Chapter 80 :

Chapter 80 - Greeting

Dito tilted his head at the unimpressive entrance and watched him jump down from the window.

Dito read the faint gladness that briefly appeared on the duke’s face.

Though he still stammered because his breathing had not yet evened out, only his eyes stared clearly at Dito.

It was not a face he did not know.

The foolish Seventh Prince, who had no ability and strong pride.

The one who had looked at his other siblings while steeped in inferiority was Dito’s next experimental subject.

He was a half-wit who always lowered his head and secretly watched others’ moods.

But this one before his eyes did not show the peculiar servility of those placed below in the hierarchy.

Is this guy really the Seventh Prince?

At that moment, a shock and pleasure struck Dito’s mind as though the gaps that had opened here and there were being filled.

Rasia, whose condition had briefly improved.

The duke, who had suddenly stepped forward during the hunting festival.

The three who had gathered at a time so accurate it seemed like a lie.

“Ha ha......!”

Dito laughed as if dumbfounded.

His target changed to the Seventh Prince in an instant.

Ran Abiran’s neck was mercilessly seized in Dito’s hand in the blink of an eye.

“It was you. Things were creaking because of you, weren’t they?”

As his grip gradually tightened around his neck, the Seventh Prince frowned, but he did not avoid Dito’s eyes.

“To think it would be trash like you. Not noticing this was stupid of me. There’s no way you alone could have avoided me like a little rat...... Ah, did you perhaps join hands with our older sister?”

“Kgh.......”

Even while desperately opening his mouth to breathe through the narrow opening, Ran Abiran slowly shook his head.

“Since when has this been going on? From the beginning? Have you been deceiving everyone all along? Did you come here to take me down like those guys? Do you have some other hidden power?”

Even amid the questions pouring out without pause, and even under the grip pressing down on his neck, the Seventh Prince did not lose his calm.

“I don’t have, the power, to take you down.”

Ran Abiran continued speaking in broken gasps.

Power “to”? Then do you have something else?

A sneer appeared on Dito’s face as if asking that.

“If you plan to use some petty trick that won’t work, stop.”

More and more strength entered Dito’s hand.

He was tightening his grip as though he intended to break Ran Abiran’s neck.

Ran Abiran instinctively grabbed Dito’s hand and hurriedly opened his mouth.

“I’ll tell you, where the red book, cough, is.”

The strength left Dito’s hand.

The duke blankly watched as color returned to the Seventh Prince’s face, which had turned blue.

The red book? What is that?

He could not tell what it was, but it clearly seemed important.

Because the laughter had completely disappeared from Dito’s expression.

“How do you know about that?”

“Does that matter? What matters is that I know where it is.”

Dito roughly put the Seventh Prince down on the floor.

Ran sank down while coughing harshly.

“You were not taught how to make a proper deal. A powerless person like you cannot propose a deal even if you hold a card.”

It was unfortunate, but he was right.

Duke Feedus could not hide his anxiety as he looked at the Seventh Prince.

Now that he had appeared in this place, it was no different from him having no cards at all.

In this situation, where he had fallen into the Second Prince’s hands, Dito would use any method to make him vomit up what he wanted.

But it did not seem likely that the young prince would not know that.

Perhaps he had come here to buy time and was facing Dito for that purpose.

No, even if that was not the case, he could not remain collapsed here while leaving everything to him.

Duke Feedus carefully moved his right leg to check it and did not take his eyes off Ran and Dito.

While everyone in the room watched him, the Seventh Prince opened his mouth.

“That isn’t my card. And this isn’t a deal either. I can tell you where the red book is right now.”

He spoke haltingly while letting out several dry coughs.

As if he did not understand those puzzling words, Dito narrowed his brow.

“What does that.......”

“The red book is inside Prince Rasia’s coffin.”

Dito did not rashly grow angry at the Seventh Prince for daring to cut off his words.

No, it seemed he had forgotten to get angry.

Because he was busy urgently turning his gaze toward the imperial castle visible outside the window.

The corner of Ran’s mouth rose crookedly as he watched that.

“The emperor ordered Rasia’s corpse to be burned and the funeral held as quickly as possible. You know the reason better than anyone.”

Dito’s bloodshot eyes turned toward the Seventh Prince.

“I don’t know how you know about the red book, but if you are trying to buy time with lies….”

“You have to believe me.”

Dito had no choice but to stop speaking again this time.

