Chapter 116

Marquis Ricardo Paez and his party, who were said to have accompanied Freyer to the Kingdom of Oneren, were all in tears.

 

Ivailo, seeing that the thorn in his side who coveted his position was dead, was overcome not by joy, but by a chilling sense of dread.

 

‘He wasn’t the type to die so easily.’

 

There lay Freyer in a hastily prepared coffin, his eyes closed lifelessly. Traces of a lethal stab wound remained below his neck. Ivailo leaned in to inspect the body, but the foul stench of decay forced him to jerk his head back.

 

“He really is dead.”

 

It hadn’t been easy to kill Freyer, who had defeated an Orc Lord during the Hunting Festival and reached the level of a high-ranking knight. Ivailo had initially planned to kill the Emperor while Freyer was away, but now he had returned from a foreign land as a corpse.

 

‘Who could have done this?’

 

As Ivailo frowned at the unsettling situation, the sound of hurried footsteps and an exaggerated voice echoed through the hall.

 

“Freyer! To think my son has returned as a corpse!”

 

“Your Majesty, please be careful!”

 

Despite the maids’ attempts to stop her, the Empress rushed to the coffin and began to wail.

 

“Freyer! My son, open your eyes!”

 

Tears streamed from her eyes as she stroked Freyer’s cold cheek.

 

“He’s so cold… I can’t believe it. Freyer is dead. How… how could this happen?”

 

Clinging to the coffin, the Empress stumbled and nearly collapsed, but her maids quickly caught her.

 

“…There is no greater filial impiety than this. What son closes his eyes before his mother!”

 

“Your Majesty…”

 

“Does it please you to leave after breaking your mother’s heart!”

 

Following the Empress’s lead, the maids began to sob. In an instant, the palace was filled with a sea of weeping. Ricardo, suppressing his heavy heart, bowed his head.

 

“…I have no excuse.”

 

“Marquis Ricardo, you say! Why has Freyer, who left for diplomacy with the Kingdom of Oneren, returned as a corpse!?”

 

“…He was ambushed.”

 

“A—An ambush…!”

 

At Ricardo’s low-voiced response, the Empress clutched her forehead with a cry of “Ah… Ah!” and promptly fainted, her body falling backward.

 

“Your Majesty!”

 

Fortunately, the maids supporting her prevented her from hitting the floor.

 

“Call a priest!”

 

As if part of a rehearsed play, priests appeared and moved the Empress into the palace. Far from being surprised by the scene, Ivailo let out a hollow, incredulous laugh. The mastermind behind Freyer’s death was undoubtedly the Empress.

 

 

***

 

 

The Empress, having received “intensive treatment,” lay in bed with her hands folded. Ivailo spoke to her with a look of distaste.

 

“I know you’re awake.”

 

The Empress opened her eyes and sat up, leaning against the headboard.

 

“You must have visited out of concern for your mother’s collapse.”

 

She began to tidy her long black hair. A laugh that was closer to a scoff escaped Ivailo’s lips.

 

“I suppose being worried about what my mother has orchestrated could, in a way, be seen as being concerned for her health.”

 

“…Ivailo.”

 

“Next time you put on a play, give me a heads-up so I can offer some pointers. This performance was quite subpar.”

 

Realizing Ivailo’s meaning, the Empress’s eyes grew sharp.

 

“Are you mocking me?”

 

“I’m merely offering advice because, while your acting and facial expressions were good, the script left much to be desired.”

 

“Can’t you see your mother’s efforts to place you on the throne?”

 

“I’ll ask again. Is this for me? Or is it to protect the person you love?”

 

After he had declared his intent to kill the Emperor, the guards at the Emperor’s bedchamber had been standing watch in four shifts like an impregnable fortress, making intrusion impossible.

 

“I was quite curious about what plan you were hatching ever since you refused to leave the Emperor’s side.”

 

He had never imagined she would plot such a scheme.

 

“It’s to protect the ones I love. Because I love my son, I killed Freyer.”

 

“You speak as if I am included among those you love.”

 

“Of course. That is why I killed Freyer, the Emperor’s biological son.”

 

“…Did you say biological son?”

 

It felt as though Ivailo’s mind had suddenly gone pitch black.

 

“Freyer was the Emperor’s only biological son, so he naturally had to be removed to put Ivailo on the throne. Until now, he was just trash who couldn’t use his power, but once that boy started overstepping and eyeing the Crown Prince’s position, he had to die.”

 

“…Does that mean I am not the Emperor’s biological son?”

 

“You are my son, so you are the Emperor’s son. Because I am the Emperor’s legal wife.”

 

He had consoled himself countless times, telling himself that even if the Emperor didn’t love him, he was fine because he was the son of the Empress.

 

“…I was… merely a tool.”

 

“A tool? Why can’t you understand a mother’s heart, wanting to make her son Emperor?”

