Just before the trembling servant was about to kneel on the hard marble floor, the elderly Count Tomen was the first to move.

Led by him, the officials present rushed towards the king’s quarters like spear-wielding soldiers.

The bedroom door was wide open, and several guards were standing with swords drawn. However, they seemed at a loss for what to do.

Count Tomen felt as if he could clearly see what had happened inside, but at the same time he felt an unbearable anger rising towards the foolishly standing soldiers.

“Out of the way, you fools!”

As the count barked, the armored soldiers stepped back hesitantly. Marquis Poet, who was following behind him, let out a small scream, and others gasped in shock.

Two servants lay dead at the entrance.

One had a slash from the right shoulder to the left side, and the other had a wound in the middle of the neck, cut so deeply and decisively that blood pooled beneath the corpses.

Even the high-quality thick carpet couldn’t absorb all the blood, and as people stepped on it with horrified expressions, it made squelching sounds as it released the blood.

“No!”

A tearful cry reached Count Tomen’s ears as he walked ahead. It was a pitiful voice that sounded desperate. Turning his head, he saw a maid tied by the wrists to a pillar stretching from ceiling to floor. Her face was familiar.

“You’re Lady Kristrad’s…”

The maid tied to the pillar was Mel. She must have struggled quite a bit to escape, as the area around her tightly bound wrists was bloody and her hair was all disheveled. She looked at the partially open bedroom door and shook her head.

“You mustn’t go in now. She’ll harm His Majesty! Marchioness Himierd…!”

“You’ve forgotten your manners, Mel.”

The bedroom doors swung wide open. People looked at Himierd with surprised and shocked eyes. She wore thick leather and metal armor under a breastplate bearing her family crest.

She held a sword in one hand, and on her pale face, a blush of anger and excitement stood out clearly like two identical apples.

Himierd stared blankly at Mel. Her eyes, which always looked resolute, were moist and empty, sending chills down people’s spines.

“That witch has ruined you. You were always such a polite and well-behaved child.”

Mel said,

“Marchioness, stop this! Lady Kristrad hasn’t ruined anything about me. Stop hating her! And please come to your senses!”

But Marchioness Himierd was no longer listening to Mel. Her gaze now turned to Count Tomen, Marquis Poet, and the other officials.

However, Himierd said nothing to them. As if she hadn’t seen anything, she strode back into Ord’s bedroom.

“Marchioness Himierd, wait!”

Marquis Poet cried out almost screaming as he followed her into the bedroom.

For a moment, Poet imagined a horrifying and terrible sight—blood splattered on the bed and Ord submerged in it—but with a flash of shock, he realized that scene was not reality.

Ord was still alive. He didn’t even seem afraid or distressed.

Sitting up with his skeletal body, he looked infinitely weak yet somehow detached, and surprisingly, he seemed to both mock and pity Himierd’s lonely rebellion.

“It would be best if you didn’t move any further.”

Himierd warned, pointing her sword at Ord. As Marquis Poet raised his hand, the officials following behind stopped in their tracks.

Count Tomen understood why the guards had been lingering outside like idiots. Himierd’s sword was too close to Ord to stop her.

Count Tomen slowly exhaled. It was an attempt to calm himself, but it didn’t help much. At least not judging by his complexion.

“Marchioness, what is the meaning of this?”

A bitter, cynical smile appeared on Himierd’s lips.

“Can’t you see?”

As Count Tomen took a step closer, Marchioness Himierd raised her sword even more upright, pointing it at Ord.

“If you come even an inch closer, I will cut him down.”

“Marchioness!”

“Shut up!”

Himierd shouted with bulging eyes. For a moment, it was such a tremendous volume that everyone present flinched.

Count Tomen carefully retreated, and Marquis Poet also moved people back while keeping his eyes on Himierd.

In that explosive tension, only Ord Hyanmorik remained calmly closing his eyes as if nothing was happening.

Was he asleep? Had he fainted? People who saw Ord had such thoughts, but of course, it was neither. When something Himierd threw fell onto the bed sheet, Ord’s eyelids, which had looked like sunken pits, slowly rose.

“Sign it, Your Majesty.”

Ord then slightly raised his head and stared at Himierd. It was a look full of ridicule. It was so precise that anyone could see it.

