Well, Who Will Speak First?
The air hanging in the corridor had sunk into an oddly heavy silence. Aurelia still couldn't bring herself to look me straight in the face, desperately maintaining her stiff expression. But the faint blush creeping from her earlobes down to the nape of her neck showed no signs of fading.
I gazed down at her and asked curtly.
"So."
Aurelia flinched.
"What do you want me to do?"
"……"
"You said to prove my trustworthiness."
Aurelia fell silent for a long moment. She'd spoken so decisively just moments ago, but now that I pressed her, her face showed she couldn't easily give an answer.
Finally, she lowered her gaze slightly and murmured softly.
"Show me with actions, not words."
"Actions."
"Yes. Your Highness always just talked. You'd treat me like your crown princess when it suited you, then trample me without a second thought when your mood changed."
Her voice was calm, but the raw wound buried within it remained vivid.
"Just once... act in a way I can accept. Then I'll reconsider."
I stared at her for a moment. This was essentially a request for time. Or more precisely, a declaration that she wouldn't forgive me easily.
It was only natural. Who would believe a madman had turned sane overnight?
"Fine."
My short reply made Aurelia lift her head in surprise.
"...Really?"
"I'm not going to force you to believe me."
I took a brief breath and added,
"But I won't keep you waiting."
Her eyes wavered at those words. She looked like she wanted to say more, but in the end, she just parted her lips silently and bowed her head.
"Understood, Your Highness."
I turned away without a word. This was enough for now. Lingering longer would only make things awkward.
Above all, what I needed wasn't words—it was real action.
As I walked off without looking back, a very small, low voice reached me from behind.
"...If you've truly changed. This time... I really want to believe you."
I nearly stopped in my tracks without thinking. But I didn't. I strode out of the corridor without pause.
Our relationship would start over from here.
The next day.
It was the day of the monthly state council meeting. At the heart of the Imperial Palace, in the Sun Justice Hall.
This was where the empire's top officials, ministers, high nobles, and military leaders gathered to discuss national affairs.
Formally a meeting, in reality it was nothing more than a place to confirm the will of Crown Prince Kainar Iskara von Solaríos.
Because none of the people sitting here truly wanted to voice real opinions in my presence.
The original Kainar wasn't the type to listen to opposition or advice. He'd glare at anyone who contradicted him, crush them, and if necessary, literally stomp them underfoot.
After years of that, the council chamber had become not a forum for debate, but a stage awaiting his unilateral decisions.
No different from that pig from the North.
I wasn't a pig anymore. I wasn't that North Korean pig anymore. Or at least, I could avoid being one after this.
As the doors to the Sun Justice Hall opened and I entered, those waiting rose in unison.
"We pay homage to the radiant and great little sun of the empire—the Crown Prince, Your Highness!"
Their voices rang out in perfect unison. Beneath it lurked palpable tension.
All the nobles bowed toward me. I took my seat atop the high dais and slowly scanned the chamber.
This seat should rightfully belong to the current emperor, Leoniel Kaiser von Solaríos. But with His Majesty's absence, I, as crown prince, was presiding.
Ah, don't look at me like that! I'm freaking shaking right now!
I swept my gaze over them one by one, screaming inwardly. The finance minister, military minister, interior minister, foreign minister, provincial noble representatives, Imperial Intelligence Agency operatives, Senate members, and more.
On the surface, they all wore faces of loyalty to the empire. But the original story I knew, combined with the faint memories lingering in this body, revealed that more than a few were pocketing dirty money behind the scenes, selling out the empire for personal gain.
The empire was rotten. If the crown prince himself was crooked, how could those below him be straight?
The rot ran far deeper than I'd imagined.
"Begin the reports."
My brief command set the meeting in motion without a hitch.
The first to speak was a high official handling reports from the northwest border region—specifically, a proxy for the marquess house with estates along the frontier.
He stepped forward, bowed, and said,
"Reports indicate unusual movements from the Acreasia Alliance Kingdom."
The air in the chamber grew subtly heavier.
"Troop rotations in fortress cities near the border have increased, and small knight orders are moving frequently. It's not yet a clear sign of invasion, but they're definitely reorganizing their forces."
"Envoys from minor kingdoms not part of the alliance have been visiting the alliance kingdom frequently as well," another minister added.
"If we don't respond now, we could lose complete control of the border."
I watched them silently. I could sense most in the chamber shared the same thought.
War again. The crown prince would surely mobilize the army once more. Another bloodbath.
That anxiety weighed down the entire room.
The officials weren't fools. They knew how many imperial troops died at the border each year. Needless wars, clashes that cost more than they gained, lives wasted on the crown prince's ambitions—they all perished annually.
Everyone worried, but no one dared step forward first to dissuade. That had been Kainar until now.
I opened my mouth slowly.
