“That guy…”

Just as Derl was about to talk about Damion, the sound of the door opening was heard and Sofia stepped inside. She dropped the bag she was holding in her hand with a thud.

“Ansi!”

Sofia ran to Ansi.

“Sir Riento, thank you… How… How did this happen…”

Sofia sat on the bed, shedding tears without even being able to touch her daughter for fear that she might be sick. Ansi reached out to Sofia first and hugged her.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, Mother.”

“I’m so glad… Mother really…”

Sofia had wondered countless times if it was a mistake not to stop her daughter’s decision to go to the battlefield out of respect.

Even though she had sent her off expecting that Ansi could be in danger, when she actually saw her unconscious daughter, she couldn’t blame herself enough.

But in the end, she woke up. She had returned safely like this. Sofia was just grateful for that fact.

“Captain Rubel. There’s a call for you.”

Just then, a hospital staff member came looking for Derl. He left the hospital room, leaving Ansi and Sofia behind.

The caller was as expected.

– Has Ansi woken up?

“Yes. Were you watching over her?”

Derl looked around. Thinking that the person must have come here since they knew Ansi had woken up, he asked, but only then did he hear a sigh filled with relief from the other end.

– Thank… goodness.

The man’s voice trembled. Derl’s eyes shook with surprise. Because the Damion he had encountered in the military seemed like a person without emotions.

Lieutenant Colonel Orpé had never shown any emotions such as impatience or anxiety, even in any emergency situation, even when facing the enemy right in front of him.

– Please take good care of Ansi.

As expected. The tone that came a little later had already erased the anxiety and was refined as usual.

But Derl couldn’t forget the voice from earlier.

“…Will you be coming today, Lieutenant Colonel?”

– No. I’m not going.

“I know you’re busy. When things are sorted out…”

– Even when things are sorted out, I won’t be going. Because I have no intention of appearing in front of Ansi anymore.

Derl’s face was filled with questions. Everything from Ansi’s reaction when he talked about Damion to Damion’s words about not appearing anymore was strange.

“Ansi… seems to not remember you, Lieutenant Colonel. Does that have anything to do with you saying you won’t appear in front of Ansi?”

– Don’t tell Ansi anything about me.

“Are you the one, Lieutenant Colonel? The person who saved Ansi.”

– No.

“That’s right. Then why aren’t you showing yourself in front of Ansi?”

– Ansi will now think of me as just a member of Orpé. Major, you have to let Ansi think that way. That’s the path for Ansi.

“What do you mean by that?”

– Then, I have some urgent business, so I’ll hang up now.

“Wait…”

The sound of the signal being cut off was heard from the other end of the receiver. Derl, who had put down the receiver, stared into the void with a serious expression and then turned around.

In the end, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

Although he couldn’t understand why Ansi couldn’t remember Damion, if that was the path for Ansi, Derl couldn’t say anything about Damion.

“Damion!”

Along with the sound of the iron bars being shaken, Kardian’s scream echoed through the prison. Damion looked at his brother with an indifferent face. Kardian reached out through the iron bars to try to grab him, but his hand couldn’t reach.

“Kardian. You will be executed, and the Orpé family will be exterminated.”

Damion told the determined fact in a calm voice.

Kardian gripped the iron bars as if to tear them apart. He glared at Damion and struggled wildly.

“Do you think the people of the empire will accept such a decision? They can’t kill me just with something like that, Damion.”

“Don’t think it’s just something like that, trying to sell the country’s secrets during wartime.”

“So, did Belgader lose? I heard otherwise.”

Damion was at a loss for words at Kardian’s brazen response. He felt it was a waste of time to have further conversation with someone with this way of thinking.

“It’s already known that you passed information to Parma in this way even during the time of Major General Rubel. It turns out you were also involved in the incidents of Cheruso and Sein.”

With the testimony of Derl de Rubel, who had made remarkable achievements in the war and was even injured, overlapping, Kardian’s crimes became even heavier.

As this happened, even those who had been hiding in fear of Kardian began to speak up. The wrongs he had committed began to surface one by one.

In the face of clear evidence of treason, and not just once or twice, the voices that had been advocating for Kardian gradually disappeared. Now there was no hole for Kardian to escape through.

