Episode 95
“Just kill… me. Kill me…”
“Why should I dirty my hands? You’ve committed enough atrocities. It’s time for you to pay the price.”
“You’re… insane.”
“That’s quite harsh, coming from a noble lady. Ah, but I do have a personal gift I’d like to give you.”
Cesar cast a small spell. The woman’s sharp cry echoed in the passage.
“Lily suffered quite a bit because of you. So I’ll give you the same amount of pain.”
Worried that Lily might have woken up, he quickly left the passage and cast a teleportation spell to return to the Dukedom.
He would be busy once he returned. He had to deal with the servants at the Marquisate who might know about Lily’s true identity.
In the quiet Empress’s Palace, the Empress sat leisurely, sipping tea, with her son before her. Her gentle smile was elegant, but her eyes gleamed like a predator’s.
“Dian, have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
“The news that the Seirthe Marquisate has been exposed for their corruption and is now in turmoil.”
“…I’ve heard that the news is causing quite a stir.”
“What do you think about it?”
Clink. The sound of her teacup being placed on the table echoed in the room.
The Empress’s eyes, as she waited for her son’s answer, were cold and devoid of any expectation.
“Isn’t it a good thing? The Seirthe Marquisate was a strong supporter of my brother.”
At his answer, the Empress burst into laughter, which she had been holding back.
“…Pfft.”
As if she had dismissed the palace attendants for this very moment, her brief chuckle turned into loud laughter.
“Ahahaha!”
“Mother…?”
“I’m starting to doubt if you’re really my son. I even have thoughts of you just dying. If I had been born a man, or if you had at least taken after me… would things have been different?”
Her eyes, gleaming with madness, scanned him.
Dian knew what her gaze meant. He had been trying to meet her expectations because he hated that cold, disapproving look.
But the result was…
‘You can’t even do this much? What are you capable of, Dian?’
‘You’re only looking at what’s right in front of you. You don’t have the talent to win others over.’
‘I’m disappointed. My son is so incompetent!’
He had tried so hard to meet her expectations. But all he faced was his own inadequacy.
As his mother said, he, incompetent, had lost the position of Crown Prince to his half-brother, despite having a favorable position.
‘Why did my brother become the Crown Prince?! I worked hard! I did everything you told me to, Mother, I tried and tried…!’
‘You tried? Hahaha. How ridiculous. Despite all your efforts, you achieved nothing and even lost the position of Crown Prince.’
The more he crumbled in despair, the higher the Crown Prince soared above him.
His half-brother, Aronio, not him, Cardian, was clearly the one fit to be Emperor, so much so that he couldn’t even dream of catching up.
Every night, he felt a suffocating dread, as if someone was strangling him, thinking that no matter how many people he manipulated and brought to his side, he, Dian, would eventually die.
Unable to control the surging emotions, Dian’s eyes wavered.
“Damn it! Ugh… haa…”
A cold sweat broke out. He tried to suppress his emotions, but his body trembled uncontrollably, and he swept his hand across the table.
The teacups and desserts fell to the floor and shattered. Tea spilled, and the desserts were crushed beyond recognition. Only the sharp shards of glass gleamed.
Dian gasped for breath, his body still trembling uncontrollably.
The Empress, seeing him, spoke.
“My foolish, pathetic son. Duke Clovis burned down and destroyed the dark guild I was managing. It was clearly related to the Seirthe Marquisate; I wonder why he intervened.”
Duke Clovis, the leader of the noble faction, was a snake.
He was known for his gentle nature, but the Empress knew that wasn’t his true self. He ran a secret information network, crushing anyone who displeased him, so how could he be called gentle?
He had always maintained a haughty demeanor, stepping back and acting as if he didn’t care who won the power struggle, no matter how much she tried to win him over.
And yet, he had suddenly changed his attitude.
‘Duke Clovis did that? Did he not know that I was involved with that guild?’
‘There’s no way he didn’t know. He probably tolerated it because he knew you were involved, Your Majesty.’
‘Then why did he suddenly leave such a clear message?’
A provocation? Or a simple warning?
Her brief speculation was meaningless; Duke Clovis’s move was clearly hostile.
“Things are getting interesting. I heard that Duke Clovis approached the Crown Prince. I was wondering why that sly fox was standing by while the Seirthe Marquisate crumbled, but he had another card up his sleeve.”
The Empress slowly stood up and approached her panting son. She stepped on the sharp shards of glass, her eyes gleaming.
