Hades was blankly staring at her as she bled.

People were running around and shouting, and the scent of blood mixed with the fragrance of camphor, but he couldn’t move as it all felt so unreal.

He had been through countless battles before, and killing a person was nothing new, yet he couldn’t understand why he felt so dazed now.

“Call for a doctor! Quickly! Don’t move her carelessly, the wound could deepen!”

The Sultan was quickly making decisions and directing people even in this chaos.

“La, Latifa….. What have I… done…”

Hades looked at Latifa with something like a sigh.

She was motionless in Ruhan’s arms with a long polearm pierced through her shoulder.

Her complexion was pale, and her beautiful teal clothes were stained with dark red blood, making even the elegant patterns unrecognizable.

“Ah, Lati…! Lati! What are the doctors doing! Why aren’t they coming faster!”

Ruhan urgently called for a doctor while holding Latifa.

Hades looked at her pale face.

Her small lips were also blue and slightly parted, exhaling faint breaths, and she was in pain, muttering words in the imperial language that Hades couldn’t understand.

And those blue eyes, slightly out of focus, were looking at Hades.

Those eyes, helplessly drooping like those of an injured herbivore, were clearly different from her usual clear blue eyes.

They weren’t the eyes of someone injured and in pain.

They were the eyes of someone ready to let everything go.

“Latifa!”

Hades seemed to finally snap out of it and quickly approached her.

“I. I said… I would be behind you…!”

The innocent girl must have believed those words completely and trusted that Hades would help her win this trial.

But this was the price for trusting him.

“Where is the doctor?!”

Latifa’s eyes, which had been weakly looking at Hades, had now disappeared into Ruhan’s embrace.

Watching Ruhan caress Latifa’s face and cheeks, Hades staggered and knelt on one knee beside her.

“The polearm is still embedded! We need to remove it!”

While Hades was staring blankly at her in pain, doctors who had quickly arrived examined Latifa and spoke.

“Ugh!”

But even just the examination seemed to cause pain, as Latifa screamed and shed tears.

“How can you remove it when she’s in so much pain?!”

Seeing Latifa scream and burrow into Ruhan’s arms at even the slightest touch of the polearm, Ruhan rarely lost his temper and shouted at the doctor.

“We have prepared anesthetics, but she has already lost too much blood, so we need to remove the polearm quickly and stop the bleeding! Waiting for the anesthetics to take effect would be more dangerous, Your Highness!”

“Ruhan, calm down. They are doing their best!”

The Sultan tried to soothe his son’s anger by patting his shoulder.

“Augh!”

Latifa grimaced in pain and shook her head from side to side, while Ruhan held her small head tightly and stroked it, anxious that the polearm might sink in deeper.

“Lati, Lati. We need to remove this. It will hurt, but there’s no choice. The palace doctors are skilled healers who can save even those on the brink of death. Oh, please… save her…!”

Ruhan tried to calm her, not minding that his hands and clothes were covered in blood.

“Kyaaa! No! Mother! No!”

Latifa screamed loudly, shouting in the imperial language that the desert people couldn’t understand.

Every time Latifa’s pitiful voice echoed through the audience hall, Hades’ body also flinched.

“Latifa…!”

In this urgent situation, Hades softly murmured her name with a trembling voice, then as if making a big decision, he ordered the doctors.

“You dare not lay a hand on my frau!”

Hades shouted, pushing away the struggling doctors.

“I will not forgive anyone who touches my frau! Who dares to lay a hand on Caleb’s moon goddess! Is it you?! Move aside! You useless ones!”

Pushing aside the doctors and taking a place in front of Latifa, Hades unhesitatingly took out a small splint from the bundle the doctors had brought and tightly wrapped it around his wrist.

“Hades?”

When Ruhan asked in surprise, he spoke to Latifa, who had her head buried in Ruhan’s arms, without even looking at Ruhan.

“Bite!”

“Ugh.”

But Latifa seemed not to understand his words and only groaned in pain.

Hades clicked his tongue softly, then opened her mouth and placed his forearm with the splint against it.

“Your master commands you, so bite! If you don’t, your teeth will be damaged! I’ll pull it out in one go, so don’t worry!”

Latifa, who had been frowning and sweating profusely, opened her eyes again with difficulty at the man’s forceful action.

“Ah….. Hades….. Ugh!”

She mumbled his name softly with her small lips, and at that small word, Hades’ frozen face began to show a little color.

“Yes, Latifa. Bite! If you are truly Caleb’s moon goddess, don’t succumb to this pain!”

He didn’t miss the gap between her slightly parted lips and made her bite his wrist wrapped with the splint.

Kwadeuk.

Latifa bit it with difficulty.

“Bite deeper! Bite as if you’re going to tear off my flesh! Cling to it with all your might, like when you first saw me!”

Hades shouted loudly as he grasped the handle of the polearm stuck in Latifa’s shoulder.

Ruhan looked at Hades, who was gritting his teeth in tension, and calmly instructed.

“Hades. Quickly and accurately in one go. Remove it without widening the wound too much.”

