At that moment, a masked man holding a small but very sharp dagger began approaching Ren. From the front.

But Ellie, standing with her back turned, could not see him.

“…There was no other way.”

Sinclair, who had been looking at Ellie and Ren, muttered in a low voice.

“I thought if you stayed in that spot, he might kill you and then come for me.”

Ren’s eyes widened, and he could be seen clenching his teeth.

Then, leaving behind the screaming Ellie, he started running alone. Repeatedly dunking his face in the water and rolling.

As if to prove Ren’s prediction correct, the man who had entered the water and was heading towards Ren hesitated and exchanged glances with his companions.

Seeming to think it would be difficult to catch Ren in the water, they climbed up onto the shore right in front of the vast valley, just as they had approached initially, and began running after Ren.

And so Ellie, left behind alone without even realizing it…

Struggled with all her might to free her ankle caught between the rocks. While continuing to let out echoing screams.

“But I don’t know. Maybe it was all just an excuse. Just… something rationalized after thousands, tens of thousands of times of thinking…”

Sinclair murmured emptily,

And the clear water surface, where the red sunset had completely disappeared, was now covered in pitch-black darkness.

“Ellie…”

And then, far away, the figure of Ren covered in blood from head to toe could be seen again.

“Ellie, Ellie…”

As if he had completely lost his mind, Ren kept calling Ellie’s name as he jumped into the ice-cold water.

Small, white hands trembling violently repeatedly groped the immovable rock. But there was nothing to grab onto.

Ellie, Ellie.

Ren, now in tears, kept searching for Ellie, but she was already nowhere to be seen.

“Ellie…”

Sitting down by the water’s edge with an empty expression devoid of any emotion, Ren remained blankly seated for a long time…

Then he began hitting his head against the large rock where Ellie’s ankle had been caught.

“Die, I must die…”

In the end, I caused you to die too.

So I must die as well.

Now I really must die.

His pale face, already stained with blood, took on a ghostly appearance, and his face was completely soaked in blood, only red in color.

…Was it really you that I lost that day, Ellie?

Not my life?

Not my entire future?

Though he didn’t know it then, Sinclair now knew.

That he had not let go of the empress, but that she herself had let go of his hand.

So no matter how much he insisted otherwise, the fact that he failed to grasp Elaina’s hand was also his own sin…

Regrettably, Ren did not die that day. The young boy, who had lost consciousness and was hovering between life and death, was saved by an equally young knight who had been searching for him alone in the palace.

That knight was Schuler.

But even Schuler did not know. What had happened that day. Why Ren had gone to that valley every day.

And the first to welcome Ren when he regained consciousness was none other than Yuria.

“It seems His Highness the Crown Prince is luckier than I had expected.”

She spoke to Sinclair in a kind voice, smiling brightly as if nothing had happened.

“If you wish to continue being so lucky, do nothing, Your Highness. After all, none of this was really your fault, was it?”

“…”

“So stop exhausting others by insisting on finding the empress’s body, and stop giving His Majesty headaches by claiming you need to uncover the truth.”

Sinclair still clearly remembered how his skin crawled at her touch as she stroked his hair as if in sympathy.

“There should be no more deaths because of you from now on, don’t you think?”

And the things she said as well…

After that day, the boy Ren died.

Only the insignificant Sinclair Butler remained.

But it wasn’t as if Sinclair did nothing, as Yuria had said.

He secretly visited the Aswald family, heard the news, and saw Ellie’s blue eyes that had become empty, like someone long dead, with all hope gone.

And soon he realized.

That it wasn’t only he who had died that day.

Sinclair first went to war when he was around 14 years old.

He began to grow accustomed to seeing severed heads, being covered in blood, tripping over someone’s entrails, and hearing tearful screams.

But he could feel nothing.

Not sadness, not frustration, not fear.

Perhaps he thought even such emotions were a luxury for him.

And so he endlessly accumulated merits, year after year, until he came of age.

