Chapter 92

"Your Highness."

Erabelle slowly opened her eyes. Somewhere nearby came the clear chime of metal ornaments striking one another. For some reason, the sound bothered her. When she reached toward it, her fingers encountered a long drop earring beside her ear.

She slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again.

What is this...?

Was she still half asleep? But even so, this was a little....

"Your Highness."

Something was wrong.

"Your Highness."

Blinking, Erabelle looked up at the man beside her.

His face was unfamiliar, and she recoiled. Who is he...? She flinched back in fear, only to realize that she did, in fact, recognize him.

"...Kancher?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Dezeb's Dog answered with a smile. He was a massive man nearly six feet three inches tall, with closely cropped wheat-blond hair.

He was handsome, but Dezeb had numbed Erabelle's optic nerves, so she felt nothing in particular.

More importantly, why was the chief of palace security, who ought to be at the Imperial Palace— No, first of all, this did appear to be the Imperial Palace.

Erabelle stared frantically around the dizzyingly lavish bedroom.

"I believe it would be best if you rose now. The jury panel is waiting. You must answer the summons by this morning."

Is this like what happened at Sanctuary...?

But this felt far more—far more vivid than that had.

Erabelle raised a hand and examined it, then touched her own face. A smooth male hand. Long golden hair....

This was the Prince's body.

A brief examination was enough to make her certain.

This was the Prince's body.

Terrified, Erabelle looked up at the chief of palace security, who was still smiling pleasantly.

"I...."

A somewhat low male voice emerged from her throat.

"Chief, I'm Vermilion."

"Pardon?"

"I-I'm Erabelle Vermilion. Erabelle Vermilion...."

The smile vanished completely from Kancher's face.

"Is this... some new tactic, Your Highness?"

There was not a trace of laughter in his chilling gaze. Erabelle knew the expression the Dogs wore at times like this. It was the face they made just before they bit—just before they tore someone apart.

Fortunately, the unfortunate event of Kancher tearing into her did not occur. The trial was waiting for the Prince.

Erabelle was dressed with the utmost elegance and dragged to the reception hall.

The reception hall of Ilwol Palace was beautiful.

The arched doorways surrounding it were as broad as ancient trees, and beyond those open arches, the vivid blue sky drifted slowly past.

Seated in the highest place of honor within that beautiful reception hall, Erabelle contemplated her life.

What the hell is my life...?

She thought this every time she hit rock bottom, but at this point, it seemed less like rock bottom and more like a bottomless abyss.

"Do you accept the ruling?"

Something appeared to have transpired while her mind was elsewhere. Sneaking a look at the aides, she gathered that she ought to shake her head.

She could not nod and participate in ruining the Prince's life. If Dezeb had truly intended to ruin him, he would have acted long ago.

It had already been more than a year since the Thirteenth Prince was indicted for the murder of the Second Prince.

The matter seemed to have been dragged out through repeated proceedings like this one.

With the Second Prince dead, the Empire's sole remaining legitimate heir—and, above all, the Emperor's most beloved son—being subjected to such humiliation was certainly suspicious.

Could the Emperor already be dead too...?

The thought that he might already be dead, with one of the Dogs controlling his body and giving a laughably poor performance, suddenly seemed remarkably plausible.

In the original story, the Dogs could control corpses as though possessing them. The precise method had never been explained, but it was certain they were capable of it.

There was a reason she considered this world hopeless.

....

Erabelle turned her gaze beyond the arched doorway again.

The blue, beautiful sky was not the only thing there. Sanctuary was there as well—half destroyed, its debris scattered everywhere....

Anxiety crept into her heart.

She had no idea how Dezeb would react to this. That made her even more anxious.

The moment the trial ended, Erabelle appealed once more to Kancher, who was responsible for guarding the Prince.

"Captain, please, just connect one call to Dezeb."

She looked ready to drop to her knees on the spot. Kancher let out an incredulous laugh, while the aides were utterly bewildered. Erabelle did not care. They were all in league with the Dogs anyway.

There was not a single person around the Thirteenth Prince who remained beyond Dezeb's reach, so Erabelle made no distinction among them.

"Please, just one call...!"

"As you know, the Division Commander is presently very busy preparing for his engagement."

I believe I'm the fiancée in question....

Unless Dezeb was collecting prenuptial agreements from multiple people, at least.

"Numbered limited-edition sneakers!"

"Pardon?"

"I'm talking about the numbered limited-edition sneakers!"

