55But was anger the only emotion he showed me?

I felt indescribable fear and anxiety in Zachary’s hands, which were trembling as much as mine. I tried to pull back due to his gaze persistently lingering on my knees. Even in this situation, I didn’t want to show him my ugly wounds. As he looked at the traces of wounds all over my body, he clenched his jaw tightly. But why did he seem to be in more pain than me?

“…Is your life worth less than that thing?”

I looked up at Zachary, who was breathing intermittently.

‘Now I understand.’05

He was hurt. As much as the wounds he had given me. Maybe even more.

“Zachary…”

I tried to say something. I naturally wanted to save Erhan, who had risked his life to rescue me. If Erhan were to die because of this incident, I would live with guilt for the rest of my life.

But it wasn’t just for that reason.

“I was… worried about… you…”

I hoped he wouldn’t suffer from madness as divine punishment. That’s why I had come this far, from the very young day I first saw him.

“You were worried about me?”

Zachary laughed self-deprecatingly, not even listening to the end of my words.

“You, about me?”

His expression, as if such a thing was impossible, held no expectation at all.

“If you think you can deceive me with such pretty words to save that bastard, you’d better give up. I have no intention of letting either you or him off easy.”

Yet his gaze lingered long on my wounds.

Though I was the one injured, Zachary seemed to be in more pain. Even when he spat out words that hurt me, he never looked triumphant.

At that moment, I thought there might really be a huge misunderstanding between us. Was it because of the pain? I even forgot the pain in my body for a moment. Courage welled up in me to speak honestly to him.

That I always wished he wouldn’t be in pain. That I came running because I didn’t want to see him fall into greater danger. Whether he believed it or not, I wanted to convey my sincere feelings. But I kept having trouble breathing, and it was difficult to speak properly. My vision spun, and dizziness set in.

Once again, I felt like pebbles were rolling inside my ears, and as my vision blurred as if flickering, my consciousness split.

I needed to call out to him, to convey my true feelings to Zachary…

My body seemed to sway slowly back and forth, losing balance. Somehow, I thought I heard Zachary’s voice calling me “young master” anxiously, like before, from far away. In my blurry vision, barely open, I saw Zachary holding me. His clothes were soaked with blood.

It was I who had completely drenched him. Blood flowing from my ears soaked my shoulders, tears of blood from my eyes, nosebleed from my nose, and large clots of blood poured from my mouth. The pain hadn’t been forgotten. It was just that pain so severe it numbed my senses had arrived.

“This time, you really will die.”

…Ah. I see. I was already at my limit.

My body, slowly wearing away by Zachary’s awakened side, had deteriorated rapidly after arriving in the Empire. The decisive factor that pushed me to the limit was his holy power aggressively directed at Erhan.

“Haha, ha, haha!”

Then a loud laugh was heard. Through my blurry vision, I saw Erhan lying on the ground, laughing uproariously.

His laughter, staring straight at Zachary with bloodshot eyes, seemed almost manic.

“It’s so funny, I’m going crazy!”

Erhan spoke towards Zachary, who had turned deathly pale as if in panic.

“You really don’t know anything, do you, Your Highness?”

All traces of laughter disappeared from Erhan’s voice. His words, suddenly becoming heavy, continued.

“You’re the one who made Oscar like this.”

I had to stop Erhan from saying more.

‘No.’

I tried to move my vocal cords to speak, but I couldn’t utter a word. My vision flickered as if my consciousness was about to fade. The truth I had wanted to hide from Zachary flowed from Erhan’s mouth.

“That precious holy power of your god that you believe in so much considers us wicked, and blocks all the places where our blood flows…”

Erhan’s ash-gray eyes, bloodshot, stared directly at Zachary as he spoke continuously.

At the same time, blood streamed from Erhan’s nose and mouth.

“Not knowing that it’s killing Oscar.”

Zachary’s gaze slowly turned to me. As my vision was turning pitch black, only Zachary’s dark blue eyes remained clear. His pupils, trembling desperately as if broken, held my blood-covered image.

I needed to say something. Anything, please.

As if pouring out all the blood in my body, blood rose in my throat instead of words. My vision turned completely black. Now I couldn’t even see Zachary’s clear eyes.

Still, I tried to speak. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t true, that he hadn’t killed me, but my limp body felt like it was sinking into deep water. I couldn’t think of anything anymore.

Nothing.

***

The Empire’s goddess Lumina had always been generous to him.

Even when he cut the throats of his blood-related brothers, she still granted him strong power. Every time he confirmed his holy power, Zachary thought. Lumina, who allowed power to him who had no faith, must be a fool.

But Lumina was a fair and just goddess.

“The bloodline of the Serpentine family dies by holy power.”

The merciless goddess delivered a fitting punishment for ruthless slaughter.

“Oscar succeeded in breaking your spell too. So he’s no different from becoming a Serpentine.”

Erhan’s words dug into his ears like a sentence announcing the end. Zachary froze, looking at Oscar cradled in his arms.

He clearly remembered when Oscar’s health began to deteriorate. It was from three years ago, when he awakened.

He couldn’t not know, as Oscar was the one he served. That’s why he had been searching so desperately for that object, but…

‘I was killing Oscar?’

Holy power had healing properties. With the holy power Zachary possessed, he could even revive patients on the brink of death. But this sacred power, said to be blessed by God, was killing Oscar?

Of course, holy power could kill people depending on how it’s used, but Zachary had never used aggressive holy power on Oscar. If he had, this neck would have fallen long ago.

But if his very existence was killing Oscar?

The memory of pouring holy power to heal Oscar’s body came to mind. It felt like his lungs were being squeezed, making it hard to breathe.

Zachary looked at Oscar with a pale face.

How had he come this far? How many depths had he crawled through? Thinking only of Oscar, enduring moments when he almost gave up countless times, he had barely made it here…

Oscar had his eyes closed peacefully, as if asleep in his arms.

Zachary reached out his hand towards Oscar’s cheek. He wanted to wipe the face covered in blood, but his trembling hand was already bloodstained.

“Then what have I been…”

The past time he couldn’t tell Oscar about.

“Za, chary… how could you…!”

Screams, shouts, pleas clinging to his ears.

Zachary recalled his own horrific past. All those times he had endured thinking of Oscar.

***

“Ha, ah. Haah.”

…How many was this now? In the sharp sensation digging into his fingertips, Zachary blankly raised his head.

Pitch-black darkness stretched out, making it impossible to gauge how much time had passed. In Zachary’s hand was the neck of the Emperor’s illegitimate child, his blood-related brother. He was on the verge of death.

“Zacha…ry.”

Beside him lay three more members of the royal family, as good as dead in a critical state. On the day of the princess’s ascension, they had tried to kill Celestia through a joint attack, and Zachary had jumped into the trap instead of her.

No matter how strong Zachary was, fighting alone within the barrier set by his brothers was no easy task. In the end, he had killed them all, but Zachary too had lost a lot of blood and was in a precarious state.

‘I can’t feel my hands.’

Clang, he dropped the sword he was holding.

“If you were… going to choose her, you should have… us…”

Zachary stared at his brother, who was speaking to him with his last strength, as if looking at an inanimate object.

“Brother, didn’t you try to kill me as soon as you saw me? For you to say that I should have become your sword, truly a worthless last words.”

“…”

“No matter who I chose, only death would have remained for a hunting dog whose usefulness had ended.”

Zachary’s empty blue eyes, seemingly devoid of emotion, calmly scanned the horrific scene. Like the face of a murderous demon. This was a face of Zachary that Oscar had never seen even once.