The room was quiet and still, and a loud thumping sound echoed through the chamber where the trial of the nobles was to be held.

Kyle Levord was to be executed for the attempted murder of the second princess, Sophia.

　　　　　☆

　Edric Voltio was still not sure if he had made the right decision.

Putting the morning paper on the table, Edric looked out of the tightly closed window into the garden, where the cool morning sun poured in.

　Although it is south of the capital, the first snow was expected to fall soon in this area.

It has been three years since he handed over the title of Duke of Voltio to Randall and began living in a mansion in the Duke of Voltio’s territory. And it has been three years since he stopped going to the capital.

It was three years of prayer.

Edric, who kept his promise never to set foot in Capital City again and did not even attend his son’s wedding, was still haunted by the ghostly memory of three years ago.

“Sophia’s attempted murder?”

Kyle Levord’s conviction was featured prominently in the Secretary of State he just read. Edric knew that Sophia was dropped into the sea and at one point there were a lot of rumors that she was dead. Edric was prepared for the worst too. When he received word that she was alive, he was so relieved that he and his wife wept.

At the same time, however, he had a bad premonition. That premonition had existed at the back of his mind as a small spark ever since Sophia was found on the street about two years ago, but it had gradually grown so large that he couldn’t turn away from it anymore.

And now,  Kyle’s case. It was clearly an attempt to frame Kyle by the person who plotted Sophia’s murder. Kyle was innocent. There is probably no proof of that. But still, there was someone who could falsely accuse and even convict him.

“You…”

His wife, who had somehow made it to the dining room, looked up at him with a worried look on her face.

Edric beckoned his wife and hugged her thin shoulders.

“… I promised.”

Edric squeezed out the word.

He made a promise. As long as Edric keeps that promise, he will be okay, he murmured, as if praying.

But because Edric was bound by that “promise,” it must be said that Kyle Levord had fallen victim to it.

He hugged his wife and closed his eyes tightly.

 “Ekaterina, did I make a mistake…?” Eric asked

His wife didn’t  answer. She will not answer. That was the kind of “promise” Edric had chosen to make.

It was not a question of right or wrong. It was a choice of what to choose and protect. Even if he had to cut down on what he was willing to sacrifice in exchange.

Sophia, who was almost killed, was a victim. So was Kyle. All because of the “promise” Edric made three years ago.

He knew that. but three years ago, Edric had no choice. 

He was still unable to change this choice. 

“Even if that man doesn’t kill me, the Duke of Levord will one day.”

Edric could help Kyle. But he couldn’t choose to help.

‘… You’d be disillusioned if you knew, Randall’

Three years ago. That day was as cold as today.

“…Don’t betray me, Edric.”

That day three years ago. He still couldn’t forget that man’s voice. It was as if a large snake had tightened its grip around Edric’s body and wouldn’t let him go.

Edric lifted his eyelids and quietly looked around the dining room door.

There, Nasley, his wife’s maid, stood with a tearful look on her face.