Kardian also realized that. The blades he had been holding tightly had somehow slipped out of his hands and were stabbing him.

He asked, turning pale.

“Did Ansi… Did Ansi talk?”

“Don’t carelessly say Ansi’s name.”

Damion warned Kardian in a low voice. Thinking about what he had done to Ansi, Damion wanted to tear him apart and kill him with his own hands.

It was disgusting to hear that precious name from the mouth of such a person.

Kardian shook his head wildly. He shook the iron bars as if struggling and raged.

“Damn it, are you trying to get out alone? Instead of selling me out, you’re trying to take Orpé for yourself? That’s why you reported me, right?”

“No. I’ll die together with you.”

“What…?”

“I told you. Extermination.”

Damion smiled. Seeing his smile that seemed to have let everything out, Kardian’s face stiffened.

He intended to wipe out Orpé as a whole. Realizing from his expression filled with relief and exhilaration, Kardian realized that no matter what he said, he couldn’t persuade Damion.

“How could the likes of you… do this to me…”

“Don’t misunderstand, Kardian.”

“…”

“If you hadn’t done those things, you wouldn’t be here. What’s taking your life is not me, but your own past.”

“No, no…”

“See you at the execution ground.”

Damion turned around. Leaving behind Kardian’s screams, he left the prison.

Damion took out a cigar and a lighter from his pocket. Staring at the distinct heart-shaped pattern engraved on his palm, he lit the cigar.

Looking at the smoke scattering into the sky, he became lost in thought.

Kardian’s execution for treason and the extermination of the Orpé family had not been officially announced yet, but the fact that the emperor had decided on it had already spread to the people of the empire.

Despite committing treason, Kardian had supporters. The gist of their opinion was that he was actually a sincere and kind person, and there must have been some circumstances.

It was closer to personal and absolute devotion rather than political support.

Moreover, there were also views advocating for Orpé. Since it was something Kardian had done arbitrarily, they said not to hold Orpé responsible.

There was also a ridiculous theory of sympathy, saying that the parents would be the saddest about their son’s wrongdoings.

How should such deep-rooted beliefs be shattered?

Damion moved his steps to the street. It was to see her face one last time before the execution.

At that moment, Damion noticed an extra edition scattered on the street.

“…!”

It was a story about Bekishi de Orpé, who was thought to be dead, reappearing.

The Low Club, where people gathered for the first time in a long while, was filled with talk about the extra edition distributed today. It was a headline story that the wife of the Orpé Viscount, who was thought to be dead, had returned alive.

“It’s really surprising that a person who was definitely dead has appeared, isn’t it?”

“What’s even more surprising is what the lady said.”

Bekishi de Orpé.

She said she had been unconscious for nearly a year. Hidden in a hospital in the suburbs of the capital, she came to the capital as soon as she miraculously woke up to reveal who had tried to kill her.

“To think that the one who tried to kill the lady was Viscount Kardian…”

“Really, the things the next Orpé Duke has done are unbelievable.”

“The Duchess knew that her son tried to kill her daughter-in-law, but she covered it up?”

“With this… even those who opposed the extermination of Orpé will shut their mouths.”

The nobility could obtain their names because they fulfilled their duties and maintained their dignity in any situation.

A husband who killed his wife and a mother-in-law who covered up that fact.

The family that had committed such disorderly and inferior acts could not be the most long-standing family in the empire.

This story, which spread far and wide through gossip papers, even angered those who were usually not interested in politics, so the Orpé family was already being regarded as a shameful past rather than a family like the face of the empire.

“Indeed. It seems difficult to turn things around now.”

People sighed deeply, each in their own way.

Among the members of the Low Club, there were those who had tried hard to maintain a friendship with the Orpé family, but now that was not an important matter.

The war had shattered and scattered everything, from the businesses they were running to the communities they were building.

In this situation, since they were not close to Orpé in the first place, it wasn’t a big deal even if their ties with Orpé were severed now.

However… Kardian was not the only one bearing the Orpé name.

“Damion… will also be executed, right?”

Hopfry asked gloomily. Another person lowered his head and answered.

“He definitely will be. Because he’s an Orpé. But… isn’t it completely unfair for Damion? He achieved so much…”

People nodded their heads. Among them, Henet clenched his fists tightly. He, too, couldn’t just watch Damion die like this.