“I know, Ruhan. Kheut.”

Sweat trickled down between Hades’ dark bangs as Latifa’s last strength was unfamiliarly transmitted through his forearm, and the hand holding the polearm began to feel colder.

“Hades…!”

Ruhan, holding Latifa, urged Hades.

“…Latifa! Endure it. Kheuk!”

Hades firmly grasped the polearm and pulled it out in one swift, strong motion.

-Paaat!

“Kheughk! Ugh!”

-Kang!

The sharp blade came out of her shoulder, and then fell to the tiled floor of the audience hall with a loud metallic sound.

“Doctor!”

“Kuk, now’s the time. Quickly treat her! Hurry!”

Hades and Ruhan urged the doctors to treat Latifa.

“Yes!”

“Haa…”

Although Latifa’s breathing had improved, Hades continued to let her bite his left forearm while she was being treated, and Ruhan didn’t stop stroking her head and wiping her sweat.

And so, the two men silently did their part for the same woman.

**

Sitting on the windowsill of the audience hall, which had become quiet after the commotion, Hades rubbed his forearm and blankly stared at the moon in the sky.

The moon was up, but it was a crescent moon, only the size of a fingernail, and even that wasn’t very bright.

The audience hall was in a mess, as if a sandstorm had swept through.

Golden trays that had held muscatel grapes, freshly picked raspberries, flat bread, and sugar cookies were scattered on the floor, and golden goblets that had contained tea or fruit wine were all overturned.

Scimitars and polearms were strewn about, and the cushions and large pillows that people had been leaning on were scattered here and there.

And the dark red bloodstains of Latifa that remained on the long carpet floor.

Everything was a mess.

As Hades quietly looked around, a desert fox that had been hiding somewhere during the commotion jumped out and snuggled up next to him.

“At least you were hiding well somewhere.”

-Kaeng!

“Your owner…”

Hades trailed off, unable to finish his sentence as he stroked the desert fox’s head.

“Hades.”

Hades turned around at the sudden call of his name.

Ruhan, the Sultan, and Rashid were slowly walking towards him across the dimly lit audience hall.

Hades bowed his head without expression and knelt to pay respect to the Sultan.

“My Sultan. Hades Caleb Ignite is ready to receive any punishment.”

“Is your wrist alright?”

Rashid spoke in a solemn voice, placing his hand on Hades’ head and gesturing for him to stand up.

Hades straightened his knees and stood up, but kept his head down for a while.

“Lati is being cared for by the palace doctors now. She’s passed the dangerous point, but that’s not the problem.”

Ruhan, standing next to Rashid, said to Hades. Even as he spoke, Ruhan’s voice seemed a bit angry with Hades.

“Hades, this time you went too far. You know that, right?”

At the voice, which carried more of a prince’s dignity than his usual kind tone, Hades said nothing.

“I say, raise your head, Hades.”

When Rashid spoke, Hades slowly raised his head.

Although his face was usually unreadable, this time even Rashid could read his expression.

“You look just like a puppy that’s done something terribly wrong. Yes. You’ve caused a big incident. A very big commotion.”

At those words, Hades’ thick dark eyebrows twitched.

“Please, punishment.”

At the dry voice asking for punishment, Rashid heaved a big sigh and spoke with the solemnity of a Sultan.

“Then I will first pass judgment on this crime of attempted regicide.”

“Your loyal servant, Hades Caleb, is ready to hear.”

Hades replied in a still emotionless voice.

Rashid extended one hand, showing Hades the back of his hand, and spoke solemnly.

“I do not believe that Hades’ frau attacked Tarek with intent, but I find her at fault for not preventing the accident, and I will find her owner Hades guilty.”

Even at the declaration of guilt, Hades’ expression did not change.

Rashid cleared his throat and spoke again.

“However.”

“…”

“However, in consideration of her frau sacrificing herself to save Iota’s life, her owner’s crime shall be pardoned. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Tarek was injured in the shoulder and she was injured in the shoulder as well, how is this not a fair treatment.”

“…I accept the Sultan’s wise and brilliant judgment.”

Hades knelt again and paid his respects to Rashid’s verdict.

“But you caused a commotion in the audience hall and dared to shed blood in the palace of the Basili dynasty. I will punish you for that irreverent crime.”

“Anything.”

Ruhan looked at his father with slightly worried eyes.

“Life is happiness. You who tried to take that life have essentially tried to take away another’s happiness. Therefore, you do not deserve to enjoy your own happiness.”

“…Sultan!”

Finally, a hint of panic crept into Hades’ voice, which had been monotonous until now.

“As punishment, Hades Caleb. I order you to offer your happiness, your frau, to the royal palace.”

Despair deepened on Hades’ face, and Ruhan also grabbed Rashid’s arm, who had passed such a judgment.

“Father! Lati is Hades’ happiness!”

“We are not beasts. You should have thought about this before trying to take away someone else’s happiness. With this, Hades, I hope you will also correct your fiery temper.”

Rashid firmly pushed away Ruhan’s arm.