers who held the magic lamps.
The sound came from inside the inner castle as well.
Before anyone realized, other birds who had already subdued the castle knights and scaled the walls now aimed their arrows down at the knights below.
Seeing this, the knight commander’s face hardened.
Servain took another step toward him. “Did you intend to send word to the palace? Did you think we wouldn’t be there? Did you think you were the only ones who needed time?”
The knight commander did not answer.
“Let us enter,” Legian said, as if she had been waiting for this moment.
Teilan gave Legian a slight nod and then gestured to Servain. At the signal, Servain tightened his grip on his sword and took another step toward the palace. The birds moved in unison, forming a protective perimeter around the masked figures.
There was no longer any need for words. Even if birds had already scaled the walls, the palace’s knight order had not been entirely subdued. The commander refused to give up and raised his sword, lunging toward Servain.
Or rather, he tried to.
Swoosh!
A brief sound of tearing air, a gust of wind, and a sword appeared before his eyes.
Teilan, who had removed his mask at some point, had drawn his own blade and pointed it at the commander’s throat. Only then did the commander recognize him, his eyes turning sharp.
“...Has His Highness truly committed treason?”
“This is not treason.”
Teilan cut him off, pressing the sword closer to the commander’s neck before reversing his grip on the single-edged blade.
“It is reclaiming what is ours.”
For Chase had been the rightful king of this country from the very beginning.
Thud!
Having said his piece, Teilan swung the flat of his sword against the commander’s neck. A dull thud echoed, and the commander, protected only by light armor, collapsed. At that, the birds, led by Servain, surged forward.
Teilan moved again.
His blade did not gleam in the slightest.
*
—The Royal Concubine has disappeared.
The banquet was suspended.
—Teilan Castrin is nowhere to be found.
—Some of Kairis’s mages, including Alan Manasil, have vanished from the palace.
—Marquis Legian Lin has entered the inner castle.
Under the pretext of the commotion, the nobles who attended the banquet were forced to remain in the palace. It was framed as a safety measure, but in truth, it was detention.
The party of the 3rd Prince of Kairis, who could no longer make excuses about moving, were all relocated to the palace annex. This, too, was done under the guise of protecting foreign royalty, but it was nothing short of isolation.
—Marquis Legian Lin has arrived outside the palace. With them… are the Crown Prince’s spies. The spies and Teilan Castrin are together.
Devlan fell into deep thought.
He spent the night at his desk, chin resting on his hand, his eyes downcast.
All the palace knights had been dispatched to the front.
—There are no casualties among the knights. There was a clash, but no one died.
This was disadvantageous.
After all, it was Devlan who had struck first.
—The nobles are protesting strongly, demanding to know what is happening. What shall we do?
In a single night, the nobles had found their voices—the same nobles who had remained silent for over twenty years.
Chase had said he would no longer endure. Calian had said Devlan did not have much time left. Legian Lin had made her move, and the birds had gathered.
‘Where is Alan Manasil?’
‘He is nowhere to be seen.’
Devlan’s own birds had gone silent.
No news came. Chase’s birds had been moving in secret for a very, very long time. He was only realizing it now. His thoughts spun in circles, finding no resolution.
“Why are you just sitting there? You haven’t eaten.”
“Just because I have become Crown Prince does not mean I have forgotten my etiquette,” Devlan said, pausing his train of thought.
The one who answered, a man who couldn’t possibly be ignorant of the chaos outside, spoke quietly. “The host eats first. Only then does the guest touch their food. It might seem trivial, but the custom’s origins are anything but.”
It was an etiquette born not of respect, but of suspicion—a custom that arose because inviting a guest only to poison them was a frequent occurrence.
“Are you worried I might have poisoned the food? Last time, you drank the tea without hesitation.”
“That’s because I was warned not to eat just anything.”
“Who would dare warn the Crown Prince of Kairis?”
“Who indeed?” Franz replied, openly expressing his distrust. His eyes narrowed as he recalled the man who had so vehemently opposed him coming here.
Since the answer was not difficult to deduce, Devlan chuckled softly. “In any case, this was meant as an apology for yesterday’s events. I don’t know if you are aware, but I have never tampered with your food or tea. Can you not take this as a sign of good faith?”
“I see,” Franz said with a nod. He still didn’t touch a single thing. “It’s just that flowers and seafood do not suit my palate.”
He gestured to the table. Abundant seafood and edible flowers, along with lavish floral decorations that showed no consideration for the guest’s tastes, dominated the spread.
“Oh, dear. I was unaware.”
“It’s fine.”
Pressing him to eat any further would be pointless. Besides, the purpose of this meeting was to talk, not to share a friendly meal. Devlan nodded and took a sip of water.
“Yes. My preamble was too long. My mind is in such disarray that I can’t even organize my thoughts. Please understand.”
“Is that so?”
“Outside the palace, those who slander me have gathered. Inside, those who wish to eliminate me have done the same. I have been pondering how to escape such a deep trap, but no matter how I think, I see no way out. Then I realized—is it not because of my own anxiety? When my own son points a blade at me, how could my heart not be in turmoil?”
“Your Majesty.” Franz stared at Devlan for a long moment before speaking slowly. “I will be disappointed if you utter the exact same words as Brissen.”
Why did they all bring up bloodlines the moment they were backed into a corner?
“If you tell me what you want, I will listen.” Franz disliked flowers, seafood, and men who talked too much. But what he loathed most of all was the blatant hypocrisy of invoking shared blood. He cut Devlan off.
“Do you know what I want?”
“War.”
“And for what reason do you think so?”
“Royal Concubine Louise, who could have been a hostage against Crown Prince Chase, and his fiancée have escaped to safety. Prince Calian is protecting Crown Prince Chase, and outside, Marquis Legian Lin appears to be gathering her soldiers.”
Devlan stared at Franz without a word.
“And Chase’s birds are protecting them. Right now, it looks as though Your Majesty is detaining Crown Prince Chase, so the only method you can think of is war. If war breaks out, the entire situation is reversed. A war with the excellent pretext of a preemptive strike by Alan Manasil, at that. Am I wrong?”
A smile played on Devlan’s lips.
“You said you would show me a way to live if I asked for it.”
“That is correct.”
“If you tell me, I will help you return home safely, alone. Since the 3rd Prince will not enter the tower quietly.”
The talkative man had finally gotten to the point.
“Calian said this,” Franz began. “That there is something Your Majesty will absolutely never know.”
“Something I do not know? What is it?”
“That I never had any intention of betraying my brother.”
“...Is that so?”
“And there is one more thing.”
With that, Franz pulled something from his breast pocket and set it on the table. Devlan’s eyes fixed on the object in his hand.
—I believe I heard something about returning alone, or about a tower. Might that be about my sons?
Devlan’s brow furrowed.
The voice continued.
—I have no intention of engaging in a war, but I can send an army to your country. Solely for the sake of your single life.
Franz smirked.
After all, Calian wasn’t the only one with a father to call on.