It was right after the sixteenth battle with Amaneser.

Standing in the midst of the border, seventeen-year-old Zion realized that something was seriously wrong amid the swirling chaos.

“Ah, ah…!”

As the curse was lifted, Zion, aware of his wounds, slammed his head onto the ground and screamed.

“Calm down and breathe.”

Someone lifted Zion up, forcefully opened his mouth, and then supported his jaw so that he could breathe.

Gasping for breath, Zion looked at the person who had helped him. It was a man in a reversed black hood.

“Who are you…?”

In response to Zion’s question, the man pulled back his hood.

And once again, Zion felt a pain that seemed to make him collapse.

“What, you…?”

“Zion Laurel.”

The man with a faint smile on his face said.

However, Zion couldn’t distinguish whether the man was calling him or if it was an answer to his question.

Because the face revealed beneath the sky was exactly like his own.

The man spoke softly, adding to Zion, who was shocked and lost in words.

“I am you. A bit later.”

The man’s voice saying so was gentle and soft. So, Zion felt an intense sense of rejection once again.

Zion reflexively slapped away the man’s hand holding his shoulder. Then, with a vacant gaze, he scrutinized the man’s appearance.

He was half an inch taller than Zion. His shoulders were broad, and his facial features were sharp. Unlike Zion, who was still a boy, he was a full-fledged young man. He was indeed the ‘slightly later’ Zion.

However, unlike Zion with radiant blonde hair, his hair, extending down to his waist, was as white as the moon.

When Zion stared at the man’s white hair, he swept it aside and said.

“It’s nothing special. Things ended up like this after messing with time.”

Zion felt uncomfortable once again at the man’s casual explanation.

There was no sense of reality.

Am I going crazy? Or am I having a nightmare? Or maybe the devil is playing tricks?

If none of those, if you really came back through time… Are you here to help me?

While Zion was lost in thought, the man spoke to him.

“You must be disoriented just after the curse has been lifted.”

“Curse?”

“Your family’s eternal curse. It started the day you came to the border.”

The man informed Zion with a strangely gentle voice.

The not-so-glamorous side of the glorious Laurel, the true purpose of Count Laurel.

The boy, who faced the truth without any preparation, stood dumbfounded, trying hard to understand the man’s words.

But his heart responded before his head. The heartbeat, trapped inside the ribcage, suddenly resounded throughout his body.

Boiling anger overwhelmed the boy. Teeth and fists clenched tightly, and blood poured again from the wounds all over his body.

As Zion attempted to dash away, the man grabbed him.
“Calm down, don’t make your wounds worse.”

“Let go of this!”

“Listen to me first. Time is short.”

“I’m going to kill them all!”

Zion Laurel was born as a prince. Therefore, he wore a heavy crown to become an emperor, but he found out that it was not a crown but a signpost of a mountain god, torn to pieces.

The proud boy, to hide his own misery, preferred to express anger. If he didn’t pour hatred on those who deceived and insulted him, he felt like he would collapse at any moment.

As Zion vented his passion like that, the man who had been watching him spoke.

“If you want to kill, you can. Whether it’s your father or your stepbrother, it’s not a big problem.”

The man’s voice was calm. So, Zion, who was screaming, suddenly froze.

If killing them is not a big problem, does that mean he has already killed them?

In a creepy atmosphere, Zion stared blankly at the man in the eerie mansion.

He was still smiling affectionately. However, upon closer inspection, his expression was horribly awkward. His laughter seemed more like a grotesque lie than a mask.

The moment Zion realized it, a chilling sensation ran down his spine.

“…Why did you come to me?”

Somehow, Zion felt that the man was a very distant existence from him.

Even so, there was a slight trust. If you are really me, you must be on my side.

Zion believed so, waiting for the man’s answer.

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

Finally, the man spoke.

“Protect Ibi.”

So, Zion was once again puzzled.

Betrayed by family, betrayed by the world, and betrayed by himself for about five years, Zion Laurel, who had painfully realized how vile he was, was just breathing for the day to fulfill his duty.

Dozens of red dragons with formations crossed the sky in the eastern part of Bys.

They were the children of Tardes, carrying Zion and the border watchers.

The border watchers had the privilege of filling the reins and saddles for Tardes’ children. It was their privilege to confront the enemies of the world, making them the only group that could freely move between Bys and Tienda.

As Zion and the watchers who flew straight from Tienda approached, the eastern mountain range came into view.

The Tardes main hall was inside that mountain range, and beyond the mountain range was the eastern border where Amaneser had taken its place.