The Game of Thrones Comes to a Close
In Sophia's chambers at Conwy Castle, a warm light bloomed near the bed. Liraber, the healer awakened on Sophia's side, was examining the queen's condition.
"Hmm."
Liraber let out a small, thoughtful murmur. Sophia, who had been watching in silence, spoke up.
"How is she?"
"She's grown quite frail, but there's nothing particularly unusual that I can see. We'll need a more thorough examination to determine why she won't wake."
"I see."
This was no general hospital. They didn't even have the equipment for a detailed workup. Taking Elysia to an ordinary hospital, however, was just as dangerous. There was no telling where Widrik's eyes might be watching.
Sophia turned toward the terrace. There sat the captured physician, Leo, his face set in stubborn defiance.
"Leo. Make the right choice, even now. What did you do to Her Majesty the Queen?"
What filled the syringe was nothing more than an ordinary sedative. That alone wasn't enough to pinpoint the cause.
"I already told you I don't know. The only order I received was to administer the sedative on schedule."
Leo answered while gingerly probing his badly swollen jaw. Sophia bit her lip. A shameless lie. Everyone knew that Leo, the physician of Windsor Castle, had awakened as a class skilled in crafting a wide variety of drugs. As far as Sophia knew, he was the only person in that castle capable of inducing a coma of unknown origin.
"Don't you lie to me, you bastard!"
Olivia seized Leo by the collar.
"If you hadn't done it, Prince Widrik would never have kept you at Her Majesty's side!"
Widrik was a suspicious man. He would never have permitted a one-on-one audience with the queen unless the other party had waded into the same filthy water. Leo had been allowed to remain alone with her, even under the pretext of administering a sedative — proof enough that he'd been in it up to his neck.
"I told you I don't know. If you're so suspicious, go ask Prince Widrik yourself."
"You little—!"
The corner of Leo's mouth curled upward. And what are you going to do about it?
He'd heard what kind of person Sophia was through Widrik. A soft-hearted, fragile child who'd never even killed a bug. Even if he played dumb, these people wouldn't kill him — they couldn't even manage a light interrogation. The ones serving her were all just as spineless.
If I just hold out, we win. It wouldn't be long before Widrik caught wind of the current situation. He'd storm in with superior forces and reclaim the queen in an instant. As long as she didn't wake until then, this side would be victorious.
Leo gazed at Olivia with a face full of composure. Don't hold it against me. What kind of idiot bets on a side that's already lost? I've got to eat, too. If anything, this was a fine opportunity to prove his loyalty to Widrik. He resolved once more: no matter what, he would hold out just like this.
Creeeak.
That bastard...!
The door opened and Jinhyuk appeared, and Leo ground his teeth. The man who'd struck him in the throat without so much as a word, then followed it up with a blow to the jaw. Thanks to that, his jaw was swollen like a balloon, and there wasn't a spot from his neck to his back that didn't hurt.
Jinhyuk came in rubbing his stomach and looked around at the people in the room. Upon arriving at Conwy Castle, Sophia had told him to rest a while and provided a meal and a bath. He'd eaten his fill and even taken a refreshing soak — but it seemed things here weren't going anywhere.
Not cooperating, huh. He didn't even need to ask. That sulky, stubborn-as-hell face said it all. Leo was putting on a show of guts.
Jinhyuk walked out onto the terrace and examined him with a fierce, piercing gaze. Leo puffed out his chest like a peacock in response. He had no intention of losing a battle of wills. This wet-behind-the-ears brat! They said even if you walked into a tiger's den, you'd be fine as long as you kept your wits about you. As long as he didn't panic now...
"Let's just throw this one out."
"??"
Everyone in the room drew a question mark in the air. Throw him out?
"He's a man who harmed Her Majesty the Queen. He's getting the death penalty anyway, isn't he?"
"T-the death penalty was abolished ages ago, what nonsense is this?!"
"He'll receive a punishment equivalent to it, though, right?"
A stunned Olivia nodded.
"It's wartime now, so let's make it the death penalty."
Jinhyuk opened the terrace door and poked his head over the railing.
"High. Real high."
This was the top of Conwy Castle — high enough that an ordinary person would either die or be crippled the moment they fell. Jinhyuk grabbed Leo by the scruff of the neck.
I-it's a bluff. A kid who'd barely just turned twenty. There was no way a brat like this would actually throw someone.
"Don't put on airs! You think I'll fall for a threat like—"
Leo's eyes met Jinhyuk's, and his face rapidly went rigid. Eyes without a single tremor. Eyes in which hesitation itself did not exist. Instinctively, he became certain. This was not a bluff.
"W-wai—"
Whoosh!
He tried to say wait, but he was a fraction too late. Just like that, Leo was thrown, and he began to plummet.
He clenched his molars. Even if you walk into a tiger's den...
Wheeeeeeee—
A tiger's den...
Far too much time had passed since the fall began. The thread of reason he'd been desperately clinging to snapped.
"Tiger's den my ass, AAAAAAAAHHH!!! S-SAVE ME!! THERE'S AN ANTIDOTE! I HAVE AN ANTIDOTE!!"
