While everyone prostrated themselves as he entered the imperial castle, suddenly, he was grabbed by the chest. Hadith, who had been relaxing for about two months, blinked as if he had heard an alarm clock.
Who is it? Um, surely…
While trying to remember, he was shaken by a strong force.
“Where were you and what were you doing until now—why didn’t you do anything!?”
“Nothing…”
He didn’t understand the meaning and the frown. Then, Vissel came in to pull the person off.
“Hadith, you’re tired. Go to your room. Let’s have this talk some other time.”
“My conversation doesn’t involve you! You understand, right?! It’s because we didn’t talk it out that this kind of thing happened—am I mistaken!?”
“Hadith.”
He realized that his older brother was urging him to go. It seemed that his older brother was trying to protect him from the begrudging voice he had heard so far. The owner of the voice seemed keen on transferring responsibility on to him.
That person was so annoying. It was when he decided to leave the person that he recalled his name—
—oh, right, Listeard.
“Why didn’t you come out when I was looking for you—!”
Surprised, he halted.
After shaking Vissel off, Listeard again grabbed Hadith by the chest—that time with both hands.
“Natalie died in Kratos.”
Natalie.
He recalled the person a second later.
It was the name of his half-sister.
He had heard that she went missing when she was sent to Kratos by his uncle as a candidate for the crown prince’ fiancée. It was also a means to ask Kratos for help.
I see. She died.
They probably killed her to cut any ties between Kratos and his uncle. That was sloppy of them. When would they realize they didn’t need to go to such lengths?
The half-brother before him may be angry because he realized it too late.
In any case, both Kratos and Rave were trying to figure out which side caused her death.
“Are you listening, Hadith!?”
“Well, Kratos is going to have it, then.”
“That’s not it!”
Because he was yelled at, Hadith turned towards his half-brother. His half-brother sure was noisy…
…However, that was also when he noticed something in Listeard’s eyes.
“Why, didn’t you return before any of this happened…!”
Listeard wanted to blame it on Hadith not returning.
It was troublesome to deal with Listeard—nevertheless, Hadith felt that he had to answer somehow.
Hadith answered as calmly as possible.
“I’ve given my warning. If I, the Dragon Emperor, were to be discarded, the dragons will naturally abandon the people. That the curse of the Dragon God would also claim my uncle, who dared cheat on the heavenly sword, in the near future.”
“Exactly what do you mean by the near future?! When!?”
When Hadith laughed, some people were surprised and trembled.
Surely, two months ago, some of those people struck Hadith in favor of Georg—the supposed true emperor. Despite that, those people hadn’t only executed Georg, but were now welcoming Hadith.
“You brought this upon yourselves. Because I thought the penance would soon arrive, I returned. In the meantime, I don’t want you to confuse my reason.”
That should be good enough. Hadith tried to shake off Listeard’s hand.
However, he grabbed Hadith’s hand, instead.
“I haven’t heard of that.”
Hadith frowned—what was Listeard going to say?
Listeard rushed to Hadith.
“Listen, I haven’t heard any of that. If I had, I would’ve—”
“You would’ve what?”
For some reason, it felt funny. Such words came from those who had heartlessly abandoned him. Hadith asked Listeard, whose eyes were wide open.
“What would you’ve done? Would you reclaim your little sister whom had been taken hostage by your uncle? Even if it meant going against the words of Duke of Leirzatz, the mastermind behind the idea? The only reason you said any of this is because everything has already happened.”
“That, is…”
“What? Is it my fault, again? If me fleeing from the imperial capital due to being chased, that village being burned, the dragons fleeing, many people being dead, your half-sister dying, and my uncle and the imperial people having a strange curse are all my own faults—then why don’t you just kill me?”
As he spelled it all out, he felt a sense of enjoyment.
While rubbing Listeard’s weaknesses to his own face, Hadith laughed while holding his stomach.
“Wouldn’t that be nice? Kill me, and I’m sure the dragons would attack the humans all at once. The whole empire would be reduced to a sea of fire! Kratos wouldn’t be spared, either! The empire will perish. Everyone dies—they’d be killed! You don’t want things to end up that way, right? Hence why you need me. Hence why you blamed everything on me. Everything is my fault—am I wrong?”
“Ha, dith…”
Listeard called his name with a soulless voice.
How boring. Hadith snorted.
“If you have any complaints, die, and then tell me.”
Despite so, there was no reply. No one said anything—
—except for one. The Dragon God inside his chest.
“Hadith.”
“What is it, Rave? You see, you can’t control anything unless you suppress them through fear. That’s how everything’s supposed to be.”
Hence why he left everything alone. Until everyone rubbed their foreheads on the ground, begging for him to return, while presenting his uncle’s head to him.
Otherwise, no one would try to obey him. The conflict would only increase.
He also secretly contacted Vissel. He only believed in his older brother. Everybody else would just threaten, curse, and betray him—as if Hadith was the wrong one.
“I’m tired—I’m sick of it.”
“But, isn’t he a good person?”
“Now, I wonder about that.”
A fellow with a lot of important things was exactly the type of person who’d chose betrayal.
There was a small shadow in the corner of his peripheral. The girl’s fluffy hair could be seen from behind a pillar.
…It was merely another younger half-sister who’d just run whenever she saw Hadith.
At the same time, it was also that preacher’s, Listeard’s, precious little sister.