Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 720: Lie [1]

Hearing Leon’s words, I pursed my lips.

He didn’t need to say it for me to understand.

I could just feel it.

“Thank you all for being here today. The Emperor and the Prince will now be laid to rest within the palace grounds. A mourning period of five days will be observed, during which the public may come forward to pay their respects.”

As the announcement was made, the crowd behind began to stir, alongside the people present within the garden.

Shortly after, all of the delegates and members of the Megrail family returned to the palace.

Everyone traced their movements until they finally entered.

The noise returned after that.

“…It looks like it’s finally over.”

Leon spoke, his voice no longer a whisper as I turned to look at him.

I nodded.

“Yeah, it looks like it.”

The entire event had probably lasted more than four hours. It was really starting to bother me.

’If I do end up dying one day and they hold a funeral, I’ll make sure to make it longer.’

Just the thought of bothering people even in death sounded quite fun.

Leon’s eyes narrowed.

I raised my brow.

“What?”

“…If you do end up dying again, and for real this time, I’m not staying any longer than ten minutes.”

“What? That’s…”

“That’s me being generous.”

Leon cut me off.

I frowned.

“Then—”

“Joke’s on you, I don’t want you at my funeral.”

“…..”

How the hell did he know what I was going to say?

’No, this isn’t strange. He’s always been like this.’

I brushed my hair back and shook my head.

Looking around, I pretended to be all serious.

“We probably shouldn’t be joking around in such a tense and sad moment.”

“You’re probably right.”

“….”

“….”

Yeah, who were we kidding?

Neither of us cared. We were only here for Aoife, and since she wasn’t here, it didn’t matter. Everyone else probably also didn’t care. In fact, looking around and seeing several people laughing, this became pretty obvious.

’Two-faced. Everyone here is two-faced.’

It felt as though I was in a den of snakes.

I was just about to point this out to Leon when I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder.

“Hm?”

Curious, I turned around to see a man dressed in a black butler uniform standing behind me.

“May I help you…?”

This was the first time I had ever seen the man, so I was a little taken aback.

However, seeing him smile kindly at me shortly after, I quickly recovered.

“It’s nothing serious. I was just told to escort you within the palace. The young princess would like to have a word with you.”

“Aoife?”

“…Yes.”

The butler smiled, and I looked at Leon.

“Just me?”

“Correct.”

Yet again, I was taken aback.

However, I still decided to agree to the request.

“…I understand.”

I didn’t think anything bad would happen even if I refused it. However, I did come here to check up on her, so this was good too.

“Please follow me.”

The butler began to escort me into the palace.

I gave Leon one last look before following him into the palace. Leon didn’t have much of a reaction; he just mumbled something like, ’Tell me how she is later’, before leaving and going to where those from his Empire were.

’If I have to make a guess as to why she’s inviting me into the palace, it must be because she wants to talk about the succession battle. She probably wants me to join her camp.’

This felt like the most logical reason why she’d call me.

It was also why I wasn’t nervous as I entered the palace and was led to the second floor, and towards a specific room.

The butler and I stopped before a gigantic wooden door.

Turning to face me, the butler smiled.

“The princess is waiting for you inside.”

“…Noted.”

I reached for the handle and pushed open the large wooden door, revealing the interior of an expansive, lavishly decorated room. At its center stood a grand bed draped with flowing curtains, surrounded by an array of paintings, vibrant plants, and ornate decorations that gave the space a regal, almost sacred atmosphere.

Despite all the decorations, what truly caught my attention were the massive windows, pouring in brilliant sunlight as the curtains swayed gently in the breeze.

And amidst that golden glow, a certain figure slowly came into view.

She stood by the window, her hands behind her back as she absentmindedly stared at the window outside.

Her face was still hidden by the dark cloak that draped over her face.

“This is a nice place.”

I tried to make some small talk as the door behind me closed.

But…

“….”

Silence.

Aoife didn’t speak.

Instead, she just slowly turned her head in my direction.

I felt a wave of awkwardness as I casually looked around the place.

“I… heard that you called for me. Is this because you want me to join your camp for the succession battle? If so—”

“Why?”

Aoife’s voice cut through mine, causing me to stop for a moment.

Turning my full attention to Aoife, I paused. Something… about her voice didn’t feel quite right. It was cold, and it sounded different than the Aoife that I usually knew.

“Is something the matter?”

“Why?”

Aoife repeated, and I felt a sudden sense of déjà vu.

“Why what? You—”

“Why did you lie to me?”

“What…?”

I looked at Aoife in confusion. Lie? What was she—

Tak!

Aoife suddenly tossed something in my direction, her gaze still directed away from me, and I looked down to see that it was a certain piece of paper.

