Chapter 4) Spoils of War

 

By the time Astina opened her eyes again, everything was already over.

The royal palace was no longer the beautiful home she had known.

Collapsed corridors lay in ruins, their marble floors stained crimson with long trails of blood. Charred black scars stretched across the walls, and although most of the flames had been extinguished, pale smoke still drifted lazily through the shattered halls.

 

Surrounded by Imperial soldiers, the four princesses were slowly herded out of the palace.

Ruena trembled as quiet sobs escaped her lips. Bellona bit down hard on her lip, refusing to let her tears fall. Diena stared blankly at the ground, her empty eyes devoid of life—as though her soul had collapsed alongside her kingdom.

Astina couldn't bear to look around.

The gardens she had loved had been trampled beyond recognition. The palace that had echoed with laughter only moments ago had become nothing more than a graveyard of corpses and ash.

Fighting back the sob rising in her throat, she lowered her head.

 

Escariel had fallen.

And from this moment on, their lives would never be the same.

The Imperial soldiers shoved the princesses into a supply wagon as though they were nothing more than cargo.

Ruena hit the wooden floor with a painful thud, while Astina's thin nightgown tore against the rough boards, exposing her legs. Shame burned through her so fiercely she wished she could simply disappear.

The soldiers only laughed.

"Heh. Bet this is the first time Your Highnesses have ridden in a cargo wagon."

"Princesses? Not anymore."

"They're nothing but His Majesty's spoils of war now."

"Careful. Damage the merchandise, and you'll be answering for it."

The grief of losing both their homeland and the people they loved was drowned beneath the soldiers' cruel laughter.

Just then, as the princesses were being forced into the wagon, something caught Kalis's eye.

A faint light flickered once more.

It shimmered softly around Astina.

His brows drew together.

 

That light again...?

A strange sense of unease brushed against him, impossible to explain. Yet he dismissed the feeling almost immediately.

His mission was simple.

Take the princesses back to the Empire.

Nothing else mattered.

Without another thought, Kalis gave the order to withdraw and mounted his horse.

Leaving the burning kingdom behind, the Imperial Army marched onward beneath the banners of victory.

 

 

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The violent jolts of the carriage felt like a ship being tossed about in the heart of a typhoon.

Theodore forced his heavy eyes open.

What... happened?

The last thing he remembered was hearing that the palace was under attack and rushing from his room to find the princess.

A splitting pain exploded through his skull.

 

"...Ugh!"

"Your Highness, you're awake."

Lord Rowen, Commander of the Royal Knights, caught Theodore before he could collapse as the young prince struggled to sit upright. Beside him, the Carthecion ambassador watched with visible relief.

"Sir Rowen... where are we?" Theodore asked, pressing a hand against his throbbing head. "I was in Escariel..."

"We'll be entering the Levanyel Forest shortly. Hold on tightly."

"The Levanyel Forest?"

Theodore's eyes widened.

"We're already near the border?"

He grabbed Rowen by the arm.

"What about the princesses? What happened?!"

"Your Highness."

Rowen's voice remained calm, though heavy with sorrow.

"You must stay composed. Your safety comes first."

 

A surge of heat rushed to Theodore's face.

Pathetic.

Cowardly.

The woman I love is in danger... and I'm the one fleeing to save my own life.

Shame crushed the air from his lungs.

Before he knew it, he had lunged toward the carriage door, wrenching at the handle with all his strength.

"I said let me go!"

Rowen reacted instantly, throwing his body forward and forcing Theodore back against the far side of the carriage.

"Let me go!" Theodore shouted, struggling wildly. "I have to go back! I have to!"

The ambassador and Rowen both held him down with everything they had.

 

But Theodore cared about nothing except opening that door.

Nothing existed beyond reaching Astina.

The gentle, soft-hearted prince had become frighteningly relentless.

Watching him, Rowen bit down hard on his lip.

Smack!

The sharp crack echoed through the carriage.

Silence followed.

Theodore stared in disbelief.

So did the ambassador.

Who would ever dare strike Prince Theodore?

The young prince, who had spent his entire life cherished and protected, froze in stunned silence.

Rowen slowly lowered his trembling hand.

 

Then, without hesitation, he dropped to one knee before Theodore.

"Your Highness!"

His voice shook.

"You may execute me for my insolence the moment we arrive. I will accept any punishment."

His head bowed lower.

"But please..."

His words nearly broke.

"Please think of Carthecion."

"You are Carthecion's future."

"We..."

He clenched his fists.

"We cannot defeat Kalis's army."

The sight of the veteran knight—a man nearly twice his age—begging on his knees drained every ounce of anger from Theodore.

 

His strength abandoned him.

He sank back into the carriage seat as though every bone in his body had turned to lead.

I know...

I know we can't.

We're no match for that monster... the Emperor's Mad Hound.

