The first time I saw the real Gilles was right before Claude killed Kreis. Kreis was in jail, and Gilles came to visit him. The brothers were all alone, and he’d looked Kreis straight in the eye before saying “You really are pathetic,” with a nasty sneer on his face.
If I hadn’t seen that side of him, perhaps I would hesitate to push him into a corner. But that didn’t matter now, because I had seen the real Gilles. I’d seen how he’d laughed while he stomped on the wound he’d made in Kreis’s thigh, like it was the most delightful thing in the world, all to keep Kreis from escaping.
“Ah ha ha! Just die already! Everyone’s so stupid! They haven’t even realized I’m the one who set you up!”
His shrill laugh, his scornful voice, his cruel words, and the pain of being stomped still echoed in my mind.
“You’ve been getting cocky lately, but it’s time to face reality. Father’s only keeping you around to waste away in a cage. You don’t have to think. Just devote yourself to us. That’s all you’re good for, got it? Now give me everything on that tray.”
Stay calm, and don’t let him bait you.
“What’s gotten into you, Gilles? You’re not the kind of boy who would say something like that.”
It would be easy for me to attack him right back, but I didn’t. I wasn’t stupid enough to reveal my hand to the enemy now. I had to endure it for the time being. So I clenched my hands into fists.
“Ha! You’re really stupid, aren’t you? You still haven’t figured it out? I’m the one who made sure you ended up like this. Understand?”
“That’s not true. I told you before, none of this is your fa—”
“You really don’t get it, do you? I’ll make sure you understand. You’re the kind of person who bends the moment I command it. Father always puts me first. Whether you get to stay here or not has always depended on my mood. I’m your god. So hand over everything right now.”
A god? He can’t even use magic and he’s calling himself a god.
Professor bared his teeth at the insult and started growling, but Gilles just sneered at him.
“Like owner, like pet. Both of you are so full of yourselves. Go ahead and sic him on me if you want. But then I’ll just go back to the ballroom in tears and tell everyone you attacked me. Now, who do you think they’ll believe? The older brother who’s mean and unlikable, or the poor, frail, sickly younger brother?”
And with that, Gilles snatched a handful of pastries from the tray.
“Gilles!”
He swept the remaining pastries off the table onto the floor with his other hand, then stomped them to pieces. Just like he’d trampled on Kreis that day.
“By all means, go ahead and keep sucking up to His Majesty. But I won’t let even him get away with it if you get in my way.” He turned to leave the room, but then his gaze fell on the jeweled box sitting on my desk.
“What’s this?”
“Give that back!”
It was the gift Siegfried had given me. I reached out to snatch it back, but Gilles stepped back and dodged me as he opened it. “Who would give a useless nobody a gift? Ha ha! It’s just a rock! A perfect gift for someone as worthless as you!”
Since Gilles lacked magic and regularly skipped his lessons, he didn’t even know it was a sorcerer’s stone. It probably did look like an ordinary rock to someone like him, who couldn’t detect mana.
He kept laughing at the sorcerer’s stone as he pulled it from the box, then raised his hand and slammed it onto the floor.
I gasped.
The stone split cleanly in two, each half rolling off in opposite directions. It felt like Siegfried’s feelings had been stomped on right in front of me. I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t stop myself from shouting, “How dare you!”
“Ha ha! That’s the reaction I was waiting for! You’re such an idiot, acting so frantic!”
Before I could even move to pick up the broken pieces, Gilles snatched them up and flung them toward the window.
In that moment, my mind went completely blank. I moved before I could even think.
“Idiot!” Professor shouted in my head.
“What are you—”
I launched myself out the window, Gilles’s shouts sounding distant behind me. The stone would shatter completely if it hit the ground, and I couldn’t let that happen. I just wanted to keep the fragments even if it didn’t work anymore, because that stone was mine—a treasure Siegfried had given me.
I reached out as far as I could toward the sorcerer’s stone.
Got it!
My fingers closed around the shard, and the ground was right before my eyes. I tried to cast an Earth magic spell to cushion my blow, but I wasn’t fast enough. I braced for the impact.
But it never came. Instead, something soft enveloped my body, like I’d been caught mid-fall.
“Huh?”
“Kreis!”
I looked around for the source of the voice and saw Siegfried running across the courtyard toward me. Apparently he’d seen me falling and used Wind magic to cushion my fall.
I was slowly and gently lowered to the ground, and when I looked up, I made eye contact with Gilles, who was watching from the window above.
“Kreis! Are you okay?!”
I heard Siegfried’s boots pound across the courtyard as Gilles turned and bolted from the window.
I opened my hand and looked down at the stone, sighing with relief. But then I realized something. “There’s only one half.”
I jumped to my feet and took off running.
“Kreis, what happened?!”
“The sorcerer’s stone!”
“What about it?”
“He broke it!”
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
He’d destroyed a precious gift I’d received, and I would never forgive him. My hands trembled with fury as I ran back to my room. I had to hurry so I could get the other half.
“What do you mean, he—”
“The one you gave to me!” I shouted, on the verge of tears. I couldn’t forgive myself for letting my guard down. Siegfried chased after me, and a handful of nobles who noticed the strange commotion followed, but I was too angry to care.
“Gilles!”
I burst into the room, only to scowl when I realized he was gone. I looked around, but the other shard was nowhere to be found. He must’ve taken it with him when he realized I was coming back to get it.
And when I looked at Professor, he gave me a small nod.
“He’s a cunning little brat,” he said.
“That bastard!”
I turned to leave but ran straight into someone’s chest. Only then did I come back to my senses.
“Kreis...what is this place?”
I hesitantly looked up and saw Siegfried’s impassive face. His beauty was even more striking when he wasn’t smiling.
Now’s not the time to be admiring his handsome face!
I quickly stepped back to put space between us. I’d been so blinded with fury that I hadn’t been thinking at all. Had I said anything reckless?
“I-I’m sorry, Your Majesty! I lost my temper...”
“Answer the question. I said, what is this place?”
A crowd of nobles filtered into the room behind the king. What were they even doing here? I knew some nobles liked to sneak into spare rooms for a night of private entertainment, but this room was so deep in the estate that even those types wouldn’t come this far.
Perhaps Siegfried had unintentionally drawn them all here, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. I nearly raised a hand to my forehead, but then I paused.
Hmm, this might actually work out in my favor...
“Kreis! What on earth is going on here?!” Albert burst into the room just as I was planning my next move.