Chapter 301
Late at night, when only so servants residing in the royal castle were awake.
The soldiers who had been guarding the tower with strict discipline since they were holding vicious criminals,
Had collapsed in their places as if soone had knocked them unconscious.
So of them were even snoring softly as they slept, failing to notice anyone passing by in front of them.
Shoes with half-lted snow ssily stuck to their soles walked for a while before gradually slowing down and stopping.
Soone wearing a soft white dress was walking toward him from ahead, holding a lamp in one hand.
The mont Yurik saw this, he felt his mood sink even lower.
He already felt like he was stuck in a gutter, but now there was an even deeper bottom in this situation.
"When I saw you from afar, I thought you might be so suspicious person and was about to call the guards, but looking closer, you're the son who's been holed up in the palace for several days."
"...Are you coming out alone at such a late hour?"
Even at Yurik's pointed remark, the Queen only smiled silently.
The Queen, who seed like she would give off a fresh fragrance if touched, was thoroughly prepared today as well.
She wore a dress decorated with modest lace on pale ivory silk fabric, along with a white shawl that would seem to have no use when it was really cold.
The Queen, who looked like a gentle young lady who knew nothing of the world, handed Yurik the lamp she had been holding.
When he reflexively took it, she placed her slender, white hand on the arm holding the lamp like a young lady receiving an escort.
"Since we don't know what dangerous people we might encounter on the way, would you escort to my quarters? I'm sure a good son would do that."
Yurik began walking toward the Queen's palace without answering.
Even though the Queen must surely see the collapsed guards of the tower, she didn't ntion them.
The chirping sounds of crickets sounded very leisurely. The sound of her dress rustling, and the warm-colored path illuminated by the lamp.
But right now, Yurik couldn't think of anything except the white box tucked under his arm.
While walking briefly, the Queen asked first.
"Did you dress up like that to go out sowhere?"
"It was a brief outing."
"I see. That explains why there was no response even though I sent people to your palace several tis."
At this point, it was safe to assu the Queen already knew Yurik hadn't been in the castle.
Going all the way to Asgard and staying for several days,
The Queen and Yurik were disgustingly calling it an 'outing.'
Yurik guessed she was the one who had sent Dardin to Asgard.
The fact that she had encountered him like this, as if waiting, without even knowing when Dardin would return,
Could only an the Queen had been loitering around this area every day.
"Was there so urgent business during that ti?"
"It's disappointing to hear you say that. Must there be business between mother and son to see each other's faces? I didn't think we had such a cold relationship."
"Mother has often called for , soone 'of unknown origins,' and personally cherished ."
"It was all for you."
"So what brings you to seek your worthless son this ti, Mother? Was it another invitation for tea ti?"
Even at Yurik's sowhat sarcastic tone, the Queen smiled brightly.
"Oh, that can't be. I can enjoy excellent tea even without you. The reason I sought you out is because I beca curious about sothing."
"You didn't even know my taste in assassins, and now you're finally curious about sothing. I'm glad we seem to be developing a good relationship, Mother."
"Do you want to beco King of Aquilonia?"
The lamplight flickered.
The Queen, watching that light, firmly grasped the arm of Yurik who was escorting her.
"If things continue as they are now, you and this mother will fall into an unpredictable quagmire. I'll exhaust my energy restraining the faction that supports you, and you'll be held back by those loyal to ."
"......"
"But what if there were a way both sides could be satisfied, my son?"
"I'm curious about this thod. If it really exists."
He spoke stiffly. But his gaze was directed not at the Queen but toward the darkness beyond the path.
The Queen, with her eyes downcast and with a chaste and pitiful expression, whispered.
"Please beco the father of my child. If you do that, we can both be happy."
What kind of plan was this now?
The mont Yurik heard the Queen's words, he began laughing irritably. It was absurd.
"Are you telling to make the royal heir you've conceived my child?"
"This child is too young to be enthroned as king. Between His Majesty the current King and the child, we need soone to fill the vacant throne."
"So you're saying Mother had planned to put an unborn royal heir on the throne."
"Isn't it good? I thought we should speak our true feelings even now to reduce sacrifices."
Really. This woman was impressive to Yurik in many ways.
Far from being born, it was fascinating that a life like an extrely small organism that had just been created and had no intelligence could make such insane statents.
In the worst situation like now, her pestering without knowing where to place her feet was beyond anger to the point of being ridiculous.
Since it had co to this, he thought he might as well listen more.
"So you're saying that after I adopt the child, Mother will give full cooperation so I can ascend to the throne?"
"It doesn't matter whether you welco a new companion or not. When that ti cos, I'll be the Queen Dowager, and the next heir after you beco King will be my child."
"Even if I accept all of that, would Mother gain anything from it? Aren't you losing too much?"
At his question, the Queen raised her head.
