episode_0201

Uncle Joseph’s strong, sturdy body was covered in torn wounds, as if a child had scribbled all over him. His skin was stained entirely red, as if he had just emerged from a bathtub full of blood.

But… he remained silent until he was in this state. It was clear from his appearance that he had endured brutal torture. Yet, he hadn’t uttered a single word.

Such firm resolve, to not reveal the rebels’ desired information even if it meant his death. Was this the extent of his loyalty to the royal family?

“Ritsu… cough cough! Are you hurt anywhere?”

However, his lips opened easily the moment he saw me.

The one who put him in this wretched state stood right before him.

There wasn’t a single word of resentment or curse.

Instead, he worried about me in a gentle, warm voice.

I managed to answer, prying apart my tightly clenched teeth.

“I’m fine.”

“…Really? Are you truly… alright?”

At his question, which seemed to know everything already, I couldn’t lie anymore.

A sigh escaped me.

Then, I knelt on one knee before Uncle and replied.

“No, Uncle. Actually… I’m not fine.”

“Hahaha… damn it. Haaah-.”

The bound prisoner leaned back his blood-soaked face and exhaled deeply, staring up at the dark ceiling.

“Ritsu. I don’t know how this happened… but I feel it’s all my fault. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Uncle.”

“If I had told you everything from the beginning… at least this wouldn’t have been the outcome.”

That’s right.

If I had known Tia inherited royal blood, I would have protected her using my authority as village head. Tia wouldn’t have been exhausted by the villagers’ torment. I would have simply stayed by her side until the war ended, until Uncle Joseph returned.

But that didn’t happen.

What difference would it make if Uncle regretted it now?

No matter how much he called it his fault, the lost time would never return to the past.

Conversation was meaningless.

I hadn’t come all this way just to listen to Uncle’s pointless lamentations.

The secret passage within the royal palace. I came to find it out.

Slide-.

I rolled up my sleeve and extended my hand.

The moment my right hand touched Uncle’s body, I would enter a memory vision.

All I had to do was find the ‘secret passage’ he had seen within that vision.

Just as my fingertips slowly moved toward the final button.

“…Fosao, isn’t it?”

Right in front of Uncle’s face.

My hand stopped abruptly.

“Is Fosao… the one you’re after?”

He looked up at me and said.

“If you came all the way to Deseo, joined hands with the rebels, and captured me… wouldn’t your hatred be aimed only at ‘Fosao’? Cough cough! Ahem.”

“……”

“Hahaha…. I guess I’m right. Yes… Ritsu. I was shocked too. When I finally found Tia… and then learned she was already married to Fosao, and even carrying his child…. I thought it was a terrible nightmare. It didn’t feel real at all.”

His calm voice continued.

“I naturally assumed it was Fosao’s doing. The Village Head-nim once told me. That man’s nature is very wicked, so I shouldn’t get close to him. I don’t know what he did, but Fosao probably tricked and tamed the innocent Tia.”

“…If so, why didn’t you kill Fosao right then and there, even though you knew everything?”

“Ritsu. How– how could I do that?”

Uncle asked back with a forlorn expression.

“That child… was living happily. If I were to cut off the neck of the husband she loved and tell her she had to become queen… would she truly accept it?”

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

I clenched my fists.

“Tia was only tricked… what did you say…? Tia was ‘happy’?! Uncle… how can you say such a thing?”

“Haha… Ritsu. Though I’ve been to many battlefields, I suppose I’m still a coward. I… didn’t want ‘Joseph’ to become a disaster for Tia. I didn’t want the true master of this country… to curse this country. So… I decided to let Fosao live.”

I was speechless.

I respected Uncle Joseph more than my father.

He was smart, strong, and broad-minded.

Even when my father and I argued about opening the village, I thought Uncle Joseph’s words were half-right.

Even with slight differences in opinion, I believed he sincerely cared for this village and its people, just like my father.

But Uncle Joseph wasn’t native to Breezedon.

Yes. This man was merely a wandering mercenary.

An agent of the royal family.

He was just a person who had wandered in search of the prince he served.

I had followed Uncle since childhood and learned much, but to Uncle, my existence seemed to hold no special significance.

Because he only thought of Tia, the royal bloodline. Because he only thought of the royal family’s continuation.

That’s why he had so easily knelt before Fosao.

“…You were wrong, Uncle. Fosao will surely become a disaster for this country.”

How foolish.

When I was young, I thought Uncle Joseph was truly smart.

Now, he seemed so foolish that it made me want to let out a hollow laugh.

“That man made me an invalid who couldn’t wake up, tricked Tia into abandoning me while I was still alive, and toyed with me as he pleased! Is a country ruled by such a man truly what you want, Uncle?!”

He was silent for a moment, then lowered his head.

“Indeed, something precarious might happen.”

“So…”

“But it cannot yet be called a problem.”

“What?”

Uncle spat out a clot of red blood.

“That’s right. As you say, Fosao is that kind of man. He is wicked, cunning, and despicable. Since he has already done such things to you, he is certainly capable of disgracing this country. But… that is a problem for Tia, the Queen, to worry about, not for us, isn’t it?”

Knowing everything.

Knowing what kind of person Fosao was.

I simply couldn’t understand him for doing nothing.

“In short, Fosao is behaving well right now. He keeps his mouth tightly shut, so nothing has happened so far.”

“Are you… defending Fosao right now?”

“Does it sound that way? Hahaha… then think what you will.”

Uncle Joseph said with unwavering eyes.

