Chapter 43

“Wait. ‘You won't have any complaints about this as your gravesite,’ isn't that what Yosef Haider said to me?”

I grumbled, tracing back my memory at the strange sense of déjà vu.

It seemed that one-eyed old man's words had stuck in my mind.

To think they would just pop out without me realizing.

Still, there was no better phrase.

As I was making excuses to no one in particular, Nebulo let out a shriek.

“A-a-are you g-g-going to k-k-kill me?”

There was no answer.

The silence only tightened.

“Why? Why, why! W-w-what are you going to d-d-do by killing me! Why, why, why……!”

Fear beat against Nebulo's throat.

He felt it, yet he shouted as if to deny it.

“Z-zionis! P-p-please……”

“Stop stuttering. I don't like listening to it.”

“H-h-hic…….”

I frowned.

Seeing him stutter kept reminding me of my chestnut-haired royal guard.

My aura was so fierce that Nebulo flinched.

The fat prince watched his eleven-year-old half-brother's expression.

“I-I'll be useful. Y-you know. The Etier Trading Company is all over the continent. Even if we escape outside the Empire, we can get support! Y-you know what I mean, right? Uh, huh?”

“……”

“Please, please say something, Zionis, pleeease……”

A tearful face.

Flowing tears.

A pleading voice.

Unchangingly cold blue eyes.

The certainty of despair.

“I-I don't understand……. You're going to kill me? I'm going to die?”

Anxiety distorted his thoughts.

“Nebulo Le Etier, the p-p-prince of C-cordis……!? It's a lie, a l-l-lie… a lie?”

The fat prince's already somewhat twisted thoughts quickly veered in another direction.

Nebulo's eyes glinted with a strange light.

“…Yes, a lie! What if it was all a lie, until now? Y-y-you, could it be! No, as I thought! You're trying to side with b-b-brother Ferbias, right!?”

“Pardon?”

“Th-th-that's it. As I thought, that's what it was!”

Haah.

I let out a sigh at my half-brother who had reached a strange conclusion.

Fear and anxiety that cannot be digested are bound to turn into madness.

I had seen it several times, and remembering my comrades who had gone mad, I felt a slight pity and let Nebulo prattle on.

“Th-that's right. You have a Treasure too. You were planning to bring my head to b-brother Ferbias. Ughhhhh. You scary brat. Scary Zionis. Scary, scary… b-b-brother Ferbias……”

“I'm selling you out to that side, to brother Ferbias?”

I let out a soft laugh.

“Who do you take for a fool? If that were the case, I would have killed you and gone down a long time ago. Why would I spend two hours climbing all the way up here?”

“…Huh? U-uh?”

My words were sharp.

They were clear even in the ears of the maddening Nebulo.

“Th-then why……? Uh……?”

One twisted idea was refuted, but the madness remained.

The question rather fanned the madness, so a new twist was quick to come.

“…A-a-are you perhaps, aiming for the throne? No, was th-that all there was to it……?”

Nebulo slowly raised his head.

His mouth was half open, and drool was dripping.

It was a sight not much different from usual.

His voice was mixed with madness and stretched out.

“Th-then, in th-that case, wouldn't I be of help? Th-that's right. I, Nebulo, the Etier Trading Company……”

“What a fool. Now of all time?”

My voice was chilly.

It cut through the madness in an instant and quieted the fat prince.

‘The throne, if not the throne……?’

Nevertheless, Nebulo mumbled his lips.

“Brother, I'm asking just in case. Do you want to become the emperor?”

“Ugh……!”

Nebulo flinched as if his weak spot had been poked.

My voice was now also fierce.

“It just seems that the situation hasn't worked out, but you seem to have a desire for the Imperial Throne.”

“…W-why wouldn't I!”

The hint of madness subsided slightly.

The ensuing fear suppressed his reason, and an old desire gushed out without restraint.

“I-it's Cordis!”

