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The evening of that day.
I volunteered to deliver food to Torsti.

“I have brought the meal.”

Torsti had his head hung just like when I left the room, showing no reaction regardless of who entered.

Even after setting up a table that would allow him to eat while seated on the bed, he remained motionless. Despite placing the meal on the table, he didn’t acknowledge it in the slightest.

“Would you like me to feed you?”
“…”

Looks like that was a misfire.
Well, not that I care.

“Excuse me, but could you leave me alone with Mr. Torsti?”
“…Yes! Wait what? But…”
“Be assured I have the branch master’s permission.”

Through some persuasion, I managed to convince the monitoring personnel, who appeared to have been blanking out, to grant us some privacy.

Good. With that, the situation has been arranged accordingly.

“Eat properly.”
“…Huh?”

I couldn’t tell if Torsti was surprised by the change in my tone or by the fact that he was being given orders, despite knowing he was the prince. Nevertheless, he showed a reaction.

Well, whether he responded or not, I intended to force the food in his mouth if I had to. Unlike my situation, his circumstances involve the lives of many people. Though I feel bad for him, there’s no time to worry about what happened.

“If you don’t recover your stamina, you won’t last even until Orbwight.”
“…”

No reply, huh?

“So you were thrown away, huh?”
“Kh…”

He flinched at that.

As I momentarily dispelled the barrier and directed my Spirit Eyes towards him, I caught a glimpse of a slight anger directed at me. That confirms my victory in this gamble.

Now, it’s time to pursue and launch a counterattack!

“They used you, so you should just use Orbwight as well! Actually, shouldn’t you just drag your father down? He’s a fiendish person who tried to kill his own son for the sake of war, after all.”

But well, if he does that he’ll end up with a big debt to Orbwight, so ultimately he’ll become their puppet. That wouldn’t be beneficial in any way so I’m not going to mention it.

“What are you hesitating for? You planned to live on as Torsti anyway, right? So–”
“Shut up!”

Simultaneously with his shout, the table was violently swept away, launching the container into the air. It showered me with its contents as it collided with me.

I could see it coming, and I could have easily avoided it. But I chose not to.

The private room was soundproofed, ensuring that no sound would escape, and my barrier provided protection from the impact and temperature of the spilled porridge. Nonetheless, I maintained the pretense by giving a convincing reaction.

“Ouch–hot! W-What are you doing?! I was trying to encourage you here!!”
“Don’t say another word…!”

He screamed back, his expression distorting from pain and displeasure.

“Enc…Encourage me?! Don’t make me laugh! You’re spouting irrelevant nonsense …!”
“W-What part was nonsense! It’s a fact that you were abandoned and even used!”
“Be quiet!!”

He had nothing to throw at me anymore so he just punched his bed instead.

The bed had good springs, so his punch didn’t meet much resistance and his undigested anger was sent my way instead.

“A woman like you who only knows how to butter up people…! As if you could understand my regrets about my mother?!”
“Y-Your mother?! What are you saying…?!”
“She was killed!! By other women!! By the lowly legal wife and concubines!!”
“H-How is that related to this?”

His clenched fist and teeth seemed to be giving off creaks.

“The imperial family are the descendants of the gods… I was not chosen by the divine swords and lost the right to inheritance… and my mother… killed herself… They say that she was ashamed of betraying the Emperor’s expectations…?! If so, why was there a wound on her body?! My mother said she would dedicate everything to my father! The same mother who encouraged him to become a good emperor!! They tormented and killed her!!”

Torsti’s impassioned outburst left him breathless, his words abruptly cut off. He gasped for air, his shoulders heaving with the effort, until his breathing gradually subsided. With a downward gaze, Torsti found his composure and spoke again.

“…It’s not just the right to succession… They stripped me of my military rank, fearing that I would stage a rebellion, I became a mere subject, while my brothers closed off the path for me to support the empire…”

He opened his hand that he had clenched once again, and gazed down on it. It was a hand that was unbelievably rough for a member of the imperial family.

“I only had one path left for me… If I achieved military accomplishments, I could prove to my father and those women… That Mother was not at fault…”
“…So that’s why you were so impatient.”

At my words, he revealed a feeble smile while touching his bracelet.

“I believed I would be chosen by the divine sword over my brothers if I gained more strength… but I never expected that he wanted my death…”

Torsti seemed completely drained after saying all that… Yet, unlike moments ago, his eyes held a clear and focused gaze.

I had hoped for him to share his inner thoughts, but I never anticipated such a swift recovery. Perhaps his experiences in that depraved castle have shaped him in unforeseen ways. Regardless, it’s time to progress to the next phase.

With the unexpected harvest we’ve gained, it would be foolish not to leverage them to our advantage.

“Please let me correct two things.”
“…What?”

Torsti looked at me in puzzlement. Well, I doubt he believes me given the earlier impression, but I had to tell him the truth.

“The first is that you will never be chosen by the divine sword.”
“Kh… What would a nobody like you know…!”

I expected him not to believe me, but I decided to use my trump card.

“I know you can’t trust my words, but what about the Dragon God’s or the Ogre God’s words?”
“…What…did you…?”
“The divine swords Raile and Haldia that the empire possesses are a type of special armaments called divine tools, which allow manifestation of god-like powers not through magic but through the weapon itself, and they can only be used by specific people… Is this correct?”

He naturally didn’t deny it.

“The activation conditions for them are for the wielder to have divine genes. The reason why the Raihand Imperial Family could use it through generations was that they are the descendants of a god who inherited his genes… Or so the Empire claims, but the world’s history speaks that the divine tools can only be used by those with divine factors, and people throughout the world know that. The Empire and the human supremacists simply used that to claim that humans were the closest existences to gods.”

Now the main issue.

“That claim itself is false as both Dragon God and Ogre God can use the divine tools, but those in their households with no divine factors can’t use them either, so the truth seems to be that only those born with divine factors can use it.”

I worded it as if I heard from the two, but of course, I haven’t investigated or talked to them about it.

“Then… I’m…”
“Unfortunately, you most likely do not have divine factors.”
“…I see.”

He was probably already feeling as awful as it could get, or perhaps he had already expected it. At any rate, he accepted the truth without losing his composure.

But these were just preparatory steps.

“And one more correction. It is a mistake that His Majesty the Emperor wants your death.”
“…Why, do you think so?”
“Because of that bracelet.”

Torsti directed his gaze at the bracelet on his right wrist.

With Eyes of God, I confirmed the effect of the bracelet that he was touching as if to calm his heart. Before telling him, I first ask him a question about it.