# Chapter 220
“...Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince?”
“What?”
The Emperor, who had been looking out the window, turned his chair and asked fiercely.
“I greet His Imperial Majesty.”
“Ha! Now you dare to openly ignore my orders? Breaking your detention and entering as you please? Chief Attendant, find Captain Miller and dismiss all the knights who were guarding the Crown Prince's Palace! And throw that fellow into prison immediately!”
The Emperor jumped up from his seat and roared in anger.
The Chief Attendant’s eyes darted around in fear that the Emperor might lose his memory again from the outburst. It was then.
“Your Majesty.”
The Crown Prince spoke in a low voice.
The Emperor ignored the Crown Prince and fixed his gaze on the Chief Attendant.
“Chief Attendant, what are you doing? Go and call the Captain at once!”
“Yes. I shall—”
“The Captain will not be coming here.”
The Crown Prince coldly cut off the Chief Attendant.
The gazes of both the Emperor and the Chief Attendant turned toward the Crown Prince at the same time.
“What did you just say?”
The Emperor asked with a face full of disbelief.
“I have ordered Captain James Miller not to enter this place.”
For a moment, as if the air in the world had been sucked out, the Emperor felt his breath hitch.
“...Who?”
The Emperor, having let out a shallow breath, barely managed to speak.
“I gave the order.”
“You dare, you dare...!”
Unable to contain his fury, the Emperor trembled violently and glared at the Crown Prince as if he would kill him.
The blood drained from the Chief Attendant’s face as well.
*What did His Highness just say?*
The only sovereign of the Captain of the Imperial Guard is His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. Yet, the Captain follows the Crown Prince’s orders instead of the Emperor’s?
Without a doubt, it was treason.
The elderly Chief Attendant stared at the Crown Prince with a face that looked as if he might collapse at any moment.
*Why on earth would the Crown Prince do this?*
The Crown Prince maintained his usual expression, as if he didn't care about the aftermath of his words.
“I understand that Your Imperial Majesty’s illness has worsened. Since you would not go to the Imperial Physician, I have brought him myself. Imperial Physician, enter.”
The white-haired Imperial Physician walked inside with his shoulders hunched in fear. His darting eyes clearly revealed his tension.
His face turning a deep red, the Emperor glared at the Crown Prince with murderous eyes.
“Have you truly gone mad?”
Ignoring the Emperor, the Crown Prince looked at the Imperial Physician.
“Examine him.”
“Yes.”
The Imperial Physician, sweating profusely, cautiously took a step toward the Emperor.
The Emperor gnashed his teeth and pulled back, screaming toward the outside.
“Is anyone there! Is no one there! The Crown Prince is committing treason!”
*Treason.*
The Imperial Physician glanced back at the Crown Prince with a pale face, but the Crown Prince was merely watching the Emperor with an expressionless gaze.
The Emperor shouted at the Crown Prince with a face full of spite.
“I knew it! I suspected long ago that you would do something like this!”
But at that moment, the Emperor, who had been venting his anger, suddenly showed the whites of his eyes and slumped down into his chair.
The startled Imperial Physician rushed over to check the Emperor’s pulse, when the Emperor opened his eyes again.
The Imperial Physician, meeting the Emperor’s golden eyes head-on, quickly lowered his gaze.
“What are you doing here?”
“...Pardon?”
The Imperial Physician looked up in surprise.
“Your Majesty, do you not remember?”
“What are you talking about? Why are you checking my pulse?”
The Emperor shook off the Imperial Physician’s hand from his wrist and looked around.
“Crown Prince, why are you here?”
The Imperial Physician’s pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
Even when he had followed the Crown Prince, he had been skeptical, but the Emperor’s illness was truly severe.
“Imperial Physician, what are His Majesty's symptoms?”
“Seeing as he lost his memory in such a short interval, there seems to be a problem with his brain.”
The Imperial Physician reported to the Crown Prince while examining the Emperor’s eyes.
“What? Have you gone mad!”
The Emperor let out a thunderous roar from the side.
Unfazed, the Crown Prince sent a stern look toward the Chief Attendant.
“Chief Attendant, how long has he had these symptoms?”
The Chief Attendant answered weakly with a hollow expression, as if everything were over.
“It has been several months.”
The Crown Prince’s head turned back to the Imperial Physician.
“Imperial Physician, can you cure it?”
“I cannot say for certain without a proper examination.”
The Emperor trembled as he glared at those who were having a conversation while excluding him.
