He was shameless. The same man who’d just tried to offer Gilles up as a sacrifice was now urging him to kill me instead.
“Ha ha ha! I should’ve just done this from the beginning!”
Damn it. I let my guard down.
I tried to use my Earth magic, but it didn’t work. Maybe it was because Albert’s mana was sealed and I was in contact with him.
I glanced toward Professor on instinct, and I immediately chided myself for it. I knew he wouldn’t help.
“This isn’t my part to play.”
“Goodbye, Kreis.” Gilles said with a twisted grin. Claude opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn’t stop it.
No one was going to save me. I’d known that from the start.
So this is it. I’m just going to die again, after everything.
I gave up and let my body go limp. Gilles’s dagger came closer to my throat.
But then something strange happened.
“Kreis!”
A gust of wind tore through the room, knocking Gilles and Claude off their feet. A warm body slammed into my back, and arms wrapped tightly around me.
I knew this warmth. But how?
“Sieg...fried?”
Why was he here? I never even heard the door open.
Stunned, I turned and looked up at him. His arms tightened around me, and I heard his hoarse voice in my ear. “I channeled my mana into your ring so that if you were ever in danger, I could reach you no matter where you were.”
“When did you do that?”
“The day I told you I loved you. I’m sorry I didn’t ask permission. But I don’t regret it.”
His voice trembled with fury. I didn’t know who it was directed at...maybe everyone. Maybe even me.
“You’re all being detained. Surely you don’t think you’ll get away with this after causing such a scene?” Siegfried demanded.
“Y-Your Majesty, I didn’t do anything! It was just a little quarrel between brothers and—”
“‘A quarrel between brothers’? That’s what you’re calling it, when Kreis would’ve died had I not stepped in?”
Powerful mana began to emanate from Siegfried, his anger filling the room. Albert and Claude began to gasp as they struggled to breathe, like hands were closing around their throats.
“Nngh!”
“Argh!”
The stronger the mana one had, the more sensitive they were to magical energy that was emitted from others. Siegfried hadn’t even done anything, but the pressure was crushing, like something heavy was pressing down from above. He shielded me in his arms from behind, which spared me from it.
“Please stop...” I begged.
“I won’t. Why are you protecting people who tried to kill you?” he asked without looking at me. His eyes were locked on Gilles and the others, his face expressionless.
“Please, I’m begging you... Calm down.”
This couldn’t go on. I had to stop him, no matter what. If it came down to it, I was prepared to kill Albert and Gilles myself, but I refused to let Siegfried get his hands dirty.
“Siegfried!” I grabbed his face firmly enough to make a sound, cradling it in my hands as I forced him to look at me. He blinked in surprise, finally seeing me. “I’m alive,” I said clearly. “You have to stay calm!”
He stared at me and I stared back for what felt like an eternity, waiting for him to calm down.
“You’re right... I’m sorry.” He blinked once, and just like that, he seemed to regain his composure. The oppressive mana that had filled the room vanished, and everyone but Siegfried exhaled in relief.
“Will you tell me how this happened?” he asked.
“Well...”
I didn’t want him to find out that Albert had been siphoning off his magic. If he did, he might feel sympathy for Gilles; I didn’t want him to be lenient on my brother. But now that it had come to this, maybe I didn’t have any other choice. Before I could get the words out—
“Father’s been stealing His Majesty’s mana,” Gilles said, breaking the silence.
“Gilles!” Albert shouted in a panic, but what shocked me more was Siegfried’s reaction.
Siegfried didn’t look surprised or confused, only said, “I see,” with a resigned expression. That attitude made me suspicious.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I asked.
His silence told me everything.
“But if you knew, why didn’t you try to stop him?!” I couldn’t believe he hadn’t done anything with the knowledge that his mana was being stolen. I pulled away from him forcefully, turning to face him. He quickly averted his eyes.
“Siegfried. I need you to explain.”
He didn’t answer.
“How long have you known?”
“Since I first saw Gilles back at your estate,” he finally said. “I felt traces of my mana in him.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?!”
