CHAPTER 171
The 3rd Prince, Leoli Gladion.
A young prince who was barely ten years old.
Naturally, it was impossible for Leoli to inherit the throne.
However, his mother thought differently.
She had attended to the Emperor and received an overwhelming amount of his favor. She was a woman who had borne his child at an age when he thought he could no longer have children.

The Emperor was in a position where he had to step down after a long life in the Imperial Palace.
To him, it must have been an indescribable loneliness.
The process of realizing that he, who had once been the radiant Emperor of the Empire, was now becoming a useless old man. Many men broke during that process, and the once unyielding Emperor was no exception.
Because of that, his youngest son, who was still young and looked only at him, must have been incredibly endearing. While his fully grown children were implicitly pressuring him to step aside, the 3rd Prince did not.

So, he must have loved and cherished the boy enough to want to give him everything.
Consequently, the 3rd Prince’s mother, the 3rd Imperial Consort, harbored vain ambitions fueled by the Emperor’s love for his son.
The ambition that the Emperor might just pass the throne down to her boy.

That ambition provoked the ire of the other consorts, and eventually, it even provoked the Empress.
To the point where the Empress, who had loved the Emperor until the very end, went utterly insane watching him defend only the 3rd Prince and his mother.

"They say you never know where life will take you."

To think there was a world where an Emperor gets poisoned to death by his own Empress.
My head throbbed, but aside from that, I had to find the 3rd Prince immediately.

The 3rd Prince was, in a way, a hostage to be used against the Emperor.
The Emperor adored the 3rd Prince above all else.
To him, the 3rd Prince was likely the entirety of his remaining life.
Therefore, if he faced the 3rd Prince, he would realize it.
He would realize that the moment he misspoke, the 3rd Prince could be in grave danger.
That his final role was to allow the 1st Princess to protect the 3rd Prince so he could grow up safely.

'And because they know that...'

The 1st Prince and the 2nd Prince would also try to capture the 3rd Prince.
The 3rd Prince and me.
The moment they secured the two of us, they could twist the Emperor’s words however they pleased.
And conversely, the same went for the 1st Princess.

A sudden storm had struck the Imperial Family.
There was no telling how much would be swept away in this tempest.
However, one thing was certain: right now, I was walking straight into the eye of that storm.

Rattle—

The carriage came to a halt in front of the main gates of the Imperial Palace.
It was a carriage specially assigned to Iox, the Royal Mage Captain.
The palace guards made way without a hint of suspicion.

When I stepped out of the carriage, the guards looked my way.
None of them pointed me out or stopped me.
I had already visited the Imperial Palace several times, and the fact that I was the Saint was already far too famous.

So, by now, all this news would be spreading throughout the palace.
As I said before, a nation in this state belongs to whoever seizes the Imperial Palace first.
The 1st Princess had not yet taken full control of the palace due to the sudden nature of the will.
For the 1st Prince and the 2nd Prince, this very moment was their only chance to make a comeback.

And in the midst of that situation, I had appeared right here.

The 1st Princess.
The 1st Prince.
The 2nd Prince.

The gazes of all three would undoubtedly converge here.
I could feel three massive auras emanating from within the palace.
The only card that could save the Emperor.
I could clearly feel the three factions rushing over here to get to me first.

Therefore.

'I'm counting on you.'

This time, I could serve as the ultimate bait for the Imperial Family.
Throw the bait and catch the fish.
I prayed she would safely secure the 3rd Prince.

The 3rd Prince Leoli Gladion’s chambers.
Inside were a knight carrying Leoli and his mother, the Consort Leila.

"M-Mother, what is going on?"

It was a sudden situation.
It had barely been a few hours since he heard that his father, who cherished him, had been poisoned to death.
Yet, without even giving him time to mourn his father's death, his mother had suddenly barged in and started packing their bags. For Leoli, the situation was incomprehensible.

"Leoli, the Imperial Palace is dangerous. We have to leave here right now."

The Imperial Palace is dangerous?
Leoli had been born and raised here for his entire ten years of life.
The Imperial Palace should be the safest place in the world, so what could possibly be dangerous about it?
Being so young, Leoli couldn't grasp the current flow of events.
He was just sad about the death of the father who had loved him.

However, even if Leila was a woman who harbored foolish ambitions, she was still a concubine who had survived the political battlefield of the Imperial Palace.
Naturally, she could intuitively sense that this series of events would come crashing down on Leoli as a fatal crisis.

The Imperial Palace was currently the eye of the storm.
If they stayed here, they would soon be swept up in the rapids and torn to shreds.

'I believed His Majesty would hold out for a few more years.'

Leila felt a terribly bitter taste in her mouth.
Even if others called it a vain ambition, whenever she was with His Majesty, he would always smile and say he wanted to make Leoli the Emperor.
Watching him, she thought that if Leoli grew older, it might truly happen, so she had laid the political groundwork in advance. But with His Majesty poisoned, all of it had turned into arrows shooting right back at them.
And it was a deadly poison that could kill with just a single scratch.

"Now, let's go!"

When there's a fire, you have to escape first and think later.
Leila made up her mind to flee the Imperial Palace to protect Leoli.
The moment she hurriedly ran toward the carriage with her head maid...

Clop! Clop! Clop!

