Aegis Empire was one of the human empire on the continent, and i was born as the second prince of that empire.
Emperor Devis Carter had only one wife, empress Alicia, and my mother was just a palace maid.
Mother died while giving birth to me.
Later, i was named by the emperor as, Leon Carter. Having the blood of a commoner mixed in my body and being an illegitimate child, Empress Alicia always hated me, same goes for Emperor.
They already had a son, Oliver. Oliver was two years older than me.
Despite everything, i was still grateful that i was provided proper living conditions that a prince should have... till my tenth birthday.
In this world, People possess special abilities, most common among humans is the ability to perform magic.
People are born with mana, some possess little mana, while others have big mana reserves.
Human body reaches it's full mana producing potential at the age of ten, after that the amount of mana production cannot be increased any further.
Unfortunately, i possessed no mana at all, and was not gifted for magic. Bur there were still other ways to become strong, like becoming a swordmaster.
My family's treatment of me became even worse than before, when they learned about my inability to perform magic.
Being abused by maids, low quality food, smaller room, and confinement in my residence, they were just the start of a worst fate, that awaited me in future.
Dedicating myself to become a swordmaster, i started my training at the age of ten.
Three years later, emperor summoned me,
"Dungeons are increasing on the southern borders of empire, you should go there and kill the monsters, who have come out of them."
Emperor ordered in an emotionless voice, like he was not talking to his son but some stranger.
I was sent to the border when i was thirteen year old.
At the borders, i fought the monsters day and night without barely getting any rest.
Spending countless sleepless nights, i continued killing them and honing my sword skills.
After four years, i finally achieved the swordmaster rank, and six months later, i made another big progress, becoming the only person to achieve the higher rank than swordmaster, Sword Saint.
When i reached the age eighteen, i returned to the empire as a sword saint.
Emperor had invited me to celebrate my coming of age ceremony. Monster attacks were also not as frequent now as before, since, i had cleared most of the dungeons on border areas of Empire.
Citizens of capital city welcomed me at my arrival, making me feel warm.
My coming of age ceremony was held successfully. I thought, i could finally have some peace in my life.
Being loyal to the empire, i wanted to continue closing rest of the dungeons and protect the people of the Empire, but mentally, i was exhausted.
Despite being a sword saint, a warrior of the legendary rank, it couldn't cure my mental exhaustion.
Deciding to retire, i left the capital city and went to the Dark Forest.
***
After two years, royal knights and magicians stormed in my residence, first prince, Oliver Carter, accompanying them.
"Leon! You are under arrest for being a spy of demon empire!!" Oliver shouted, standing behind the soldiers.
I couldn't understand what was happening, it was too sudden. My residence was not even in the capital at that time, i lived in the Dark Forest, far away from capital.
Why did she not stopped them from coming inside? Did she went out again?
And what about being a spy for demon empire? I have never even meet any demons. The monsters i killed on the borders were from Dungeons.
So, how did they even came up with this nonsense?
"Listen, Oliver i think there is some kind of misunderstanding. You should know better, demon empire is at the northern border of our empire and i was stationed at southern border." I said, trying to understand the situation.
"You can't fool us anymore, we have the evidence that you are a spy. Surrender without resistance, otherwise, i would have to use the bloodline restrictions."
Oliver ignored everytime i tried to say after that.
He used the bloodline magic— A special magic used by royal family, which helps the higher ranking family members to control illegitimate childrens.
Shhh!
The power i acquired after continuously battling against monsters, was sealed in an instant.
At this point, there was no need for me to explain myself any further, everything was starting to become clear to me; i was being set up by none other than royal family.
I started walking towards the soldiers.
"Why are you doing this, Oliver? I have always obeyed every command of emperor. I'm don't even have any interest in the taking the throne from you in future. Then why?" I asked, anger rising in my body.
As expected no answer came.
"So, you are not going to explain anything hue?" I said slightly amused.
A long sword with beautiful golden sheath and hilt was hanging on my waist.
Just a few meters away from them, i halted my steps.
Soldiers watched my every move with nervousness. Even if my special abilities as sword saint were sealed by bloodline restriction, i was still the only sword saint alive on the continent.
The person who single handedly destroyed countless S-Rank dungeons, and one of the four SSS-Rank dungeon, the highest level dungeon known to anyone.
If my powers were not sealed, no matter how many people he came with, Oliver could never even touch my body. Unfortunately, my power was still not enough to surpass the bloodline restriction, the ancient magic.
"Alright, i surrender! Do whatever you want." I said, raising my hands in air.
Seeing me surrendering without any resistance, A smug smile appeared on Oliver's lips.
"You don't have any other choice either way, without the special energies in your body, you are just like any other ordinary person." Oliver said pointing his right hand towards me.
Oliver was a magician with B-Rank mana and Fire element affinity. But he was nothing compared to me. He might've been jealous of me.
How childish!
"Soldiers, go bind his hands with..."
Clank!
When everyone's attention was on Oliver, i grabbed the hilt of my long sword and ran towards him.
Swoosh!
Closing the distance within a fraction of second, i slashed his hand, that was pointed towards me, blood spurted out of it like a fountain.
"...Aargh!!!"
Oliver's smug face contorted because of the sudden pain in his hand, and he started screming.
The sword in my hand slowly turned see through and disappeared.
'So, there is a limit of using it without having sword aura activated.'
Other knights and magicians were immediately alerted and used their powers to subdue me and bind me with chains.
I knew that this was the end for me, so i did not resist any further. I was taken to the capital and put inside the prison.
After that Oliver recieved some treatment from a royal magician, who had healing element magic Affinity.
When his sliced hand was successfully reattached again, he came to where i was locked.
