Kneeling before the emperor, Chris held up the sword with both hands and bowed his head in respect.

“I receive the sword of the master of Herperos, Your Imperial Majesty.”

The head servant sat in front of a copper basin where he had soaked the whetstone to remove air bubbles.

Sring.

He gripped the handle and drew the sword from its scabbard.

At the end of the hilt, the word “Kazan” was engraved in black on the gilded pommel. The bastard sword, gilded up to the cross guard, was 150 centimeters long, 3 centimeters wide, and weighed 3 kilograms, making it challenging to draw from the scabbard while kneeling.

Chris poured water on the whetstone and laid the blade at the correct angle.

Holding the grip with his left hand, he pushed the strongest part of the blade over the water on the whetstone.

Swish, swish.

He pushed the blade forward and pulled it back with a swish. The blade that had been stained with the blood and oil of thousands, tens of thousands of soldiers over time. Chris’s arm bristled as he imagined the blood and screams ground into the honed blade.

Pouring water on the whetstone, he repeatedly honed the middle of the blade, followed by the edge and the sharp point.

“The emperor has taken countless lives with his lust for conquest. He has splattered blood with his sword.”

Chris recalled Patrick’s low voice.

“Chris, do you truly respect the emperor out of admiration, not fear?”

“His Imperial Majesty deserves respect by his very existence.”

“The emperor should not be an object of fear and terror, conquered by sword and power. He should give trust and hope that not only the nobility but all imperial citizens can live better lives. The emperor has committed too many evil deeds so far.”

“……”

“Chris, let’s work together to eradicate corruption, fraud, and conspiracies, and create a clean and strong Tane.”

“Are you planning a rebellion? Then you should eliminate me along with my mother.”

“No, I won’t obtain imperial power through such methods. As a first step, I will declare the independence of the principalities that Emperor Kazan has trampled with blood.”

“I… I cannot understand your words, elder brother.”

“When you’re alone, think quietly and deeply. About what kind of life is right.”

The independence of the principalities.

Sweat beaded on Chris’s forehead.

“Chris.”

Kazan called out, looking down at Chris with sharp eyes.

Your mind is in a mess. Kazan clicked his tongue, looking down with disdain at the pathetic sight of Chris struggling to hone a single blade.

As a child, he had shown some ambition, boldly cultivating his character. But now, though his neck had thickened, he seemed to be hiding his diminishing character, wrapped in Pamila’s skirts.

“That’s enough, give it here.”

Chris raised the blade angle and shook off the water. The shirt he had changed into before breakfast was now soaked with sweat, sticking to his back. After examining the blade up close, he wiped off the moisture with a thin cotton cloth.

Please, may this sword never be used.

“I present the golden sword of Herperos to Your Imperial Majesty.”

Kazan received the sword, examined the blade, then cut through the golden silk held up by two servants on either side.

Swish. The silk scattered in pieces like sunlight. Kazan, with a satisfied expression, sheathed the sword.

“Let’s go to Tane.”

Kazan thought that Empress Pamila would be in the midst of an argument with the Lasbur family over mining rights in the Kaosan gold mine.

Nevertheless, she would have to attend the empress’s birthday celebration in four days. At that time, Kazan had decided to formally enthrone Pamila as empress.

Pamila and Duke Parse had urged him to take this opportunity to depose the crown prince, saying that Patrick seemed to be plotting something behind the scenes.

Hah. Patrick? What could that skinny wretch be plotting? That fool who’s completely smitten with the 2nd princess of Karsik, rolling around all night in Arteum.

Kazan had heard Pamila receiving a report through her confidant about Patrick’s movements the previous night before departing from the Duse Palace. Pamila had deliberately summoned him to her bedchamber so the emperor could hear the report contents.

“He used a Tane imperial check at Arteum, where noble men and women have secret meetings, and even took male contraceptive pills?”

Pamila recited in a clear voice, almost singing. In the end, a curse escaped Kazan’s lips.

“That crazy bastard.”

“Perhaps, did he return to the palace separately this morning?”

Pamila asked with a satisfied smirk.

“After dining together, His Highness Patrick escorted the 2nd princess to the main palace entrance by carriage.”

“Ah, the rumors must be rampant in the Karsik palace.”

“Enough, stop following that fool around and find out if that mad Amir gave birth to a child 25, no, 24 years ago.”

Pamila gritted her teeth at the mention of the cunning and sly Amir speaking of Kazan’s child. She was frustrated at not being able to eliminate her before she could speak.

“Your Majesty, is there really a need to confirm the existence of an unworthy fruit from a seed thrown into the deep mountains?”

Recognizing his slip of the tongue at Pamila’s sharp retort, Kazan admitted his carelessness. He hadn’t anticipated that Pamila would act first. This made him realize how imprudent he had been.

“Keep a closer eye on Patrick. He is certainly plotting something. Before coming to Tane, he even met with Zenon, the imperial administrator imprisoned in Nuks for embezzlement. Do you know who that person is? Valenti! A member of the Valenti family from the Kingdom of Torun.”

