Hearing those words, Masaran immediately stepped forward.

Even so, his relationship with his father the king had not been good recently. His father, who had been displeased with him all his life, received reports on everything that happened in the court even while lying in bed.

Every time his father did that, Masaran felt like he was being compared to his eldest brother. That was the case even though Hator was already dead.

Everyone around him only sought his dead brother. Right now, even on the streets, the entire nation was mourning the death of the first prince, and all the ministers rolled their eyes to find faults in him compared to his brother. Even though the person who was already gone would not return anyway.

The second prince was the only person who provided comfort to him in the midst of such people.

In fact, hadn’t he experienced similar discrimination to Masaran?

The reason the second prince was exiled from his home country was because he had challenged his half-brother, the crown prince. Masaran knew that fact because the second prince himself had confided it to him alone.

Of course, there was a gap in the status of the mothers between the second prince and the crown prince. However, Masaran decided to ignore that part for now. In the end, matters like concubines or illegitimacy were all problems of someone else’s family. Rather than picking out such details and uncomfortably taking sides, it was better to only take the parts that resonated with him.

Anyway, the important thing was that the second prince was practically his only close friend.

But why was his father summoning such a person? Masaran felt as if his father was trying to take away even the last bit of comfort left for him. Wasn’t it the case that his father disliked every part of him already? It seemed quite possible for him to do that.

In front of his father’s bedchamber, which he had quickly reached with hurried steps, stood the second prince’s attendant. Masaran passed by the attendant, who was devoted to his master but not very friendly, and stood in front of the bedchamber’s door.

“Do not announce my arrival.”

Masaran commanded the guard who discovered him and was about to pull the communication rope connected to the inside of the room.

If it were any other time, the guard who would have arrogantly stood tall, saying he served the king, let go of the rope at those words. Now that the current king was on his deathbed and the crown prince had died in battle, it was clear who held the real power in the palace, so his attitude changed.

Masaran carefully opened the door and stepped inside. Fortunately, the bed was positioned in a way that the door was not visible from it, so there was no chance of being caught.

The second prince was sitting on a chair placed next to the bed. With his handsome face lowered, the man was listening to the words of the old man lying on the bed.

Standing in a spot that would not catch his eye, Masaran held his breath. The raspy voice of his father the king could be heard.

“I should have sent Masaran to the battlefield.”

And then his father coughed softly. Masaran stood there blinking his eyes as if a nail had been driven into his foot. He didn’t quite understand what he had just heard.

The second prince must have had the same thought, as he asked in his characteristically gentle voice,

“…Why do you say such a thing?”

And Masaran felt a part of his chest suddenly go numb. It was a sensation he had felt countless times whenever his father chose his brother over him.

It can’t be. Glaring at the foot of the bed where his father was lying, Masaran thought. It won’t be like that. There’s no way that could happen.

Until now, there were many times when his father had chosen his brother over him. As Hator was the eldest son and also the crown prince, Masaran was required to make countless concessions.

But there’s no way, he didn’t think his father would do that until this very moment.

No, rather it would be more correct to say that it shouldn’t be like that. Still, if his father considered him a son, if that were the case…

Soon, his father’s answer came back.

“Then at least Hator would still be alive, wouldn’t he?”

Fortunately, the conversation he had with Ophelia in the bedroom that day ended without any particular consequences.

“I know I have no right to say this. But the annulment of the marriage… can’t you give it one more chance?”

After the storm-like self-blame had passed, Idren asked Ophelia. The woman, who had escaped from his embrace at that moment, opened her mouth a few times as if she wanted to refute something, but in the end, she didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t difficult to understand the reason for that silence. The moment he saw his own reflection in her blue eyes, Idren realized why Ophelia had refrained from speaking. The expression that was horribly distorted was clearly that of a person begging, no matter who looked at it.

How miserable must he have looked for her to hesitate?

But if he could throw away his pride and gain even sympathy, he would throw it away as many times as needed. If he could use that sympathy to get a second chance, he would gladly do it over and over again.

“…I can’t do anything. I don’t want to ruin something again.”

When the woman, who had wiped her still slightly wet face, said that, Idren agreed with those words without hesitation.

“You don’t have to do anything.”

“…”

“I will take care of everything. You just need to confirm the results.”

He knew he had to be careful in making such an assurance.

However, it was a rule that more effort was required to make up for a mistake already made than the first time. In order to restore even a little bit of the lost trust, he had to show a much more confident attitude than before.

After that conversation, Idren acted to prove the words he had uttered himself.

First, he filled the vacant positions of the elder families he had executed with individuals favorable to Ophelia.

The change of personnel didn’t end there. Even if they were not directly involved in the rebellion, if they had even the slightest contact with Gilrod Nevel while he was away, he took measures to ensure they could never enter the royal palace again.

The treaty he had made with Gilrod Nevel before leaving for the mountains, stating that the Nevel family’s ships could not leave the port of Aglante, became the justification for that. While he was away, Gilrod had moved his ships without any hesitation, and even if the people he wanted to drive out were not related to the rebellion, they were related to the Nevel family’s vessels.

He also handled Leden so that the dissatisfaction there would never reach Ophelia’s ears again. A bit of financial support, intimidation, and a proxy dispatched on Ophelia’s behalf became the solution.

A suitable investigator was dispatched to look into the death of the Lord of Rohos, and a considerable amount of wealth was delivered to the lord’s wife who had lost her daughter, citing the reason that she died while carrying out royal duties.

Everything was handled as neatly as possible. If there seemed to be any flaws, Salode, who would have added his words as much as needed, was also quiet, so Idren could be confident that there were no issues with his handling of matters.

However, the uneasiness grew as everything was smoothly processed.

Even when he was fighting the war with Brinwell, the situation had unfolded favorably. But when he actually returned, wasn’t the most important thing in a complete mess?

But even if he felt uneasy, there was nothing he could do about it.

When he was out on the battlefield, he could at least write letters even if it didn’t help the situation, but now Idren was avoiding Ophelia indefinitely. It seemed like if he encountered her, she would immediately change her mind and ask him to annul the marriage.

It didn’t seem like the same stroke of luck that worked for his begging once would follow a second time. To make matters worse, it wasn’t like he had done anything right in this situation.

Ophelia also didn’t separately request to meet him.

In the current situation, it didn’t seem like she would summon him for a good reason, so while thinking that it was fortunate, Idren grew more anxious as the silence prolonged. He couldn’t tell what Ophelia was thinking.

What did I do wrong?

While waiting for her to stabilize and have her heart somewhat relieved, Idren thought about what he had missed in this life. However, there was nothing to pick out as a reason because he believed he had made the best choice for everything.

In the midst of the confusion, while rummaging through his mind, he would sometimes have these thoughts. Do others live like this too? Is the love that other people have all like this? Feeling like they’re cornered and not flowing as intended?

But even while feeling like his emotions were a rope tied around his neck, Idren wanted to cling to it and hang on rather than sever it. Even if that was the path to slowly being strangled to death, no other method came to mind.

But if he had to struggle like this in the void for the rest of his life…

Then how should he endure from now on?

Around the time such thoughts were deepening, the wife of the Lord of Rohos came to the capital.

The woman who had lost her daughter looked much more haggard than the last time he saw her.

The last time he saw her was at Taeran Rohos’s funeral, so Idren could feel the difference even more starkly. The woman, who had smiled brightly as if light had finally entered her life when her husband died, had completely transformed into a wreck in just a few months.

Wearing clothes that didn’t match the sense of the season in the north at all, she prostrated herself as soon as she came before him.

“Your Majesty, I have a request to make, so I have come here risking rudeness.”