Nebulo's eyes glinted with greed.

“The th-thousand-year Great Empire, the m-master of the c-continent! W-w-who on earth w-wouldn't want it!?”

He even clenched his fists and spoke with fervor.

His fat fist trembled.

“If only I were the First Prince, if I had the Duchy of Volmark at my back, or if I were of the Debius family……! Th-th-that throne, the Imperial Throne……!”

“And that's where you're wrong, fat Nebulo.”

I, Shion Pollinglight, shot back.

My tone, which had shed even the respectful address, made me seem like a different person.

No, perhaps I really was different.

“Not once, not for a single moment,”

Blue pupils, clearer than ever before.

“Do I want to become the emperor?”

**

“…Y-you never wanted to become the emperor?”

Nebulo let out a puzzled voice.

Uh, huh?

It was hard to accept.

How could one not want that great and splendid position?

No, let's say, for the sake of argument, that it was possible.

People's tastes were originally varied, after all.

Even so…….

“…I-it's hard to understand.”

That half-brother of his, the regressor Shion Pollinglight who used the name Zionis, had been diligent since the proclamation of the Succession War.

He had obtained the Treasure from the library, joined Secundus' faction, and even acted as the faction's advisor during the Grand Convergence.

“…Then you, why have you been……?”

so diligent until now?

Even without finishing the sentence, the meaning was conveyed.

He didn't plan to side with Ferbias, he had no desire to become the emperor, then what on earth was the thought that moved him?

I did not avoid the answer.

“There was a lot to prepare.”

But without the respectful address, in Pollinglight's tone.

“Did you think I knew? To return to the middle of the Cordis Great Palace, during the Succession War. Being in a prince's body, I drew attention no matter what I did, so it was quite troublesome.”

“…Return, you say? What does that……”

Nebulo's mouth hung open.

I paid no mind and continued my complaint.

Even with Valziart and the silver dragon's scale, did you think it was easy to get out of this Imperial Palace in a child's body?

There were several unexpected situations!

“Still, in the end, it was quite a gain. I got the mana armor and the silver dragon's scale, and I also gave that Ferbias bastard a lot of trouble.”

“……”

“I've been waiting all along, preparing like this. For the end of the Grand Convergence… for this time when Ferbias would try to kill you and me. For now, when I can disappear very naturally.”

Nebulo felt like he was going crazier and crazier.

The more he tried to understand my words, the more complicated his head became.

I spoke as if I had known that the Grand Convergence would happen, that Ferbias would try to kill them today.

That half-brother of his was speaking as if he were reliving a day he had already experienced!

“The time has finally come.”

I smiled with genuine pleasure.

“It's time to be forgotten by the Empire.”

At the sight of my half-brother smiling with his teeth bared, Nebulo felt a chill.

I cackled and scratched my head.

As I spat out the sincerity I had been hiding all along, a long-held itch disappeared, and I felt refreshed.

“Only by being forgotten like that can I fulfill my destiny.”

“…What, destiny?”

“I'll specially answer you. My destiny lies in that throne of Cordis. I will reach the Imperial Throne.”

A contradiction.

The fat prince stammered and asked.

“…You said you had no intention of becoming the emperor, but you say you'll reach the Imperial Throne……?”

“You see, I am quite fond of vague expressions. Because even if I don't tell a lie, they fall for it on their own.”

It was the instinct of a secret-keeper.

I couldn't stand not leaving a loophole in my turn of phrase.

The regressed prince who had crossed 19 years of time wore an even wider smile.

The meaning in my respectful tone was not respect, but ridicule.

“The Imperial Throne, I must reach it. I must crawl all the way up there.”

The darkness was beginning to lift.

Dawn was not far off.

“How can I shatter it without reaching it? How can I trample it without climbing up?”

“…What.”

I laughed with relief.

It was the inner thoughts I had hidden and hidden.

I had finally spat out one of my deepest secrets.

