'Ah… you’re still trying to threaten me with that……?!'

In the past, even knowing it wasn’t true, I used to quietly yield to the threat because I was afraid it might reach Father’s ears and I’d be punished. But after nearly dying from hardship in the South because of that threat, and then going through times so harsh that I couldn’t even feel the “same-sex” suspicion as hardship anymore, I wasn’t afraid of anything now.

As if that ridiculous misunderstanding could be scarier than the secret of my birth!

Besides, the Kiole of now had already resolved to turn his back on his own house.

After checking once more that there was no one around, Kiole squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.

“Do as you please!”

“……What?”

“I said, do as you please. Do I still look like a Gwanghuigung guard knight to you?”

The original personality and manner of speaking he had never shown in front of Kachian before poured out without restraint. For a moment Kachian was taken aback; then flames of hatred lit in his eyes.

“Hah……! Right. Since Diarca abandoned me, you’ll do the same, and with the Emperor and the Duke of Peleta behind you, nothing else matters! That’s what you mean.”

No. Diarca and the Emperor had nothing to do with it; it was purely Kiole’s own will. But Kiole didn’t feel any need to say that much.

“Fine. I came because of old ties to tell you to stop with false testimony, but if that’s your stance, there’s no need to warn you. Everyone will soon know that the youngest son of Diarca is crazed with sodomy.”

“As I’ve said, I am not a sodomite. How long are you going to keep harping on that?”

“And who would believe that. Isn’t it laughable even to yourself!”

Kachian burst out laughing. It felt like standing before a wall with whom words simply could not get through.

“They said Kiole la Diarca is already nothing more than a servant to the Emperor and the Duke of Peleta and that talking to him is useless—indeed, that’s how it is. I won’t waste any more time.”

“W-who would dare say that……. Th-that person who was by you today—was it them?”

As the Crown Prince’s new “advisor” came to mind mid-speech and he asked, an affirmation came back.

“Right. Unlike an incompetent like you, they’re very useful.”

A satisfied smile spread over Kachian’s face. It was a smile entirely different from earlier. Seeing that face, the question Kiole had been harboring all day as he watched the advisor and Kachian reared its head again in his mind.

Where on earth did that so-called advisor pop out from? He’d lost all his faction and even Diarca had withdrawn—would anyone in that state bother to approach Kachian? If someone would, for what purpose?

And what was Kishiar la Orr, who already knew of that advisor’s existence yet showed no concern whatsoever, thinking?

Something felt like it was just within reach yet not, and his head throbbed.

“Do you… trust that person?”

“Trust? Ha. Don’t be stupid.”

Kachian looked at Kiole as if at a bug he wanted to crush underfoot at any moment.

“Do I look like I’d trust someone like that?”

“Then…….”

“If they’re useful we use each other, and if not, we discard them. Like you.”

The emotion in those wide-open eyes went beyond Kiole and was hatred for the whole world. Looking into eyes that seemed to want to say that if he could, he would kill Kiole right here and now, Kiole felt his breath catch.

How could anyone display hatred that intense.

'So what he looked like in the interrogation room was all fake after all.'

Kachian la Orr was not in his right mind. That boy believed only what he wanted to believe and saw only what he wanted to see.

In the past, Kiole had simply thought that the Crown Prince—once clever and elegant—had changed for some reason. But thinking back now, what on earth had he seen in that boy to judge him so generously? Disappointment rose up of itself.

While serving as a guard knight, he had truly done his utmost. And what of the time and devotion Kiole had poured out in the South to protect the Crown Prince? But none of it meant anything to him.

Kachian hadn’t changed.

On the contrary—he hadn’t changed at all.

Because he himself had undergone change, Kiole felt that fact all too clearly.

It was a truly strange feeling. Things that had once felt natural now didn’t.

In the sensation as if a film he hadn’t even known was covering his eyes had been peeled away, Kiole held his silence.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

“Are you still here?”

