The chaotic sky hung with a huge eye, and black mist dripped from the edges.
Angus felt a chill on the back of his neck and suddenly looked to both sides.
He didn't know when it happened, but the land was now filled with indescribably strange things.
They were like people, yet not people.
Their five limbs were misaligned and constantly twisting, and each person's facial features were moving mechanically under the giant eye, performing some eerie ritual.
Angus stood up and looked behind him.
The dark believers stretching across a thousand miles all radiated terror and ominous dread.
Very soon, those non-human creatures supported themselves upright. They forcefully tugged at their decaying bodies and began dancing in reverse circles, as if welcoming the god in the sky who observed the world.
A gigantic raven flew overhead, its beak slowly opening. Several spiraling tongues waved in the air, scooping the black smoke drifting down from the heavens into its mouth.
In one of its eyes, countless scenes of madness flashed by in an instant.
Angus's head was pressed down by a gigantic void-like hand. It forcibly twisted his head back, and his eyeballs felt as if someone were squeezing them, forcing him to stare at the raven.
The moment he saw the image inside the raven's eye, Angus's sanity began collapsing nonstop.
Everything before him seemed to fluctuate even more violently, and the obscure sounds coming from the mouths of the believers gradually became clearer.
His eyes seemed corroded by smoke, turning cloudy and unfocused. His mouth slowly muttered, "God."
———
Monotonous black bark of ancient trees covered the entire room, and only a few pieces of beast fur added a bit of color to it.
Kefra sat in a chair, leaning against the backrest, holding a teacup, facing a thin man.
The man before her was her younger brother.
Jashu Derlin.
The man had a rather delicate look, with well-shaped, sharp features and a gentle smile that never left his face.
His body didn't have strong muscles. In a knight family, he seemed almost excessively thin.
Kefra was a little agitated. She set down the teacup on the table and picked it up again from time to time.
The meeting hall had been quiet for so long. She didn't know what her father and Viktor were talking about.
"Sis, calm down a little."
Jashu seemed to notice Kefra's restlessness and smiled as he tried to comfort her.
Kefra looked at Jashu, adjusted her emotions slightly, shrugged her shoulders, and said to her brother, "Looks like you want to talk to me about something?"
"Go on. What exactly do you and Father want to do?"
Calling Gwen back to talk about the engagement, and even calling Viktor along.
The only thing Kefra could think of was replacing the engagement partner.
But her father had excluded her, which made her even more confused.
What exactly did they want to do?
Jashu took the cup that still had some leftover tea from Kefra, replaced it with another, filled it again with hot tea, and smiled.
In this extremely cold place, having a cup of warm tea was simply perfect.
He pushed the tea in front of Kefra and brought up the question as if casually.
"Sis, what is your standard for judging justice?"
Kefra frowned, a bit puzzled.
'Why ask this?'
"You're older than me, so you should be more aware of what kind of personality Father had back then."
Hearing Jashu's words, Kefra lowered her head as if she had fallen deep into memories.
When she was very young, the Derlin family hadn't yet moved to the empire's northern border, so she remembered her childhood very clearly.
Back then, Sol VIII had just ascended the throne, and it was the time when he needed to win people's hearts and solidify his position.
At that time, Angus was also one of Emperor Aubrey's trusted pillars.
But his sense of justice was even more extreme than Gwen's is now.
It had reached a pathological level.
His eyes could not tolerate any evil.
Once something didn't meet his standard of justice, it would be completely erased by him.
As a politician, Kefra naturally knew a thing or two about nobles.
There were benevolent nobles who did charity and helped the poor, and there were also many nobles who exploited peasants and workers and committed countless misdeeds.
If Kefra had to judge kindness, she judged by actions, not intentions.
But Angus at that time was different.
Even if the nobles doing charity had impure motives, once Angus found out, this powerful knight would let them taste the sharpness of his blade.
So that obsession could no longer be called justice.
But young Kefra didn't understand these things. She was just like an ordinary little girl, admiring her tall and mighty father.
Until Emperor Aubrey believed that Angus's obsessive justice could no longer be controlled.
So he had the Derlin family relocated to the northern border, ordering them to guard this frozen land.
Although guarding the north was still a very important post, for Angus at that time, it was no different from the emperor's distrust toward him.
Thus, Angus felt his faith had suffered a heavy blow.
