The Traitor's End
"From today onward, we are the vanguard of the Empire."
One day, on an utterly ordinary morning no different from any other.
"We have betrayed the Kingdom and sided with the Empire."
My father, the Gibraltar Margrave, declared.
"We are no longer the Kingdom's margrave family. Once the war ends, we will become the count family that has earned the greatest merit under the Empire."
We—myself included—could only sit in stunned silence as he casually sliced into his steak with his fork.
"Father."
"Yes, my son."
"We are the Kingdom's margrave family."
"Indeed. The shield of the Kingdom, guarding the Gibraltar Canyon between the Empire and the Kingdom."
My family had long fulfilled its role and duty as the Kingdom's shield. The shield of the royal family. The bulwark of the Kingdom. The frontline when war broke out with the Empire.
"We will open the path through the canyon for the Empire. Then they can march straight to the capital."
"Why betray us?"
"Why? Isn't it obvious?"
The Gibraltar Margrave rebuked me.
"This country is hopeless. The answer is to escape first."
"So we're groveling to the Empire?"
"The rising sun."
"The Empire has oppressed the Kingdom for centuries. They won't treat us well."
"If we truly become part of the Empire, there's no reason we can't become counts."
I couldn't bend his will.
"Raise your glasses."
I had no special talents, no political acumen or decisiveness like my father.
"To betraying our nation and becoming the Empire's spearhead, to our Gibraltar family enjoying wealth and glory for generations to come."
I had no choice but to follow my father's will alongside everyone else in the family, as one of the Gibraltars. I was young, and he was the adult.
"The day the Empire draws its sword, we will open the gates guarding the canyon and welcome them."
The day of betrayal.
The Empire started the war, and Father opened the castle gates.
And then, one month.
It took only a month for the Empire's massive forces to enter the Gibraltar Canyon without bloodshed, occupy the capital, and raise their flag.
The Kingdom fell just like that.
"The Gibraltar Margrave's judgment was spot on. Congratulations, Lord Grey."
The Empire had won.
The Gibraltar family became a count family loyal to the Empire, and as the eldest son and heir of that count family, I mingled with many in high society.
"You have a fine father. Hehe."
"Thanks to the margrave's bold decision, we're able to gather here like this and raise our wine glasses."
"Haha, indeed. If they'd understood the importance of the Gibraltar Canyon, they never would have treated the margrave family with such disdain... tsk tsk."
The gathered nobles were all busy tearing into the incompetent Kingdom.
"They knew full well that opening the Gibraltar Canyon meant a straight shot to the capital, yet they demanded nothing but loyalty from the family guarding it?"
"They even insulted the margrave by calling him a mere guard dog. Tsk tsk. With a king who harbored such thoughts..."
"And when the canyon opened and the Empire advanced? They didn't even put up a proper defense before the capital fell."
Among those badmouthing were nobles like me from the former Kingdom, but I had no desire, reason, or loyalty to contradict them.
The Kingdom had fallen due to its incompetence.
The Kingdom had fallen due to its corruption.
With incompetents and corrupt fools strutting around as royals, betraying the Kingdom was no sin.
"Those crying for the Kingdom's revival... the 'Resistance,' was it? Haha. They should be ashamed."
"They'll never understand why we bowed to the Empire. It wasn't just attaching ourselves to the strong—it was pledging loyalty to the righteous!"
"What would change if that rotten Kingdom revived? This country was doomed from the start. Its fall was the answer. Heh heh heh."
That was how we 'traitors' justified our actions.
"Congratulations, young master Grey Gibraltar. You'll inherit the family and become the Count of Gibraltar soon, right?"
"Since the Gibraltar Count has been invited by His Majesty the 'Weapon Master' Emperor, good news is surely coming. Hahaha!"
"Double blessings! Come to think of it, there were rumors that the imperial princess was giving you a certain look..."
"I know my place. How dare I."
Drunk on the sweet nectar the Empire bestowed, I believed the Kingdom's fall was inevitable.
"Come now, raise your glasses. After the party ends, shall we all go hunting on horseback? I hear some interesting prey has arrived..."
"Oh, you mean the old royal knights?"
"You know it! Yes. They're chained up for safety, but isn't the thrill of hunting dangerous beasts the point?"
As nobles of the Empire, we reveled in luxury and pleasure, convinced our newfound power would last forever.
"Come, glasses up. All together. We traitors who sold out our nation."
"Uhahaha! Are we traitors? Well, from the fallen Kingdom's view, we're no better than ones deserving death!"
"The pinnacle of us traitors, the king of betrayal! Lord Grey, representative of the Gibraltar family—care to say a few words?!"
Mocking the fallen Kingdom.
"...Raise your glasses."
Savoring the glory of cooperating with the radiant Empire.
"A solemn toast to the fallen nation."
The celebratory drink we took, believing the glory of treason would endure forever.
"......Cough?!"
It was poisoned.
The traitors began to die.
The national traitors who sold out their country were thrown into prisons one by one and tortured.
