He, who lived as a fool...

Haah~

Haaaahkw~

Haah~

Inside a poorly lit, putrid cell, a scrawny prisoner breathed roughly, as his worn-out body slowly gave up. He wasn't okay, well, it was impossible to be, after the long months of torture he got through.

His lungs were so tired that even his coughs seemed nothing more than gloomy whispers...

The lumps of fat he once hated, were completely gone... and likewise his fingers too.

People wouldn't ever see the man he was in the past, his body was destroyed, his arrogant personality wasn't even a speck of what it was once.

It was as if the world was joking with him...

Even his ever pristine, blonde hair, was a mess, it was completely soiled, with a mixture of mud, tears, and blood.

His hair, the only thing he ever felt proud in his entire life, had now the same appearance of a torn rag.

And it served him right...

That was what the man thought from the bottom of his heart.

That was the only outcome for someone like him, it was what he always deserved...

Wreeeh!

Tak

Tak, Tak

Tak...

The rusty gates leading to the dungeon were loudly opened, and in that same moment, the prisoner could hear rushed greetings followed by steady steps.

He was calm, yet, he could feel it. Today was the day when the gears of life would be working against his favor once again...

Tak.

Right in front of the cell for some minutes, an unknown black-haired man stood still, just looking expressionlessly at the Prisoner.

The man was adorned in clothes reserved solely for the royalty, his back stood straight, and as strange it was, he passed a mysterious air of dignity.

The word, noble, seemed to be made just for someone like him.

"Haah~"

"Oh, if it isn't the young prince Vanterion! What kind of business do you have with someone like me?"

Without even looking at the nobleman who stood before him, the prisoner asked with an amused tone.

"..."

The nobleman didn't answer, he just kept a quiet and aloof presence...

"Ah! That's right, now I should call you, of your imperial majesty, Emperor Grieff the first! Isn't that right?"

With a mocking smile, he asked happily, gazing at the nobleman through his messy bangs.

"Tch!"

"Don't you dare to ever call me in that way again! Bartolomeo, you dirty traitor!"

Vanterion shouted raising his voice in fury, he seemed to loathe the prisoner, yet, if anyone was there, they would see that the two didn't mean what they said.

It was simply a form of greeting, they had a simple agreement. Till the end, hate each other, both had to do it, there was no other choice.

After all, hate was the only thing that remained for them...

"Haha.. Hehe"

"Hahaaha! Kw!KWAKU!!KU!!"

Bartolomeo laughed and laughed.

But in the middle of it, he suddenly hunched down and coughed heaps of blood. He never knew from where so much blood came from, but that didn't bother him anymore, nothing did...

His body was giving up, soon he was going to die.

And he accepted that fact a long time ago, now the only thing he could do was wait for it.

"Haah~ I'm tired Van... aren't..."

"Aren't you tired too?"

"..."

"Yes Barto... I am..."

Vanterion murmured in a voice that only Bartolomeo could hear... his worn-out whisper wouldn't ever be heard, not by anyone other than him.

After all, he learned a long time ago, that a strong ruler couldn't ever show himself tired... just like his father did...

The situation wasn't funny, it was as if destiny was playing with them...

Who would've thought? That one day, of all human beings they could choose to trust, the only one they truly trusted, would be their mortal enemy..?

On one side of the bar was the traitor of the fallen Axiass kingdom...

On the other was the former prince of the same kingdom...

It could be said, they were enemies that destroyed the life of each other, and yet, they acted like old friends.

"Say, Van... when I will get executed...?"

"..."

Vanterion said nothing, and so, silence reigned once again at the dungeon.

"Haaah~ you were never good at this, weren't you?"

"Always hesitating with your thoughts... just like that day..."

"..."

Appearing to be mentally tired, Vanterion kneeled with one leg and looked straight to the eyes of his life enemy.

"You will be executed today Barto, this is the last time we will be talking like this..."

In the middle of his muttering, for the first time since he entered the room and probably the first time in years, Vanterion showed his true expression.

He had an extremely tired and sad countenance, it was truly one you wouldn't expect to see on the face of a feared conqueror.

"You... you will do your part.. right...?"

He asked.

"..."

Hearing Vanterion's question, Bartolomeo felt a waterfall of emotions... but he didn't cry... he promised he wouldn't.

