The Crown Prince In Hiding

Chapter 23

Wishbone Ash

As Fury had once said—

Velmount was not fond of the Diablo people either. In truth, they might have hated the Diablo just as much as Luminus did—if not more.

“Everyone back then knew just how much Major Harry despised the Diablo.”

Dan stared into the empty air behind the two girls, circling his fingers around his own eyes.

“He hated us. Despised us like something filthy, something beneath contempt. To him, the Diablo were beneath even Luminus.”

“He never said anything like that,”

Rafinya objected.

“There’s no evidence that he disliked your people.”

“That’s right,” Dan replied calmly. “Which is why I said this is history without proof. You don’t have to believe me. I won’t force you.”

He smiled slightly before continuing.

“The real question is why he thought that way. Was he racist? As I said earlier—the answer is yes. Harry was that kind of person. And the reason was his affiliation with the Axis Party.”

He raised his hands, forming a frame in the air.

“The people of Velmount were a nation forged from the remnants of the oppressed. Resentment ran deep—embedded even into their education system. At the time, Velmount’s citizens shared the Axis Party’s beliefs with conviction. That’s how the Axis Party became the government.”

“Harry was merely a hero produced by that system. He believed in its ideology. And so he served the Axis Party with complete sincerity—doing anything, even massacring entire races.”

Nora froze.

“Mr.Fury… are you talking about that rumor? The one saying he was behind the Zentinel Killing Fields?”

“There’s no evidence that leads directly to him,” Dan replied evenly.

“But again—I’m not asking you to believe it.”

It was an accusation impossible to prove. Calling it a stain on Sir Harry Kane’s legacy wouldn’t be wrong.

Dan turned to Rafinya—

and his expression changed.

“I admit that I left plenty of scars on Velmount,” he said.

“But Velmount did the same to us. And that’s when my patience ran out—because Velmount crossed the line.”

That was the spark.

The massacre of Velmount’s civilians by Prince Fury.

Because what Velmount did next was the use of forbidden magic. They joined forces with the Shadow race to eliminate the Diablo—aiming to wipe out the so-called ‘demon race’ entirely.

They poured every resource they had into creating the most devastating explosive spell ever devised.

Its name was—

[Schisma Particular]

Both girls knew that name.

Anyone who had studied history knew it.

It was the most destructive magic ever created by the Shadow.

“At 8:15 in the sky, a massive magic circle appeared above Diablo Island. Less than two minutes later, a flash ignited in midair—followed by an explosion like a second sun. It was so bright I could see it from the shores of Zentinel.”

Dan spoke with an expression that made Nora afraid.

“The largest explosion humanity had ever witnessed detonated above our home. Nearly all of my people died… including my grandmother.”

Nora swallowed hard. Rafinya was suffocating in the silence. Neither of them dared meet his gaze.

They could hear it in Dan’s voice—just mentioning it made his blood boil.

Schisma Particular was an established historical fact. Every kingdom recorded it the same way: the spell obliterated Diablo Island, melting all life there until not even ash remained.

But from a human lens, it was often reduced to a footnote—a point on a map where the Shadow and Velmount destroyed the Diablo.

Some nations even framed it as an achievement of magical innovation, like Mathema.

Yet hearing it from Fury’s perspective—from the victim—

made them realize something.

What humanity had done truly crossed the line.

And it was true—

That explosion took the life of the Queen Mother of the Diablo.

Fury’s “grandmother.”

“They killed her.”

More than fifteen years had passed, yet the anger—the fire—still burned hot enough to reach the two girls.

“They thought that by displaying such overwhelming force, the world would fear them. Maybe they were right,” Dan said coldly.

“But they were wrong about using us as test subjects.”

He looked at Nora.

“My grandmother died.”

And blood had to be washed with blood.

“I invaded southern Velmount. That’s where it began. After that… the rest is history.”

Inch by inch, I slaughtered everything that breathed on Velmount’s soil. Our original plan—to conceal my true power as a war strategy—collapsed completely.

That day, I unleashed everything I had.

“I was furious, Nora. Furious beyond anything I had ever felt.”

“I smeared Velmount’s land with the corpses of hundreds of thousands of humans.”

Nora, Rafinya: “!?”

Suddenly, Casca appeared from invisibility. She leaned against a tree behind Dan, arms crossed, her face filled with sorrow—her voice soft, her eyes heavy with compassion for all sides.