Although I was confused, I slowly picked up the paper and looked at it.

It was in that exact moment that the face froze.

“…You never voted for me, didn’t you? It was all a lie from the start. This isn’t the first time that you’ve lied. You’ve lied about the fact that you were alive despite everyone thinking you were dead. You’ve lied about so much… Was my acting really that shit to you? Just how much of it all was not a lie? In fact, aren’t you just a lie yourself?”

“What… That’s just ridic—”

“Is it though?”

Aoife cut me off once again. She wasn’t letting me have a single word.

“Am I really wrong…?”

I opened my mouth, but found myself unable to speak at all.

I thought about her words and realized…

She… wasn’t wrong.

None of her words were wrong.

I was a liar. Almost everything about me was a lie.

I…

“See?”

Aoife smirked beneath her veil. It was just clear enough for me to see it as she slowly turned her attention towards me.

“Even you know that I’m right. You… all you do is lie. You lie about the vote. You lie about your death. And… you lie about the fact that you’re Julien.”

“….!”

I felt the breath leave my body then.

That’s…!

“What? You didn’t think I’d know?”

Aoife slowly pulled the veil away from her face as she finally looked at me. The moment I caught sight of her face, my face and body tensed.

Something about her didn’t feel right.

Her face. Her expression.

Everything…

I felt my back starting to tingle as I looked at her.

“I’ve always known. I’m sure the others are also aware. Maybe Leon was aware of it from the start. Evelyn for sure knows… I also knew. I just kept quiet about it. Not so much because you voted for me, but because I trusted you. I… trusted what I saw.”

Aoife’s voice grew colder as she looked at me.

Her eyes started to change. They felt colder. They felt… more detached.

“But the keyword here is trusted.” Aoife paused, her breathing growing softer.

“…I no longer trust you. How can I trust you when all that you are is a lie?”

I remained silent.

There wasn’t much that I could say.

She was right. I had indeed lied to her. About a lot of things. In fact, I was still lying to her.

Nothing… about who I was and what I stood for was the ’truth’.

I was nothing but a walking lie.

And yet…

Staring at the paper before me, I managed to find my words again.

“You’re really naive, aren’t you?”

“….?”

Aoife paused, her gaze turning dangerous.

I ignored it and just stared at the paper before looking back at her.

“I’ve always known that you were naive, but I didn’t think you’d be this naive.”

The temperature of the room rose.

But yet again, I ignored it. Regardless of what was happening to Aoife, she was still Aoife in my eyes. A naive yet try-hard princess.

I appreciated her for how she always tried so hard in things that she wasn’t very talented at.

I appreciated her for how she always tried her best at anything that was put her way.

I appreciated her for how naive she was.

“…Do you seriously think that one vote makes sense to you?”

I looked at her.

Her brows twitched. She probably knew, but chose to ignore it.

I pointed at the paper.

“One vote. Of all… the possible votes that you could’ve gotten, you only got one vote.”

I pointed at the paper again before looking at her.

“You. The princess of an Empire, admired by countless, praised for your beauty, someone who could mesmerize an entire crowd… and you only received a single vote?”

I laughed then.

Aoife’s brows twitched further, and the coldness in her eyes receded subtly. I could tell that she was starting to understand.

But I didn’t stop.

“Do you want to know what really happened?”

Aoife remained quiet.

However, I could tell from her expression that she was already aware of the answer.

“…Your brother made it so that the voting was rigged. He made it so that he was the only one who voted for you. He… wanted to be the only one who would vote for you. He probably was long aware of the fact that you weren’t going to—”

“Stop.”

Aoife’s voice cut through mine.

It was trembling slightly. It also no longer held the same coldness that it had held before.

Whatever had previously taken over her mind was starting to fade.

But I still wasn’t done.

“I never cared to bring it up before, mostly because I was content with my own award. But the truth is, you getting just one vote never made any sense. And I know you knew it too. Still, you kept repeating it to yourself, insisting that it was just one vote. You… you’re always like this. Despite being so confident on the outside, you hold little to no confidence in you—”

“I said stop!”

Aoife’s voice rose.

She was practically shouting now as she looked at me.

“You’re right! You’re right!”

She brought her fist to her mouth and bit it.

“…You’re right. I’m just taking it out on you, alright? I knew from the start that something about it was off. I just… I j—”

“No.”

I stopped Aoife before she could finish her words.

Feeling her gaze wander back to me, I closed my eyes and sighed.

“…You weren’t wrong to get mad at me.”

“Huh?”

I opened my eyes again and looked at hers.

“I… never voted for you. I had indeed lied to you back then.”