Epilogue

On the night after the medal awarding ceremony, king Raymond was on the top floor of his palace, drinking by himself in a dimly lit room.

Due to his position as the king, he would rarely find himself alone like this. However, for the last few days, the palace’s chamberlain, who was aware of the latest events, had been making sure that no one would come to disturb the king at night.

The reality was that King Raymond’s feelings were in disarray, and he was drowning his desolation in his first-class wine.

It would have been only natural for him to feel angry after having sent his son in exile ―― But that was, in fact, not the case.

【”Be it Carenas or Zentos, they were both completely useless in the end!”】

The true source of the king’s anger was his failure to assassinate the princess.

Whether it was inside or outside the country, king Raymond’s reputation was not bad at all.

He had never done anything particularly grand nor had he ever committed any particularly big mistake, and he was doing a smooth job managing the country’s military affairs, the domestic affairs, and foreign affairs. Many of the nation’s people were satisfied with his rule.

‘A normal king with his some good and some bad sides’, that was the people’s evaluation of king Raymond.

But precisely because he was a capable king to some extent, he was well aware of how extraordinary his daughter was.

She had been smart from a very young age, and she had perfectly assimilated everything that she had been taught about how to be a good leader.

Knowing that various things in the future would be much easier for her if she were to become popular, Milenia had skillfully made use of her status as the princess, which was a role that was relatively light on responsibilities, in order to come in contact with the nation’s people and earn some fame with them.

Thanks to that, she now was very popular indeed. Much more than the king himself.

Lately, she had gradually started involving herself with the country’s politics. Even though her range of actions was limited for now since she was only the next heir to the throne, she was still achieving some results, little by little.

At this rate, in less than five years, she was likely going to make the king step down from his throne and to take his place as the country’s queen.

Moreover, it was going to be a peaceful process as everyone in the country would be satisfied with her ascension.

Then, Jirgus was probably going to develop itself and grow well under the rule of the beautiful queen.

At any rate, there was no doubt that Milena would be a queen whose name would go down in history.

As for the king, he was going to lose his political career upon her ascension, and to be left behind in the past.

He was 38 years old, and even in five years, he would be still only be 43.

His daughter would have no difficulty to destroy what he had been building for the past 10 or 20 years, and she would then build something even better over the rubble of his forgotten legacy.

【”Milena’s methods are too drastic. In the future, I’m sure she’s going to drive the whole country into a crisis.”】

Using this pretext, he lied to himself and made up his mind to disinherit the princess.

However, it was impossible for him publicly punish her. Because the princess had committed no mistakes so far.

With this matter, half measures would surely result in retaliations.

That being the case, an assassination was the only solution, but that was too risky.

If he were to fail and his attempt were to be exposed, that would likely result in a civil war which would divide the whole country, and in that scenario, the king’s chances of success were thin.

Therefore, the king’s eyes had fallen on his other child, prince Carenas.

Even from his father’s own perspective, Carenas was a fool, therefore, he was easy to understand as an individual and the king could manipulate him as he wished.

Hence why the king had used Zentos to incite Carenas to attack his own little sister.

Even though these kinds of aspirations were originally completely beyond the prince, he still immediately felt like killing Milena upon being incited to do it, without knowing that he was being manipulated.

But even if Carenas had succeeded, the king had had no intention to make him his successor.

There were many people who had the royal family’s blood in their veins despite not being direct descendants of the king, so he could simply choose his successor among them.

However, the prince had turned out to be even more foolish than expected.

The king had made various preparations, such as assigning Zentos to him and separating Milena from the the fifth corps’ knights, who were escorting her, and yet Carenas had still failed to kill his little sister.

【”Still, that Zentos.. Even though I favored him, if he was going to die anyway, he might as well have directly killed the princess beforehand.”】

Although the king had told him that he would, of course, cover the whole matter afterwards, Zentos had still been particular about not wanting to be too high-handed, and about making the princess die from an accident instead.