 

The sight of his mother speaking triumphantly, as if she held her goal in her hands, was loathsome. He was a being born to be the Empress’s tool. He was loved by neither of his parents. The reality finally sank in.

 

The emotions he had kept locked away—perhaps because he hadn’t felt anything even upon seeing Freyer’s body—suddenly exploded.

 

‘I should have killed him with my own hands.’

 

He hadn’t wanted to face a corpse; he had always dreamed of hanging Freyer’s head in the palace. And yet…

 

He had tried to steal everything that belonged to the thorn in his side, Freyer. He had used every means and method to kill that bastard and take the throne. But Freyer was the biological son, and he was not.

 

“The plan to kill the Emperor and take the throne has a low success rate. Now that the nuisance has returned as a corpse and the important item will be finished today, you just sit back and accept what I provide.”

 

He had even accepted the northern subjugation without a word to solidify his position as Crown Prince. But he realized it was all for the sake of the Empress, who desperately wanted the Emperor’s love.

 

“Just listen to your mother. I will put you on the imperial throne.”

 

He couldn’t hold on to his sanity any longer. Ivailo lowered his head, his hollow gaze falling toward his waist.

 

“Mother…”

 

“Ivailo. Trust only your mother.”

 

“…Consider yourself lucky that I am not carrying a sword.”

 

Ivailo raised his head, staring straight at the Empress with empty eyes.

 

“Because if I were, I would have cut you down.”

 

 

***

 

 

The Empress, pacing anxiously, turned her head at a sudden breeze. A person appeared, clad in a black cloak that completely obscured their appearance.

 

The Empress looked at him with a gaze filled with loathing. She scanned the man in the deep hood from head to toe.

 

“Always that same outfit, Northern Magic Tower Master.”

 

“This clothing is comfortable for me.”

 

The Empress held out her hand to the wizard.

 

“The item. Did you make the item I requested?”

 

“Of course.”

 

The Tower Master sat leisurely in an empty chair, tilting his head. He was about to hand something over from within his robes but suddenly froze. Beneath the dark hood, his lips curled into a sinister smile.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Your Majesty. There is something you must give me first.”

 

Dissatisfaction flickered in the Empress’s violent eyes, but she kept her mouth shut, opened a safe, and pulled out a book. With a look of pure contempt, she held the book with only two fingers—her thumb and index—and handed it to the wizard.

 

“Just where do you plan to use this book?”

 

“It is essential to reach the source of magic.”

 

To gain the help of the Northern Magic Tower Master, the Empress had no choice but to fulfill his request for the ancient grimoire. A glint flickered from within the shadowed cloak.

 

“Finally, I have received the text I failed to obtain decades ago.”

 

The Empress stared at the Tower Master with firm eyes, clenching her fists.

 

“Wasn’t it because you failed back then that I didn’t give it to you?”

 

“I told you. To bring the Emperor’s blood. It was you who failed, Your Majesty.”

 

“…”

 

“Still, you were the one who begged me to let you conceive, no matter whose child it was. How noble of you; how much you must have hated the thought of a night with a man who wasn’t the Emperor to make such a request of me.”

 

The Empress flinched at the emotionless tone, but soon glared back at him. As their past was brought up, her voice rose.

 

“How… How much do you think I wanted to hold onto him to make such a request of you!”

 

Heh.

 

A low laugh leaked through his slightly parted teeth, grating on the Empress’s nerves and making her hands tremble.

 

“First, thank you for the good trade.”

 

The hand that was about to hand over the item paused. The Tower Master’s eyes flashed as he asked in a low voice.

 

“I haven’t asked who you plan to use this on. You must tell me the target.”

 

The Empress tilted her eyes sharply and answered.

 

“Duke Idarand.”

 

“…Duke Idarand.”

 

The ‘Sword of the Empire.’ It was a title bestowed by the Emperor decades ago, but even after all these years, he was still praised as a man whose sharp blade no one could withstand.

 

At the Empress’s words, the drawing room fell into a strange silence. Her eyes began to tremble at the eeriness.

 

“Surely… does the hypnosis not work on someone with great martial power?”

 

As if mocking her question, the Tower Master added a laugh and recited the instructions for the hypnosis potion.

 

“Nothing in this world surpasses magic. Mix your tears—as the master—into the potion, and then use it on the subject.”

 

Just before he stood up to vanish, he spoke to the Empress, who was staring at the potion.

 

“I am wherever the magic stones are, so call me again.”

 

The Empress watched the Tower Master disappear without a hint of lingering attachment, her eyes swirling with a mixture of anxiety, satisfaction, and anticipation.

 

“If only I can control Duke Idarand.”

 

It wouldn’t matter if Ivailo didn’t kill the Emperor; he could simply be pushed out by political force.

 

“Then, I can keep the Emperor safe while putting Ivailo on the throne.”