* * *
The Duke’s decision had been that of a ruler.
Hesia’s, a decision made for the one he loved.
The Duke looked at the young man—so like herself, yet with traces of her daughter too—with unreadable eyes, and gave a crooked smile.
She looked like someone who already knew she would lose again.
“I’m an angelus—and I only believe in one god. I can do anything for my god. Anything.”
“I doubt that god gave you the name Angelus to do this.”
Though she clearly heard the sigh in the Duke’s voice, Hesia ignored it and stepped away from the window to stand by her side.
“I’ll wipe out the House of Teian. And tear the Eris Empire apart.”
“…You want something from me, don’t you? Go on, say it. I’ll decide after I hear it.”
“Help me rip the Empire apart. You’ve never liked it anyway, Grandmother.”
“That’s true. And the Duke’s House?”
“I’ll go there myself. I’ll carry out the revenge with my own hands. Not as Hesia Merien, but as Sia.”
The Duke watched him quietly, this young man who spoke his plan so calmly, with a face that had already made its decision.
“If things go badly… we might never see each other again.”
“Perhaps.”
“You fool. Why do you and your mother always insist on walking such cruel paths?”
“Because I loved him. I loved him so much. So much… too much….”
“……”
“He suffered even when he was alive. For twenty years, he endured pain.
He knew he wouldn’t live past forty.
And now, even in death, he can’t find peace.
That’s just… it’s unbearable.
If he could only rest—truly rest—then… that’s all I want.”
The Duke looked at her grandson in silence, watching him struggle to even finish his sentence.
Then, slowly, she blinked.
Maybe it was because she hadn’t been sleeping well.
Maybe it was because she wanted to follow the dead.
She wasn’t sure.
But the face, now pale as the one she had only seen once lying on a bed, seemed to overlap with that of a young girl.
The Grand Duke chuckled as she recalled her daughter — who had reached adulthood, had even given birth — but who in her memory had always remained a child.
“…You really do take after your mother.”
It was a statement that was somewhere between permission and something else.
Hesitating, Hesia cautiously opened his mouth.
“I’ll make sure the principality isn’t harmed. I hope it won’t come to that, but just in case… before I go to the Ducal house, I’ll step down from the throne with my own hands—”
“Do I look like I’m worried about that right now? Aren’t you at least a little concerned that I’ll be left alone once you’re gone?”
“…I…”
“You wicked child. Even in this, you’re exactly like your mother.”
The voice muttering with a bitter smile was distant and gentle, as though brushing over something deeply missed. In a place filled with artificial light, the two — grandparent and grandchild — who resembled one another yet were completely different, gazed at each other.
The Grand Duke, who always wore a stern expression, now looked tender.
And Hesia, who was always smiling, now wore that firm look he only showed when he’d made up his mind.
“It’s your choice — how could I stop you? But, Hesia. Remember this. Wherever you are, whatever form you take, you are my one and only grandchild, and the only heir to the throne. If you ever need help, you can use my name as much as you want. I don’t care what labels cling to you after you’ve survived. Merien Principality doesn’t bow to the eyes of any other nation.”
It was a statement that caught in his throat. As Hesia fidgeted, unsure of what to do, the Grand Duke carefully reached out and took his hand.
“I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner. If I had paid more attention, your parents might still be alive. You wouldn’t have had to go through all that suffering.”
Words he had never spoken before.
As someone always above others, he had never allowed himself such weakness.
Hesia stared blankly at the Grand Duke as he whispered them now.
“…Grandmother.”
“Yes. I’m your grandmother. So Hesia, live. Live, and come back to me. Understand?”
To a request he couldn’t promise, Hesia parted his lips, then simply smiled faintly.
That gentle yet steely boy from the day they first met… was smiling at last.
The Grand Duke, still wondering what “Vivi” meant to Hesia, finally let the words fall from her lips.
“To be honest… I still don’t like it. I know you like that boy from Vivisian. I understand that you want to avenge his wrongful death and bring him peace. But… why must it be you who moves personally? People of your status are always desperate to get others to act for them. So why must you do this yourself?”
“…Because it’s Vivi’s matter.”
Hesia responded in a calm, almost casual tone, as though stating something perfectly obvious.
thinking about the kind of love that imprints, like a hatchling that follows the first being it sees as its parent…
To Hesia, love was a scar etched deep into his life.
How could people look at something like that and still call it love?
To him, it wasn’t love — it was closer to a catastrophe.
Wrapped in a sweet and gentle word called “love,” a catastrophe that everyone desperately yearned for — a young man engraved that disaster across his body and stared, with blurred vision, into empty space.
He still saw Vivisian sometimes.
Not the one lying in the bed — but the one who used to look at him with such warmth.
“If it weren’t for Vivi… I would have used others too. But because it is about Vivi, I can’t. That person… after my parents died, was the first to call me by my name.
He had nothing.
Nothing to give.
Just a slave.
And yet he was the only one who treated me kindly.
When he said he’d get me out of the prison… do you know what the first thing he said was?
He asked if it would cause him any trouble.
That’s the kind of person he was.
…He’s someone I couldn’t help but love.”
A long string of words, all boiled down to one simple sentence.
To Hesia, Vivisian was someone he couldn’t help but love — nothing more, nothing less.
As the Grand Duke was left speechless under the weight of that love, Hesia, lost in thought, slowly spoke again.
“Grandmother, since the principality doesn’t get much news from the Empire… may I ask one favor?”
“What, you want us to check that boy’s corpse every day after you leave?”
“Yes. If I succeed in getting revenge, the coffin lid will be closed. If that lid is closed… that means Vivi…”
There are only two endings for the dead.
Either buried in the earth, or cremated and scattered somewhere.
But unable to accept such a definite conclusion to the one he loved, Hesia couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
The Duke let out a heavy sigh as if a cloud had settled over her face and replied with a weary voice.
“Keeping the dead in the bedroom — a space for the living — isn’t very proper. You said he liked hydrangeas, right? We’ll create a separate space for him and place him there.”
“…Thank you.”
“No need for thanks. Save it for when you return safely.”
At those muttered, grumbling words, Hesia just smiled without saying anything.
No promise to return.
No words about staying safe.
He truly intended to burn everything of himself.
The Grand Duke, realizing everything, had nothing more to say.
Because “Vivi” came before even family — and she understood that.
“…It’s right for the principality to be the one to tear down the Empire, isn’t it?”
“Yes. That’s something the principality can do. There’s proof that noble families from both the principality and the Empire colluded in the deaths of my parents. And then there’s me — the prince who lived as a slave. Even if they claim they didn’t know who I was, that’s enough reason to spark anger toward the Empire.
If it feels too uncomfortable, I can carry out the revenge as a personal matter.”
“No… avenging the Empire is my responsibility, too, Hesia.”
‘When the Emperor heard that the Princess was in the Empire, he spent years tracking down her location.
When she finally settled in one town, he contacted the Marquis.
The Marquis sent people to kill her daughter and her husband… and then sold their son, Hesia, to the slave market.
The issue is… it seems the Empire handled the bodies.
We can’t find them.
It pains me to say this, but it seems they cremated the bodies and scattered the ashes somewhere… perhaps to avoid future trouble.’
“…Avenging them is my duty, too.”
After suddenly learning of her grandson’s existence, the Grand Duke had investigated her daughter’s past — too late.
And every report she received had been miserable.
The more she watched Hesia grow, the more she saw her daughter in him.
And with every glimpse, she was filled with regret.
But she had decided — she would not regret anything else.
“I’ll apologize when I see them again. So now, all I have left is revenge, Hesia.”
Let’s flip the Empire upside down — just once.
* * *
