The Eve of Civil War (2)
The Eve of Civil War (2)
Accompanied by the knights sent from the palace, the royal carriage raced toward the royal palace.
It didn't take long for the carriage to pass through the quiet streets and arrive at the palace.
Unlike before, the palace's southern gate was heavily guarded.
But the royal carriage didn't slow down. It passed through the castle gates and came to a halt only when it reached the entrance to the main castle.
Soldiers and knights, rarely seen there, stood guard on the castle walls, inside the main castle, and in the front courtyard.
It was the tightest security I had ever seen at the royal palace.
Several carriages had stopped in front of the main castle.
It seemed others had arrived before us.
I quickly got out of the carriage and escorted the Princess.
There had been no time to change, so the Princess and I were still wearing our Academy uniforms, but no one pointed it out.
As the Princess stepped down from the carriage, another carriage came rushing in.
That, too, was a royal carriage carrying royalty.
Neigh.
The royal carriage screeched to a halt behind us, and the Second Prince stepped out.
The Second Prince's eyes gleamed strangely as he climbed down from the carriage.
There was something almost mad about him.
The Prince didn't seem to see me or the Princess. No—as far as he was concerned, nothing else existed.
The Prince practically ran into the palace, and his entourage hurried after him.
With my greatsword slung over my back, I followed the Princess into the main castle.
Fortunately, the Princess looked calm.
She was probably forcing herself to hold it together, but on the outside, she appeared incredibly resolute.
As the Princess walked down the hallway, people bowed to her, then quickly returned to their busy work.
It might have been because of the King's critical condition, but it could also have been that the Princess wasn't receiving much recognition.
If either of the two princes had been walking down the hallway, no one would have dared raise their head halfway through a bow.
The King's bedroom, naturally, was deep inside the main castle.
Fewer and fewer people passed through the hallway, and soldiers could be seen everywhere instead.
Then we arrived in front of an ornate door guarded by knights.
The knights on either side of the door saw the Princess, saluted, and opened it.
They didn't announce her arrival. That was only natural, with a patient inside.
I followed the Princess in. The two knights seemed surprised to see me following her.
They probably hadn't expected the Princess's escort knight to be so young.
In any case, the knights didn't stop me from entering.
Inside was an incredibly large drawing room.
It was connected to the bedroom.
People who had arrived earlier were gathered in the drawing room.
A few of them were familiar faces.
The people who had come with the Second Prince were gathered on one side.
The Second Prince's new escort knight stood beside them.
I couldn't see where his previous escort knight had gone.
He was a knight with a unique ability...
It was a shame I couldn't see him.
The Second Prince was nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have already entered the bedroom.
On the other side were elderly nobles and older members of the royal family, while people I knew stood in a corner.
They were the Commander and Vice-Commander of the Royal Knights, along with the Duke of Ceuta.
Although the Commander and Vice-Commander belonged to different factions, they were gathered here together.
That was probably because they were both members of the Royal Knights.
I gave them a subtle nod of greeting, found an empty spot, and watched as the Princess headed into the bedroom.
"I'll be right by your side."
When I said that, the Princess glanced at me, took a deep breath, and entered the bedroom where the King lay.
Most of the people gathered in the drawing room were silent. Some stared at the bedroom door with anxious expressions, lost in thought.
A few people whispered to one another, but I couldn't eavesdrop.
Strangely, it was difficult to eavesdrop in this room. There was probably an artifact with that kind of function.
As I waited, footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Slam!
Then the double doors swung wide open.
It wasn't a knight who opened them.
The one who opened the doors was the First Prince, the Crown Prince.
He looked around the drawing room and tilted his head.
"Am I late?"
Since the Princess and the Second Prince had already arrived, he was indeed late.
"Well, it's not that I'm late. Everyone else was just too fast. Everything's already been decided, anyway, so why is everyone rushing around, begging for scraps?"
The First Prince ridiculed those who had arrived before him, claiming he wasn't late.
The people's expressions stiffened.
After watching their reactions with amusement, the Prince slowly made his way toward the bedroom.
"Well then, shall I go pay my final respects?"
The First Prince flung the bedroom door open with a bang and went inside.
When the bedroom door closed, the drawing room fell silent again.
As the room grew quiet, I felt people's gazes on me once more.
They weren't staring openly, but casting puzzled, sidelong glances instead.
They seemed curious about who the boy in an Academy uniform, who had come with the Princess, was.
The First Prince's entourage, who had arrived late, seemed just as curious.
Among them were some familiar faces, as well as someone completely unexpected.
It was a handsome, middle-aged noble: Viscount Morena, Ivana's father and the late Queen's secret lover. He had come with them.
Did he think it was finally time to be seen together? Or was it a gesture of consideration, letting him watch the King die right beside him?
Either way, it was behavior I found hard to understand.
The Vice-Commander walked over to the First Prince's entourage.
