Snap!
The scroll fell from his hand.
That scarlet signature was so conspicuous, so clear.
Outside Giant's Maw Cave, the cold wind remained biting as heavy snow drifted down, making the retainers shiver with cold; even their breaths came out as white mist. Yet inside the cave, it was still warm as a furnace.
But Alger felt as though he had fallen into an icy abyss, collapsing to the ground.
His oath, his faith, the training and education he had received over so many years, everything he had pursued—all of it came crashing down in that instant.
He had trained in combat day and night and worked in harmony with the giant eagles, only to become an accomplice in sacrificing lives.
He had sworn loyalty to Duke Brad, never imagining that the man before him, the one who had bestowed his sword upon him, was his greatest enemy in this life.
He had accepted the instruction of his family's tutors, only to turn himself into a hound under another's control.
The battles he had fought and the sacrifices he had made without regard for his own life had ultimately been offered to his greatest enemy. He was like some tragic figure from an opera.
—and that was undoubtedly the most complete denial and cruelest irony of his life.
Alger had once been accustomed to letting hatred cloud his thoughts. That way, he could carry out his missions at all costs, without caring about right or wrong.
But now that the last veil had been torn away, all that remained in his heart were bloody wounds and endless remorse.
Alger knelt on the ground.
The scene of that massacre appeared before him once more.
Buildings blazed all around him. People raised torches and cheered as they followed behind him, shouting slogans