Resting her head on Fernandez’s lap, Kirhas purred and mumbled something. Oh my, I finally did it. Though her words were mixed with clouds, sunlight, and flower petals, when you put the letters together, it roughly meant that.
Fernandez chuckled and stroked her hair. Every time he did, her tail swayed softly.
“Your Excellency.”
“Yes.”
“Your Excellency.”
“I’m listening.”
“Fernandez Sernerd.”
“…Yes. Kirhas Hearttaker.”
“Hehe.”
Kirhas whined as she leaned into him. She wasn’t heavy, but there was a weight to her. Not physical, but emotional.
“I adore you.”
“……”
His response was delayed. Her feelings, if put into words, were something he should reject. It felt selfish to say this after everything had already been done, but drawing a clear line was better.
What Kirhas was feeling now was an illusion. A longing he had intentionally planted. A series of fantasies he had steadily instilled in her over a long time since rescuing her from the underground waterways…
“Stop.”
“What?”
“Stop thinking.”
Kirhas’s bronze eyes glistened with moisture. She stared intently at Fernandez’s face.
“Now I understand what Abel used to say. You have no sense of romance, Your Excellency.”
“Kirhas.”
“Is it the ‘guilt’ you mentioned before? That my fate wasn’t supposed to be ‘Kirhas’? Do you really think that?”
“What?”
“Really, truly. Do you think my destiny is only to be the Chieftain of the Beastman Nobles, the Shield of the Wilderness, the Guardian of Civilization? The heir of Dane Royal Family, a Knight of the Round Table, an envoy of the Elf Queen, the concubine of the Chieftain, the Archbishop, the slayer of the Great Demon. Sir Fernandez Sernerd?”
Were those names your destiny? Kirhas’s voice grew sharper. It wasn’t anger toward Fernandez. This was an expression of sorrow. Her words carried a deep sadness and attachment.
“Does destiny exist? Does it? Must our future always move toward a fixed point… Are we just puppets of time?”
“…No. There is no destiny.”
He had already experimented with it. He had experienced too many events to ponder over determinism. If destiny were predetermined, heroes would never fall, the dead would never rise, and those who should live would never die.
And the world would never be saved.
So, there is no destiny. There shouldn’t be, and it’s right that there isn’t.
“Then what reason is there for me not to love you?”
“Because I saved you, raised you, and made you who you are? No. Not all knights adore their lords, and not all beasts grow attached to their keepers. Do sheep love their shepherds? Do goats love their farmers? Your Excellency, am I just that to you?”
Fernandez couldn’t answer. It wasn’t a no, because that was indeed how it started.
But it wasn’t a yes either, because the emotions he felt looking at her now were nothing like that. Kirhas was a clever woman, and she could already predict thousands of sentences from Fernandez’s silence.
Her prediction was navy blue. Eyes darker than indigo. Fernandez’s color. The color that came to mind first when looking at him.
The color of victory.
Kirhas’s lips curved softly.
“Do you remember what you said to me when you saved me?”
“…That purpose is more important than reason.”
“Yes, is that still true?”
“……”
“Not for me. Now, reason is more important to me than purpose. Loyalty to you, following your orders. No matter how grand the cause or how brilliant the purpose at the end, those things hold no value to me.”
Kirhas declared.
“The only reason for all my actions is your name. If I must step forward and shed blood, or even see blood, it’s only because you desire it. Fernandez Sernerd. You are my reason. And now, reason is more precious to me than purpose.”
She climbed onto Fernandez. Her long, black hair cascaded over his forehead, casting a shadow. Through it, her turquoise eyes sparkled like gems.
“Bad person. Hasn’t the role reversed? I was the one being persuaded at first, so why am I the one convincing you now?”
Fernandez stared intently into her eyes. As Kirhas opened her mouth to say more, Fernandez cupped her cheek and pulled her close.
Time seemed to stop. If it had, Kirhas wished it would last forever. She closed her eyes softly, feeling enveloped by a scent sweeter than honey, a deep indigo, a sophisticated allure.
As if materializing the young King Knight’s wrath, the interior of La Merthion, the once splendid King’s Palace, was engulfed in a massive inferno.
After weeks of a grueling siege, La Merthion had fallen. The heart of the silk road leading to the Eastern Kingdom. It was as if the end of a history built with gold was being enacted. So grandly, so irreversibly.
“Where do we go now?”
The King Knight quietly caught his breath beneath his helmet. He couldn’t control the surging anger. The reality he had witnessed was beyond horrifying. Over eighty percent of the noble residences in this area had turned into vampire dens.
There had been a time when Franzrit fell, and he had cleaned up the Widow Spider Coastline. Back when he was still a prince. He was recalling the anger he felt then.
It was a dreadful place. Citizens were treated merely as potential food, tied up and slowly bled into vessels for more efficient blood supply.
Humans should not be livestock. With that belief, King Vicente, back when he was Prince Helga, had burned all the remaining vampire remnants on the Widow Spider Coastline.
“The Emperor… intended this, didn’t he?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. He has turned his own limbs into vampires to control them.”
“Then he must have become a vampire himself?”
“The Emperor appeared in public just a few days ago. It was broad daylight.”
“……”
At the words of Silberic, the standing Magnus of the Round Table Council, Vicente fell silent. According to some texts, high-ranking vampires are immune to sunlight.
Daywalkers. The lords of vampire clans. Given the circumstances, the Emperor must be a vampire, and if he could walk boldly under the sun, it meant he was a Daywalker.
-Crack.
“This is unacceptable.”
Vicente spoke in a somber voice. He gripped the sword hilt as if to crush it, then slowly removed his helmet.
His icy blue eyes flickered with flames. Not the reflection of the burning castle before him, but his eyes burned with anger and the unique sense of justice of the great Dane Royal Family.
“Your Majesty. You must reconsider. The purification of this region will be publicly announced. So thoroughly that the Imperial Palace won’t easily find a pretext to move against the kingdom. But directly opposing the Imperial Palace is unwise.”
“Not if we’re alone.”
-Clink.
Vicente turned the reins of his horse. His armor clinked heavily.
“What do you mean…?”
“Convene the Eastern Kingdom’s United Council. Gather the opinions of all royal families. It’s difficult with our strength alone, but the Imperial Palace is weakened by internal strife. Isn’t this our only chance to break free from the Empire’s shadow?”
The King will wield his sword for the greater cause.
