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Side Story Chapter 25

“I’m sorry that I made you go through all this trouble in the south and then sent you away empty-handed, Selim. I should have prepared warp stones in advance…” Charles trailed off sadly.

Selim shook his head. “No, don’t be. Warp stones aren’t common. In fact, there aren’t many left in the Imperial Palace either.”

“Just tell me anytime you need my help.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty,” Selim replied with a small smile.

Although Charles might not be Selim’s biological mother, she was a good person. Ever since he had been a boy, Charles had adored Selim as if he was her own son, so he thought of her as his second mother. Even right now, she had come out all the way over here when she should be resting in bed.

“Your Highness.” Cain came up to Selim.

“Sir Cain.”

“I apologize for not going with you,” Cain said.

“No, don’t be sorry. I’m going to go to the east right away.”

“…Marquess Drenius is certainly a remarkable man, but I heard Cazes, the vice commander of the Imperial Knights, is doing a very good job over there on behalf of Valmont since he can’t be away from the Imperial Palace.”

“Sir Cazes worked for His Majesty directly.” Selim nodded. “I’m fine, really. So I take it you trust me, Sir Cain?”

“Hahaha, that is correct—but the other prince that recently returned to the Empire caught my attention.”

“Kireua made remarkable progress. Maybe more than me,” Selim noted.

Cain closed his mouth and glanced back and forth between the two princes with a subtly changed expression. There was actually no one else there besides the princes and the people who were going to leave with them.

“Suppressing the rebellion in the south was a good moment for you brothers to bond. I’m really quite relieved.” Cain smiled.

“Hmph, he always pretends to be cool,” Kireua scoffed.

“You can learn from him, Your Highness,” Cain told Kireua.

“Come on, Sir Cain!” Kireua shouted.

“Hahahaha! I just feel good. The princes I’ve met before now were busy biting each other’s necks off, such that it was hard to believe that they shared the same blood.”

Charles grinned. “Of course; that isn’t how I raised my lovely sons.”

Faint smiles also began to spread on Selim’s and Kireua’s faces.

“Come here.” Charles gestured at Selim and Kireua. “Give me a big hug before you leave.”

Kireua immediately took a step away from Charles. “Come on, too many people are watching us right now. It’s embarrassing…”

Selim actually strode toward Charles. Since Selim was over a hundred and eighty centimeters, Charles had to raise her head to look at him.

“I love you,” Selim said.

“Selim is definitely more my type than Kireua.” Charles giggled.

“Ah, Mom!” Kireua yelled.

“Hmm?” Charles raised one of her eyebrows. “I thought you were embarrassed to hug me in front of the knights, but now you call me mom?”

“Hahahaha!” Cain burst into laughter.

Although the Avalon Empire was a mess right now, Cain felt like he could hold up his head high when Joshua returned and tell him with pride that his sons had grown up to be fine men.

“Your Highness, don’t regret it later—just go hug her. You won’t be able to see her for a long time.” Cain gestured at Kireua.

“Forget it!”

“Just like Marquess Drenius in the east, Marquess Turtler is a man to be reckoned with. His swordcraft is called ‘Black Turtle’ and is famous for the weight of its blows,” Cain told him.

“…The commander of the national forces in the west was Sir Ranger, right?” Kireua asked.

“Yes; Viper is helping him, but it’ll be difficult for them to do it alone.”

Kireua’s face darkened. “Mmmm…”

“Kireua,” Charles quietly said. “No matter what you do, I believe in you.”

“Mother…” Kireua trailed off.

“Of course, the same goes for Selim.” Charles stood on her tiptoes and stroked Selim’s head, then she also pulled Kireua toward her.

“Uh…!”

“You two are doing a great job. I’m sorry your mother is no help to you.” Charles hugged Selim and Kireua tighter.

Kireua clenched his fists. It wasn’t something his mother should feel sorry about—those hyenas who revealed their greed as soon as the Emperor had gone missing were the problem.

And Kireua was not going to leave them be.

* * *

Anna lay on the edge of the valley’s cliff on her own and looked up at the night sky.

Someone popped up in front of her.

“Hey.” Anna waved her hand.

“Thank you for doing me a favor,” Kireua said.

“I thought that was an order. You gave me all that talk about the terms of our oath.”

Kireua chuckled. “I’m still thankful.”

“My, my, Your Highness. You may grumble a lot, but you’re a very warm-hearted person.” Anna smiled coquettishly. “Gosh, if I could just take you to my…”

“I told you that was a crime.”

“Age difference isn’t really a problem nowadays. Besides, don’t we look the same age at least?”

Kireua had no intention of denying the fact that they did look like peers, but he was utterly dumbfounded. He truly respected her bold-facedness. Kireua was the son of the man who had gone after her life, so how could she stay so calm and nonchalant around him?

And still, Anna took another step forward. “If you\'re grateful, why don’t you keep your end of the bargain?”