“However, even I would not have been much different. From the position of protecting this country, it would be better for Tia not to know about what Fosao did to Ritsu, and that Ritsu is alive… than to know.”

“……”

It’s better to just leave Tia ignorant.

He’s suggesting such a thing?

“No. Absolutely not. I… even if it costs me my life, I will definitely get revenge on that man who ruined my life.”

“Revenge… what kind of revenge do you intend to take?”

“Killing Fosao and taking Tia back.”

“Yes. And then?”

And then?

Was there a ‘then’?

I had never thought about it.

“Then, I’ll take Tia and leave far away.”

“Hahaha… that’s a pipe dream. If that happens, you will become an enemy of Deseo, having murdered the king and abducted the queen. This country will gather all its strength to find and kill you. Is that… truly what you had in mind for ‘then’?”

“Rather than living as a coward like you, Uncle, I’d rather be a fugitive who has achieved revenge.”

“Then what about Tia?”

Joseph said with his eyes closed.

“For Tia, between before and after meeting you, which would be a happier life? Could she love you, frantically fleeing from soldiers after you killed her husband… more than Fosao?”

“……”

“Ritsu. Tia is not your spoils of war. That child is merely a fragile woman. She is not a princess waiting for a hero to save her, but an ordinary girl who is just desperate to survive, trembling at the unknown future. That is why I did not draw my sword, and knelt in respect for that small life.”

Clench!

Unconsciously, my two hands grabbed Uncle’s collar.

His strong, powerful body swayed with the trembling of my arms.

My hands trembled. My teeth ground.

With rage that made my blood boil, the grip on his collar felt like it would shatter.

“So. You’re telling me to endure foolishly like you? To not even get revenge on that man who took everything from me?!”

“……Whatever I say will be useless, won’t it?”

A metallic, bloody smell came from Uncle’s mouth.

“I know, Ritsu. You are a smart yet cautious and stubborn child. Like the Village Head-nim… once you set your mind on something, you always achieve it, don’t you? I have no intention of stopping you. You will go down that path anyway. ……However. I am just so worried about you. You are heading towards your own death. At the end of this path, there is neither light nor salvation. Only death awaits.”

His two hands were bound, so he couldn’t do it.

But his voice was warm, as if gently caressing my face.

“I love you all… Marie, Tia, Ritsu, Ruyef. Truly, I regarded you as my own children. So I wish to see my beloved children… all survive and live happily.”

“Right now, I’m a living corpse who can’t even die. Uncle, do you have no intention of helping me find my happiness?”

“……If you can be happy. I will do whatever I can right now.”

“The secret passage.”

A surprisingly cold voice sprang from my lips.

“That passage inside the royal palace that leads to the Queen’s chambers. Tell me.”

Uncle let out a deep sigh.

Like a father’s breath having to send his child to war. It was deep and empty.

And his torn lips parted.

“…In the royal palace’s underground. It’s there. In the middle of the corridor leading to the infirmary, there is a portrait of King Lykane, the previous king. Behind it is a spiral staircase, so take that up.”

It was an explanation so easy and simple it felt hollow.

For a moment, I suspected it might be a lie. But no, Uncle Joseph was not that kind of person.

He had never lied even once, to begin with.

And at this moment, he was telling the truth for my sake.

There was no need to forcibly hold Uncle and read his memories.

“Understood.”

That was it.

I had obtained what I came for, so I had no further business with Uncle.

Staying here longer would only lead to more meaningless arguments.

Leaving quickly and allowing him to rest, even for a moment, was the greatest mercy I could offer.

I turned my back and reached for the torture chamber door.

“Ritsu.”

Suddenly, Uncle Joseph stopped me.

“…Do you think the rebels are helping you?”

I turned my head.

His face was obscured by the faint candlelight shadows, so I couldn’t see it clearly.

“Hahaha… the secret passage… I understand now.”

“What do you mean?”

A smile bloomed on Uncle’s lips.

“I’ve been thinking for a while now about why the rebels specifically brought you here…. It seems they intend to use you as ‘bait’.”

Bait?

“The rebels are those who want to overthrow this country. Would such men rejoice merely because Fosao is dead? No, there’s no benefit at all. Your goal is to kill Fosao, but the rebels’ goal is to kill the Queen. Only when the ‘Queen,’ who symbolizes the new dynasty, dies, can the rebellion truly begin.”

“What are you saying…?”

“They will put you in the royal castle and make an accusation. Saying an assassin is in the ‘Red Tower’. While the Royal Guards scour the castle, searching every nook and cranny for you, the Queen will evacuate outside the castle. What the rebels are aiming for is… ‘that moment’.”

The phrase ‘that moment,’ emphasized by Uncle, hit my head hard.

That I was bait.

I hadn’t thought of that.

Klaus had merely helped my plan to infiltrate the royal castle to kill Fosao.

But…

“Are you trying to sow discord?”

“Haha… why would I? I never intended to talk my way out of this state. It’s just experience, experience. Cough cough! Think of it as advice from a man who has lived longer than you and dealt with those trashy bastards for a longer time than you have.”

“……”

“Haaah-.”

Uncle Joseph seemed to be in too much pain to speak further, and leaned his head back.

“Survive, Ritsu.”

No thoughts came to mind.

What to do. How to do it.

Just moments ago, everything was so clear. I had thought I was definitely following a straight path.

Now, it was as if a mist had descended, and I couldn’t see ahead.

If Uncle’s words were true.

What… should I do?

Before this rare moment of clarity.

Only one answer barely surfaced.

Slide.

My trembling fingertips rested on Uncle Joseph’s shoulder.