Six years ago, Thales, who had yet to become a prince, was told by Gilbert in Mindis Hall.
'The history of Constellation has never lacked blood.
Blood.
'Is this the real blood?'
Thales stared at the agitated Samel.
The man reminded him of the Duke of the Northern Territory's almost hopeless roars in Renaissance Palace a long time ago.
The same hatred.
The same pain.
The same desolation.
Similarly … he would stake everything on a single throw.
The atmosphere in the storage room reached its peak. Even Beldin, who stood in front of Thales, put down his weapon in a daze.
Samel's panting was filled with anger that had not subsided for a long time. Nalgi bit his lower lip tightly. Barney Junior was like a lost traveler who fell into the fog. He raised his head in confusion.
As for Zakriel, he only pressed his hand against his forehead and lowered his head.
He did not say a word.
Even Quick Rope, who tried his best to act as if it had nothing to do with him, inadvertently revealed a contemplative and surprised expression that a low-ranking mercenary would not have. He looked at Thales.
'What do you want to do?'
But Thales ignored him. He only stared at the center of attention in the room.
Finally, after the extreme clamor and the extreme silence, the voice that had disappeared for a while reappeared shakily.
"What are they talking about, Zakriel?"
Thales, who felt complicated and could not put his feelings into words, turned his gaze.
Barney Junior, who was kneeling on the ground, widened his eyes, which looked as if they had been ravaged by a storm.
"Father? Jadestar? They … "
Zakriel did not speak.
The knight shuddered and turned his head slightly.
At that moment, he hid his expression so that his colleagues could not see it.
This was not what he wanted.
'No.
Never. '
But from Zakriel's silence, Barney Junior had already sensed something.
"They are loyal to … another Jadestar? The other … Highness? "
Barney Junior repeated in a daze. He ignored the disappointment on Nalgi's face and the indignation in Samel's eyes.
"Answer me!"
The man's unusual silence agitated Barney Junior. His tone became more and more anxious.
Nalgi snorted.
Barney Junior turned to him for help.
"Go and ask your father. Ask our respected vice-captain," Nalgi said softly. The sarcasm and reproach in his voice still lingered. "He is the instigator who appeared in secret, followed orders from his superiors, and made promises to his subordinates."
"Too bad he didn't tell you."
Barney Junior's unfocused gaze became focused again.
On the other side, Naer sighed as if he had accepted his fate.
"Enough."
Finally, Zakriel's dull and mechanical voice rose into the air. He released the hand that was pressing down on his forehead, exposing his face to the light of the fire again. His pupils were dim, and they reflected the burning torches on the ground in a lifeless manner.
Apathetic.
Just like a dead person.
"Why can't you just let go?" the Knight of Judgment asked absentmindedly. "Let go of everything in the past."
"Keep everything in its original state, no increase, no decrease, no more, no less."
In the end, there was still a slight fluctuation in his calm and hollow voice. "Let them end here."
"Why not?"
His words caused the expressions of many of his colleagues to change.
Nalgi's shoulders trembled. He looked at Barney Junior and flashed a sarcastic, bitter smile.
"Yes, why not?"
* Rumble! *
Barney Junior got up from the ground abruptly!
His senses, which had been ravaged by the Alchemy Ball, made him stagger for a second before he managed to regain his footing.
"Because … Zakriel, because if it's true …"
At that moment, the disheveled Barney Junior's numb eyes shone with a rare hint of excitement.
"If the Bloody Year is really a lie … then it means … it means …"
He looked at his other colleagues eagerly and longingly: the sobbing Canon, the whimpering Bruley, the desolate Tardin, and Beldin and Naer, who exchanged glances.
They seemed to want to get some support.
But his colleagues did not respond. Only Samel sneered in disdain.
Thales sighed softly.
He cleared his throat and spoke in the unbearable silence and darkness.
