0 – Prologue
My life was marked by revenge.
It might sound like a line from a third-rate novel, but nothing else could describe my life better.
“Heh, h-heh… Ben… Ben…”
It was a political marriage.
One day, for the sake of peace between our two kingdoms, I was betrothed to her, a royal from the enemy nation.
Our relationship began out of compulsion, but I genuinely fell for her, striving to make her love me in return.
She was beautiful, and I wanted to make her happy.
Yet, after all my efforts for her and the memories of our first love, all I received was betrayal.
The entire engagement was a ploy for the enemy nation to annex ours, and they successfully toppled our unsuspecting kingdom.
“Ben…?”
What wounded my heart and spirit even more was the betrayal of a childhood friend.
Syria, my friend from a time I barely remembered, along with her noble family, the House of Seramide, had colluded with the enemy long before our engagement.
They played a part in the downfall of our kingdom.
The very childhood friend’s family had betrayed our kingdom from within and sold it to our enemies.
On the day when all royals were executed and the name of the Regius royal family sank into history, I became its sole survivor.
I ran and ran to escape their watchful eyes, discarded my name, changed my appearance, and spent many years sharpening my blade of revenge.
And finally, the moment I exacted my revenge on them, revealing my identity that I had kept hidden all those years, I sent them plummeting into the abyss.
“…Damn wretches.”
The emotions of that night weren’t particularly pleasant.
The moonless night was as dark as the gloom of my life.
If you really kill them regardless of the reason, I would appreciate it.