At that moment, the dining room door opened with a knock.
Startled, Ciello leaned back in surprise.
The employee who entered the dining room bowed deeply.
“Duke, an urgent message has arrived.”
As soon as Ciello moved away, the Duke straightened up as if he had never been drunk and spoke coldly.
“Didn’t I say to clear all schedules for today?”
“I apologize, but the Emperor has suddenly sought you…”
Estribal stiffened. His face was filled with a cold anger that made even Ciello shrink. It was not an expression that an agent trusted by the Emperor should have.
Was this dinner time so important to Estribal? Ciello licked her lips with a strangely tingling heart.
“Duke…”
Her large, double-lidless eyes held countless words as they looked up at him. For a moment, Estribal felt a strong intoxication again.
‘It’s not too late now. Send the employee away as if nothing happened…’
“Duke.”
The employee’s voice shattered his foolish thoughts.
Estribal clenched his eyes shut and rose from his seat.
“Go ahead.”
He spoke briefly, turned his body away from Ciello, and quickly left the dining room.
Ciello looked at the glass left on the table. The ice in the glass had melted, and the golden liquor had lost its color and was fading.
“Miss.”
“I’m just going to…get some fresh air.”
Ciello lightly rubbed her face and stepped out through the back door of the dining room. She didn’t want to run into him on his way to the palace.
Once outside, Ciello walked through the garden.
As she felt the cool breeze, the intoxication from the alcohol began to fade and the events of the day slowly started to sort themselves out.
It had been a breathless day. Excited, almost plunged into despair, thrilled, and then alone again. Perhaps that’s why she didn’t want to go back to the mansion and sleep alone.
“Maybe I should go to a bistro…”
Ciello muttered softly and moved her feet towards the shortcut behind the garden that she had previously spotted.
The shortcut led to a deserted alley. Someone called out to Ciello, who had slipped out of the mansion.
“Ciello?”
****
The Emperor’s private room sparkled even without light.
Despite being used only for unofficial business, the furniture and utensils adorned with various jewels boasted the dignity of a fallen country.
The Emperor, with his sparkling blonde hair, shone even more brightly in the midst of all the splendor. Even the crookedly worn crown felt like his authority.
“What’s this, I smell alcohol?”
The Emperor asked flippantly, lifting his chin. Estribal, who was kneeling on one knee in front of him, was a dark stain in the brilliant golden room. The Emperor crossed his long legs mockingly.
“How ridiculous. What are you trying to do by drinking when you can’t even get drunk?”
“…What is the reason you called me?”
Without answering, the Emperor clapped his hands as if he had suddenly realized something while examining Estribal’s face.
“Oh, could it be the maid from the rumors? I see!”
The Emperor’s black eyes twinkled. He stretched out his middle finger and made a lewd gesture, chuckling.
“A woman and alcohol. I happened to call you at just the right time, didn’t I? So you’re upset.”
Estribal did not answer. But the Emperor was excited, his expression lively.
“Did you enjoy it? How about marriage? It’s your first time with a woman, isn’t it? I thought you were impotent. How could it be, not one or two years, but 3…”
“…She’s nothing. I believe you would allow me such a small pleasure.”
Estribal cut him off in a low voice. The Emperor crossed his legs the other way and leaned back in his chair.
“Pleasure, pleasure…”
A clanging sound came from the Emperor’s earrings. Estribal hated that sound, which sounded like the clanging of chains. He bowed his head deeper to hide his hardening expression.
“But if you want to enjoy pleasure, you have to fulfill your duty! Duty comes first.”
The Emperor leaned towards Estribal.
“Your duty. Have you found Serpiente?”
“…I apologize. His whereabouts are still unknown.”
“You’re not thinking of something useless, are you?”
Bold. The Emperor whispered softly to Estribal. The sound of metal. The sound of metal from the Emperor’s earrings mixed with the whisper, pounded Estribal’s head. He gave the answer he had prepared.
“At the moment…The possibility that he fled to the old Peregrine territory is the highest.”
At Estribal’s answer, the Emperor nodded his head with a satisfied expression.
“Good. We’ll have to send troops there. We need to find him before the founding ceremony. And you.”
The Emperor rose from his seat and drew the curtain behind him. There lay the body of an assassin, bearing the marks of torture.
“He’s an assassin hired by the Count Arzela, who was part of the First Princess’s faction. Root him out.”
He flung the knife that the assassin had used at Estribal. Estribal caught the knife with a surprised expression.
“Hasn’t the First Princess already been crippled? And yet…”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying! How dare a cripple from the opposition crawl up to me? I don’t like it.”
The Emperor frowned arrogantly and kicked the assassin’s stomach.
“Isn’t that right? There’s a role for losers. Either pave the way for the winner through death, or live to serve the winner.”
