Chapter 20
On the day of the interview Ricardo mentioned.
Even the laid-back Ricardo was actually quite nervous.
“You’re… from Heilan.”
That was because Artius had immediately recognized Ricardo’s origin.
“Haha. Oh my, you knew.”
Ricardo laughed as if at ease, but his inner thoughts were not like that at all.
Ricardo nonchalantly spouted a lie.
“But I have nothing to do with the Heilan army. I became a naturalized citizen of Ravanta after the war ended.”
“Don’t even think about telling lies in front of me. I know that you were not only a Heilan soldier, but also her disciple.”
“…!”
Even the glib Ricardo couldn’t help but be surprised.
Throughout the entire war, Ricardo had never revealed his face even once.
On top of that, he had even worn a mask, using the excuse that he had an ugly scar on his face.
There was even a running joke among the low-ranking soldiers that anyone who saw Ricardo’s face without the mask would die.
Yet how did he recognize him?
Moreover, the fact that Ricardo was Cheron’s disciple was something no one in Heilan knew.
‘Master isn’t the type to tell that bastard she has a disciple like me.’
How the hell did he find out?
Honestly, he had been relieved because his relationship as master and disciple with Cheron had never been discovered by anyone in Heilan, but as expected of the Emperor of Ravanta.
He couldn’t let his guard down.
“…May I humbly ask how you knew?”
“Sword mages are uncommon, and masters and disciples resemble each other even if they don’t want to.”
‘Dammit.’
He didn’t even mention being a sword mage, so how did he know that too?
This was why Ricardo hated Sword Masters.
Not only did hypnosis magic not work on them, their senses were not that of a human.
But just as Ricardo and Elonia recognized each other after just a few exchanges, as Artius said, the aura they gave off was similar.
‘It’s natural since we’re master and disciple, but that emperor who figured it out instantly isn’t normal either.’
If he let his guard down even a little, it seemed his neck would be in danger.
Artius’s eyes shone as if he would tear Ricardo apart at any moment.
Ricardo gulped.
According to Elonia, Artius had become a son of a bitch, but he was still a pushover.
‘Master, no. That bastard is still not a pushover.’
He only returned to being a pushover for a fleeting moment in front of Elonia, who always surprised Artius with unexpected actions.
He was still a tyrant who would chop off people’s heads if things went slightly wrong.
‘I’ll have to run if I do anything stupid.’
As expected of Cheron’s disciple, even running away when at a disadvantage was exactly the same.
The only difference was that Cheron never had a situation where she was at a disadvantage in battle, while Ricardo did.
It was difficult to run away from a Sword Master, but teleportation magic was like eating cold soup for Ricardo.
As he was thinking of running away, Artius’s eyes shone eerily as if they would pierce through Ricardo’s inner thoughts.
“You better not think of running away. I have something to ask you.”
“How could I possibly run away? Ask me anything.”
Ricardo retorted glibly as if asking who was thinking of running away.
And he thought to himself,
‘Damn, his intuition is fast. …Even if cold soup is impossible, warm bread should be doable.’
He still planned to run if things turned unfavorable.
Artius frowned and glared at him for a while before finally opening his mouth.
“…Since you’re alive, is Cheron alive too?”
“Hah.”
At that, Ricardo forgot about running away and unintentionally let out a hollow laugh.
Wasn’t that question too absurd and shameless?
He had killed his master so brutally, yet he dared to ask about her life or death?
His teeth ground together.
Him of all people.
That emperor who killed his master had no right to ask such a question.
If it were himself from a few days ago, he would have lost his reason to anger upon hearing that question and drawn his sword.
“…Your Majesty, you sure worry a lot.”
“Answer the question.”
“Ha, answer. Yes, I should. Now even the lives of Heilanians belong to Your Majesty the Emperor.”
Ricardo barely calmed his breathing and spoke as if chewing each syllable.
“My master has passed away. On that day when she was not only stabbed in the heart by you, but also had her head and both hands cut off and hung on the castle walls, and the rest of her body burned, my master passed away completely. Is that a sufficient answer?”
“…Yes. It is.”
Ricardo was even more infuriated by Artius’s calm attitude.
That shameless tyrant asked again,
“Did you come to take revenge on Ravanta? You bought a title, but all you do is mercenary work…”
“Of course not. It’s community service. I killed a lot of Ravantans in the war, so I started doing it as my way of repenting.”
“A passing dog would laugh. You must have been the one who snuck into the palace yesterday, and seeing you here, it’s obvious you manipulated the roster too. Is your goal to kill the princess?”
“Who knows? If I say yes, will you kill me here?”
Ricardo sneered.
He had already heard from Elonia that this trash had betrayed Cheron’s will.
That emperor probably wasn’t worried about Elonia’s well-being as a father now.
He was probably doing it because if the “princess” died, there would be no retirement for the “emperor”.
“…”
Artius did not answer.
Honestly, if Ricardo had affirmed it, he was going to behead that bastard as usual and look for someone else.
But his hand wouldn’t move so easily.
Artius hesitated.
That hateful face had an uncanny knack for making people angry.
‘If I kill that guy, would Cheron be sad?’
He was already betraying Cheron’s will as it was.
Compared to himself, who was reconsidering, he looked extremely relaxed.
Of course, that was only Artius’s thought, and Ricardo was inwardly a bit scared.
‘Wow, look at his expression.’
He’s going to kill me at this rate.
I’ll have to run quickly if that bastard draws his sword.
With such thoughts, Ricardo maintained his brazen face, and Artius slowly opened his mouth after much contemplation.
“If your goal was to kill the princess, the princess would have already been found as a corpse yesterday. You, as Cheron’s disciple, wouldn’t fail to kill a young child.”
Oh, this might work?
Ricardo inwardly seized the momentum.
