# Chapter 111
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The square in front of the Royal Palace.
“Samon Claudio! You wicked man! How dare you try to harm Princess Her Highness!”
“Only twenty strikes! That villain needs a hundred to truly repent!”
Amidst the people's condemnation, the Regent Duke’s only son was disgracefully flogged.
Perhaps the shame was greater than the pain, for Samon rolled his eyes back and fainted before the punishment was even finished.
However, the strict official in charge of the sentence showed no leniency, precisely completing the twenty strikes before letting Samon go.
“Sniff, Samon! My poor son!”
Catherine collapsed over the unconscious Samon, bursting into tears.
“To think they made my son like this... I will never forgive that girl Medeia. I’ll break her limbs and make her state even more miserable than Samon’s!”
Catherine shed tears as she examined her fainted son’s wounds.
“Are you satisfied now? To have your son in this state just to save your face?”
Catherine glared at her husband resentfully.
There's a limit to being an obedient son to his mother—how could he submissively accept the order for his own child to be flogged without a single protest?
“Then are you saying I should have let everyone see me opposing Mother and aiming for the throne right there? You’re a sensible person; why are you acting so foolishly?”
The Regent Duke did not hide his displeasure.
“Take care of Samon. I must go see the vassals.”
Did she think he enjoyed seeing his son brutally punished?
His insides were burning with more madness than hers. Samon was his only son and heir.
“Calm yourself, Duchess. I have ordered Kazen’s physician to look after the Young Duke, so he will be back on his feet before long.”
Raju Count comforted Catherine.
“Your Grace, leave this place to me and go ahead.”
“Then I shall leave it to you, Raju Count.”
As the Regent Duke swallowed his surging rage, he failed to see Raju Count consoling Catherine by stroking her shoulder with somewhat excessive intimacy.
And as soon as he stepped out the door, he let out his suppressed fury.
“Damn it!”
He kicked the door as if venting his frustration.
In his office, the members of the Regent Duke’s faction, who had been summoned, were gathered.
“Your Grace, you’ve arrived. We were waiting. ...How is the Young Duke?”
The Regent Duke scanned the people in the room with a fierce, piercing gaze. Both their numbers and their momentum had diminished incomparably from before.
“I believe I told everyone to come without exception.”
“...Well, Lord Anjou’s chronic illness flared up, and Baron Salamia said his elderly mother is ill today...”
The Regent Duke did not believe the pathetic excuses the absentees had sent at all.
‘Hyena-like bastards. Now that things have turned out like this, they’re watching for a chance to pull out.’
Even though his niece Medeia, who had gone missing at the hunting grounds, had returned safely, the Regent Duke’s standing had actually narrowed.
Public opinion condemning him showed no signs of cooling down.
When he went out into the streets, it was common for people to curse the Regent Duke and throw filth at the ducal carriage, and he had even appeared in third-rate newspapers as the public enemy of the people.
No matter how many people he deployed to silence them, within a day or two, rumors that the Claudio Duke Family had tried to kill the Princess of Baldina rose again like the sun.
Even the sycophants who used to flatter him were now slinking away, fearing they might get caught in the crossfire.
Of course, their words were not false. He had indeed targeted Medeia.
‘This won't do. At this rate, even if the grand plan succeeds, I’ll end up as a tyrant who ascended the throne after killing his niece.’
However, there were times when the truth struck someone more painfully than ever.
‘No matter where I go, those tedious glares accusing me of attempting to assassinate the Princess won't leave me. The people's perception is changing.’
Hoakin Claudio, who used to receive the respect and trust of many, was now merely a cruel and greedy uncle who tried to kill his own niece.
The Regent Duke seethed with rage at the positions of the two, which had completely flipped like a seesaw.
‘I must create a crisis. So that the people of Baldina can realize the importance of this Claudio with their own bodies!’
The way for him to regain his former honor and respect was for Baldina to fall into jeopardy.