He had always believed that everything he did was correct.
But if even the ruler he followed thought he was wrong, then what meaning did his justice have?
After moving north, Angus began keeping to himself. He took in many students, spread his knightly school, and devoted himself to guarding the northern border.
His justice was no longer so obsessive. It even seemed as though he had forgotten the justice he once held.
Later, as Kefra grew older, her younger brother Jashu gradually showed his talent and sharpness.
Finally, Gwen was born.
Kefra liked her little sister very much, but for some reason, whether it was Father or Jashu, they seemed to avoid this younger sister.
Until Gwen grew up and revealed her extraordinary ability, the Heart of Justice.
Because of this, Gwen never received parental affection since childhood.
Angus, who once championed justice, no longer believed in justice. So Gwen's birth, to Angus, felt more like mockery and humiliation.
At least, that's what Kefra once thought.
"So why are you telling me all this?"
"This doesn't seem to have anything to do with Gwen and Viktor's engagement."
Jashu shook his head, half smiling.
"No, of course it's related."
"The engagement between the two cannot continue."
Hearing Jashu's answer, Kefra looked confused. She stared at him, this brother who always said shocking things, trying to find an acceptable explanation.
"Why?"
The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point, as if even the air could form ice crystals.
Jashu sighed.
"At this point, I should let you know something."
"Do you really think Gwen's Heart of Justice is just an ordinary talent ability?"
Hearing her brother's words, Kefra's expression darkened immediately, becoming extremely serious.
Jashu continued speaking indifferently.
"If you've ever read the descriptions of the Goddess of Justice, then you would notice how similar that goddess is to Gwen."
"The same obsessive justice. The same ability to judge good and evil."
Jashu's cold words entered Kefra's ears one by one.
She suddenly understood everything.
Why Father always kept silent toward Gwen.
Why they wanted to dissolve Gwen and Viktor's engagement.
"Because Gwen must maintain absolute justice in her heart. Absolutely no one can influence her."
Viktor was exactly the person who might influence her.
Gwen couldn't like anyone. She couldn't admire anyone.
Once unnecessary emotions arose, her inner justice would become distorted.
So Gwen had no access to familial affection from childhood.
As for that hazy thing called love?
Heh, her fiancé was Viktor.
If it were the old Viktor, maintaining the engagement would've been fine.
Because Gwen hated Viktor, Viktor would never influence her justice.
But the current Viktor was subtly influencing Gwen.
Anyone could see that Gwen's feelings toward Viktor were slowly changing.
"So she must maintain absolute justice in her heart."
"…Is that so."
Kefra was silent for a moment, then looked at Jashu with a mocking smile.
"You and Father want to make Gwen become that Goddess of Justice?"
"Not me, Father."
Jashu corrected her calmly, smiling faintly.
"From beginning to end, Father has always been a believer of that goddess."
"He never changed."
———
"How ridiculous."
Kefra suddenly laughed, but there was sadness in the laughter.
"In my eyes, he never changed either."
"Though I know he isn't acting for profit… now, his actions disgust me even more."
Swoosh!
A silver-white dagger pressed against Jashu's neck in an instant.
Jashu sat still, as if his life being threatened didn't concern him.
Kefra's slightly trembling voice sounded, "Gwen is his daughter, my sister, a living person!"
"Just because of some vague legend, she loses the affection and life that any normal girl should have."
"Jashu, are you not human either?"
Jashu raised a hand and gently pushed the dagger away from his neck.
"Sis, the weight of family affection is far too heavy for you."
As if fully certain that Kefra would never hurt him, he spoke softly, "There are things worth Father dedicating his whole life to. And as his child, I should share that burden."
Kefra's hands weakened. She tried to grip the dagger again, to press it back onto Jashu's neck, but she couldn't do it.
Just as Jashu said, family affection held too much weight for her.
However...
"I'm sorry, but you've already failed."
Kefra put the dagger away. Her expression carried neither sorrow nor joy. She explained calmly, "Gwen's Heart of Justice has already malfunctioned."
"…?"
Suddenly, a terrifying explosion rang out from the meeting room. The shockwave made the windows of the house Kefra was in tremble wildly.
The tremendous blast instantly drew both their attention.
Kefra froze.
'What's happening?'
Did Viktor get into a fight with his father-in-law?