Volumes 1 & 2 of HPCWTC are available uncensored on ko-fi! ※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

II.

Splaaash—

Dark red blood splattered across the shadowy stone floor. Three people bound by ropes collapsed without even a death cry. The man who had cut them down threw his sword to the ground with annoyance. The dulled blade clattered against the floor with a sharp, menacing sound.

“Clean it up.”

At his command, three soldiers entered with frightened faces and dragged out the three corpses. Not one of them dared to raise their head. Red eyes more chilling than blood clung to the backs of their necks. They instinctively bowed their heads, afraid to meet the gaze of those eyes’ owner.

Kallist de Valencha.

Crown Prince of the Valencha Empire. This man was an ally, but he was more dangerous than any enemy.

Living people filled the space where the corpses had been dragged away. This time, urine darker than blood soaked the floor first. As the acrid smell hit them, the soldiers reflexively wrinkled their noses.

However, Kallist’s sharp features didn’t even twitch. He looked down at them with his jaw cocked arrogantly. In his eyes pooled a darkness so deep it could swallow even shadows themselves.

Thunk. Kallist sliced between the urine-soaked g***n with his new sword and opened his deceptive mouth.

“Your purpose for infiltrating the palace.”

“Ugh, ughhh…”

“Were you perhaps thinking of rescuing the princess?”

The man whose lower body had been pierced collapsed against Kallist’s sword, his forehead hitting the blade. The corner of Kallist’s mouth twisted upward. He had never intended to hear an answer in the first place. He had simply killed twelve remnants of Roang today and wanted to try a different method of killing.

Even his direct subordinates stuck their tongues out at such cruelty. But none of them could stop the crown prince. There was nothing more foolish than loitering around Kallist when he held a sword.

“You’re seeing a lot of blood today, more than usual.”

“Whenever it concerns Roang, you become particularly sharp.”

“Is that so? I think it’s just my nature. You take after His Majesty the Emperor perfectly.”

Kallist was born as the first son of the Emperor of the Valencha Empire and an Empress from a noble family background.

From the moment he saw light, the world lay beneath his feet. There was no need to yearn for anything, no need to kneel and beg. Everything fell naturally into his grasp as if it were only natural.

Perhaps that’s why he didn’t treasure what came into his hands. Wealth was boring, power was meaningless, and fame was laughable. He made no distinction between human lives and animal lives. He regarded all life as worthless with perfect equality. This was both the fate and curse of one born with everything.

As the saying goes, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”—the crown prince and emperor were a perfectly matched father and son. The emperor had long ago seen through his son’s nature. He considered his son the perfect heir to rule the vast empire.

The other princes didn’t dare even throw down a challenge for Kallist’s position. As if to prove he was fundamentally different from other princes, Kallist stayed away from pleasures. It wasn’t that he deliberately avoided them—they simply lay outside his interest. His interest was focused solely on—

Blood and slaughter.

Hot blood flowing through pulsing arteries.

Crimson blood bursting through torn flesh.

The trembling and despair that settled in someone’s eyes at the final moment their breath ceased.

Only these things brought ecstasy to Kallist. So the battlefield was both his destiny and fate.

He first killed a person on the battlefield at age twelve. Under fluttering victory banners and the cheers of allies, his cruel nature was praised to the heavens. The memory of sin disappeared without a trace, covered by black smoke and ash.

To think that the son born to the woman most beloved by the gods would have slaughter as his destiny. Kallist was irony incarnate, yet he never once questioned his fate. He wasn’t even aware that his life was desolate.

Not until his only full brother, Albert, died in the war with the Kingdom of Roang.

“Clean it up.”

After the cold command, three more corpses were dragged away. A Roang prisoner who had been watching this scene couldn’t contain his indignation and shouted:

“Kallist, you bastard who wouldn’t be satisfying to devour alive. Your end won’t be peaceful either. A descendant of Roang will cut off your head and hack your body to pieces just like your brother Al… Gurrk!“

Kallist, who had been looking down at the prisoner with boredom, suddenly reached out with one hand to grab the prisoner’s jaw and with the other hand tore out the prisoner’s tongue. Rip, tear. The raw sound of flesh being torn and blood vessels snapping echoed through the silent space. Kallist’s face contorted like a demon’s.

“How dare you speak that name.”

Albert was Kallist’s only weakness.