Chapter 60
The Crown Prince’s knight order — Reflec.
Nothing was known about Reflec except that its members wore pitch-black masks.
But today, they had certainly made their presence known.
“Your Highness.”
The Crown Prince looked down at the kneeling Reflec knight, then glanced to the side.
Just like the underground prison beneath the Black Market, the Imperial Palace too had such places.
‘This isn’t just being found out,’ he thought.
The Duke must already consider him as good as dead.
The Imperial Court itself had been thrown into chaos.
“‘Goschen’ has all committed suicide.”
“……And their corpses?”
“Not yet decided, Your Highness. The Imperial Knights are currently claiming jurisdiction.”
Even as Reflec delivered the report, the Crown Prince’s face remained calm and unreadable.
Khan merely gazed for a moment at the bloodstained instruments of torture.
‘Adele was incredible.’
It had only been a few hours ago, yet the thrill still hadn’t faded.
[Now!]
When Adele shouted that, it felt as if he had been transported to another world.
The Crown Prince had been there — a witness to it all.
And not just any witness, but the one standing right beside the Child of Prophecy herself.
He had seen it more vividly than anyone else at that scene.
The overwhelming surge of Adele’s power, pouring out like pure life force —
He remembered that instant when it swept outward, shaking the very air.
It was awe-inspiring.
In that moment, he forgot everything:
That the one before him was merely eight years old,
That she was the beloved youngest daughter of the prestigious Alkibiades family,
That she was the Child of Prophecy,
That she called him her friend.
All of it — gone.
He could only marvel at her as one human to another.
Words couldn’t describe it.
‘She was unparalleled.’
Even in his short life, Khan had never experienced anything like it — and likely never would again.
She shone alone.
If someone told him she was half divine, he might have believed it.
Her clear blue eyes — at times, they sparkled so brightly he’d had to look away.
But in that moment, he couldn’t.
He’d been drawn in, as if staring into the ocean… the universe… a deep, tranquil lake.
Why did the world look so brilliantly colored — so alive — when seen through Adele’s eyes?
It was a strange experience.
Instinctively, his hand had closed around his sword’s hilt, as if moved by something beyond his will.
He cut the ropes, slashed through the iron bars —
And even now, he could still feel the lingering pulse of that energy coursing through him.
The Black Market had shaken like an earthquake.
Hundreds of knights could not have guaranteed victory against Goschen —
Yet Adele had crushed them all in an instant.
‘If I could worship her, I would.’
Had he been a painter, he would never have been able to erase that vision —
He would have captured it on canvas, and it would have become the masterpiece of his life.
Had he been a composer, he would have woven the screams,
the nobles’ cries of denial,
and that storm of rapture into a single, divine melody —
a mad symphony of catharsis and awe.
The Crown Prince was a creative soul, but one who had always suppressed his emotions.
Yet in that moment, Adele was a goddess,
an angel,
an empress.
“F-fine, I’ll confess! Just— stop—!”
Cough!
Blood splattered the floor.
The man — blinded by greed and loyal to them —
had now betrayed them again, in his agony.
Khan rose quietly, feeling no sympathy. It was curious, even to him.
‘The air’s foul here.’
He didn’t want to stay long.
Climbing to the surface, he saw the moon, bright and pale — shining all the more clearly after being swallowed by darkness.
Before long, his father appeared — the Emperor himself, drawn by the news.
The attendants following Khan immediately knelt.
The Crown Prince too bowed low.
“Father, Your Majesty.”
“Well done.”
“……I’ve done nothing.”
The praise for this success belonged to Adele alone.
The Emperor, perhaps thinking the same after hearing the full report, chuckled softly.
“An ‘human field,’ he called it. Hah. What a ridiculous idea.”
Human field.
A bizarre phrase — yet not inaccurate.
“Did you not stop her?”
Before the Crown Prince could answer, a knight came running from afar, breathless.
“Your Highness, a report!”
He was one of Reflec.
His face was pale as he knelt, momentarily startled to see the Emperor present.
But the Emperor raised a hand, permitting him to speak.
“The detainee died while confessing about the mastermind. Poisoning, Your Highness.”
“……You mean someone infiltrated this far?”
The Crown Prince’s question was instinctive.
The man he had just seen coughing blood — dead by poison? Too fast.
He had been captured directly from the Black Market — there was barely any time.
‘So something happened in between…’
Khan’s thoughts raced.
The Emperor’s expression flickered — but no one noticed.
