Chapter 264
Chapter 264
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 264
Chapter Title: 74. When the Night is Long, the Dream is Deep (3)
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Light surged upward. An explosion roared. A horrific shockwave engulfed the entire world.
And all of it,
Pop.
Vanished in an instant, as if it had all been an illusion.
No trace remained of the auspicious glow, the ominously sinister purple radiance, the dragon, or anything else.
All that lingered was a towering pillar of dust reaching to the heavens.
The people swallowed dryly.
No one dared even speculate on the outcome of this mythic battle.
They merely recalled the dragon's splendid majesty and vaguely guessed that the Crown Prince might have triumphed.
Instead of rashly proclaiming the battle's result, they waited silently for the dust to settle.
But the Crown Prince's knights did not simply stand by like the others.
Without a moment's hesitation, they plunged into the dust cloud as one.
Inside the dust cloud, where not even an inch ahead was visible.
Yet they charged forward without the slightest pause.
Visibility was a mess, and the torn, ravaged earth from the fierce battle clawed at their feet.
Even the high-realm knights—even the kingdom's sole duke—tumbled across the ground time and again.
But they never stopped, not even for a single instant.
As if they already knew precisely where the Crown Prince was within this dust cloud, they simply ran and ran.
The special oath they had sworn not long ago, the unbreakable bond it forged, revealed much.
Who had won this horrific battle, where that victor was, and in what state they lay.
They kept running.
Those bound by the oath followed their souls' guidance; the others followed unflinchingly in their wake.
Thus, they raced toward the Crown Prince.
And at last, they arrived.
A biting gust swept in just then, parting the dust like magic.
Beyond it, the victor and vanquished of that brutal battle revealed themselves.
An elf with one shoulder and half her upper body torn away, as if savaged by some beast.
"The first time I met Your Highness, I sensed that my fate was tied to yours. Ever since that day, I haven't gone a moment without pondering it. Just how was my fate connected to you?"
She spoke, blood surging from her mouth.
"And now, that curiosity has been satisfied."
She gazed at her mangled upper body with her single remaining eye, then lifted her gaze to stare ahead.
"Your Highness, you were the end of my fate."
Her face wore an incongruously relieved expression as the elf smiled faintly.
"But to Your Highness, my fate must be just one fleeting thread among countless others."
A sinister, ominous smile.
"That's not what I desire."
The elf bared her teeth in a grin.
"I..."
Purple radiance began to roil and rise from the elf's body.
"Just as Your Highness is my period, I wish to be yours as well."
The knights sensed it instinctively.
That she was about to do something dangerous, something that would benefit neither the Crown Prince nor themselves.
The moment they realized it, they were already moving.
Arwen Kirguyen shielded the Crown Prince with her body. Kals Yulihi and Vincent Ballerhard stood before him, becoming shield and rampart in one.
Adelia Bayern and Bernardo Ilai shot forward like a single spear.
At that exact moment,
Thunk.
A sword tip protruded from the elf's chest.
Before the surging radiance could fully erupt, before the knights could reach her.
The elf looked down at her chest.
At the blade piercing through it.
Her gaze shifted to her back.
A woman cloaked in a grass-green mantle stood there—the leader of the Sword Maidens.
"You dare, you filthy mongrel...!"
Slash.
Crunch.
Pale sword-light and golden sword-light rent her body asunder.
Thud. Roll.
The elf's head tumbled across the ground.
Even in her final moments, filled with the twisted desires and murderous intent that had dominated her life, her single eye remained unclosed.
Thus ended the wicked fairy who had doomed countless heroes over the past millennium.
"Your Highness!"
Adelia Bayern flung aside her bloodied sword and rushed to her lord. Bernardo Ilai, too busy to even sheathe his blade, hurried to his master.
To Arwen Kirguyen, who held the Crown Prince in her arms as he labored for breath.
"Your Highness..."
Vincent Ballerhard knelt before the Crown Prince.
His face was as shattered as it had been that day when the castle his family had guarded for generations burned, a visage unseen even by his father then—one on the verge of collapse.
And small wonder.
The resplendent golden armor that had shone so brilliantly was gone, exposing the Crown Prince's bare flesh. The gaping hole in his chest no longer even bled.
"To think you managed this without realm or sword dance. Some of us staked our lives, and it's still not fair."
The Crown Prince muttered softly. Blood welled up with every twitch of his lips.
"Your Highness! Your Highness! Please, say nothing!"
"This monster isn't the only one. They may not match Sig rune, but there are more Elder High Elves. If they step in now, the kingdom won't hold."
"What kingdom? You're the one who's dying!"
Vincent cried out, his face contorted.
"Lucky for me. Thanks to you arriving just in time, I could save my last strength."
"Please! Please! Shut your mouth!"
But the Crown Prince did not stop.
"Adelia. Help me up."
Adelia shook her head furiously.
"Adelia."
She shook it even harder.
"Adel..."
"N-no! I won't!"
She screamed like it was a shriek.
"I won't listen! I won't obey!"
The Crown Prince sighed.
"You're trying to use your last remaining strength! If you do, Your Highness...!"
A wry smile at the desperate resistance of the woman whose soul was bound to his.
Then he smiled warmly.
To the others, it looked like a fond expression, marveling at how much this once-frail girl had grown—like pride in her ability to stand alone without him.
"Don't! Do nothing!"
"Such harsh words, Vincent. I'm still the Crown Prince, you know."
"Crown Prince my foot! I'm a duke! Some prince who hasn't even claimed the throne! I could say worse! So please, just shut up and stay still! Please...!"
