Chapter 100

The Emperor asked why they were not eating.

In response, the three Princes could not give any answer; they only stared stiffly at the words laid before their eyes.

‘His Majesty already knew everything. Ah…!’

‘…I took Father far too lightly. I got carried away without even realizing whose backyard I was standing in.’

‘He knew it all and still… This is the final warning. One more step and I die…!’

None of the three Princes could bring themselves to look at the Emperor’s face.

They were so shocked that the schemes each of them had crafted were discovered that their souls felt as though they were about to fly right out.

Frozen stiff and unable to reply, the three Princes sat in silence.

Before them, the Emperor alone continued his meal unhurriedly.

Srrrk— Tak―

Only the faint sound of the Emperor’s fork and knife cutting through meat echoed within the hall.

Even if they had several mouths, the three Princes had no words.

They held their breath, waiting for the Emperor to open his.

After that suffocating silence, the Emperor finally swallowed a piece of meat and spoke.

“Does what I prepared displease you that much?”

“…”

The three Princes remained silent like mute fools.

They even thought it would be better if the Emperor grew angry.

But he seemed to have no intention of doing so.

“Hm, I cannot remember how long it has been since I asked a question and received no answer.”

Pressed by the Emperor’s demand to answer something, the Crown Prince mustered courage first and barely opened his mouth.

“Th… that is because… your son committed such disgraceful acts with his own hands that not even two mouths would suffice to defend himself.”

“Is that so? So you knew it was disgraceful, yet you still did it? I thought you did it because you did not know. Apparently not. I wondered if I had raised a foolish son, but it seems I have raised a sly one instead.”

Every indifferent word the Emperor uttered tightened around the Crown Prince’s throat.

His originally immaculate, pale-white face became even whiter than blank parchment.

“Answer with your own mouth, Yulia. Which do you think is better? A foolish son or a sly son?”

The Emperor’s tone held not even a trace of anger.

Yet he was more frighteningly enraged than ever before.

Receiving the Emperor’s question, the Crown Prince cautiously lifted his gaze, reading His Majesty’s eyes.

The two blue eyes, like the great sea, were sunken and heavy.

‘Ah…!’

The calm before the storm! The Emperor’s eyes resembled the silent sea right before a colossal tempest.

From that unreadable gaze, the Crown Prince realized that neither the name of “son” nor “Crown Prince” could help him now.

‘It was arrogant of me to think I could live under the title of son and Crown Prince. I was the fool. I forgot what kind of blood Father shed to become Emperor…!’

Crash—!

Realizing that the next few words and action he took would decide whether he lived or died, the Crown Prince sprang to his feet and knelt before the Emperor.

“P-please kill me, Your Majesty! I was briefly blinded!”

Following the Crown Prince, the Second Prince and Fourth Prince reacted immediately.

Having sat as though on a bed of thorns while the Crown Prince became the Emperor’s target, the two Princes hurried after him and knelt before the Emperor.

“Please kill me, Your Majesty!”

“Please kill me—!”

Though the words begged for death, the true meaning was that they knew they had erred to the point they deserved to die, so they begged desperately to be spared.

It was a rare sight—three Princes of the Aphahiel Empire kneeling together, begging for their lives.

And then the Emperor spoke again.

“It is my fault. I raised you poorly. To think that among the mere five sons I possess, three would become so blinded by the imperial throne as to plot war, conspire treason, and even seek the hand of an enemy nation… What am I to do with you? If you wish to die, I will kill you. If you wish to live, I will spare you. Consider carefully and answer.”

Chills ran down the backs of all three kneeling Princes.

The Emperor’s statement that he would truly kill them if they requested it did not sound like an empty threat.

Born Princes, they had never once felt fear of death—until now.

It pressed down on them mercilessly.

‘If I answer well here, I live.’

‘Damn it… If I misstep, I’ll be a corpse before today ends.’

‘How do I survive? Should I say less? Or beg for my life now?’

The quickest-witted, the Crown Prince, gave his answer first.

“P-please spare me…! Though my crimes deserve death, if Your Majesty grants mercy and spares my life, I will personally undo all that I have set into motion, erase it as though it never existed, and retire into obscurity to live quietly for the rest of my life.”