"Hey! How did you do that with your special sword energies and aura sealed?"
Oliver looked restless, confused as well.
"I had many high ranking defensive artifacts on me, then how did your aura-less sword reached me?" He asked again, looking at me with some wariness.
Both of my hands were bound with magic chains and i was standing in front of him, with just iron bars separating us.
"Don't worry, i can't do that anymore! My sword. I obtained it from the SSS-RANK dungeon as a clearance reward." I looked at Oliver and explained without hiding anything.
There was no point in hiding anyway. Since, I'm already in jail, i don't think they plan to let me live for long.
Oliver had short blonde hair and golden eyes, just like the emperor, but right now, only fear could be seen in those eyes.
What a coward!
"Do you think i wouldn't have any high rank artifact despite clearing so many dungeons? What a fool, the only reason i did not reveal them to you people was because i never trusted you." I said, mocking his intelligence.
"But i couldn't fully escape from you as well... Because of this damn bloodline restriction."
Clatter!!!
I kicked the iron bars in front of me, with a force that they didn't stop shaking for a while.
"Ahh!" Oliver took a few steps back, scared that i might harm him again.
"Th-That's why i always wanted to kill you. You are not someone we can control without sealing your power, and who knows, if you continue to grow with the same speed in future, you might break free from these restrictions." Oliver said wiping the sweat from his face.
"It's better to kill you right now. Who knows you might try to become the emperor if left alone."
****
Oliver did not want to stay there anymore, he just came to ask about how Leon's attack succeded, despite having many protective Artifacts on him.
As he started to walk away,
"Is emperor also part of your plan?" Leon suddenly asked, his face looking towards the dirty ground, expression unreadable.
'I know the answer, but... I just want to confirm it last time.'
Oliver paused, instead of scared, he now looked amused.
"Of course, he is!" A broad smile appeared on his face.
Turning his face towards Leon, he said,
"You might have already guessed, but including father, other nobles are now planning to execute you publically. Oh! One more thing..."
"Nobody, from commoners to influential people, is coming out to defend you, even after all newspapers writing about your crimes and execution. Guess what? I'm not the only one jealous of your achievements. Even commoners want to see a person like you to fall from grace."
Saying this, Oliver turned and left.
Leon stood, anger and disbelief rising in his eyes.
***
It's not just my family?
Why are other nobles trying to get rid of me?
There territories are safe, because i fought at the border, clearing all dungeons filled with horrors.
Why are they being so ungrateful!!
"Haa! Who am i kidding? I knew what type of people they were, i just wanted to believe in the good inside their heart, but... there was not good to believe in."
***
The day of my execution arrived.
I was taken to the public execution site, where nobles and imperial family members, including Oliver and Emperor, sat, looking at me, like i was some circus animal instead of their own flesh and blood.
Countless commoners were present there.
"Kill the traiter! Kill this demon spy!"
Someone among them shouted.
"Yes, he deserves to be burned alive. Why did you betrayed the empire, you traiter? Do you want to kill us poor people?!!!"
Soon, the crowd started shouting and throwing stones and rotten things at me.
Why are they doing this?
I still couldn't fully believe this. How could they so easily turn away from the person, who they welcomed so warmly just two years ago.
Fighting several years for their sake, i never even thought about my own needs.
Never did i wanted anything from them.
DRIP...! DRIP...!
Blood started falling from my head, making my long black hair wet.
In the end, all i get for my selflessness and loyalty is... this.
Looking around, i could only see monsters, wearing human skin.
My face and eyes, all were slowly painted red with my own blood.
Two soldiers came and started binding me on the stake with chains.
Then, Oliver stood up from his seat.
"Let's burn the evil!" Oliver said loudly enough for everyone to hear.
He raised his hand towards me and fire started to emerge around my body. It was his B-Rank fire magic.
my body was set on fire, and cheers of people continued to enter in my ears.
"Burn the evil! Burn the evil!" Voices filled with excitement and madness.
****
Fire intensified on my body, as i felt an unbearable pain, every passing moment felt never ending.
"Haa... Uggh... Why am i... Haa.. not dying?."
I couldn't tell how much time had passed, but i continued to feel my body burning.
Maybe, because i was a sword saint, it was taking longer to burn my body, or, that fucker Oliver was just too weak for his fire to burn me quickly.
The strong body, that i gained after working hard, now felt like a cage.
My skin burnt completely. After that my fully exposed muscles also started burning.
Once again, the pain and temerature of fire intensified. If there was hell, it would be like this, i thought.
But strangely, my body soon started to build resistance to this burning pain, or maybe my brain just couldn't process it anymore.
Maybe two more hours passed. Now, just a few muscles and the exposed skeleton, that's all that remained of my body, but...
"Why... is my... soul still clinging... to life.." i thought, my vision already taken away.
A long forgotten memory suddenly appeared in my mind.
After the coming of age ceremony, i did not wanted to live in the palace. I had always felt out of place around the royal family.
I wanted to live somewhere quiet, where nobody could disturb me. My mental state after battling alone against the terrifying monsters was unstable.
Far away from the capital, i found a suitable place, where nobody else lived. In distant past, A-rank dungeon had emerged there. So people were afraid of that place.
It was now called Dark Forest.
I started living there, and made a small house using wood of trees. There were many trees which bore fruits.
But most importantly, a strange girl also lived there....
She lived there even before me.
"I wonder... how she will... react... When she comes back... and ... learn about my death.."
"Fuck...! Who knew, death would come.... so suddenly."
It were not some otherworldly monsters or demons who killed me, it were humans...
It started to feel difficult, to think anymore, and then... everything went completely silent.
Only ash remained, of what used to my body.