The ominous and horrifying atmosphere in Black Prison lingered for a long time.
Even after Ricky's laughter and Zakriel's sobs faded away, Thales could still sense the ghastly atmosphere in the air, and it made his hair stand on end.
'The Bloody Year.
'Aydi the Second.
'The Jadestar Royal Family.
'And the only thing that could threaten the Magic Empress …
'The perfect anti-mystic equipment.'
Thales breathed in a daze. He just realized that his limbs were trembling slightly.
The secret just now had shocked the prince too much.
Thales lowered his head in a daze and looked at his left hand. There were a few shallow wounds on his palm. If he did not look closely, he would not have been able to see them.
'Six years ago, I used this hand to hold the forbidden weapon … and seal Giza?
'That weapon is highly likely to be the culprit behind the Jadestar Royal Family's death …
'Blade of Purification?'
Thales could not help but clench his fists when he thought of its name, which should not be a coincidence, and the strange call that seemed to have a life of its own. His chest tightened.
'What is that thing?'
Countless questions and goosebumps surged into his body and engulfed him.
"We should go."
On the other side, Ricky put away his reminiscing and joyful expression. He became indifferent again.
"That's all for today."
But just as he turned around …
"Wait, Ricky."
Samel, who was also stunned, sighed and looked at Zakriel in the prison. "One last question."
Under the dim light, the Knight of Judgment's figure seemed to be sitting dejectedly on the floor. His face was filled with sadness.
Ricky frowned slightly, but he did not say anything in the end.
Samel walked towards the bars step by step. The light from the fire forced the shadows of the bars to come close to him, and he continued to approach the corner where Zakriel was hiding.
"Just now, Zakriel."
Samel inhaled and hesitated for a moment. "Barney Junior told me that there was a traitor among the Royal Guards who betrayed His Majesty and His Highness."
Zakriel shuddered in the prison cell. He raised his head in a daze.
His expression was fleeting.
Thales forced himself to put away the chaotic thoughts in his mind and looked at the scene.
"Barney's words are very convincing and logical." Recalling the scene just now, Samel, who was holding a torch, had a pained expression on his face. "He said that they worked together from the inside and outside, falsely passed down His Highness the Crown Prince's orders, intentionally led us in circles, and even hid among our team after the incident … Nonsense like that."
Zakriel, who was sitting against the wall, continued to stare at Thales in silence. His face was slightly lowered, and he was immersed in the shadows. Thales could not see him clearly.
Samel chuckled, unsure if it was sarcasm or self-mockery.
"It seems like traitors really do exist." Samel's tone was filled with indescribable sorrow.
"It's as if as long as we find him, Barney Jr. and the others will be freed, or at least atone for their sins."
Zakriel exhaled softly in the cell, as if he had not recovered from the shock just now.
But at least he spoke. His tone was casual, as if he was sleepwalking.
"Really?"
Samel's expression tensed.
He seemed to have made up his mind. He gritted his teeth and said firmly, "So, Zakriel, I have to ask you this. Was it you?"
"The so-called traitor back then …"
"Was it you?"
This question caused Thales and Ricky to have different expressions on their faces. The former was silent, and the latter was indifferent.
Zakriel was like a slow-witted old man. He only reacted to the question after a few seconds.
He slowly raised his head and stared at Samel in a daze in a dark corner where even light could not reach.
"That year, when the situation was urgent and we were surrounded by enemies …"
As Samel exhaled, he gritted his teeth and said with slight difficulty,
He said with slight difficulty, "Whether it was at the palace gate or the Hall of Stars, whether it was Captain Cullen, Barney Sr., or Tony, they handed over the elite main force of the Royal Guards to you. The forty-six people who were later sentenced were among them. They either watched you leave, or hoped that you would come to their aid …"
He clenched his fists subconsciously.
"Because they knew and believed that no matter how powerful the enemy they faced, as long as the Knight of Judgment led them and the next captain of the Royal Guards whom they thought highly of, they would be able to turn misfortune into fortune, and everything would be fine."
Samel turned his head away, as if he could not bear to hurt the traumatized and wounded man in front of him. "Unless … unless he was a traitor."