Kancher openly frowned at the Prince in irritation. It was yet another example of how little the Imperial Family meant to them. To the Dogs, they were no more than toys.

"What the hell are you talking about—"

"The supply requisitions!"

There had been many irregularities in the palace security team's supply requisitions.

"You frequently requested limited-edition sneakers on your supply requisitions!"

"...."

Kancher, who had been about to snap at her again, closed his mouth. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"...Did you plant an agent in the supply unit?"

"Not the supply unit, the Adjutant's Office! All supplies for our division's special teams are managed by the Adjutant's Office!"

"You really planted an agent...."

"No, I worked in the Adjutant's Office myself! Erabelle Vermilion, twenty-eight years old, currently on paid medical leave after an injury!"

"...."

Faced with her frantic stream of words, Kancher fell silent again. Erabelle grew increasingly desperate. Before she could add anything else, however, Kancher changed the subject.

"Why don't we begin with your signum renewal?"

"Pardon?"

"It's today, isn't it? Your renewal date."

He then attempted to soothe her.

"You don't need to go this far. We can contact Dezeb for you whenever you wish. Just tell me how you managed to plant an agent in the Adjutant's Office, and I'll postpone the signum renewal for you...."

Plant an agent? How would anyone even do that? Is that even possible?

Ignoring Kancher as he rattled off impossibilities, Erabelle found a cushion and a table mat nearby.

"P-postpone...."

Kancher began to stammer as he watched her. She had knelt on the floor, stuffed the cloth table mat into her mouth, then buried her face in the cushion and bent forward.

"...."

"...."

Kancher and the other Dogs fell silent for a moment.

"...You do it."

Then they gradually began passing the responsibility to one another.

"No, Chief. You said you would do it."

"When the fuck did I say that, you bastard? 'Shall we begin?' It was a fucking question. A question!"

"No, it wasn't. You said, 'Let's begin.' Let's begin. So the person who said he would do it should hurry up and do it."

Growing tired of waiting as the argument continued, Erabelle removed the cloth mat from her mouth and made a suggestion to Kancher.

"Could you please just do it quickly? I truly need to contact him as soon as possible."

"Why me?!"

Kancher snapped, demanding to know why she was doing this to him. It was somewhat shameless of him, but he shouted so loudly, his face flushing bright red, that she quietly averted her eyes.

"Then perhaps someone else...."

"Ah—why are you looking at me?! The Chief said he'd do it! The Chief, not me!"

Their teamwork was touching.

"Then perhaps you could draw lots or use a ladder game?"

The team members rejected that proposal as well. They drew a firm line, insisting that since their Chief had brought it up, their Chief should take responsibility. Their resolve was absolute. They would not tolerate even the slightest chance of being selected themselves.

"Then could you please just hurry, Captain...."

"Ah! I told you to wait!"

Just as Kancher shouted at her again, his phone rang.

"...."

It was a direct call from the 41st Division's main vessel.

At that moment, Dezeb was staring at the sleeping woman beside him with a disbelieving laugh. He took out a cigarette, placed it between his lips, and was lighting it when another soft laugh escaped him.

"...You keep wandering off without permission. You know I have trauma about this."

He brought up all the sorcery script surrounding the sleeping Erabelle, severed the connection to her consciousness, and walked outside.

"The atmosphere is behaving strangely today."

"Has something happened to the planetary deity? Contact the temple."

The Dogs stared uneasily at the planet's sky as it suddenly began to buckle. Then they turned to greet him as he stepped through the door.

"Ah, Dezeb. Is there something you'd like us to—"

The Dog collapsed into dozens of pieces.

The remaining Dogs went deathly pale as the severed pieces poured onto the floor.

"Bring me the head of the surveillance team."

Dezeb spoke as he ground the mangled flesh beneath his foot.

The Dogs who received {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the order immediately opened ritual pathways and scattered, but only a tiny handful escaped.

Scarlet blood and screams spread throughout the estate's corridors and every ritual pathway.

While the fortunate few who had escaped went to fetch the surveillance team leader, Dezeb burst his Dogs' heads, tore apart their flesh, shattered their bones, and ripped out their entrails, leaving them strewn across the floor.

By the time Aries arrived, the corridor resembled the stomach of a monster in the midst of digesting raw meat.

"Didn't I tell you to make sure this never happened again?"

Dezeb crushed the living, twitching things stuck to the wall with blood and flesh as though squashing insects.

"You lost her three times in two days?"