"Your Highness, I am about to give my life in your service, though even now, I still don't understand why..."
Feo of the Secret Guards stared hollow-eyed through the viewport at the Solar System receding farther and farther away, his heart filled with despair.
Viscount Ironwall hadn't lied to him. This escape pod lived up to its designation as the flagship's number one escape pod, with a generous supply of everything needed for survival.
If he rationed them carefully, the supplies would keep him alive in the wasteland of space for half a year.
Yet the more luxurious this steel coffin was, the longer his despair and suffering would last...
Yes, he had been exiled.
Without the slightest warning, the escape pod he occupied had suddenly been ejected. No one had even said a word.
Even more absurdly, he still had no idea how any of this had happened.
How had I offended Viscount Ironwall?
Why had a seemingly effortless assignment suddenly turned into a journey into exile?
I am one of the Second Prince's Secret Guards. Have those people gone mad?
How dare they treat me like this?
At first, he had thought this was merely an intimidation tactic by Viscount Ironwall. But now he was about to drift beyond the star's gravitational reach, and the rescue he had expected still hadn't arrived.
A terrifying thought surfaced in his mind: they were serious...
But why? Was he taking his anger out on me over a minor setback in the mission?
Or had Viscount Ironwall long been plotting to betray Duke Horton and His Highness?
"They will surely disguise my death as a battlefield accident...
"Your Highness, I have failed you. I cannot get this vital intelligence back to you. You must beware of Viscount Ironwall..."
Even at the end