The flag bearer closed his eyes gently.
"Was it you, Zakriel?"
Both Thales and Ricky listened to him quietly.
In the prison cell, Zakriel took a few breaths and slowly raised his head.
"Was it me?" he repeated in a daze. His eyes were filled with bewilderment.
Samel opened his eyes slowly. Even though he could not bear it, his tone was still firm.
"Zakriel, you may not be good at forgery or spying, but you are the trusted aide of the crown prince's guards. You are also the best in combat, not to mention that you are also the chief flag bearer."
Zakriel twitched the corners of his lips with the ghost of a smile. Thales could not see the exact expression on his face due to the limited light.
"Was it me …?"
He repeated faintly.
Samel sighed, as if he was not confident in Zakriel's condition.
But he paused for a few seconds before he spoke resolutely.
"Zakriel, I know that your mind is not clear." The flag bearer gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "But it's okay. I believe that, like many people and me, there is only one thing in your memory that will never fade."
* Thud! *
Samel raised his fist and smashed it against his chest!
The three people in the room could not help but look at him.
"Swear, Zakriel. Swear before me, before the Jadestar Bloodline."
Samel said resolutely. A cold glare flashed in his eyes.
"With your honor, your dignity, your blade, your ancestors, and the name of the Zakriel Family, the noble descendants of the Rudollians who have been loyal to the minister since the Age of the Empire, I solemnly swear this oath!"
Finally, when he heard these words, Zakriel shuddered.
The Knight of Judgment stood up slowly. His branded face was revealed in the dim firelight. His eyes slowly regained focus.
Ricky was deep in thought.
Samel's breathing quickened. With a pained expression, he continued, "Swear, Zakriel, that in your entire life, you have never betrayed the Jadestar Royal Family, the Royal Guards, or the Praetorian Oath!"
Zakriel's expression slowly became solemn.
Thales' breathing gradually became softer.
"Tell me, tell me with your own mouth that you are not a traitor," Samel said softly.
There was a hint of helplessness in his tone.
"Tell me."
But Zakriel did not answer. He only stared at Samel from a distance. His gaze was slightly cold.
For a time, only the breathing of the four people could be heard in the air.
But in the next second …
* Thud! *
Samel took a fierce step forward and grabbed the bars of Zakriel's cell!
Ricky's expression changed slightly.
"I beg you!"
Samel's back was facing Thales. His expression was unclear, and he sounded as if he was gnashing his teeth.
But Zakriel still did not make a sound. He only stared at him.
"I beg you, answer me, Penal Officer." Once again, Samel's words were tinged with a pleading tone.
"This is too important."
His hand, which was holding the bars, began to tremble.
Finally, Zakriel snorted softly. His unfocused gaze regained its clarity.
"Too important?"
"They … Why did Barney Junior question you, Samel?"
He curled up the corners of his lips and shook his head quietly.
"To question whether you are a traitor or not?"
Samel's face paled. He did not know whether it was because he could not bear the pain or because of other reasons, but he subconsciously let go of the bars and took a step back.
His palms trembled slightly.
The Knight of Judgment smiled. "And you … Do you wish that I am a traitor, or do you wish that I am not?"
There was a long silence in the air.
Samel lowered his head deeply.
However, soon after, a quiet sigh came from the darkness.
Unexpectedly, Zakriel's voice gradually rose. It went from low to high, and from light to heavy.
"I swear," he said faintly.
"Immanuel Zakriel, I solemnly swear on my honor, my dignity, my blade, my ancestors, and the name of the Zakriel Family, which has been loyal to the Minister since the Age of the Empire."
Samel seemed to have been inspired by something. He raised his head with a complicated expression.
"I will spend my entire life, and I will spend it all." As he spoke, Zakriel's tone became more and more solemn.
"I have never betrayed the Jadestar Royal Family, and I have never betrayed the Praetorian Oath."
Thales' eyebrows twitched.
He seemed to have missed something.
As expected, Zakriel's sigh came again.
"The only people I have let down are all of you."
Samel's breathing seemed to have been cut off.