"That means, Barney, that the people who swore loyalty to the Jadestar Royal Family in the past, including your father, might not have committed treason."
The prince's words echoed in the dungeon, and the light in Barney Junior's eyes grew brighter.
Thales sensed the fatigue and pain all over his body. He tried his best to make his voice sound calm and amiable so that he could slightly comfort the pitiful man in front of him, who was covered in wounds.
"At least, it was not so absolute and thorough."
The prince's voice caused the guards to react differently. Some lowered their heads and did not speak, some opened their mouths, and some closed their eyes and sighed.
But Thales ignored them. He only spoke slowly, and there was a desolation and sorrow that the teenager usually did not have.
"They are still loyal to the Jadestar Royal Family, and they only listen to orders …
"In the internal strife of the royal family, they choose a side.
"Choose their own masters."
'And fight to the death.'
Thales buried these words in his heart.
Barney Junior's expression relaxed a little, as if he had obtained some sort of release.
The guards fell silent, regardless of whether they knew about it or not, regardless of their ranks.
The dungeon sank into silence again. But Quick Rope, who was watching from the side, felt that the silence this time was not so unbearable.
"Is it, is it?" Barney Junior nodded faintly and repeated blindly.
"They're just … they're just …"
On the other side, Zakriel released a long sigh.
"Don't blame them, Barney." There was sadness hidden in the Knight of Judgment's eyes.
"Especially your father."
"In that chaotic era, families, oaths, righteousness, loyalty, traditions, royal power, family, the kingdom, His Majesty, His Highness … They're just, they just don't know that among so many people …"
Zakriel paused for a moment, as if he was organizing his words.
"What should they be loyal to?"
After he finished speaking, the Knight of Judgment closed his eyes in desolation and unclenched his fists.
Barney Junior stared at the floor tiles in a daze. He was filled with conflict and realization, and he seemed to be unable to speak anymore.
But at this moment, Nalgi let out a disdainful sneer again.
"Hehehehehe …"
Everyone looked up.
"You're too optimistic, Zakriel."
Nalgi shook his head. His eyes shone with gloom.
"You've left out a part."
"For us, the worst part."
Barney Junior was stunned.
Thales' expression tensed.
'What?'
There was a suffocating pain in Nalgi's voice.
"If this is the truth of the Bloody Year, it means …
"It means that we …"
Nalgi paused, as if he could not continue speaking.
Zakriel did not speak, but his numb facial muscles began to tremble.
Samel seemed to understand as well. He took over the conversation.
"I understand now."
Samel's resentment disappeared without a trace. What followed was gloominess.
"If the Bloody Year was a bloody internal strife in the family, and blood relatives killed each other …
"Barney, even if I did everything I could to escape from my imprisonment, and tirelessly sought help and revenge, even if you worked hard to atone for your crimes by sending this Jadestar prince back to the capital …"
A few seconds later, Barney figured something out.
His face, which originally had some color in it, froze again.
The relaxed look on his face disappeared, and what followed was fear that could not be dispelled.
The reactions of the guards varied. Some looked relieved, some shook their heads numbly, and some furrowed their eyebrows.
"Even if we found out who the mastermind of the coup was and who the spy was …
"Even if we proved that we and the rest of our colleagues were innocent and loyal …
"Even if we …"
When he said this, Samel choked a little. He lowered his head and spoke in a desolate tone.
"There is no meaning to it anymore."
Barney Junior's body swayed violently, as if he had been hit by a heavy hammer.
"For the stability of the reign, for the reputation of the royal family, and even more so for the authority of Renaissance Palace, whether it is King Kessel or his successor, or all of Constellation, they will never allow the ugly truth of the Bloody Year to be revealed, let alone make it known to the world."
Samel glanced at Thales from afar.
There were too many things contained in that glance: hatred, indignation, desolation, despair …
It made Thales feel even heavier.
"On the contrary, the people we swore allegiance to will do everything in their power to bury the truth, conceal it, and distort justice.
