* * *

“The search for the great magic circle is nearing its conclusion, and soon your Knight Order will be dispatched.”

The Emperor’s study.

Derek said, pushing a goblet of wine in Cadel’s direction.

“Is that so? It’s ending as planned.”

Wine. The Emperor usually served tea whenever he came to visit, but what was he doing today? Was he trying to get Cadel drunk so he’d be ready for the tedious work ahead?

Cadel took a sip of the wine with unpleasant suspicion, and the Emperor’s gaze locked on him.

“Does training pay off?”

“Yes. They’ve all gotten so much stronger, physically and mentally.”

“By the look on your face, you’ve had a very satisfying time, and your Knight Order will have much to do in the future. Show off your skills to your heart’s content.”

“Haha, of course. I’m already excited to prove our accomplishments.”

He wasn’t happy at all. It sounded like he’d have a lot of places to go, and that meant he’d be running around the battlefield, supporting here and there.

‘I guess it was a consolation wine after all.’

It made him want to spit it back out. Cadel set his goblet down with a wry smile.

There was a short silence. Derek stared into Cadel’s lowered goblet. Cadel waited for the Emperor to get to the point, perhaps about their upcoming deployment, collaboration with the other Knight Orders, or the state of Kunra.

But what Derek said next was entirely different.

“Do you remember your previous promise?”

“……?”

“The promise you made when you swore allegiance to the Empire.”

“……Yes, I remember.”

If Cadel proved loyal to the Empire, if he fought well under the Emperor, the sins of his family would be washed away and he would be reborn anew.

“If we win this war, I’ll keep our promise.”

“That means…….”

“I’ll be ready to announce your identity.”

As the vague promise echoed from the Emperor’s lips, it became clear that this war would be the final nail in the coffin of the story. At the same time, a question he had been putting off reared its ugly head.

‘What is the Emperor really thinking?’

He showed Cadel the remaining survivors of the Lytos family. Then, without a word, he said nothing. He didn’t break his silence first, and at the first sign that Cadel was about to speak, he turned away. What on earth was his intention?

“Also…….”

Just as Cadel was debating whether or not to bring up the question of the past. Shifting his heavy gaze, Derek slowly rose from his seat.

“I will announce the unjust death of your grandfather, Jenga Lytos, and thereby remind everyone of the Lytos family’s sacrifice.”

“Pardon……?”

“Follow me.”

Unjust death and sacrifice.

As Cadel pondered the unexpected words, Derek stood in front of the bookcase that blocked the corner of the study. He touched the five volumes with a familiar hand, and with a low vibration, the bookcase slid away. In its place was a steep staircase leading to the basement.

Walking through the endless corridors, Cadel recognized this as the place where he had first dealt with the Emperor. At the time, he’d traveled blindfolded, so he couldn’t tell how he’d gotten down there.

‘So it’s a structure connected to the study, no wonder they took me blindfolded.’

Derek hadn’t spoken a word since they’d entered the basement. Cadel couldn’t think of a question to ask either, so he simply followed the light of the torch and Derek’s back in silence.

After a long walk, they arrived in front of a room deep underground. They had already passed several chambers, but the one Derek stopped at was unlike any of the previous ones, falling into disrepair. Beyond the door, which looked as if it could fall down at any moment, was an equally disorganized interior.

Bookshelves tilted at an angle, a desk overturned, unidentified papers strewn about, and broken reagent bottles. It was a mess as if someone had raided it, and there were cobwebs and dust everywhere as if it hadn’t been tended to in a long time.

Cadel coughed into the thick air that filled the room and covered his mouth. Derek held his breath in silence. Slowly, he walked out, picked up the overturned desk, and ran his hand over it. He wiped his dusty hands on it and spoke quietly.

“This used to be Jenga’s workshop. He needed a place to work without being disturbed, so I gave him a space.”

Cadel paused and rolled his eyes, trying to swallow the cough that kept coming out. His confused gaze turned to Derek.

“When I was working in my study and feeling suffocated, I often stopped here. I’d be greeted by an eccentric magician engrossed in experiments. Listening to Jenga’s stories soothed my weary mind and rejuvenated my spirit.”