“Really? She could have been found as a corpse. Aren’t you looking down on her too much even if your daughter is young?”
“…What do you mean?”
“The princess, her magic movement is exactly the same as Master Cheron’s. To the point where I momentarily thought Master had returned.”
“…!”
The more Ricardo spoke, the more Artius’s face stiffened.
Cheron and Elonia have the same habits when using magic.
How does that bastard know that?
Elonia hadn’t used magic even once in the past 4 years since the Heilan surprise attack.
But did she fight that bastard yesterday?
Artius’s heart sank.
‘There’s a limit to being reckless…!’
Even if she could use some magic, the princess was only four years old.
There was no way she could beat a guy who had been rolling around on the battlefield.
But upon rethinking, it couldn’t be helped.
‘At that time, there was not a single person in the Princess Palace who could protect the princess.’
All the palace people in the Princess Palace had been put to sleep by that bastard.
No matter how much the princess screamed, no one would have woken up.
If the two had really fought, even if Ricardo had quietly retreated, the princess must have been injured somewhere.
Ricardo, who read Artius’s thoughts, smirked and corrected his misunderstanding.
“No matter how much of an enemy nation, I am now a citizen of Ravanta. You know I bought a viscount title, right? How could I, as such, dare to think of harming the imperial family?”
Ricardo spouted lies without even wetting his lips.
Artius naturally doubted him.
“How can I believe you?”
“If you’re that suspicious, you can keep watching over the princess, right? You’re her father. I really have no intention of harming the princess now. There’s no other capable person besides me anyway.”
“How insolent.”
“Just like my master.”
Ricardo grinned annoyingly.
Artius clenched his fists tightly.
He couldn’t entrust the princess to just anyone.
There was no need to think further.
Artius decided to find someone else and tried to kill him.
That’s when it happened.
“Ah, by the way, when the princess was very young, she collapsed after suffering internal injuries once, right? Her frail body couldn’t endure the mana.”
“…!”
How did he know even that?
Not knowing that Elonia had blabbed the whole situation to Ricardo, Artius was naturally shaken.
Ricardo shrugged.
“Last time too, when she used magic against me, those symptoms were slightly visible. But it seems Your Majesty still wants to hide the fact that the princess is a mage…”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I can teach magic to the princess.”
“…”
“I am Cheron’s only disciple. I can guide the princess, who uses the same magic as Cheron, so that she doesn’t get hurt by her own magic.”
In other words, he was saying he would secretly become a magic teacher while guarding Elonia.
At first glance, it made sense.
If only he weren’t from Heilan.
Artius glared at Ricardo.
He had grown up as a lonely emperor who had lost his entire family.
He could tell by looking into someone’s eyes whether they were holding a blade or not.
‘…He doesn’t seem to have any intention of harming the princess.’
It was probably because he had found traces of Cheron in Elonia.
‘Because he was the only person in Heilan who was favorable to Cheron.’
Ricardo already had a chance to kill the princess.
Yet he didn’t kill her.
…Could he be trusted?
‘Come to think of it, he said she could have been found as a corpse.’
He also said she was being looked down on too much even if she was young.
If nothing else, it was certain that Elonia and Ricardo had clashed.
Yet Elonia did not report the danger to him.
‘…Did the princess believe that bastard would never harm her again?’
With what confidence?
Artius couldn’t understand.
But it was certain that Elonia had spared that bastard and let him go.
“I’ll ask you. What do you gain by becoming the princess’s guard?”
“To find the few traces of Cheron in the princess and yearn for the past.”
“…Yearning for the past.”
Ironically, Ricardo and Artius were in similar situations.
Even though the war was over, both of them couldn’t escape from the past.
Artius, who had no way of knowing that Elonia was Cheron herself, was swayed by Ricardo’s honest words.
Still, he couldn’t entrust the guard of his successor to a knight from an enemy nation.
Even though he thought so, the words that came out of Artius’s mouth were not rejection.
“…I can’t trust you right now. I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”
“Of course you should.”
Ricardo grinned leisurely at Artius’s words.
That attitude was really annoying.
But what was most annoying was himself.
“Then I’ll see you again tomorrow, Your Majesty.”
Ricardo offered an elegant bow and withdrew.
Artius glared at the spot where he had been with irritated eyes and roughly brushed his hair back.
‘No, that bastard definitely won’t do. As planned, only Ethan Flang will do.’
Ethan Flang of the Tite Knights.
After ending the war 4 years ago, Ethan had been stationed at the border along with other Tite Knights to stabilize the border and the people’s livelihood, defending Ravanta.
As much as each individual’s skills were outstanding, if even one was missing, the vacancy would be large, so he usually tried to choose from other reliable knights, not the Tite Knights.
‘…But I can’t entrust the guard of the princess to just anyone.’
Especially not to that suspicious bastard.
Just as he was about to make that decision, Artius fell into contemplation.
“Ah, by the way, when the princess was very young, she collapsed after suffering internal injuries once, right? Her frail body couldn’t endure the mana. Last time too, when she used magic against me, those symptoms were slightly visible.”
According to Ricardo, it seemed Elonia had almost gotten hurt trying to subdue that bastard.
It bothered him.
Compared to when she was a baby barely babbling, the princess had grown a lot.
But no matter how much she had grown, the princess was still a young child.
The younger they are, the more fatal internal injuries are.
Artius eventually rose from his seat.
“…Let’s just go see her once. Just once.”
Artius never wanted to see a new imperial heir again.
Artius immediately went to find the princess.
And.
“Your Majesty, if you have something to say, say it with words. Why are you unpleasantly looking me up and down?”
He ended up going to the Princess Palace for nothing, getting picked on by Elonia, and trudging back.
Anyway, even if Ricardo had been hit by the princess, it didn’t seem like the princess had been harmed.