The Terminally-Ill Lord Desires Hospice Care

On the day of the coup,
Raul, who shouldered the heaviest duty of all, confronted the Imperial Palace guards with a heavy heart.
Those within the military who supported the current emperor, the private soldiers of nobles supporting him, and any other forces associated with the imperial household were all held back by his friends and teacher.

One of the Imperial Palace guards, his voice trembling, shouted at Raul upon seeing him:
“L-Lord Raul Berger, drop your weapons and surrender at once!!!”
“A resounding voice. But do you not know as well? That this flow can no longer be stopped.”

With each step Raul took towards them, they swallowed their breath yet did not retreat.
“Even if I surrender, this flow cannot be reversed. And I too cannot surrender for a reason. So it is you who should surrender.”

Without raising a single weapon, Raul persuaded them with a tranquil demeanor as if out for a stroll.
“I do not wish to kill you.”

The Imperial Palace guards too were well aware – their opponent was Raul Berger himself.
The monster who had severed the Dragon King’s wings and arms before massacring the dragon tribe. The one who had slain the Demonic Faction’s leader as massive as a city. And ultimately, alongside others, had inflicted indelible wounds upon the Demon Lord himself.
Though the second prince seeking to keep the first prince’s faction in check had spread rumors that Raul’s exploits were exaggerated, those who had witnessed the battlefield did not believe such rumors.

“We cannot do that…!”
“I cannot comprehend. That would be abandoning your lives.”
“That is what we understand best…!”

Raul could not understand the soldiers willing to abandon their lives, unlike himself who had value in living.
Their utterly incomprehensible conduct momentarily left him at a loss for words.

“We well know why His Highness the First Prince and you, my lord, are doing this! But we are entrusted with the duty of guarding this imperial palace! No matter the reason, we cannot simply let rebel forces pass…!!!”

“…Is there not such a thing as an exceptional circumstance? None would condemn you.”
“The nation is already in chaos in the aftermath of war…! If even the Imperial Palace guards failed in their duty…! Who would fulfill their duty for this nation’s sake…!!!”

Upon hearing that answer, Raul raised his head to meet their gazes.
An exceptional act, for Raul had only looked down until then.

“You all…”
“It is also our duty not to let the honor of the Imperial Palace guards fall! You too did not retreat against the Demonic forces, did you not, my lord!”

Hearing those words pained Raul.
The fact he must kill them, the reality that had driven them to this, and his own suggestion that they surrender – it shamed him.

“Indeed.”
Raul stabbed his own abdomen with his right hand blade, resulting in copious bleeding that soaked through his clothes.
“It seems the foolish one was me. Let this serve as my apology for disregarding your pure pride.”
“My lord…”
“So now, I too shall fight with sincerity.”

Grasping his cane, Raul took a stance.
“Raul Berger, lord of the Berger household. With utmost respect, I shall sincerely strike you down.”

Raul fought them with sincerity and ended their lives with sincerity.
But unlike their honorable selves, those he faced afterwards were little more than wretched beasts.

“I wonder if the Imperial Palace guards have been annihilated. At the very least, I had hoped they would buy me time until I finished this drink.”
“They perished honorably in the fulfillment of their duty.”
“I see. Such incomprehensible fools. What use are honor and pride once dead?”

The emperor, who seemed to have just enjoyed intimacy with a woman, chugged some grape wine before mocking Raul:
“You came to aim for my neck, did you not? Then go ahead and strike.”
“…Why did you insult the Demon Lord’s wife?”
“Well, upon arriving in the imperial domain and learning of her presence, the mere sight of that wench inexplicably vexed me. I, so unfortunate, could not bear the sight of a mere insect rejoicing.”

Unlike the Imperial Palace guards whose conduct was vile yet sensible enough to render Raul speechless, the emperor’s words were simply too disgusting and incomprehensible for any response.

“If I am to die, I had wished for it to be by the hand of a beauty who despises me…oh but looking at you, Lord Berger…hoho. This may not be so bad either.”
“…Do you have any final words?”
“Would such words not simply become mockery for posterity? Such things are only for those wretches regretting their lives. I have greedily indulged in everything I desired.”

Without heeding those words, Raul stabbed his cane through the emperor’s heart.
Despite having his heart pierced, the emperor’s expression did not contort at all as he continued mocking Raul.

“Yet unlike me, you are truly a pathetic fool, Lord Berger. Unable to speak, unable to indulge – what a pitiful sight!”
“…You are vile.”
“Yes, I may be vile! But you know, Lord Berger, it is quite disgusting to see you so pathetic, unable to utter a few mere words!”
“……”
“Instead of a final word…let me leave you a prophecy. Your foolishness will inflict an indelible scar upon those around you…! You shall die a fool unmatched in history…!”

The emperor continued mocking Raul until his last breath.
Though his ridicule did not cease even at the moment of death, Raul calmly wiped the blood from his cane before setting out to find the second prince.