If he appeared as a savior amidst the blue flames of rebellion engulfing the Royal Capital, the people's perception would flip once more.
“...Your Grace?”
The vassals watched the Regent Duke with anxious eyes as he fell into silent thought with a cold face after summoning them.
Finally, his tightly set lips opened.
“We must move up the uprising.”
Driven into a corner from both inside and out, the Regent Duke finally made his decision.
“Your Excellency, that is...!”
“An uprising? It’s still too early.”
The nobles under his influence tried to dissuade the Regent Duke.
“Furthermore, there are still Kazen people staying in Baldina. Raju Count will also not agree to us moving up the grand plan.”
Raju Count was ultimately the Castulo Grand Duke’s man. He would likely insist that it must be after he leaves Baldina to avoid getting involved.
The Regent Duke’s eyes turned cold.
“You all haven't forgotten whose command takes precedence in this country, have you?”
“...”
The Regent Duke was also displeased with Iason.
One can only see the true reality when facing hardship.
The Grand Duke, who used to boast of a firm alliance, had distanced himself just because his son had tried to grab a different hand.
“Is he not a truly arrogant man? While he himself lies low to avoid the Kazen Emperor, does he expect me to grovel to him? Frankly, what makes him better than me right now?”
They were the same in that they both coveted thrones they shouldn't desire.
In fact, if it were the previous Castulo Grand Duke, the Regent Duke would have been considerably cautious.
However, after the duel at the banquet, the Regent Duke was able to see the Grand Duke’s influence noticeably shrunken.
He had fallen out with the 4th Imperial Princess and lost power within the envoy group, and even the 10-star General Jared had broken away from him.
Yet, Iason’s arrogance in still trying to maintain superiority left scratches on the Regent Duke’s noble pride.
“I must see for myself if the Grand Duke is truly material to inherit the imperial throne.”
Dissatisfaction toward Iason rose like a thick fog.
“Once the Rebels arrive, I will be able to see if they are truly my allies. Is that not so?”
“...”
The members of the Regent Duke’s faction exchanged glances.
Following the death of Minister Etienne, with the Castulo Grand Duke and Raju Count also out of the picture, could this rebellion that no one was backing truly succeed?
A streak of anxiety bloomed in their uncertain hearts.
“You all, do you think you can back out now just because the signed pledge burned and disappeared?”
The Regent Duke, noticing the ministers' hesitation, snorted and glared at them.
“If this Claudio falls, do you think you lot will be safe? When Peleus returns, do you think that blockhead will leave you alone after you’ve extorted the people and fattened your own bellies? Who exactly would step forward to save you!”
The ministers snapped to their senses.
For the past ten years, they had been soaked in sweet pleasure for far too long.
The young and righteous King would surely make them pay the price for the boredom and corruption they had enjoyed.
Wasn't that why they had held the Regent Duke’s hand in the first place?
“This is the only chance. Everything must be finished before Peleus returns.”
“...We understand.”
At the Regent Duke’s words, a resolution finally formed in their eyes as well.
The end for a failed traitor is only death.
“We shall follow Your Grace’s words. Only by putting Your Grace on the throne will we also have a way to live.”
After the nobles, who had hardened their hearts, left, the Regent Duke gave an order.
“Send word to the Rebels as well. Tell them the time to rise has come.”
“But, Your Excellency. Even if this uprising succeeds, what do you plan to do when the King and the Agema return?”
the subordinate could not hide his lingering concern.
The Agema’s outstanding combat power is well known throughout the continent. Could the fledglings in the Royal Capital truly handle them?
“The Agema? Heh. That won't happen. I have already taken measures.”
By now, my command must have been delivered to the spy as well.
On the brutal battlefield, in the final battle, Peleus’s great elites will lose their lives.
Peleus, returning alone and dejected after barely saving his own life, will have no choice but to recognize me sitting on the throne in his confusion.
The Regent Duke swallowed a despicable laugh.
Thinking of his niece, who would be looking up at the same sky as him with a tear-stained face by now.