By Zephyria 
Having killed the Emperor’s direct knight in Sa Dillin, there was almost no chance of getting away unscathed. But I was an Imperial Prince. A prince in name only, without any power, but still a member of the Imperial family—who would dare blame me?
I had never thought being the Emperor’s son was a good thing, but for the first time, I thought it might not be so bad.
“Your Highness, are you hurt?”
Asella asked, startled, when she saw me return covered in blood. I must have looked a mess, but she didn’t make a fuss. Looking at her face, it felt like my blocked ears were finally clearing.
I raised a hand and wiped my blood-smeared face with my blood-soaked hand. The blood, already dry and sticky, didn’t wipe off easily.
“Prepare water for washing.”
“I’ll call a physician first.”
“This isn’t my blood.”
“The wound is deep.”
She said, looking at my forearm. Ah, now that I thought about it, I had been injured while grabbing the whip. Was it because I hadn’t noticed it until now? Suddenly, a throbbing pain shot through me.
As I stared at the wounded forearm, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind like lightning.
The crime of assassinating a member of the Imperial family was punishable by immediate execution, regardless of status. If the Emperor were to hold me accountable, I would have an excuse.
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He said he might die from the pain, but he seemed to hear all the news even as he groaned. The Emperor had sent a dozen fully armed knights to Talim.
These were real knights, completely different from the ones I had killed before.
“Your Majesty summons you.”
They looked ready to put a leash on me and drag me away if I refused. I wasn’t surprised since I knew this was coming anyway. Just as I nodded and was about to say I would go, Garam, who was behind me, suddenly stepped slightly forward.
“I will accompany you.”
It wasn’t me, but the Emperor’s knight who responded to those words.
“How dare a mere guard step forward.”
His tone was full of dignity and power. Among the many knights the Emperor had, he seemed to be a truly qualified person for his position.
“Wait here; I’ll be back.”
“But…”
There was no point in taking him along, as he would only suffer. Garam, who always obeyed orders well, rarely argued, but I didn’t have time to listen.
Surrounded by the Emperor’s knights, I left Talim. I wondered if they would put me in shackles, but thankfully, they even brought a carriage, so I was able to travel to Sa Dillin in comfort.
“I greet the Sun God Rahan.”
Having quickly arrived at the Imperial throne, I prostrated myself with my forehead to the floor. The Emperor coughed a few times before asking.
“Raise your head. Why did you kill my knights?”
He got straight to the point. I raised my head and looked at the Emperor’s face, which was seated high above. His complexion was poor, so it seemed that he had indeed been on the verge of death.
I rolled up my sleeve to show him the still-unhealed wound.
“They tried to kill me.”
“…They did?”
“Yes, I was in so much pain that I killed them without realizing it.”
“…”
His eyes began to fill with bewilderment. To make sure he saw it clearly, I pulled my sleeve all the way up to my elbow.
Was it because I had heard that I would die before adulthood? Having lost all attachment to life, I was no longer afraid of anything. I stared at the Emperor and said.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why would they suddenly try to kill you? That’s impossible.”
“I touched it because it was pretty, and they got furious. They said it was a steed Your Majesty personally bestowed.”
“I did?”
The Emperor didn’t seem to remember. This time, I was the one who was bewildered. Well, he couldn’t possibly remember all those people. He wasn’t even in his right mind…
“Absurd.”
He muttered to himself, staring at me intently. I didn’t look away, afraid he would see through my lie.
“When is Mahir coming?”
It was a sudden question, but it wasn’t surprising, as the Emperor often asked me about him.
“He said it would take about a month.”
“So he’s coming back for good. You must be pleased.”
What kind of conversation was this? I was beyond bewildered and angry. The more the conversation continued, the more it proved that the series of events had no impact on him.
The Emperor had already forgotten everything. No, he hadn’t forgotten; he wasn’t even paying attention. The people who appeared in my dreams every day didn’t even exist in his memory.
“Stay confined to your residence until then.”