*What kind of bizarre talk is this? That I am ill?*
Then, the Emperor’s eyes sank into a chilling coldness as he realized something.
*These people have fabricated a lie that I am ill and are collectively plotting treason.*
The Emperor shouted with all his might so he could be heard outside.
“Captain! Arrest these treacherous people at once!”
At that moment, the tightly closed office door slowly opened.
The Emperor watched the Crown Prince, the vanguard of the rebellion, with murderous eyes.
*I will kill that ungrateful wretch and ensure he never covets this position again.*
The charge was treason.
*Thud, thud.* Turning his head at the sound of footsteps, the Emperor’s eyes widened in shock.
*Why him! Why?*
“...!”
The Duke of West was standing before him.
The Emperor glared at the Duke of West with tense eyes and instinctively pressed his back against the chair.
His mouth felt dry like a desert. Why was the Duke of West appearing here?
The golden eyes staring at the Duke were filled with confusion.
His mind worked busily, and his gaze fell upon both the expressionless Crown Prince and the Duke of West simultaneously.
At that moment, a bolt of lightning struck his mind.
The Emperor gnashed his teeth and glared at the Duke of West.
“...Duke. Is all of this your doing?”
The Emperor’s voice trembled involuntarily.
If the West, the strongest military power in the empire, intended to enthrone the Crown Prince, who could stop them?
Was that not why he, too, had devised a plan to make the West his pawn?
“…….”
“I am asking if you are the one who enticed the Crown Prince!”
The Emperor’s veins bulged as he shouted at the Duke of West.
However, the Duke of West still did not respond.
“Ha, right. There’s no way that idiot would commit such a bold act. You must have been pulling the strings from behind! You are aiming for the throne using the Crown Prince as a front!”
Just then, the Crown Prince took a step forward, as if shielding the Duke of West from the Emperor’s glare.
“It is my choice, not the Duke of West’s.”
“What? What nonsense is that!”
The Crown Prince remained impassive despite the Emperor’s roar.
“Your Imperial Majesty is currently in a state where you cannot attend to state affairs.”
“You must be acting up like this because you believe in the power of that wicked Duke of West! The crime of civil war is punishable by death! Treason is also punishable by death!”
“...Your Majesty is ill right now.”
The Crown Prince’s voice was truthful, but it did not reach the Emperor.
“You dare, you dare! To invent a non-existent illness to oust me! Is anyone there! Is no one there!”
However, no matter how much the Emperor shouted, no knight entered.
“Why is no one coming! Why!”
The Emperor, unable to overcome his rage, trembled violently before slowly closing his eyes.
Soon, the Emperor opened his eyes again and looked around with a bewildered face. Spotting the Duke of West, his eyes narrowed.
“What brings the Duke of West here?”
He had only closed and opened his eyes; what kind of trickery was this? Why were there so many people in the office?
Glancing around quickly, he saw the Chief Attendant kneeling on the floor in tears, and the Imperial Physician was observing him closely.
The Crown Prince was watching him with a dark face.
“Crown Prince, how did you get here while under detention?”
The Emperor interrogated him with a sharp gaze.
“From this hour, His Imperial Majesty’s state affairs are suspended.”
The Crown Prince, whose eyes met the Emperor’s, made a solemn declaration while keeping his gaze fixed on him.
The Emperor’s eyes widened to the point of tearing.
*What did the Crown Prince just say? Suspend my state affairs? How dare he!*
As the Emperor glared at the Crown Prince with eyes full of rage, the Duke of West, who was standing behind him, bowed his head.
“I shall obey.”
The Emperor turned his gaze toward the Duke of West with a face full of disbelief.
Why was the Duke of West obeying the Crown Prince's words instead of his own?
In the midst of his confusion, the Duke of West approached him without hesitation.
“W-what is the meaning of this? Duke of West.”
The terrified Emperor stammered in panic.
The Duke of West leaned down toward him. Encountering the Duke of West’s fierce gaze up close, he instinctively shrank back, unable to move.
“Your Majesty, you should not have touched Vines.”
The Duke of West whispered in a voice dripping with coldness, audible only to the Emperor.
The Emperor shuddered and looked up at the Duke of West.
“...What?”
The Crown Prince trying to suspend his state affairs. Trying to drag him down from the position of Emperor.
Was all of this the price for touching the West?
When he asked the Duke of West with his eyes if that was truly the case, one corner of the Duke's mouth curled up chillingly, as if to confirm the suspicion.
“Your Majesty. Rest. Forever.”