The Crown Prince turned his eyes away.
As if searching for someone who might grant his request.
Kals Yulihi shook his head with a stern face.
The Crown Prince's gaze shifted to Bernardo Ilai.
"Always treated like this. Always stuck with what no one else wants. You think I'll do it again? No way in hell."
Though Bernardo Ilai spat complaints, his eyes brimmed with tears.
"Arwen."
At last, the Crown Prince's gaze settled on Arwen Kirguyen.
"You know it too. There's no other way like this."
She gave no answer.
"You're the only one."
The Crown Prince shot a playfully reproachful glance at those who had refused him.
"Please. Help me finish this."
Arwen Kirguyen bit her lip until it bled. Her tightly shut eyelids twitched incessantly.
Then, after a long moment, she opened her eyes.
And lifted the Crown Prince's limp body.
"N-no!"
Adelia Bayern screamed and clung to the Crown Prince's body.
"Lady Arwen!"
Kals Yulihi and Bernardo Ilai paled and grabbed at Arwen.
"What are you doing?!"
Vincent Ballerhard exploded in fury.
Adelia Bayern kept desperately holding onto the Crown Prince.
Clink.
Kals Yulihi drew his sword and pressed it to Arwen's throat.
"Stop."
But Arwen Kirguyen paid no heed to the cold bite of steel at her neck.
She simply gritted her teeth and raised the Crown Prince to his feet.
While Kals Yulihi hesitated to thrust the blade home, she succeeded.
"Thank you."
Finally standing on his own two feet, the Crown Prince gave a pallid smile of gratitude.
Then he drove the royal sword, which he had never released until the end, into the ground.
His tottering body straightened tall, as if he might collapse at any moment.
A faint voice, barely audible without straining one's ears at first, soon began resounding everywhere.
And light burst forth.
Amid the brilliant glow, the Crown Prince turned to his knights.
"Don't even think of using Nectar to save me. It might restore the flesh, but it can't mend my shattered soul."
So use the Nectar where it's truly needed.
Before the knights could respond, the Crown Prince smiled radiantly.
"Thank you. Take care of things from here."
A blinding flash of light engulfed him.
And when the light faded once more...
The Crown Prince stood leaning on his sword, eyes quietly closed.
"Y-Your Highness..."
Adelia Bayern staggered toward him.
"Your Highness. Open your..."
The moment her hand touched him, the Crown Prince collapsed.
Adelia Bayern stared with unfocused eyes.
At the slowly crumbling Crown Prince, at the knights rushing to him, faces ashen.
Adelia Bayern cupped her cheeks with both hands.
"Ah... Aah..."
She groaned as if losing her mind.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!"
She screamed.
It was the moment the unbreakable chain binding her soul snapped.
Tink.
Lionel Leonberger scowled deeply as he stared at his hand.
Blood dripped steadily from the finger cut by the shattered glass.
"Y-Your Majesty! Are you all right?!"
The Grand Marshal, dining with him at the time, leapt up in alarm.
"No need to fuss over a mere scratch."
Lionel Leonberger wrapped the tip of his finger with a handkerchief from his attendant and eyed the broken glass.
"Was the glass old? Wonders never cease."
"We sold off all the fine tableware to fund the budget. Can't say the leftovers are top quality."
The Grand Marshal replied to the king with a guilty expression.
"These are times when we all must tighten our belts. No need for that guilty look, Grand Marshal."
"Your understanding eases my mind greatly."
The Grand Marshal grinned cheekily, then added as if struck by a sudden thought.
"By the way, they say the subjugation is nearly complete. His Highness the Crown Prince should return soon, no doubt."
At the Grand Marshal's words, Lionel Leonberger gazed out the window.
As if picturing his eldest son, who must be rampaging despite his father's order to stay back, soothe the populace, and avoid battle.
"When he returns, he'll be punished. I'll discipline him harshly so he learns to hold his post quietly."
The Grand Marshal smiled faintly.
He simply watched fondly as the king spoke of stern punishment yet couldn't hide his smile.
"Y-Your Majesty!"
Then the Captain of the Royal Knight Order burst through the door.
"His Highness the Crown Prince...!"
Lionel Leonberger's smiling face hardened instantly.
"Your Majesty..."
The Grand Marshal paled, glancing between the king and the messenger.
Lionel Leonberger shot to his feet.
He headed straight for the castle gates.
There, the halted knights came into view.
The kingdom's pride, its young talents, stood unmoving even at the king's approach.
Suddenly, Lionel Leonberger noticed their shoulders.
Where proud silver epaulets should have gleamed, only gashes from scraped and gouged blades remained.
The moment he saw them, Lionel Leonberger felt something snap in his mind.
When he came to, he stood before a small cart.
"B-Brother... Wake up, please."
His second son sobbed, unaware even of his father's arrival.
"How can you look like this? Please...! Please! Open your eyes! Brother!"
Noticing his father belatedly amid his wails, the second son cried out.
"F-Father. Your Majesty. Brother's not right. He won't answer me, just sleeps. He doesn't even know his little brother's here, this lazy brother of mine... Please, Your Majesty, punish him... No, don't punish him. Just wake him up!"
The second son, always so mature beyond his years, wailed and threw a tantrum like a child. Lionel Leonberger watched with a rigid face, then stiffly turned his neck.
There lay his son.
His eldest, who had left the palace vowing to quell the kingdom's chaos—the boy he had just resolved to punish severely upon his return.
He lay in the cart, hands folded over his chest, eyes quietly closed.