Returning to the Beginning (1)
Where did it all go wrong? If pressed for an answer to that question, I would say: right here, right now.
"From today onward, we are the vanguard of the Empire."
The day my father, Crimson Gibraltar, publicly declared his betrayal of the kingdom. That was when everything began to change.
What had the atmosphere been like back then?
"Ah, Father! What do you mean by that?!"
My younger brother, the second son Noir Gibraltar, leaped from his chair in shock.
"O-Onii-chan... Um, what did Daddy just say...?"
My little sister, the youngest, Letar Gibraltar, didn't understand but was terrified all the same.
"Ah... aaah...."
My mother, Charlotte Gibraltar, clutched her forehead as if struck by dizziness.
And the retainers? The head butler panicked, while the maids darted their eyes left and right.
It was a bombshell declaration before anyone had even picked up their utensils for breakfast.
"We are no longer the kingdom's margrave family on the border."
Father continued calmly amid the chaos, lifting his utensils without a care.
"After the war ends, we will be the earl family of the Empire that claims the greatest merit."
War. Great merit.
His words felt disjointed, as if skipping ahead to conclusions only he knew—his signature style of speech.
It wasn't until I became an adult that I finally understood Father's way of talking.
Defection to the Empire. War. Great merit.
"Father."
"Yes, my son."
In the original timeline, I would have questioned him here. That we were the kingdom's border margraves. That it was true we intended to become subjects of the Empire?
But I'd already been through that once.
"Do you plan to open the path through the canyon?"
"......"
For the first time, the dream deviated from memory.
Father set down his utensils and stared at me intently.
"Open the path."
The other family members did the same.
"I don't know whose head you take after, but you're certainly sharp."
This wasn't sarcasm.
"To think such thoughts at just ten years old. What a blessing to our family."
Praise. And that made it all the more chilling.
"Do you understand what it means to open the canyon?"
"When the Empire raises a massive army to invade the kingdom, it allows them entry without bloodshed."
This was the mindset of a traitor.
"The kingdom will assume we're fighting the imperial forces to the death and drop their guard."
"Exactly. As always."
A hint of irritation and contempt seeped into Father's voice.
"The kingdom sees our border margrave family as nothing more than a shield guarding the canyon. Just as they have for centuries past."
The me from back then, unable to understand Father, had asked why he betrayed the kingdom.
Now I knew why he chose to become a traitor.
"Do you believe the kingdom has no future left?"
"Grey!"
Mother let out a sharp scream.
"What are you saying?! That's treason!"
Treason. A grave crime where even mentioning it could land you on the executioner's block.
"This is just between us."
I bowed lightly toward Mother.
"If word leaks from this breakfast table, it would mean one of our family informed the kingdom of Father's words."
"......You!"
"My lady. My decision is final."
Father calmed Mother and picked up the knife he'd been using to cut his steak.
"No one here leaves until I've finished speaking."
Ssssh.
A red aura began to frost over the silver knife—the exclusive domain of knights who could wield mana as aura.
"Anyone who wishes to be run through by my blade, speak now."
One of the kingdom's top three powerhouses, a man the people called a Sword Master.
"Grey."
Father's voice, sharp as a blade toward the others, turned gentle and kind when addressing me.
"Why do you think I chose the Empire?"
"Because."
"Speak freely, whatever it is. Even if it's seditious talk brimming with disloyalty, it's fine."
"......The kingdom is rotten."
I phrased it elegantly, but Father merely nodded lightly.
"......Not the answer I expected?"
"No. Continue."
He seemed disappointed. Should I give him the words he wants to hear?
It's all going to hell anyway.
Father didn't yet know the outcome of this betrayal.
Feel good in the dream, at least.
Thinking of it as filial piety toward my dead father, I cleared my throat with a cough.
"This country has no answer."
"......Ho?"
Father's eyes, headed toward his steak, began to sparkle.
"No answer. What do you mean?"
"It's so vast and there are so many issues, it's hard to pinpoint them one by one."
What should I start with?
"The nobility's honor is a thing of the past. The royal family, blinded by gold, has taken to selling titles to lowly commoners."
Merchants buying noble titles with coin had dragged the aristocracy's prestige into the dirt.
"Peasants turn to banditry and pillage, yet the capital does nothing to suppress them."
Commoners, pushed to the brink, rose in revolt—and for years, no one quelled them.
"The nobles scramble to protect their own wealth, while ducal and marquis factions tear at each other, committing every crime to stack the Senate with their own."
In the capital, nobles broke every law just to secure seats under the prime minister.
"There are many problems, but if I had to pick one representative example."
All of it was rampant across the kingdom.
"Father. It might be something embarrassing to voice."
"It's fine. Speak."
The trigger that led the Gibraltar margrave to decide on treason.
"Wasn't it because Mother was insulted by the king at the last ball?"
"......."
"Grey!!"
Father fell silent at my answer, while Mother's face flushed red.
"What nonsense from a child's mouth?!"
"I phrased it politely...."
"Say it plainly."