“…Aah… Ugh…”
The Empress smiled, seeing the emotions reflected in her son’s pained eyes as he looked up at her. Those emotions were exactly what she wanted.
An unshakeable inferiority complex, the desire for the throne, greed…
“It seems like the Clovis Dukedom will become the Crown Prince’s main supporter instead of the Seirthe Marquisate. It’s a bit earlier than planned, but it’s time for us to make our move.”
Her hand, wiping the sweat off her son’s forehead, was gentle. But her whispered words were a command.
“It works out perfectly. We have to get Petri back from them. The time is the hunting competition.”
“Mother, I… I will become Emperor. I will never… hand over the throne to my brother.”
Dian, despite his distress, glared at her, his eyes burning with ambition.
The Empress smiled with satisfaction.
If he was inferior in every aspect, all he had to do was discard his conscience. If she pushed him, fueled his inferiority complex, and made him desperate to prove his worth, he wouldn’t self-destruct uselessly.
“The room is a mess. I’ll have the servants clean it up. Compose yourself and then leave, Dian.”
The Empress, putting on her usual gentle facade, saw him off.
Left alone, the Empress couldn’t hide her excitement. The day she would finally get rid of that thorn in her side, the one she hadn’t been able to eliminate since he was a baby, was fast approaching.
Winning over the suspicious Emperor was also going smoothly, so everything would soon be in her grasp.
She imagined the old Emperor, slowly dying from the poison she gave him after the Crown Prince was killed, and the thrill excited her.
‘Until then, I have to keep my son on a tight leash.’
She hadn’t missed the menacing look in her son’s eyes earlier. She had to consider the possibility of her foolish son turning on her in a fit of rage.
It was a cruel assessment for a mother, but she didn’t have much affection for Cardian. Her son was just a tool for her ambition.
So, for now, she just had to keep him under control, preventing him from defying her.
Those wearing priest robes with the crescent moon mark looked at the man prostrating himself before them.
“It… it was because of the money. I had no other intentions… Please, don’t lock me up in that room again! I-I’m scared!”
The others looked at him with indifferent expressions. But then, someone entered, and they relaxed their expressions and bowed their heads.
“Welcome, High Priest.”
The man, hearing the title, desperately turned towards the newcomer. And he saw a man as pale as snow looking at him.
His long silver hair and chillingly white eyes sent shivers down his spine, but desperate to live, the man shouted,
“H-High Priest! I repent! So please forgive me…!”
“You’ve changed quite a bit after being in the repentance room. You were cursing the temple when I first asked you.”
“I must have been out of my mind!”
The High Priest looked at him and smiled gently.
“I see. But I can’t forgive you until you return the sacred artifact you stole from the temple. It would be best to send you back.”
The other priests dragged the man away. Ignoring his screams, the High Priest turned to the paladin who entered and asked,
“Are the preparations for the journey to the Empire going smoothly?”
“Yes, High Priest. Everything is proceeding without any problems.”
“I see.”
He lowered his eyelashes, as if lost in thought. Everyone waited for him to speak, holding their breaths.
“The day we depart for the Empire is fast approaching. But before that, I’d like to hear your opinions. What do you think about retrieving the sacred artifact?”
Those who had been holding their breaths spoke up.
“I’ve heard there’s been a reaction in the Empire. It seems like she has awakened her power, so we need to bring her back.”
“But she hasn’t received proper training. Will she be controllable?”
“But we can’t keep relying on borrowed power.”
The High Priest, after a moment of consideration, seeing their differing opinions, came to a decision.
“We’ll find out if she’s controllable after we bring her back. And it’s true that we can’t keep relying on borrowed power.”
“But wouldn’t it be better to formally request it from the Empire?”
The High Priest shook his head at one priest’s suggestion.
“There’s no need to reveal what we’ve been hiding to another country. We can use that as leverage if we can’t retrieve her. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to sway the Second Prince.”
That was why they had been supplying the Second Prince with resources exclusive to the Holy Kingdom. They had anticipated that the Crown Prince, being intelligent, wouldn’t hand over Petri, so they had made this move.
But if the power struggle in the Empire intensified, their temporary alliance would naturally break.
“It’s time to end the contract. Let’s go and retrieve her.”
“As you command.”
The High Priest, watching them bow their heads, looked forward to the day he would retrieve the sacred artifact that had slipped from their grasp.