Episode 1

“From today, we are the vanguard of the Empire.”

One day, a morning no different from any other.

“We have decided to betray the kingdom and turn to the empire.”

My father, Margrave Gibraltar, said.

“We are no longer a Margrave family of the kingdom. After the war, we will be the family that made the greatest contribution as a noble family of the empire.”

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

“Father.”

“Yes, my son.”

“We are a Margrave family of the kingdom.”

“Yes. We are the kingdom’s shield guarding the Gibraltar Gorge between the empire and the kingdom.”

My family had long fulfilled its role and duty as the kingdom’s shield.

The shield of the royal family.

The fortress of the kingdom.

The frontline when the war with the empire broke out.

“We will open the path through the gorge to the capital for the empire. Then the empire can march straight to the capital.”

“Why are you betraying the kingdom?”

“Why? Why, you ask? Isn’t it obvious?”

Margrave Gibraltar rebuked me.

“This country is hopeless. Escaping first is the answer.”

“So, you cling to the empire?”

“The rising sun.”

“The empire has oppressed our kingdom for hundreds of years. They will not treat us well.”

“If we sincerely become people of the empire, there is no reason we can’t become nobles.”

I couldn’t change his mind.

“Raise your glass.”

I had no special talent, nor the political power or decisiveness of my father.

“To betray our country and become the vanguard of the enemy, but to enjoy wealth and prosperity and thrive for generations, for our Gibraltar family.”

I had no choice but to follow my father’s will as a member of the Gibraltar family, along with everyone in the family.

I was young, and my father was an adult.

“When the empire draws its sword, we will open the gates guarding the gorge and welcome them.”

The day of betrayal.

The empire started the war, and my father opened the city gates.

And a month later.

The empire’s army, leading a massive force, entered the Gibraltar Gorge bloodlessly and occupied the capital, raising the empire’s flag over the kingdom’s territory in just a month.

The kingdom fell like that.

“Margrave Gibraltar’s judgment was a hundred times correct. Congratulations, Lord Grey.”

The empire won.

The Gibraltar family became a noble family loyal to the empire, and I, as the eldest son and successor of the imperial noble family, mingled with many in the social circles.

“You have a good father. Haha.”

“Thanks to the Margrave’s bold decision, we can gather here and drink wine.”

“Haha. Yes, indeed. If only they knew the importance of the Gibraltar Gorge, they wouldn’t have ignored the Margrave family like that… Tsk tsk.”

The people in the social circle were busy criticizing the incompetent kingdom.

“Knowing that the Gibraltar Gorge leads directly to the capital, they only demanded loyalty from the count family guarding it, right?”

“They even insulted the Margrave, calling him a dog guarding the house. Tsk tsk. Such a mentality the king had…”

“When the empire’s army advanced through the gorge, what happened then? They didn’t even properly defend and were just conquered all the way to the capital.”

Among those who slandered, there were former nobles of the kingdom like me, but I had no thought, reason, or loyalty to refute their words.

The kingdom perished due to incompetence.

The kingdom perished due to corruption.

Incompetent and corrupt individuals strutted about as royalty, so betraying the kingdom was never a mistake.

“Those who cry for the revival of the kingdom… ‘Resistance’, was it? Haha. They should be ashamed.”

“They won’t understand why we bowed our heads to the empire. It’s not because they were stronger, but because we chose to be loyal to the more righteous!”

“What would change if the rotten kingdom was revived? This country was doomed from the start. Its destruction was the answer. Hehehe.”

Thinking this way justified our ‘traitorous’ actions.

“Congratulations, Young Master Grey Gibraltar. Once you inherit the family, you’ll become the Margrave of Gibraltar?”

“The Margrave of Gibraltar has been invited by our ‘Weaponmaster’ Emperor, surely good news will follow. Hahaha!”

“This is a double celebration. By the way, I heard the princess had a certain look for Lord Grey…”

“In my position, I dare not.”

Drunk on the sweet nectar of favor from the empire, I thought the kingdom naturally had to perish.

“Come. Let’s raise our glasses. After the party, we shall all go hunting on horseback. I heard some interesting game has arrived…”

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

“You know! Yes. They are chained and dangerous, but isn’t the thrill of hunting to capture dangerous beasts?”

As nobles of the empire, indulging in luxury and pleasure, I believed our glory of holding new power would be eternal.

“Come. Raise your glasses. All together. Among traitors who betrayed their country.”

“Hahaha! Are we traitors! Well, from the perspective of the fallen kingdom, we are no different than traitors deserving death!”

“Our pinnacle of treason, the prime traitor! Lord Grey of the Gibraltar family, would you like to say a word?!”

Mocking the fallen kingdom.

“…Raise your glasses.”

Enjoying the glory of collaborating with the magnificent empire.

“I humbly mourn the fallen country.”

The toast we believed would celebrate our eternal glory of treason.

“…Cough?!”

Was from poisoned glasses.

