She couldn't breathe.
A wheeze rattled in Irene’s throat. With her brain starved for oxygen, her vision began to spark and flicker.
Irene ran through the halls of the Royal Castle.
With her hair flying wildly, her bare feet pounded against the cold floor. She didn't even notice that the skin on her soles was torn and bleeding; she simply ran with every ounce of strength she possessed.
The maids shrieked and scrambled to make way for her.
The expression Irene wore was not that of a sane human being.
Like a criminal being dragged toward the guillotine, she sprinted with her eyes wide and grease-like sweat pouring down her face.
Hurry.
Every second counted.
She had to take it back.
The truth surged into Irene’s mind.
It was the story of Claude von Einhart’s way of life—a life more noble than any other.
The resolve required to stand alone, drenched in blood, taking on the role of the villain. The courage to keep moving forward even while being despised, mocked, and looked down upon.
Now that she knew everything, there was something Irene had to do.
Even knowing it was likely impossible, it was a duty she could not ignore.
She reached the end of the hallway.
Forgetting all sense of etiquette or decorum, she threw open the heavy doors of the office.
Her father, seated at his desk, stopped his pen in mid-air, his face etched with surprise.
"Father..."
The 47th King of the Kingdom of Militail, King Ausent.
Her strict father usually viewed Irene not as his daughter, but as a member of the royal family while he was conducting affairs of state. However, Irene's current state was so abnormal that it shook even his rigid composure.
"Irene...? What is the meaning of this? You should still be resting—"
"I beg of you..."
Irene clung to her father’s desk.
In a trembling voice, she made her plea.
"Claude's disinheritance... please, won't you rescind it...?"
The King’s eyes widened.
But soon, his gaze narrowed sharply.
"That is out of the question."
Her world turned pitch black.
Her father was saying something. "Do not trouble yourself," "Your judgment was not incorrect," "He was a man of constant ill repute from the start," "It would have come to this sooner or later anyway"...
They were words of comfort offered by a father to a distraught daughter.
But none of them reached Irene’s heart.
With unsteady steps, Irene left the office.
After walking only a short distance, she could no longer remain standing and slumped to the floor, bracing herself with her hands.
She had known. She had known it wasn't something that could be easily undone.
Claude’s disinheritance had been enacted by royal decree. There was no way to retract an order that the King had issued upon his own prestige and authority.
"Ah, haha..."
Irene’s knees began to shake violently.
"I... to Claude..."
That hero.
The precious benefactor who had risked his life to save her.
The man she had secretly loved for so long...
"I... I’ve killed Claude...!"
He could never call himself a nobleman again.
The person who had spearheaded the social assassination of Claude von Einhart... was none other than Irene herself.
"Aha... ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha—!!"
Tears streaming down her face, Irene laughed.
How could she not laugh?
How—how incredibly pathetic she was.
Back then, being locked in that basement had been to protect her.
Back then, fighting Logen had also been to save her.
And yet, she hadn't noticed a thing.
She had decided that Claude was a villain.
The things he had sacrificed were immeasurable.
His title. His pride as a noble.
And—his very lifespan.
I...
I took everything from him...!
"Ah, aaaah, aaaaahhh...!!"
It felt as if the ground had crumbled away beneath her, casting her into a void of darkness.
The only reason Irene was even alive was because of Claude.
Her "now" was built upon Claude’s very flesh and blood.
She had been living her life while trampling all over his despair.
"Someone like you has no right to be a noble."
The words she had spat at him echoed in her mind.
She remembered the way his face had twisted in that moment.
Why hadn't she noticed?
Why, in that moment, had she failed to see the wounded look in Claude's eyes?
"Uwaah, aaaaaah...! Aaaaaaaahhhhh...!!"
That day.
There were words she had shouted at his lonely, retreating back.
"Even though I loved you!"
She really had loved him.
She had loved Claude all along.
...It would have been enough to simply keep loving him.
"......Your Highness...?"