“You should have just killed her directly from the very start”, Said the king angrily.

【”Right now, it doesn’t seem like anybody is suspecting me, but I have to think of another plan soon before anyone starts realizing what’s really going on.. Seriously, why did those travelers have to put their nose where it doesn’t belong....”】

The king recalled the medal awarding ceremony which had taken place earlier in the day.

‘Since these people are aware of the assassination attempt, they have to be dealt with as soon as possible. If possible, maybe I could kill them together with the princess and..’ As king Raymond thought so, he finished his cup of wine in one gulp, and at that moment, his hair swayed.

【”Hmm? ..Was it the wind?”】

When the king looked around him, believing that there was no way the wind would blow in this closed-up room, his eyes fell on the room’s unlit fireplace, in front of which there was someone standing.

That man was dressed all in black, and only his eyes could be seen on his concealed face. He was as suspicious as he could possibly be.

However, this place was in the residential area of the royal palace, and more precisely, this was the king’s bedroom,?it was the safest place in all of Jirgus. “No intruders are allowed here, and there is no way an intruder would be able able to come in anyway.” That was the king’s thought process, which was limited by his drunkenness.

The man instantly approached the side of king Raymond, and went behind him. Then, he twisted both of his arms around the king and used his hands to seal his mouth, therefore rendering the king unable to move or speak in the span of a moment.

Faced with those movements that the man was clearly accustomed to, king Raymond, who knew nothing about martial arts, was not able to resist.

【”Wondering how anyone could come here without facing any obstacles? It’s simple, really. You know that secret passage behind the fireplace that leads to the royal capital? Well, I came from there.”】

A small voice whispered behind the king’s ear. Although the king knew he had heard it before, he could not recall where that was.

Indeed, behind the room’s fireplace, there was an emergency escape passage that was connected to the royal capital.

However, that information was held in absolute secrecy. The exit was extremely well hidden, and the only living person who knew about it was the king himself.

【”I once escorted you from there when the palace fell to the enemy.. Seriously, at that time, I went out of my way to escort a bastard like you, and just to save your life I..Well, I guess it’s thanks to you that I know of this passage now, so there is that at least.”】

“I suppose at this point, I should just be happy that it wasn’t all for nothing” Muttered the intruder.

Not quite understanding what the man was talking about, the king, who was being restrained, was focused on desperately struggling to free himself, but to no avail.

【”It’s really fortunate you were drinking here by yourself. I was planning to come back several more times to wait for an opportunity in case today seemed no good, but that won’t be necessary.. I wonder, is karma rewarding me or punishing you?”】

Said ironically the intruder, who was none other than Kyle.

In order to avoid influencing the medal awarding ceremony, Kyle had been waiting until today to come here, but it seemed like he had not made the wrong choice.

【”Naturally, you want to know why I’m doing this, don’t you? I have various reasons, but still, I don’t exactly have a personal grudge against you, though I suppose I’m kind of venting my anger on you.”】

Hearing that the intruder was just venting on him, the king groaned angrily, however, Kyle did not seem to care.

【”It’s useless to tell you about that now, but during the ‘big invasion’, even though I advised you to immediately go to the rescue of the dwarfs in the neighboring country, you made the political decision of delaying your rescue and waiting until they fell into a crisis before helping them, in order to seize an advantage for yourself. But the attack of the demons’ troops was far above your expectations, and in the blink of an eye, the dwarfs were already done for.”】

Back then, Kyle was only a skilled magic swordsman who had slightly spread his name, and he was treated accordingly.

As a survivor of the Limaze town, he had desperately appealed to how big and dreadful of a threat the demon army was at that time, but the king had not paid much attention to his words.

【”That defeat caused a ripple effect which eventually led the country of Jirgus to its demise. You kept coming up with one stupid plan after another until you were cornered, at which point you started dodging responsibility..”】

As he said that, Kyle let out large sigh that came from the bottom of his heart.

