The clouds were dark and seemed to cling to the Sky City of Raelm. It was as if the Dragon God was cursing the Rave Empire.
Shaking off the sinister thought that passed for a moment, Listeard landed the red dragon on the dragon airfield below. Then, he jumped from the saddle and patted the neck of the dragon who had carried him there.
“Thank you, Brynhilde. Return right away.”
“Your Highness Listeard! Since when did you arrive here?!”
“Where’s my uncle?”
When he asked the rushing soldier, the answer was immediate.
“Oh, that… he personally formed a search team to locate the fake emperor, Hadith.”
“‘The fake emperor’, you say…?”
Listeard wanted to yell at said soldier. However, he didn’t have the luxury to do so at the moment. It was then that he set out to find someone he could talk to.
“Your Highness Listeard.”
When he heard the voice of one who didn’t understand, Listeard’s gaze sharpened.
The other person laughed calmly as usual, regardless of the apparent disgust on Listeard’s face—even though that person’s biological younger brother had been banished from the imperial capital.
“Welcome home. I’ve heard from Her Highness Elynsia that you’ll be staying here for a while.”
Listeard’s face grew increasingly bitter when he recalled the face of his half-sister, who had failed the negotiations—however, his sister probably intended no harm.
Hadith’s brother, Vissel, might be able to mediate between Hadith and Georg—such was what his gentle but naïve sister thought. She might have even though that Vissel was troubled by the dilemma.
“Your palace is ready, Listeard. Please have a rest there. Frida is also waiting.”
However, Vissel didn’t at all look troubled. If he was, Listeard couldn’t perceive it.
“I’ve been telling you to refrain using that manner to address me, older brother Vissel—but you are just like Hadith. You may be my half-brother, but you’re still the crown prince of the Rave Empire. I want you to be aware of that.”
At Listeard’s advice, the young man laughed softly, causing his grayish hair to sway. His pale gold eyes narrowed.
“Yes, but such an overkill role was also imposed on me by my adorable little brother, Hadith. He may be dissatisfied with the genuine Rave family. It’s a sign of awareness. He doesn’t want to conflict with us and instead wants to lead his own way of life.”
The soft-spoken young man’s demeanor was the opposite of his younger brother, whom exuded danger and intimidation akin to that of a blade. The appearance of his black hair and golden eyes, which were a bit paler, was reminiscent of his younger brother.
However, Listeard felt unpleasant. Beneath that self-depreciating smile, who knew what that guy was planning.
“Basically, despite saying your position was given to you by Hadith, you’re going to abandon your younger brother and support your uncle to be the new emperor?”
“Such a grand decision is beyond me, older brother Listeard. Everything has already been decided by the Dragon God Rave. Who is the true Dragon Emperor—the answer to that, you should already know.”
Vissel smiled gently without worrying about the breathtaking signs of their surroundings. Listeard got angry and grabbed his chest.
“Are you saying that you can’t stop uncle!? As of now, Hadith is being chased by the imperial army! Not only is he being forced to escape, he also has no allies—meanwhile, you…!”
“My younger brother grew up with the Dragon God in the frontier as his asylum. The imperial army is beneath him. He doesn’t need an ally.”
“That’s not the problem! How do you think Hadith must be feeling right now?!”
Listeard might not know where Hadith was, or what he was doing—but as for the feeling of being chased by people all over the empire… the feeling of having no one by his side…
It wasn’t long before Listeard started looking for Hadith when he realized no one would think about such a simple thing.
Listeard’s half-brother was still unfathomable.
If Vissel were to be led astray, what would happen to that kingdom?
“In the first place, you should be looking for Hadith!”
“Of course, if he were to ask for help, I’d go to him. He’s my younger brother, after all. However, there’s one thing we mustn’t forget.”
Vissel gradually spoke with a cold gaze, as if explaining to a little child.
“That child is the Dragon Emperor. It’s presumptuous in of itself that someone, including myself, can do something about it.”
Listeard was stunned by his own misunderstanding.
He thought he was merely incompatible with Vissel. However, that feeling had nothing to do with anything, at all. He thought Vissel was on good terms with Hadith—he believed Vissel was a good brother to Hadith.
But that man said it himself—he wouldn’t reach out for his younger brother.
What is he thinking? No way…!
The crown prince who supposedly believed that his younger brother wielded the heavenly sword, and who was also the key to stopping the continuous death of the princes. Vissel was the one who conveyed Hadith’s words instead of Hadith himself. Hadith’s brutal purge of Marquis Veil was also said to have been for some reason.
Not even once did Vissel try to stop him.
Listeard’s view of Vissel grew even more terrifying—
—a gentle brother who kept coordinating with his estranged and cursed younger brother as he became the cogwheel for a smooth reign of the Rave Empire.
Listeard gently took Vissel’s wrist.
“…If Hadith contacts you, tell me. I’ll go to his aid.”
In a surprised manner, Vissel titled his neck.
“That’s only natural, you’re my half-brother.”
Listeard started walking wildly while clenching his fist. First, he needed to ascertain Frida’s safety, and then—what?
What could he possibly do?
Even if only a single person, I hope someone is on that moron’s side.
He was fed up with relying on others who had little to no desire of doing anything.
When Hadith was leaving for Kratos, Listeard should’ve said something to him—even if it was only a single word.
When Listeard heard about the disposition of Marquis Veil, had he objected, surely, he would have been killed.
Would things be any different if he tried to shake off his little sister to the point of crying, begging, or even hit her with whatever he could have gotten his hands on to prevent her from going?
When he thought about it, he realized that it was probably already too late.
To find Hadith, his uncle burned a village of innocents. Still, Hadith hadn’t appeared.
Although the one who did the burning was his uncle, the resentment was instead focused on Hadith who refused to appear. Then, the dragons began to disappear.
Logistics was stagnant while confusion spread. That time around, criticisms gathered from here and there towards the royal family, and skirmishes occurred. In which they shouted—
—What on earth is the emperor doing!?
Interestingly, no one thought that Hadith was already dead. His uncle, claiming to be the new emperor, began to contradict himself as to complain about the negligence of emperor Hadith.
Hadith was indeed the Dragon Emperor.
To corroborate that, a strange disease began to spread. When someone contracted said illness, that person’s heart would stop and the body would become covered with a dense layer of scales. The source of the infection was clear.
The first one to succumb to the disease was none other than his uncle. The disease progressed slowly.
Even the Rave royal family was cursed. It was no longer clear whom was the true emperor of that empire, and what was happening.
The imperial army, who once expelled Hadith from the imperial capital because he was supposedly a fake emperor, captured his uncle. By that point, his uncle’s right arm was already covered in scales. He was subsequently dragged to the central square—no one could stop it.
After it had come to that, there was no choice but to believe that he’d come back.
He’d come back to the throne. It was no longer a wish, or a hope. Just plain terror.
The day after his uncle was executed by the imperial army, Hadith—alone—opened the gate of the imperial capital and made a triumphant return.
In just two months, the mayhem of the fake emperor had ended.