A chill ran down his spine as an icy dread swept over him.
“Is the Crown Prince… trying to harm His Majesty? No, why would the Royal Knights even be in this forest in the first place? Or are we all hallucinating? How could the knights have come here without Tither?”
Like anyone confronted with the incomprehensible, Vine tried to deny the reality. Maybe it really was an illusion. Perhaps it was the Devil’s power—or something equally insidious—clouding their minds.
But Tithers weren’t susceptible to such abilities. Perhaps a divine design to prevent civil war among them, Tithers were granted the power to resist any external interference. Even if a Tither possessed the power to manipulate minds, that ability couldn’t be used against another Tither. That was the nature of their kind.
So unless Seiyad had succumbed to Rampage, there was no reason he would be seeing illusions. Hadn’t his mother also confronted the real Nir’a without falling into hallucinations?
“…Master, did we… really kill those knights?”
Rigda, who had remained silent, finally spoke with a voice heavy with guilt. Of all those present, the only one who seemed to know anything was Ressas, and so her question was directed solely at him.
Ressas wiped the blood-streaked side of his pale cheek with the back of his hand, then turned his gaze toward the direction Seiyad had looked earlier—toward the tree. At last, he broke the silence.
“Yes. The ones we killed were my brother’s knights. Innocent, pitiful souls. Maybe not entirely pure, but they were brainwashed against their will and ordered to guard this place. Victims, all of them.”
Seiyad realized now that there was no going back. With both Vine and Rigda having witnessed this with their own eyes, at least one truth needed to be made clear.
“Who brainwashed them?”
Even as he asked, he already knew the answer.
The signs of Mental Indoctrination had also appeared in Jasper. The ability that had deceived the knights at that time was connected to the mysterious presence near Shildras. Up until now, Seiyad had avoided drawing conclusions, preferring speculation to certainty. But witnessing the knights used like pawns in a game of chess—he could no longer turn a blind eye.
Humans had no business being this deep in the forest. The fact that they were all Aster’s knights, and that they had all been brainwashed—when considered together, the answer was obvious.
Someone who could command the royal knights at will. Someone born with ties to the Devil. Someone actively pushing for the division of the Tithers. Someone who could recreate past events involving Seiyad’s mother as if he had been there himself.
The one who had always tried to isolate Seiyad.
His former master.
“It seems my brother intends to commit an unforgivable act.”
Ressas gave the answer, confirming what Seiyad had already come to suspect. Rigda and Vine, overwhelmed by the weight of it all, held their tongues. In the silence thick as shadow, Seiyad slowly became aware—
A rage beyond words began to burn through his chest.
A profound betrayal took hold of him.
He hadn’t just been deceived. He had been manipulated. Ridiculed. How foolish he had been throughout his life—there were no words strong enough to express it.
Every fiber of his soul now cried out to tear the Crown Prince limb from limb and then do it again. His fury consumed his reason. Right beside him stood his enemy—the one responsible for driving both him and his mother to the brink—and yet he had sworn loyalty in pursuit of someone who had never deserved it.
If a Devil existed, then it could only be Aster.
In a world that had turned its back on him, Seiyad had thought at least Aster believed in him. But now, every word, every gesture from him stabbed through Seiyad like a blade, shredding him to pieces.
Uncontainable fury reddened his eyes, and his energy surged, ready to explode at any moment.
His heart was so turbulent it felt like it might burst.
There were truths so horrifying that simply accepting them could drive a person mad—and this moment was one of them.
“Eid.”
Just as his soul was about to be consumed by darkness and swallowed whole, Ressas reached out to him.
Draped in white, with pale skin and a glow that shone softly even in the gloom, Ressas enveloped Seiyad gently. The moment his hand made contact, the turbulent energy within Seiyad recoiled and began to settle. His power flared like a storm but, faced with Ressas’s presence, it kept yielding—rising and falling, over and over again.
“We’ll find a way. So for now, let’s do what we can. Destroy the core while it still holds power, and return… let your weary heart rest. Morning will come, you’ll see. The sun is waiting for you.”
He wanted to shove Ressas away and tell him even that moment was too precious to waste.
But he couldn’t.
Not when Ressas stood there soaked in blood—Seiyad’s blood—grinning like a fool.
He couldn’t bring himself to say anything cruel.
Especially not when he saw the deep red spreading from Ressas’s abdomen.
It must have hurt.
Even for Seiyad, injuries like that weren’t common. He still remembered the pain from last time. The way his insides twisted when his organs had been pierced—it was an agony beyond words. A fatal wound that would’ve killed any ordinary man.
Seiyad looked over Ressas slowly, his face grim.
His beautiful face was marked with scabs from healing cuts, and his hands were stained red.
