By Zephyria 
From the beginning, there were many points that felt off.
I never believed that Garam had orchestrated this. That meant someone was trying to frame him. Considering they had contacted not only Garam but also his family, it seemed this wasn’t a plan hatched overnight.
It was true that land had recently been purchased under his name. Mahir was watching with hawk-like eyes, so the documents wouldn’t be forged. Looking at the suicide note left by the bedridden old woman, it was clear she was involved.
‘Ignorant because she was uneducated.’
“…….”
Could someone have approached and urged her to buy the land? Or had she succumbed to temptation and used the money she received to buy land under her son’s name?
If it was the former, there would be mitigating circumstances, but if it was the latter, there was no saving him. Whether Garam was unfairly framed or not, from that point on, it wouldn’t matter. Since a direct family member was involved in the attempted assassination of a member of the Imperial Family, they would dig up his corpse from the grave and brand it as a criminal.
A sharp headache, like an awl piercing my temple, struck. I closed my eyes for a moment and endured the pain.
“…….”
After all, a corpse was just a lump of meat with no life activity. Whether they branded the shell that would rot and leave only bones or dismembered the limbs, it would have no impact on the already dead person.
But what about his honor? Literary men wielding knives with their fingers would place articles about me on paper and butcher them. People who loved to gossip would fabricate even what didn’t exist and play with him in the most sensational way possible. They would insult and stone him, treating him like a toy.
“…….”
Then, suddenly, the sleep grass came to mind.
My head was too complicated, and the unresolved events were mixed up haphazardly. Every time my heart pounded as if it would burst and heat rose to the top of my head, the thoughts I had painstakingly organized were scattered like a mess.
I took deep breaths and desperately tried to calm down, but it wasn’t easy. I drank the tea that Abyss had brought, saying it was effective in calming the mind, and spent time like a monk.
Using sleep grass to put the people of Talim to sleep must have been to avoid causing a commotion. But why did they pile the sleeping people up in a room? It was also strange that they didn’t have a single person guarding the entrance, even though they had moved so methodically as to win over Garam’s mother.
If Abyss and I hadn’t been so quiet when we entered, and if we had seen just a few Servants, they might not have been discovered.
Why did they use that method in particular? Did they want to be discovered on purpose? So, was using sleep grass just a smokescreen in the first place? Considering the criminals suddenly turned themselves in, it wasn’t an absurd assumption.
According to what Garam said before he died, the two intruders weren’t very skilled. Thinking about it now, that was also strange.
The attempted assassination of the Crown Princess wasn’t child’s play, so why would they send such unskilled guys? Could it be that they had no intention of killing the Crown Princess in the first place?
“…….”
Then, changing my thinking, let’s assume that the purpose was to kill Garam in the first place.
Even so, it was strange.
Intruders with enough force that they couldn’t kill him without using poison? No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t make sense to carry out such a serious crime so clumsily.
Then what on earth was the purpose?
Who suffered the greatest loss now, and who gained the most?
The one who suffered the greatest loss was, without a doubt, me. I lost my Garam, who was like my right-hand man. If anything had happened to Nadia, my relationship with Mahir would have been irreparable…
Then, someone’s face came to mind.
I had tried so hard to stay calm, but as the options narrowed, I couldn’t come to my senses.
“Your Highness.”
Even though he came in holding a sword that exuded a ghastly chill, the Duke wasn’t greatly surprised. He seemed momentarily flustered, but he guided me to the drawing room as if he had already anticipated it, like a resolute prophet.
I was already convinced, but I hoped my hunch was wrong. This wasn’t for the Duke’s sake, nor was it for my sake. It was for the sake of a life too precious to lose in a petty power struggle.
“Did you orchestrate this?”
“…….”
At the low voice, the Duke looked at me silently for a moment. A light of conflict flickered in his eyes. Whether to play dumb or tell the truth.
“I didn’t come here to have a petty argument like usual. Tell me the truth. Do you think I would have come here for no reason?”
At my words, the Duke finally lowered his gaze. As if he had made up his mind, he rose from the sofa and knelt before me.
“It was all for Your Highness.”
For me? He dirtied the honor of my Garam and tried to assassinate the Crown Princess? There were many things I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t open my mouth. I swallowed dry saliva several times to suppress the impulse that was about to overflow.
