Chapter 315
Chasing the star that shines alone on a dark night (4)
Kwang!
A bright blue flame erupted with an explosion.
Gyaaaahh!
Guaaagh!
The crowd, engulfed in flames, screamed.
Adelia Bavaria felt dizzy when she heard those desperate screams.
She immediately wanted to cover her ears.
But she couldn’t bear it when she thought about the crown prince who was so far ahead.
Her eyes followed the crown prince.
The figure in front of her was quite small compared to most knights.
The image of the crown prince swinging his sword, taking a step forward, and swinging his sword again without saying a word was burned into her eyes.
The sword he was swinging and the steps he was taking seemed so heavy.
But despite the difficulties, he kept moving forward without stopping.
Kwang!
A flame exploded again.
Screams arose as embers flew.
Ssssss.
The ashes scattered and fell all around.
Like large snowflakes.
The crown prince’s figure was blurry.
Was it because of the ashes covering him, or because of the tears filling her eyes?
Adelia couldn’t tell.
She just roughly wiped her eyes, swallowed back the tears that were about to burst out, and chased after the crown prince.
Sorry.
A small voice came through the wind.
I am so sorry.
A faint voice pierced her ears through the screams and cries.
Never forgive me.
The bitter monologue was conveyed like an auditory hallucination.
“Hhgh.“
The sobs that she had been trying so hard to suppress burst out of her mouth.
The tears that she had been holding back finally flowed down her cheeks.
Adelia gritted her teeth.
Tears were a luxury.
They were an act of hypocrisy when the crown prince had chosen to shoulder the burdens of others.
It was well known that the prince had a lot of blood on his hands.
There were people who had pointed this out, calling him a war fanatic and a mass murderer.
But she knew.
The crown prince had never once harmed an innocent person.
His sword always aimed solely at those who had chosen to go into battle voluntarily.
The crown prince was neither a war fanatic nor a mass murderer.
Otherwise, he would never have threatened his soldiers to be sure not to point their swords at citizens every time they headed out to the battlefield, and he would never have warned them to be especially careful in preventing the powerless from getting swept into the fighting.
Regardless of whether they were from the kingdom or the empire.
But now this crown prince was cutting down with his own hands innocent lives who had been forced onto this battlefield by someone else’s will.
He must be crying tears of blood inside by now.
As he repeated endlessly that he was sorry in a dry voice, his insides must have already rotted away.
If she could, she wanted to share his burden.
By doing so, she hoped she could ease his pain.
It wouldn’t be difficult.
Even at this very moment, she could release the murderous intent and desire for destruction that was itching to be set free.
All she had to do was close her eyes and surrender to her killing intent.
But she couldn’t even do that.
Every time she made up her mind to grab the hilt of her sword, a soft voice stopped her.
“I alone am enough. So don’t come forward.”
The will in that voice was so firm and solemn that she could not refuse the command.
Her heart was torn into a thousand pieces.
Meanwhile, the crown prince continued to move forward.
Adelia Bavaria just sobbed and ran after him.
She hoped that the crown prince would not suffer too much from this incident.
Suddenly.
The crown prince who had been relentlessly advancing finally came to a stop.
Clink.
He put his beloved sword back into its sheath.
“Ah…”
She let out a sigh.
At some point, the uncomfortable screaming and yelling had stopped.
The crowd that had surrounded them were no longer visible.
She only realized this now because she had been solely focused on watching the crown prince’s back and following his steps.
Adelia Bavaria stood before the crown prince.
She tried to ask him if he was hurt anywhere and if he was really okay.
But she couldn’t get any words out.
The crown prince’s face was as pale as a corpse.
His lips were tattered and completely covered in blood from how much they had been chewed on.
His once sparkling eyes were completely clouded.
His hands were shaking violently.
The crown prince, feeling her gaze, quickly hid his hand behind his back.
“Let’s go.”
He pretended as if nothing had happened.
He looked so tired when he said that. Dangerously so, as if he could collapse at any moment.
Choke.
Something rose up in her chest.
She couldn’t bear it anymore and stretched out her hands toward the crown prince.
Shift.
The crown prince stepped back.
“Ah…”
Adelia Bavaria looked at him blankly.
The crown prince who had always complained about being cold since going to war.
The crown prince who had always hugged her for warmth.
That crown prince refused and avoided her touch.
Now, when he needed warmth more than ever.
To her, his behavior seemed like he considered himself to be dirty, like he was afraid that her hands might be contaminated by touching him.
She gritted her teeth and stretched out her hands another time.
She took a step closer to the crown prince again.
He took a step back again.
She approached once more.
When the crown prince took one step back, she took two steps forward.
And hugged the poor crown prince, who had nowhere else to retreat.
The crown prince, who had retreated backwards to avoid her touch, did not shake her off.
It seemed that he didn’t have the strength to do that.
She hugged the crown prince even tighter.
“Your Highness. It’s not your fault.”
The crown prince made no reply.
She thought that perhaps it was a good sign.
“Your Highness did nothing wrong.”
