Chapter 306

“Succession War?”

Ferbias asked back fiercely.

“Ha, Succession War!?”

He jumped up as if he was dumbfounded.

“That cannot be. The Succession War already ended 7 years ago. You did nothing and were defeated!”

“Yes. That is correct.”

I nodded very obediently.

“You won, Brother.”

“And you are nothing but a prisoner. An escaped sinner!”

“And you are the Emperor, Brother.”

The Emperor and I looked at each other.

We were half-brothers.

Having the same father, our hair color was the same.

If one looked closely, our features also had many similarities.

I knew that well.

Until now, I had found it hard to admit, but now I could obediently admit it.

Because it is the truth.

Because I realized the meaning of what had already happened.

Emperor Ferbias had a face that looked like he wanted to lunge at me right this moment.

He was huffing in anger, and his hands trembled with impatience.

His bloodshot eyes could not see his blood relative as a blood relative and spewed only hatred.

He was the Emperor, and because he bore many responsibilities, he had no choice but to be sharp.

I, the prisoner, smiled brightly.

On my head was the ‘Crown of Paradox’.

I do not block.

I let Ferbias glare at me.

I was a prisoner with many faults, but I am outside freely like this.

I could be sufficiently satisfied with just that.

The Emperor looks down from above.

The prisoner looks up from below.

However, I smiled deeply.

It was a smile that nothing could shake.

It was so deep that one could not even guess where it seeped out from.

So the Emperor absolutely cannot laugh. He could not bear the fact that I, who had put everything down, was laughing while he himself possessed everything.

“You insulted me.”

“You tried to kill me.”

Ferbias ground his teeth.

On his head, there had always been a crown made of gold and jewels.

It is the symbol of the Emperor that cherishes a thousand years of tradition.

Azure Sky Emperor Cordisias also wore this golden crown.

But it is heavy.

It was full of extravagance that Ferbias did not need, so it was heavy as if it would shove his head down into his chest.

No, perhaps his head is already being shoved into his chest.

“You… You…!”

Ferbias had to spit out something.

He had to say anything.

Otherwise, he would realize his defeat.

Because the fact that he, who could not laugh even while possessing everything, felt a miserable sense of inferiority toward me, who smiled after losing everything, would be exposed!

He opened his mouth to say something.

Because of that, the words that came out were bound to be terrible.

“…You stole what is mine!”

It was a shout like that of a five-year-old kid.

It was not a remark that should come from Ferbias Caseptus Cordis, the 50th Emperor of the Millennium Empire.

If anyone had heard it, it would have been a subject of mockery in high society for a long time.

However, there was no one listening, and I also had no intention of blabbing Ferbias’s shame anywhere.

I just let my half-brother continue speaking while wearing a smile.

“That sword!”

Ferbias pointed a finger at my waist.

There is a double-edged sword.

There is no need to say whose it is.

Ferbias recognized at a glance that that sword was the item he had given to his friend as a gift in the past.

“Amethus-!”

The Emperor frantically called the name of his confidant and close friend who had left him.

“You took my sword, Amethus, away from me!”

“You deceived him, Brother. I merely informed him of that.”

If you were still upset, I would apologize, but. Ferbias seemed unable to hear my words. However, I continue speaking.

“And aren’t you sitting in the highest seat on the continent even after losing Amethus?”

“This seat… This golden throne…!”

The Emperor grit his teeth and his eyes shone.

He tried to kick the golden throne, but he could not bring himself to do it.

If he followed his heart, he wanted to throw the golden crown too.

He wanted to shout that he would quit this damn Emperor job, but he could not.

It is because he is afraid.

Because Ferbias believes that if he is not the Emperor, he is nothing.

That was clearly visible in my eyes. Although Ferbias himself would vehemently deny it.

“It is time to put it down, Brother.”

I spoke as if proclaiming.

“That golden throne. That thing which you do not want, do not need, and cannot use well. However, put down that thing you cannot let go of.”

“…I cannot, I cannot….”

“I will bear it instead.”

“…Shut up! That cannot happen!”

Ferbias lunged.

He absolutely could not let go of his obsession with the golden throne.

Because he had lived thinking it must be him and no one else.

Because it was a life lived to become the Emperor.

Just the imagination of putting down this position made his heart ache sharply.

There is a sword in the Emperor’s hand.

It is a ceremonial sword, but the blade is sharp and blue.

Ferbias also had talent in the sword.

Although it could not be compared to Amethus, he was much better than a fair Commander of a Thousand.

I did not block.

I just looked with pitying eyes at the Emperor lunging with a knife, my half-brother, the enemy I once hated more than anyone.

I do not block.

However, it does not reach.

Septem Arcana, the Second.

‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’.

“…Ugh!”

The Emperor was pushed back all the way.

I bowed my head toward the empty air.

I had already lost the Septem Arcana.

However, just because I lost them did not mean they disappeared forever, so the Septem Arcana would come to lend me strength.

In a form more powerful and beautiful than before.

“I knew you would not be able to let go.”

I decided to bring out my deepest secret.

The form that was immediately before the ‘Crown of Paradox’, the power that was once the strongest and my true soul.

“So, I will help you.”

I transform.

“Try to block me. Since I will not block you from blocking me.”

I became huge.

I became radiant.

I became beautiful.

“But you will not be able to block.”

