* * *
As soon as she left the interrogation room, Prina headed straight for Daisy Hall without even a moment to catch her breath.
Is it really over just like this?
There was no way.
Declin wouldn’t drop his suspicions this easily. The longer his suspicion lingered, the worse things would become.
What if, exhausted, Declin decided it would be easier to just kill her?
“Prina! What happened?!”
“C-Could I leave early today?”
“Y-Yes, of course. Go home early, Prina. You can even rest until tomorrow…”
Her face was deathly pale, and her voice trembled with urgency.
The people in Daisy Hall understood better than anyone how bizarre and twisted the situation had become. So they quietly let her go.
Now that I’m entangled with Declin, escaping safely is impossible.
From the very beginning, he had already approached her once.
She didn’t know why he had lost his memory, but someday, he might regain it.
And then… would he let me live?
It was terrifying.
But—
Prina recalled Declin’s hand from the interrogation room. The fingers clad in black gloves had worn nothing.
…Maybe there was a way out of this situation.
* * *
Bursting into her house, Prina yanked open the bedside drawer and grabbed the ring.
Something she had never once tried during the entire year she had possessed it.
Her breath hitched, and from her trembling fingertips, a blindingly pure white divine power began to rise like a haze.
If… if this really is a relic of Caesar…
Hummm—!
Suddenly, the red ruby embedded in the ring pulsed grotesquely like a living heart, emitting a blood-colored glow.
It’s a holy relic.
The ring Hugo—no, Declin—had given her was anything but ordinary.
Why would he give something like this to me?
There was one last thing she had to do.
An ability she had never once used.
Resonance with a holy relic.
I really didn’t want to use this…
The stronger the relic, the more horrifying the pain of resonance. But she had no choice.
Stay calm. I have to stay calm.
Clenching her eyes shut, Prina poured all her senses into the ring.
In an instant, a dreadful sensation of floating overtook her, as if the ground beneath her had collapsed. Her consciousness plunged into a vast darkness.
Fragments of time—immense and ancient beyond what a human mind could endure—surged into her like a tidal wave.
It felt as if her brain were boiling and her organs twisting.
She had to endure. No matter what.
And then—
The memory of the relic flowed into her.
Even if the sun falls, and a thousand years shatter into dust—remember, my brother, the only true bloodline of Caesar proven by blood.
I grant you the throne of God.
Rule.
Rule over all life and death upon this land.
And bring all things to kneel beneath your feet.
“Cough—!”
Dark red blood spilled from her mouth. Her entire body felt as if it had been brutally beaten.
Prina collapsed unconscious.
She woke up after what felt like a very long time.
The metallic taste of blood still lingered in her mouth.
Letting out a hollow laugh, she had no choice but to accept it.
…It really was a relic of Caesar.
The object Declin cherished like his life was now in her hands.
* * *
There was a part of the novel that had given Prina chills when she read it.
Which chapter was it? Probably the twentieth.
It was the moment when Declin uncovered all of Havel’s plans.
After running until his lungs felt like they would tear apart, Havel barely managed to hide in a remote territory—one that silently sheltered those being hunted.
The people there were unbelievably kind to the unfamiliar fugitive.
They placed warm soup into his frozen hands and patted his stiff, guarded back with gentle smiles.
At last, Havel believed he had escaped Declin’s grasp and found a safe haven.
But then—
He realized the truth.
The entire territory was under Declin’s control.
Their words, their actions—everything was merely an extension of Declin’s will.
But the realization came too late.
Havel was captured by the very people of the territory and met a brutal death while trying to escape.
Even recalling it now sent chills down her spine.
And the ring that made that possible… is in my possession?
Her abdomen still throbbed with excruciating pain, but her fear and disbelief were even greater.
Declin probably doesn’t even realize he gave this to me…
How could a man who had lost his memory remember something like that?
A cold shiver ran down her spine.
What happens if he finds out I have this?
He would never let her go.
Even in her fear, resentment surged within her.
You’re the one who gave it to me! I told you I didn’t want it!
“C-Calm down, Prina.”
She could just throw it away, right?
It was the very object that brought catastrophe in the original story—and now it threatened her life as well.
There’s a river near my house.
I’ll throw it away there.
Hurriedly putting on her coat, Prina rushed to the riverside.
A moment later—
She stopped in front of the river.
Without hesitation, she prepared to throw the ring as far away as possible—far beyond her sight.
But then—
The tracking orb auction.
The words flashed through her mind, and her swinging hand froze midair.
…Didn’t Declin show interest in the tracking orb auction right after the banquet?
What if…
Prina looked down at the thorn-like ring resting in her palm.
Was he trying to find this?
If Declin gets this ring back safely… what happens next?
The horrors from the original story would repeat themselves.
And maybe—
What if I… and my siblings… end up like that without even being able to resist?
Her entire body went cold.
She couldn’t dismiss it as impossible. She couldn’t even convince herself it was just paranoia.
Perhaps she had already come too far to cling to optimistic possibilities.
Maybe Declin had approached her because he knew she was Orbanon’s illegitimate child. In the original story, he wanted to destroy the Ten Great Families.
He must have judged her as a useful piece.
But Orbanon ultimately survived without falling into Declin’s schemes.
Prina, however, was different.
“...N-No.”
She couldn’t throw it away.
Letting this dangerous ring fall back into Declin’s hands would be like placing a sharpened blade directly into his grip.
And perhaps—
This could be an opportunity.
A chance to escape from Declin.
Clutching the ring tightly in her hand, Prina clenched her fist.
Declin losing his memory… might be the greatest stroke of luck I’ll ever have.
