Chapter 307

Translator: yun

After his gaze swept our surroundings, it landed on me.

“It doesn’t look like a Succession Ceremony anymore.”

Just as he said, this place had turned into a hellish mountain made out of the bodies of both the dead and the living.

Whatever Amor touched, even if it was the air, flowers bloomed. The fresh scent of grass had covered the stench of blood. I could tell that he had done that out of consideration of me.

I barely let out a breath.

‘Amor… He arrived on time.’

Just when Amor, who had noticed me, frowned and tried to approach.

A dazzling golden light appeared between us before a dark red cloth covered my eyes. It was Castor. The hem of his clothes flapped in the wind.

“Right. It’s been a long time, Amor.”

After blocking my front, Castor spoke before strolling ahead. In the blink of an eye, I saw Castor standing in front of Amor.

“You’ve changed so much I could barely recognise you at first glance.”

Clang.

Castor’s golden light and Amor’s plants clashed. The plants that were shielding Amor became crushed under the weight of the light before scattering into dust.

Amor smirked at Castor.

“Is it because I no longer look like the wreck you were so used to seeing, brother?”

Just then, fierce gusts of golden wind rained down on Amor like a shower of arrows. With Amor’s one movement, plants emerged from the shaking ground. Eventually, pieces of burnt foliage fell to the ground.

“Is it too much to ask for you to start with a greeting?”

Amor said calmly.

“Have you forgotten? Out of all the templars left on this land, I am the most powerful templar following you, brother.”

However, because he couldn’t manage to perfectly dodge Castor’s attacks, a thick line was soon drawn on his cheek. With a stream of blood flowing down from it.

“Of course. How could I forget?”

Castor laughed right into his face.

“My pitiful younger brother who would die if he didn’t manage to drink the antidote every day. How could I not adore the brother who was living because of me?”

“And I lived a sad life, living off your pity.”

“Pity? Ah, right. That’s what you must’ve thought.”

Castor tilted his head. The sphere of light separating the two only became brighter.

“It’s true that I cared about you, Amor.”

Castor spoke calmly. Before I noticed it, Castor was already holding a longsword in his hand.

“But then you had backstabbed me.”

Amor squinted his eyes.

“Are you saying that I had betrayed you?”

“Yes. Weren’t you another victim of the emperor, too?”

Amor stopped talking for a moment. It was true. A mixture of different feelings briefly passed through Amor’s eyes.

“I see. You aren’t wrong, brother.”

Amor slowly closed his eyes before opening them again.

“But now that I’ve decided to follow Rosé, I can forget all about that.”

A sphere of bright green light appeared by Amor’s side.

“Because I want to walk towards the future. I will no longer continue living in the past.”

As if to back his words, Amor stared straight back at Castor before pointing his sword at him.

“For my whole life, I hated the emperor and the ones who led the killing that day–Yusnan and you. I hated you all for not letting me die.”

Amor might have been afraid of Castor in the past. The day the emperor’s men invaded to kill his mother and everyone in his place, he might not have been able to escape the eyes of the killer who was as terrifyingly beautiful as the moon, just as I did that month of Habermia.

But there were two of us. We were not alone, we had each other so we could wake each other up if we were to fall asleep. I woke him up. To not give in to his nightmares. To not give up.

“But now, I’ve become grateful to you, brother. It is thanks to you that I managed to live till this day and meet Rosé.”

He relaxed his expression to reveal a gentle smile.

“I feel grateful to be alive.”

But then he glared at Castor.

“And I realised something after learning about the curse you and Rosé have.”

Amor slowly raised his head.

“Why didn’t Juliann die even after he had started a coup?”

Amor’s voice sounded as sharp as frost in the middle of winter. I recalled the Julian I met in the Northern Tower.

“His Majesty cherishes me. Though he had a powerful heir, he cared about me, a non-templar.”

He told me about how the emperor was planning on transferring his soul.

If Castor hadn’t stabbed the emperor, a monster greater than Castor could have been born.

The most evil emperor.

He captured the innocent before sacrificing them–he was even willing to give up his sons. An emperor who was willing to do anything for the everlasting prosperity of this Empire. He was a terrible man, much less an emperor.

“Ever since I was young, you had never wanted me to meet Julian so I thought it was strange how you had asked me to keep you updated about Julian.”

Amor let out the emotions he had been suppressing as a result of this long parasitic relationship.

“Now I know. You came to visit me everyday because you wanted to treat me like a younger brother–as a substitute for Julian. So, all this time, I was someone else’s replacement.”

Amor told the truth calmly.

“You saw Julian in me.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Castor’s voice was low. And for the first time, Castor’s expression–which had maintained its composure throughout the massacre–hardened for the first time.

“I had heard from Granius a long time ago. That you had been a good, wise prince when you were a child and cared a lot about Julian.”

Amor paused for a while before sucking in a breath and continuing.

“I heard that you had cherished him like a twin.”

But that sounded nothing like Castor?

Before I realised it, Castor no longer had a smile on his face as he stared at Amor. It seemed like he was close to exploding.

“Julian was sweet and kind. But the stories of a saint-like prince from long ago were actually describing you, brother.”

Amor continued to speak.

“What do you think, brother? Did you end up hating Julian as he remained the same while you continued to break after regressing so many times?”

Just then, a surge of energy rushed towards Amor. The size and turbulence of it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I stared at Amor in shock.

Cough.

Boom. As the smoke dissipated, Amor was found to be coughing roughly into the centre of a huge pit. He seemed to have shielded himself with a stalk but still got hurt.

“How interesting.”

After making sure that Amor was not hurt, I rushed towards Castor.

Boom.

Once again, another roar separated the two men. Castor revealed himself through the settling dust.

“If you had been trying to agitate me, you were half-successful, was what I wanted to say, Amor.”