One day, upon returning from war, Sinclair encountered that woman in the palace in broad daylight.

Yuria.

“Do you remember?”

Sinclair said mockingly to Yuria, who was looking at him with a pale face, while the ladies-in-waiting were in a state of shock.

“You said everything was my fault. You’re right. What’s happening now is my fault too.”

Then he slowly drew his well-honed sword.

“That’s why you should have done nothing if you wanted to remain lucky.”

“W-What are you doing…”

“But I know that from now on, you will continue to exhaust others by trying to make Hister the crown prince, and give the servants headaches trying to cover up everything that’s happened in the palace so far. I know you won’t stop on your own.”

Sinclair continued, with a regretful expression.

“So I’ll do it for you. Of course, I may lose my position as crown prince by killing you, or fall completely out of the emperor’s favor.”

“What…?”

“But what can I do? It seems this is the only way to satisfy my anger.”

Those were the last words he said to Yuria. Sinclair swung his sword without hesitation, and was covered in blood that spurted from Yuria’s severed neck.

“Kyaaak!”

Even as he heard the endless screams of the ladies-in-waiting and looked down at Yuria’s face, which had died with a blank expression without even closing her eyes, he felt no fear at all.

Just…

‘Ellie.’

Only one person’s name kept coming to mind.

…Will this make things any better? Will I be able to approach you again? Will this ease your resentment even a little? But you don’t know the details of what happened that day.

And… even if I kill Yuria a thousand times, there’s no way to fix your broken legs.

“I will deliver a fitting punishment to Sinclair Butler, who dared to murder a superior in the palace!”

Even as he heard the emperor’s booming voice, Sinclair thought only of Ellie.

“From this day forward, Sinclair Butler is demoted from crown prince to mere prince, and Hister Butler, son of the royal concubine Yuria, will ascend to the position of crown prince! Furthermore, Sinclair shall never again enjoy the honor, power, or wealth of royalty under any circumstances for the rest of his life!”

Those slender white legs trapped between the monstrous boulders…

“I could have your head cut off right here and you’d have no right to complain, but in consideration of your achievements thus far, be grateful that your punishment ends with this much, Sinclair!”

Are you still…

Dreaming of escaping from the Aswald family?

Or did I steal all hope from you back then, leaving you to live as if dead?

How should I apologize to you?

With what face?

What excuse?

Ellie, I…

“Re… Ren!”

Despite having killed Yuria like that, Sinclair kept returning to Ren from that day.

To that moment when he failed to grasp the small white hand reaching out to him and ran away like a coward.

“Don’t leave me alone…”

At some point, Sinclair in the dream, who had become Ren, began to stagger towards Ellie, unlike how he had acted in reality.

In a miserable state, like a crushed insect.

“Ellie… I’ll save you…”

It was a situation that had been repeated thousands of times before, words that had been uttered tens of thousands of times.

So Sinclair knew all too well that he would fail to save Ellie this time too.

But even so, Sinclair reached out with all his might.

“You have to hold on tight, Ellie…”

Looking at his hand that had not yet reached her, Sinclair said in a pathetically cracking voice.

“This time, I really will…”

You…

Definitely…

Shedding endless tears of blood that blurred his vision, Sinclair bit his lip with all his strength and reached out further.

But once again…

Just before his hand could touch Ellie’s small one, he woke from the dream.

“Save me, Ren! Don’t abandon me and go!”

Along with Ellie’s sharp scream that pierced his ears.

Sinclair, awakened from the dream, reflexively took rough, heavy breaths. As if he had been underwater until just moments ago.

The first thing he felt was pain in his shoulder, but such pain was not important at all.

Just the fact that once again, even in his dream, he had failed to save Ellie…

Sinclair tightly shut his eyes, as if holding back a scream, biting his lip.

And not long after, he realized something was strange.

Something very unfamiliar.

That is, a warm sensation.

Clearly felt at his fingertips.

Sinclair hurriedly looked to the side.

And there was Elaina, holding his hand tightly and looking at him.