Ramposa III stared at the back shielding him, a complicated light flickering in his eyes—part moved, mostly steeped in despair.
Even Marquis Raeven was briefly stirred.
But to that valiant declaration, Rei Ao upon the throne only gave a barely perceptible shake of the head, as if watching a dull play whose ending he already knew. He didn't even bother to speak. He simply waved his hand, lazily, as though shooing a fly.
The casual gesture landed like a death sentence.
At his side, Shalltear—who had been straining to unleash the slaughter—broke into a smile as pure and cruel as a child getting her favorite toy. "Hee-hee… finally, time to butcher these ants who dared offend Rei Ao-sama."
Her slender fingers flicked.
"Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!"
The wet thud of blades through flesh rang out, crisp and fatal.
Three slim, razor-sharp crimson blades—blood itself hardened into killing edges—coalesced from thin air like living vipers and, faster than sight, punched cleanly through the brows of Ramposa III, Marquis Raeven, and the Second Prince, Barbro.
Time froze.
Rage and humiliation were still stamped on Ramposa III's face as it petrified forever.
The resolve and vigilance in Raeven's eyes went hollow.
Barbro's leering, terrified expression stopped like a bad mask.
Three blood-arrows blasted from the backs of their skulls, spraying pale fluid and red spatter across the opulent carpet and the cowering ministers behind them.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The three bodies toppled almost in unison and hit the floor with heavy, muffled bangs.
In the span of a breath, the three people who embodied the highest authority of the Re-Estize Kingdom were erased.
Gazef hadn't even had time to react.
A red flash flickered at the edge of his vision—and when he spun around, his king was already…
He whipped his head back.
All he saw were three rapidly cooling corpses, and the brutal, bright blood gushing from the holes between their brows.
"Your Majesty!"
Gazef's roar tore from his chest, raw enough to rip him open. Grief and helplessness swallowed him whole in an instant. He wanted to charge forward, but his body felt nailed to the spot. He could only watch, eyes wide, as everything he'd sworn to serve and protect crumbled before him.
Silence fell over the hall again.
This time it was the silence of utter despair, a cold that sank into the bone.
Every minister collapsed where he knelt, too cowed even to scream, shivering like lambs awaiting the knife.
Rei Ao's gaze, cold as a scanning beam, swept slowly across the chamber and finally came to rest on the one person who, from beginning to end, had remained eerily calm—the "Golden Princess," Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself. She was the only surviving royal present by blood.
The very instant his eyes landed on Renner—
"Your Highness! Look out!"
A young voice rang out, urgent and resolute. A figure burst from the heap of dead guards in the corner and planted himself before Princess Renner.
He wore slightly worn armor and had a shock of short blond hair. There was boyishness left in his features, but his eyes were unshakably firm.
He was Climb, Renner's personal guard.
He clutched a standard longsword in trembling hands. He knew full well he was a mantis trying to stop a carriage—but he stood there anyway, facing the horror on the throne without a trace of fear.
"If you want to harm Renner-sama, you'll have to step over my corpse first!"
"Oh? A bug that isn't afraid to die?"
A teasing, savage glint sparked in Shalltear's crimson eyes. She licked her lips and raised her hand again; a witch-light red gleam gathered at her fingertips.
"Then I'll oblige you—"
Just as the blood blade was about to fire again, Rei Ao spoke, lightly:
"Wait, Shalltear."
She froze at once; the light at her fingertip winked out. She tilted her head, puzzled, but answered respectfully, "Yes, Rei Ao-sama."
Rei Ao didn't look at her. His gaze slid past the braced-for-death Climb and settled, amused, on the beautiful Golden Princess behind him.
Renner's expression was still tranquil—blank, even—as if her father's death, her brother's execution, and the fall of her country had nothing to do with her. But Rei Ao caught the twist deep in her eyes, that perfectly hidden, sickly ripple of the mind.
He knew very well: the Golden Princess was a psychopath.
The corner of his mouth curled, almost imperceptibly.
He lifted his right hand and made a small beckoning motion toward the princess.
An irresistible force seized her at once.
"Ah—!"
She let out a short cry as her body rose from the floor, weightless and helpless, drawn like a marionette over Climb's outstretched arms toward the high throne.
"Princess!!"
Climb's eyes went bloodshot. He reached to grab her and closed on empty air. All he could do was watch as the woman he had sworn to protect was pulled like a doll by that unseen power—until she dropped before the throne and crumpled at Rei Ao's feet.
Rei Ao looked down at Renner, appreciating her like a newly acquired work of art. He extended his right hand, and with thumb and forefinger, gently lifted her smooth, pale chin, forcing her to raise her face and meet his eyes.
In Renner's pupils, Rei Ao's calm, unfathomable features were perfectly reflected. Her body trembled—whether from fear, or from something else, was impossible to say.
~~~
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