She looked at Yurik with gentle eyes filled with strange passion and warm affection.
Careful hands made Yurik turn his face. It was such a delicate gesture that an ordinary person wouldn't even think to resist.
"The fact that my child becos your heir is enough."
She was insane.
Yurik blocked the Queen's approaching lips with his black-gloved hand.
Round eyes blinked and then looked up at Yurik silently.
Yurik's lips twisted subtly.
"Poor Mother. I must have acted too cheaply in the greenhouse that day. I should have received the throne instead of the teleportation magic passage to Asgard."
When Yurik's hand fell away, the Queen hastily opened her mouth.
"You are-"
"It would have been a proposal worth reconsidering for an ordinary person, but you're pushing Mother's child on ."
"Royal blood is precious. When there's no heir, adopting royal bloodline is natural. It was entirely to accommodate you, who has no interest in producing heirs."
"Is that so? I'm moved to tears by such deep maternal love. Mother, then would that child resemble Mother? ...At least it wouldn't be His Majesty the King."
Yurik thought she would slap his cheek, but the Queen only quietly embraced her belly.
After a long silence, the Queen answered.
"His Majesty the King has been bedridden for a long ti. Talk about succession is already circulating. You might not know since you haven't been in the castle, but I'm the one receiving the court physician's diagnosis, no one else."
"So?"
"This is a formal transaction. If you just nod once, in a few days you'll hold all of Aquilonia in your hands."
"In exchange for holding Aquilonia, sell my succession and myself to Mother?"
That wouldn't do. Yurik separated her from himself.
He also returned the lamp he had been holding and looked into the Queen's eyes as he spoke.
"Since I've received paynt for the kiss, now Mother's son won't sell himself cheaply."
"...What does that an?"
"Exactly what you heard. Mother, unfortunately I don't have the mind to forcibly build peace. Unless it just rolls in on its own."
"This isn't a request."
"Not a request, but coercion. But since I particularly like fighting, it doesn't appeal to at all."
Yurik wasn't in urgent need of the throne right now.
The throne was rely a ans to his ultimate goal.
Moreover, since his 'goal' had directly promised to put him on the throne, Yurik intended to wait a bit longer rather than obtain Aquilonia so easily.
When Yurik had walked a few steps, leaving the Queen behind by herself, a frail voice quietly spoke from behind.
"I always think of you."
"......"
"I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you. From the first ti I saw you, you were continuously the person I'd been drawing in my dreams."
"Ha."
"I want to keep you by my side. I want to beco closer. I don't know about others, but I've never felt such intense emotions before. I want to kill you, to make you mine even if it ans doing that. ...Wouldn't that be okay?"
The end of her confession was covered by a trembling voice.
A woman who had been able to have everything she wanted since birth asked toward the one being she couldn't get her hands on.
The intense emotion that burned through her entire body was sothing she couldn't define,
But the Queen was simply certain.
She could do anything for this person.
However,
"I'm sorry, Mother."
Yurik didn't look back at her. No, she wasn't even worth looking back at.
"I'm not attracted to soone like you."
There was no ti to waste on the life form called the Queen.
Weren't there plenty of more urgent matters?
Yurik, carefully protecting the box tucked under his arm,
Left that place after trampling in one blow the ugly sincerity that Aquilonia's most noble woman had struggled to reveal.
* * *
Returning to the Prince's palace, Yurik leaped over walls and windows to enter the interior.
He easily pushed open the glass window that servants hadn't locked and stood in what had originally been his bedroom.
Before even removing his cloak, he headed to the bathroom.
The huge bathtub carved from the marble floor was cleanly dried,
But Yurik threw the box into it.
The white box made a loud sound like frozen ice colliding but didn't break.
Eventually entering the bathtub as well, Yurik carefully examined the box that had no seams or lid.
Yurik, who had been staring at the box that seed to have no way to open it,
Drew the sword hanging at his waist.
A drop of blood ford on his index finger that had run along the well-sharpened blade.
When he rubbed it on the white box, the box that had been hard and coldly frozen just monts before lted into a soft mass.
And sothing flowed out from inside.
Looking at the debris that splashed onto the floor, Yurik briefly lost his words and looked down at it.
His stomach churned. He was soone who had seen countless human corpses until now.
Even during the Acheron period, it had been like that. Multiple wars, assassination as routine.
He had personally tortured people and extracted information countless tis.
Yet he was feeling such emotions just because one person had ended up like this.
Yurik looked up at the bathroom ceiling briefly to calm his mind.
anwhile, the debris freed from the box slowly writhed, sticking together, multiplying, and creating form.
What he hadn't seen when Yesung died in Asgard,
The mont his flesh was completely created from nothingness.
Only now having witnessed both Yesung's creation and destruction, Yurik watched every process as he waited.
He had to wait until Yesung, his only family, was completed and gained life again.
Because only then could he kill him again.
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