Chapter 44: The Curse of the Crown

Halted before the throne, Askeladd, Canute, and Thorfinn are ordered to kneel. Sweyn asks after Ragnar and mourns the loss of a loyal vassal, then invites Canute to step forward so the two may speak freely. He observes that his son's face has hardened into a mirror of his own younger self, even down to being a troublesome child. Canute retorts that a boy grows by watching his father.

Lifting the crown from his head, Sweyn recounts how he once drove his own father into exile and seized power, certain he would do great good. That belief lasted only until he wore the crown, which he says carries a will of its own, granting godlike command over fleets, warriors, and distant treasure while making the wearer its servant rather than its master. When Canute asks whether the crown ordered his death, the king answers that it demands only two things, to use power and to gather more, and that it has no desire for Canute. He signals his hidden guards and archers forward.

Sweyn offers his son a quiet life in Cornwall with a Bible, or death on the spot. Before Canute can provoke him further, Askeladd intervenes, arguing that the prince's sacrifices drew Thorkell away from London and left the city ripe to fall once Sweyn holds the English crown; punishing him now would rattle the chieftains before their rewards. The king relents, but first probes the meaning of the name Askeladd, deduces its owner is the son of a slave, and watches him freeze in silent fury, a rage Thorfinn has never witnessed in him. Sweyn calls off the ambush, praises Askeladd as a fine vassal, and departs, announcing a feast at York where Canute will be honored, all while privately marking Askeladd as a man to fear.

Sweyn and Canute finally meet in person, and the king confides his belief that the crown possesses a controlling will. He offers Canute exile to Cornwall or death, springing an ambush to enforce the choice. Askeladd defuses the confrontation by framing the prince's actions as a strategic gain against London. The king exposes Askeladd's servile origins, drawing an unprecedented flash of rage, then stands down and summons the court to a feast at York.

Titled Ohkan no Noroi in Japanese, this forty-fourth chapter continues Volume 7 and was adapted in Episode 20. The installment introduces the recurring motif of the throne as a corrupting, near-sentient force, a theme central to Sweyn's character and to the later question of whether Canute can wield that power without being consumed by it.