“I knew it was my mana, but proving that it had been stolen isn’t simple. And if the truth came out, I was worried it would damage House Louboutin.”
“Yes, but it’s only fair considering what they did, don’t you think?! So why—”
“Ha ha ha! You’re unbelievably dense, aren’t you, Kreis?” Gilles interrupted, laughing bitterly as he raked a hand through his hair. “Isn’t it obvious? His Majesty did it for you.”
“For me?”
“If he accused House Louboutin of such a deed, you’d have gone down with them as the eldest son. Or even worse...father could’ve pinned the whole thing on you instead.”
I could certainly see Albert doing something like that. He was a man who only cared about himself, and he would have no qualms about sacrificing me if it meant saving his own skin.
“You did this for me, Siegfried?” I asked.
“No. I did it for me,” he said quietly, taking my hand in his. “I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. Of course, I never meant to let it go on forever. I was planning on ending it as soon as I could ensure your safety.”
“But that means...” He let them drain away his own power, which was so incredibly vital, just to protect me?
“I know it was foolish, but I couldn’t let you go,” he said quietly.
I was speechless. His love for Kreis was almost foolishly devoted. In that moment, I envied Kreis. I wished the two of them could just be happy already—but for that to happen, I had to disappear.
“This is ridiculous,” Gilles muttered, kicking the dagger that had fallen to the floor. “In the end, you were still the only one anyone loved.” He laughed sharply, but a single tear slipped down his cheek. It ran along his jaw and then more followed, breaking through like a dam and wetting both cheeks. “Funny, isn’t it? I mocked you, convinced I was the beloved one, but I was just a pawn. What a joke. Go on, laugh at me! It’d probably make me feel better.”
“Ha ha ha...”
Claude glared at me. “How dare you laugh at him?!”
“Gilles told me to,” I replied with a shrug. He told me to laugh, so I did. How could anyone be angry at that?
“Don’t you feel bad for Gilles?! He turned out like this because of his environment! If he hadn’t been born into this mess, he wouldn’t have ended up so twisted and—”
“No, you’re wrong. You’re really going to blame this on his environment? Please. You really think if a hundred people grew up in the same circumstances as Gilles, all one hundred of them would turn out exactly like him?” Nothing made me angrier than that excuse.
Sure, our circumstances shaped us. There were places some people could never reach, no matter how hard they tried, because of where they were born. But using that as a reason to justify committing crimes was something else entirely.
“Listen to me. Gilles’s life turned out this way because of his own rotten personality. There’s no reason to have any sympathy for him. He went around acting like he was some special, beloved child doing whatever he wanted like a selfish brat, and now that he’s realized he was never actually loved, he wants to play the victim? Give me a break! It’s pathetic.” I was about to laugh at how obviously manipulative his tears were, but someone beat me to it with a snort.
“You’re absolutely right. I’ve always been like this. Don’t bother trying to blame it on my upbringing. I don’t need anyone else’s pity.”
It was Gilles.
He ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. Claude reached out to try to slip an arm around his shoulders, but Gilles shoved his hand away.
“You’re useless from beginning to end, aren’t you? If you weren’t the crown prince, do you really think I’d ever let someone like you touch me?” he spat.
“Gilles...” Claude gave him a sorrowful look, still showing his concern even now, knowing the kind of person Gilles really was. Maybe Claude saw something in Gilles that I couldn’t. I’d thought the prince was just another fool taken in by a pretty face, but maybe what he felt for Gilles was real love after all.
He turned his gaze away from Claude. Then, he took a deep breath and turned back to Siegfried like he was shaking something off.
“Your Majesty. Let’s make a deal.”
“A deal?”
Gilles picked up the dagger at his feet. Then, moving so quickly and deliberately that no one had time to react—
“Nghh... You...!”
—he plunged the dagger deep into Albert’s chest. Blood dripped down the blade, which was embedded directly in his heart. All I could do was stare at Albert as his knees buckled and he crumbled to the ground.
“Gilles, you...!”
“The only way to end the contract is for him to die, or me. And obviously he’s the one who deserves it. I figured you wouldn’t be able to do it, Kreis, so I took care of it for you.”