“By the time the news reached us… you were almost at Camp Nou.”

“It’s not easy,” Dan replied quietly,

“fighting a black-magic user.”

“But you wiped out entire armies.”

Hearing Casca say that, both girls froze in shock.

“Fury… wasn’t it too fast?” she asked gently.

Dan turned from his wife to the girls, then back again.

“At the very least, let me speak from my side.”

Casca wrapped her arms around him and held his hands.

“Mr.Fury…”

“?”

“What did you do… exactly?”

“Do you really want to know, Nora?”

“Yes…”

“You might never see me the same way again.”

“I won’t,” she said firmly.

Dan exhaled.

“For me, killing a single ordinary human isn’t difficult. You know that.”

“So at that moment, there was only one thing in my mind,” he continued.

“I would erase everything connected to my grandmother’s death. I would wipe them out—completely.”

I don’t remember every detail of what I did. But the sensation—

was like plunging both hands into a vat of flesh and crushing it with all my strength.

Meat burst through my fingers. My mouth was soaked in human blood. Sirens screamed without pause, mixed with millions of screams. I smelled nothing. I saw nothing but red.

When I came to—

I was in Velmount’s capital, searching for their leader—to trade for my grandmother’s life.

“Fury…”

As a devoted wife, Casca knew at once that the air had grown too heavy. She pulled Dan closer and embraced him, offering warmth.

Dan lifted his head and gave her a gentle smile.

Nora understood something then—

Fury must have loved his grandmother deeply.

“And Sir Harry?” Rafinya asked.

“He was dispatched with a diplomatic envoy,” Casca answered in Dan’s place,

“sent to Snowhaven to persuade the Empress to join the Axis and the Shadow.”

“But by the time the news reached him,” she added,

“two days had already passed.”

“And where were you then, Lady Casca?” Rafinya asked.

“I was in Luminus,” she replied.

“We learned of it before Sir Harry did. In fact—only half a day after it happened, our intelligence unit already knew.”

“Then why didn’t Luminus do anything?” Nora asked.

“Why?”

Casca narrowed her eyes. The corner of her mouth curved—not into a smile, but into self-loathing.

Her eyes were filled with guilt.

“What benefit was there for us?” she said softly.

“For a nation that wanted to see Velmount collapse—letting Fury destroy it for free was good news.”

“!!!”

Rafinya froze.

She never imagined such words would come from Casca—the warrior she revered most.

“But those were civilians…”

“Why didn’t you help Velmount’s people?” she demanded.

“At that point—were you still letting politics override your conscience? Doesn’t that violate CIS doctrine? Standing by while fellow humans suffer without doing anything?”

“Yes,” Casca whispered.

“You’re right. It was a sin.”

She closed her eyes.

“But at twenty-one, I didn’t even see Velmount’s people as human.”

“I…”

She faltered.

“Lady Casca…?”

“……”

The heroine lowered her head. Her face went blank—eyes empty, like a dead fish.

She had never told anyone this before.

“I committed an unforgivable sin as well.”

“What did you do… Lady Casca…”

Rafinya’s heart began to race.

Casca raised her head.

“I led the Seagull Division and purged the southern border regions of Velmount. I killed every soldier there. And I ordered the hanging of every civilian—including children.”

“Because I didn’t see them as human,” she said flatly.

“I believed I was stopping the spread of a vile race… and taking revenge for what they had done to us.”

“!!!”

It wasn’t only Fury who had failed.

Casca had too.

Even if the paladin had awakened today—

the sins of the past, born from religious indoctrination, could not be erased.

The truth that Casca had stood beside Luminus’s leaders back then—watching the killing fields with a smile—

“Heroes aren’t anything sacred,” Casca said quietly.

“All the symbols of goodness you see… they’re illusions. Created to cover our rot.What heroes do isn’t much better than what criminals do.”

Hearing that—

Rafinya went numb.

She was shaken to her core, hearing this from someone she had worshipped.

In truth—

They weren’t that far above the demons she despised.

So what had they been worshipping all this time?

Who had they really been following?

Even Nora—who had already seen shades of gray—was stunned to learn that Casca herself had once done such things.

From here on—

Who should they believe?

What should they worship?

What, truly, was reality?