Chapter 142
－Emperas Kingdom: Fourth Knight Order Commander's Perspective－
Upon entering the king's bedroom, I found a grotesque presence inside.
It was wearing a senior mage's robes, but its appearance...
"A senior mage..."
My friend addressed the presence before us.
Were they saying this was one of them?
Such a... being?
The visible skin was dark and mottled, with not a single unwrinkled spot.
Loose skin hung down from it.
Only its eyes looked unnaturally large, and even the position of its nose was wrong.
"The magic stone has completely shattered. This is the result."
"The result?"
A hoarse voice reached my ears.
I was shocked that the magic stone had shattered, but even more than that, I was preoccupied with the grotesque presence before me.
Why had it become this way?
The voice changed from hoarse to increasingly raspy and difficult to hear as it spoke.
I was shocked by what I heard, but I also felt fear at the way its appearance kept changing as it spoke.
Another voice came from somewhere.
I could hear a raspy voice, but I couldn't make out what it was saying.
It was far too hoarse.
As I let my gaze wander in search of the source, I noticed another presence some distance away, similar to the senior mage.
...That clothing... Then, is that the king?
I held my breath at the king's terrifyingly altered appearance.
Neither my friend nor I could move.
We had steeled ourselves before facing the king.
We had come to change the future, but we had never imagined this.
What were we supposed to do?
The senior mage before us collapsed onto the floor and began to writhe in agony.
Even from some distance away, I heard a sound like something snapping with a sharp crack.
I took a step back at the sight and sound.
Terrifying.
But I couldn't take my eyes away, and as I watched, its head suddenly rolled across the floor.
"Eek."
A small scream escaped the lips of the First Knight Order's deputy commander.
Even I, pathetic as it was, let out a small sound.
Something toppled over with a clatter.
When I looked that way, I saw the king writhing on the floor.
He seemed to be trying to escape, but could barely move at all.
Even if we didn't deliver the final blow, the king would certainly die.
Was this the end of the King of Emperas Kingdom?
Would the king die after becoming such a monstrous figure?
...This...
I noticed a presence quietly approaching the king.
It was a princess said to be one of the king's granddaughters.
In reality, she was probably one of his slave wives.
I quietly watched as her hand rose straight up.
"Ah."
I didn't know whose voice it was, but as that arm swung down, the king's head rolled across the floor.
"Now I can protect you."
A faint voice came from the princess.
As one of the king's slave wives, how much suffering had she endured?
I didn't know.
But the expression on the princess's face as she quietly shed tears was truly gentle.
It was hard to believe she had just beheaded the king.
...
The king had executed not only the brothers who had vied for the throne, but also his male blood relatives, labeling them traitors.
At the time, every woman was imprisoned in the inner palace the king had created, branded with slave marks, and made his wife.
Apparently, wives who rebelled were subjected to quite horrific acts as a warning.
Little about the inner palace ever came to light, but rumors still spread.
He allowed no defiance and showed no mercy, not even to his blood relatives.
It was when a prince was born that this became known throughout the royal castle.
When the king learned that the child was a prince, he immediately ordered him killed.
When those around him voiced concern about succession, the enraged king had the prince brought before him and killed him in front of them.
From then on, whenever a prince was born, he was disposed of that very day.
Whenever a princess was born, she was branded with a slave mark on her tenth birthday and became a new wife, unable to leave the inner palace.
The only time they could leave the inner palace was when the king summoned them.
Before long, the wives in the inner palace came to be called slave wives, and the king never denied it.
I don't know how many lives were lost in the inner palace,
but the king's death would probably heal at least some of those wounded hearts.
My friend picked up the crown that had fallen near the king.
"Shall we go?"
We left the room and walked down the corridor.
The soldiers and knights we passed froze for an instant when they saw the crown my friend was carrying, then their faces filled with relief.
The king's death was so abrupt.
A king said to be the strongest and feared by all had been killed by one of his wives, with no one to protect him.
"How anticlimactic."
The words slipped from my mouth before I realized it.
I suddenly heard my friend laugh softly.
"Things will be difficult from here on.
After all, we must beg forgiveness from the slaves we have oppressed and the people of the forest."
"...Will we be forgiven?"
"Until we are forgiven, this is our atonement—my atonement."