Tuk.
“Walk quickly.”
A hard object was pushed onto Marquis Benedict’s back. He walked along the path missing one of his shoes, with his hair all messed up and with a miserable appearance.
Running through the bushes, the soles of his feet were torn. His feet were in pain, but as soon as he arrived at Benedict Castle, he couldn’t help but raise his head as all eyes focused on him from all directions.
“Marquis Benedict!”
“Fucking trash!”
“Look at who ran away alone!”
They were the soldiers of the nobles’ faction. Those who tried to defend Benedict Castle until the end were captured. Actually, the war shouldn’t have ended like this.
They fought until the end, even after Roman Dmitry appeared, but at some point, they realized that something was strange—no one was giving orders.
Obviously, Cameron was shouting from the walls, but soon he disappeared, and the nobles’ faction, including Marquis Benedict, never showed themselves the entire time. The moment their trust collapsed, the war ended. One by one, they threw away their weapons and expressed their intentions to surrender, and such feelings quickly spread everywhere.
This war was a civil war that was happening in their kingdom. It was a war that happened according to the cause of the leaders who led the soldiers, but since their leaders had fled, they no longer had any reason to fight.
The balance had collapsed. The kingdom’s troops arrested all the soldiers who had lost their hostility and looked inside the castle until the day was over, blocking any unknown variables.
It was all over, and the victors were the troops of the kingdom.
And at the sight of Marquis Benedict being dragged out, the prisoners spat curses at him.
“Ptooey!”
“Go to hell!”
The saliva hit his face and dripped to the floor, and this made Marquis Benedict’s stomach boil. His body was already smeared with animal feces. In addition, he couldn’t accept this situation where the nobles were being punished by mere soldiers, and the most powerful person in Cairo was being manhandled.
Puak!
“Kuak!”
He got down on his knees right in the center of the square. All eyes focused on him, and he raised his head, watching Roman Dmitry approach him.
‘… This is how I will die.’
At that moment, Marquis Benedict’s mind drifted into his past memories, which he had forgotten.
Decades ago, a grand banquet was held in Cairo. At the marriage between the Cairo royal family and the most prestigious Benedict family, envoys from many nations sent their best wishes and blessings.
And Marquis Benedict was also there. Having inherited the estate from his father at such a young age, he couldn’t hide his delight at the marriage of his younger sister, whom he looked after like a father. From that day on, he was really happy.
It was Daniel Cairo’s father. Even at that time, the former King was known to be incompetent.
“The actions of the Kronos Empire are becoming worse with each passing day. They invade our borders at any opportunity they get, and even within the kingdom, they interfere with our state affairs! Your Majesty. Cairo is powerless now. I know very well that we have no other choice but to watch them do this, but that doesn’t mean we should just suffer like this. We need to set an example of our power. We need to prove Cairo’s will by cutting down the heads of the spies.”
Many people were dying at the Western Front, and Marquis Benedict visited the royal palace with rage and spoke loudly, wanting some results. And at that time, Benedict was a patriot.
Thinking that the Benedict family and the Cairo royal family were one and the same, he couldn’t bear to watch the Kronos Empire looking down on the kingdom.
But the King didn’t do anything. The reason was simple. He couldn’t put more people in danger. The King decided that he couldn’t handle the loss of life from a retaliation that wouldn’t bear any results.
It was said that loving the people was a virtue of the King, but it didn’t seem like that to Marquis Benedict. He was just standing aside when such things were happening. Looking far into the future, it was clear that many people’s lives would be lost.
However, the King pushed for peace more than power, and for him, it was ideal not to fight back. And from then on, Cairo’s power began to collapse.
As the King remained indecisive and delayed his judgments, the Kronos Empire and the Valhalla Empire managed to increase their powers. And to oppose them, Marquis Benedict gathered forces. Even if the Cairo royal family was being foolish, he wasn’t going to give up.
And around that time, something happened. The Queen, who was weak, fell ill and died. It was the same disease as Marquis Benedict’s father. At that moment, all the ties he had with the royal family collapsed, and he watched his sister’s funeral with a cold expression and questioned if the King was right.
The queen’s position was one of honor, yet the empires laughed at them. Their expressions were devoid of sadness, which fueled Marquis Benedict’s rage.
“I can no longer trust the Cairo royal family. I will set up an independent force that represents Cairo and lead it down the right path. Tell this to the nobles who wish to follow me. ‘If you intend to follow me, ‘Benedict,’ rather than the Cairo royal family, come and pledge allegiance to me on the appointed date.’”
And that was how the nobles’ faction was formed. He couldn’t trust the King who only spoke ideal words, and Daniel Cairo, their only heir, was too young. The kingdom held no future.
Later on in the history of Cairo, even if he would be labeled insane for power, he believed that his decision was correct.
And then the previous King died.
With the result that everyone hoped for, Marquis Benedict took the throne.
The execution of his death. He wanted to face his end as calmly as possible, but the memories of that time made him cry.
It was unfair. What did he do wrong? Even though he could have given up the kingdom at any time, he did his best to maintain the Cairo Kingdom. And although he didn’t follow the royal family, he also did things for the sake of the kingdom.
