<Episode 49>
***
“……What?”
Imperial palace, throne room.
Roberick asked blankly, as if he couldn’t believe his own ears.
The Emperor, whose face was red to the point where it looked strange, avoided Roberick’s gaze, gripping the throne’s armrests so hard that they broke them.
“…I requested Nisha’s Crime Guild to assassinate the second prince. However, they must have made a mistake while carrying out the request… They also kidnapped Grand Princess Heilian, leading to this tragedy that happened.”
Oh, I don’t know how he was able to make something like that letter…
Inwardly admiring Riat’s trick of blaming everything on me, the Emperor, and not himself, I glanced up at Roberick, who seemed to be in a daze.
“It’s all my fault. I sincerely apologize, Roberick. The same goes for Grand Princess Heilian.”
The Emperor, unable to hide his nervousness, stood up from the throne and spoke to Roberick.
“I…”
Roberick, who had been staring blankly at the Emperor for a long time, suddenly reacted.
“Oswald!!”
He truly revealed his fiery wrath and dared to utter the Emperor’s true name.
“You would have known, how much I have longed for a family of my own blood…! But when I barely found my child, my only blood relative… … You, and no one else, put her in this terrible danger?!”
“……I’m sorry, really…….”
As Roberick was spouting out his boiling anger, an ominous noise began to pass by my ears.
I raised my head and stared at the air visibly churning around Roberick.
Even though it had not materialized, I seemed to vaguely see the shape of the wind spirit hovering around him, cackling wildly.
I looked back at Ashamed and winked.
‘Should I freeze it?’
Ashamed asked me without making a sound.
If he freezes the fluctuating wind, it will end up becoming a more dangerous weapon.
I shook my head, held his hand, and took a few steps back.
“…I had no intention of putting your child in danger either! I just wanted to get that thing called Ashamed out of my sight. Don’t you know how terrible my hatred towards him is, Roberick!”
“Shut your mouth, Oswald! Whatever your intentions, you should not have done something like this when Edith was accompanying him. If Sion Bastevan hadn’t arrived in time…!”
Roberick, whose face had turned so white from fear, stumbled and slowly raised his trembling hands to cover his face.
At that moment, for some reason I don’t know, the wind spirit that had been giggling as it hovered around Roberick began to laugh even more.
It’s absolutely crazy, yes.1Yeah, creepy as well..
A laugh best suited to the expression “The Evil’s laugh.”
…..That seems to be a bit dangerous.
“What kind of spirit is it..”
They say there are various types of spirits in the world, but this one felt strangely disturbing.
After pondering over and over again, I made up my mind and quietly held the summoning spell in my mouth.
To prepare for the unexpected.
“It’s all because of you, I almost lost my everything… I almost lost Edith. My one and only child…”
“…Roberick?”
Was the ominous premonition happening now?
Roberick began muttering to himself as if he couldn’t hear anything around him.
The Emperor, who felt something strange, slowly called Roberick’s name.
“Okay, just remove the obstruction. If you break it all into pieces and disassemble it one by one…”
“Roberick, why are you suddenly acting like this…Roberick-!”
Clang, Crash-!
The floating air came to life and began to rage like a storm, clawing the air like dancing blades.
“Edith!”
“What is this….”
Ashamed urgently pulled me and ran away from Roberick.
“……shit!”
As we quickly fled, the Emperor raised his arms to protect his face and gritted his teeth harshly.
Hwaaaaa!
A whip blazing with brilliantly scorching flames appeared in his grasp.
It was an image that was unforgettably engraved in my memory.
I looked at Ashamed.
I can’t tell what’s happening inside, as outside the storm there was no sign of anything being revealed.
Kuwaaaa!
The swirling storm and intense fire clashed violently.
Kiiiiing~!
“Ugh…..”
There was a loud, scratching sound that hurt my ears.
The air was so turbulent that it was becoming difficult to even breathe.
I frowned and looked ahead again.
I was hoping that one side would would win the argument, but instead, a bigger problem was occurring.
“Hey, what is that!”
What kind of harmony can arise when two things, wind and fire, collide?
Because neither one of them could overwhelm the other patry, their attacks gain more momentum, and even though they fight against each other again and again to decide who will win or lose… On the contrary, the fire burns even more, and they will never be able to defeat each other for eternity!
Truly the worst compatibility in a fight!
“You children of indestructible life, answer the call of him whom you have blessed with an immortal heart! [Naiad]!”
The wind that blew like a storm and the fire that was hot enough to reduce everything to ashes combined to create a fire that was bigger than ever before and was on the verge of engulfing the entire throne room.
“Naiad, please put out that fire!”
As soon as the pure white foam appeared in front of me, I closed my eyes and shouted without hesitation.
Shaaa!
At that moment, a joyful energy enveloped my entire body so much that I nearly cried.
At the same time, the sound of waves crashing towards the throne room rang out loudly.
There was silence for a while.
Ssaaaa–
The sound of water being splashed around filled my eardrums.
“This…….”
When I opened my eyes, I saw the hem of Naiad’s clothes in front of me, swaying like the deep blue sea.
Then I poked my head out to the side and saw Roberick and the Emperor standing there in a dazed state.