Pamila particularly trembled at the mention of someone from the Valenti family of the Kingdom of Torun. Compared to her modest Lasbur family, the Valenti family was expanding its influence in Tane even after Aldisha’s death.

Pamila had subtly urged Kazan to bestow at least a viscount title on Norman, the eldest son of the Lasbur family, but Kazan had always stubbornly avoided answering.

“It’s clear that Patrick is preparing a rebellion with the Valenti family of Torun, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm, the Valenti family……”

Kazan was more suspicious of the secret relationship between Pamila and Duke Parse. This morning, with a clear mind, he had calmly organized his thoughts while listening to birdsong instead of Pamila’s buzzing voice.

Pamila was likely plotting to depose Patrick and install Chris as crown prince once she was enthroned as empress. Pamila would act as regent, with Duke Parse providing covert support, and they had probably agreed to a state marriage between Chris and Silvia, Duke Parse’s eldest daughter, on the surface.

The sickening sweetness, peach flavor, dry rose scent, earthy aroma, poison, Pamila’s body scent.

Kazan found it laughable that Pamila hadn’t fully grasped his nature.

He had no intention of abdicating the throne yet. Moreover, Chris was not fit to rule the empire. The Lasbur family, Pamila’s house, were not capable of handling titles higher than viscount.

Becoming an emperor wasn’t something one could achieve by simply clawing their way up. It was heaven-ordained, an existence like a golden sun that couldn’t be hidden even if one tried.

Kazan recalled Harchen’s proud appearance when he came to the Tane Academy as crown prince. Not only his robust physique but also the sharp, dignified gaze of one who stood above the world, hidden within his arrogant expression.

Kazan, fastening the sword Chris had honed to his waist, ordered his knights to wear real swords instead of dress swords for ceremony.

*

Patricia fiddled with the twig Bern had broken off for her. At first, she could barely lift it, but now she had gained enough strength to twirl it between her thumb and forefinger.

The wound on her back had almost healed, and apart from the injuries on her shoulder and calf, she was recovering quickly. Her appetite had also improved considerably. However, Eva seemed to grow weaker as time passed, and her recovery was slow.

Knowing that Eva wasn’t one to exaggerate, Patricia judged that she must still be in a lot of pain if she needed to eat meals lying down. Patricia repeatedly asked Claudine about Eva’s condition. Claudine and her assistant from the imperial palace answered that recovery was slow due to the weakened strength that came with age.

After Claudine disinfected Patricia’s calf and shoulder wounds, applied herbal medicine, and wrapped them in gauze.

“Your Majesty, I think you can now walk around the front yard.”

“Hmm, thank you. Can I go see Eva in a little while?”

“……”

“Claudine?”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

Claudine, usually composed, showed signs of confusion as she packed up the medicine box and went to Eva. Patricia went out to the yard with Bern. Although she limped, Patricia walked with her back as straight as possible.

Bern pointed to the forest path that continued from the corner of the yard.

“If you go that way, there’s a waterfall. I heard it freezes over soon when the temperature drops.”

Patricia sat crouched between thick trees, examining yellow flowers facing the ground, and picked one.

The yellow flower, with petals unfurling like a lady’s skirt at the edges, had a sweet and unique scent.

“Your Majesty, would you like to go see the waterfall?”

“Next time. I want to go to Eva now.”

Patricia hid the picked yellow flower behind her back and went to the bedroom where Eva was lying.

Eva’s bedroom was next to Patricia’s, but perhaps because it only had a side window facing west instead of a full front window, Eva’s face seemed particularly shadowed and dark.

No, it appeared black.

When Patricia opened the door to Eva’s bedroom and entered, Claudine covered her mouth with her hand.

When Claudine arrived here and checked Eva’s wounds, the injury that had penetrated her side was serious. The Hunsok healer said that when he removed the deeply stabbed dagger, the internal organs seemed to have already ruptured.

At that time, Eva grabbed Claudine’s hand with her own shattered hand.

“Please. Don’t tell the princess, no, Her Majesty the Empress until the moment I die.”

“Eva, look at this. It smells sweet.”

“……”

Eva saw Patricia, with her shoulder and calf bound with cloth, enter her bedroom door with her hands behind her back. The moment she stepped inside, it was as dazzling as if golden sunlight had been released.

Ah, my princess. My princess.

Patricia approached and suddenly held the flower she had hidden behind her back up to Eva’s face.

It was always like this. Whenever a new flower bloomed in the West Tower garden, she would pick it, hide it behind her back, and thrust it right under my nose.

“Here, a gift for you. It just bloomed, really. I was watching it constantly… and suddenly, poof, the petals opened up.”

How bored and listless must she have been to lie down in the flower bed and watch until the moment a flower bloomed?

Eva turned the corners of her thin lips upward in a faint smile towards Patricia.

My lovely Princess Risha. Always smile brightly like that, like a golden sun.

‘Yes, I will never die, even in death. I’ll stay by your side, Princess.’

Eva closed her eyes gently after seeing Patricia’s face, smiling brightly as she held out the flower, as if she had been waiting to see her final moment.

“Eva… Eva?”