The Right State Councilor, to whom I had pledged my life, was struck by an assassin's blade and entered eternal rest.

At that time, I was consumed by rage and cut down the assassins.

But the Councilor, whom I thought was dead, appeared before me. Through the words of the henchmen sent by the Right and Left State Councilors, I realized that the man I had sworn to protect for a lifetime had betrayed me.

I was framed as a traitor on false charges of attempting to assassinate the Left State Councilor and slaughtering innocent people. At first, I screamed in protest, but it was useless. I lost my will to fight and surrendered my body to them.

...When I suddenly snapped to my senses, I was lying cramped somewhere.

A foul stench stung my nose, and I soon realized I was in a prison cell.

...The situation I feared has come to pass.

I muttered that as I pushed myself up. My body ached and felt stiff all over, but I didn't have the luxury to worry about that now.

I don't know how many months I've been trapped here. I stopped counting after the 38th day. They shoved in something that looked like pig slop, so I didn't want to eat it.

They provided only the absolute bare minimum needed for survival.

Because the space was so narrow, I couldn't even breathe properly, and I had to stay curled up every single day.

...I felt like I was going crazy. The loneliness, the fact that I was betrayed, and the feeling that my body had reached its limit made me feel like I was losing my mind. At times like this, I could only calm down by looking up at the clear blue sky, so I stared blankly at the window.

Just then, a familiar face peeked through the high, sturdy iron bars of the window.