“…Water? No way, Edith…”
Have you finally come to your senses?
Roberick noticed that his entire body was soaked with water and suddenly turned his head towards where I was.
“Now… are you conscious?”
What on earth were you doing, really.
I never thought that the male lead would not be able to properly control spirits of his own nature.
I stared at Roberick with a scared feeling.
In the midst of this, Roberick, who, far from being unsightly, was getting wet and shining with even more youthful appearance, blinked for a while, then turned to the Emperor and his face became cold.
“Roberick… what happened just now,”
“Thanks to Edith, we were able to prevent unnecessary accidents.”
The Emperor hesitated and opened his mouth, but Roberick cut him off with a cold voice.
“…But I will never forget what happened this time.”
In a low voice, he declared his resentment that would not go away no matter how much time passed.
***
I thought he would react badly, but Roberick’s reaction when he heard the news that I was missing was beyond imagination.
“Not to add any lies… I know that saying something like this is a sin that will get your tongue cut out, but to be honest, he seemed a little out of his mind.”
One of the maids who served me answered my question carefully.
“Because he even emptied the Grand Duke’s residence and searched the entire empire. It may have been a result from his nervousness because he couldn’t confirm the Grand Princess’s safety, but it was also said that many of the knights under his command were sent away because they incurred the Archduke’s wrath… Oh, It seems like I even told you a useless story.”
I knew that Roberick had a strong obsession with his own flesh and blood, but…
I bit the my lips and thought as I took a sip of sweet tea brewed with honey.
Well, that’s not important.
More than that, I was concerned about the spirit that was hovering around Roberick.
It was definitely a wind spirit.
Roberick’s attributes were light, life, and wind.
However, I was a little unsure about the life attribute, as I was concerned about the comment Roberick made when I first awakened the talent of an elementalist.
‘Edith. You…have my lost blessing.’
A lost blessing.
Before that, I was even told that it had been a while since he had summoned Illipia.
⋯⋯⋯What does that mean?
Could it be possible for the spirits to take away the blessings bestowed on humans?
“Oh, my head hurts.”
I pressed my temples and decided to put aside the matter of Roberick’s nature for now.
It wasn’t important right away.
“Let’s just find out if all the wind spirits are that crazy.”
However, I could not forget the monstrous nature of the wind spirit that was circling around Roberick and cackling like crazy, so I decided to find out for sure.
“And…….”
What should we do with the Emperor?
I put down the teacup and took a bite of the cookie, lost in thought.
After the incident that day, which almost blew up half of the imperial palace, Roberick no longer showed his previous favorable attitude towards the Emperor.
Cold hostility.
Their friendship that the original story described as true and irreplaceable was suddenly cut off.
And the Emperor was upset by the situation in which the head of the most influential family in the Roshan Empire, excluding the imperial family, was hostile towards him.
Of course, it was a situation he brought upon himself.
So… Roberick was also in such a mess.
Should we dethron the emperor?
“…No, I think that would be too much work.”
I wanted to use this opportunity to overthrow the emperor, but in order to do so, I had to borrow Roberick’s power.
In addition, although the current Emperor’s reputation had been greatly damaged due to the issues related to the second prince, he was recognized as a flawless great ruler in the Roshan Empire by correcting all of the mistakes made by the previous mad Emperor.
If the dethronement is forced in a situation where there is no justification that no one can deny, it will ultimately be a usurpation of the throne.
In other words, it becomes treason.
Moreover, Ashamed was still the son of the Emperor.
In severe cases, he will lose his life and in lighter ones he will be deprived of his title, and be reduced to a situation where his hands and feet are tied and he cannot move freely.
In that case… how about abdicating him?
I think it would be plausible to proceed with this part if we somehow come up with a reason…
“……No.”
There were significant difficulties for Ashamed to inherit the throne.
Although he was only two years older than him, the fact that he was younger than the crown prince and that he had a dark attribute spirit as as well, although it was not his main attribute, still held him back.
In the Roshan Empire, the majority was in favor of replacing the second prince, who had received the blessing of the Spirit King, as the successor rather than the crown prince, who did not receive the blessing of any spirit, but the situation outside the country was different.
As the rulers of other countries continued to express concern over the fact that the throne of the great empire that held hegemony on the continent would be inherited by a prince blessed with darkness, if Ashamed eventually overthrew his older brother, the crown prince, and established himself as the next successor to the throne. It was a difficult situation in many ways to solidify it.
And that would be on the account that Roberick would risk bearing the criticism from other countries and the world to support the second prince, who is his daughter’s fiancé.
However, if Ashamed were to be crowned Emperor with the help of Roberick according to traditions, a regent would most likely be needed due to his young age.
…It was clear that it would be a way to only further increase Roberick’s authority.
“Then Ashamed cannot inherit the throne…”
In the end, it was a situation where neither dethronement nor abdication was appropriate.
“Ha…….”
I sighed and decided to give up my plan to get rid of the Emperor for now.
***
TL(edited):
There is still 2 ch. left ..
I’m currently feeling worn out and I need to update my other novel, so I am sorry to have failed my set goal and would update these chapters at my own pace…
Sorry again, I really did my best and would appreciate your understanding >.<