"Because the people's impression of the noble and wise Jadestar Family cannot be the ones responsible for the Bloody Year.
"The 'true culprit' of that year will always be the rumored mysterious' mortal enemy 'of the Jadestar Royal Family.' It 'will only hide behind the curtains and never show itself."
Barney Junior listened to Samel's words in a daze, as if he was a walking corpse.
"As for us … our comrades who died in battle will never receive justice. The thirty-seven people who died in battle will never receive justice. The survivors can only bear the stigma of injustice for the rest of their lives.
"As the Royal Guards of Constellation, we can only be traitors who colluded with the enemy!"
Zakriel shuddered violently, as if he had been struck by lightning.
His comrades' faces were pale. Their gazes were miserable, as if they were receiving their final judgment.
Samel's words became more urgent, and he became increasingly callous and merciless.
"We can only be sinners who failed in our duties, and incompetent cowards!
"We will never reverse the verdict, and we will not rest until we die."
Aside from Samel's voice, the dungeon was terrifyingly silent.
Samel panted for a while before he slowly regained his composure. However, the desolation and despair in his voice could not be any greater.
"No matter how innocent and pitiful those who do not know the truth are, no matter how loyal lone officials like Barney are, no matter how wronged people like me are, no matter how indignant they are.
"No matter how miserable and desolate a chess piece like your father is, and how helpless he is.
"No matter how unfair it is to us."
Barney Junior's hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Because …"
Samel's gaze was infatuated.
"Because as the Royal Guards, we are destined to be sacrifices and scapegoats under the Nine-Pointed Star Emblem."
Thales listened quietly.
He remembered the numb and frozen expression on Kessel the Fifth's face when he stood in front of the stone jars belonging to the Jadestar Family in the Jadestar family tomb.
"'" I do not know how much you know about us, and I do not know what kind of imagination you have regarding the name Jadestar. "'
Thales sucked in a deep breath.
He only felt that the air in his lungs had become colder and denser.
Zakriel turned his head away, as if he could not bear to listen anymore.
No one could see his expression.
Samel looked up.
"This is why Zakriel would rather keep his mouth shut and say that he was a scapegoat, why Nalgi did not want to seek justice, and only wanted to leave quietly, and why today, when the prison was broken and the matter came to a head, everyone pretended to be deaf, dumb, and numb."
Samel said mournfully,
"Because they knew that it was meaningless."
Barney Junior looked at his other comrades in disbelief. Many of them lowered their heads in shame when they met his gaze.
Zakriel still did not speak.
"Barney, for the past eighteen years, the things that kept us alive — whether it was clearing our names of injustice, restoring justice, or even the laughable so-called revenge — were all fabricated.
"All the struggles we did, all the hopes we embraced, all the wishes we placed on ourselves, all the answers we sought: justice, justice, truth, innocence, freedom …"
Samel's words were accompanied by panting. They were intermittent, and there was pain in his words that could not be resolved.
"All of it was in vain."
Barney Junior turned his head around mechanically. The expression in his eyes became more and more stiff and numb.
Samel sucked in a deep breath and stared at the dark, bottomless corridor. He smiled brokenly and ended his speech.
"In the corner of history, we, the former Royal Guards, are destined to be buried in dust and never see the light of day."
* Thud! *
The few words were light, but they seemed to contain a great force that Barney Junior, who had just stood up, fell to the ground again.
Naer exhaled softly. Beldin did not move.
Tardin, Bruley, and Canon seemed to have sunk into an eternity of stiffness and silence.
Silence returned to the underground prison.
Nalgi stared at a torch beside him with the ghost of a smile on his face. He turned his face away in an unaccustomed manner as the light from the torch shone on him. He made a muffled sound in his throat.
"Do you know what I am most jealous of and hate about you, Barney?"
Nalgi said in a low voice.
"For eighteen years, even though you foolishly lived in a lie.
