~Chapter 9~
“Lofi! Close your eyes! Please, close your eyes!”
Even after hearing Elond’s scream-like voice, Lorienne couldn’t bring herself to shut her eyes. Her wide-open eyes only continued to spill tears without end.
It was a charge of treason.
The charge that Duke Croitz and his wife had plotted treason from behind the scenes—attempting to overthrow Emperor Cloni and place their own son, Elond, on the throne as the new emperor.
In just three days, Heinrich Croitz and his wife were executed by beheading in the square, and their children, Lorienne and Elond, were loaded onto a slave ship.
It all happened because a decisive witness had appeared.
“Camelipa.”
A man called “Camelipa,” a name meaning “one who rides a camel and flies through the sky,” had an unusual appearance.
He was a citizen of Rixir, but looked almost like a Krittian.
His long yellow beard, braided downward in the distinctive Krittian style, and his thick, rough, long hair made him resemble one of them even more.
Above his protruding brow ridge, his eyebrows were unusually long and drooping downward. His eye sockets were large, but his pupils were small and yellowish, giving him an unsettling appearance when looked at directly.
“Duke Croitz and his wife came to me personally and requested poison. A deadly poison that would kill instantly even in small amounts.”
“How do you know they intended to use it to assassinate His Majesty the Emperor?”
“After handing over the poison, I realized something was wrong with the calculation and followed the man who took it. I happened to overhear the two of them talking.”
“What did they say?”
“They said they would put the poison into the food at the banquet dinner hosted by Emperor Cloni.”
His testimony matched exactly with the evidence presented by the Rixir imperial court.
Heinrich, standing on the execution platform, neither confirmed nor denied the accusation.
Camelipa was the man who, ten years ago, disguised himself as a traveling herbalist and spread hallucinogenic drugs throughout the Rixir Empire, throwing the nation into chaos.
Because of the drug he distributed, cases of addiction spread among adults and children alike. The Prime Minister, Heinrich, realized that this unprecedented wave of drug addiction was highly systematic and intentional.
Within a year of the hallucinogenic drug spreading rapidly, Camelipa was captured and sentenced to life imprisonment for causing national chaos.
It was all thanks to Heinrich’s relentless efforts to eradicate the drug.
“But how did a life prisoner like Camelipa get out?”
“There’s no way Duke Croitz would have done this!”
“This is a conspiracy!”
The Croitz family, more historically prestigious than even the imperial Veritas line, was a great noble house long beloved by the people of Rixir.
They had produced two great mages in the empire’s history and were known for using their personal wealth to support starving citizens during famines.
However—
“This is an invoice stamped with the seal of Duke Croitz and his wife for the trade of deadly poison!”
Amid rising suspicion, Camelipa pulled out a document from his chest—a receipt stamped with the Croitz family seal.
Even after seeing it, Duke Heinrich said nothing. The people watching became increasingly confused.
“This is absurd! There’s no way Duke Heinrich would do this! The document must be forged!”
“Then why isn’t the Duke saying anything? Could it really be treason?”
“The Croitz family… I’m disappointed.”
The people were divided—between those who believed it was a conspiracy to destroy the Croitz family, and those who believed the family had truly attempted treason and been caught.
With no resolution to the doubts, the Croitz couple was soon executed.
Those who still trusted the Croitz family strongly protested.
But questioning Camelipa’s credibility, the crowd attacked him, and he narrowly escaped with his life.
And that same day, Lorienne and Elond were put onto a slave ship.
Whip—! Crack!
“Agh!!”
“Ugh!”
“Look closely! These two bastards are the children of the Croitz family that committed treason! From today on, I’ll make sure you forget all that noble life of yours!”
From the moment they boarded the slave ship, Lorienne and Elond were subjected to far harsher whippings than the others. Because they had been nobles, they had to be “properly broken in” as slaves.
The whipping was merciless.
The sound of the whip slicing through the air became uncountable.
Before she knew it, Lorienne lost consciousness.
“Lofi… open your eyes…!”
“Elond…”
When she opened her eyes again, everything was dark, and only the sound of the ship cutting through calm waves could be heard.
Startled by her brother’s face, which was now a bloodied mess, Lorienne tried to get up—but immediately cried out in pain as a searing agony spread across her back where she had been whipped.
“Everyone’s asleep now. Hurry and heal yourself.”
Seeing her brother’s calm voice up close filled Lorienne with despair again.
Although both of them had been whipped, Elond’s face had been fine before she lost consciousness.
Now, however, his lips and nose were split and crusted with dried blood, and one of his eyes was so swollen that the pupil could barely be seen.
It was obvious what had happened while she was unconscious.
Elond must have desperately protected her from the men who tried to approach his unconscious sister.
“I’m fine. Hurry and heal. We don’t have time.”
Elond urged her to heal herself.
As Lorienne activated her healing power, she could feel the torn flesh on her back slowly knitting together.
“There will be scars…”
Elond’s expression twisted as he fixed her torn blouse.
He had seen the deep whip marks exposed beneath the fabric.
Even though healing magic could close most wounds quickly, deep injuries like these would still leave scars.
Lorienne felt tears welling up at her brother worrying about something so small compared to his own condition, but she held them back.
Now was not the time. She needed to heal Elond first.
But Elond pushed her hand away, refusing the healing.
“Why?”
“I’m fine. Don’t let anyone know you have healing abilities. If I suddenly recover overnight, they’ll get suspicious.”
“But still…”
Even though she insisted on healing at least his hidden wounds, Elond refused again.
Instead, he looked toward a distant light. The ship was heading toward it.
Meeting his worried sister’s gaze, Elond gently patted her head and pulled something from his chest.
It was a small pouch with a long string.
He muttered “wait a moment,” reached under his clothes, and tied the pouch tightly around Lorienne’s waist.
“What… what are you doing?”
“There’s gold in this pouch. Not much.”
“Elond.”
At that moment, Lorienne understood. Her brother was preparing to part from her.
Realizing that even Elond would no longer be by her side filled her with overwhelming fear.
She rushed to hug him, but her trembling arms had no strength.
“Elond, please don’t abandon me…!”
Elond shook his head firmly and grabbed her shoulders.
“I’m not abandoning you. I’m saving you, Lorienne. I’m… saving you.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to be separated, no matter what.”
When Lorienne hugged him again, Elond decisively pulled her away as if he had made up his mind.
Then he took out a small vial.
“A potion that lets you survive even in the sea.”
“What about you?”
“We can’t both escape. If we both disappear, we’ll be discovered immediately.”
Lorienne clenched her mouth shut and shook her head, unwilling to drink it.
“Lofi, listen to me. Just survive for 30 minutes after drinking this. We’ll soon enter the joint waters of Astum and Rixir. You must hold on there. Astum’s patrol ships will rescue you, and you’ll be taken to Astum. I will come find you.”
At twenty years old, her brother was pleading desperately with her.
Looking once more at the approaching light, Elond forced open Lorienne’s tightly shut mouth and poured the potion inside.
It was the first time he had ever used force against his sister.
Cough, cough.
Choking on the potion, Lorienne coughed violently as Elond pulled her into a tight embrace and patted her back.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Lofi.”
Between his repeated apologies, Elond’s breath was broken with tears.
That was the last moment she had with her brother.