The traitors died off.

The traitors who sold their country were imprisoned and tortured one by one.

At first, I thought it was assassination by the descendants of the fallen kingdom.

But it was the work of the empire, the very entity we chose to be loyal to.

-Perhaps because a dog that has betrayed once might betray again.

Was that why?

Having enjoyed luxury and pleasure as nobles of the empire for nearly a decade since the kingdom’s fall, I never thought the empire would execute all the traitors.

Why didn’t they execute us earlier?

Why did they start killing the traitors almost 10 years after the kingdom’s fall?

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

Ding-deng.

Watching the execution of my father, the former Margrave Gibraltar , in the square through the bars of the prison.

Seeing the emperor, the executor of that execution, I realized why we had to die.

By the emperor’s side.

There were administrative officers sent to each family by the empire.

They took on the dirty work of the nobles and assisted the traitors, but they merely watched indifferently as the traitors became dew on the scaffold.

Ah.

I see.

10 years.

It was the time it took for the empire to completely swallow the kingdom.

Time for new nobles and administrators in the empire’s lands to take root, preparing for the emperor’s people to take control.

After the war, the people of the fallen kingdom needed someone to blame for their nation’s demise.

Time was needed to thoroughly make the kingdom entirely the empire’s.

The indulgence in luxury and depravity as nobles of the empire, leaving us be, was a grace period given in consideration of our ‘service’ in selling out our country.

The emperor intended to kill the traitors from the start.

Though he despised those who betrayed the king and sold their country, the emperor used them merely as weapons to devour the kingdom.

Unaware of this, how ridiculous we must have looked, cheering “Long live the Emperor!” at every party.

But.

There was nothing I could do.

If there was anything I could do-

“Become mine, Lord Grey.”

“…….”

To the princess who sought me.

“If you willingly become mine, I will spare your life. You-”

“I refuse.”

I had no choice but to risk my life and resist.

“Why…? I want you so much! A princess! If you become mine, the next emperor…!”

“…….”

My refusal was not just out of a moment’s defiance or rebellious spirit.

I knew that even if I survived, I would be killed for another reason anyway.

“Is your wish the emperor’s, or is it your own whim?”

“That, that’s! I can persuade my father! So…!”

“…….”

The princess knew nothing.

She didn’t know that I was already so ruined that even if she saved me, I was as good as dead.

“Princess. I am-”

Boom!

The prison exploded, and I lost consciousness.

“Are you awake?”

“…….”

When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a building resembling a noble’s house, but now in ruins, where I met her.

A blonde woman with one eye covered by her hair.

Her skin was dry, full of small wounds, dressed in rough, mannish clothes.

“Lady…?”

However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that she was the woman I had fallen for at first sight since I was young.

“You speak well, Gibraltar.”

“…….”

“I didn’t save you. I saved you for the last of Gibraltar. To revive the kingdom, we need a living Gibraltar.”

The princess saved me.

Not as a human, but as a living being with the blood of Gibraltar.

“Your body is badly damaged. More from torture.”

“…….”

“But… it doesn’t matter. Even with such a body, it won’t be a problem to unseal ‘that.’”

That. The seal.

The princess spoke incomprehensibly while treating me.

“Your Majesty. Why would you… this traitor…”

“If not for Her Majesty the Queen, I would have… in your sleep!”

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

The Resistance, those dreaming of reviving the kingdom, insulted and despised me, but the princess steadfastly treated my wounds.

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

One day, she came to me, her face weary.

“You haven’t changed, then or now.”

With a voice I had never heard before, she looked at me with resentful eyes and said.

“You have always done nothing.”

I opened my eyes.

In the midst of a fierce explosion, a battlefield filled with acrid smoke and the sharp smell of blood.

“…….”

She was dying.

Her white dress, like a ceremonial gown, was stained with red blood, her body impaled on a sharp steel spike.

“Was it all just a dream in the end?”

She let out a hollow laugh.

“I thought with its power, I could revive the kingdom.”

Even in self-mockery, she never told me what ‘it’ was.

“Ironic. Of all places, I die in Gibraltar Gorge, almost like the beginning of the kingdom’s demise.”

Even while being pursued by the emperor’s army, she deliberately brought me to Gibraltar Gorge.

“I am-”

Thud.

In novels, characters often left a final word before departing, but she was pierced by numerous weapons without finishing her sentence.

“Found them.”

Beyond the smoke.

Between the blood-soaked steel spikes.

“Annoying.”

A middle-aged man with a nonchalant face gave a thumbs down towards me, and soon, I saw a sky filled with countless arrows.

“…….”

In the moment of death.

My body moved on its own.

Even knowing it was meaningless.

Even knowing I was already dead.

For that last moment, I threw myself for her.

If there was a next time.

I swore it would be different.

Even knowing there was no next time.

I held her fallen body and quietly closed my eyes.

“From today, we are the vanguard of the empire.”

A miracle happened.