“What is this?”

Ord’s voice was hoarse as usual, but it was clear and precise enough to surprise everyone present—including Himierd.

He coughed a little, but that was all. It was a voice filled with dignity that, though weakened, showed no signs of illness. It was the voice of the sharp and bold king before some unknown disease had struck him.

Despite this change, Himierd’s sword did not waver. Only her lips trembled slightly.

Himierd said,

“Don’t you know what it is?”

Ord’s parched lips curved into a crescent moon shape.

“How insolent. Have you forgotten before whom you stand?”

But Ord already knew what it was. What was written on the paper that Himierd had thrown down.

And soon Himierd realized that Ord knew this fact. Not just her, but everyone present knew it.

“…As of today.”

Himierd took a breath and said in a heavy voice.

“As of today, Your Majesty will step down from the throne of the Kingdom of Sierou, and transfer all governing and command rights as king to His Highness Prince Eustar Hyanmorik. Sign it.”

A heavy silence descended. Not a single person moved their lips. They were confused.

Everyone except Ord and Himierd was out of their minds with confusion. Their gazes busily alternated between the two. It was then that Ord burst into laughter.

At first, people, even Himierd, thought he was choking while trying to cough. But that wasn’t it. The sound of squeezing his entire lungs was just laughter, not painful breathing.

Ord was laughing with his head bowed. Soon his bony shoulders began to ripple, and later he even covered his mouth with the back of his hand. Even then, he couldn’t stop his laughter.

Himierd tried to maintain her composure in response to Ord’s reaction, but she couldn’t. The tip of the sword she held up towards him wavered for the first time.

Ord, who had been laughing while shaking his body like a madman, or as if an invisible hand was tickling him mercilessly, raised his gaze. His eyes were sparkling as if light was pouring out of hollow holes.

“You’re going to great lengths for Eustar, Sui.”

Ord said. There was still laughter at the end of his words, and his voice was even more roughly cracked from the burst of laughter.

“How long has it been since you appeared before me in that armor? Back then, you were loyal to me. You loved Eustar, but it was me to whom you pledged your allegiance. Isn’t that right?”

Himierd’s face turned red. Sudden shame struck her forehead violently.

“I’ve already told you it’s not because of my personal feelings, Your Majesty.”

Marchioness Himierd said through clenched teeth.

“For the sake of Sierou, Your Majesty must step down now.”

Ord’s body tilted slightly to the side. Count Tomen thought he was finally losing consciousness and collapsing, but once again his prediction was off.

Ord said,

“For the sake of the country, you say. Fine words indeed. You barge into my quarters in armor, kill my servants, and threaten me, your king, with a bloodstained sword—and you claim this is for the sake of Sierou?”

Himierd’s jaw trembled. The fact that she couldn’t refute Ord’s words made her flustered.

She hadn’t anticipated this situation. She had thought about having to sign for Ord if he couldn’t come to his senses, but she never expected him to attack her so calmly.

“What’s wrong?” Ord said in a tone that was clearly mocking. “Why don’t you answer?”

At that question, Himierd snapped back to her senses and again raised her sword to point at the center of his chest.

If she took just one step, just one strong step forward, Ord would immediately fall to a place where even the most terrible disease could not follow.

“Do you have the right to sit on the throne? Do you really think so, Your Majesty?”

“Why do you say I have no right?”

For a moment, Himierd completely forgot where she was and what she was doing. It was because of Ord.

His attitude, his gaze, his sharp and intelligent presence that sometimes seemed to be surrounded by radiance, made all of Himierd’s resolve melt away in an instant.

“Your Majesty!”

While Himierd was momentarily dazed, Marquis Poet’s piercing scream shook the dark and damp bedroom.

The next moment, Himierd almost screamed too. Ord was grasping the blade pointed at his chest with his bare hand.

Blood flowed freely from his palm and fingers, soaking the sheet, and his complexion became even paler and darker.

“What are you doing…!”

Surprised, Himierd tried to pull back the sword. She didn’t even think that doing so might cut off Ord’s fingers, or even his entire hand.

But once again, Ord did not move according to Himierd’s wishes. Himierd’s eyes widened as she stood still, as if her palm was stuck to the sword’s handle.