A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

1 – The End of Treachery

“Starting today, we are the lapdogs of the Empire.”

An ordinary morning, no different from any other day.

“We have decided to betray the Kingdom and join the Empire.”

My father, Count Gibraltar of the Kingdom, spoke.

“No longer are we the Counts of the Kingdom. After the war is over, we shall become the most distinguished family of the Empire’s nobility.”

As he casually spoke while cutting his steak with a fork, none of my family members, including myself, could say a word.

“Father.”

“Yes, my son.”

“We are the Count’s family of the Kingdom.”

“Indeed. We are the shields of the Kingdom, guarding the Gibraltar Strait between the Empire and the Kingdom.”

My family has long fulfilled roles and duties as the Kingdom’s shield.

The shield of the royal family.

The bastion of the Kingdom.

The frontline in case of a war with the Empire.

“We will open the path of the strait to the Empire. Then the Empire can march straight to the Kingdom’s capital.”

“Why are we betraying the Kingdom?”

“Why? Isn’t it obvious?”

Count Gibraltar scolded me.

“There is no future in this country. The answer is to escape first.”

“So, you’re.going to cling to the Empire?”

“It’s a rising sun.”

“Ever since hundreds of years ago, the Empire has oppressed our Kingdom. They will not treat us well.”

“If we truly become part of the Empire, there is no reason we can’t become their nobility.”

I couldn’t change his mind.

“Raise your glasses.”

I had no special talent, nor did I have the political or decisive power my father had.

“For our Gibraltar family, who will either betray the kingdom and become the vanguard of the enemy country or enjoy wealth and prosperity for generations.”

There was nothing I could do but follow my father’s will as a member of the Gibraltar family, along with everyone else.

After all, I was young, and my father was the adult.

“On the day the empire unsheathes its sword, we shall open the gates guarding the gorge and welcome them.”

The day of betrayal.

The empire waged war, and my father opened the castle gates.

And in just a month.

With a massive army, the imperial forces bloodlessly entered the Gibraltar Gorge and occupied the kingdom’s royal road in a span of a mere month, hoisting the empire’s flag.

The kingdom fell just like that.

* * *

“Lord Gibraltar’s judgment was right on the mark a hundred times over. Congratulations, Count Gray.”

The empire emerged victorious.

The Gibraltar family became a noble house loyal to the empire, and as the firstborn and heir of the Imperial Count, I mingled with many others in the social scene.

“You have a great father. hahahaha.”

“Thanks to Lord Gibraltar’s bold decision, we can gather here and lift our wine glasses today.”

“Ha, that’s right. If they had realized the importance of the Gibraltar Gorge, they wouldn’t have taken Lord Gibraltar and his family so lightly… tsk, tsk.”

Everyone in the social gathering was busy tearing apart the incompetent kingdom.

“Knowing full well that the Gibraltar Gorge connects directly to the royal road, the kingdom only demanded loyalty from the noble house guarding it, didn’t they?”

“Even went so far as to insult Lord Gibraltar by calling him a dog guarding the house. Tsk, tsk. The man called the king had such awful thinking…”

“When the gorge was opened, and the imperial forces advanced, wasn’t their defense utterly pathetic, leading to their direct conquest all the way to the royal road?”

Among the slanderers were former kingdom nobles like me, but there was no intention, reason, or loyalty to refute their words.

The kingdom was destroyed due to incompetence.

The kingdom fell due to corruption.

It was not a mistake to betray the kingdom, with incompetent and corrupt figures strutting around as royalty.

“The ones shouting for the revival of the kingdom… the ‘Resistance’, was it? hahahaha. They should be ashamed of themselves.”

“They won’t understand why we bowed to the empire. It’s not because we attached ourselves to the stronger side, but we chose to serve the more righteous one!”

“What would change if the rotten kingdom was revived? This country was doomed from the start. Destruction was the answer. hehehehe.”

By thinking this way, our actions as ‘traitors’ were justified.

“Congratulations, Young Lord Gray Gibraltar. Soon, you will inherit the house and become the Count of Gibraltar.”

“Since the Count of Gibraltar has received an invitation from our ‘Weapon Master’ Emperor, surely good news will come. hahahahaha!”

“Now that you mention it, there were rumors that Her Highness the Princess has taken some interest in Count Gray…”

“I wouldn’t dare, with my humble position.”

Intoxicated by the sweet nectar bestowed upon them by the empire’s recognition, they believed the kingdom’s destruction was inevitable and warranted.

“Come on, let’s raise our glasses. After this party is over, shall we all go hunting together on horseback? I heard we have quite an interesting prey this time…”

“Oh, are you talking about the knights from the old royal family?”

“You know about it! Yes. Although they are chained and dangerous, isn’t catching a dangerous beast the thrill of hunting?”

As nobles of the empire, they indulged in luxury and pleasure, believing that their glory of seizing new power would be eternal.

“Let’s raise our glasses. All together. Traitors who have betrayed the country.”

“Ha ha ha! Are we traitors? Well, from the perspective of a fallen kingdom, we may as well be traitors worthy of death!”

“Here’s to the greatest traitors of all, the crème de la crème! Would you like to say a few words, Lord Grey of the Gibraltar family, the representative of our noble lineage?”

Mocking the fallen kingdom.

“…Let’s raise our glasses.”

Enjoying the glory of collaborating with the brilliant empire.

“Let’s pay our respects to the ruined nation.”

