Chapter 6: Founding Day - (6)

I continued walking down the path. There were no enemies in sight—thanks to Lautrec, who had cleared the way.

I was nearing the imperial palace. Even though I was limping, I didn’t let my guard down.

“Sir Freud!”

And just like that, I collapsed.

My legs had given out beneath me. I couldn’t feel anything from the waist down. I tried to push myself back up, but each time, I helplessly dragged myself across the ground.

Lincia rushed over and supported me. She laid me down gently on a nearby pile of rubble and pulled off my greaves. The exposed calf had turned a deep, dark red. The spot where the arrow had struck was caked with clotted blood, like gory scraps of congealed jelly. It looked grotesque.

Seeing the state of my leg, Lincia frowned in distress.

“How were you even walking like this?”

“I guess I didn’t have time to notice.”

Her face twisted as if it were her own pain she was witnessing.

But then she shook her head, grabbed the hem of her dress, and tore it with a loud rip. Her pale skin flashed for a moment, but she didn’t seem to care. Next, she undid the hairpin holding her platinum-blonde hair, letting it fall like silk down her back.

She wrapped the torn cloth tightly around my knee and used the pin like a tourniquet, twisting it to pull the fabric taut. Dark blood oozed from the wound with a wet gurgle.

She spun the pin a few more times to secure it.

For a makeshift tourniquet, it worked surprisingly well.

“You’ve got good hands,” I said.

“I got hurt a lot as a kid. The head maid taught me stuff like this. Apparently, I was quite the troublemaker.”

Lincia plopped down beside me with a little bounce.

“Let’s rest here a bit. If you push any further like this, you might lose your leg for good.”

With that much insistence, I couldn’t argue.

A sudden break, unplanned.

I turned my gaze to Lincia, who was watching me carefully.

“I never would’ve guessed Her Highness the Princess was a troublemaker.”

Feeling awkward, I decided to break the silence.

“Is it that strange? I broke a flower vase almost every day. Used to hide in wardrobes and scare the younger maids.”

The smile that spread across her face was pure and childlike, fitting her age.

Seeing it made me feel oddly warm inside. After spending nearly 500 hours playing the game, I’d developed a deep affection for her character.

“It’s the perfect age to be running wild.”

She gave a bitter smile.

“Then one day—maybe when I was six—I ended up hurting my brother. Just a little. A piece of broken glass scratched his palm. That evening, Father dragged me away and beat me nearly to death. Said I’d injured the Crown Prince.”

She pulled back her sleeve and showed me the inside of her arm—there was a red, scarred welt from a whip.

“He locked me in the storage room and didn’t feed me for over a week. All I had was some bread the head maid sneaked in. After that, I stopped acting out. Father told me not to do anything—so I just stayed in my room, doing nothing.”

“...That bastard.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.”

No matter the era, what kind of man beats his daughter like that?

From the perspective of modern-day South Korea, it was incomprehensible.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? A royal who’s supposed to be a role model, being such a mess.”

“Not at all. If anything, it’s a relief.”

“…Thank you.”

A side of her I’d never seen before.

In the game, Lincia was always timid and frightened. Given her circumstances, it made sense.

But this world held sides of her that never appeared in the game. It was painfully realistic—so much so that it gave me a headache.

“What about you, Sir Freud? What were you like as a child?”

It was a natural question.

“…”

But I couldn’t answer.

All I knew about Freud was that he was a silent knight—no dialogue, no backstory—loyal to the Empress until he suddenly betrayed her.

Raising the Empress wasn’t a story-driven game. It was a simulation game. Individual character narratives weren’t fleshed out.

Even Lincia’s past, the main character, was never fully revealed.

“…Ah, I’m sorry. That was rude of me. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

As I stayed silent, Lincia fumbled nervously.

“It’s alright. It’s not something worth sharing anyway.”

I brushed it off and pushed myself upright.

Thanks to Lincia’s emergency care, the feeling had returned to my leg. I could walk again.

“Let’s get moving.”

****

There wasn’t a single soldier guarding the gate to the imperial palace.

I’d expected at least a sentry—but not even one stood there. It made it painfully clear just how dire the Empire’s situation had become.