Overwhelmed by rage, helplessness, and despair, Theodore buried his face in his hands.

His shoulders shook as quiet sobs escaped him again and again.

Outside, the carriage continued to rattle down the road.

Inside, his heart swayed just as helplessly, tossed about by grief with nowhere left to anchor itself. 

 

 

**************************

The forest was alive with celebration.

Gathered around roaring bonfires, the Imperial soldiers clinked their mugs together, toasting their victory. Laughter rang through the camp, accompanied by crude jokes and drunken boasts. Like hunters returning with prized trophies, every man wore the same exhilarated grin.

After pushing themselves day and night to reach Escariel in time, Kalis decided to overlook their revelry—just for tonight.

Leaving the noise and excitement behind, he sat alone inside his dimly lit tent, writing a report for the Emperor.

 

The princesses have been secured.

If all goes according to schedule, we will arrive at the capital in five days.

His quill paused.

And... what should I say about the light?

Kalis frowned.

He was the only one who had seen it.

And of all four princesses, the mysterious glow had appeared only around Astina.

Could she really be the woman from the prophecy?

He stared through the wavering candlelight and murmured the familiar words beneath his breath.

 

"A noble lady of Escariel shall grant eternal life."

A bitter smile tugged at his lips.

If that mad Emperor truly becomes immortal...

The thought alone made it difficult to breathe.

Immortality.

The word itself felt like a curse.

Kalis had never enjoyed living as the Emperor's hound.

He took no pleasure in killing.

He obeyed because the Emperor held his leash—and because resistance had never been an option.

At some point, he had simply stopped questioning his life.

 

But...

If the Emperor gained eternal life...

Would I ever have a future of my own?

Sometimes he wished he could return to that single, foolish moment—the day he had lost the Dragon's Heart.

Would anything have changed?

Could he have protected it this time?

He didn't even know where it had been.

...Or where he had come from.

 

Kalis had no memories from before the Emperor claimed his life.

He didn't know where he had been born.

He didn't know who he had once been.

At times, fragments of forgotten memories surfaced in his dreams, but they shattered before he could grasp them, leaving behind nothing but scattered pieces of a life he could no longer remember.

There were only two truths he knew with absolute certainty.

The Grand Witch Medeia had known him long before the Emperor did.

And the Dragon's Heart...

...was his real heart.

His gaze slowly darkened.

 

Could Rodris... the Forgotten Mage of Highdebel... know the truth?

The Emperor had been hunting him for years.

Seeking him out would be dangerous.

Even so...

If anyone could untangle the countless questions that haunted him—

It would be Rodris.

 

 

Rodris was the most gifted mage Kalis had ever known.

The thought lingered.

It felt strange.

When had he started dwelling on things like this?

His lips curled into a dry smile.

It's all because of that damned light.

That faint, ethereal glow...

He had never seen anything like it before today.

So subtle it was almost invisible, yet it had remained unmistakably wrapped around Astina.

At first, he had dismissed it as a trick of the eye.

But he had seen it again.

Inside the royal palace.

Within the hidden passage.

Even when the princesses were loaded onto the supply wagon.

Again and again, the mysterious light drifted into his sight.

 

As if it were trying to tell him something.

Kalis unconsciously narrowed his eyes.

Could it be pointing me toward the one from the prophecy?

Without warning, Astina's face surfaced in his mind.

Her pale face drained of color.

Those sapphire-blue eyes filled with terror.

The tiny beauty mark beneath her eye.

The fragile body that had trembled beneath his grasp.

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

 

...Strange.

Why is she the only one I remember so vividly?

It wasn't as though he lacked experience with women.

Countless faces had drifted through his life, leaving barely a trace behind.

He couldn't remember most of them.

Yet Astina refused to leave his thoughts.

 

He remembered the softness of her skin beneath his bloodstained fingertips.

The frightened rhythm of her breathing.

The graceful line of her exposed neck.

Her slender arms.

Her delicate legs.

 

A sudden wave of heat coiled low in his stomach.

Kalis let out a quiet, incredulous laugh.

"...I've lost my mind."

Over a girl barely grown.

Dragging a hand roughly across his face, he forced the thoughts aside.

 

There's no proof she's the one from the prophecy.

I'm reading too much into this.

With a self-mocking smile, he decided not to include the mysterious light in his report.

Until he knew the truth...

 

It was better left unwritten.

After sealing the letter with wax, Kalis called toward the entrance of the tent.

"Cassian."

His aide stepped inside almost immediately.

"Deliver this to His Majesty."

"At once, my lord."

As Cassian accepted the sealed letter, Kalis fell silent once more.

For some reason...

Those blue eyes refused to leave his mind.

"...What are the princesses doing right now?"

Without realizing it, his crimson gaze drifted into the darkness beyond the tent—

toward the faint, mysterious light that still shimmered around the princesses' quarters.