Thinking that the glory of treason would last forever, they drank the toast.

“…Cough?!”

It was a glass of poison.

* * *

The traitors die one by one.

The betrayers who sold out their country were imprisoned and tortured.

At first, it was thought to be an assassination by the descendants of the ruined nation.

But it was the act of the empire, the very entity we chose to serve.

– A dog that has betrayed its master once might betray again.

Could it be because of this thought?

Nearly 10 years had passed since the downfall of the kingdom, enjoying luxury and pleasure as nobles of the empire, and I had never imagined that the empire would execute all the traitors.

Why didn’t they do it sooner?

Why did they only start killing the traitors after nearly 10 years had passed since the kingdom’s destruction?

In a prison filled with pain and screams, I found the answer.

Clang-

As my father, the f

They took care of the nobles’ dirty work and aided the traitors, yet they watched indifferently as they met their death as the royal executioner’s dew.

Ah.

I see.

10 years.

That was the time it took for the empire to completely devour the kingdom.

In the territories that became part of the empire, new nobles and administrators laid their roots, preparing for the emperor’s people to take control of those areas.

After the war, the devastated kingdom’s citizens needed someone to blame for their nation’s ruin.

There was a need for time to completely turn every corner of the kingdom into the empire’s possession.

Even as they indulged in luxury, debauchery, and lived recklessly as imperial aristocrats, they were left alone – a grace period granted in consideration of their services in selling out their country.

The emperor intended to kill the traitors from the very beginning.

Even though he despised the ones who betrayed their king and sold out their kingdom, the emperor simply used them as weapons to swallow the kingdom.

Unaware of this, they must have appeared hilarious, as they shouted “Long live the emperor!” at every party.

But.

There was nothing I could do.

If there was at least one thing I could do –

“Become mine, Lord Grey.”

“……”

To the princess who sought me out.

“If you obediently become mine, I’ll spare your life at least. You -“

“I refuse.”

I had no choice but to rebel once with my life on the line.

“You, why…? Even when I want you so much! I’m the princess! If you become mine, the next emperor…!”

“……”

My refusal was not just because of a momentary impulse or the spirit of defiance.

Even if I survived, I knew that I would eventually die for another reason.

“Is the princess’s will the emperor’s will, or is it a unilateral decision?”

“That, that’s… There’s no need for my father’s approval! All I have to do is convince him! So…!”

“……”

The princess knew nothing.

She didn’t know that I was already broken beyond repair, that even if she saved me, my life would be as good as dead.

“Your Highness. I-“

Kwaaang.

The prison exploded, and I lost consciousness.

* * *

“Awake?”

“…….”

When I regained consciousness, I met her in a building of a noble family that was almost in ruins.

A blonde woman with one eye covered by her hair.

Her skin was rough, covered in small wounds, and she was dressed in rough clothes like a man.

“Your, Your Highness…?”

But it did not take long to realize that she was the woman I had fallen in love at first sight with since I was young.

“Well said, Gibraltar.”

“…….”

“It’s not that I saved you. It’s because you’re the last Gibraltar. A living Gibraltar is needed to resurrect the kingdom.”

The princess saved me.

Not as a person, but as a living person with Gibraltar’s blood.

“Your body is in bad shape. Worse than the torture you’ve been through.”

“…….”

“But…it doesn’t matter. Even with this body, it shouldn’t be a problem to unseal ‘it.'”

That thing. The seal.

The princess healed me, speaking words I couldn’t understand.

“Your Majesty. Why would you spare that traitor…”

“If you’re not Her Majesty, you’ll be killed in your sleep…!”

“If only Gibraltar hadn’t betrayed us, the kingdom would still be…!”

The resistance, those who dreamed of the kingdom’s revival, insulted and despised me, but the princess stubbornly treated me.

“Gray. Do you remember the day we first met?”

Once, when she came to find me with a very tired face.

“You haven’t changed since then.”

With a voice I’d never heard before, she looked at me with a gaze full of resentment and said:

“You’ve always done nothing.”

Eyes open.

In the midst of a fierce explosion, amidst a battlefield filled with choking smoke and the pungent smell of blood.

“…….”

She is dying.

Her white dress, almost like a wedding gown, soaked in red blood, her body pierced by sharp, steel stakes.

“In the end, it was just a handful.”

She let out a hollow laugh.

“I thought that if it had the power, it could revive the kingdom.”

Even as she joked, she never told me what exactly “it” was.

“How ironic. The place I die happens to be your homeland, Gibraltar Gorge, where the kingdom’s destruction began.”

Even being chased by the Emperor’s army, she insisted on bringing me to Gibraltar Gorge.

“I am-“

Fwoosh.

In the story, something usually remained to be said until the end, but she couldn’t finish her sentence as she was pierced by many weapons.

“Found you.”

Beyond the edge of the cliff.

Between the blood-soaked steel stakes.

“Annoying.”

The middle-aged man with a sullen face pointed his thumb down at me, and soon, I could see countless arrows embroidering the sky.

“…….”

At the moment of death.

My body moved without my knowledge.

Even knowing it was meaningless.

Even knowing she was already dead.

In that last moment, I threw myself for her.

If there is a next time.

Swearing that it will be different.

Even knowing that there is no such thing as a “next time.”

I closed my eyes quietly, cradling her fallen body.

“From today on, we shall serve the Empire.”

A miracle had occurred.