Septem Arcana, the Sixth.

‘Dragon of Six Horns’.

***

Oh, oh oh.

Now there is nothing to hide.

I have let go of everything.

Because the grasping grasp was sinful, I let go of all my soul.

I had become utterly unable to handle my screaming.

Do you remember my screaming?

‘Come back.’

‘Come back, our life.’

‘Our life that I cannot even remember anymore, please come back.’

Those things that were buzzing.

Those things that were chattering.

The sharp murmurs that lingered and lingered.

“However.”

I smile.

“A gentle breeze blew.”

I gained the certainty that I would never lose my smile again.

I know because I have tried losing everything.

I have no choice but to know.

I experienced that everything I believed would be eternal was not eternal, and disappeared miserably and painfully.

Because I knew that everything I put in my grasp was merely obsession, because I knew that my soul was burnt black, distorted, and bled because of it, I let go of all secrets.

“Everything I let go of returned to me as a gentle breeze.”

What does this mean?

“It means they wanted to return to me all along. It means my life wanted to give them back to me again.”

Just so it wouldn’t hurt.

Just so it wouldn’t be painful.

“I lived harboring secrets for too long. I lived clenching my fist for too long. I had to learn how to open my hand.”

So I can open my hand now.

Of course, I can clench it again.

I can open it when I need to open it, and I can clench it when I need to clench it.

And, I can clench it when I need to open it!

I can open it when I need to clench it!

It means a bit of playfulness is being harbored in my life.

This is a joyful thing.

I submitted to my life.

To all the loss and pain, to the unrewarded efforts, to the incomprehensible absurdities, to the countless long nights and the unbearable hatreds.

I chose to accept even all the painful and agonizing times that could never be contained in just these few words as my life.

That is how I reconciled.

If asked who I reconciled with, I reconciled with life. I reconciled with myself.

I reconciled with Shion and reconciled with Zionis. I reconciled with the sky and reconciled with God.

I harmonized and resolved.

I had already reconciled with Ferbias, whom I encountered in my life.

“So Brother, I will reach out this hand to you.”

I laugh.

“So that you can also reconcile with yourself.”

***

With a few lines of monologue, I became a dragon.

It was a white dragon.

Golden light flashed all over my body.

My eyes were blue.

It cannot be compared to any artwork.

It was incomparably beautiful to anything crafted by human hands.

The beauty of this dragon was a vast beauty like the sunset or the Great Sea.

“…Ah….”

Ferbias gaped as he looked up at me.

He didn’t even have the heart to resist.

As said before, Ferbias was a man who also possessed talent in the sword.

Although he wasn’t as good as the Ten Great Generals of the Empire, he was good enough to guess how far ahead they were of him.

However, this dragon, this White and Gold bearing Shion’s name, could not even guess how high a place it had reached.

It cannot be compared to the Ten Great Generals of the Empire either.

No, he wondered if there was anything among humans that could compare.

It is huge.

It is beautiful.

It is high.

This dragon had a high existence.

Everything was higher than Ferbias.

Not simply the eye level, but the smile I still hadn’t lost, the eyes that accepted what I had lost, the palm spread wide toward Ferbias whom I hated, just everything was high.

“……Ah…….”

Strength drained from his grasp.

Ferbias dropped his sword.

A clang sound rang out.

The metallic sound was sorrowful in the wide and splendid throne room.

The Emperor looked up.

Even though he was the man sitting in the highest seat in the Empire, I was excessively high.

Because I was looking down from a place so high that Ferbias could not even imagine, he suddenly became scared.

He stepped back.

I did not block.

Even while stepping back, Ferbias could not take his eyes off me.

It is because he is afraid.

As he did so, he stepped on his own cloak and fell.

He rolled quite spectacularly.

It was the place of the subjects who usually looked up at him.

The golden crown fell from the head of Ferbias, who had rolled spectacularly.

However, he did not know.

Instead, he discovered my hand reached out even more toward his fallen self.

He unwittingly reached out his hand slightly, and soon crumpled his face.

The Emperor distorted his face like that.

It was an indescribable distortion.

As if he was angry because his pride was hurt, as if he was holding back welling tears, as if the unexpected powerlessness was painful to the bone, as if all of this came at once, and so as if he was just confused.

And the Emperor ran away.

He ran away ungracefully, leaving behind his golden crown, his golden throne, his subjects, and his country. I did not block that either.

“As expected, not yet, Brother Ferbias.”

I watched the fleeing Ferbias.

He looked back several times.

Fearing that perhaps I was following him.

I decided not to pity him anymore. Because that would be painful for Ferbias.

Instead, I looked at Amethus’s double-edged sword.

“Amethus. I think it will take a little while to deliver your sword.”

“Are you not killing him?”

A sudden question intruded.

I answered without being surprised.

“If I were going to do that, I wouldn’t have even reached out my hand.”

“Proud of you, Zionis.”

“That’s funny.”

I giggled.

“Even though you called me a stone just a while ago.”

“You were truly worse than a stone back then.”

“Then what am I now?”

“My son.”

“Ha, strangely enough, I am not happy.”

There was an old man.

Golden hair and golden eyes.

Fierce eyes that did not seem human.

“Still, we can finally get into the main topic now, Father.”

Continua Cordis Magnus,

‘Last Emperor’.

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