The Emperor turned his body towards Estribal. He was still kneeling. The Emperor, with a satisfied expression, smiled and wiped his blood-stained shoe on Estribal’s knee.
“That’s why I cherish you.”
Estribal was silent. His clothes were all black, and the blood stains wiped by the Emperor were not visible.
“Do you want something? You should have enough money and a title. But you won’t be able to show off that title in this capital…”
The Emperor pondered and then smiled.
“How about the old Peregrine territory?”
“…Your Majesty.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Between us.”
Estribal’s voice trembled, but the Emperor laughed and patted his shoulder.
“When the spirit returns safely and my plan is over, I will grant you your fiefdom.”
“…Are you serious?”
His voice trembled thinly.
“Of course! I’ll also give the maid a suitable surname, so take her and enjoy the rest of your life.”
The Emperor laughed happily and nodded his head.
“Now, go and see to your duties. You need to deal with it quickly and go on a date.”
Estribal stood up, bowed his head, and turned to leave.
At his retreating figure, the Emperor clapped his hands and exclaimed, “Ah!” Estribal’s steps halted.
“But is she really that pretty?”
The Emperor’s voice dripped with vulgarity, like a thug in a back alley.
“…I will heed your words.”
Estribal quietly responded and left the Emperor’s private room.
“He’s so stiff…”
The Emperor grumbled and picked up the bottle of alcohol that was on the table, filling his golden cup with a ‘glug’.
“No matter how long I teach that bastard, he doesn’t know how to wag his tail once. Is it because of his bloodline?”
The Emperor muttered mockingly.
“But he’s still a well-bred bastard.”
The Emperor downed the alcohol in one gulp and threw the cup onto the corpse. With a dull sound, the cup rolled away.
****
Most of the families that had sided with the First Princess in the last succession to the throne had lost their power and collapsed. Naturally, the Emperor was behind it.
He used agents, including Estribal, to secretly purge the First Princess’s forces. He thoroughly eradicated the seeds so that there would be no one left to bear a grudge.
The power vacuum created by that bloodbath was rather welcome to the Emperor. By showing his ability to solve this, he would be recorded as a victorious monarch who overcame a crisis.
But among them, Count Arzela’s family had a deep history and many followers, so even the Emperor did not dare to touch them lightly.
As a result, it seemed that Count Arzela’s family had finally gathered their last strength and sent an assassin to the Emperor, and they were to disappear into the history of the empire from today.
“What the…Huh.”
Estribal blocked the guard’s mouth and twisted his neck. The guard fell without a single groan. He took a bunch of keys from the fallen guard’s pocket and entered the mansion.
Estribal dealt with each person he saw, or to be precise, each person who saw him, one by one, and headed to the Count’s bedroom on the second floor. There was no hesitation in his hand.
After all, once his plan was over, this death would also become nothing. So he was indifferent to murder as if he were removing a stone in front of him.
Finally, Estribal opened the Count’s bedroom. The middle-aged Count was sitting upright as if he had already anticipated it.
“So you’re the Emperor’s dog.”
The Count looked at Estribal’s hand. In his hand was the knife used by the assassin he had sent.
“No matter how many times the Emperor of the Empire changes, if you go against the Emperor’s will, you always meet the same face of the death god.”
The Count glared at him fiercely.
“Are you a human? Or…Cough!”
He couldn’t say any more. Estribal, who had come close without realizing it, was choking his neck.
“Whether it’s a monster or a death god. It’s closer to that side than a human, whatever you were trying to say.”
Estribal spoke lowly and threw the Count to the floor. The fallen Count screamed loudly.
“You… If you’re a sane nobleman of the Empire, you should know that you shouldn’t put such a madman on the throne!”
“A sane nobleman of the Empire.”
Estribal laughed at his words.
“First of all, I’m not sane.”
Estribal stepped on the Count’s hand, which was wearing a signet ring. Thud, with the sound, the Count screamed.
“I don’t even want to be called a nobleman of the Empire.”
The knife used by the assassin pierced the Count Arzela’s neck.
Bright red blood welled up on the carpet. But in Estribal’s eyes now, it was just black water. He had no guilt or pain. So losing his senses was rather a blessing.
Estribal carelessly pulled the dynamite and put it into the fireplace and jumped lightly out of the second floor through the window.
Bang!
With a loud noise, the building shook. He moved his steps with the flames that swallowed the mansion behind him.
****
When Estribal returned to the mansion, a blindfolded servant was waiting for him at the gate.
“It must be important.”
As Estribal said, it was rare for a servant on the second floor to come down to the first floor. The servant nodded and spoke in a low voice.
“Miss Cielo has been kidnapped.”
The corner of Estribal’s mouth twisted up.
“Finally?”