"Table it."
Several ministers' faces stiffened instantly.
"...Pardon?"
The finance minister blurted out unwittingly, and I turned a cold gaze on him.
"What needs resolving right now isn't war with foreign powers."
The Sun Justice Hall fell silent.
"Purging internal corruption and stabilizing the empire comes first."
The moment those words dropped, the entire chamber visibly shook.
Shock. Doubt. Wariness. Bewilderment. No one could believe it.
And why not? The crown prince, maddest for conquest and domination, was prioritizing internal cleanup.
I ignored their stares, rose slowly from my seat, and extended my hand.
Shing.
With a sound like the air itself splitting, a pitch-black sword materialized in my grasp.
The Ebony Magic Sword. The infamous blade the original Kainar wielded into every battle—a symbol of slaughter. A sword said to return from the field drenched in the blood of hundreds of thousands once drawn.
The chamber's atmosphere froze in an instant. Some ministers gasped, others gripped their chair arms. Those already fearing me looked half-dead now that I'd drawn the sword.
It was only natural. Kainar never wore a sword at his waist. This body was the sword, his soul was the blade. A monster who could kill without a physical weapon.
For such a one to reveal the Ebony Magic Sword? They knew what it meant.
In a low, chilling voice, I said,
"Summon the Heavenly Guard Knights."
The elite guard waiting outside the Sun Justice Hall entered immediately. Golden epaulets gleaming over their uniforms, swords drawn sharply, movements without a single flaw.
As the knights lined up along both sides of the chamber, I scanned the room slowly and declared,
"From this moment, no one in this chamber leaves without my permission."
Silence.
"All of you, draw swords."
Clang!
The Heavenly Guard Knights drew in unison. The metallic rasp scraped across the entire chamber.
In that instant, some officials paled openly. And finally, one shot to his feet.
A leader of the noble faction, long aligned with the Second Prince. Face veins bulging, he shouted,
"Your Highness! Even so, bringing knights into this sacred council chamber challenges the authority of Emperor Founding Himself!"
His voice was loud. But the fear beneath it was unmistakable.
I looked at him and slowly twisted my lips into a smirk.
Look at that bastard. Is he begging to die?
A sinister smile. Then I traced a finger diagonally.
Splat—!
No one could react. There wasn't time.
The great noble's body split clean in half, upper and lower. Blood fountained out, soaking the floor and tables red. Severed flesh and organs scattered grotesquely, and some ministers convulsed in their seats.
Screams came late. Only then did someone choke out a gasp.
An invisible sword. A man who swung blades without a sword in hand.
That was the monster called a Sword Master.
I glanced at the blood-splattered floor, then spoke toward the corpse without looking.
"Worse than that vermin was a leech devouring the empire's stipend while committing forbidden corruption behind closed doors."
I listed the crimes coldly, one by one.
"Embezzlement of border supply funds. Manipulation of military provisions distribution. Slave trading. Illegal taxation of provincial subjects. Smuggling banned goods. And secret meetings with nobles."
Several faces in the chamber hardened.
"Death was fitting."
The empire's laws were merciless. A misstep could doom not just three generations, but entire bloodlines.
That was the law—the empire's foundation.
With those words, I angled the magic sword downward.
And then.
Sword Heart Manifestation: Heavenly Wheel Annihilation Realm.
The gray air sank heavily for an instant. Invisible to the eye, but the laws of space had undeniably changed.
The sensation of the entire chamber falling under my order. Those trying to channel aura were crushed by suffocating pressure; knights attempting to rise found their knees frozen in place.
This place was now my domain.
I looked down over the chamber and said,
"I'll give you a chance now to confess your crimes in detail."
An eerie silence stretched on.
"Well, who will speak first?"
Even breaths grew faint. Officials and nobles exchanged glances.
Speak, and survive. But speak first, and the others would kill you.
That agony twisted desperately through the room.
And finally, as someone trembled and opened their mouth—
"Your Highness!"
Another noble bolted up. Another from the noble faction.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
Troublesome.
The thought rose first. In the original story, the Second Prince's faction always pulled this. Preaching legitimacy and order on the surface, while slithering in the darkest, dirtiest ways behind.
And I knew. One of the culprits who reduced Emperor Leoniel to that state was the Second Prince.
Secret dealings with the Necrovan Necromancy Kingdom, handing over imperial resources, even targeting the emperor himself.
No hard evidence here yet. But that wasn't a problem.
Evidence could be found—or fabricated.
He was going to kill me anyway. Better to strike first.
I surveyed the blood-drenched Sun Justice Hall and thought.
Time to cut them out at the root. The Second Prince's noble faction, the corrupt parasites eating the empire's flesh.
The purge was just beginning.
And no one in the Sun Justice Hall could cling to the illusion that this day wouldn't end in blood anymore.