The one who poked his head in was Kishiar la Orr. The moment his gaze turned toward Kachian, Kiole sensed the gloomy killing intent emanating from Kachian. Eyes filled with hatred and resentment far stronger than before, mixed with jealousy and wariness, regained forced composure a moment later.

“Ah. Were you discussing something important? I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“No!”

Kiole answered quickly. Kachian turned his body without a word of greeting. After the Crown Prince vanished, leaving a cold wind behind, Kishiar tilted his head and asked,

“So……. was it a somewhat useful time?”

“Sorry?”

“I’m asking if it was a time that gave you conviction about the road ahead.”

Kiole recalled the conversation he’d had with the Crown Prince. If he were to summarize the strange feelings he’d just had—yes. It might be said that it was as Kishiar meant now.

“……I think so.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Then it was worth proposing you as a witness.”

“But what is that advisor of the Crown Prince? And what is that absurd false evidence about the Sage being the real culprit? Are you just going to leave that be?!”

“Oh. Did that bother you so much? You’ve adapted to our side faster than you look.”

“……”

It was strange to admit it, and strange to deny it, so Kiole’s mouth shut tight.

“You seem overly worried, so I’ll say this to put you at ease first. The advisor is nothing to worry about.”

Kiole’s eyes widened.

'Which means—surely……!'

“So they were someone His Majesty the Emperor placed at his side!”

“No.”

“What?!”

“We need to get back to the Cavalry, so let’s continue in the carriage.”

As they left the courtroom, Kiole could hardly stand his curiosity as to why Kishiar had flatly denied it. But Kishiar’s face looked so serene that it was hard to read his intent at all.

When they reached the carriage, Marin, who had arrived first, saluted politely.

“Commander. Thank you. I’m truly indebted to you today.”

“Don’t say that yet. The trial hasn’t even begun. You must have spent your strength in many ways, so rest early today. If there’s any problem, contact me at once through the vice commanders.”

“Yes.”

Marin smiled faintly. It was a face filled with sincere loyalty you would never see in the Imperial Guard.

“Come. Get in.”

When coming here, simply the fact of traveling with Kishiar la Orr had made him so tense he couldn’t think of anything else. But now, because of the conversation left hanging, the tension had completely vanished instead.

The moment the carriage door closed, Kiole cried out urgently.

“Now please tell me. Then what on earth is that advisor… no, that person?”

“What did the Crown Prince himself say?”

Kishiar seemed certain Kiole would, of course, have asked Kachian about this as well. Kiole hesitated, then answered honestly.

“…He said he doesn’t trust them, that he’ll just use them and throw them away once their value drops.”

“An answer without lies. And it’s likely true.”

Then what was true—what, exactly?!

Fortunately, an answer followed before Kiole’s head exploded.

“As you know, the Crown Prince is alone now. Those in whom Duke Diarca and Kiorne have influence won’t even turn their heads toward Gwanghuigung, but not everyone in the world thinks the same.”

Though Kachian had lost his honor and fallen over the past year, he was still the Crown Prince of Orr.

At present, countless forces beneath the surface perceived him as a very tasty prey.

There are quite a few whose ideology is close to the noble faction but who failed to climb onto the mainstream and drift along the fringes. Besides those, there are people driven out of the capital’s noble social circles for wrongdoing, ruined criminals, and even foreign spies—each of them watching for a chance to approach Kachian.

Wasn’t ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the attendant who hired mercenaries to raid the village of Gwanaman in the Crown Prince’s stead and then got caught red-handed one such case?

“For people like that, finding a normal opportunity to approach the Crown Prince is usually very hard—but didn’t something very special happen this time?”

The incident of Crown Prince Kachian appearing alone in court as a witness.

For a Crown Prince who had to do anything to find a way to protect himself, and for those who wanted to approach him—could there have been a better time for them to find each other?

“Well, someone might have coincidentally opened a path that made it easy for them to make contact. But deciding to take that path, choosing someone there, moving him, and deciding what evidence to dig up—that was the Crown Prince himself. That’s the truth.”

That “someone,” of course, was Kishiar himself. But he didn’t go so far as to say it aloud.