Even at the Cost of My Life #12
“Emil the priest has disappeared?”
“That’s right. Right around the end of the jousting matches, Lady Cately came and took him away. He never came back after that.”
Neil spoke with clear suspicion.
“Emil… he might have betrayed us.”
“That’s impossible.”
Roen immediately refuted him.
“Priest Emil is not that kind of man.”
“You’ve only known him for a few days and you’re already taking his side?”
“You don’t know him, brother. He isn’t that kind of person. And even if he were… it wouldn’t matter anyway.”
Neil nodded.
“True. We have five hundred of our soldiers already infiltrated into Iredain. Since the jousting tournament was being held, a large influx of outsiders didn’t raise any suspicion.”
“Then that’s all we need. Our goal is to get the princess to safety. Let’s focus only on that for now.”
Roen turned her head away coldly.
Neil shrugged and approached Leni, who was standing in a corner of the banquet hall.
“Your Highness, it is time for us to leave.”
“Oh… but what about Priest Emil?”
“Well, Priest Emil is…”
“—He left first for safety, Your Highness.”
Roen cut in while Neil was speaking.
Her eyes clearly said, Idiot. If you tell the princess that Priest Emil has disappeared, what do you think she’ll say?Neil nodded in understanding.
“Why didn’t Priest Emil say anything to me?”
“There was probably no time to bid you farewell. Let us go now. No one will notice if we leave at this moment.”
Leni’s face fell.
Had this princess always been so expressive?
To Neil, who had only ever seen her cold, expressionless face since the curse took hold, the sight was incredibly refreshing.
“We really must leave now. Lord Alon Ricgard has begun his toasts.”
Alon Ricgard first raised a toast in gratitude to the kingdom and the gods who protected it.
The knights gathered in the banquet hall lifted their cups together.
Then he toasted to Iredain,
and to himself and his family.
But Neil felt something was missing from the toasts. Alon had skipped a very important one…
“Beautiful lady, may I be so bold as to ask your name?”
At that very moment, someone approached Leni and spoke to her.
A knight clad in black armor.
The champion of this jousting tournament.
Roen stepped forward and cut him off.
“We are in a hurry. Please step aside.”
“My, I was speaking to this young lady here.”
The black knight turned his gaze back to Leni.
Roen irritably ignored him and tried to lead Leni away.
At that moment, Alon raised another toast.
“And to our new king! May the gods’ blessings be upon Rosdea and its rightful sovereign!”
Yes.
He had not yet toasted to the king.
Normally, that should have come first.
And Neil noticed another strangeness.
Alon had toasted not to a new queen, but to a new king.
Some seemed to realize it and raised their cups, while others did not.
“…Roen, let’s go. Quickly.”
Neil immediately tried to take Leni and Roen and slip away.
However—
“Ah, just a moment to talk…”
“Stop bothering us and get lost—”
Neil couldn’t finish his sentence.
“—Ugh!”
“I said I wanted to talk for a moment.”
What the hell was happening?
Roen reacted first.
She drew her sword instantly and swung it down at the black knight.
But he deflected her blade with the silver cup in his hand, then kicked her wrist, sending her sword flying.
“Aah!”
It was an exquisite technique.
Using a mere drinking cup to slide a sword blade aside.
And Neil knew that technique very well.
“God… damn it. Why the hell are you here when you should be in Myrdin?”
“Ah, so you noticed after all? You’ve always been sharper than Roen.”
“How could I not notice?”
Neil gritted his teeth.
The dagger buried in his stomach restricted his movement.
“Gil—you son of a bitch. Why are you here?!”
“Call me Brother Gildeon. Both you and Roen lack proper respect for your elder brother.”
The black knight lightly lifted off his helmet.
The face beneath it belonged to the man once known as the bastard Gil Bloodfire—Gildeon Esterien.
“Damn it… so you really did betray us?”
“Betray? You should choose your words more carefully. That word is reserved for those beneath you, Neil.”
Even as he groaned in pain, Neil reached for his sword. But Gildeon shook his head.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Take a look at who’s surrounding you right now.”
When he looked around, several men had drawn their swords and were pointing them at both Neil and Roen.
And the most unbelievable part was… they were the very comrades Neil had brought with him.
“God damn it, why are you all…”
“You thought you brought five hundred of your own subordinates? Wrong. You brought my subordinates.”
Gildeon smiled.
At that moment, Alon Ricgard raised another toast.
“The sole man who fought for Rosdea in the war three years ago and carries the royal bloodline! Our one and only king! Let us toast to Gildeon Esterien!”
A murmur spread through the banquet hall.
Gildeon Esterien.
Alon had clearly spoken a name other than the queen who currently sat on Rosdea’s throne.