Derek looked around the ruined room as if recalling the past. What he saw was not empty, toppled bookshelves but a storehouse of knowledge, and what he smelled was not an unpleasant dust but a distinctive reagent odor.

“No one was more important to me then than Jenga, for he was the only person I could fully call my own. Enemies were everywhere, and I was powerless. After my father, the previous Emperor, died in the Demon War, I was crowned at a young age, and I could do nothing but act as a puppet. Once power was lost, it was difficult to regain. My uncle, who took over the role of emperor, became obsessed with status and power, and I grew up to be a puppet.”

Derek began to recount the past in a casual manner, and it was then that Cadel noticed the dried black marks that dotted the floor among the clutter. They were old bloodstains.

“The people were suffering under a corrupt imperial government, and I wanted to save them. Jenga wanted to help me, too, but there was no way to do so, for my uncle’s forces were already roaming the castle with moldy spears. As I struggled desperately day after day, I caught a whiff of something bad about my uncle. I had to investigate, but if I took matters into my own hands, I’m afraid the watchful eyes would not stay still. ……So I asked Jenga to investigate. To spy on my uncle and find the clues that will bring him down.”

The blood was scattered everywhere. On the backs of toppled bookshelves, on the walls, on the Emperor’s rebuilt desk. It was more like the scars of a madman’s rampage than the marks of a bloody massacre.

“Jenga was very competent, for he soon discovered my uncle’s weakness. What do you think it was?”

Derek’s gaze locked with Cadel’s. For the first time, Cadel was able to look Derek in the eye, his dark pupils holding a tangled mix of anger, regret, and sadness.

“My uncle tried to summon a demon. His reasoning was very stupid. He wanted to collect demon blood to prolong his filthy…… life, that’s all.”

“…….”

“It’s a deadly secret. If it were known, my uncle would be brought down quickly, and the corruption that backed him would not escape the blade of the Purge. The blade I’ve been honing would bring them all to justice. ……But there was one thing I overlooked.”

Derek took a short breath to stifle his rising emotions, but maintaining his composure was not easy, for Cadel stood before him, reminding him of Jenga’s younger days when they had shared a close friendship, unaware of the trials to come.

“He learned my uncle’s secret, but he didn’t tell me. Jenga…… valued the Empire more than his own life. Exposing my uncle’s deceit would have ushered in the new era we so desperately wanted, but the people would have lost all trust in the imperial family. What’s left of an empire that has lost the faith of its people? You can cut off all the rotten leaves, but without the roots, it’s useless. ……That’s what Jenga was worried about.”

The people of the Empire were suffering from the corrupt and greedy policies of the imperial family. Their trust and faith in the imperial family was already at an all-time low, and the issue of summoning demons was not one they could easily ignore.

Furthermore, they were still reeling from the aftermath of the Demon War. The war had taken so much from people. Families, lovers, homes, and lands were destroyed. They could never forgive the demons. If it had been publicized, the people, pushed to their limits, would have taken it upon themselves to save the Empire with their own hands. In the end, there would have been much bloodshed, a tragic end that defeated the purpose.

“Jenga tried to find another clue. Another reason to draw my uncle out. ……But it didn’t work. It was my uncle, not Jenga, who succeeded.”

His uncle managed to summon a demon.

Derek spat out a weak laugh. It was no longer Jenga’s grandson who resembled him that stood before him. It was Jenga Lytos, himself.

* * *

“What does that mean? Calmly…… and, and slowly explain what that means, Jenga.”

“I killed your uncle, Derek.”

Under Derek’s panicked gaze, Jenga remained unperturbed. His hazel eyes reflected unwavering determination. His rosy cheeks and light brown hair were stained with blood, but he smiled softly.

“I’m sorry. For messing up.”

Derek’s cold hand gripped Jenga’s shoulder. He stared, terrified, down the deserted basement corridor, his lips quivering in disbelief.

“Why didn’t you tell me beforehand? All we needed was proof that my uncle was trying to summon a demon. That was all we needed to accomplish our goal!”

“It shouldn’t be like that. A lot of people will get hurt.”

“You! What do you think will happen to you then! F*ck……. Hanson and Toppier are gonna assemble a force. They’re gonna kill us to get rid of the only witnesses. But before they do that, I’m gonna expose my uncle’s crimes. I’m gonna purge them all―”

“I risk my life to deal with these guys.”

