Alexander carefully laid Tie down on the bed.

When he pulled the blanket over her, the girl immediately curled into herself.

Beneath her tightly closed eyelids,

her thick lashes trembled faintly.

‘......Of course she would be tired.’

He could not help recalling the previous night, when Valentis had revealed the true identity of the King of the Dead to the three princes.

Their first emotion had been unease.

‘You intend to conceal this from the Order? If this comes to light, would it not be disastrous?’

‘Indeed, Father. Why involve yourself in something like this at all? Unnecessary closeness with mercenaries carries too great a risk.’

The Imperial House was exacting and severe.

At its head stood an emperor prone to impulsive decisions, and an empress who whispered only sweet words into his ear.

Of course, even the Imperial House had one opponent it treated with caution.

The Order, based on the Central Continent.

And aiding the King of the Dead could turn even the Order against them.

Even before the subspace incident in the Weapon District, the Order had already approached Luminel using the King of the Dead as a pretext.

[Take this opportunity to learn about this King of the Dead. Is there anything unusual? Does his power seem abnormal, or anything of that sort...]

‘.......’

[Is there any grounds to connect him to something and summon him to the Central Continent.]

The Order.

Especially the cardinals, who never involved themselves personally.

Yet for some reason, recently they had ordered Valentis to observe the King of the Dead.

As though they wished to draw him closer by any possible excuse.

At first, Valentis had seemed to comply obediently.

But after returning from the Weapon District, he had acted strangely.

‘He possesses a sacred artifact without authorization. It appears he does not know the activation conditions. He attempted to alter my memories.’

‘Does that matter? In the end, my memories remain intact.’

The sacred artifact the King of the Dead carried without permission.

Cleansing of Oblivion—something that could have provided the Order with an excellent “pretext.”

Valentis intended to pretend he had noticed nothing.

And not only that.

‘Does the Order know of this?’

‘No. And it will not. I will see to it.’

He was already seeking ways to help the King of the Dead, even if it meant violating sacred law.

Not alone—but with his entire family.

‘I repeat. This is madness.’

It was no wonder Leonardo had objected sharply.

Edmund and Alexander as well.

‘Think of the family’s duty! Luminel serves the Imperial House and the Order. We are not in a position to entangle ourselves in personal affairs!’

‘Personal? Who are you to judge the importance of the family’s affairs?’

‘......Father.’

‘I am the head of Luminel. And I have already decided to help the King of the Dead. Is anything further required?’

Valentis had remained unyielding to the end.

From the outside, it might have seemed he was merely imposing his will upon his sons.

But the deeper the discussion went, the more clearly the three princes understood.

Whom Valentis saw in the King of the Dead.

No—in the Astie left alone.

‘......He is thinking of Theseos.’

‘Yes.’

That night, after Valentis left the hall,

the princes could only sigh in silence.

Theseos Luminel.

The younger brother who had been taken to the Order at four years old and had his magic sealed.

For some reason, Astie resembled that Theseos in many ways.

She manifested magic and came under the Order’s watch.

She was left alone, far from her parents.

And finally—

‘That child does not know how to show pain. He only knows how to endure. Endure so much that it breaks the heart of the one watching.’

Before leaving dinner, Valentis’s eyes had been bloodshot.

‘Do you consider it normal for a child to suppress her pain?’

‘.......’

‘A pitiful, compassion-stirring child. If Luminel truly protects the Empire, we must help her. Not corner a child and worsen her situation.’

In Valentis’s eyes lingered deep remorse.

The princes knew what he was thinking of.

Of a past not so distant.

Four years ago.

On the day Theseos turned exactly sixteen.

When massive magic crystals rose in the wastelands beyond the capital, and the Imperial House fell into chaos.

When even young holy knights, barely finished with training, were sent en masse to the battlefield.

On wastelands like hell itself.

There, the magic suppressed for twelve years burst from Theseos.

The princes still remembered that day.

Flames of magic as though ready to swallow the entire land.

People’s screams.

The terrible traces left where the wave had passed.

It had been ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) a disaster.

A catastrophe capable of erasing everything within its radius and even destroying the First Capital Defensive Line.

But when it ended, there were no dead.

Because Eleanor, without hesitation, had embraced the out-of-control Theseos.

With her own body, she extinguished his magic.

And then she crumbled into dust.

A death without a body to bury.

By imperial order, the matter was quickly suppressed.

Theseos’s outburst was classified.

His name was struck from the Holy Knight Order.

The explosion was declared the result of a massive magic crystal.

It could not be allowed to become known that such a “flaw” had appeared within Luminel.

Time was merciless.

Reports were falsified to suggest Theseos had not participated in the siege at all.

Rumors spread that his whereabouts were unknown.

Luminel understood.

The Imperial House, and then the Order, had decided to erase Theseos from the family.

He vanished silently one day.

Valentis searched for him, but never found him.

Years later, when the three princes and Valentis discovered Theseos again—

He was no longer Theseos.

He had taken a new name—Tesetan, the nickname Eleanor had called him in life—and become a mercenary.

When he met his father and brothers, he said only a few words.

‘Announce that I am dead.’

‘......Theseos!’

‘Say that the fourth prince of Luminel has died. That is my final request.’

Since then, the princes had not seen him again.

He deliberately avoided the ducal house of Luminel.

They encountered him only in rumors.

And saw—changed features, a careless tone, sun-darkened skin, the aura of a wild killer.

That Theseos was no longer the fourth prince of Luminel.

And Valentis broke.

‘I regret it.’

‘Father.......’

‘Then. When they seized Tesetan in the central courtyard of the estate. If I had stopped them, might it have been different?’

‘.......’

‘If I had cast everything aside and embraced my child. If I had fulfilled my role properly. If I had become a shield for my son.......’

But Eleanor was no longer there to take his hand.

Valentis tried to forget Theseos.

Otherwise, regret and remorse would gnaw at him every day.

And around that time,

his Awakened Sacred Sight advanced to a new level.

He began to sense not only holy power and magic, but also the emotions and pain of others.

And on the day he met Astie, Valentis thought—

Perhaps his power had grown precisely for this moment.

The former Valentis had always blamed himself.

For failing to notice Theseos’s instability.

For failing to see his pain.

But now it was different.

At the moment Astie wiped his tears with a handkerchief, he saw in her small heart an overflowing sorrow and longing.

‘I no longer wish to turn away. I do not wish to repeat that agonizing mistake twice.’

In the end, the three princes followed Valentis’s will.

Because deep down, they were the same.

And they too carried long-suppressed feelings in their hearts.

The next day.

Tie, half-asleep, opened her eyes.

Morning light streamed into the room through parted curtains.

“You’re awake.”

A gentle voice sounded.

Someone was seated in the chair opposite.

Alexander set aside the book on the bedside table and smiled.

As though he had spent the entire night beside the sleeping Tie.