“…”
I had killed two knights, whom he had personally appointed, in Sa Dillin, and all I got was confinement. I didn’t feel relieved or grateful to be alive.
The brief audience ended like that. Only a sense of futility and anger, having lost their way, intertwined and seethed within me.
What was the Emperor even thinking as he lived? Whether someone was innocent or guilty seemed meaningless to him. The extinguishing of a person’s life was no different from the withering of a weed on the roadside.
Then, did they die simply because they were unlucky? Because they were unlucky, because they caught the Emperor’s eye and died miserably?
My head was already throbbing, and then I happened to meet another knight from that time. When I came to my senses, a sword was embedded in his back. The Emperor’s expression when he discovered the scene on the way back was a sight to behold.
Before he could ask, I preempted him.
“The way he was looking at me was strange.”
I thought he would brush it off again, but he didn’t. Killing people twice in Sa Dillin was apparently unforgivable, and the Emperor ordered me to go to war.
Did he mean he was too lazy to kill me himself and just wanted me to go and die?
Still, he gave me two months to prepare.
But the next day, when I found the court lady who had been smiling next to the Emperor at that time and killed her by cutting out her tongue, the order was changed to set out immediately in two days.
“His Highness is said to be rushing here after receiving the message.”
“Tell him to come slowly.”
No matter how much the Crown Prince hurried, he wouldn’t be able to make it in time.
On the day before the departure, I finally found the gatekeeper who had been there at the time, broke his legs, and cut open his stomach to kill him.
The Emperor, unable to shorten the period any further, slapped me across the face five times, telling me to stay put, and then told me to get lost.
My teeth were wobbly, but I had killed most of the people I wanted to kill, so I felt relieved.
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Beyond the precipitous cliffs at the edge of the Actan’s rocky desert, a blue meadow appears as if by a lie. That place had long been the land of a primitive tribe called Gaulaprum.
They worshiped nature and used shamanistic rituals, which were ambiguous to call magic, that sacrificed humans. The purpose of the rituals was more to unite the tribe by performing the ceremony than the power of the rituals themselves.
The Gaulaprum warriors, who were naturally strong and had solid frames, inhaled narcotic herbs before going into battle. The warriors in a frenzied state of strong faith were no different from herds of buffalo that could not be killed even if they were killed.
In addition, there was a natural fortress that could never be destroyed on the path that had to be passed to cross the cliff.
“No wonder the war hasn’t ended for decades.”
As soon as I arrived at the border and entered the barracks, I heard the general situation.
“Yes…”
One of the generals answered weakly. When I raised my head, I saw a face full of exhaustion. He was already exhausted from the endless war, and now they had sent a child like me as their superior, so it was understandable that he was uncomfortable.
Perhaps he thought the Emperor had abandoned them. Well, it was similar.
“How strong is ‘exceptionally strong physical ability’?”
“First of all, men are over 2m tall before they become adults. So, you can think of the average height of teenage boys as being around 2m. Those who have trained can even take down wild bears with their bare hands, so if an ordinary person is caught, their bones will be crushed immediately. Even wearing armor doesn’t help much.”
“…”
I couldn’t help but be taken aback by the unbelievable words. Were they really human?
“Then we have no chance in close combat.”
“It’s not entirely impossible if we push through with numbers somehow. Due to the long battle, they don’t have many people who can fight either.”
It was an inefficient thing to do, but given the location of the fortress, close combat was unavoidable.
“What about assassination attempts?”
“That’s only possible if we can infiltrate… No matter how small the number and how secretly we move, we can’t enter if we can’t pass through the gate. We’ve tried climbing the cliffs, but the wind is strong and the eagles interfere, so everyone fell and died.”
Well, there would be no attempts they hadn’t tried, given how long the war had been going on.
“…”
The general stared at me with eyes that held no hope.
I was just going to wait around, thinking that the Crown Prince would somehow find a way to get me back, so I was just going to wait and kill time. But when I saw those eyes, my head suddenly throbbed.