“The Crown Prince is not fit to be Emperor. Ideals alone cannot govern a country. Your Highness said you have no interest in the throne, but you must not shirk your responsibility as a member of the Imperial Family.”
“…….”
“I admit that my methods were inappropriate. If Your Highness orders it, I will take my own life here. But please know that all my actions were for Your Highness and Actan.”
“…….”
It was a remonstrance at the risk of death.
Was this what Mahir had been talking about? It was a happy thing to have a vassal who would judge right and wrong, even if it went against my own thoughts. But who determined that right and wrong?
I stared at the Duke for a moment, then placed the sword I was holding on the table. As soon as it fell from my hand, the sword disappeared like smoke in the cold air.
“Duke.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You tried to create discord between me and the Crown Prince by killing the Crown Princess? Whether it succeeded or failed, you could plant the seeds of discord, so it was a win-win situation.”
I didn’t want to admit it, but the operation was successful. I didn’t know about Mahir and Nadia, but I could no longer treat her the same way I used to.
Such a thing happened in my palace, of all places. It was an incident caused by my carelessness, by my problem. If it hadn’t been for Garam, Nadia would have lost her life in Talim.
If that had happened, would I have been able to face Mahir?
“Why did you kill Garam?”
I had a hunch, but I asked anyway.
“Using sleep grass was to minimize unnecessary harm. If I had known it wouldn’t work on him, I would have considered other methods. It was clearly my fault, so I will accept punishment for that part…”
In the end, I couldn’t suppress the rising impulse. My ears went numb as if I had suddenly fallen into water, and I couldn’t hear anything. A strange pressure weighed down on my whole body, and my eyes felt hot as if they were burning.
Thud, thud, thwack.
As time passed, I began to hear sounds from farther and farther away. The faint sounds gradually became clearer, and my eyes focused.
Stepping into a puddle of crimson blood, I recalled what Mahir had said.
‘Killing someone to solve a problem is the easiest way.’
I tightened my grip on the Duke’s collar and stared at his face.
“Your Highness!”
“Even if you are a Prince, this is…!”
I swung my sword at those who had opened the door and entered without permission. Arms and legs and blood that had fallen among the debris of the shattered door and walls floated in the air before falling down.
‘You mustn’t kill people carelessly.’
“Why did you touch the old woman?”
“Yo, Your Highness… I…”
“Why did the Duke, who is so busy day and night for the sake of the country, leave the Emperor alone? Do you truly think he is a person fit for the throne?”
The sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing was heard. Blood splattered everywhere each time I swung my fist.
‘You have to let them be judged by the law.’
“If you were truly concerned about the safety of the country, you should have started a rebellion. You were afraid of the Emperor, but you weren’t afraid of me and the Crown Prince. That’s why you were able to act like this.”
Fear and violence are one of the easiest ways to control people. There was no way Mahir didn’t know this. The reason he didn’t use it even though he knew it was because he knew it was never the right way.
“I told you not to do it. I clearly warned you to be careful so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again. Why didn’t you listen?”
If I had insulted the Duke and used violence as I had wanted to do back then, would this have happened? Would the Duke have been a little afraid of me?
Even if he hadn’t been afraid of me, wouldn’t his anger towards the Crown Prince have turned to me? Then at least Nadia and Garam might not have been affected.
No, Garam was my Garam, so he would have been exposed to danger at any time. The Duke would have eventually touched Garam again to torment me.
“Garam’s death was your fault, so you’ll accept punishment? Does Garam come back just because you die and fall down? What kind of punishment will you receive?”
The Duke was silent, whether he had fainted or died. Unable to watch any longer, the Servants and guards rushed in, but they were all cut in half by my sword and died.
After cleaning up the surroundings, I grabbed the Duke’s collar again, lifted him up, and slapped him. After repeating it several times, he came to his senses.
“For me and the country? Don’t you think I know that you did it to cut off my hands and feet while framing me for the Crown Princess incident? You were probably going to do something to Abyss soon too. What were you going to say to me when I was completely isolated, having a conflict with the Crown Prince and losing my Garam?”
How could Mahir endure these impulses? How could he choose a different path, leaving this easy way behind?
That was something I couldn’t know.