Castor smiled. But it did not look the same as before. An explosion of turbulent energy shot out from him.

Badump. Badump!

“I-it’s coming undone!”

The plant Amor had been shielding himself with burned down. The templars under Castor’s control rose once more. The freed men grabbed their swords again.

“Cough. No!”

Amor gritted his teeth before raising his plants once again.

“Amor. Let us die together at this very spot.”

I sneakily crept up to Soricks. Soricks’ arms were trembling as he resisted the vines’ capture.

“Soricks.”

“Cough, are you… alright? Princess.”

I placed my hand on his trembling arms.

‘I can’t go up against Castor’s powers.’

If that was the case, could I drive his powers away?

Auresia had taught me how to deal with someone more powerful. I grabbed the diary in one hand while focusing on Socricks’ arm. Soon after, a faint purple aura gradually got thicker before wrapping itself around his arm. Immersed in the light, Soricks opened his eyes.

“P-Princess. I’m alright now!”

His right arm looked to be moving according to his will. Now, it was Rebecca’s turn.

“Freeze.”

At the sound of that familiar voice, a longsword appeared in front of me. My gaze travelled to face the one holding the sword against my neck.

“Hernan.”

Hernan, who had dressed in white, stood in front of me blankly.

“There has been an order for you to not move recklessly.”

“Was that Castor’s order?”

“…..”

He did not reply. I laughed bitterly.

How did things end up like this? I should have gotten used to him answering like a robot at this point but I couldn’t.

Perhaps it was because he would always appear like a lie whenever I was in trouble in the past. I swept my hand down my face,

“I don’t know why you look so miserable whenever you’re in front of him.”

It hurt to look at him like this.

“It’d be nice if you could remember me.”

”…..”

My voice shook.

“You said you loved me, Hernan.”

Slowly, I raised my head before staring at him with tears in my eyes. I held his sword with my own hand.

“I had been so mean, haven’t I?”

I wanted to hear his sincerity out for once. I should have listened to him earlier. It was heartbreaking to know that I could no longer do anything for him since we were now enemies.

“I wanted you to be happy.”

I clenched his blade which caused blood to drip down the metal. But I felt no pain.

“You must have been as happy as you were unhappy.”

I gave him the smile he had longed to see.

He flinched.

“So, this empire shouldn’t be destroyed.”

“…..”

I only managed to smile at you when you no longer recognised me.

“Because I wanted to see you smile happily on this land.”

I slowly got up. He continued to stare at me expressionlessly. But he did not stop me from approaching him.

‘Perhaps it was because he never received an order to stop me.’

I wrapped my arms around his neck. And hugged him tightly.

“I’m sorry.”

For a moment, he stiffened. But that was for only a moment so that he could remove my arms from him. The blinding light acted like a rope as it held him captive.

“… Please stay still for a while.”

As I left Hernan behind, I ran back to Soricks.

“Soricks, are you alright? How’s your body?”

“Yes. But this is not the time. Leave your lady-in-waiting to me and go!”

Soricks said as he raised his sword.

“Will you be alright? I tied him up for a while but it won’t last long.”

I glanced at the restrained Hernan before saying. Perhaps there was a way to release Hernan from his curse now that I had awakened but I was running out of time. Soricks hurriedly grabbed my hand. He looked grim.

“Yes. I’ll stop him somehow. Princess, please go. It’s almost time!”

I nodded stiffly.

I turned my head. I captured Castor and Amor’s face in one go.

The hall was a mess. Pits dotted the floor while bits and pieces of finely torn and crushed plants could be seen everywhere.

Another burst of light blew dust into the air again. When I opened my eyes, there Castor was, looking as spotless as always.

“You must have gotten yourself immune from the curse somehow. But you can’t turn things around with just you alone, can you?”

In such a short amount of time, Amor looked battered from his injuries. Amor wiped his blood away before smirking.

“You seemed to have done a great job of buying time.”

It was at that moment. Castor’s smile disappeared from his face. Not too far away, a booming sound shook the ground. I thought I had been the only one who heard it but Castor quickly rushed towards the door.

“When did I say I came alone?”

Amor smiled crookedly.

The door opened with a boom. No, the door was destroyed. Amidst the pillows of dust, people streamed into the hall with no end.

“For the Empire!”

“For peace!”

The vast hall was now filled with templars. They recovered the wounded and subdued the templars who had yet to collapse.

The one closest to me knelt before me.

“Pontus, the Head Templar of Snow and the Sea has arrived upon milord’s call.”

The sight of dusty winds was overwhelming.

“Ashley Rosé Kaltanias. The true heir.”

Soon after, as the dust settled, dozens, no, hundreds of templars could be seen on guard with their weapons. Upon Pontus’ signal, the ends of the several hundreds of weapons pointed towards Castor.

He looked at me out of instinct. Our eyes met across the stairs.

The man who had always looked down at me. But now, I was looking down at him.

I walked slowly.

“Just as you have, I have been waiting for this very moment. I do not want this Empire’s fall.”

As soon as Castor moved, dozens of plants attacked him.

They all burned to golden crisp but it bought enough time for me to arrive before him.

“If you wish for destruction, I will stop you.”

I reached out for the [Crown of the Lord].

I slowly took off my mantle to place the crown atop my head. Just then, a pale purple light wrapped around my body and when I opened my eyes again, my line of sight had changed. Castor widened his eyes.

“Women cannot be emperors.”

Who said that?

Who made that law?

The laurel fit my head surprisingly well. I placed the emperor’s ring onto my finger.

“Castor.”

This moment had finally arrived for me once blood, glory, life and death intermingled.

“I won this time.”

I slowly lowered my gaze before laughing at the startled Castor.

“I am the emperor.”