....
Warm morning sunlight swept across the vast grounds of the Roses Estate, illuminating sprawling beds of blooming roses—vivid crimson, pristine white, and soft lavender—all fresh in full flower. A gentle breeze stirred, carrying their sweet scent mixed with the earthy tang of damp soil, wrapping the air in quiet peace. At the center of the wide training grounds, five members of the Rose Knights—Torun, Ozur, Jeglar, Connie, and Eleonor—trained with fervor. The clashing of steel, ragged breaths, and shouts of encouragement wove together in rhythm.
Eleonor's movements were fluid, swift, yet brimming with restrained power. Every swing of her blade cut through the air with unmatched precision, drawing her companions to pause just to watch in awe.
"Wow, that was incredible!" Torun exclaimed, wiping sweat from his brow.
"It's barely been a year, yet your skill has leapt so far ahead!"
"Absolutely," Ozur chimed in, clapping a hand warmly on her shoulder.
"Your form is nothing like it used to be. You've truly reached the rank of Sword-Saint!"
Connie darted over, face glowing with delight and eyes shining with pride.
"Congratulations, Eleonor! It's so wonderful to see you grow this fast! With you leading us, we'll be able to protect the kingdom better than ever!"
Eleonor smiled shyly, though her eyes lit up with genuine joy.
"Thank you, all of you. This isn't my achievement alone. It's your support, and all the hours we've trained side by side, that brought me this far."
For a moment, the grounds felt bright and warm, filled with laughter and the steady bond of comradeship. But that light joy slowly faded as a palace servant hurried toward them, his face drawn tight with tension.
"Excuse me, my lords, Lady Eleonor," she said breathlessly, holding out a sealed royal missive.
"I bring urgent word from the underground dungeons. King Erico and Lord Karrens Bluehost command the five of you to report to the holding chambers at once. There is something of the utmost gravity that must be told to you directly."
Silence fell over the garden in an instant. Their smiles faded, replaced by uneasy glances exchanged between them.
"Something of utmost gravity?" Jeglar frowned, his fingers tightening around his sword hilt.
"Those matters are usually handled by the special guard. Why summon us?"
"I don't know, maybe," Eleonor said quietly, her voice steady and resolute.
"But if the King and Lord Karrens have called for us personally, something far greater than ordinary trouble is at hand. Prepare yourselves, friends. This does not feel like a routine errand."
Without delay, they readied their gear. The sunlight that had felt so welcoming now seemed to turn sharp and cold; the beauty of the rose garden felt less like a peaceful day, and more like the eerie lull before a storm. With firm, wary steps, the five knights walked together toward the shadowed corridor that led deep beneath the palace.
....
The air in the underground dungeon corridor hung damp and bone-chilling. Dark stone walls were crusted with moss, and the space hummed with clashing magical forces—restraint seals, anti-magic fields, and rows of ancient runes throbbing slowly at every turn. Behind sturdy iron bars lay a grim array of captives: high-ranking magical beings radiating menace even in chains, common criminals bowed in resignation, and figures that stared sharp enough to lunge at anyone who passed.
Karrens walked ahead, gaze sweeping the surroundings with alert intensity. King Erico kept pace beside him, his face impassive, yet his eyes never stopped scanning every crack, every seal, every shift of movement inside the cells.
"Look at this place," Karrens said quietly, his voice echoing down the empty hall. "Even here there are gaps. The anti-magic seals are strong, but their energy flow is unbalanced. If this 'Parasite' we seek is truly cunning, it could have slipped right into this very block… or taken one of these prisoners for a shield."
"Precisely," King Erico replied tersely. "That is why we came ourselves. Nothing here can be trusted as safe."
They had barely walked further when a gaunt yet powerful arm suddenly shot out from the bars on their left. A pale-faced man with eyes glinting with malice locked his gaze directly on Karrens.
"Well now… Little Lady," he purred, cold and taunting. "What are you doing down here? Surely a place this filthy is no fit ground for someone like you?"
Karrens paused, staring back with lazy disdain. "And what business is it of yours? Do you think you have the right to decide where I go?"
The man laughed slowly, his eyebrows lifting in arrogant amusement. "Who can say… perhaps there is something here you need very badly. Something you have spent so long hiding."
"Quiet yourself in there before I lose what little patience I have," Karrens warned, and slammed his fist against the iron bars.
CRACK!
The metal shuddered violently, sending clouds of dust raining down.
"Easy, easy…" the man said, holding up both hands in mock surrender, though his smirk did not fade an inch. "I'm just a harmless prisoner, remember? No trouble meant."
"Tch." Karrens scoffed, about to move on.
But then the prisoner's eyes narrowed sharply, as if he had just realized something of great consequence.
"Wait a moment!..." His tone turned deadly serious. "Why… you look exactly like someone I knew long ago?"
THUD.
Karrens froze completely, feet rooted to the stone floor. Slowly, he turned back, his gaze piercing straight into the cell.
"Remarkable… he actually stopped," the prisoner thought, stunned—and now all the more certain.
He leaned closer to the bars, his voice clear and heavy with meaning.
"It seems… we really were fated to meet again, aren't we? Isn't that right, Lady ---------?"
Before the words even faded, Karrens moved like lightning.
WHOOSH!
He struck the cell's protective ward—the very seal meant to contain high-tier magic—as if it were wet paper.
BOOM!
In one fluid motion he was inside, fingers coiling tight around the man's throat until his feet dangled free of the ground. A terrifying pressure, thick enough to fog the mind and crush the chest, burst forth from Karrens.
"Y‑you… Damn you! You utter bastard!" he roared, eyes blazing crimson. "Where did you hear that name?! Who told you?! Who have you been speaking to?!"