The Knight of Judgment's dispirited and sorrowful voice continued to rise.
"It's Captain Cullen, Tony, Morion, Beldin, Kamal, Rogo, Tardin, Bruley, Naer, and you, Samel …"
"It was all the brothers of the Royal Guards."
He sounded like an old man with one foot in the grave, repenting for the sins he committed when he was young.
Samel did not move.
Zakriel stared at Samel, then at the brand on his face. He said in a daze, "As a person who had high hopes placed on me, in that storm, I was unable to protect you, help you, lead you, go through the obstacles, and get through the danger with you.
He said in a daze, "I could only sit here, day after day, year after year, and watch all of you sink into this state and suffer."
Thales turned his head and thought of the thirty-seven Emperor's Praetorian Guards who died in the Prison of Bones. He thought of their dazed, desolate, liberated, or crazed gazes. He then looked at the unshaven Zakriel, and for a moment, he did not feel good.
Zakriel closed his eyes gently and squeezed out the words he had kept in his heart for many years.
"I'm sorry."
There was another period of silence.
Samel's expression did not change for a long time, but he slowly turned his head away.
"So, the traitor is not you." The flag bearer trembled slightly. "Or, the traitor has already died in prison.
Or, there is no traitor at all? No one betrayed His Majesty and his family? "
Samel turned his head around abruptly. There seemed to be a faint pleading tone in his voice.
"Everything … Everything is just the conjecture of that schemer Barney Junior?"
Zakriel did not answer him immediately. Instead, he paced around in silence and returned to his original seat, which was filled with a desolate atmosphere.
After a long while, a faint sigh rose in the air.
"Perhaps there is."
Samel was slightly shocked. "What?"
Zakriel leaned his head against the wall. His eyes seemed to have lost focus again.
"I think there should be traitors."
When he said this, Samel, Thales, and even Ricky's expressions changed.
Then, he continued speaking.
"But they are not just a certain person, nor are they a certain face or a certain name."
Samel frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Zakriel shook his head with a resigned and hollow smile.
"The brothers of the Royal Guards came from various noble families in the capital." He looked above him, as if he saw the past there. The rhythm of his voice also rose and fell, but it was rhythmic.
"Barney, Beldin, Samel, Tardin, Zakriel … The old captain was even born in the Sun Sword and Shield, one of the Six Great Clans. He was the younger brother of the Guardian Duke of Eastern Sea.
"All of them have a very high sense of honor and responsibility, and even a sense of mission. They are proud of being Constellatiates, proud of being descendants of the Empire, and see the kingdom as their eternal home and home."
As he listened to the Knight of Judgment's words, Samel was lost in thought.
"But …"
Zakriel changed the topic.
"You heard what the man said just now. It's about the secret of the Dragon Breaker." His expression became sad and pained. "It's about … what happened in the past."
The other three were stunned.
Zakriel's breathing became irregular for a moment. A bitter expression flashed across his face, but it immediately turned into a light chuckle.
"Hahahahaha …"
No one spoke.
"Actually, there were signs of everything a long time ago. I knew it. I should have known it a long time ago.
"From the decree to restrict the power of the nobles, from the decree on trade, from His Majesty's wedding, from the advisors who frequently entered and exited the palace, from the meetings that were called from time to time, and from the vassals' increasingly intense appearances before the king, I should have seen that doubt was planted in the eyes of my brothers and others, and it was slowly sprouting."
Samel did not speak.
"Look at His Majesty's actions, look at the path he took, look at the battlefield he stood on, and look at the enemy he chose." The prisoner still looked at the ceiling with a complicated expression. His laughter was filled with bitterness and regret.
"Look at the future he stubbornly chose for the millions of people in Constellation."
Thales listened to him quietly and imagined everything that the former Aydi the Second had to face in that era.
Zakriel exhaled hoarsely.
When he remembered the Blade of Purification and the secret he just learned, Thales could not help but frown.
Samel turned his head away fiercely, as if he could not bear to listen anymore.
