“Father! That isn’t what you said we were summoning him for!” Eliana cried, a shoe hitting the King in the face.

“Stupid old man!” The Prince similarly glared at him angrily.

Although I put up my hands defensively, even preparing to use Return at a moment’s notice, the guards hadn’t made any moves regarding the King’s orders.

“Y-you!” The King peeled the shoe off his face and shot the Prince a glare. “Do you have any clue what this bastard did!”

“He brought the King back to the Capital, as ordered!” Prince Aberis snorted.

“Th-that’s right! I’m the King!” the King acted like he needed to be reminded of that. “This means, if I want him dead, I can just order it!”

“Don’t be foolish, you old pervert!” Eliana snapped.

The King put on a hurt expression. “S-sweetie, but he killed your Queen! Do you understand what that means?”

Eliana looked away, uncertain for a moment, but then her expression hardened. “That… she wasn’t my mother! Even if I would have liked to meet her, that woman was just a monster created by the curse!”

“Son,” He turned to the Prince, seeing he wasn’t getting anywhere with his daughter. “Your mother was killed by this bastard!”

“Mother died a long time ago…” Prince Aberis bit his lip, only a bit of pain on his face. “Although she may have been a fragment of Mother, it was just a fragment, twisted by a curse. Deek’s choice… ultimately, it was the right one. Besides, summoning is optional. If Deek had fought back with his magic, we never would have been able to summon him by force. If he truly saw himself as guilty, he would have resisted being brought here.”

“…”

I really didn’t know that. It was true that I had just allowed the summon to work, but only in the sense that I didn’t actively fight it. I wasn’t even aware you were supposed to fight those things if you wanted to ignore a summon. That was the problem with someone who had never been formally trained in magic, I guess. For all I had known, fighting it could have torn me in half or something.

How did that work when you were sleeping or something? I now thought it would be better to move my bedroom into the dungeon with the Queens. I really didn’t want to be in a situation where I was suddenly teleported again like this. I was pretty sure they couldn’t take me from a dungeon, then again, my blessing might allow it. This was going to need some further testing. Furthermore, if summoning is a thing, were there summons from another world? This introduced a lot of interesting questions.

“You brats… even my children won’t support me.” The King put on a helpless look, but it turned back to anger when he finally glared at me. “However, as you said, I’m the King, so ultimately, I make the decisions. The soldiers here may be under your control, but I can quickly make this Capital remember why I’m King.”

“How are you a King?” I demanded, the first words I had said since I appeared.

These words, which genuinely did sound like treason, caused the Prince and Princess to gasp.

“Hehe… keep talking… your crimes just build up.” The King snorted.

“You already abdicated the throne, remember?” I said.

“F-father!” The Prince let out a cry. “You did?”

“Hmph… that abdication was conditional! I was to be left in that dungeon! Don’t play around with my words! Besides, there is no question about it. I can forgive you for killing me as ordered by my son. After all, I was resurrected. However, you also killed my Queen, so the penalty is death!”

“Ah… I didn’t-

“Exactly, so come receive your punishment!” He interrupted.

“I know this is inconvenient, but you might as well just let father execute you. It’s less trouble this way.” Prince Edward sighed, throwing up his hands.

“I was saying… wait, what?”

“Well, it’s not like we can’t resurrect you immediately after. Father actually doesn’t have the authority to permanently kill a higher-ranked noble. It requires a 2/3rds vote. It’s one of the reasons I gave you that position and gave you the authority to kill him. The best father can do is a public execution. It’s a bit embarrassing and traumatic, but it’s only temporary. This is also why it’s difficult to go after Lord Reign, and we’ve been leaning on you.”

“A public execution isn’t necessary!” The King snarled. “I’ll just take your head like you took mine! Be glad I can’t take more!”

He pulled out his sword, making a gesture like he was about to lunge forward. Eliana mouthed the word ‘sorry’ and then covered her eyes, unwilling to see. Even the Prince was looking like he was forcing himself to watch as a matter of honor. When did it suddenly turn so serious? I suddenly felt that my life was in genuine danger.

“W-w-wait! I didn’t even kill-”

The King moved forward like lightning, not sparing any strength. His sword went straight for my neck. The world turned upside down as my head fell from my body.