Amiel...

Gadiel couldn't believe the horrible sight before him. Memories of growing up alongside his cousin flashed through his mind—each one a knife twisting in his chest.

He'd been worried about Amiel's safety, but hearing the king's words made him question his own ears.

As the information piled up, the betrayal of Amiel became undeniable. His confusion shifted into sorrow. He wanted to scream, *Why?* But somewhere in his head, a quiet voice whispered: *This is real. This is what’s happening.*

"Amiel...!!"

Gadiel shouted, and Lovell rushed forward, panicked.

"Prince, get back!"

The curse radiating from Amiel turned Lovell's face pale. The others weren't just shaken by the curse—they were frozen in horror, staring at Amiel's appearance.

Amiel’s body wrapped in black mist. I squinted, thinking it was just thick fog—until I saw countless tiny hands writhing, twitching, reaching out like they were begging for help.

Everyone here looked like they were about to vomit. Lovell’s head pounded with a shrill alarm, sharp as a headache.

“Father… please…”

Amiel’s eyes were horribly clouded. The conjunctiva darkened like it was swallowed by shadow, and the cornea—slick, red, like blood—locked onto Lovell.

“I already told you I’m not your father.”

Lovell’s voice was cold, detached. But inside? You could practically hear the outrage. Not a joke. Not even close.

Gadiel had heard from the King about what Agiel had done to Lovell all along. He couldn’t help but picture Lovell’s back—the one that had endured Agiel’s cruelties for years, that had marched toward the front lines of the Monster Tempest—overlaid against the one standing before him now.

Amiel had been the likely cause of the Monster Tempest. And now, Lovell stood once more at that front line.

Gadiel clenched his fist. The royal family had kept piling burdens onto that back like it was nothing. If he kept being protected like this, nothing would ever change. Not like before.

“Lovell… sir…”

He’d decided to change. He’d been told there was a chance.

If all he did was stand behind a hero’s back, anyone could do that.

If there was a chance for change within himself, then he’d have to be the one to make it happen.

“Your Highness…?”

Strange—there was no trembling in his body. Gadiel grasped Lovell’s shoulder and asked him to move aside.

Something in Gadiel’s expression must have registered, because Lovell frowned slightly and stepped back a little, yielding his place. Gadiel just stared at Amiel and said:

“Amiel… was this what you wanted?”

“…Gadiel. Why are you even here?”

“Think I don’t know what I’ve done? Or why I’m here?”

“…Yeah. That’s right. That’s exactly it.”

Amiel looked at Gadiel with slow, deliberate movements. Then she grinned.

“I wanted to kill you all.”

The words hung in the air. The fear that had been tightening the guards’ shoulders vanished instantly. They remembered their duty—hands tightening on sword hilts, eyes hardening into hostile stares at Amiel. But Gadiel raised a hand, quieting them, and kept speaking.

"Was I really... hated that much?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Why go to such lengths…"

Did she notice Gadiel’s pity? Amiel went ballistic in an instant.

"Why are you saying that...!? You took everything from me—what right do you have to talk like that!?"

"Take...?"

Mother and Father… even my own dignity…!!

Gadiel and the others frowned.

"…Don’t you understand why your aunt was punished?"

"Judge! I judged, didn’t I?! Mother was just doing what she had to as royalty!!"

"Of course it does...!? Don't you even realize who's been suffering from all this wastefulness!?"

Who is it?! Whoever it is, they should be serving us without question!!

"What... what was that!?"

Gadiel’s anger surged at Amiel’s claim. Clenching his fists, he tried to hold it in—then Amiel snorted through his nose.

"Mother was supposed to be with Father, you know. And then you go and interfere—then you push her straight into that man’s arms!"

Amiel spat the words, glaring at Sauvel.

"Think you understand Mother’s pain? All I did was spend money to vent it. But that’s how you move the people. Buy things, jobs increase, don’t they?"

"There’s a limit to this!! Your methods were insane!!"

"Of course they were! We’re royalty—doesn’t that go without saying? And yet you condemned us, tore us apart, locked Mother away in the tower!"

Amiel finished, face twisted in utter disgust as she looked at Gadiel.

"Your so-called 'kindness'—it’s just sickening."

"...Huh?"

"Rehabilitation? You’re not allowed to become anything like Mother! What are you even saying?! You’re the ones who should be ashamed of yourselves!!"

"Amiel...?"

"I was just doing what any noble should do!! You took my mother, my father away from me... You’re the ones who are evil to me! I can’t stand you!!"

Amiel’s fury sparked, the mist enveloping her body suddenly spreading outward.

Lovell, sensing trouble, immediately sent a mental command to the spirits to retreat en masse, and signaled the others to fall back.

"Talking about suffering the people... such a weak excuse..."

"Suffering? What suffering? It’s their job to obey us! Anyone who doesn’t respect us deserves to die, that’s all!"

"What...?"

"That’s right. They deserve to die. They’re useless. And you—those who drove us out—deserve to die too. You’re useless as well."

Everyone was speechless at Amiel’s claim.

...So you're saying you exposed the people to danger for *that* reason?

"Dangerous? I'm just getting rid of something useless. King Helgner himself said it was unnecessary. Isn't that right? It's a fake, after all."

Amiel chuckled, then added further.

"If the direct line dies, the spirit's curse might just break, right? And if Father and Mother are united, the curse will definitely be broken. After all, Father's been acknowledged by the spirit. How could you not understand that?"

Sauvel reflexively thought, no way, to Amiel’s words. Rather, thinking of Origin, he was certain the Tembar Kingdom would surely fall.

Lovell was muttering with such open disdain it was no longer possible to hide it.

They really are alike… uncomfortably so.

Not just in appearance—her thoughts, her way of speaking, everything was an exact copy of Gadiel.

Self-centered. Didn’t care about anything else. Just declared it as if it were obvious. No thought, no consideration.

“Of course! Let’s hand Gadiel’s head to King Helgnar, Father! Then you’ll be a hero of the Helgnar Kingdom!!”

Amiel said it like she’d just had a brilliant idea—right after which, a wave of fury so overwhelming it made her skin crawl erupted from nowhere.

(……!?)

Lovell flinched, a shiver running down her entire body.

Her mind instantly turned toward the source, but her reaction lagged.

“Father, let’s go with Amiel. Mother’s waiting.”

The curse wave burst free all at once. Lovell scrambled to erect a barrier.

“Back off for now!!”

Amiel reached out with her mist toward Lovell, frustrated when it hit the barrier. Fuming, she kept slamming waves of force into the barrier, as if punishing it for standing in her way.

Lovell’s eyes snapped open. He knew instantly—this was bad.

“Hurry!!”

Cracks began to spiderweb across the barrier, snapping with sharp, staccato sounds.

The shock of it gave Lovell a moment of disbelief. But there was no time to retreat—everyone still had to get clear.

Plink. The barrier split.

A jolt ran through the fracture, and the mist surged in all at once, flooding forward.

Lovell could only stare at the darkness rushing toward him, frozen in place.