Chapter 69
The Princess Arlhardt staggered back.
“……”
Like a revolving lantern, the scenery of her childhood resurfaced quickly and vividly.
On that day when the gloomy sky was filled with dark clouds and the rain poured down.
Soldiers, nobles, and royalty stood in rows.
And in between them… a coffin.
Inside the coffin, someone lay with both hands clasped as if in prayer, sleeping peacefully.
Pale skin and shimmering golden hair.
The fragrance of lavender filled the coffin.
That person looked exactly like her sister.
Just like now.
“Remi~!”
Clara stepped barefoot out of the coffin and smiled brightly.
“Have you been well?”
“…Sister Clara?”
The princess tried to compose her confused heart.
But the trembling of her hands and her voice betrayed her.
“How are you… here…?”
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have.”
“That’s because, sister, you….”
…died right in front of my eyes.
“Wow, Remi, you’ve become a fine lady already? You’re even taller than me now. Are you older too? Ah, looking at that uniform, you must have entered Yggdrasil! I also wanted to go to Yggdrasil.”
Clara approached with a mischievous smile.
“Remi has also become more beautiful than me.”
With a smile on her lips, Clara looked at her younger sister.
“More admired than me.”
The smile slowly faded from Clara’s face.
“Smarter than me.”
“…Sister?”
“More than me…!”
The atmosphere changed.
“Because of you, I became this cold and pale, while you…!”
Her sister glared at her, bloodshot eyes wide.
“Ah, that. So, in the end, you took it, didn’t you?”
She glanced and smirked at the pendant hanging from Arlhardt’s neck.
“You ended up stealing everything from me.”
Clara stretched out her hand.
“Remi, do you remember when you were young?”
Clear, shining blood began to gather drop by drop in her palm.
“You insisted on playing princess, and borrowed my crown and pendant for a while.”
The blood gathered and soon transformed into the shape of a sword.
In her hand was a sword of blood.
Clara beamed with a wide smile.
“When the game was over, you always returned them to me.”
Had the princess ever shown such a flustered expression before?
Her eyes were wide open, and her legs were shaking.
“Remi! The princess game is over now.”
“……”
The princess could not utter a word.
“It’s time to return what you stole from me, just like back then.”
Murderous intent radiated from Clara.
Srrng.
Sensing the threat, Curio drew her sword.
‘This is dangerous.’
A bead of cold sweat rolled down Curio’s face.
She could feel this was on a different level from any ghoul she had faced before.
“That pendant, those beautiful hands, that lively skin, that flowing golden hair, those clear blue eyes, that life.”
Clara’s eyes were already burning with rage.
“You must return them all.”
Srrng!
This time, Verdi drew his sword.
“Be careful, Sir Verdi. If we strike together—”
Curio spoke, but instead of replying, Verdi moved his feet first.
Step, step.
With the same calm stride as always, devoid of hostility, he walked toward Clara.
At some point, Verdi reversed his grip on the sword.
“…Sir Verdi?”
At the same time as Curio cried out.
Verdi bent one knee before Clara.
Then he turned the blade toward his own heart and held the hilt out to Clara.
Clara looked at him blankly.
“…Ah, Verdi.”
Gradually, a smile bloomed on her face.
“My beloved knight.”
Clara grasped Verdi’s sword.
Under the red glow of the stained glass.
At Briarflower Monastery, the knighting ceremony was held.
“For your whole life, body and heart, will you devote everything to protecting me as my knight?”
“I swear it.”
Hearing Verdi’s bowed voice, Clara rested the blade upon Verdi’s head.
“Once again, I appoint you as my knight.”
She placed the sword upon Verdi’s shoulder and head.
When Verdi rose, Clara returned the sword to him.
“Ah, my splendid knight, who was always by my side, whether in my death or in my return to life.”
Clara’s face shone like that of a girl in love.
“……”
What on earth was happening?
The princess, her face stricken with shock, barely managed to speak.
“…Verdi. Were you not my knight?”
Verdi turned his head to look at Arlhardt.
His eyes held no reverence, as though he were gazing upon a corpse.
He answered in a cold voice.
“With all due respect, my liege has always been Lady Clara alone from the beginning.”
With an emotionless face, he gripped his sword.
“When Lady Clara passed away, it was you, Princess Arlhardt, who presumptuously took me in.”
Hearing Verdi’s answer, Curio stepped before the princess, gripping her sword.
“I will send you away without pain.”
“Verdi!”
Curio shouted, unable to contain her rage.
“You aimed for the moment Lord Luga was away. How cunning. To repay kindness with betrayal—do you still call yourself a knight?
“Curio.”
Verdi narrowed his eyes, summoning a mirror shield into the air.
“All I desire is Arlhardt’s quiet death. If you surrender, I will spare your life for the sake of old ties.”
Curio ground her teeth.
“I will not surrender to a traitor.”
“Then die.”
Boom!
With that reply, Verdi kicked off the ground and leapt.
Clang!
Their blades collided, red sparks bursting violently.
Their crossed swords formed an X.
As their blades trembled in the struggle, Verdi spoke first.
“Curio, this is not a spar.”
The blade was slowly being pushed toward Curio’s side.
“So I will fight with the resolve to kill you.”
“Shut your mouth. I’ll rip out that tongue of yours soon enough.”
Curio glared back with fierce eyes as she replied.
Objectively speaking, Curio knew that Verdi was a step above her.
A fight she could not win.
Even so, Curio did not flee.