The second prince had hurriedly gathered his treasures to flee, but could not fend off Raul – for he had never received proper training to begin with.

“L-Lord Berger…! Spare my life…! I shall dedicate myself to my Rizehl and live…!!!”
“Dedication is not a word to be uttered from your mouth.”
“I will do anything if you spare me…! Please…!!!”
“I cannot. For His Highness must die today.”

The second prince backed away, but his stride was narrower than Raul’s, so he was quickly caught.

“Granting you a painless death shall be my final mercy.”
“If Mother hears of this, you will…!”
“That too is an impossible prospect. For His Majesty’s concubines who remain are all slated for death as well.”

Dealing with over a hundred of the emperor’s concubines and their children was the role of the future Empress Penelope.

“Now only Your Highness remains to meet death.”
“If, if you kill me, your sister Rizehl will despise you!”
“…..At least she may live.”
“Hah! What good is a younger sister who despises you to keep alive! You are as good as my family, so you must spare me!”
“I am not your family.”

Raul’s hand blades began resonating with a humming sound.
“This is your death.”
“Damn, I should not have taken that hag as my fian…”

Before he could finish, his head was severed by Raul’s hand blades.
Gazing at the blood on his hands, Raul wore an indecipherable expression.
He had killed those he did not wish to kill.
He had killed one who acted as if dying did not matter.
He had killed one he had wanted to kill.
All of it was to keep alive the one he did not want to die.

“Rizehl…”
Even if the end result was the worst tragedy,
he was confident he could willingly bear the heaviest stigma, so long as his younger sister could live.

As the black wind dissipated, Rizehl gasped harshly as if her breath had been obstructed.
“How was it?”
“No…this is a lie…Yes…this is a lie, right? It can’t be true, right? There’s no way my fiancé would…”
“Whether you deny it or not does not particularly matter. But at the very least, why don’t you investigate if this illusion matches reality or not?”

Even if denied, the seed had already been sown.
That seed sown in her inner unease had sprouted abundantly, nourished by Rizehl’s previous words and actions towards Raul.

“Let me ask you this. Did the second prince ever get physically intimate with you?”
“No…that was simply because he valued premarital chastity…”
“Did the second prince never refuse to meet you after encountering Raul?”
“That, that was simply because he was ill…”

They were all excuses.
The illusion matched Rizehl’s memories like pieces of a puzzle, so she herself knew better than anyone that it was the truth.
Unless one was the party involved and knew the truth, one could not show such detailed circumstances.

“What, what are you…! A demon? Why are you showing me this…! If you had shown me sooner…If you had told me earlier…I would not have said such things…!”

All the words she had spoken to Raul flashed through Rizehl’s mind.
No, they did not merely flash – they lacerated her mind as they passed.
The sharper the words, the deeper and more painful the wound.

‘Traitorous bastard…demon obsessed with slaughter…’
‘Devilish man who killed even his own friends with his own hands…’
‘I have no need for your protection. So no longer interfere in my life. For I care not if you live or die.’

Those sharp words remained vividly etched in her exceptional memory, regrettable as it was.

“Brother never told me anything…If he had spoken, I would not have acted this way…!”
“You were the one who said you did not wish to hear anything, were you not? So that fool simply obliged.”
“That’s…That’s…I just…No matter what, not saying anything at all was really…”
“Shifting blame to the very end. Certainly, that fool not speaking was also a factor…but you are the last person who should be blaming him. Who do you think allowed you to remain alive?”

The raven scathingly condemned Rizehl.
“The, the Army Minister was right. Devote yourself and you get discarded like a spent rag, just as that drunken waste said. The recipient is oblivious to it. If you had been even slightly sensible, you could have realized it.”

Though Rizehl still wished to believe the illusion was a lie, she could not bring herself to do so.
The perfectly matching memories proved that everything had been the truth.
At the very least, she could not simply brush it aside. At the very least, she had to meet someone and inquire about the truth.

“And you did try to secretly watch your brother leave the estate, did you not?”
“……”
“Until the very moment of his departure, your brother kept gazing at your room’s window, hoping you would show your face.”
“What…?”

Rizehl wore an expression as if struck by something heavy.
“That fool did not come to hate you until the very end.”

Leaving behind those words, the raven began flapping its wings to depart the estate.

“W-Wait a moment…!”
Unable to simply let the raven leave, Rizehl called out to it.
“Why are you telling me all this…? I need to know that if I’m to believe you…!”

“I.”
The raven wore a somewhat sorrowful expression.
“Am trying to fell an absurdly massive tree.”
“What…?”
“To make that fool weep enough for the tree that grew from my mistake to be felled, so he can depart this world.”

It was an answer Rizehl could not comprehend.
Yet the raven’s voice was so mournful that she could not say anything.

“All of this is my mistake.”
With a sadness greater than ever before, the raven took flight.