Chapter 1
----------------------------------------------------------------- Translator: Diva Chapter: 1 Chapter Title: Prologue -----------------------------------------------------------------
Darkness enveloped the garden, broken only by the steady echo of footsteps. Gares, seated on a bench and staring at the pond, turned his head toward the corridor.
Barkas emerged from the long arcade connecting the garden to the palace, impeccably dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Knight Order. He moved with the slow, sinuous grace of a serpent gliding through deep, murky waters.
Gares often wondered why.
Faded linen-hued blond hair, blue eyes tinged with silver, skin like polished marble...
How could a man composed of such muted tones, like an ancient parchment, exude such an eerie aura?
Whenever he faced him, a chill ran down Gares's spine for no reason at all.
"Crown Prince Highness."
The man placed a hand over his chest in salute. Gares waved him off roughly with an irritated scowl.
"Cut the formalities."
Even as a member of the Imperial Guard, this was a man who would soon succeed Grand Duke Sheerkhan and rule the eastern territories. He was no one Gares could treat lightly. Yet Gares jerked his chin at him like he was some lowly subordinate.
"How long are you going to stand there looking up at me? Sit."
No change crossed the man's face at the rudeness. Neither displeased nor obsequiously submissive, he simply wore an impassive expression as he sat on the marble chair.
The crown prince studied his exquisitely sculpted features, which betrayed no hint of humanity. They looked much the same as always, but it wasn't hard to guess he was in a foul mood.
Perhaps things hadn't gone well. Narrowing his eyes, Gares demanded like an interrogator.
"How did the interrogation go? You didn't fail to uncover the culprits behind it, did you?"
"We uncovered everything there was to find."
The man pulled down the high collar of his impeccably fitted coat with one hand and replied in a flat tone.
"But it's not the answer Your Highness wanted."
Gares arched one eyebrow.
"Tell me the details."
"The drug in Princess Highness's wineglass didn't come from the Empress Palace."
"Then?"
"It was prescribed by the imperial apothecary to a maid working in the Main Palace. It wasn't even treated as a poison to begin with. They say it only causes vomiting and stomach pain if taken in large quantities all at once, so it's not strictly controlled."
"So you're saying a maid from the Main Palace suddenly lost her mind and spiked my sister's glass?"
The crown prince let out a disbelieving bark of laughter. But the thick cords of his neck stood taut—a sign of his boiling rage.
Yet Barkas's gaze on Gares's contorted, furious face remained utterly dry.
"The maid didn't spike the drink herself."
"Then who did?!"
He lost his patience and raised his voice.
"Stop dragging this out and just give me the conclusion! If it wasn't the empress pulling strings or a maid screwing up, then who the hell dared to tamper with my sister's wine?"
"It was the 2nd Princess."
Gares froze mid-rant at the flatly delivered answer.
"That wench?"
The crown prince's face twisted into a savage grimace. When he spoke of the empress, he was like seething lava. But mentioning her bastard daughter made him look like a man who'd tasted the world's foulest filth. A grinding crunch escaped his clenched jaw.
"That lunatic would do it. When it comes to my sister, she'd lose her mind to jealousy and judgment...
Barkas showed no reaction even to the gutter-mouthed curses. Gares, still glaring at him intently, couldn't let go of his grudge against the empress.
"Even so, isn't it too soon to rule out Senevia... that woman's influence? She could have egged her daughter on..."
"If that were the case, she wouldn't have used some half-baked prank drug—she'd have gone for a proper lethal poison."
Barkas stated coolly. His pale blue eyes gleamed wanly in the dark.
"The empress wouldn't botch the cleanup so sloppily as to get caught."
Gares shut his mouth, unable to retort. It irked him that the man had cut him off, but the contempt in his voice satisfied him.
This youth, indifferent to everything, sharpening his edge at the mention of the imperial stain, Talia Roem Guirta—it was immensely gratifying. It felt like reconfirming that this man was on his... their side.
"True... Senevia wouldn't risk her position with something this stupid."
Gares said, his voice lighter now that his mood had eased somewhat.
"Talia stepped on her own foot this time. I always knew she'd screw up eventually."
He flashed a roguish grin, like the academy troublemaker he used to be.
"She must've lost it because you were snatched away by my sister. That clueless bastard's been strutting around, lording it over the next grand duke's heir like her plaything. Now her 'guard knight' is about to become the 'real' princess's consort—enough to drive her temper over the edge."
The man made no reply. Barkas Raedgo Sheerkhan never said more than absolutely necessary. His silence wasn't unusual.
