━━━━???━━━━

Bang!

“Bastard. I should have killed him sooner!”

Gerard smashed the table. There were veins of blood bulging on his forehead.

‘I should’ve gotten rid of him earlier.’

Earlier—!

He should have strangled that damn Sislin when he first came to the Imperial Palace.

No, he should have settled him while he was in the Forest.

He should have recognized that he wasn’t just a boy with the common features of dark hair and red eyes, but that he was imperial. That he was also his younger brother.

Emperor Axelferion was born with red eyes, but in fact, there were people with red eyes everywhere.

It was not unique to the imperial family.

Furthermore.. There was a big reason Gerard didn’t foresee his existence.

‘I thought he was dead. Already.’

“Gerard, as you have ordered, we have treated it as a ‘stillborn’.”

“What about the infant’s body?”

“I have confirmed that he is already dead.”

Long ago, when his brother was born, it was him who ordered that he be treated as a stillborn and killed.

It was obvious that the f*cking maid had lied.

Nine years ago, the child he believed that was dead returned.

Also, born with the power of ‘Mephisto’, which was characteristic of the empress.

The boy proved himself by mixing his own blood with the Holy Grail of Axelferion, which confirmed the bloodline of the imperial family.

And he became one of nine princes in total.

The boy’s eyes were always empty.

His face never smiled at all.

Gerard hated the creepy and blank face that was not like a child’s.

He wanted to strangle the boy who was even born with their mother’s ability – that he himself didn’t have.

That was why.

―He pushed the boy into the fracture of hell, ‘Crevasse’.

The Crevasse was a kind of dimensional transfer gate, and were used as a tool to punish felons where even the death penalty was insufficient.

When sucked into the crack, one would be surrounded by demons and have his or her flesh eaten alive and bones gnawed, experiencing extreme pain and fear.

One hour in Crevasse was several years in real life.

If one fell into the crack even once and came out, he or she would have to struggle in pain every minute and second for decades.

Hence, anyone who had been there—

Their mind would be completely broken, and they would become maniac in fear.

But Sislin was different.

He was very fine.

He looked empty as usual, and just had a face that didn’t feel anything as usual.

“―Brother, ever since I went to Crevasse, my abilities have become stronger.”

For the first time, he said something while laughing.

Then, with his increased powers, he began to pick and kill his half-brothers one by one.

In fact, the emperor’s children were characterized by strong abilities and a sense of authority, so each one was a formidable opponent.

However, since then, by his own volition, Sislin started entering the Crevasse over and over again, and when he came out, his ability was strengthened like a monster.

He killed his brothers in the middle of the night each time he went, as if it was a reward for the long torment.

A blood-crazed monster.

Was his mind ripped out in the Crevasse?

Gradually, the life in his eyes faded, and he could not sleep properly for a single night without taking medicine to calm his sensitive senses due to his enhanced ability.

Those tired red eyes were fear itself.

“..In the end, I pushed him into the battlefield to calm him down.”

The monstrous bastard conquered a strange country and returned alive from the battlefield.

―A country that had nothing to do with El Dorado!

Was it the Michela Empire?

It was also a country that was stubborn and good at fighting.

When Sislin returned safely from the battlefield, the fourth prince killed himself out of fear.

He couldn’t bear living with the human being who killed his brothers while sleeping like slaughtering a pig in a butcher’s .

And it happened in less than a month—

Today’s tragedy.

Gerard grabbed his hair.

“If Father had been fine, he would have objected to such a madman becoming the Crown Prince..!”

Clink!

The glass in Gerard’s hand fell and smashed into pieces. He exhaled, seemingly in despair.

“The monster is out of control now.”

His aide who was watching the situation, Avilus Theses, answered.

“But at least he’s not being violent towards you, who has the same mother. He thinks of you as an older brother—”

“What a stupid thing to say.”

Gerard snapped at his words.

“That guy has long been the object of fear among the people of El Dorado. So he deliberately kept me alive because I have a good reputation.”

“....!”

“To neutralize the fear-stained image of the Axelferion.”

It was a clever choice.

Hence, it felt more intimidating.

“When my reputation goes down and becomes obsolete, he will throw me as dog food.”

“.....”

“Now there is only one way to take the Crown Prince out.”

A familiar name came out of Gerard’s lips.

“Annette.”

His red eyes glistened.

“She has become my only hope.”

If he gets his hands on Annette. If he really awakened the ‘first sorcerer’s soul’.

Gerard would be worthy of going against his monstrous powers.

She was, of course, the girl he had been looking for for over 10 years but could not find—

Now, things have changed a bit.

“Avilus, there is no reason to find her secretly now. Find her openly.”

“....!”

“It has been a long time since the Crown Prince and my search has been exposed.”

