The Terminally-Ill Lord Desires Hospice Care

Lying in her bedroom, Rizehl tore apart her pillows as she spewed curses too vile to utter, damning her brother and the empress.
While the empress was understandable, her brother had not always been such a wretched existence. No, rather, the relationship between Rizehl and Raul had been quite amicable.
Unable to be too affectionate due to their mother’s watchful eye, they still inquired after each other’s wellbeing and engaged in idle chat.
And it had been a relationship that could never be undone.

A few years ago.
Rizehl brought Raul coffee in place of the butler and asked:
“Brother, there is something I wish to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve heard you have been frequently associating with unsavory forces lately.”
“Unsavory forces, you say…”

Unsavory forces referred to Raul’s friends.
The deposed crown prince who had built great achievements yet was pushed aside from the line of succession. The woman called the ‘crippled whore’ who aided that prince. And the ducal lady who frequently met with them.
Quite the unsavory company by appearances. And Rizehl did not approve of her brother associating with such people.

“They are my friends.”
“It could appear as if you are plotting treason.”
“While arrogant and shortsighted, His Majesty is not one to turn me foe for such reasons.”

While calling the emperor arrogant and shortsighted could sound disrespectful, Raul had expressed it very politely.
After all, the war that had nearly resulted in defeat was practically started by the emperor of that time.

“Then can’t you persuade them otherwise, brother?”
“I have no confidence in persuading Camilla and Penelope.”
“But you could do it, brother. They surely cannot ignore the achievements you have built…!”
“Rizehl. Can you change the flow of a river?”
“Pardon…?”
“I too lack the power to stop that great current. I can only keep my mouth above the surface to breathe, nothing more.”

Though expressionless as he read documents, Raul earnestly entertained his younger sister’s complaints without dismissing them.

“But if they rebel, my fiancé will be the first target!”
“He is not my blood relative.”
“If that person ascends the throne, I can become empress! You know my dream too, brother!”

From a young age, Rizehl had wanted to become the greatest woman in the empire.
To her, the greatest woman was naturally the empress, so becoming empress had long been Rizehl’s dream.

“…That is only a position. Not what makes the greatest woman, Rizehl.”
“Brother…!”

When Rizehl’s eyes welled with tears, the usually stoic Raul let out a rare sigh.
This man who did not bat an eye while drenching vast battlefields in blood could not overcome his blood relative’s tears.

“Very well. I shall consider it.”
“As expected of you, brother! You could defeat even those three! You’re the Tree Hunter who even slew those dragons!”
“Rizehl, even I cannot handle more than two of them.”

Raul set aside the documents he had been holding and spoke:
“And I do not favor such childish epithets.”
At that time, Raul did not prefer the ‘Tree Hunter’ epithet – out of embarrassment, for a reason the current him could not fathom.

“Isn’t it cool? Befitting one like you who has never been defeated…”
“I am not a man suited to such grandiose epithets, Rizehl. And I too have tasted defeat a couple of times.”
“Well, we can decide on your epithet later, but please help ensure my fiancé can ascend the throne, brother.”

Raul rubbed his forehead and let out a light sigh.
Due to Rizehl’s engagement to the second prince, his family had become entangled with the second prince’s faction. Had there been no engagement, matters could have been handled more smoothly.

“But do you love him?”
“How many people marry for love these days? But from what he tells me, he doesn’t seem a bad person at least.”
“……I shall judge him directly.”

Raul wished to confirm if this man could make his younger sister happy.
If he proved to be such a man, Raul would have gladly supported him.
Even if it meant becoming antagonistic towards his friends and facing their condemnation.

“Rizehl. One last question. You are likely aware of the things people say about me.”
Raul gazed quietly into Rizehl’s eyes and asked:
“Are you not ashamed of me being such a person?”

At that, Rizehl smiled and replied:
“I do not think of you as the kind of monster people make you out to be.”
“…I see.”
The corner of Raul’s mouth curved ever so slightly upward.
“That is quite a relief.”

Raul did not kill the emotion he felt towards her.
Rizehl was one of the few who could glimpse Raul’s faint emotions.
While they did not show it outwardly, they maintained a somewhat ordinary sibling relationship.
Which was why Rizehl did not hate her brother, brushing off the condemning words about him as mere drivel.