Someone stood up and shouted.
“This is treason!”
That became the signal.
The man standing beside the one who had shouted “treason” instantly drew a dagger from his coat and slit his throat.
And right next to him,
another man who had jumped up at the word “treason” had his throat cut by the person sitting beside him.
Horrible screams erupted from every corner of the banquet hall.
“Aaaah!”
“Uwaaaah!”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Neil and Roen watched in horror.
Leni covered her ears, trembling violently.
Only now did they understand.
This jousting tournament had been one massive trap.
Not just for Leni,
but for everyone who had come here.
This banquet hall
was a slaughterhouse.
While swords were pointed at Neil and Roen from all sides,
Gildeon walked leisurely to the center of the hall and stood beside Alon Ricgard.
Alon Ricgard immediately knelt before him.
Then he kissed the back of the black-gauntleted hand and spoke with reverence.
“Your Majesty, Alon Ricgard pays homage to the rightful king of Rosdea.”
“Rise, my friend.”
Gildeon turned to face the banquet hall and raised one hand.
“Hear me, all of you! Not long ago, the sun of this land set. My great uncle, the king who embraced all his people and protected the vast territories of Rosdea, has departed for the western skies.”
He continued with firm resolve.
“However… even if the sun has set, how could the world remain in eternal darkness? Now, I shall inherit the throne with my own blood and will!”
It was a clear declaration of treason.
Yet not a single person booed or jeered.
Those who would have were already lying on the floor, drowning in their own blood.
“I am of King Raymond’s bloodline, the legitimate successor, and I take responsibility for the hopes the people place in me. From this moment on, I shall be king! I will raise this nation once more alongside all of you, so that the skies do not collapse and the rivers do not run dry!”
Everyone listened to his words in silence.
Gildeon shouted loudly.
“Raise your swords! Bow your heads! The king stands before you! I am the new sun of this nation!”
Cheers erupted throughout the banquet hall.
The murderers holding daggers roared in joy at the birth of their new king.
Long live the king! Long live the new king! Long live King Gildeon!
“Something feels off, Pidea.”
[What is it?]
Emil stood on a hill overlooking Iredain.
The sun had already set, casting everything in darkness, but his sharp senses could see clearly through the gloom.
“The banquet should be over by now… yet no one is leaving the castle?”
[Who knows. Maybe Alon Ricgard decided to drag the party out. It doesn’t matter. Stop worrying and let’s go. Weren’t we supposed to leave Iredain?]
“That can’t be right. At the very least, Leni should have already left the castle.”
[Emil, this isn’t the time to worry about others. That knight Neil brought a ton of subordinates, so the princess should be fine. But you’re not. You need to get as far away from Iredain as possible before pursuers catch up.]
Emil didn’t answer.
Pidea looked at him with clear frustration.
[Emil…]
“What could Alon Ricgard be plotting?”
Emil kept pondering.
According to Cately, the letter from Alon had contained an order to kill him.
Then who exactly had sent that letter?
“He was planning a rebellion. What if he never gave up on that plan?”
[Emil, that’s impossible. Damon, the previous king’s brother, is already dead. Without Damon, there’s no one he could put forward as king.]
“Damon… did he have no children? Is there anyone else who could claim the throne?”
[There are. But they’re all bastards, including that knight Neil. The only legitimate successors are Queen Alena and Princess Leni…]
Pidea shook her head, then suddenly seemed to remember something.
[Ah, there is one more.]
“One? Who?”
[Should I even count him? Gildeon, Neil’s older brother. Gil Bloodfire. Five years ago, he distinguished himself in the war and was officially recognized as a member of the royal family. That’s why he goes around calling himself Gildeon Esterien.]
“Gildeon…”
Emil recalled what Neil had said about his brother.
Suspicious. Not to be trusted.
Roen had dismissed it as typical sibling rivalry, but…
[But he should be serving under Queen Alena alongside Neil. There’s no one else who could claim the throne… except for some extremely distant collateral relative.]
“That’s enough, Pidea. That’s all I needed.”
[Huh?]
“We’re going back to Iredain.”
Emil immediately mounted his horse and grabbed the reins.
Pidea asked in a panic.
[What? Emil, what are you saying?!]
“Something’s wrong. The jousting tournament, Alon Ricgard, the identity of whoever wrote that letter…”
[So what? It has nothing to do with you!]
His movements paused for a moment at those words.
Yes.
It really had nothing to do with him.
Even without Emil, Neil and Roen would surely protect Leni.
Going back to Iredain now—what help could he possibly be?
Maybe Leni had already escaped while he wasn’t looking.
But,
whether that was true or not.
“Leni might be in danger.”
Emil spurred his horse forward.
Toward Iredain.
Toward Leni.