Derek panicked and could barely breathe, but not Jenga: He had already made all the decisions, designed all the plans, and humbly accepted all the consequences.

“Instead of killing us, they will tell you to give up your position and resign, and if you can’t do that, they will reveal that you’re in cahoots with them and give you the most humiliating death possible, Derek.”

“……What are you talking about?”

“As long as I’m here, there’s no backing down from them. They’ll deny their guilt with all their might, they’ll try to drag you down, they’ll try to kill me behind your back, but without me as a factor, they’ll be able to make a deal with you. It would be better to live quietly, enjoying the wealth and honor you’ve earned, than to self-destruct with your uncle in your arms.”

“Jenga, you are now…….”

“If I sacrifice myself, everyone will be happy. You can regain power without bloodshed, and the people will have a much better life than they have now instead of rebelling.”

If only his uncle hadn’t succeeded in summoning the demon. If only Jenga hadn’t killed his uncle. If only he hadn’t discovered the sin of summoning a demon. If he hadn’t spied on his uncle and Jenga hadn’t spied on his uncle. If only the regime had been his. If only he hadn’t been weak. If only he had been a proud emperor of an empire, able to protect everyone.

He didn’t have to weigh the lives of his best friend on the scales. He didn’t have to trade the lives of his loved ones for the comfort of filthy scum. So, in the end, it was all his own fault.

“I’m glad I died at your hands, Derek.”

“…….”

“It’s a shame I won’t get to see Mamil. No, I’m glad I didn’t, because if he came back and saw this, he’d be furious.”

Jenga chattered, laughed, and maintained eye contact. Even when he felt the cold blade against his throat, he remained undaunted.

“Derek.”

“…….”

“Your Majesty.”

Jenga caught Derek’s distorted face with his eyes. It was the face of an old friend who had often burst into tears even at insignificant things since childhood, and who eventually could not hold back his tears until the very end.

“I don’t mind dying a traitorous death, because the person I most want to know of my innocence knows it. But…… my family, they will suffer a great deal of humiliation. So if my family loses its place in the Empire, please see to it that they do not die in vain. That is enough for me.”

He didn’t remember the last of Jenga. After a long hesitation, he said something, and then he heard himself let out a horrible scream, and the severed head of his friend rolled on the floor.

He cradled the head in his arms, barely able to cry out. His blood-soaked clothes were drying, and he despaired of the warmth he could no longer feel. Outside, the maddened were slaughtering Lytos’s blood.

Suspecting that Jenga must have left evidence of the demon summoning somewhere, they ransacked the house in the name of wiping out the traitorous seed.

Derek was furious, but he could not stop them; to stop them head-on would be to render Jenga’s death useless, for he had chosen to die a traitor.

And since Derek was still powerless, the only response he could make was to send a small Knight Order to collect the surviving Jenga descendants.

As a result, Derek was freed from his puppet status. He seized the power of his dreams. Derek Osma’s regime was established. He slowly implemented his secret plans and tried to address the grievances of his people.

But he lost the one person who understood. He had lost a dear friend and ruined a solid relationship.

“You should have seen the blood, Derek. You should have killed all the scumbags in the imperial family, not Jenga, and made a river of blood. Why didn’t you? To honor Jenga’s will? No, just because you’re a coward. You took the easy way out. You sacrificed Jenga. It was your choice. You failed to honor it, and I will never, ever forgive you.”

Upon his return, Mamil had cursed him, trashing the space he’d given Jenga, resenting the empire he ruled, hating it, and ultimately abandoning everything he’d built in it.

He had gained the future he had hoped for, but his cherished past had been destroyed; he had gained so much, but at the same time, he had nothing left.

He was an irredeemable sinner. He had risen to power on the back of his friend’s sacrifice, but he had failed to honor his dead friend’s wishes. Even after so much time had passed, weighing the costs and benefits, he could not clear his friend’s name.

Perhaps this was how he would live and die, falling at the threshold of the afterlife, bearing the curse of Jenga, and falling into hell, and so he lived a life of pessimism and self-loathing.

Until his grandson, Cadel Lytos, appeared before him, he could only foresee an unhappy end.