"HEH!"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING WITH, LITTLE PRINCE! I'M THE GREAT BARTOLOMEO!!"

"I DON'T FEAR DEATH, DEATH FEARS ME!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs, it was loud enough, with this, even the far-away guards would hear.

"Haha..."

"You were always so crazy..."

A single tear fell from Vanterion's face when he said that, and as soon he wiped it, his expression was back to the one he always wore... the face of the cold-blooded and emotionless emperor, Grieff the first.

"Haha! That is what we'll see! No one can save you now!"

"Bartolomeo Di Siracusa!!!"

"Today you'll be executed for the crimes you did to the people of this nation!!"

Vanterion shouted with a calm yet powerful voice, and without ever looking back, he started to leave.

Yet, just as if the air murmured on his ears, Bartolomeo could hear a silent whisper.

"Goodbye Barto... it was horrible meeting you..."

"Yeah... goodbye Van..."

And in that moment fate was decided.

On that day, two people would die, one of them was Bartolomeo di Siracusa, formerly one of the six Axian generals...

The other one was the Crown prince of Axiass, Vanterion. He, who almost died in the war ten years ago, breathed his last today, and with that, only the emperor was left...

...

..

.

Kill him!!

Burn the traitor!!

Behead him!!

My father died because of this monster!!!

In the plaza of the capital of the Sunaxiass empire, Belfor, people were surrounding the newly placed execution grounds. And they shouted with ten years worth of repressed anger, hurling all kinds of insults and objects.

Ssschrak!

Sssschrak!

Being dragged roughly, Bartolomeo had a guard in both of his sides, his hands and feet were chained by a heavy and rusty metal...

He had no energy, his wounds were festered, and even if he escaped, the population would probably kill him, so it would be useless...

He had no way to live.

But even so, without a care in the world, he walked the better he could, with an arrogant and fearless smile. He strolled as if he was a war hero that came back home full of glory.

But despite his looks, inside, he thought about what he did to deserve this...

It was because he was fat?

It was because he was ugly?

It was because he was small?

It was because he was the son of a concubine?

It was because he wasn't that good at numbers or politics?

It was because he was a coward? Or because he wasn't good using a sword like his brother was?

It was because he wasn't interested on war tactics?

It was because he was greedy?

It... it was because he was sad...?

He wondered and wondered, but soon he would stop doing that. Because measly five steps before the guillotine, something happened...

TAAK!

"AAARGH!"

Bartolomeo shouted in agony as blood gushed out his right eye, a rock had been thrown on it.

And the one who did it was no one but a small middle-aged woman. That at the moment the guards stopped her, kept shouting and wailing.

"YOU KILLED MY SON! YOU KILLED MY SON!"

"MY BOY WAS JUST SIXTEEN!!"

Hearing her shouts, the population got angrier than before. They shouted:

Behead him!

Behead him!!

No one had pity for a man like him.

'If-If I said I did everything I did just to survive... would any of them believe in me?'

He wondered for a moment, but he soon shook his head and stopped thinking about it. After all, It didn't matter why he did it, in the end, he did, and this was all that mattered.

The guards helped to put his head on the guillotine, and right after that a whitish blonde, woman, wearing a heavy armor, got an axe and prepared herself to execute him.

'Ah...'

He knew her, she was the only one of the six generals who didn't betray the kingdom. Yet funnily enough, in the past, he couldn't bring himself to remember her name...

"On this day...a.....b...t....o..."

A royal messenger started to read a parchment about the execution, and in the same moment, he finished it. The woman readied herself with the axe on his neck.

"Damned Axian traitor, do you have any last words!?"

"This is your last chance to repent before god!!"

She shouted with an angry and rough tone as she looked at the back of his head.

"heheheHAHAHAHAH!!"

"I REGRET NOTHING!! GLORY TO THE TRUE AND ONLY ETERNAL KRISTNOEV EMPIRE!!!"

And shouting a phrase he didn't believe at all, Bartolomeo could feel death reaching on his body...

Chills crawled in his spine, and at moment he had a sudden epiphany!!

'Ah, now I see what I did wrong!'

'My true error was being born!!'

He, who lived his entire life as a fool, never trying enough, died with strange thoughts, just like that...