But sometimes Gares found this man's taciturnity unbearably grating. Like now. Staring him down demandingly, he pressed on.
"Anyway, she won't escape punishment this time. If we're lucky, we can frame it as an attempted poisoning..."
"It won't go as you hope."
He cut the crown prince off for the second time. Gares's eyes flashed dangerously. But the man's gaze on the empire's future emperor remained serene.
"First, there's only circumstantial evidence—no hard proof. If she digs in and denies it, proving she was behind this won't be easy."
"We can just put the maid who provided the drug on the stand...!"
"Do you think the testimony of a single maid is enough to drag the empress's eldest daughter to trial?"
As Gares floundered for a comeback, the man continued calmly.
"Second, even if it's proven to be the 2nd Princess's doing, spiking a drink with something that only causes stomach pain won't warrant severe punishment. If she claims it was just a prank, it'll end with house arrest at worst."
"A prank?"
Gares, who had been listening silently, finally exploded. He shot to his feet and grabbed the next grand duke by the collar.
"Do you have any idea the humiliation the woman who's to be your wife suffered in front of everyone? A girl who's never shown a moment's weakness collapsed vomiting in the middle of the banquet hall! Do you know how much pain Aila went through? How can you call that a prank...!"
As if reliving that day, the crown prince's bronze face flushed visibly red even in the darkness. He ground his teeth and growled.
"Yeah, I was too out of it to notice then, but I clearly saw Talia smirking from afar when Aila collapsed! That filthy bastard bitch—I'd tear her limb from limb and it still wouldn't be enough for daring to touch my sister...!"
"Your Highness."
Gares flinched and released his grip. The man hadn't raised his voice, yet sweat beaded instantly down his back. Gares stepped back, gauging Barkas's reaction.
The man calmly straightened his disheveled clothes.
"That woman isn't worth Your Highness's attention."
His tone was as matter-of-fact as stating the sun sets to bring the night.
"All she does is torment people with petty pranks like this. Is it fitting for the empire's future ruler to get worked up over such trivial nonsense?"
He spoke as if soothing a child.
On any other day, Gares would have exploded at the presumption. But knowing he'd crossed the line first, he held his tongue.
The man rose slowly from his seat. Even departing without permission was rude, yet his movements flowed as naturally as water.
"I've sent soothing herbs to Princess Highness. And from now on, all wine and food at Your Highness's table will be strictly supervised."
"So, just let it slide?"
"If Your Highness insists on uncovering the truth and punishing the 2nd Princess, I won't stop you. But count me out."
Gares flushed at the indifferent reply. Barkas seemed ready to dismiss the whole thing as a spoiled girl's childish prank.
As he'd said, wasting the crown prince and the eastern grand duke's heir on such a petty incident would only tarnish their own reputations.
But Gares bristled at his coolness. It wasn't just indifference to his sister. Shooting him a suspicious glare, he asked.
"You're not taking her side, are you?"
The man, turning to leave, paused and glanced back with an icy stare over his shoulder.
A breeze from the lakeside tousled his ash-blond hair softly. But his expression sharpened undiminished—like a honed blade. A smile, cold and mirthless, curved his lips for the first time on that mask-like face.
"Me? Side with her?"
Barkas let out a low, amused chuckle. But sharp fury flickered in his blue eyes.
Gares was momentarily speechless. He knew the man despised Talia. But he hadn't realized the depth of that enmity.
Wasn't this the man the priests had rigorously purged of all human emotion? In over a decade, Gares had never seen him show any.
What on earth had she done to bare this stone man's teeth like this?
Curiosity gleaming in his eyes, Gares stared him down.
He'd heard tales from Barkas's days as Talia Roem Guirta's guard knight—of the humiliations she'd heaped on him—but Gares had never thought it affected him.
Wasn't he too proud a man to be swayed by a bratty girl's hysterics? To Gares, Talia Roem Guirta was just an annoying nuisance, nothing more. Apparently not.
Barkas's blue eyes, devoid of any warmth, glinted coldly as he bit out the words.
"I just want nothing more to do with that woman. Ever."
With that, as if he'd said all there was to say, he turned and glided back the way he'd come.
Gares watched him vanish soundlessly, like a water snake crossing the lake. A sly smile crept onto his lips.
'I don't know what that wench did to him, but it works in my favor.'
The man meant to be his strongest ally hated his enemy—surely that would bind their alliance even tighter.
Satisfaction on his face, Gares rose from his seat.