The sound of horse hooves began to echo from afar. And it wasn't just one or two; it was the numbers of an entire knight order.
As soon as Leila heard the sound, she guessed what was happening.
Someone had sent people to the 3rd Prince's quarters to capture him.
If they boarded the carriage, they would almost certainly be caught trying to leave.

"Your Highness, I will take the carriage and leave!"

At that, the head maid quickly ran and boarded the carriage. She meant to draw their attention with it.
Leila bit her lip and nodded, and the head maid climbed into the carriage with a final farewell.

As the carriage sped away from the quarters, a portion of the hoofbeats split off and began chasing it. The numbers had decreased, but knights were still storming the mansion, considering the possibility that they had stayed behind.
Leila hurriedly ran toward the gardens with the knight carrying Leoli.

Fortunately, the lush gardens served as excellent cover.
The maids and servants bought them time by grabbing the reins of the invading knights' horses, and during that time, she tried to flee as far as possible.

As they were advancing through the garden...

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A steady sound of footsteps reached their ears.
Footsteps at such a constant pace that it gave them a chilling feeling.
The knight's face began to turn pale white.
He had an expression that said he already recognized these footsteps.

The Imperial Family also possessed various weapons exclusive to them.
One of them.
The group that handled the Imperial Family's dirty work.
The Scream-less Blade.

The commander of that Scream-less Blade was making those distinct footsteps.
It was a mocking sound, as if to say the grim reaper was slowly approaching them.

"Your Highness, from now on, you must never look back and just run with the Prince."

With those words, the knight set Leoli down.
Unable to understand the unfolding situation, Leoli tightly grabbed his mother's hand.

"Go!"

With the knight's shout, the mother and son began to run.
The sound of clashing swords rang out from behind them.
Leila and Leoli ran desperately.
By this point, even Leoli looked as though he sensed something was terribly wrong.

"It's all my fault."

Leila lamented with a deathly pale face.

"Because I was too greedy..."
"Yes, that's exactly right."

At that moment, a voice came from behind her.
When Leila flinched and turned her head, there was a man wearing a mask.
A man with a mask that only had a hole for one eye.
Even looking at the 3rd Consort, he wore a disrespectful, sneering smile.
A face that seemed to say he had seen far too many people like her.

"Hiiiik! Who do you think you are showing your face to?!"

When the 3rd Consort shouted, the man merely smiled leisurely.

"It is quite ironic that the one who commanded the world, trusting only in His Majesty the Emperor's grace, cannot recognize that His Majesty's grace has vanished."

Leila's body trembled violently.
Having been a concubine, she too had seen what kind of dark schemes went back and forth in the Imperial Palace.
Surviving as a concubine was only possible with the total, unconditional support of the Emperor.
Now that the Emperor was dead, she had absolutely nothing.
Even her family was merely a viscountcy that had barely managed to get her in as a concubine.
Naturally, she didn't even have a foundation to support her.

"What else is there but to fall when you're flapping around with plucked wings?"

Leila gasped for air.

"So, even so, you dare to lay your hands on the royal bloodline, you lowly scum?"
"Hahaha, as if I would? How could trash like me dare touch the royal bloodline?"

The commander of the Scream-less Blade burst into uproarious laughter, wiping the corner of his eye visible through his mask.

"I merely came to escort Your Highness the 3rd Consort and Your Highness the 3rd Prince under the pretext of protection. Wouldn't it be best for the 3rd Prince to stay by his mother's side as well?"

Those words were nothing more than lip service.
There was no basis to trust him whatsoever.
Moreover, it was entirely unknown whose subordinate he was—the 1st Prince, the 2nd Prince, or the 1st Princess.
A wrong choice would put her child's life in danger.

"Just take me..."

Leoli spoke with a burning heart.

"Just take me. But please, spare my son."

A mother's final, desperate plea.
Hearing those words, the commander of the Scream-less Blade tilted his head.

"We've conversed for too long."

Leila's final plea didn't work in the slightest.

"Leoli!"

Leila pushed Leoli away and lunged at him.
What meaning could there be in a young woman rushing him?
Leila was a noble lady who had been raised preciously in a noble's mansion, whose entire life experience consisted of watching political schemes among concubines.
All she could do was rely on luck.

At his mother's scream, Leoli ran.
Because he was young, he couldn't fully comprehend what was happening, but he knew he had to do at least that.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

At that moment, the footsteps he had heard earlier rang out again.
The commander of the Scream-less Blade.
He had finally struck down his mother and was now chasing after him.
Leoli's face turned completely white.
Driven by terror, he increased his speed and ran even faster.

However, the moment he realized the footsteps were coming from in front of him, not behind him...
He raised his head with a look of utter despair.

Standing in front of him was the commander.
There was no way a young child's legs could outrun him.
But soon, Leoli realized that the man wasn't looking at him.
He was looking behind Leoli.

"Who are you?"

Leoli followed his gaze and turned around.
Soon after, Leoli unconsciously opened his mouth.
A woman with an appearance so beautiful that even a young boy could recognize it stood there.
Beneath hair fluttering with a blend of white, black, and gold colors...
Amber eyes shone vividly.

"That kid's temporary guardian."

The disciple of the Sword Lord, Aranseol.
It was her.