“What end of the bargain?” Kireua asked.

“Didn’t you promise to give me a peck here?” Anna grinned, pointing at her cheek.

“…I shouldn’t be talking to a senile lady in the first place.”

“Huh, you’re going to leave? How harsh of you to stomp all over an innocent woman’s heart.” Anna feigned pain.

“What part about me can you possibly like so much? Shouldn’t you be boiling over with a desire to take revenge when you see me? I’m the son of your father’s killer.”

Anna flinched and smiled bitterly. “Well, can he really be called my father?”

She spoke so quietly that only she could hear it.

“What did you say?” Kireua tilted his head.

Anna shook her head and beamed. “No, I can actually feel my affection for you increasing!”

* * *

From inside Fortress Raymond, Kireua could see the sun rising, meaning that he had pulled an all-nighter. Regardless, Kireua still had a lot of work to do since he couldn’t pretend to be the Emperor of Avalon forever.

The people in the fortress were already starting to doubt the fact that the Emperor of Avalon had returned, but that was inevitable. Even Kireua’s allies didn’t believe his sudden return to the Empire, and Kireua would have reacted the same.

Therefore, Kireua was headed to address the five hundred knights that were currently prisoners.

The guards quickly saluted as he approached. Kireua offered them a perfunctory nod before coming to a halt in front of the rebel knights. Although they were tied up right now, most of the knights didn’t hesitate to reveal their hostility toward Kireua. Was it out of vengeance for losing their master or had they finally realized that they had been fooled?

“…As you all expect, I’m not His Majesty.” Kireua took off his robe without hesitation. His pitch-black hair had returned its original scarlet color ages ago.

Some of the knights gritted their teeth.

“You coward…!”

“Do you have no pride as the Martial God’s son? How do you sleep at night after making us surrender using dirty tricks?”

“If that had really been His Majesty, he wouldn’t have resorted to a dirty trick like this. He might kill everyone in his way, but not resort to tricks.”

It turned out that it was both. They were furious about their incompetence, having been fooled by such a cheap trick, and also ashamed that they couldn\'t even protect their master. They were disgraced as knights—however, not every knight was in the same state.

“…I already knew.”

Kireua knew who that knight was. He was the one from a family of tenants that had been the first to stop fighting and resist Viscount Mendes.

“You knew?” Kireua asked.

“My name is Hans. I detected the same incongruity that the deceased Viscount—no, Mendes the rebel sensed about you, Your Highness.”

“You knew everything but still surrendered?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“For the sake of revenge?” Kireua asked.

Hans shut his mouth; he had not expected Kireua to be this frank.

“I’m not trying to blame you or anything. It’s human nature.”

“…Pardon?”

“A knight’s duty, honor… Why do those formalities matter? It was humans who created them in the first place, and humans are also capable of changing as occasion demands. Therefore, I won’t make any excuses. Although I did it to win, the fact that I deceived you all doesn’t change.”

A suffocating silence fell upon the area. The national army’s knights and soldiers were actually more tense than the rebels. Those five hundred rebel knights might have been tied up, but they were all capable of using mana. As a contingency, the soldiers on the ramparts had already nocked arrows on their bows.

“Isn’t it the same for all of you here? Once an unbeatable opponent showed up, you all immediately tucked your tails behind your legs. You and I are all humans. I might have pretended to be His Majesty, but every word I said was true.”

The kneeling rebel knights were confused.

“I already forgave you all and won’t hold you responsible any further. I won’t kill you nor shatter your mana halls. Depending on your future contributions, your knighthoods may also be preserved.”

Some of the rebel knights heaved a sigh of relief as they had already seen what Kireua could do. If Kireua started an execution right now, the rebel knights would have no choice but to die. They had avoided the worst-case scenario for the moment.

However, that wasn’t the end of the surprises.

“But forgiving me would be a different matter,” Kireua said.

A horrifying metallic screech made the rebel knights’ eyes widen in shock. The sound was coming from Kireua’s sheath.

“Y-You were going to kill us after all…!”

However, they were worried over nothing.

“Anyone who wants to test my qualifications, anyone who wants to see the abilities of the Second Prince that just returned to the Empire, anyone who is still furious about being deceived… You’re all welcome to rise and come at me now. Untie them.”

Only a fool wouldn’t have noticed who Kireua had given the order to.

“B-But, Your Highness…!”

“You heard His Highness,” Cain mumbled. He’d quietly appeared behind Kireua.

After hesitating for a moment, the national army soldiers reluctantly untied the rebel knights. All the rebel knights stood up disbelievingly.

“Mmm…” The rebel knights grunted as they felt a storm of Kireua’s energy blow against them.

“Give them swords.” Kireua pointed at the knights with his chin.

“Your Highness! Please—!”

Kireua infused his aura into his sword, cutting off the soldiers.

“I’ll answer them with my sword,” Kireua asserted.

Now it was time for the rebel knights to answer.