But at least, you still lived in the hope you weaved for yourself.
In this bottomless underground prison shrouded in darkness, you lived in the only place where light shone. "
As a soft, muffled sound rose, the torch on the ground was extinguished.
Nalgi's figure was once again engulfed in the terrifying darkness.
Thales closed his eyes gently and did not look at Barney Junior's pale face.
'"Constellation's history has never lacked bloodshed."'
In the past, Thales' understanding of the word "bloodshed" was still superficial. The scenes he could think of that word were the child beggars in the Abandoned Houses in Lower City District and the fights between the gangs in the underground world.
As his identity changed, his journey became arduous, and his knowledge broadened (whether he wanted it or not), Thales gradually felt the pulse of the Bloody Year from a different angle.
The dead silence in the Jadestar family tomb, the Duke of Northern Territory's desperate roar in Renaissance Palace, the wordless mourning at Rayman Pass, the nostalgia in the eyes of the veteran Genard for the old days, the cheerful yet somber gaze of the Fortress Flower, Willow's absent-minded look when he talked about his dead sister, the lonely figure of the Kingdom's Wrath under the setting sun, the cold and lonely Ghost Prince Tower, and Marina's pale and trembling face when she confessed her feelings.
Too many people were trapped in it and could not extricate themselves.
Thales thought that he was beginning to understand the cruel side of the Bloody Year.
Until now.
Until the members of the Royal Guards, whom he met again in the Prison of Bones, and the cruel and merciless suspicion and confrontation between them.
This was the true Bloody Year.
It was an eternal nightmare that engulfed everything, and it was as if he could never wake up from it.
"Hahahaha …"
Barney Junior's forlorn laughter broke Thales' heavy thoughts.
Unexpectedly, Barney Junior's face was no longer gloomy and sad.
Only a smile remained.
"Hahahahaha …"
A numb, still, fake, and cold smile.
Just like a clown in a circus.
Just like the smiling faces they painted on with paint.
A smiling face that made people feel slightly uneasy.
No one knew what was hidden under the curve of that smile.
Thales felt a stab of pain in his heart when he saw it.
"I see!"
Barney Junior said loudly and desolately as he laughed.
"Allen, Walker, Bobby, Morion, Laray, King, 'Skeleton', Rogo …"
He mumbled the names that Thales found unfamiliar in a neurotic manner. He did not even spare a glance at the people beside him. He only extended his arms towards the dark ceiling and laughed madly.
"Eighteen years of imprisonment, so much bloodshed, so much persistence … So, so, so, it was all meaningless."
Barney Junior laughed so hard that the brand on his face curled up a little.
"W-what exactly did we fight for? What did we live for? What did we die for? "
No one could answer him.
Nalgi stared at him coldly. Samel snorted softly through his nose.
Zakriel seemed to have turned into a statue. He remained silent during Nalgi's accusation, Samel's confession, and Barney Junior's questioning.
Tardin and the others looked dispirited. They lost hope.
Thales shook his head and gave a negative answer to Quick Rope's questioning gaze.
Barney Junior's laughter slowly became sluggish and difficult to understand. He fell to the ground again.
"For what?"
Beldin stared at his former chief vanguard with a dumbfounded expression.
"Barney …"
He spoke in a troubled manner, as if he wanted to comfort Barney Junior, who seemed to have completely lost his composure. But when the words reached his mouth, he found it hard to speak.
But in the next moment, Barney Junior's actions caused his heart to tremble violently!
* Clatter! *
Barney Junior, who had had his fill of laughing, stopped smiling and grabbed the longsword he dropped on the ground!
Everyone was shocked.
Even Zakriel looked up.
Barney Junior's eyes were bloodshot, and his entire body was trembling.
He placed the blade on his palm.
He stared at the blade, which had gone through several battles, and had a curl and a chipped edge.
Then, he turned the blade towards …
His neck.
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