Ha, haha, ha-!

I snickered, imitating Yosef Haider.

“Until I grind that damned Imperial Throne, that golden throne, to dust and drink it… I cannot rest.”

“…Y-you, you, you, what, what……”

Nebulo was dazed and muttered.

The shock was greater than the words that he would kill him.

He couldn't help but be astonished.

He wanted to cover his ears right away.

He had a hunch that if he heard the next words, he would truly not be able to turn back.

But in the end, my lips parted.

“I once made a promise of seven secrets.”

The name of the promise, Septem Arcana.

The very first promise.

‘He dreams a futile dream’.

“The futile dream that my soul desires is still… and forever one.”

Ah, Cordis, Cordis.

Oh, the tiresome destiny, the nauseating name of the emperor.

I will show you that I can reach you.

I will definitely crawl up.

And in the end…….

“I will destroy the Empire.”

***

The long night was coming to an end.

Dawn was beginning to break.

The morning sunlight began to shatter on the regressed prince's blonde hair.

The awakened birds sang and I, Shion Pollinglight, was fiercely beautiful.

Nebulo Le Etier couldn't even dare to open his lips.

Only I, Shion, with the sun at my back, clenched my teeth.

“…I have seen the atrocities of the Empire.”

I had seen them in those times.

I had seen them in the future that had not yet come.

I had seen what kind of deeds the great thousand-year Empire had committed and what it had brought forth.

“The things I never wanted to see, the bottom of humanity that I didn't even want to think could exist, those nightmares that became a reality in the name of Cordis……. I, clearly, saw them.”

I didn't want to remember.

What kind of rotten smell the people hanging naked like meat for slaughter gave off, what kind of screams the humans mixed with beasts let out… what kind of face a mother who had boiled and eaten her child made.

I didn't want to see it, and I didn't want to know.

Blood, flesh, and souls were consumed and trampled like consumables.

So much so that it was ridiculous to say they had dignity.

All those things were perpetrated under the name of the Great Empire of Cordis.

“Those seven years……”

The past nightmare swirled before my eyes and set my temples on fire.

“…In that, seven-year war… I saw it again and again.”

I, Shion of Merion, kept seeing it.

I saw it clearly with my own two eyes.

That was all.

I was very lucky.

I wasn't hung like butcher's meat, nor was I mixed with beasts, nor did I boil and eat my own child.

And yet, why did my ‘Fantasy Finger’ tremble so finely?

Why was my breath so heavy?

“To the point where I was sick of it and it hurt, and it hurt so much that it became chilling……”

I couldn't bring myself to look away.

It was because I was alive.

It was because I had been given another chance by turning back time.

That felt quite sinful.

It was hard to even shed a tear, and yet, one drop, and another drop, tears like blood, endlessly.

“…I saw it.”

“Ah, what, what have you been talking about since earlier……?”

Nebulo's words trailed off.

“Z-zionis, I really don't know. What are you talking about……”

It was full of questions.

To talk of a seven-year war when he was eleven, to talk of destroying the Empire when he was the Fifth Prince.

Did he even know what he was saying?

And above all.

“…Where did such things happen? When, on earth, when did such things happen……. Huh? Zionis!”

“-Shut up!”

At the sharp shout, Nebulo flinched.

A blue flame blazed in my eyes.

“-Don't, you, call me by that name, anymore!”

I had hidden it with the smile of a liar.

I had covered it with nonchalant eyes.

But now it gushed out.

Endless anger, a smoldering rage that reeked of rot.

The emotions I had suppressed with a secret as a lid bubbled up like lava.

“I am Shion, Shion Pollinglight.”

I would not endure it any longer.

I would not hide it any longer.

I revealed the name of my soul.

“The Vice Commander of the Western Alliance, Shion of Merion.”

****

A fierce rage.

The fat prince lowered his stance.

“I-i'm sorry, d-d-don't be angry……”

“Still trying to play dumb and get away with it? Nebulo, you cunning bastard.”