【”Seriously, I wish you’d been stronger and had gotten your act together in those days. Maybe then I wouldn’t have had to go through so much trouble.. It was because there were so many leaders like you that we had to suffer through all those hardships.”】

Perhaps because he was filled with anger, or because he was recalling his unbearable past, Kyle put more strength into his hands and arms which were twisted around king Raymond.

The king groaned loudly from the pain.

【”Oh, sorry. I guess it’s meaningless to tell you all of that now.. Besides, I never planned to do anything to you for something you haven’t even done yet.. But if you’re going to protect yourself by manipulating your son and making him try to kill your own daughter due to your personal jealousy, then it’s a whole other story. I don’t need to hold back against you.”】

Kyle tightened his arms and hands even further, and started walking while pushing the king with him.

【”But, above all, you went and gave that kind of order to my old comrade in arms, and you made me kill him. That I cannot forgive.”】

Zentos’ last words were “I have failed you, your majesty”.

The moment he had heard that, Kyle was able to understand everything.

Moreover, he had confirmed his suspicions when he was eavesdropping on the king earlier and had heard him speak to himself.

【”It’s simple when you think about it. As ridiculously serious and loyal as Zentos was, there is only one person who’d have been able to make him assassinate the princess.. and that person is none other than you, your majesty. After you died and the country of Jirgus disappeared for good, Zentos seemed oddly refreshed, as if a heavy rock had been lifted from his shoulders.. If only he could have chosen the country of his birth, and the king he would serve.”】

Step by step, Kyle was approaching the room’s window, which was connected to a balcony.

Realizing what Kyle was about to do, the king struggled violently but uselessly.

【”You really went all out to hide that whole matter back then. It seems like,?no matter how much they investigated, it only looked like an accidental death to them..”】

Kyle smiled wryly as he recalled his former spy friend who had been full of confidence when declaring that the princess had died of an accident.

【”Well, that princess is sort of devious, but she’s smart. She’s probably going to give priority to benefits rather than feelings and emotions when leading the country, but she will still be better than a king like you who only thinks of saving his own neck, so I can’t let you kill her. Besides, after killing the princess, you’d probably have made us your next targets since we know of the country’s secret, right? ..So, I’m sorry but this is where it ends for you, no hard feelings.”】

Kyle quietly opened the room’s large window, allowing the night wind to enter inside.

【”Also, the princess would normally have taken over you in 3 years, more or less. So, it doesn’t really matter if I make that happen a bit earlier, right?”】

King Raymond was feeling an immeasurable fear as Kyle was indifferently talking about his death like it was already decided. The king started struggling and groaning even more,?but that did not stop Kyle who continued to walk forward.

【”Oops, I’ve been talking for a little too long, haven’t I? It’d be pretty bad if I lose any more time.”】

The two men arrived at the balcony’s railing.

During daytime, this balcony would give a good view on the palace’s courtyard, but right now, in the dark of the night, there was only darkness to be seen.

This was the fifth and top floor of the royal palace, and under here was a stone pavement. Falling from this balcony would leave the victim no chances of survival.

【”Don’t worry, I’ll make this look like an accident, I won’t tell anyone that you tried to kill your own daughter, so your honor will be safe after your death.. Oh, and, I’d be troubled if you start screaming, so I’ll have to do this beforehand.”】

After saying that, Kyle dealt a knifehand strike on the back of the king’s neck.

It was a light blow, but it hit the right spot and was aimed well enough to make the king pass out.

【”So long, your majesty.”】

As his consciousness was being wrapped in darkness, those were the last words the king heard before losing his life.

That night, some patrolling soldiers heard a loud sound towards which they immediately rushed, only to find that king Raymond had fallen to his death.

There were no traces of an intruder in his room, and it seemed like he had been severely drunk, so it had been assumed that he had gone out to his balcony to let the night wind sober him up, and had then accidentally fallen down.

In the end, since telling the public that the king had drunkenly fallen from his balcony would have tarnished his reputation, it had been officially announced that he had perished from a sudden heart attack.