Though the blood soaking his clothes came mostly from Seiyad, there were also cuts scattered across his own body. It was inevitable. He had taken on attackers as mindless and relentless as dolls.
He had borne the burden meant for both Vine and Rigda. He had to be hurting badly.
And yet, in that state, Ressas looked only at Seiyad and smiled as if everything was fine.
“…We should return quickly.”
His heart weighed heavy, like it was being crushed under stone.
Seiyad could no longer be swept away by rage.
Seeing that foolish smile only brought anguish.
Someone like Ressas—he should have been surrounded by things as light and beautiful as feathers.
Not this.
Not this cruelty. Not this pain.
That just wasn’t right.
He couldn’t bear to leave Ressas in that state a moment longer in the forest.
Having come to a decision, Seiyad forced his stiff legs to move. He strode forward through the darkness only he could see, drew his longsword, and channeled his power into it. The blade began to tremble as he poured in his energy, and then he drove it into the massive core embedded in the trunk of the tree.
Crack!
A sound like splintering thick bark echoed into the air. It was as though even the air itself was too heavy—the sound didn’t spread but instead sank. As he began to push more power through the blade he had barely managed to embed, the faint crimson-black energy began to writhe and clash against Seiyad’s force.
At that moment, a whisper echoed in his head.
“You are my only star.”
The crimson-black energy whispered sweetly, spiraling like a vortex—only to be scattered by Seiyad’s unrelenting power. Somewhere in the air, a grotesque laugh echoed and then faded. It seemed Seiyad wasn’t the only one who heard it—both Rigda and Vine flinched, scanning their surroundings.
Only after exhausting his strength did the core’s shell begin to crack and crumble with a dry, crumbling sound. At the same time, the suffocating darkness surrounding them began to dissipate, reverting to something more ordinary. The flickering of torches spread further, illuminating enough to discern shapes in the surroundings. What had appeared to be a pitch-black sky now revealed the return of the moon and stars, gazing down upon them once more.
***
After spending an entire day in battle, the group no longer had the strength to make it to the forest’s edge. Although Seiyad was still doubtful, he relented when Ressas insisted the southern part of the forest was no longer dangerous. Rigda and Vine had clearly pushed past their limits—resting was the right call.
The forest, now quiet, was eerily tranquil. The cries of birds, unheard all day, now echoed from various directions. The sky was lit beautifully with stars, and even though it was nighttime, the brilliance of the moon and stars bathed everything in a soft glow.
They made camp near a stream. Vine and Rigda gathered kindling and lit a fire from a torch. They said they’d stand watch, but fell asleep almost immediately, collapsing shoulder to shoulder as if they didn’t even realize they’d dozed off.
“You should rest too, Duke. I’ll keep watch.”
Ressas gently offered the suggestion to Seiyad, who was keeping an eye on the two.
It was absurd.
“I need to check your wounds.”
To stop the guide—who should have been cared for—from caring for a Tither, Seiyad brought up a topic that could not be ignored. With the stream right next to them, it made sense to clean and treat the injuries while they had the chance.
“They’ve already healed. You don’t need to worry.”
Ressas smiled brightly like a child as he said it—so casually, so easily. The moment Seiyad saw those smiling lips, a sharp anger flared up inside him. Despite knowing it was improper, he resorted to an extreme measure.
“…Excuse me.”
Striding up to Ressas, he grabbed his collar. The already tattered clothing, shredded by combat, tore easily even without much force. Ressas stared at him with wide eyes like a startled deer.
Clearly caught off guard, he froze and didn’t even move. Seiyad parted the fabric—and there it was.
A wound still in the midst of healing.
“You’re going to lie to me?”
The sight made Seiyad’s insides boil with fury. His stomach twisted as if burning alive.
The skin around the abdomen was just beginning to grow back, and several wounds were still scabbing over. Normally, his healing abilities left no trace—but if scabs were forming, then most of his regenerative power must’ve gone toward treating the abdominal stab wound.
Seiyad had been through the same.
His chest ached with a strange, stinging sensation, as if something inside him had cracked. He bit down on his lip. He didn’t want to say anything that would come out as blame, but the frustration felt like it was suffocating him.
Heat gathered in his eyes. His head pounded with a rising wave of dizziness.
“…I’m sorry, Eid. Did I upset you again?”
Ressas looked flustered as he reached out a hand.
“I didn’t mean to. Please don’t cry.”
The ridiculousness of it made Seiyad furrow his brows.
“What do you want me to do?”
A warm hand brushed the corner of his eye.
The trembling fingertips gently wiped away the tears from Seiyad’s face. Incredibly, he could feel the moisture on Ressas’s fingers—proof that tears had actually fallen.
Ressas, looking desperate, cupped Seiyad’s cheek with both hands.
