"There is a difference," I said. "A man driven by determination will break alongside the world. Only a fool, one who has already lost his senses, can do what must be done in a senseless world like ours."
Lady Selena tilted her head slightly.
"I see… so that is your perspective?" she replied. "How… childlike. It sounds like something born from reading too many stories, rather than living through one."
She closed her eyes, or perhaps they had always been closed.
"Though I cannot see the world," she continued, "my blindness allows me to perceive far more than appearances."
Perhaps she was right.
Perhaps it was better not to see what this world had become.
"Lady Selena… would you happen to know a way into the castle?"
I already knew the answer.
It would be no.
"I do."
I paused.
"Beneath the grave of King Lionheart," she said calmly, "the first king of this kingdom. His resting place conceals a passage used by members of the royal family. Only a handful of guards are aware of it."
A slight pause.
"Of course… the moment you step inside, your corpse will scatter like leaves in a storm."
"I see… you mean the Knight Order will kill me," I replied. "I think I can handle them well enough."
Even if they were elite, I had already defeated the strongest. Had I not?
"Ah, child…" she sighed.
"Your arrogance is the most irritating thing I have encountered in years. Far worse than my son's."
Her voice remained calm.
Too calm.
"Where does such confidence come from? You speak of defeating the Knight Order, yet you have never witnessed a single true knight in battle."
"I have. The four knights sen—"
*SLAP*
The world disappeared.
My face struck the ground before I could even process what had happened.
The words I meant to speak dissolved somewhere in my throat.
"You couldn't even see that coming."
Her voice was steady.
Unmoved.
"This… from a blind, retired woman who once served in the royal guard."
I tried to lift my head.
The world spun.
"And you believe you can face those young monsters at the castle?" she continued. "Stop deluding yourself."
There was no anger in her tone.
Only truth.
"You cling to a single victory," she said, "and in doing so, you have forgotten the path that led you there."
…She was right.
"The knights you defeated were nothing more than madmen sent to die," she continued. "They named themselves the strongest. That does not make it true."
A pause.
"The real strongest knights…"
Her grip tightened around her staff.
"…are the Knights of Apocalypse."
I tried to stand.
My body refused.
Pain surged through my skull, my vision fracturing with every movement.
"Do not look so disheartened," she added.
"I was the strongest, once."
I forced myself up.
Only to collapse again.
My cheek burned as if struck by stone.
"This changes nothing," I said, my voice unsteady. "I must enter the castle. Even if I am torn apart… I will go."
I wanted to sound resolute.
But my body betrayed me.
"Child…"
Her voice softened.
For the first time.
"Do me a favor."
A pause.
"Listen to one request of mine."
I looked up at her.
"I will get you into the castle," she said.
A promise.
Clear.
Unwavering.
"But in return…"
A brief silence.
"…kill my son."