But Rizehl’s heart towards him was betrayed in the worst way.
A few days later.
Counter to his sister’s request, Raul took the vanguard of the rebel forces, massacred the imperial guard with just his cane, and personally executed the foolish emperor.
And at the end of it all, he even killed the second prince, his sister’s fiancé, with his own hands.

Upon learning of the disturbance at the palace, Rizehl rushed there in denial, insisting her stone-faced yet kind-hearted brother could never do such a thing.

“Brother…?”
But the Raul she faced was in such a horrific state, she could not bear to look at him.
Rizehl collapsed at the gruesome sight of Raul holding the second prince’s severed head amid a pool of soldier’s blood he had slain with his own hands.

“Rizehl…”
Unable to accept this reality, Rizehl double-checked the head in Raul’s hand.
“How could you do such a thing…!”

Seeing his younger sister’s eyes filled with resentment, Raul was visibly flustered.
At the very least, he had not wished to show this side of himself to his sister.
Even if the whole world stoned him, he had wanted to remain a good brother in his sister’s eyes.

“Rizehl, listen.”
And so, his usual composed and calm demeanor crumbled.
The man who disliked anything unsightly or pathetic had become just that.

“I killed this man because ultimately, he was going to…”
“Shut up!!!”
“Rizehl, I did it for you…”
“You monster!!!”

At being called a monster, the hand Raul had reached towards his sister froze.
That hand stained with the blood of countless people could only tremble, having lost its way, unable to grasp anything.

“People were right! You’re just a monster!”
“……”
“Traitorous bastard! Hellbound bastard! Murderous demon bastard!!!”

Raul silently listened as Rizehl spewed her curses.
Curses he should have been well accustomed to by now.
And yet, coming from his sister’s lips, those curses shook Raul’s heart. No matter how hard he killed the surging emotions, his heart continued to tremble.
It was his first time trying to kill the emotion towards his sister, so the entire process was unfamiliar.

“Someone like you should just die right now!!!”
Words he never wished to hear from his sister’s lips – Raul turned his back to them.

“…Is that all you have to say?”
“What?”
“I will soon grow busy. The dissenting forces opposing the new emperor’s ascension must be purged by my hand.”
“Selfish bastard…”

At those unprecedented words, Raul unconsciously nearly turned to show his face.
But with superhuman patience, he endured and maintained his silence.
Burying the thousand words that threatened to spill out, he simply gazed at the distant mountains.

“You are the most selfish bastard in the world.”
Leaving those parting words, Rizehl walked away in tears.

The future empress Penelope, who had watched from afar, cautiously approached Raul and spoke:
“…Shall I go explain the circumstances to her? Just what kind of man her fiancé truly was?”
“No. She said she does not wish to hear anything. It is enough that I alone bear her sense of betrayal.”
“But if this continues, you will only be hated more. Would it not be better to provide an explanation?”
“It may be better for her to live thinking herself the pitiful victim betrayed by her brother. At least then, the direction of her anger would be clear.”
“If I reveal what kind of man that person you hold was, I could redirect her misguided anger. You need not bear that wretched fury upon yourself.”
“Anger directed at the dead only festers into an illness within oneself.”

The future empress Penelope sighed.
He had chosen to deliberately embrace that hated position, even knowing he would be reviled – burning the bridge of being a good brother for his sister’s sake.

“Raul, you…”
Penelope stared at Raul in shock.
“That flowing from your eyes right now…!”
“Something must have gotten in my eye. Is that not common?”

The empress could understand Raul shedding tears.
But what flowed from his eyes was not transparent tears, but thick, red blood – leaving the empress speechless.

“It’s just…”
Raul even stumbled over his words, a rare occurrence.
“…a slightly different color, is all.”

Penelope could not bring herself to tell him to stop his bloody tears.
For the blood unable to seep out seemed to pool within, diluting even his faint sense of self.
All she could do was tightly embrace her pitiful friend.

“…Lean on my shoulder and cry, Raul.”
Penelope offered her shoulder to Raul.
“So none may dare witness my friend’s sorrow.”