She just sobbed and said.
The fault lay with the emperor who had sent innocent people into battle.
All you did was carry another heavy burden on our behalf.
“No one can blame you.”
Over and over, she repeated her words while hugging the crown prince.
After some time.
Step.
She felt a presence behind her back.
When she turned her head, there was a man standing straight.
It was Gawain Gust.
He had harshly criticized the crown prince several times in the past.
There was no guarantee he would not do the same this time either.
And now was not a good time.
The current crown prince was much too unstable.
Adelia hugged the crown prince tightly and slowly moved her feet.
So that the crown prince’s eyes cannot see the man. So that words of profanity could not pollute his ears.
She glared straight at the man with sharp eyes.
If even one blasphemous word came out of his mouth, she planned to cut him down immediately.
However, the man did not criticize or ridicule the crown prince.
Just,
He just bent down and knelt.
His knee touched the floor.
The man lowered his head.
He seemed more pious than ever before.
* * *
When the old misunderstanding had been resolved, the hatred he harbored had disappeared, but Gawain Gust was still confused.
He couldn’t decide if the crown prince’s actions were just compassion or something else.
And he couldn’t decide what to do next or how to treat him.
So he just blindly followed him to the battlefield.
He thought the answer would come naturally as he continued to follow along.
He hid his confused eyes with his helmet and his shaky voice behind silence.
As if he was wandering through fog, everything was blurry and he only followed the small light ahead.
And today the blurry world finally became clear.
The crown prince stood tall in the vivid world.
The crown prince, who shed unwanted blood on everyone’s behalf and suffered from that sin.
The crown prince did not make a single excuse.
Stand up again, grab your sword, and personally take your revenge.
The images of the foul-mouthed crown prince of the past and the crown prince with trembling hands in the present overlapped.
Suddenly, his mind became surprisingly calm.
When he came to his senses, he was already kneeling before the crown prince.
“I, your subject, Gawain Gust.”
His mouth moved spontaneously.
“I offer my allegiance to Your Highness.”
The crown prince did not answer.
Gawain Gust also didn’t expect an answer.
His trembling heart had finally regained its balance.
His soul which had been wandering aimlessly had finally found its path.
The words he had unwittingly spoken were just the first step.
He was willing to put down his life for him.
This was the moment when, after wandering around for so long, he firmly established this thought in his heart.
* * *
Immediately after Gawain Gust pledged his loyalty, the other knights knelt down and followed suit one after another.
And then, they all closed their mouths and said nothing.
But Adelia Bavaria could feel it.
The hearts of the ones surrounding the crown prince were not filled with the same indifference as before, and all of their attention was focused on his every move.
They traveled for a while and stopped at a nameless plain.
Here the knights had to turn around and join the main force.
Gawain broke the silence and said.
“I’ll be back soon.”
His voice was so soft that she almost couldn’t believe her ears.
She didn’t hear wrong.
Gawain’s expression was so gentle.
HIs gloomy eyes had softened, and the previous cloudiness had been replaced with light.
It was hard to fathom, but it was real.
Only then did the wariness in Adelia’s eyes subside.
Gawain’s expression looked just like the Balahard’s, who cherished the crown prince.
He didn’t hate him anymore.
“And then I will never leave your side again.”
And plainly spoke some outrageous words.
She looked at the crown prince.
He seemed to have regained his composure.
To be precise, he had probably once again hidden his pain somewhere deep inside his small heart.
“Go ahead.”
But at least on the outside, the prince seemed a little happy to see the knight find his way.
“Please take care until then.”
Gawain Gust smiled softly again and bowed.
“Go. Hurry.”
The crown prince urged the knights.
The knights left.
The crown prince watched them leave for a while and then turned around.
His bright blue eyes were staring somewhere in the distance.
“Let’s go.”
The prince spoke softly.
“To the guy who was hiding in the back and beating his drums.”
And coldly.
“And to the emperor.”
As he called for the annihilation of the enemy.
* * *
“It was you.”
The crown prince sighed as he looked at the man who had hid behind innocent people while using them.
“I didn’t mean to keep you alive at that time.”
Deep regret appeared on his face.
“I should have killed you back then.”
But it only stayed there for a moment.
“It’s all my fault.”
A ghostly fire began to burn in his pupils.
“I will kill you now to correct my mistake.”
A red light dripped down from one eye.
“So that a thousand years of harm will no longer spread across the world.”
Simultaneously, the power of a myth began to overflow from his body.
Even in the face of such a powerful force, the drummer, the third princeps, just stared into space with empty eyes.
Trembling like a puppet whose strings have been cut.
The third princeps suddenly shuddered.
What came out of his mouth was not the voice of that hotheaded bastard.
『Adrian Leonberger.』
It was the voice of something else which was extremely ominous.
『Knight of Dawn.』
It was also a voice that the crown prince had heard a long time ago.
Note: In a fictional world where civilians have been irreversibly brainwashed into becoming suicidal zombies, a massacre might be a necessary evil. These chapters haven’t been very fun, so let’s continue to the next arc.
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