A few corpses were strewn beyond the gates—most of them belonging to the royal guard.

As we walked further, we reached a massive garden. And there, all hell had broken loose.

Several scorched carriages were parked at odd angles. Between them, nobles raised their voices in outrage while flustered officials wiped sweat from their brows as they tried to calm them down.

Those caught in the explosion groaned in pain, and soldiers and priests were busy carrying them on stretchers or tending to their wounds.

Everyone in the garden was in a frenzy, completely unprepared for the sudden terror attack.

“Freud!”

While standing awkwardly beside Lincia, I heard someone call out and saw a familiar administrator wobbling toward me. He wore a lavish red coat and a hat puffed up like a loaf of bread. His distinctive seagull-shaped mustache made his round face even more comical.

“Freud! You’re alive! Where the hell have you been?!”

The administrator didn’t even wait for an answer before launching into a frantic tirade.

“The situation is a disaster! His Majesty is dead! The Crown Prince too! Ah—did I forget to mention the prince? Anyway, it’s chaos. Guess I’d better write my will. You should get ready to slit your belly too!”

He was incredibly pessimistic.

Or maybe just coldly rational.

“The Royal Guard’s gone as well. According to Lautrec, half the Holy Knight are dead! I’m hearing the city watch is wiped out too!”

“There’s still hope.”

He snorted and jabbed a finger in my face.

“Ha! Hope? What hope?! This was a terrorist attack! Probably the work of the evil church. The Empire is finished. Half the administration is dead. The Senate too. Worst of all—the royal bloodline is severed! There’s no one left to inherit the Emperor’s power! We’re all—”

I cut him off.

“Not all of us.”

“What?”

“Not everyone is dead.”

I stepped aside slowly.

And behind me stood Lincia.

“Ah…”

The administrator, seeing her, raised his trembling hand to adjust his glasses.

His seagull mustache and triple chin quivered with emotion.

He quickly composed himself and spoke in a solemn tone.

“Freud, stay here. I’ll call an emergency meeting.”

“Yes, sir.”

As I watched the administrator waddle off deeper into the palace, I let out a long sigh.

We had made it to the imperial palace—this was the end of the prologue.

I glanced to my side. Lincia wore a dazed expression, as if she couldn’t tell whether she was dreaming or awake.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-Yes.”

I knelt and examined her. Bruises covered her body, but nothing looked critically injured.

Her face was smeared with soot, and now tears had cut clean lines through the dirt. She looked an absolute mess.

I reached out and wiped beneath her eye with a finger—but my hand was also covered in blood, so all I did was make it worse.

Seeing her face made even dirtier by my attempt to help, I let out a small chuckle. That seemed to break the tension.

Lincia suddenly dropped to her knees.

It was the tension finally unraveling.

“Haa…”

With a hollow sigh, she looked up at the sky—gradually fading from darkness to a soft blue.

“Sir Freud, what’s going to happen to me now?”

She asked in a trembling voice.

Her entire family had been killed in a single day.

And now, all the burden of survival—of leadership—had fallen on her alone. The Emperor, who once told her to do nothing, hadn’t kept that promise himself.

Seeing the way her lower eyelid quivered, I could truly feel the weight she now carried.

Lincia would face unimaginable trials from here on.

To take the throne at such a young age, without any regent, was to walk a path of thorns.

She would see countless deaths along the way.

And I, who would accompany her on that journey through death, had no idea what awaited us either.

“…I don’t know.”

Still, I chose the words that might bring her some comfort.

“But one thing is certain—whatever path Your Highness walks, I’ll be by your side.”

She didn’t reply.

She seemed lost in deep thought.

Ding.

Then I heard a familiar sound.

“…Ha… haha…”

I let out a weak laugh at the notification.

It was over. That sense of relief finally pulled the trigger.

It felt like the string tied to the top of my head had finally been cut.

A nosebleed ran freely down my face. My limbs went numb, and I fell straight backward.

My vision swam. I had lost too much blood.

“Sir Freud!”

As the world faded to black, the last thing I saw was Lincia, shouting as she rushed toward me in panic.

-- The End OF The Chapter --

 

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