The pendant’s color that finally revealed itself was a vivid crimson.

“Ah... ah...”

“...”

“How... ah...”

“...”

She should have been happy, but she was sorrowful.

Hope had been realized, yet despair surged forth.

She should have felt joy, but a sob escaped.

“Ahhh...!”

All her emotions, twisted and overturned, seemed to tear her mind apart.

Reid kept his eyes fixed on the woman who was going mad, and quietly spoke.

“I really enjoyed the teatime we had together.”

“...”

“For a moment, that suffocating royal palace seemed like a gingerbread house from a fairy tale. But...”

“...”

“It seems that time has forever left us.”

“...!”

It was a phrase young Reminic often said. Information only known to those involved felt like confirmation beyond doubt.

By now, Queen Raviosa was nearly gasping for breath.

‘Pr-Prinic Reminic...’

‘He really has returned... just as the prophecy said...’

Nobles swallowed their shocked cries along with dry saliva, watching the scene unfold. The tragedy was still ongoing.

The son who overturned his scheming mother’s board and set a new one — now it was his turn to fulfill his will.

Reid’s expression as he looked down at Queen Raviosa suddenly grew tender.

“You said you’d do anything for your son.”

“I-I...”

“Then succeeding the throne should be nothing to you. Isn’t that right?”

He did not forget to add an effective final stroke to his words.

“Mother.”

“...!”

The color drained from Queen Raviosa’s face.

It was what she had longed for.

Her resurrected son calling her.

That kind, gentle voice.

The long-awaited wish was granted — but it never became a reward. Rather, it was nothing short of the worst punishment.

In truth, she was a criminal.

What on earth had she done to the son before her? What had she done to him?

It was already a sin not to recognize him — what words, what actions, what wounds had she inflicted?

“Ah, ugh...”

She had babbled endlessly that it wouldn’t matter even if she crushed her ribs and pierced her heart with her own hands, but her eyes were blind and her hands were foolish.

Queen Raviosa wished to gouge out her own eyes and cut off her hands.

No, she simply wanted to die. To seize her own throat and snap it herself.

“You seem troubled to take what belongs to your younger brother and give it to me. Then shall I have a word?”

“...!”

Reid stepped past Queen Raviosa.

As she gasped for breath as if stabbed in the heart by that small gesture of departure, Reid’s gaze landed on another ‘family member.’

“...”

“...”

The youngest prince, too grown to be called a boy but still with a hint of youth too young to be a man.

He watched Reid with a face clearly shaken even from seven steps away.

“Huh, ugh...”

Rigales’ lips twitched but no sound came out for a long time. The reason he suddenly lost his voice was obvious.

Rigales had no right to call the other ‘brother.’

Realizing the cruel truth, he was terrified. And that terrified appearance only fueled Reid’s disgust.

He thought it was just like their mother, whining overly sensitive to his own wounds.

Anyway, the coward seemed too scared even to speak, so Reid decided to take the initiative.

“You’ve grown a lot, Riga.”

“...!”

His eyes were full of longing and kindness as he looked at the brother he had been separated from long ago.

Was it an act, or sincerity?

Before Reid could answer, Rigales seemed to gain courage.

“Br-brother...”

“...”

“Re-Reminic, brother...”

“...”

As if hypnotized, Rigales slowly took a step toward Reid. Reid allowed him to approach within reach.

“Really, brother?”

“...”

“N-no, I’m not denying it...! I, I... brother... br-brother...”

“...”

“Al-alive... alive...”

His last words were swallowed by tears. His blue eyes melted as tears poured uncontrollably.

Reid, quietly watching Rigales, stretched out a hand. His delicate fingertips touched the platinum hair, softly stroking it along the strands.

A brother comforting a crying younger brother. But it was important not to forget.

Reid could effectively wound Rigales. Just as he did with the queen.

“Regret that you’re alive?”

“...Brother?”

“You wished I were dead.”

“...!”