The Emperor seemed somewhat satisfied with that answer and slowly nodded.

“Can you truly keep your word? Undoing your wrongdoing is the bare minimum, but retiring into obscurity to live quietly forever—can you keep that as well?”

“Of course! If mercy is bestowed upon a great sinner who deserves death, how could I fail to keep the words I myself speak?”

“Very well. I shall consider it.”

Watching beside him, the Second Prince’s eyes gleamed.

‘Yes, that’s it!’

Before the Fourth Prince could speak, the Second Prince hurriedly copied the answer.

“Your Majesty, I know full well that my crime deserves death a hundred times over. But if you grant me only my life, I will head south at once and face the ferocious beasts of the Great Jungle to protect the Empire and repay my sin for the rest of my days. Please spare me. Please…!”

The Second Prince’s plea was also received favorably.

Then the Fourth Prince followed, declaring he would cut ties with Lehl immediately, wander as a drifter, and use his holy power for life to care for the suffering people everywhere.

After each Prince’s earnest beg, the Emperor opened his mouth.

“Very well. I shall grant you one final chance. Ten days. Within ten days, you shall clean up all the filth you have sown and return things to how they once were. If you delay even a single day, that chance will be lost.”

Upon the Emperor’s final decision, the three Princes bowed their heads in unison.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

At dawn that day, somewhere in a deserted alley inside the Imperial Palace.

Two suspicious-looking figures were quietly conversing, avoiding all eyes.

“What…? All three Princes fell apart? Not one of those brats held out?”

A strange voice squeezed out from between layers of fat.

One of the two was Marcellus.

“It was beyond their capability. The atmosphere was not something they could endure. His Majesty already knew everything they were plotting.”

The one speaking with Marcellus also had an unusual voice—like fog given sound.

He was none other than the Emperor’s secret bodyguard, the Shadow.

“Heh… After years of work, how is it that not one of them is usable…? There truly is no talent in the imperial family. I suspected as much, so I tried recruiting the Third Prince—the one I invested in the most—but he was already the Fifth Prince’s dog. He was so loyal that he tried to bite me even when I offered help.”

“The Third Prince? He fell apart ages ago. That’s not what matters now. So what are you planning to do? That ten-day grace the Princes received doesn’t sound like someone else’s problem to me.”

“We have to do something before that.”

At Marcellus’s laid-back reply, the Shadow retorted irritably.

It seemed only the Shadow was anxious.

“So what is that ‘something’? If we’re not going to hand everything over like fools, we need to act.”

“Well, we could assassinate the Fifth Prince first. Things will get noisy for a while, but we can’t give the imperial throne to a dead man, so before long one of the remaining Princes will become Emperor.”

The Shadow frowned beneath his mask, displeased with the suggestion.

“…Realistic, but not desirable. You didn’t see the eyes of those defeated brats. Trembling before the Emperor… Those Princes are finished. They’re like neutered lions.”

Marcellus protested.

“Oh ho, bold words to say before a castrated man. You bastard. And what’s the issue? If it’s as you said, wouldn’t it be easier to set up a puppet?”

But the Shadow shook his head.

“A puppet still needs to function as a person. There is a difference between a puppet who rules above everyone but listens only to me, and a puppet who gets tossed about by everyone. Which is better?”

“They say the position shapes the man. If they become Emperor, wouldn’t they change?”

“No. Not these ones. It would be easier to go find some child elsewhere and insist he is the Emperor’s hidden son.”

“You expect a lot in this situation.”

“No other way?”

“There is one option… but it carries immense risk…”

At Marcellus’s suggestive tone, the anxious Shadow pressed him.

“What is it? If it’s better, just say it.

Risk or no risk, our lives are on the line either way.”

“Are you certain about that?”

“Yes, I’m certain.”

“Then…”

Marcellus lowered his voice and whispered into the Shadow’s ear.

“There is the method of killing everyone and founding a new imperial dynasty.”

“Ghk…!”

The Shadow’s eyes widened as he stared at Marcellus, doubting his own ears.

“A n-new dynasty…!”

Marcellus curled his lips into a chilling smile.

“If you, the Emperor’s Shadow, avoid Marquis Bradman and kill the Emperor alone, everything after that becomes easy. So? Can you do it?”

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