Chapter 167

Chapter 167

The light faded, and the old servant was gone. Where she had stood, a short staff hung in the air for a moment before dropping slowly to the ground.

It hit the floor with a sharp clank, bounced a few times, then went still.

The gate, which had been eaten away by the Shadow, gradually returned to its original state. At the same time, a blue glow spread across the floor, tracing out an intricate Runic Array.

The Youngest Princess stopped struggling. She stared at everything in front of her, then spoke in disbelief:

"She... where did she go?"

I let out a quiet sigh. "She sacrificed herself to open the portal."

The Youngest Princess slowly lost her strength and slid to the floor, muttering, "How could this happen..."

I hesitated, then said, "I thought you hated her."

"I did hate her." The Youngest Princess kept her head down, and I couldn't make out her expression. "But not enough to want her dead."

"I wanted her to admit she was wrong," she said, her voice complicated. "But she never did, not even at the end."

"She never would have."

She never believed she had done anything wrong, and she would never have apologized on behalf of the Eldest Princess either.

I thought about saying that out loud, then decided against it.

I still clearly remember the old servant's feelings toward the rebels:

Those damned rebels...

The Purifiers who deserved to be wiped out...

And the word she kept coming back to — the Queen's "mercy." In her eyes, erasing someone's consciousness was already the Eldest Princess being merciful.

Even if the whole world stood against the Eldest Princess, the old servant would have stood by her side.

Expecting someone like that to admit fault...

I shook my head.

"If she had just apologized, I would have forgiven her. And the things she asked for... I could have agreed to them..."

The Youngest Princess's voice cracked slightly:

"They were clearly the ones who were wrong. Why couldn't they just say so? If a bad person admits their mistakes, they can still change. They can still become good."

"Yeah..." I sighed.

A child's world is so simple — just right and wrong, good guys and bad guys.

But nothing in this world is ever that clean-cut.

Better to leave her alone for a while.

I let the Youngest Princess be and turned my attention to the portal Runic Array in front of me.

It shone with a steady blue light.

I studied it carefully for a moment. No anomalies. It was stable.

Before stepping through, though, there were a few things I needed to confirm first.

......

Night. The sky was full of stars, their faint light falling over the crystal lake below.

The entire lake had turned black, breathing out thin wisps of dark mist under the starlit sky.

At the center of the lake.

A figure hung motionless from the crystal tree, head drooping forward.

A curved blade ran straight through her chest.

A puppet dressed in silver held the handle, driving it deep, the blade buried almost entirely inside her.

The two figures stayed locked in that position, perfectly still.

Footsteps broke the silence. A figure climbed the stairs slowly and stepped onto the platform.

The Eldest Princess, blade still in her chest, lifted her head slightly.

The newcomer was wearing strange clothes — a shirt with sleeves so short they barely covered the shoulders, and pants that stopped at the knee, leaving arms and calves bare.

The Eldest Princess watched him in silence.

"Eldest Princess, are you alright? I came to get my weapon back."

The boy looked genuinely surprised at the sight of her.

"What happened to you? Why is there a blade in your chest? Just pull it out."

She stared at him, cold and silent.

The crystal lake seemed to grow darker, black mist drifting slowly through the air.

"Why aren't you talking? It's me — the knight you made a deal with."

He stepped closer and spoke again:

"Go ahead and pull it out. Isn't that what we agreed on?"

In the dim starlight, shadows fell across his face, hiding his expression.

Silence settled over the platform.

The Eldest Princess finally spoke, her voice tired and a little hoarse. "If you want it, come get it yourself."

Neither she nor the puppet moved.

"In the state you're in, pulling it out myself would hurt you. Better if you do it. We already agreed, didn't we?"

There was something oddly persuasive in the boy's voice:

"Come on, just pull it out. Leave the rest to me — the knight from the prophecy. Don't worry, I'll handle everything.

Come on. Pull it out."

"You've never trained with a weapon. The one you carry was something we chose together. Do you remember what I recommended for you?"

The Eldest Princess spoke calmly, as if the blade in her chest wasn't there at all.

"A blade, of course. The very one in your chest right now."

The boy answered as if it were obvious.

The Eldest Princess let out a small sigh. Then, in a sharp burst of syllables: "Pierce!"

Before the boy could react, a magic spear shot through his body and pinned him to the ground.

The shaft blazed with light, burning straight through him.

He let out a terrible scream, then dissolved piece by piece in the glow — a spreading black stain that the light slowly consumed until nothing was left.

"It's a mace, you idiot." The Eldest Princess sighed softly. "That impression was terrible."

The magic spear broke apart into motes of light and faded into the air.

The Eldest Princess kept her puppet's grip tight on the blade handle. The two figures stood frozen on the platform.

Black stains crept slowly up their ankles, pressing upward — then seemed to hesitate, like something was holding them back.

A faint white light flickered along the blade.

The black stains slowly receded.

A little while later, footsteps came again, climbing the stairs one step at a time.

The Eldest Princess looked up, expressionless, as the figure came into view on the platform.

She stared at the figure in front of her. Her eyes went wide. Her mouth fell open without her meaning it to.

"Your Highness, I'm here for you." The knight's voice was steady and calm, silver armor catching the starlight in a faint, familiar glow.

Exactly as she remembered.

For a moment, it felt like she was back at their very first meeting.

In the old capital, in a garden thick with green, a knight who had wandered in by mistake, and a young princess.

"You're so ugly, and you call yourself the Sword of the Kingdom? From now on, I'm calling you the Ugly Knight." The proud little princess announced it like she was doing him a favor.

The knight across from her looked at the girl with barely-contained exasperation.

Bright flowers surrounded both of them in the garden.

The memory slipped away. The Eldest Princess lowered her face, letting it fall into the shadow of the starlight.

From deep within the dark crystal lake, a voice came — trembling, pressed down with fury:

"How dare you... show up in front of me wearing his face!"

A blazing white light erupted from above the platform and swallowed the knight whole.