Alex rushed through the door, arriving at the bottom floor of the castle, the place where visitors were usually brought to.

But just as he got there, he was greeted by an appalling sight. The knights were pointing their spears at a man who was tussling and turning, clearly in pain.

"Let me pass, that is my brother!" Ciera screamed, tears streaming out of her eyes as she stared at him.

"Please miss Ciera! You cannot go too close to him!" The knight blocking her warned.

Alex could see why they were being so cautious. Cavil was cursed. The death curse had not spread far enough to make it contagious, but the guards did not know that.

Only he and a few who had extensively studied the undead were aware of this information.

Alex turned to the knight. "Let her go."

"But my prince! The man is cursed—" the guards’ words trailed off when he saw the look in his eyes, and then he let her go.

Ciera sprinted up to her brother, falling to her knees before him. Alex was next to her, although he had no words for her, the least he could do was be there.

"C-Cavil?" Ciera’s voice broke as she saw him up close. His skin was malformed, a mess of puffy, swollen skin and pulsing veins.

His pale blue hair, which had been just as beautiful as Ciera’s, was now dull, strands of black mixed in with it.

Alex glanced at the rest of his body, his frown deepening.

’Who did this?’

His arms had been broken off, from elbow down, as though they had been crushed by a mace, and both his legs were severely damaged as well.

Although the infection had not taken over him, Cavil seemed to have lost his mind. Drool was dripping down his lips, and he babbled incoherent, unintelligible words.

What Alex was seeing could not be a consequence of war. Whoever had done this had been meticulous with his punishment. He had taken his time, enjoyed himself as he put him through hell.

"Just what sort of hell have you been through, Cavil?"

He could remember the knight’s cold gaze, and the sharp glare he would shoot him whenever he was around Ciera...

He was almost done with his service, and yet, this was the fate that was awaiting him...

Blergh—!

Ciera retched, doubling over, just before she vomited, weeping softly by her brother’s side.

"Take him to the infirmary now and have the best doctors on his case!" Alex barked at the knights as he knelt down next to Ciera.

They had no way of curing the curse, but that didn’t mean they would not try. At the very least, they could put him out of his misery to reduce his suffering.

Alex immediately placed a hand on Ciera’s back, soothing it. Then he took out his handkerchief and wiped her mouth.

"W-why did they do this to him...? Cavil, he was a good person..." she cried, her expression lost as she stared at the floor.

Alex gritted his teeth as he pulled her into a deep hug. "He didn’t do anything, Cee, he didn’t deserve this..."

Ciera cried bitterly, her tears soaking his shirt. She was like that for half an hour, crying until she lost her voice, and even then she sobbed softly in his arms.

After a while, she fainted out of exhaustion, leaving Alex in the suffocating silence of the room.

’Is this my fault?’ Alex thought, feeling his heart ache.

Ciera had done everything for him, she had taken care of him for the longest time, and yet he had done nothing in return.

He couldn’t even protect her brother.

When Cavil was requested to defend the wall, Alex wrote an official letter that permitted him to leave, but he had been adamant about staying.

He had said he could not leave his team on the field.

Should he have forced him? He had the power to take away his free will, yet he did nothing.

’I knew this would happen...’

He had not used higher cognitive function because his guilt would have eaten him up. But deep inside him, he had known hadn’t he?

Worse of all, even now, seeing someone he had known in such a gruesome state...

Alex felt no sadness, no rage, no hate, not even regret. His cursed mind was too logical for that.

Instead, the gears in his mind were turning. There were too many problems associated with what had happened, and he had to figure them all out. Ciera’s safety might as well depend on it.

Why did they keep Cavil alive? Did they know of his relationship with Ciera? Or did they pick him out of pure coincidence?

Alex did not believe in coincidences. Although he would have loved to refute it, it was likely that there were spies among them.

The situation had gotten much more concerning. Someone was feeding the undead with information.

But for how long? Even Stonewall’s fall had been suspicious. It was either they had a very talented general with them, or they had insider information on how the city operated.

And that was not where the mysteries stopped either...

’How did they manage to bring Cavil here?’

He had been in Stonewall... and yet they brought him from there without being detected once?

"Tch!"

Alex gently picked up Ciera, nestling her head on his chest as he glanced at the nearest knight. He was about to ask him the details concerning what had just happened, when he noticed a piece of paper in his hands.

The knight noticed his line of sight then walked forward. "Forgive me my prince. I was distracted." He handed Alex the paper.

"A man delivered a large crate to the castle today. He said it was for the prince and gave us this letter..."

It was a white envelope sealed in black wax, apart from the symbol on the seal, a crow, there was nothing odd about it.

"And where is that person now?" Alex asked coldly.

The knight shook his head. "Gone."

’Whoever it was, he clearly knew a little about castle regulations.’

If it had been any other crate, it would have been inspected at the gate. But regular guards were not allowed to open packages meant for royalty.

Alex broke the seal and pulled out the paper, his expression darkening.

— And then there were two...

It was a simple but effective threat. If Cavil was the first, then who would be the other two? Ciera? Hismelf?

Alex felt a cold pit settle at the bottom of his stomach.

"I see..."

All this time, they had foolishly thought they had been the only ones plotting.

Little did they know, that their enemies were several steps ahead of them.

Alex squeezed the paper, then a bright blue flame consumed it. He stared at the fire, the flames reflecting in his slit shaped pupils, then said:

"It seems things have gotten a lot more interesting..."