Because of the single sheet of paper Ran Abiran had taken from inside his clothes.

Packed densely with something written on it, it was an ordinary sheet of paper with a tear along one corner, as if it had been ripped from where it originally belonged.

Just one part of a book, with no particular distinguishing features.

The specialness of the page was revealed when Ran slowly brought it toward the moonlight entering through the window.

Between the shadows of the paper created by the moonlight, faint letters rose up.

“Because one page is here.”

Dito looked at Ran with an expression of disbelief.

It did not last long.

Because, in the very next moment, what Ran did turned his emotion from surprise into shock.

“What are you doing!”

Without hesitation, he threw the single sheet of paper into the burning flames.

The paper burned in an instant, turned to ash, and vanished.

It was a disaster that happened without any chance to do anything.

Even though Dito hurriedly put out the fire, the paper had already disappeared without a trace.

“You.......”

Dito glared at the Seventh Prince as though he would burn him like the paper that had burned away, but the person himself remained calm.

Ran looked out the window toward the imperial palace.

“The same things are inside Rasia’s coffin. When I came out, they were placing the coffin on the firewood, so there should be about twenty minutes left. If you cannot return within that time, the red book will vanish from the world forever. Will you delay any longer?”

The one who could not refuse the deal was not him.

From the beginning, there was no deal.

Dito, trapped inside the maze Ran Abiran had made, was merely being guided by the clues he gave.

Flames rose in Dito’s eyes.

Am I really going to die like this?

Feeling my life in danger for the first time in a long while, I could not even swallow as I met Dito’s eyes.

It was my first time facing the villain this close.

His chillingly cruel eyes flashed as if they would tear me apart.

“Instead of killing you, I could drag you away like this and give you pain worse than death. Until you vomit up everything you know.”

Right.

That would probably be the easiest method for Dito.

If he took me, someone who might know the contents of the red book, then at least he had nothing to lose.

Though it was the worst possible choice for me.

Dito must have read the answer in my eyes.

“How foolish. If you had just run far away, you would have lived at least a little longer.”

The reason Dito’s ridicule did not feel particularly unpleasant was probably because I completely agreed with him.

Truly foolish.

If I had earned a little more time to think, no, at least if I had accepted Mentil’s proposal, I would not have needed to reveal myself before the greatest villain in this world.

A smile appeared on his face.

It seemed he had tried to make the playful smile he often showed when he was beside Rasia, but what hung on his face was a twisted, grotesque smile.

“We can go together. I happen to have just lost one sibling.”

To him, it seemed the word sibling was something like a new toy.

I watched Dito’s outstretched hand for a moment, then met the gaze of his eyes, which were filled with cruelty.

Perhaps because not much time had passed since he absorbed Rasia’s power, he seemed unable to control his excitement.

If I was caught in this state, I would not die, but it was obvious that I would not be able to avoid pain.

There was no use imagining the pain to come.

The best method was to empty my head and focus on my senses.

I steadied my breathing.

Once a choice is made, it cannot be undone.

All that remains is to endure it.

I quietly waited for him to snatch me away so as not to provoke the excited Dito.

* * *

That was what I would have done if two swords had not suddenly appeared from behind and stopped Dito.

“Everyone’s lost their minds somehow.......”

Dito sneered at the owner of the sword aimed at the tip of his nose.

“If you just stayed lying down, you could have died comfortably. I don’t know why you’re making such a foolish choice.”

I turned my head and looked at the idiot who was struggling to block his stomach with his left hand, and the idiot clutching his twisted leg.

Especially Ratel, who boasted monster-like recovery.

Isn’t he regaining consciousness too quickly for someone whose stomach was pierced?

Fortunately, it seemed his recovery was faster than I had expected.

Relief wrapped around my entire body, along with the illusion that the strength had drained from me.

Ratel would survive.

It would not be according to the contents of the original, but at least he would not die by Dito’s hand.

“Leave this and get lost.”

No, maybe he might die after all.

At Ratel’s kind suggestion, one of Dito’s eyebrows rose, and my heart dropped very slightly.

How could I have imagined that his strength, refusing to submit to an opponent stronger than himself right after a fight whose victor had already been decided, would threaten my life like this?

“Do you have time to delay any longer?”

Ratel, who likely had no interest in whether my heart shrank or not, said to Dito.

“Or have you lost your reason so much that you can’t even hear this sound?”