“……”

“You must have already figured it out to some extent, haven't you?”

A cold aura swirled in Nebulo Le Etier's eyes.

His dullness was known to everyone in the palace, but it wasn't so when his own life was on the line.

Nebulo, realizing that my mood was unusual, had pretended to be even dumber, and I had not missed it.

“Ah, fat Nebulo, I hate to admit it, but since you are my half-brother, I'll tell you how you were before.”

I spat out my words.

“You survive by licking Ferbias' feet. Promising to just breathe like a vermin.”

“……”

“But when the war breaks out, you take the opportunity to grab a position for yourself. You even command a decent unit and you become famous for sticking your head out, looking for a place to plunder. Your body becomes twice as big as it is now, and it's quite disgusting.”

Things from before my regression.

A story of a future that has passed.

“You violate and violate the innocent and putting only your own desires first, you break all sorts of flowers, and in the end, you are torn to pieces by the hands of the people.”

“…C-c-crazy bastard! There's a limit to delusions! Don't talk nonsense!”

“Nonsense? I was the one who gave them the pillar to hang you on. I, the Vice Commander of the Western Alliance, Shion of Merion.”

Nebulo shouted as if he were fed up.

“Y-you, you're crazy……. Completely crazy.”

“Didn't you know? I've been crazy all along. You'd be no different if you went through it too.”

A snickering laugh.

“Even if I talk a lot, please listen a little longer. I haven't had a place to vent, so I have a lot to say.”

A quiet madness hidden beneath a smile.

At the laugh that seemed to eat away at my own heart, Nebulo didn't even have the energy to get angry anymore.

It was so grotesque and ominous that only fear welled up.

“Don't resent me too much. I've thought about it, you know. Never mind the Nebulo from that time, but now you're still only seventeen……. Is it okay to kill you for something you haven't committed?”

The ‘Fantasy Finger’ floated about.

It was not visible to Nebulo's eyes.

However, the fat prince felt a clear presence and shivered.

“Do you perhaps remember Hes?”

“…Hes?”

I tapped my eyelid.

“Why, the one who bumped into me when we went to see the acrobatics.”

“Ah……”

“You don't even know your own handmaiden's name? Her green eyes were so beautiful, like the leaves of a Seram tree……”

Phew.

A deep sigh.

My eyes were now fiercer than a blade.

“Hey, Nebulo. I checked when I visited your detached palace. You've set up a very secret shelter in the basement, haven't you?”

“……!!”

“I saw Hes' two eyes there too.”

A sneering tone.

However, the hint of anger was very clear.

“…I saw two ownerless green eyeballs rolling on the floor.”

At that moment, I was certain.

Nebulo Le Etier was already too late.

There was no value in giving him a chance.

The ‘Fantasy Finger’ twisted its body here and there, as if asking to be allowed to choke him, to tear that fat prince to pieces.

“Now. This is the reason you will die.”

Since you asked me to explain, I explained.

It was disgusting, but it was the last act of mercy I was allowing because we shared blood.

Nebulo, whose deepest secret was exposed, quivered his fat cheeks.

“Do you have any last words, Nebulo? If not, then accept your death.”

“Z-z-zionis……”

“I believe I told you not to call me by that name.”

A black blade shot out from the regressed prince's hand.

It was the claw of Mana Armor Valziart.

The black blade aimed for Nebulo's neck and then bounced off in mid-air.

Beside the Fourth Prince, Nebulo Le Etier, there were figures standing as if to protect him.

“Yes. You're not going to die gracefully, are you.”

“…Ugh!”

Eleven appeared.

All of them were dressed as handmaidens.

Their mouths were sewn shut, or their eye sockets were empty, a gruesome sight.

Poor souls, deprived of even the right to die and bound by Nebulo's Ars.

A group of handmaidens made of corpses.

“Show me, that disgusting Ars of yours.”

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