Durant turned his head back with desperate eyes.

His blond hair was soaked with blood and sweat, dripping down his forehead, and blood was oozing from his mouth.

“Your Majesty……. Please do not…… forgive me……. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he collapsed as if his body was falling apart, plunging his face into the mud and falling down.

Karaf roared like a beast, looking at a man standing tall beyond where Durant had been.

“Saillun……!”

The grayhaired man looked back at him with a face covered in blood.

Karaf’s eyes trembled.

“Why…… Why are you betraying me……. ”

He spoke in a soft voice.

“Karaf…… No, Crown Prince. Do you really think we were friends?”

“What……?”

Saillun looked at him with pity, twisting his eyebrows, and continued to speak.

“We could never be friends from the moment we first met. People should not step out of their roles and the positions they hold. You never fit the Emperor’s throne.”

“Is that…… the reason you betrayed me? Me, with whom you’ve been like a brother, sharing blood……?”

As Saillun remained silent, Karaf’s eyes trembled mercilessly.

“Saillun…… I beg you……. It’s not too late……. Come back to me now……. Please don’t do this to me……. ”

Even at this moment, Karaf desperately pleaded with him, as if he wanted to believe that this hadn’t happened, that he hadn’t betrayed him.

But Saillun coldly extended his dagger, saying,

“Please die now.”

At his gesture, the pouring rain stopped abruptly in the air, as if a hole had opened in the sky.

In an instant, raindrops froze, and silence enveloped the surroundings.

It was a calm and strange scene, as if everything had stopped.

Karaf soon writhed up from the ground.

Bowing his head, he drew his sword, screaming and charging at Saillun.

His red eyes, marked by bloodlines, glowed with rage.

Saillun poured raindrops onto Karaf.

The raindrops that had been suspended in the air simultaneously flew out with a sharp sound.

Karaf pierced through the sharp rain like arrows, finally reaching him and stabbing him in the abdomen.

At that moment, the rain that had momentarily stopped, poured down again like a torrential downpour.

From Karaf’s red eyes, a liquid flowed, indistinguishable from rain or tears.

His sword, embedded in Saillun’s belly, trembled.

He knew it. He knew that Saillun had deliberately let the rain hit him.

Saillun smiled and placed a hand on Karaf’s chest.

“Karaf, you are still far from being a true Emperor……. ”

At that moment, red light flowed from his hand, and he carved a crescent moon symbol on his chest.

Karaf screamed in terrible pain, as if his chest was burning, and fell to the ground.

At the same time, Saillun also collapsed to the side.

The two of them faced each other on the ground, looking at each other with blurry eyes.

“Karaf…… I loved you……. ”

Blood welled up from Saillun’s mouth.

He gasped for breath and slowly opened his mouth again.

“I couldn’t change destiny…… but I hope someday…… a miracle will happen to you…… so that all these wicked connections will be severed…… and you will become a true holy ruler……. ”

He closed his dimmed eyes, unable to finish his words, with a faint smile on his bloodstained lips.

Karaf’s face twisted wildly.

Both body and mind were in terrible pain, but he struggled to stay conscious, desperately getting up.

His knees buckled several times, and his waist bent forward, but each time he refused to give up, screaming in pain and standing up again.

His black hair was miserably wet and dripping.

Hit by raindrops like arrows, his uniform was torn here and there, with gaping holes.

Through them, the red crescent moon symbol carved on his chest shone brightly.

Karaf grabbed his chest with his hand, struggling to keep his rolling eyes open, and breathed heavily.
Dark circles formed under his eyes, and blood gushed from his mouth, but he forced himself to walk unsteadily toward Duran.

The moment he reached out a hand to check Duran’s pulse, Karaf’s hand stopped.

He was no longer breathing…….

With eyes widened, Karaf, frozen for a moment, then furrowed his brow and with all his might, poured the original energy of the flower he possessed into Duran’s chest.

A dazzling white light poured from his hand, but as soon as he exerted his strength, the crescent moon symbol engraved on his chest reacted violently and began to burn like fire.

It felt as if his heart was sealed off, blocking his power.

Karaf screamed but did not give up until the end.

Finally, all the light disappeared, and he collapsed next to Duran.

After that, there was darkness.

(This is a time separator.)

“Heh…… Huff……”

Karaf woke from a nightmare, gasping for breath.

When he came to his senses, his throat was burning with pain, and heat was bubbling all over his body.

He reached with trembling hands for the glass on the table next to his bed.

But the moment he brought the cup to his lips, he stopped in his tracks.

It might be poisoned…….