I hate you, brother. I wish you were dead.

Rigales’ shoulders, shaking with sobs, stopped as if by a lie.

But Reid paid no mind and simply kept stroking his brother’s head.

“Is that so? Then you offered me poison again?”

“...”

It’s a deadly poison known as the nemesis of mages. It reverses blood vessels and mana circuits at the same time, turning the victim into a cripple within half a day.

“Br-brother...”

Breathing heavily like a beast caught in a snare, Rigales barely moved his creaking neck.

Seeing his older brother’s cold face, his mind snapped back to reality. Instantly, both knees hit the floor.

“Brother, brother! I’m sorry! I, I was wrong!”

“...”

“I was foolish and made a mistake!”

Kneeling was not enough. He threw himself down to the floor and begged.

“Brother, this will never happen again. Please forgive me just once! Please forgive me.”

“...”

“Brother, just hit me! Insult me! Do it until you’re no longer angry! Brother? Hm?”

“...”

“Reminic, brother...!”

It did not matter to him that he was now pounding the ground and crying as the sacred scripture once prophesied.

“Please, please, brother... I’m all wrong, so please...”

“...”

Reid, looking down at the crawling sinner, lowered his posture.

He lifted Rigales’s bowed head and patiently waited until the thick film of tears spilled out of his eyes.

So Rigales could see his face well.

“Riga.”

A gentle voice. But it was just a means to create an even greater fall with cruelty.

“Your brother is dead.”

“...”

With the cold voice, Rigales immediately lost his breath. Reid watched the honest agitation without missing a detail and continued. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

“The one who died and remained here is...”

“...”

“Nothing but a monster.”

“...!”

So he really wasn’t an ordinary man, a monster bastard.

“Ah, ah...”

Rigales’ whole body trembled pitifully. Every word he had spoken pierced his heart in reverse.

He frantically shook his head.

“No, no.”

“...”

“No. Brother is... not a monster...”

“...”

Rigales raised both hands toward his face, fingertips poised as if to scratch away his skin.

“I am, I am the monster!”

Only then did he realize.

That he had lost his brother.

And with that alone, he acted as if he were the most pitiable victim in the world, justifying every harm he caused.

What was different from using his brother as a shield while rampaging destructively around him?

The immature monster brat was none other than himself.

“I will kill the monster.”

Rigales drew a dagger from his sleeve and gripped it in his hand.

“Your Highness, Prince!”

“Oh my, no!”

Before anyone could stop him, blood spouted from his neck.

While people hurried to stop the bleeding on Rigales, Reid turned away with an indifferent face. Then he returned to Queen Raviosa, who sat dazed.

Reid placed his hand atop hers. Under the gentle touch, Queen Raviosa’s eyes wavered involuntarily.

“My talk with Riga ended well. Now, it seems the only choice left is me.”

Continuing to drop crumbs of warmth like torture by hope, he pleaded as a son to his mother.

“Come, quickly. Give me the throne.”

The royal ring slipped off from the queen’s thumb as if sliding away.

She tightly closed her eyes and choked back her sobs, as if all of this was beyond her control.

“Thank you.”

“...”

“Mother.”

Reid, having paid a cheap price, stood up. Slowly, he walked to /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Ayleth’s side.

Now it was time for Ayleth, the divine prophetess, to step forward.

Her hand pierced the space and pulled something out — a golden crown decorated with splendid jewels.

In a voice no one could refuse, Ayleth declared.

“Here and now, we shall hold the coronation of Reminic Schuyal Winchester.”

✠

With a royal scepter in one hand and an orb in the other, it was my duty as the pope of the Language Cult to place the golden crown on his bowed head.

The one who knelt as prince now stood as king. Finally, Reminic Schuyal Winchester ascended the throne.

After Reid sat on the throne, what he did was similar to when he conquered the Ragneif Magic Republic.

“Declare the Language Cult as the state religion of the Winchester Kingdom.”