His body rose with a harsh metallic scraping sound. The fall stopped — but this time an absurd chill seeped into his flesh, a cold so intense that a few more seconds would have frozen not only his blood but his organs as well.
Thud!
Fortunately, he was hauled up before that and flung onto the floor. Trembling violently, Leo shook from head to toe, drool and snot and tears streaming down his face. The man who'd been sitting with his arms crossed and his nose in the air just a minute ago had been reduced to a wreck in a single blow.
T-this bastard. He actually tried to kill me.
A thoroughly terrified Leo looked up at Jinhyuk. The scraping sound had only come after he'd uttered the word antidote. If he hadn't spoken even then, it really would have been too late.
Jinhyuk crouched down and held out his hand.
"The antidote."
"I-I'll give it to you!!"
Leo scrambled over on all fours and tore open the lining of his white coat. From it emerged a single slender capsule. Sophia and Olivia approached and examined it.
"We'll take it and check. It could be poison, after all."
"No. Could you give it to me?"
"Ah—!"
Before anyone could stop him, Jinhyuk dripped a few drops into his mouth. He smacked his lips, then smiled.
"It's the antidote. Have her take it right away."
Sophia took the capsule with a dazed expression and poured the liquid into the sleeping Elysia's mouth. A few seconds passed.
Twitch.
Queen Elysia's finger began to move.
Widrik, returning from his outing, entered Windsor Castle wearing a mask.
"Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped him. The castle was an utter mess. Hallucinatory fog that still hadn't fully cleared, and personnel rolling on the floor after falling victim to it. Even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn't make sense of what had happened.
"Prince Widrik!"
The subordinates who had gone in first to survey the castle. For some reason, their faces had gone deathly pale.
Don't say it. Widrik clenched his molars. He desperately hoped it wasn't the worst-case scenario he'd imagined.
"Her Majesty the Queen is gone! Lord Leo is nowhere to be found either!"
"Haa."
He let out a low groan. A worst that surpassed the worst he'd anticipated. No matter what, they shouldn't have lost even one of the two.
"It's Sophia."
He had no idea how his powerless, frail little sister had pulled off such a bold act, or how she'd succeeded. But in the current situation, she was the only one with a motive to attack Windsor Castle.
"Wake those idiots on the floor immediately. And prepare a transport. We're going to Conwy Castle."
Leo was good at calculating the odds. He wouldn't fail to realize that holding out was the winning play. If they went and retrieved him even now, that would be enough.
Brrrrring.
Widrik, in the middle of issuing orders, stopped speaking. His phone had begun to ring with a terrifying insistence. And it wasn't just his. As if they'd all made a pact, every last one of his inner circle's phones was ringing too. The names that appeared on the screens were the political and business figures and broadcasting executives who'd been dealing with Widrik under the table. An unidentified sense of foreboding seeped into his body.
"P-Prince Widrik."
As if to prove his premonition hadn't been wrong, a nearby aide handed over a phone.
"Ha...!"
The moment he looked, a gasp was inevitable.
From Welsh broadcasting stations to famous YouTube current-affairs channels, it was being live-streamed everywhere. Queen Elysia Jerry Windsor — who by all rights should have been lying in a coma in her bed.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
Perhaps because he hadn't answered the calls, text messages arrived without pause. Widrik lowered his gaze.
Had they judged the situation beyond salvage? Those who'd attached themselves to his side were rapidly cutting Widrik loose. He wore a peculiar expression. For all their swollen greed, they were filthy cowards. This couldn't be the end of it.
Thud. Thud.
Sure enough. The mercenaries he'd gathered today were slowly closing the distance. They had neither loyalty nor honor. They simply followed whichever contract paid. And at this very moment, it seemed they'd accepted one — a new contract more appealing than the last.
Who is it.
Death was at his doorstep, but what filled Widrik's mind was a countless string of question marks. He'd identified every last person on Sophia's side. He could swear it wasn't them. A third party unknown to Widrik had clearly intervened.
Just who the hell... is flipping this enormous board like turning over a palm.
Widrik couldn't help but feel wronged. He'd poured a very long time into building this board. It was a board he couldn't lose. A self-deprecating laugh burst from him. Given how far things had gone, none of that mattered anymore. He just wanted to see the face, even once. The identity of the enormous variable that had never once appeared even in the long history of Britain's royal dynasty.
Jinhyuk, standing on the terrace, pinched his cheek. Not a dream, then. He was still a little dazed. How had he ended up getting involved in a British Game of Thrones?
You really never know where life will take you.
He shook his head and looked out over the heart of Conwy Castle. With Elysia's awakening, the whole truth had come to light. And she had openly admitted it before the cameras — her own indecisiveness, that even in the face of countless crimes and atrocities, she hadn't been able to cut off her beloved grandson.
Even at this late hour, internet articles were flooding in like a tidal wave. Among them were pieces about Prince Widrik, who had taken his own life at Windsor Castle.
There were even sharp headlines that had sensed the existence of a third party. He was in the middle of watching with considerable interest when—
Creeeak.
The door opened. Jinhyuk turned his head, thinking it might be Charles or Olivia.
Hah—
He sucked in a startled breath. It was the arrival of Queen Elysia Jerry Windsor.