At first, we thought it was assassinations by remnants of the fallen Kingdom.
But it was the Empire—the very object of our treasonous loyalty—doing it.
Perhaps because a dog that betrays its master once might do so again.
Even after ten years of the Kingdom's fall, living in luxury as Empire nobles, I never imagined they'd purge all the traitors.
Why not sooner?
Why wait nearly ten years after the Kingdom's fall to start killing us?
In the prison filled with agony and screams, I found the answer.
Ding-dong.
Watching from behind the prison bars as my father, the former Gibraltar Margrave—the vanguard of treason—was beheaded in the square.
Gazing at the Emperor overseeing the execution, I realized why we had to die.
At the Emperor's side were the administrators the Empire had sent to each family.
They had handled the nobles' dirty work and supported us traitors, yet they impassively watched us turn to dust on the scaffold.
Ah.
I see.
Ten years.
The time it took for the Empire to fully devour the Kingdom.
A preparation period for the Empire's new nobles and officials to take root in the newly acquired lands, for the Emperor's people to dominate.
The fallen Kingdom's people needed someone to blame for their nation's demise.
Time was needed to scour every corner and make it fully the Empire's.
They let us indulge in luxury and debauchery as Empire nobles because it was a grace period granted in consideration of our 'merit' in selling the country.
The Emperor had always intended to kill the traitors.
He despised those who betrayed their king and sold their nation from the start, but he had merely used us as tools to swallow the Kingdom.
Ignorant of that, we shouted "Long live His Majesty the Emperor!" at every party—how laughable we must have seemed to them.
Yet I could do nothing.
If there was one thing I could do—
"Become mine, Lord Grey."
"......"
To the princess who came to me.
"If you submit willingly, I'll spare your life. You—"
"I refuse."
I had no choice but to rebel, staking my life on it.
"Why...? I want you so much! I'm a princess! If you become mine, the next Emperor..."
"......"
My refusal wasn't mere impulse or defiance.
I knew that even if I survived, I'd die for some other reason anyway.
"Is this the princess's will, or the Emperor's? Or your own whim?"
"Th-that! Father will agree if I convince him! So...!"
"......"
The princess knew nothing.
She didn't know I was already broken beyond repair, that even if she saved me, I was as good as dead.
"Princess. I—"
Boom—!
The prison exploded, and I lost consciousness.
"Are you awake?"
"......"
When I regained consciousness, I met her in what was little more than the ruins of some noble's building.
A blonde woman with one eye hidden by her hair. Her skin was sallow, covered in small wounds, and she wore rough men's clothing.
"Pr...incess...?"
But it didn't take long to realize she was the woman I'd fallen for at first sight in my youth.
"You sure talk big, Gibraltar."
"......"
"I didn't save you. It was for the last Gibraltar. To revive the Kingdom, we need a living Gibraltar."
The princess had saved me—not as a person, but as a living bearer of Gibraltar blood.
"Your body's in bad shape. Worse than the torture damage."
"......"
"But... it doesn't matter. Even in this state, unlocking that won't be a problem."
That.Seal.
The princess treated me while spouting incomprehensible words.
"Your Majesty, why save this traitor...?"
"If not for Her Majesty, I'd slit his throat while he slept...!"
"If the Gibraltars hadn't betrayed us, the Kingdom would still..."
The Resistance—those dreaming of the Kingdom's revival—insulted and despised me, but the princess steadfastly continued my treatment.
"Grey. Do you remember the day we first met?"
One day, when she visited me with an utterly exhausted face.
"You're the same then as now."
In a voice I'd never heard before, she glared at me with eyes full of resentment.
"You've always done nothing."
I open my eyes.
In the midst of an intense explosion, on a battlefield thick with acrid smoke and the metallic stench of blood.
"......"
She is dying.
Her white dress, like a wedding gown, is soaked in red blood, her body impaled on sharp metal stakes.
"In the end, it was all for nothing, huh."
She let out a hollow laugh.
"I thought with its power, we could revive the Kingdom."
Self-mocking, yet she never told me what it was.
"What irony. Of all places, I'm dying in your homeland—the Gibraltar Canyon, where the Kingdom's fall began."
Pursued by the Emperor's army, she had deliberately brought me all the way to the Gibraltar Canyon.
"I—"
Stab—!
In novels, they always leave final words, but she couldn't even finish hers before countless weapons pierced her.
"Found you."
Beyond the smoke.
Between the blood-drenched stakes.
"What a hassle."
The middle-aged man with a bored expression thumbs-downed me, and soon I saw a sky filled with arrow barrages.
"......"
In the moment of death.
My body moved on its own.
Even knowing it was meaningless.
Even knowing she was already dead.
In that final instant, I threw myself over her of my own will.
If there is a next time.
It will be different, I swore.
Even knowing there would be no next time.
Embracing her fallen form, I quietly closed my eyes.
"From today onward, we are the vanguard of the Empire."
A miracle occurred.