“All suspects who might have confessed are dead, Your Highness. There seems to have been a gap in our surveillance. My deepest apologies.”
“……”
“There’s also another matter requiring Your Highness’s approval. The nobles — the guests. Most were foreign dignitaries here for tourism, but a few of our own were involved. What should be done?”
Khan’s mouth felt dry, like filled with sand.
The Emperor’s sharp gaze bore into him — the answer was already decided.
In truth, the Crown Prince was merely the mouthpiece for his father’s will.
Slowly, he spoke.
“Follow procedure.”
Following procedure meant one thing — execution.
Such crimes were punished by death.
As Crown Prince, it was his role to issue those merciless commands.
It was improper to request approval in front of the Emperor — yet it had happened before.
Almost as if…
‘As if he were ruling through me,’ Khan thought grimly.
The Emperor watched his son with quiet amusement.
It was unspoken, but everyone knew: once the boy turned fourteen, he would become Emperor.
For now, this balance suited them both.
“There cannot be two suns beneath one sky,” the Emperor murmured.
The knight withdrew.
Khan felt a chill of sweat, though he showed none of it.
Any sign of weakness would displease his father.
So he bowed even more deeply.
“Your Majesty, it’s late. You should rest.”
Power never changed men — only revealed their greed.
Perhaps that was why Khan neither wanted to be Emperor, nor to marry soon.
Even if half their blood was shared,
when it came to power, even father and son were rivals.
‘History’s full of such tales,’ he mused.
A son killing his father for the throne.
A father imprisoning and starving his son out of suspicion.
Family turning blades on one another.
‘The world is no fairy tale.’
No Emperor in his prime would willingly abdicate to his son.
“Do you have any orders, Father?”
“None in particular.”
“……I’m worried about the young lady. I’d like to visit her.”
Adele had been sent back to the Duke’s estate, but he still worried.
Even though Adele had been the one to ask for his help, the responsibility was his.
The Emperor nodded — permission granted.
The Crown Prince’s attendants trembled; the Emperor’s reputation for cruelty was well-earned.
Khan bowed deeply, then turned to leave.
The Emperor watched his son’s back — his expression unreadable.
Meanwhile…
Blake stared down at the unconscious Adele, suppressing his anger.
Sarina remained beside Adele, but Blake had dismissed almost everyone else.
‘I saw Reflec for the first time today,’ he thought.
The Crown Prince’s secret knights — he’d only heard of them in rumors.
To see them in person was absurd.
‘If this reaches the Duke’s ears…’
No — when it reached the Duke’s ears.
That was inevitable.
Blake cursed under his breath and rubbed his temples.
“He said he’d kill me if she got hurt…”
A low, grim voice followed.
“Or did he just say he might? Well, same thing — if she dies, I die.”
Sarina flinched at Blake’s muttering, tucking Adele’s blanket more securely around her.
“The Lady was asleep just a while ago… how did this even—”
Blake’s eyes darkened.
They said the Lady had collapsed from overusing her elemental power.
‘She’ll wake once she recovers, huh.’
To an outsider, he probably looked ridiculous — worrying so much over a sleeping child.
But Blake wasn’t angry at Adele.
‘They say affection blinds reason… guess I’m no different.’
Looking at her peaceful face, he couldn’t feel angry — only tenderness.
‘This is all the Crown Prince’s fault.’
His frustration at being unable to protect Adele properly turned, inevitably, toward the Prince.
“Sir, His Highness the Crown Prince requests an audience.”
The knight’s voice came from behind the door.
Perfect timing.
Blake had never been so grateful to see him.
He nodded once, and the door opened.
The Crown Prince — Kas Mahan — entered.
“……”
Blake rose silently.
He drew a sword from the sheath of a nearby knight and strode toward the Prince.
Kas Mahan didn’t flinch, didn’t draw his own weapon.
Even as Blake’s sword hovered near his neck—
Bang!
The door burst open.
The Duke stood there.
Blake froze.
‘How… so fast?’
The Duke wasn’t supposed to return for at least half a year due to the war.
He looked like a demon.
His red eyes burned, wild and unrestrained,
blood dripping from his still-unwashed hands.
He shoved the Crown Prince aside without a glance.
Even brushed past the armed Blake like he was nothing.
He had only one destination.
Adele.
The little girl sleeping quietly, like a cursed princess in a fairy tale.
The Duke stood over her, staring down.
“Blake. Kas Mahan.”
When the Duke spoke your name, it meant only one thing —
he was the strongest man in the room.
“Explain. Now.”