At the sound of Celestia’s thin voice, Irene looked up.
Before she knew it, she was back in the infirmary. She had no memory of how she had returned.
In the center of the room, Celestia was slumped on the floor, weeping. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot.
No doubt she, too, was suffering from the weight of her regrets toward Claude.
But...
That regret...
Mine must be greater...
"...Hey, Tia...?"
With a face distorted by despair, Irene took Celestia’s hand. Their skin slid together, slick with cold sweat.
"E-everything I’ve taken from you until now... I’ll give it all back..."
Irene stared at Celestia’s face with a clinging desperation.
"So, please... I’m begging you. Just this last thing, okay? Let me have Claude. I have to support him... until the day I die...!"
Irene implored her with a frantic energy that seemed to shave away at her very soul.
"I-I won't...! I have to atone to him too...!!"
"Please...! I’ll make this the last time I ask for anything! I’ll never take another thing from you again! So, please...! At least let me take responsibility for Claude...!"
"I want to, too...! I want to as well...!!"
Both girls were on the verge of a total breakdown, crushed by the weight of their guilt.
It was impossible to speak to Claude normally now. With what right could they even look him in the eye?
If there was only one final connection left to them... it was the chance for atonement.
"I’m the one who had Claude disinherited!" Irene screamed, digging her nails into Celestia’s shoulders. "I haven't even been able to apologize to him once! Even after everything he did to protect me, I haven't even said 'thank you'...!"
"Me too...! It’s the same for me! I wanted to say it... that I'm sorry, that I'm grateful...!"
"Uwaaa... aaaaaaaahhhhh...!!"
"Aaaaaaaaaahhhh...!!"
The two girls clung to one another and wailed like wounded beasts.
Regret, self-loathing, and a despair that had nowhere to go.
Until their tears ran dry, they continued to rub salt into each other’s wounds, using that pain as a tether to maintain their sanity.
How much time had passed?
By the time the darkness of night had fully settled outside the window, their tears had finally stopped.
However, the light did not return to their eyes.
All that remained was a muddy, heavy resolve.
"......Let us support Lord Claude together," Celestia said in a raspy, hollow voice.
"But... he doesn't want that," Irene answered weakly.
Claude had chosen to be the Stepping Stone. Even if Irene and Celestia tried to offer their gratitude or apologies, he would surely push them away. That was the path he had chosen to walk.
"Yes. That is why... we will support him from the shadows."
Celestia’s gaze was fixed on the empty air.
"Just as he fights in solitude where no one can see him... let us support him where no one will ever know."
Irene understood the meaning behind the proposal.
But it was a path of absolute suffering.
"Then... we have to keep pretending we don't know anything?"
"Yes."
"We... have to keep acting like we hate Claude...?"
Even if it was just an act, the thought was an unbearable agony for Irene now. It must have been the same for Celestia.
Yet, Celestia bit her lip and nodded.
"If we don't... we cannot save him."
A single drop of blood dripped from Celestia’s lip.
He was deceiving the world for its own sake. Therefore, they would deceive themselves for his.
It was a path destined to be bitter and painful, and yet, she felt a small flicker of relief. She felt as if this would bring her just a little bit closer to the pain he felt every day.
"...I'm in."
Irene and Celestia’s gazes locked.
Unfathomable guilt mingled with their innate pride. Their eyes, which had once held a noble radiance, were now dark and clouded.
"Someday... when he has fulfilled his mission, we’ll tell him together. We’ll tell him it wasn't his fault. That he was actually the kindest person of all..."
Fresh tears spilled from Irene’s eyes, though she thought she had none left. Celestia also nodded deeply while weeping.
In all the world, they were the only ones who knew his true heart. They had to hold onto that secret with everything they had.
With clouded eyes, the two girls made their vow.
They would shoulder the agony of telling the person they loved most that they hated him.
Until the day he finally...
Until the moment he fulfilled his duty as the Stepping Stone.