"You and Barney Junior, both of you yearned to find that traitor so much, but …
"I was thinking … if the so-called traitors you spoke of, if those people who had hopes and longed for Constellation's future, if they really knew something, such as the Dragon Breaker, and were willing to accept the rebuke of their conscience, even if it went against the king's will …"
Zakriel stared blankly at the air. He was immersed in his own world, and his words became increasingly incoherent.
"If they can no longer distinguish between betrayal and loyalty … this is not impossible, right?"
Samel was stunned.
However, Zakriel continued to speak absentmindedly.
"The problem is, Samel, from what standpoint should we take to be able to rebuke them without hesitation? Is it the disdain of the loyal towards the traitors? Is it the rebuke of the loyal towards the disloyal? "
The air inside and outside the prison seemed to have frozen. The prisoners and the prison breakers tasted different kinds of bitterness in it.
In the end, Samel's expression changed, as if he had been in a different world.
"I don't understand," he said faintly.
Zakriel smiled.
"Heh, I don't understand either."
The Knight of Judgment seemed to have slowly recovered from his daze. He hugged his arms tightly and sank his face into the darkness.
"Go. You don't belong here, and you don't have to be here. You are not the one who should be rebuked."
Zakriel slowly extended his hand and pointed at the empty corner outside the prison cell again, as if there was really someone there.
"You are also not the one who should face him here."
After what seemed like a long time, Samel turned around laboriously, like a hibernating animal who had suddenly woken up.
He no longer looked at the Knight of Judgment.
Samel sucked in a deep breath, as if he wanted to swallow all the resentment and grievances he could not express into his chest.
"I told you." Ricky tapped his sword hilt lightly on the other side, as if he did not care.
"Those who face the past will not find the answer."
Finally, under Ricky's gaze, Samel moved. He walked back the way he came, but no one knew whether it was regret or relief.
He left Zakriel's prison cell behind.
Thales stared at his back and frowned.
"What are you waiting for, Your Highness?"
Ricky chuckled, as if he was calling a child to eat.
"The show is over."
Against his expectations, Thales did not follow him. Instead, he raised his eyes, which had become vigilant at some point in time, and stared at Ricky.
"So, this is your goal?
"This secret?"
Thales bent down and picked up the extinguished torch from the ground. He stared at the substance that still had some warmth left on it. He could vaguely make out thin, flaky ashes.
Ricky frowned in a barely noticeable manner.
The prince slowly raised his head and exhaled softly as Samel walked further and further away from him. "And then?"
Samel's footsteps stopped. He also noticed Thales' behavior.
"And then, we go home." Ricky sized up Thales coldly. He was not very satisfied with the latter's uncooperative behavior.
"Unless you still want to drink and chat with Stake, the one who killed your uncle?"
Thales sighed heavily.
'So.
This is the last step for these people. '
Perhaps it was just as he had guessed. There was another exit in the Prison of Bones, and he could completely avoid the surveillance of the camp.
After that, he had nowhere else to go except under their claws.
Thales took a deep breath and whispered to himself, "I'm ready."
'I'm ready.'
In the next second, the prince raised his head with a brilliant smile.
"Hey, can we talk about this?"
Thales looked at the torch, which only had a wooden stick left in his hand. He scratched his head in annoyance. "What I mean is, look, since you've already gotten what you want, and I'm just a weak teenager —"
Ricky shook his head slightly and finished his sentence in an unquestionable manner.
"It's also what we want."
Thales froze.
Ricky walked forward slowly, and there was a hint of threat in his voice.
"It's even more than our original goal."
Thales could not help but raise his eyebrows.
He could not help but sigh and say, "But, you know, neither the kingdom nor the Secret Intelligence Department will let you leave the camp easily."
Samel walked back and looked at Thales, who looked like he wanted to negotiate with Ricky.
"They won't," Ricky said coldly.
"But they don't know."
Thales flashed a helpless smile and spread his hands. "But …"
"What if they know?"
Under the illumination of Samel's torch, Ricky frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Thales flashed his white teeth and smiled bashfully.
"What I'm trying to say is, what if the Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department knew everything about your operation from the beginning to the end?"
Ricky was slightly stunned at first, then his expression darkened.
"You —"
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