No Regression for the Victor - Chapter 52

The Empress strongly objected, but she had no authority to halt this trial. The Second Prince was not a mere ‘bastard’. It was the right of every legitimate imperial descendant to challenge the line of succession if it was clear that before the Crown Prince’s investiture the challenger had once held the status of prince yet had never been given a fair chance to prove his worth.

Whoever won this duel would be appointed as the Crown Prince. Whoever lost would be permanently stripped of succession rights and forfeit all privileges as a member of the Imperial Family.

Normally, this was a right no one dared to assert unless blinded by ambition for the throne. Yet this fledgling young warrior, as if nothing stood in his way, had brazenly thrown down his glove before the Crown Prince in full view of all.

‘A filthy, lowborn wretch. He was lucky enough to crawl away alive, yet now he dares not even know his place.’

The Empress vented her rage on her ladies-in-waiting, not realizing those very words would someday return to her. Neither the Empress nor the Crown Prince, petty as they were, indulged in smashing things when angry.

Instead, they delighted in torture, in tearing and crushing and burning living flesh. To them it was only natural that carpets imported from Fedha and porcelain tributed from Shinan were far more precious than human lives.

‘I will make him regret this. Absolutely.’

While the Empress and Crown Prince ground their teeth in hatred, somewhere else a man lay dying, emaciated to the bone.

* * *

“Oh dear… what should we do… His body is still cold as ice…”

Since the nameless hero and the divine beast left without giving their names and succeeded in destroying the monster’s core, the miasma that had blanketed not only Frigid but all of Quillan vanished in an instant, as if the horrors had never occurred. The caretaker couple, who had been hurrying east on aching knees to escape, soon realized the miasma was gone and turned back toward the mansion.

Until now, the Duke they served had been treated by them as nothing more than a jailer and a traitor who exploited them at will because they were not native to Quillan.

He was constantly complaining—this was no good, that was no good—always picking fights, and though he had fallen to the level of a powerless, common criminal, his attitude remained arrogantly overbearing.

Thus, throughout their years working under imperial orders at this place of exile, the caretakers had never once felt content.

Their so-called master was ill-tempered, the weather was dreary year-round except for a brief summer, snow fell endlessly, and there was nothing to see but the endless lake and the distant ridge of mountains. How could anyone be happy here?

Whenever possible, they had dreamed of escaping this place. Like previous caretakers, they had longed for the day the Duke would find them unsatisfactory and drive them out.

So when they learned the Empire had abandoned them, their vision went dark. They cried until they were hoarse, these elders who had already lived long enough to see grandchildren. Convinced it was all over now, they even feared the traitor might harm them in vengeance.

Yet the very traitor they had mocked and despised all this time handed them a key to a secret passage to slip quietly out of the mansion.

It was shocking enough that he had held on to such an escape route all along without using it. But what was even more astonishing was that after giving them this deadly secret, he chose to remain behind himself.

Why? The couple wondered if it was a trap. But they reasoned dying in an ambush or dying here made little difference. So they decided to stake their fate on this perhaps-trap, this last hope. And when they flung open the hidden door, it truly led to a long waterway that reached the mainland.

At last, after a long and weary journey, they emerged on land… And then they saw it. A gigantic, beautiful bird locked in battle with monsters. They had glimpsed something like it long ago as children in the temple.

A divine beast, graceful and valiant, its wings beating with awe-inspiring power, body as massive as a house. Its feathers were a different color than what they remembered, but one thing was clear. This was no ordinary creature.