To abandon what she must protect and run would be an unerasable disgrace for a knight.
Better to die than endure such shame.
…Of course, she could not die here.
‘Even if I die, I must at least protect the Princess.’
With only that thought in mind, she swung her sword.
…Meanwhile, at the monastery’s first floor entrance.
Bang!
“Kyaaak!”
As the front door burst open with a crash, McGrim screamed.
Suddenly appearing ghouls began pouring into the monastery.
Ren immediately took his stance and exhaled.
At that moment, as his eyes flashed, his arm stirred.
Swaaaash!
A sharp, formless slash of sword energy swept through.
Everything along the path of the slash was split clean in two.
The ghouls that had pressed up to the front entrance were no exception, collapsing in halves.
“…I thought I had taken them all down, yet some still remain.”
Ren flicked his sword clean and slid it back into the sheath.
As he looked outside the monastery to assess the situation.
Bang!
A small explosion echoed.
The upper floor trembled as dust rained down from the ceiling.
Ren sensed it instinctively.
Had some dangerous incident erupted?
The only thought in his mind was that he had to rush upstairs at once.
Ren dashed for the staircase.
“Senior Queens, I leave the remaining ghouls to you.”
“Huh? What? You’re leaving me here alone? Wait a sec—hiiiik!”
Thud!
A sound like a watermelon bursting rang out.
Queens instinctively smashed down with his gauntlet at the ghoul that had rushed right up to his face.
It shattered in a single blow, crumbling into black ash.
It was a clean, satisfying strike… but his face was filled with terror.
“Stay away! Why are you coming! If you don’t come, I won’t kill you, and you live, so it’s good for both of us, right? Just stay right there! Please just stay! Ah, damn it, seriously…!”
Though Queens pleaded as if trying to reason with them, pouring his heart into it.
The ghouls ignored him and slowly gathered toward the monastery.
Meanwhile, Ren ascended the stairs and reached the second floor.
…At first, he could hardly believe his eyes.
The large chapel beneath the stained glass on the second floor.
The coffin in the hall was open.
And someone he had never seen before stood holding a blood-colored weapon.
Her appearance… she looked just like the Princess.
“Remi…?”
The Princess sat collapsed nearby.
For some reason, Verdi and Curio were fighting each other.
Ren widened his eyes in shock as he spoke.
“…What on earth is going on?”
“This man is a traitor, Young Master Ren!”
Hearing Curio’s urgent cry, he understood immediately.
No further explanation was needed.
Just by glancing around, Ren quickly grasped the situation.
The accomplice maintaining this barrier world was…
Verdi.
And the blonde girl standing with Verdi was also an enemy.
The shock of Verdi’s betrayal was great, but Ren kept his composure.
With cold eyes, he reached for his sheath.
“Young Master Ren, I’m fine, please escort the Princess to safety at once!”
“Do you think I have time to worry about that? Worry about your own life.”
Clang!
Curio was suddenly forced back heavily.
“Ah!”
Knocked off balance by the recoil, her stance collapsed.
Seizing that moment, Verdi moved the hand with his shield.
“This ends now.”
Boom!
Shoved by the shield, Curio was hurled back and slammed against the chapel wall at high speed.
Kraaaash!
Part of the chapel wall crumbled, clouds of dust engulfing the area.
“Huff, huff…”
Leaning against the wall, Curio could no longer rise.
She had no strength in her arms, and several ribs were broken.
She could not even aim her body properly, only coughing as if blood filled her lungs.
“Curio!”
The chapel echoed with the Princess’s scream.
“How…?”
The Princess’s trembling voice addressed Verdi.
“You sacrificed yourself, blocking bullets to save me. How could you…?”
“…You mean this?”
Verdi extended his severed arm.
“If it could earn your trust, what worth has an arm?”
Arlhardt’s eyes widened.
“By losing an arm, I gained your trust. I was granted authority to command the survivors. Everything went smoothly.”
“……”
With difficulty, Arlhardt forced out words.
“Why go so far… You could have killed me anytime you wished…”
“You are mistaken. Killing you was not the only goal.”
Verdi reached toward Clara.
“For the eternal life of my liege, Lady Clara, a noble body must be offered as sacrifice.”
His eyes fixed coldly on Arlhardt.
“My goal was your intact body.”
“……”
The Princess fell silent.
She seemed to be desperately holding back sobs.
“And most of all… my liege wished to see you die before her eyes.”
The Princess could no longer speak.
“Ah, my poor Verdi. Come here.”
Clara opened her arms and embraced Verdi.
She stroked his head and caressed his severed arm.
From the stump, a whole new arm sprouted.
“…Thank you, my merciful liege.”
A genius knight said to one day surpass Luga if only he grew, Verdi was once the knight of the First Princess Clara.
After Clara’s death, he had been caught in noble politics and nearly executed.
It was only when Arlhardt appointed him as her knight that his life was spared.
But what returned to Arlhardt… was Verdi’s blade.
“…It is time.”
Leaving Clara’s embrace, Verdi stepped toward the Princess.
“If you do not struggle, I shall end it without pain.”
Hearing his voice, the Princess squeezed her eyes shut.
“Verdi…!”
Ren broke into cold sweat as he stood before the Princess.
“Resistance is meaningless. Die for my liege.”
Just as Verdi’s blade gleamed.
Crash!
A black figure shattered the stained glass and dropped lightly into the hall.
“……”
“……”
Everyone’s eyes turned to the hall.
There stood a man wearing a black coat and a black mask.