“Oh, oh my God–”

The voice that suddenly interrupted their fight belonged to Luna.

“What’s happening here?!” she trembled in horror.

Clatter—

The tray of bandages and medical supplies that she had been carrying slipped from her grasp and clattered loudly onto the floor.

Luna had been worried about Sezh, who had hurried from her palace still in such a serious condition, so she had decided to prepare some medicine before going after the young princess. She had come all the way here from Sezh’s palace, looking for her the entire time.

The kind lady in waiting had only wanted to treat Sezh’s wounds, but she stumbled upon a far more concerning mess instead.

She was dumbfounded.

Luna still could not believe the scene before her. Such a heinous fight was happening in the normally peaceful West Library. Not only that, but Prince Raytan was also grabbing Prince Bern by his collar, beating him of all people and not anyone else.

Prince Bern, the one who was most likely going to be crowned the next emperor.

As the favorite candidate to succeed the throne, Bern had good backing and extensive support for his claim. His mother, Yulia, held enormous influence over the aristocracy and court politics, and she was also adored by the emperor. For these reasons, no one was able to check Bern’s terrible impulses for fear of losing favor with the next emperor. As a result, he was allowed to commit whatever nasty deeds his heart desired.

Since she only just happened upon them, Luna could not fathom why Raytan was so viciously exacting his fury upon Bern. What surprised her most, however, was her princess, Sezh. This tiny, little girl normally shuddered at the sound of a scream. Now, that same girl was biting people like a rabid mutt.

“Princess Sezh!” Luna exclaimed as she rushed forward and grabbed her ward away from all the commotion.

The dog fight came to a stop because of Luna’s interference.

Of course, Raytan didn’t much care for the lady in waiting’s appearance and continued to preoccupy himself with slapping Bern in the midst of it.

“What are you guys doing, you useless sons of bitches?!” Lili screamed again. “You should’ve stopped him already!”

At the sound of her shrieks, the minions quickly scrambled to do as she said and tried desperately to pull Raytan away from Bern.

Raytan’s red eyes were glowing even more intensely than usual, brimming with anger and hatred. He glared dangerously at the crowd of frightened half-siblings in front of him. The threatening aura emanating from his body warned that the war was about to begin once more.

“Pri-, princesses, princes!” Luna’s voice quivered. “Please stop! That’s enough!”

She had absolutely no idea what was going on or how this all even began, but she felt the need to put an end to the fight before it could break out again.

“Please…” she continued, ”go back and seek treatment for your injuries, Your Highness. I beg you.”

Luna’s gaze went to Bern who was sprawled on the floor. She knew enough about court gossip to recognize that the leader of the group was Bern. So, if she wanted to quickly resolve the situation, she needed to get him out of the room first. Luna carefully reached out and tried to help him up.

“Prince Bern, I’ll help you up… Kyaa!”

Poor Luna was not even given the chance to finish her speech. Instead, she suddenly found herself falling backward onto the floor. Bern had ignored the woman’s attempts to help and stood up by himself before roughly pushing her away.

“…”

Bern stood rooted in place as he glowered at Raytan with as much enmity as he could muster. Raytan refused to lose to him and returned his glare with equal ferocity. The tension in the room rose palpably as the two princes scowled fiercely at one another. Sezh ran to stand behind Raytan and mimicked his actions, glaring daggers at Bern.

We did nothing. You guys were the ones who started this!

Finally, Bern turned away.

“Screw these shallow bastards,” he muttered.

He continued cursing them under his breath with such phrases as ‘filthy bastards’, ‘beggar-looking things’, and ‘shitty things’ as he proceeded to leave the library. The rest of his minions, including Lilian, followed closely behind him.

Of course, Lili didn’t just leave peacefully. The entire time, she spat and cursed at them like Bern did. As soon as they were gone, only Raytan, Sezh, and Luna were left in the West Library.

“Pri–princess… What on earth…?”

Once the other royal children had departed and they were safely alone, Luna took Sezh into her arms and held the tiny girl close to her chest. A second wave of worry and fear had overcome Luna’s trembling body.

Sezh had already suffered Yerena’s wrath just that morning, and she had been in such a terrible state afterward. At that time, Luna had thought that Yerena’s anger and Sezh’s condition were the worst things she had ever seen. But now, Sezh’s current appearance was even more heartbreaking than before—truly unlike anything Luna had ever seen so far.

Sezh’s hair was coarse and mangled, like a mess of tangled straw, and her dress was torn in so many places that it looked more like a bundle of rags than clothing, not to mention how swollen and filthy the young girl’s face had become.

Her nosebleeds had not stopped yet, and blood was dripping from the oversaturated bundle of cloth that had been haphazardly stuffed into her nostrils. The makeshift plug had become very colourful, as if it had been randomly splashed with red and blue paint.

I’m dizzy… It feels like I’m going to faint soon. That fight was so amazingly chaotic. I can’t believe that I wasn’t able to speak properly before.

As Sezh was lost in thought, Luna looked at her in distress and struggled to come up with any proper words.

“Oh, oh, oh,” she fretted incoherently, barely able to make any sort of sound. Her mind was so overcome with concern for Sezh.

“Luna, I’m fine. I’m really fine.”

Sezh tried to reassure her lady in waiting, but her words were nowhere near convincing.

She turned to Raytan and glanced at him. Sezh might have been a total mess, but Raytan didn’t really look good either. Of course, Sezh was in far worse shape than him. That went without saying. Though Bern had punched him many times, Raytan’s face seemed fine at the very least. His clothes were disheveled and his body did look roughed up, but only his hand was bleeding. Other than that, he seemed alright.

You must’ve avoided all their attacks, right? You must be good at fighting.

Sezh realized she was thinking about useless things again.

Suddenly, their eyes met. Raytan looked at her, expressionless. She did the same.

If this were any other situation, she would have avoided making eye contact with him, but not now.

I saw him almost beat Bern to death and it didn’t scare me. No, let’s try to not be afraid of him, because we’re comrades now.

In the midst of her thoughts, Sezh started laughing without even realizing it. Raytan opened his mouth slightly, as if he was meaning to say something to her. But at that moment, Luna pulled Sezh to her side.