I'd thought he was standing with the Commander because they were both members of the Royal Knights, but it seemed he'd only been standing beside him because the First Prince hadn't arrived yet.
The Vice-Commander stood beside his son, the First Prince's escort knight, and gestured toward me with his eyes.
The escort knight, Dabit, looked at me and tilted his head.
Although we had sparred before, I'd been wearing armor and a helmet, so he didn't seem to recognize me.
The Vice-Commander whispered in Dabit's ear, and the escort knight's eyes widened.
It seemed he had finally realized who I was.
The two whispered a little longer, then the son walked over to me.
He held out his hand.
"We met last time, didn't we? I'm Dabit, the Crown Prince's escort knight."
Everyone's attention turned toward us.
Since I couldn't afford to cause a scene for no reason, I took his outstretched hand.
"I'm Alex, Princess Aisha's escort knight."
After a regular handshake, the attention around us faded.
Dabit looked at my face again and shook his head.
"I didn't realize you were so young..."
He sighed, then spoke to me again with a brighter expression.
"I didn't expect to lose to such a young knight. Still, since I lost to a knight with a bright future, it's nothing to be ashamed of."
I wondered what he was trying to accomplish by laying on the flattery...
But since he was saying this without knowing my true strength, it didn't really feel like flattery.
"You may not know this because you're still young, but there's immense chaos ahead."
Fortunately, his introduction wasn't too long.
"In the end, the Crown Prince will settle everything, but many people will get caught up in the chaos and die."
I sighed inwardly. Even though I'd only heard that much, I felt as if I'd heard the whole story.
I'd hoped for a little more, but unfortunately, it seemed this was going to be a predictable speech.
"Staying by the Princess's side can be dangerous, too. For the sake of your future, you'd be better off coming over to the Crown Prince's side as soon as possible. My father seems to acknowledge you, too, so you won't be disadvantaged just because you're a 'bastard.'"
As expected, it was a predictable story.
After that, he tried to persuade me in several other ways.
The Vice-Commander kept glancing over at us, too. It seemed the whole thing had been his idea.
To think they would try to poach talent so openly.
In the minds of the people in this room, the King was already a dead man.
Time passed.
A few more people came and went, and the royal physicians and priests went in and out.
Everyone who came out of the bedroom looked grim, and the aura of death seemed to drift from the King's room.
As the day darkened and night deepened, weeping could be heard from the quiet bedroom.
"Ugh. O King!"
"Ugh..."
The sound of crying mingled with the sound of people holding back their tears. Then the bedroom door swung wide open.
The First Prince, the Crown Prince, opened the door and stepped out.
"The King has passed away. We'll proceed with the funeral, so make the preparations."
The Crown Prince's face was composed. There were no tear stains, and he wore no expression of grief.
"Understood."
The Royal Chief Steward, who had followed him out, bowed his head at the Crown Prince's words.
He led the waiting maids and stewards outside.
The First Prince went over to his waiting entourage, and the Second Prince and the others came out of the bedroom as well.
Afterward, several nobles and the Duke of Ceuta entered the bedroom.
They seemed intent on paying their respects to the deceased King.
But there were also people who were trying to leave.
The Second Prince was preparing to leave with his entourage.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The First Prince saw him and shouted.
It was a sight that showed how little regard he had for the King's body lying in the bedroom.
"Since you'll be handling everything, Brother, there's no reason for me to interfere. I'll attend the funeral, so don't worry."
The Second Prince cared neither about the deceased King nor the Crown Prince.
The Prince waved at the First Prince and slipped out of the drawing room with his entourage.
The First Prince glared at his younger brother as he left.
Once his brother was gone, he gave instructions to the steward who remained.
"I'll be in my office. Tell them to come find me if they need me for the funeral."
"But there are matters we need to coordinate immediately..."
"The royal relatives can handle that!"
The royal relatives—that is, the members of the royal family with low places in the line of succession—were currently inside the bedroom, paying their respects to the deceased King.
In the end, the First Prince dumped the remaining tasks on the other members of the royal family and left the room.
To witness firsthand the royal family of a kingdom that had barely been holding itself together fall completely apart like a dysfunctional mess...
It was so absurd that I wished I had a camera so I could capture it.
Regardless of whether the princes left or the remaining members of the royal family grew angry, the funeral preparations proceeded steadily.
The King's body was placed in an ornate coffin and enshrined in the central hall, and news of his death spread in all directions.
Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong...
Bells continued to toll from the temples and buildings with bell towers, and flags were lowered to half-mast on every building.
The Princess and the Queen kept vigil beside the coffin.
I stood behind them, guarding them.
Before long, dawn broke.
Countless people gathered in front of the royal palace and in the central hall.
Although the news had not yet reached beyond the capital, it seemed that all the nobles in the capital had gathered.
The priests entered the hall, and the princes, who had left grumbling, entered as well, their faces solemn.
The King's funeral.
A two-week-long funeral had begun.