"The current king, drunk, molested Mother. And it wasn't just a little...."
"You!!"
"Enough, my lady. Before he's a ten-year-old boy, he's the heir to an earl's house."
Father seemed reluctant to dwell on it, but that incident had been the spark of rebellion.
"Yes. The king molested your mother. When you're grown, I'll tell you the details, but he dragged her to his chambers."
"Ah... aaah...."
Mother covered her face with both hands.
"What man would stand idle after his woman is defiled?"
Shame, humiliation, and the nightmare of scandal spreading were terrifying, no doubt.
"The kingdom has always seen us as their shield. They never dreamed the border margraves would betray them. They never have."
"So that's why he did it?"
"Yes. The king insulted our entire family. As if touching the margrave's wife meant nothing to the margrave."
One corner of Father's mouth twisted.
"And so? Will you assassinate the king? Raise a rebellion? Do you even have the guts?"
"Did the king say that?"
"Strip away the political rhetoric, and nothing but crude words remain."
If you're pissed, rebel then. Raw and unfiltered.
"That's why I decided to betray the kingdom."
"......."
"The day the Empire brings its army, I'll open the canyon. Without a single battle, I'll guide them straight to the royal road."
"Any other route would take at least three months, but the road through the canyon reaches the capital in one."
"Yes. Of course, the Empire isn't ready to start a war yet."
Father wiped his knife on a napkin and rose from his seat.
"Ten years from now. At least ten years before they can launch a full-scale war."
I was ten now, and the war had broken out exactly when I turned twenty in the future.
From the day treason was decided, the future was set.
"Until then, this is our family's secret."
And the reason no one discovered the secret over those ten years?
"Our 'blood' alone."
Father's ruthlessness.
Pfuuuk.
A wet thud as Father casually flung his knife into something.
"Eh?"
A gurgling wheeze from a throat.
Spuuurt!!
One of the maids collapsed forward, knife buried in her neck, blood spraying wildly.
"Kyaa, kyaak—!!"
"My lord?! What—"
"I trust no one but blood."
With those words, Father slaughtered every retainer in the room.
One strike per person. His steak knife, stained not with sauce but blood.
The conversation had changed, but the dream's conclusion remained the same.
"No one must ever speak of this outside."
The metallic stench of blood. Dying humans. Mother and my siblings pale as ghosts.
"That goes for you too, my children."
Father, as if parched, poured himself wine into an empty glass.
"Raise your glasses."
It was a command.
"Now."
We held glasses of plain water, not wine, mimicking Father.
"Grey."
"Yes."
"You... no, forget it. It's no wonder you're the eldest. I have high expectations."
Father lightly swirled his glass toward me.
"We betray our nation and become the spearhead of the enemy country."
Opening the gates to the Empire, becoming the prime accomplice in the kingdom's fall.
"We will revel in glory and prosper for generations—"
Wrong.
"Heh."
A laugh escaped me.
"......Grey."
Father too.
"You look happy just thinking about it. Yes. Perhaps the centuries of persecution and scorn as border margraves end with your generation. Rejoice as you will."
He smiled genuinely, as if thrilled at the thought.
"When the Empire draws its sword, the Gibraltars will open the castle gates and welcome them. Until then, we bide our time in silence, sharpening our blades."
Father meant every word.
Should I tell him? That his wish came true, but the prosperity didn't last generations.
All five traitors in this room end up dead.
The order differed, but with me last, the Gibraltar bloodline ended.
Mother took her own life the day the kingdom fell.
Grey, age twenty. The Empire finally declared war, crossed the canyon, and seized the capital. Mother ended it all upon hearing of the kingdom's fall.
Letar was murdered after mocking fallen nobles.
Grey, age twenty-five. Little Letar tortured and tormented kingdom knights until they turned on her.
Noir got cocky trying to hunt Letar's killers and was slain.
Grey, age twenty-six. Second son Noir was captured by royalist resistance fighters and executed as a traitor.
Father.
And Grey, age twenty-seven.
I was poisoned at a capital party, and you were executed after losing to the emperor.
I was assassinated at a capital ball; Father fell in battle against the emperor.
I should have died from the poison then too, but—
A slight resistance—not quite immunity—let me linger a bit longer.
And after that....
"Tch."
I raised my glass.
What's the point now that it's all over.
In the end, this was just a dream. The regret of a traitor who betrayed her, stayed silent, indulged in luxury and pleasure, and sold out his nation.
"To that."
I lightly wet my throat.
"......?"
A chill sliding down my esophagus.
Bubbles that cleared my mind in an instant.
"Cough, cough, cough...!!"
"Ha, haha! Grey, you rascal. Always choking on carbonated water like that. Fine. Once our ties with the Empire grow, I'll ask them for a whole spring just for you."
"Cough, y-yes, th-thank... you...."
Huh?
What is this?
"......."
I wasn't waking from the dream.
My reflection in the bubbling carbonated water showed a ten-year-old face—
"......."
As the fizz settled, my mind cleared.
This moment, right now, was reality.