Sislin, that obsessive madman, had been looking for Annette for over 10 years, just like Gerard.

Now that he became the Crown Prince, it was obvious that he would pursue her more openly. He would do so more actively, using his power and position.

On the other hand, there were quite a few obstacles in this side’s ‘secret pursuit’, but there was no need for that anymore.

It was his turn to become even more tenacious and desperate.

“Amplify the pursuit team forces by tenfold, and send them all to find Annette.”

“All right.”

“And watch the Crown Prince’s every move. Where does he go, who does he meet, what he does.. Report every single one of them! Tell them to bring it in exchange for death!”

“Yes!”

Krrr-ack—

Grabbing the sofa so hard that the leather was distorted, Gerard’s obsessive voice sounded.

“We must find her first, that girl.”

━━━━???━━━━

“Did you check the body?”

The long stature lying on the sofa was huge. His eyes were red and empty.

The newly crowned Sislin first asked his aide about the body.

Not about his own coronation ceremony, or the newly acquired emperor’s seal, only—

About the bodies of the pursuers chasing Annette.

“Yes, again, there were a lot of them in the Western Continent.”

A man with dark green hair and scarlet eyes bowed his head and replied.

Marquis Owin Herbert. He was Sislin’s aide when he was an imperial prince, and? he was now the crown prince’s aide.

His mouth was heavy and his loyalty was deep. He continued speaking,

“Indeed, Miss Annette seems to be in the Western Continent.”

“.....”

Sislin’s eyes slowly closed at the name ‘Annette’.

His eyes sunk into his deep eyesockets.

As if to indulge in every detail of her face from the inside of his closed eyes.

“I will find her soon. Two wars.”

It took a long way to get here.

The process was arduous.

Even when the young boy proved that he was the son of the first empress and became a prince, he had no power in the Imperial Palace.

He wanted to find Annette, but he didn’t even have troops to use.

So, in order to gain power, to reclaim her, Sislin had to become strong quickly.

Even if he had to put himself in terrible pain.

She was the reason he went to the Crevasse.

His mind gradually collapsed, and it became difficult to even put on clothes due to his extreme sensitivity. Like this, his body became one that could not live without medicine..

It wasn’t until he defeated the prominent princes and he was referred to as the ‘next Crown Prince’ that Sislin had the power and troops to search for Annette in earnest.

That was three years ago.

“There is an organization that is looking after Miss Annette. Circe helped her escape.”

The fact that Gerard’s pursuit team had failed so far.

And, considering the fact that bodies that were shot by magic bullets were found everywhere.

“We will not chase Annette.”

Sislin changed the paradigm of tracking.

“—Follow the corpses.”

It was clear that the organization must be near the subject that they wanted to protect.

Bodies had been found on several continents, but there were locations where it was ‘especially’ found.

Sislin and his men started tracking the bodies three years ago.

—Like following Hansel and Gretel’s crumbs.

It was completely different in that it was meat rather than bread.

The places where the bodies were found the most were in the Northern and Western continents.

He couldn’t narrow it down any further.

Gerard’s information was limited whereas Circe’s defense was excellent, and the bodies were inevitably scattered according to that information.

Fortunately, however, there was only one country in the Northern Continent.

‘The Empire of Michela’.

It was inefficient to find Annette by scouring the bare ground, so Sislin initially secretly requested cooperation from the Emperor of Michela.

And the emperor rejected the offer of a mere prince from a distant country.

It resulted in a northern country far from El Dorado to ‘perish’.

“There is no one presumed to be Miss Annette in Michela’s Personal Information Department.”

“Still, search the continent thoroughly.”

Unfortunately, she was not in the Northern Continent.

Now, only the Western Continent remained.

“Crown Prince.”

Owin parted his lips and spoke politely.

“As you know, there are two countries in the Western Continent. ‘The Fris Empire’ and the ‘Guillotine Kingdom’.”

This was the reason why Sislin attacked the Northern Continent – there was only one country there.

Now, only one option remained..

“Is it one of the two?”

“Yes.”

Sislin stared into the air with tired eyes, then poured the pills into his mouth.

Then he took a bottle of drink and drank it slowly.

His chest shook dangerously, and then a low breath flowed from the depths of his throat.

“Would you like to see the map?”

Owin politely held out the map.

His master, who was lying on the sofa, slowly opened his eyes as he felt his heightened senses calm down.

As much as a dull sensation, the red eyes were somewhat turbid and out of focus.

With tenacious lips, he whispered softly.

“Just looking at the map makes me want to lick it.”

“.....”

“Where would suit Annette’s taste?”

Soon, Sislin pointed to exactly one country with his index finger.

The image was captured strongly by his cloudy eyes.

—It was the Fris Empire.