"Ugh… I… I never thought… the Lady… would be… here…" the man choked out, voice strangled.
"Lady?! HAHAHAHAHA… AHAHAHAHA!" Karrens laughed wildly—an unhinged, terrifying sound. "So 'She' dared to leak that secret to you, did she?!"
Without mercy, he hurled the prisoner out of the cell straight toward King Erico.
Clatter…
Swish…
Thump.
King Erico caught him effortlessly with one hand, as if he were tossing aside a soft pillow.
"Hmm." He looked down at the captive, expression unreadable. "You are unusually loud today, Dom. Usually you stay quiet until someone speaks first."
"Ah—um… hehehe…" Dom smiled stiffly, swallowing hard.
Glug.
In the blink of an eye, Dom vanished from Erico's grip—swallowed as if pulled into the shadows. The king's cold expression slowly shifted. A faint, eerie smile curled the corner of his lips, then he ran his tongue slowly over his upper lip, his gaze fixed on Karrens as if beholding something utterly delectable.
"Now, now… calm down," he murmured, placing a hand on Karrens' trembling shoulder. "To get so riled up just from seeing an old acquaintance? That's hardly polite, you know."
He guided Karrens away from the corridor, toward the massive iron door marked Special Isolation Chamber.
"Let us speak properly in there. Besides… if you make too much noise, you'll frighten the others," King Erico whispered, his tone soft and gentle—yet hiding a darkness far deeper than the dungeon itself.
.....
King Erico and Karrens stood still before the thick iron door of the Isolation Chamber, gazing for a moment at its surface etched all over with magic‑binding runes. But the rhythmic sound of footsteps approaching from the corridor behind made both of them turn at once. There stood the five strongest knights of the Roses Kingdom—Eleonor, Connie, Jeglar, Ozur, and Patheon—accompanied by the calm figure of the Head Palace Steward, an elderly servant.
"Mmm… so what exactly are we going to do in there?" Karrens asked, his face blank, though embers of unextinguished anger still lingered in his eyes.
"Do you truly want the answer?" King Erico stepped closer, then slowly lifted a hand to tilt Karrens' chin, staring deep into his gaze. "Deep down in your heart… do you not already know exactly what we are about to face?"
Before Karrens could reply, the group of knights arrived right before them.
"Good morning, Your Majesty, Ruler of the World," Eleonor said firmly and respectfully, followed by a synchronized nod from her companions.
"Yes, yes… good morning to you as well," King Erico replied shortly and briskly.
"All this formality is rather tiresome… but very well, let it be," he muttered quietly to himself.
"Very well, everyone, gather your focus," King Erico said, gesturing to the door behind him. "We shall enter and hear the testimony of a rather complicated being. How to put it… ah yes, the 'Little Parasite' that has been gnawing at the very foundation of our kingdom."
"P‑Parasite…" Ozur, Patheon, Torun, and Jeglar breathed in unison, their expressions hardening with wariness.
"We are ready, Your Majesty. May this time we truly find the unvarnished truth," Eleonor said, then offered a faint smile—one she very rarely showed before others.
"Whoa… w‑wow… d‑did she just smile?!" Jeglar gasped in disbelief, his eyes bulging. Everyone fell into stunned silence—except Karrens, who looked positively revolted.
"Ugh… hey, don't smile like that… it feels wrong and utterly disgusting," Karrens grumbled, twisting his face in revulsion.
"Hmm… is that so, Lady… eh, I mean Karrens?" King Erico teased, returning the look with a far broader, far more mysterious smile.
"Ugh… hmph…" Karrens turned his back, fighting the urge until he could hold it back no longer. HURK… ah… HURRK… he gagged, as if the very sound of the King's voice made him sick.
"I‑I think… we should all pretend we didn't see that exchange," Connie whispered to the knight beside her.
"Agreed," Jeglar, Ozur, and Patheon answered in perfect unison, keeping dead serious faces.
CREAAAK…
The iron door of the Isolation Chamber swung slowly open, letting out a cold that pierced straight to the bone. In the dim space, thick with the sharp metallic tang of stale magic, hung a woman bound tight by dark purple bands of pure energy, chained helpless to a cold stone pillar of judgment. Strange non‑rune script, glowing with a dark pulse, marked every inch of her exposed skin; burn scars peeked through the tatters of her ruined clothes. She looked utterly broken—yet her eyes still held a glimmer of unyielding, desperate defiance.
"Let this little trial begin," the Head Steward said, his voice quiet yet heavy with authority. He stepped forward and waved a hand. In an instant, the dungeon vanished: the stone walls melted away, replaced by an endless courtroom beneath a sky of deepest ash‑gray, its floor reflecting every shadow like a bottomless abyss. He had unfolded his Mental Domain: The Realm of Judgment.
Here, roles were absolute: Karrens, the five knights, and the Steward stood as witnesses to truth; King Erico sat upon the Judge's seat, bearing unchallenged authority; while the bound woman was left alone in the dock, cornered and isolated.
"Ugh…" the woman slowly lifted her heavy eyelids, blinking to clear her vision. Then her body went rigid—her gaze locked with a pair of eyes blazing with unfiltered rage, a hunger to destroy, and a crushing weight that almost stole her breath. It was Karrens.
"Since when… did this place become like this?" she whispered, confused, as cold panic began to creep in. She glanced down at herself, and her breath hitched: every secret mark, every hidden seal she had spent so long concealing was now laid bare for strangers to see.
"W‑wait… my skin… these marks… why now… why must they be seen?" Her voice shook violently, her frame trembling under the twin agony of pain and terror.
The air in that phantom courtroom grew heavier still, pressing down on every part of her being. She knew: there was no escape. No secret left to guard. And the first question that would be asked… would shatter every defense she had left.