Right in front of him, Roman stopped walking. Seeing his gaze coldly looking down with his sword, Marquis Benedict raised his face and shouted,
“I-I am not wrong. I have been devoted to the nation, and here you are, trying to kill me! Cairo’s former King clearly had the chance to deal with the forces of the empires, but he didn’t, and that caused the deaths of the people. If this world were heaven, where blood and death aren’t allowed, he would have been a King that the people would admire, but that is not the reality. While the weak King ruined the nation, I held the balance so Cairo wouldn’t collapse!”
He yelled out loud. He was desperate. He wanted to release his accumulated emotions, regardless of how others perceived him.
“The previous King died. Daniel Cairo ascended the throne, spouting absurd remarks about creating a nation where the people are happy. Roman Dmitry. Can you sincerely serve such a King? If you’re making cold judgments like you always do, you should understand how I feel. The Kronos Empire crossed the border too many times, and we are now infested with spies from other nations, and then the Hector Kingdom declared war on us. That is Cairo. Then, shouldn’t the person who takes the throne be strong enough to protect the kingdom from all of this chaos? Try answering me. Tell me I am wrong!”
He succumbed to evil. His eyes were red, and it felt like tears of blood were flowing down from them.
Roman looked calm. Looking at Marquis Benedict’s figure, who insisted that he was right, brought back their past interactions.
“I will not criticize the choice you made. As you said, Cairo had the chance to set things right.”
But….
“I will not say that the choice of the former King was wrong. If you had led the nobles’ faction and made Cairo stronger, you would have had the right to criticize him for not drawing his sword at a better time, but look at these results. What did you do? Despite forming a faction, the power system remained the same, and when Hector crossed the border you didn’t think about the safety of the nation. You only cared about your power, and the cause you speak of has lost its meaning. And when you were on the verge of being defeated, you joined hands with the Kronos Empire.”
Swish.
He pointed his sword, and Marquis Benedict didn’t avert his gaze. Even at the moment of his death, he spoke about how unfair things were.
“It is not shameful for the powerless to bow their heads. If the King had not taken responsibility for that decision, he would have had to bear the weight of countless lives. You cannot blame him. I can tell even looking at it now. When you put yourself in the position of a decision-maker, you will realize that you have become more of a scumbag than the person you are blaming. Even though the royal family is criticized for being incompetent and the royal family’s existence has been completely denied, they never made the choice to sell the nation.”
At that moment, Marquis Benedict’s eyes wavered. He felt he was wrong. He understood what Roman’s words meant. He crawled on his knees and grabbed onto Roman’s legs.
“… please, please let me live. I wanted people to realize my hard work. From now on, I will do my very best for the Cairo royal family—no, for Dmitry. So please spare me.”
In his miserable state, he pleaded. His face was determined not to die, and Roman said,
“No, from the moment you drew your sword against me in Cairos, I was prepared for what to do if I lost the war—after Dmitry was burned, my family would have been made fun of. You started this war. This is a fight that only ends when one side dies. It doesn’t matter whose side is right. The loser takes all the blame for the war. Benedict, I’ll show everyone that you were wrong.”
“Please, just this…”
“Cairo will remember this day.”
Slash.
And his sword moved as everyone gasped. Some stared straight ahead with their eyes wide open, some averted their gaze, and some were shocked.
This was the price of rebellion. Roman’s sword cut off Marquis Benedict’s head.
Drip.
His head rolled down on the ground, and his body thumped down.
The giant of Cairo—it was the end of Marquis Benedict, who was once called a living power.
Time passed slowly for the Cairo royal family. Daniel Cairo couldn’t accept that the fate of the nation rested on Roman Dmitry.
‘The first day of the three days had passed. If we take a long time to subdue the nobles, the chances of Kronos invading us through the Western Front will increase. Did I make the right choice? If I had reached a compromise at the right time, the people of Cairo would not have had to face a war.’
He pondered over the same thing and began to envy people like Roman Dmitry. A man like him couldn’t shake off the thoughts of whether his decision was right or wrong.
And then he opened his eyes. He sat on his throne with a straight back, and he was determined not to doubt his choice as much as possible. His own father was a good person. But he didn’t want to be a good person like him. It was at that moment…
“Your Majesty! We won! It is said that Roman Dmitry has captured the Benedict Castle!”
“What!?”
He jumped up and left his chair.
Just one day, one day to take down a castle. His entire body felt tremors of joy as Roman Dmitry turned his words into reality.
Roman Dmitry was surely a monster Cairo couldn’t handle, and in the future, in order to move with the monster, he would have to give up his meek actions.
But still, he felt good. He didn’t mind the life of a puppet as long as he could lead Cairo in the right direction. This feeling of happiness was good enough.
“Congratulations on the major achievement, and those who did this will be rewarded. Order them to move to the Western Front at once. The movement of the Kronos Empire is odd, and late reactions will bring horrible consequences.”
He suppressed his joy.
Although the civil war was settled, Cairo’s peace was not yet guaranteed.