It did not take long for the identity of the sound Ratel mentioned to be revealed.

The sound of horse hooves.

People were gathering.

“I believe Your Highness also does not wish to be seen by the other imperial family members.”

Duke Feedus also informed Dito that he had little time left.

I felt the strength gradually leave Dito’s grip.

“Will you delay any longer?”

Taking in easier breaths, I urged him.

* * *

“Will you delay any longer?”

Ran Abiran asked.

It was a question in form, but a push in substance.

In the end, Dito admitted defeat.

“Fine, I have no choice but to acknowledge it. I cannot stay here any longer.”

As if accepting the fact that he could no longer delay, Dito approached the window.

He stepped on the windowsill and looked at the people left in the room.

Dito’s gaze as he looked down at them, the losers and the victors, was murderous.

“Even if you get through this situation here, it is useless. Becoming fugitives is no different from turning the world into your enemy. Everything in the world will become Abiran’s eyes and ears and chase you.”

The duke knew that those words were not merely meant to frighten them.

Even at this moment, the duke’s chest was heavy with guilt for having gone against God's will.

The people of the world would all treat him as more of a sinner than he treated himself.

So even if he escaped death now, a future more painful than death might be waiting for him.

Perhaps it would be a better choice to accept death at God's hand like this.

“Even so......even so, we will run, Your Highness.”

The words “I am sorry” caught in his throat, but the duke held them back from coming out.

Dito looked at him with strange eyes, then threw himself out the window.

Unable to take his eyes off that sight, Duke Feedus lost strength in his legs and sank down.

He could not believe it.

They had truly survived.

Only then did the surrounding situation begin to come into view.

The top of the tower, which was on the verge of collapsing after burning.

The corpses rolling across the floor.

And those who had survived.

Together with a sense of reality, the sense of crisis that they had to run away came back to life.

“Y-Your Highness.”

Duke Feedus called Ran in a trembling voice.

There were many things he wanted to say and many things he wanted to ask.

More than anything else, this time, he wanted to save him.

He limped toward Ran, who had collapsed by the window.

Thinking that he had to support his lifesaver.

But the next moment,

“Jing, step back!”

Ratel shouted and stretched his arm toward Duke Feedus.

Absurdly, the duke was thinking that this was the first time he had ever seen Ratel raise his voice like that.

At the same time as his shout, Ran Abiran’s ruined body rose and rushed toward him, as though in slow motion.

He soon understood the reason.

A long arrow of fire flew in from outside the window.

Duke Feedus blankly watched as the sharp tip stabbed into the Seventh Prince’s back.

He felt the hot energy pass through Ran Abiran and warm his own chest.

The fire that pierced through both of them extended behind Duke Feedus’ back and slowly faded.

Very slowly, no, perhaps very quickly, Ran and Duke Feedus collapsed.

Duke Feedus could only blankly watch the Seventh Prince slowly collapse within the flames.

“No matter how good a card is, if I cannot hold it in my hand, there is no need for it to exist in this world.”

Outside, Dito’s laughter-mixed voice was growing distant.

* * *

Left alone, Ratel staggered toward the two fallen people while clutching his stomach, where pain still remained.

The two bodies, surrounded by the smell of burning flesh and white smoke, lay sprawled like lifeless objects.

Ratel calmly looked at Ran Abiran’s wound.

He had been stabbed from behind, but it was exactly where the heart was located.

If it had pierced through, he would not have survived.

If it had really pierced through.

“It’s over now, so get up.”

At Ratel’s voice, the black-haired imperial family member opened his eyes brightly.

“Damn it, cough! I really thought I was going to die.”

Spitting out a dry cough, he raised himself, then curled his body for a moment as though the wound on his back stung.

Though he was pale and a little scraped up, he was alive to an absurd degree.

Perhaps the pain had faded, because the man turned his head, and his black eyes turned toward Ratel.

He was smiling.

With a smile that could not be distinguished as joy or emptiness, he opened his mouth.

“Nice to meet you, Ratel.”

That carefree greeting was enough to drain one’s strength.

The fatigue of the body that Ratel had been suppressing with sheer stubbornness and willpower swept over him all at once.

He slowly sank down in place and tried somehow to keep his heavy eyelids open, but it was useless.

Because he had scraped up and used even the last of the stamina left at the bottom while bluffing in front of the Second Prince.

As his vision blacked out, a troubled voice brushed past his ears.

“Two people is a little too much for me.......”